Roses and Thorns
Chapter Thirty-One
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Power Rangers, Ninja Storm, and I'm not making any money from this fic
garnetred: Probably sooner... Thanks for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked it
CamFan4Ever: If you really want to know, then I'll e-mail you and tell you... But it does give away much of the storyline. Thanks for reviewing . And she might rebel against Lothor... You'll find out in this chapter
Jorgitosbabe: Chooses Hunter? Well, I wouldn't put it quite that way... Hunter doesn't like her a lot at the moment. I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for reviewing!
BlueAngel07: Thanks for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked it
Author's Note: I apologise for being late with this chapter... But it wasn't my fault! I was away for the weekend, and, when I came back, had disabled the log in process and administration things. Wah!
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Cally practiced her fighting moves, ignoring the remnants of tiredness she still felt. No way was she going to leave off training just because she felt tired. If necessary, she could work through the feeling.
It was nighttime, but Cally didn't really care about that. She actually preferred training at night. For some reason, it was easier to clear her mind of all other thoughts when it was dark.
Cally brought her leg up, and swept it round as though there was an opponent facing her. She followed it up with a punch that would have been aimed at her opponent's chest or stomach, depending on the size of them.
After a few minutes of working out, Cally stopped, and brushed the strands of hair that had escaped from her ponytail out of her eyes.
"You know, I thought I might find you here," Faye commented from behind her.
Cally jerked a little, and then sighed. "You're supposed to still be asleep," she muttered.
"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so I thought that I should check on you," Faye responded. "I don't particularly want you to have a relapse."
Cally gave a short, bitter laugh. "Is that what my therapist told you to do?" she asked. "That people with suicidal tendencies need to be continually watched?"
"That's not fair, Cally," Faye answered. "I'm worried about you. As much as you try to pretend it's not, I know that your depression's as bad as it ever was, if not worse."
"Well, I'm not going to try and kill myself again, if that's what you're worried about," Cally replied, her tone cool.
Faye hit a nearby tree. "Damn it, Cally!" she shouted. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"
"Don't shout!" Cally retorted in a sharp voice. "Do you want someone to come and see what's going on?"
"Maybe if they did, then they'd be able to talk some sense into you," Faye replied. "I mean it, Cally. You're getting way out of control. Since we joined the Light Ninja Academy, you've just been pushing yourself further and further. It's like you just don't care anymore. Like your body's just going through all of the motions, but your mind's elsewhere."
"Now you're saying that I'm mad?"
Faye sighed, and threw her hands up in the air. "Honestly, I don't know what's the point in talking to you anymore," she said. "No wonder Dustin's having trouble forgiving you for what you did if you're acting like this."
Cally froze, her face pale. "You leave Dustin out of this!" she snapped.
Faye paused, her eyes narrowed slightly. So... Maybe Cally's not so uncaring as she makes out, then, the orange light ranger thought to herself. There's got to be a way of making her care again, but what? Maybe if Dustin were to forgive her... But that's not very likely to happen. And, unless he does, she'll probably never be truly happy.
Cally sighed, and turned away from her friend. "Faye, go away," she told the orange light ranger. "I'm trying to train here."
"How long have you been training for?" Faye wanted to know.
Cally shrugged a little. "Couple of hours," she answered. "It helps me to forget things that are bothering me."
"Yeah, because you're usually so exhausted that you just sleep really deeply, only to wake up at an unearthly hour to train even more," Faye responded. "Cal, how can you expect to fight your depression if you're using up all of your energy to train?"
Cally shrugged.
"Why don't we try meditation again?" Faye suggested. "Or, rather, you try meditating. I'll make sure we're all right."
Cally hesitated, then sighed. "All right." She sat down on the ground with her legs crossed and her arms folded over them, ignoring the soil floor. She closed her eyes, and, almost immediately, slipped into a meditative state.
Faye watched as Cally seemed to be filled up from within by a violet light. And, yes, there it was. The snakelike darkness coiled deep inside the violet light ranger. Faye squinted. Had the darkness gotten bigger? The tentacles of light wrapped around it seemed to be getting fainter, though it was still being held still. But Cally was clearly weakening in her battle against the darkness.
Faye felt a sudden weakness, and looked down at herself.
As before, the orange light ranger was lit up from within by orange light that was being drawn into Cally, where it's colour was changed to violet, and its energy was put into the fight against the depression.
The orange light ranger was able to study what was happening quite closely. It did seem like whenever Cally was in a meditative state, she would draw energy from anything nearby. Faye could see other small strands leading into the violet light ranger's form, and she looked around to see that the trees and grass and flowers were all glowing.
Faye frowned a little to herself. All the more reason why Cally should stop being so depressed, she thought worriedly. She can't just keep on taking energy from everything around her, even if she doesn't realise what she's doing. She'll soon end up taking too much. Then, Faye's eyes narrowed as another thought occurred to her. Could Cam be right? Could this be a form of the catalyst ability? After all, she is taking energy from things around her.
Faye suddenly heard a rustling noise coming from behind her. She jerked a little, and then whirled round. "Oh, great," she sighed when she saw who it was. "What are you doing here?"
Blake shrugged a little. "I decided to come here to train," he answered.
Faye sighed again. "Oh, no, not another one," she muttered.
