THE REASON - Part Twenty-Seven: Truth and Consequences
Summary: Tommy is fossilized. The dino rangers must turn to their new mentors for guidance until further notice. But at what cost will it be when they find out the White Ranger was really a friend to them? And if what Kira is saying is true, can they help him before it gets too serious?
Disclaimer: Power Rangers not mine. Hoping it will in the future, but for now, gotta just dream it were true.
A/N: Well, obviously the title gives it away. This does tie into "Truth and Consequence." But what more do I have to say, is that it had to be manipulated just a little bit. Then again, I must apologize for the long wait in getting this on the net. Long story. Sorry. But anyways, read and review. May the Powers Protect you Always.
"The shadows pay up in both the truth to lies and the consequences to them. Be careful where you stand." –Eclyptyk Neo
Next day. Early morning.
The three teenagers had gotten word that Dr. Oliver was in serious trouble. The three ninja rangers were already there with Hayley when they arrived. Hayley was running a bio-netic scan over the encasing of the black dino ranger.
Aisha and Rocky noticed the lost in Adam's eyes, as he refused to comment on the previous day's events. He was given the offer of a power coin, that was in fact a trap for him to join Mesogog. Though, it was short-lived, he could feel the surge to destroy the other rangers. His friends. And that's not what he wanted. He hoped that Mesogog wasn't telling the truth about having his life in the hands of the evil being. He didn't want that. But he didn't really want to tell the others of his finding. His only concern laid in Tommy and how to free him from his encasing. When he got to the warehouse, he found Aisha and Rocky there with Tommy.
They transported the body into the lab and retired for the night. Than they returned the next morning with Hayley hoping to get some answers. "This isn't right." Ethan shook his head. "Is he okay?"
"What the hell happened?" Conner grew worried.
"What's the deal? Is he frozen or something? This doesn't look good at all."
"Not quite." Hayley turned back to the teens. "It's more like he's been fossilized. Been fused into this amber-like substance."
"Can you get him out?" Conner's face grew with great concern.
Hayley shook her head, sadly. "Too risky. He's able to stay alive in there and I'd be worried to break him out without knowing exactly what damage the molecular bonding has done to him."
"Great. A paleontologist turned into a fossil." Ethan sighed. "The White Ranger's got a great sense of humor."
Kira looked around the room, seeing the three ninjas looking intently at them. "And what about you guys? What do you have to say about all this?"
"I thought you guys were suppose to be sharp like ninjas." Conner didn't think anything like this would happen with them around.
The three teens looked at their newly inducted mentors, with a questioning stare.
"Give us a break, Conner." Rocky tried to look at the bright side of things, but his own anger and frustration was peaking through. "We're still trying to grasp what Tommy told us."
"And we haven't had the chance to make any communicators with all this going on." Hayley defended the ninja rangers.
"And if you haven't noticed, the old crew went back to their normal adult lives, while we're here helping out." Aisha stated.
"But you guys have done this before." Kira encouraged, still not understanding why they didn't stop the White Ranger.
Each ninja ranger exchanged a look with the other, shrugging.
"That was a long time ago." Adam replied.
"And even if we did, we don't have the power to morph into actual rangers. The ninja suits can only provide so much protection. "Rocky corrected.
"Well, I'm getting sick and tired of this." Kira stated. "I've had about enough."
"We'd better find out who this guy is and deal with him. Now." Conner declared in his best leadership voice.
----- Kim walked up to the porch and looked at the door to the quaint blue house in the woods, absently. She must have been crazy to even be on the porch of her love's house when she hadn't talked to him in days. It was true. She was avoiding him. Trying to figure out what to do with him.
It was early morning.
School hadn't started, and she figured it was best to catch him at the early hour to apologize. She knew he was never a morning person, and after all these years knew it hadn't left him. Jason did convince her of the pathetic gap she was putting between them when Tommy was already doing that with no problem. That was something she didn't want him to do anymore. He also informed her of their absence, needing to go back to their normal lives, but that Aisha, Rocky and Adam were gonna be around more due to the recent discovery of their ninja powers. She pulled out the house keys that Tommy had given to her days ago and found the one to open the front door. As she opened the door, she looked back at the driveway, not realizing until now that there was a red sports car beside the black jeep. It was Conner's, and Kim seemed a little worried to have the red dino rangers–and possibly, his ranger counterparts–there in the early morning before school started.
