Roses and Thorns
Chapter Sixteen
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Power Rangers, Ninja Storm, and I'm not making any money from this fic
RedFox: Hi guys! DarkAngel and I managed to persuade the author to give Cally some help in the Forest of Feelings!
DarkAngel: -Mumbles- Once she developed a crush on the actor, it was relatively easy for us to persuade her to bring his character into the fic
Apollo: The author apologises to anyone who might think that she made this particular person act out of character... She's only seen three episodes with him in, so she's guessing at a lot of this
Replies to reviews:
garnetred: Any ideas as to what the challenge involving David could actually be? And thanks for your suggestions and also reviewing!
CamFan4Ever: Hm... That gives me an idea. -Quickly scribbles down on a piece of paper- So... Which bits shocked and surprised you? And are you taking good care of DarkCat?
Jorgitosbabe: I'm glad that someone has faith in me... I hope I live up to your expectations
BlueAngel07: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it
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"You know, I'm confused about something," Cally commented to the unicorn as they walked beside each other.
The unicorn glanced at the violet light ranger. "What are you confused about?" it wanted to know. "Tell me, and I'll help you out, if I can."
"Well, how did I get you to turn back from entering the trees?" Cally asked. "I mean, it was like I knew, deep down inside, what I had to say... But I don't know why it worked."
"Well, each Power Ranger has an animal zord," the unicorn explained. "Those animals can be controlled by the particular Power Ranger who has the zord."
"I don't understand," Cally frowned.
"Well, put it this way," the unicorn replied. "Your zord is the unicorn zord, is it not?"
Cally nodded slowly.
"That means that you can control unicorns," the unicorn told the violet light ranger. "The other Power Rangers control the animals which are their zords."
"Oh," Cally said. "I guess that makes sense." She made a mental note to pass that information onto Faye if she ever got out of this forest.
The unicorn glanced curiously at the violet light ranger. "No exclamations of surprise?"
"After everything that's been happening lately, not much surprises me now," Cally admitted. "Since I became a Power Ranger, nothing has been normal."
"Yes, I'm sure that being a Power Ranger is sometimes difficult," the unicorn replied.
Bit of an understatement there, Cally thought to herself. I wouldn't change it for the world, though. At least I can be of some use that way. Out loud, she asked, "Have you acted as a guide for any other Power Rangers?"
"I shouldn't really tell you that," the unicorn answered.
"Oh, ok," Cally sighed. It might have helped to know about the other Power Rangers... But not knowing isn't the end of the world. I just wish I knew how Faye and David are doing.
Cally suddenly became aware of the fact that she could hear a soft whimpering sound to the side of her. The violet light ranger glanced towards the sound, narrowing her eyes slightly to peer through the gloom, as it was beginning to get dark.
Too bad being a light ranger doesn't mean that I can see in the dark, Cally thought to herself.
Gradually, Cally could make out the form of a small animal struggling in something metal, possibly a trap.
Slowly, Cally made her way over to the struggling creature. It appeared to be some kind of wildcat. Cally knew, without looking behind her, that the unicorn was following her.
Cally studied the wildcat carefully, really wishing that she had a pair of gloves with her. Hurt animals, especially wild ones, were vicious.
After a moment's hesitation, Cally reached out to the wildcat. Then, she recoiled with a soft cry and bleeding fingers as the wildcat lashed out at her.
"Why don't you just leave it?" the unicorn suggested.
"I can't just leave it," Cally muttered, sucking on her bleeding fingers. She carefully studied the situation in front of her.
"Hey, maybe I can help?" a male voice from behind the violet light ranger asked.
Cally turned, and found herself face-to-face with a blond-haired man. She blinked, and her eyes narrowed as she took in the unicorn standing beside him. "Who... are you?" she asked.
The man held out a hand. "My name is Andros," he answered.
"I'm Cally," Cally said, gripping the other's hand. Then, her eyes widened. "Wait... You're the red space ranger, right?"
Andros inclined his head slightly. "I am," he replied.
"But you... I mean." Cally took a slight step back. "What are you doing here?"
"The same thing as you, I should imagine." Andros gestured towards the wildcat caught in the trap. "Now, do you want my help with freeing this animal, or don't you?"
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"So, do you think that Faye and Cally can be trusted?" Blake asked, leaning over Cam's shoulder while the green samurai ranger studied the Ninja Scrolls.
"I find it interesting that you probably only asked that because of who the light rangers actually are," Cam commented without looking up.
Blake rolled his eyes. "Forget why I asked it," he replied. "Just tell me what you think."
Cam hesitated for a long moment. "I think that we can trust them," he said finally. "Faye, at least, seems concerned only for her friend's safety. I can't really speak for Cally, but it seems like she can be trusted."