Blake opened his mouth to say something, then caught sight of Cally, and stared. "What's with her?"
"She's meditating," Faye answered, then blinked as Cally's soul started pulling energy from Blake as well. The energy being taken from her was beginning to make her feel quite weak.
"Does that usually happen while she's mediating?" Blake asked curiously. Apparently, he hadn't noticed the fact that Cally was pulling energy from him to feed the internal battle.
"The light, yes," Faye replied. "The pulling energy from other people, no."
Blake jumped, and looked down at the line of navy light being drawn from him. He then looked at Faye with obvious surprise. "Why is she taking energy from me? I'm not a light ninja."
"I don't know," Faye answered. "You'd probably have to ask your friend Cam that. He might know more than me. I wondered if it might be an indication that Cal has the catalyst ability he was going on about." Before the navy thunder ranger could say anything to that, Faye moved forward, and gently shook Cally's shoulder. "Wake up. We've got company."
The violet light ranger blinked, and all of the light suddenly disappeared. Suddenly, the clearing seemed much darker than before, and it took a while for their eyes to get used to the dark.
When he could see reasonably well again, at least well enough not to bang into anything, Blake walked over to Cally and extended a hand. "I wanted to say thanks for helping me out."
Cally blinked up at him. "Huh?"
"He was one of the vampires," Faye explained.
"Oh..." Cally hesitated, and then reached out to lightly clasp Blake's hand.
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"Hunter's the crimson thunder ranger, and I'm not going to harm him, whatever you say," Lila told Peter as she hovered in the doorway of his room.
Peter stared at Lila. "What?"
"You heard me," Lila responded. "I don't care what you think, Peter. I love Hunter, and I'm not going to hurt him." I love him?
"You're not thinking this through, Lila," Peter told his sister, his voice suddenly cold.
"Oh yes I have thought this through," Lila replied. "We shouldn't trust Lothor, Peter. He's using us to get rid of the other Power Rangers for him, and then he'll have us destroyed as well. He's not going to return our parents to us. He's the one who took them!"
"You have no idea what you're saying!" Peter snapped.
"Yes I do!" Lila said sharply. "You've lost sight of what's really important, Peter. Neither of us are killers. What happens when the price is too great? Our parents aren't harmed at the moment, so why are we trying to kill for them?"
"You've let that crimson thunder ranger bewitch you somehow," Peter growled.
Lila gave a slightly bitter laugh. "Hunter hates me," she said. "I told him who I was, and he went mad at me. He hit me."
Peter's eyes narrowed slightly. "And you still want to let him live?"
"I love him," Lila answered simply.
Peter just sighed, and turned away from his sister to stare at the ceiling of his room. "And you want me to stop as well?"
"Yes," Lila said. "It's the right decision to make, Peter. Surely you can see that? You're not a killer, and neither am I."
Peter just shrugged. Then, he swung himself off his bed, and put his shoes on. "I'm going out for a walk," he said shortly. "I need to think this over."
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Peter and Blake met on the street, and both paused, eyeing each other up. They both knew that each other were Power Rangers, and, at the moment, were both on opposite sides.
Peter didn't really think about it all. He just said, "Silk Ranger Form!" And morphed.
Blake hesitated. He didn't really want to fight the brown silk ranger, but realised that there was no other choice. "Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!" he yelled, and morphed. "Power of thunder!"
Peter attacked without warning, and Blake was only just able to defend himself. The navy thunder ranger found himself driven back by the furious assault, and couldn't actually get to his communicator to contact his brother or any of the other Power Rangers to come and help him.
Finally deciding to fight back, Blake lashed out with his foot, sending Peter reeling back. The navy thunder ranger quickly followed up with a punch to Peter's chest. The brown silk ranger fell to the ground, but not before hooking Blake's legs with his foot, causing the navy thunder ranger to fall as well.
Somehow, Peter got his length of silk around Blake's neck, and wrapped it tight. The navy thunder ranger scrabbled at the material, but it was too tight for him to undo.
Peter straightened, fully intending to just stand there and watch Blake strangle to death. But he found that he couldn't. The brown silk ranger tried turning his back, but that didn't help either. He just felt even worse.
Peter groaned, and then knelt next to Blake, and slowly unwrapped the silk from around the navy thunder ranger's neck. He was expecting to be attacked, but Blake only demorphed and moaned slightly, his hands to his neck.
"Sorry," Peter muttered, also demorphing. He and Blake stared warily at each other, and then, finally, the navy thunder ranger relaxed.
"You couldn't go through with it," he commented.
Peter nodded slowly, wondering just what Blake was getting at, and waiting for the navy thunder ranger to attack him.
"You can't kill someone in cold blood," Blake noted, struggling to his feet. "I take it this means you're now on our side?"
"I guess so," Peter responded, still wondering why Blake hadn't punched him yet.
"You're a good fighter," Blake told Peter, extending a hand which the brown silk ranger took after a moment's hesitation. "It would be good to have you on our team, and it wouldn't do any good to hurt you." Blake grinned.
Peter returned his smile, and relaxed somewhat. "Thank you. I'm sorry."
"No hard feelings."
Peter blinked as a sudden thought occurred to him. "I've got an idea," he said to Blake.
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Read and review, please!
Ok, I apologise to anyone who thinks that this chapter is completely out of character... I kind of had to write it like that