"After what she did to Dustin?" Blake frowned.
"I'm not trying to condone her actions then," Cam replied. "I'm talking about now."
Blake just sighed. "I just don't know if we should help them," he muttered. "But if you think that they can be trusted..." The navy thunder ranger shrugged.
Cam glanced up. "And what happens if we don't help them?" he questioned. "The violet ranger, Cally, could possibly die... Then Faye would probably be mad that we didn't help out."
"True, I guess," Blake sighed. "What have you found out?"
"Not a lot," Cam admitted. "It looks like the coma's Cally's in isn't caused by outside means... But I couldn't say for sure."
"But what else could have caused the coma?" Blake wanted to know. "Got any ideas?"
"Not really," Cam replied. "Nothing that I've read so far seems to mention anything about what might be wrong with Cally."
"So what if she is in a self-inflicted coma?" Blake asked.
"Then all we can do is wait for her to come out of it on her own," Cam answered. "And look for a way to remove that crystal from her chest. Though I don't believe that the coma is actually related to it, it won't be helping Cally at all."
"Can I do anything to help?" Blake wanted to know.
Yes, you can stop breaking my concentration, Cam thought to himself. He felt even worse, if that was possible. He was sure that this feeling of tiredness and weakness wasn't normal. But, out loud, he replied, "Well, you could look through some of the Ninja Scrolls... But you might not recognise or understand any information that you do find."
"Oh, ok. I get it," Blake said. "I'll leave you to do it on your own, shall I?"
Cam nodded vaguely, his attention already caught up in the scrolls again.
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"Lila, you're an idiot," Peter said from the doorway of his sister's room.
"Go away, Peter," Lila responded without looking up. She felt strange deep inside, and her throat hurt. She felt as though she was going to start crying at any moment. The last thing she wanted was for her brother to start having a go at her.
"No, I won't, Lila," Peter replied, sitting on the chair next to Lila's bed. "You're hurting, sis. I don't know anything about it other than that you yelled at Hunter. Why did you argue with him? I thought that you liked him."
"I do," Lila muttered. I really wish that Peter would just leave me alone. I feel bad enough as it is.
"So... What's the problem, then?" Peter wanted to know. He didn't understand his sister's train of thought at all.
"Hunter's taken other girls back to his house before," Lila replied with a shrug.
Peter blinked. "What's the problem with that?" he asked. Then, his eyes widened. "You're jealous!" he exclaimed.
"So what?" Lila demanded. "The fact is, he's brought other girls back to his house. How do I know that I won't be just like those others?"
"You can't know for sure," Peter told her. "But do you trust Hunter?"
"I don't know," Lila admitted. "Besides, I don't even know if he'll accept any apology that I try to make."
"I'm sure that he will," Peter replied. "As long as you are sorry, that is."
Lila looked down. "I just don't know anymore," she whispered. "About anything, I mean. Peter, how do you think the violet light ranger is?"
Peter frowned at that. "She's probably all right," he said hesitatingly. "In any case, there's nothing we can do about her now. If the crystal is harmful to her, she'll have to fight its effects on her own."
"But..." Lila began.
"No buts," Peter interrupted his sister. "We're here to do a specific task, Lila. If you want to date Hunter, that's fine. But never forget what we're really here for."
"I won't," Lila said in a small voice. "But, Peter, I'm beginning to have serious doubts about this."
Me too, Peter thought. But he would never admit that out loud. If he did, then he would start to question whether or not he and his sister should really be working for Lothor. And he couldn't do that. Not now, not ever. "We don't have any other option," he told his sister.
Lila looked down. "I know," she replied. "But, Peter, what if we become friends with any of the Power Rangers unmorphed, and then find out their identities? Could we really destroy people that we care about?" The look in Lila's eyes pleaded for her brother to understand.
Peter hesitated. Shoot. I never even considered what we'd do if something like that were to happen. It's not very likely... But it is possible. I hope that we never have to make a decision like that. "We can't worry about that, Lila," Peter said out loud. "If that does happen, we'll talk about it then... But, to be honest, the chances of that actually happening are very slim indeed."
"But shouldn't we discuss it now?" Lila questioned. "So that we have some idea, at least, as to what we can do."
"No, we won't," Peter replied firmly. "Lila, I'm in charge of you. I've been looking after you since Lothor took our parents. You have to trust me."
"I do," Lila insisted.
"Then act like you do," Peter snarled. "We have to get our parents back, no matter what the cost."
Looking at her brother, Lila wondered if the price was not already too great. Perhaps he should never have become a Power Ranger. All of the power seemed to have gone to his head. Maybe there was a way to shake him back to earth, but Lila couldn't think of one just yet.
In any case, Peter was right. He had taken care of her since their parents had been taken by Lothor. Without him, Lila would have been lost. She was good at making her own decisions, but not when it came to matters of life and death. Then, she was perfectly content to sit back and let someone else take charge.
Still, Lila couldn't quite shake the feeling that what they were doing was actually wrong. That this price was too much for them to pay. She felt, for some reason, that trying to work with the other Power Rangers would be a much better thing to do.
But Lila wasn't strong enough to go against her own brother. For now, she would stay back and follow orders and hope that Peter would soon see that he was not necessarily making the right choices.
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Cally watched Andros for a long moment, biting her lip. Can I really trust him? she wondered. I know that I need help with this wildcat... But supposing he's been created as one of my challenges and I have to see through him?
Cally glanced at her unicorn, but didn't have much hope of getting the animal to tell her if Andros was telling the truth or not. Even if she could force the unicorn to tell her the truth, she wouldn't do it.
Cally's gaze then flickered towards the other unicorn standing beside Andros. The presence of a unicorn suggested that this really was the red space ranger standing in front of her... But what if the unicorn was not a unicorn at all, but was just an enchantment? How could she tell the difference?
Cally resisted the urge to smack herself in the forehead. Of course! She could control unicorns, couldn't she? If this really was a unicorn with Andros, then she would be able to get it to do anything she said. Of course, that was all assuming that her unicorn had spoken the truth.
Andros folded his arms. "You know, neither of us have forever here," he told Cally. "You either want my help or you don't. What's your decision?"
"Just a moment," Cally murmured. She looked steadily at the unicorn standing beside Andros. "As the violet light ranger, I command you to come to me."
Immediately, the unicorn walked close enough to Cally so that its head butted her chest.
Andros raised his eyebrows. "You gonna tell me what that was all about?" he questioned.
"Oh, yeah," Cally replied. "See, my zord is a unicorn... So, apparently, that means that I can control unicorns."
"Ah, I see." Andros nodded. "You figured that if I wasn't really real, then the unicorn with me wouldn't be real either, and it wouldn't follow your orders."
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Cally admitted.
"Smart move," Andros smiled. He gestured towards the wildcat still struggling to free itself. "Shall we look at this little one?"
"Oh, sorry," Cally said quickly.
"No need to apologise," Andros replied dryly. "I can understand your need for caution. In this place, hardly anything is what it appears to be."
Looking again at the wildcat, Cally could see that one of its back legs were caught in the metal 'teeth' of the trap. She could probably pry the trap open, but she would get savaged by the animal if she tried.
"Well, what do you think?" Andros asked.
Cally chewed her bottom lip, thinking. "Could you, maybe, try and distract the wildcat while I attempt to free it?" she asked.
"Well, I can try," Andros said. He knelt carefully just out of the range of the wildcat's teeth, pulled out a blade of grass, and started trying to get the animal to go for the grass.
As soon as the wildcat's attention was diverted, Cally bent to inspect the trap. She could see a small gap where she could pry it open, but the blood on her fingers made the metal slippery and she couldn't get a good grip.
Finally, Cally's unicorn spoke up. "Why don't you just remove the leg caught in the trap?" it suggested.
Cally flinched at the cold-hearted words. "No way!" she protested.
"But surely it is better for it to survive?" the unicorn asked.
Gritting her teeth, Cally shook her head. "That would be no survival," she said. "Missing a limb, the wound would soon become infected, and that would be a slow, painful death. I can hardly see this wildcat staying still while I bound up its wound. It'll be bad enough to do after it getting caught in a trap.
We," Andros corrected without looking up.
"All right, we." Cally wiped her bleeding fingers on her trousers, wincing a little at the pain. Then, she slipped her fingers into the gap, and pulled.
It was just as well that Cally had the added strength of being a Power Ranger, otherwise she probably never would have been able to pry the trap open. As it was, she managed to get the trap open just a couple of inches.
Lightning-quick, Andros grabbed the wildcat before it could make off into the trees. He winced as it slashed at his hands and arms, but kept a tight grip on it.
Cally straightened up, and tore some of the material of her top off in order to make a long strip. She then walked over to Andros and the wildcat. "Try and keep its jaws away from me," she said.
Wincing slightly, Andros grasped the cat's head and turned it away as Cally tied the cloth around its leg. "There. That's the best I can do."
Instantly, Andros let the cat go, and it leaped away from him and sped into the trees.
"Are you all right?" Cally asked the red space ranger.
Andros nodded. "I'm fine," he replied. He eyed Cally carefully. "I think that we should talk," he said after a moment.
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