She pulled her luggage through the door, setting it aside placing the jacket, Tommy's jacket, on top of it, closing the door behind her. She also came to the conclusion that she would make the guest room occupied while on her stay, if not a place on Tommy's bed.
She called out his name, but got no answer.
"This is stupid, Kim." She told herself. "There is no point in staying mad at him, now. Not after all those messages he left. He really wants me back in his life, he's just scared. So am I. But I guess we can be scared together while we re-establish our relationship."
She began to explore the main floor of the house, never getting a proper tour of the house. She called out his name again, but got no answer figuring he was either still asleep or off on some early morning jog in the woods. She wasn't planning on going anywhere until he returned anyways.
She walked into the study, seeing the room was filled with books, dinosaur artifacts and pictures. Past. And present.
She walked over to the far wall where his desk was located, finding the multiple degrees plastered on the wall. But as she approached the wall to get a closer look, she tripped over a cord, tripped and took down a shelf of books as she fell.
BAM!
-----
BAM!
The group nearly jumped out of their clothes at the loud crash. It came from right above them.
"What was that?" Kira caught her chest, breathing slow.
"Looks like we got a visitor." Adam concluded.
"Let's go see who it is." Conner suggested to his dino ranger counterparts.
They nodded and followed their leader up the stairs.
The three ninjas exchanged a look, and then turned to the technical advisor. They made one conclusion.
"Kim." they all said with no surprise.
-----
Conner was the first to peak his head out of secret doorway, relaxing as he recognized the small petite woman in the room.
The other rangers followed, sending small greetings to the woman. Kim relaxed when she realized it was only the three teens.
"Need help?" Conner asked, displaying a charming smile.
Kim got to her feet, setting the books back on the shelf. "Thanks." she hesitated, looking around the room. "You know, I owe you guys an apology about all this. I didn't expect any of this to happen."
The guys hadn't talked to Kim since she found out they were the new ranger team. But Kira ran into her along with the yellow rangers, catching up on a few things that day after the discovery.
Ethan held up a hand, shaking his head. "If this is how love goes, than it's all good."
"Yeah, just kinda glad to see you, ya know." Conner said.
Kim looked at the teens again, seeing the worried look on their faces. "Something's happened. Where's Tommy?"
The teens looked at each other, taking a step back. No one answered her. They each pointed to the opened secret door, the answer to her question waiting down there.
Kim was the first one down the stairs. The teens followed after her. Ethan closed the door behind him.
Before Kim could make it down all the stairs, she saw the amber encasing her love. Adam and Rocky were quick to catch her as she nearly tripped down the last set of steps. They helped her over to a chair, as the group slowly crowded around her with deep concern.
"What happened?" she said barely above a whisper.
Ethan held up two fingers. "Two words. White Ranger."
"Fossilized." Conner added.
Kira and Aisha put reassuring hands on the original pink ranger's shoulders. She took their hands, holding them close as her frozen form could not believe what was in front of her. "Can you get him out?"
Each person shook their head slowly.
"Sorry, Kim. Until I get more information, I can't provide a safe passage for him to get out." Hayley admitted, seeing the great sadness in her.
"Don't worry, we'll figure something out." Rocky said.
"That White Ranger doesn't know who he's messing with now." Conner nodded, matching his fellow red ranger's determination.
"You okay?" Aisha asked her friend.
Kim looked at the yellow ninja ranger, blinking away some tears. She nodded slowly. "I'll be fine." Kim slowly got to her feet, walking over to the amber encasing holding her lover inside. She ran her hand against the smooth covering, but as she did, the tears began to fall. Kim turned back to the encasing, running her hand over the smooth surface again. "Hey, Tommy. It's me. I guess first off, I should apologize for not returning your calls. I just needed some time to think it all over. I must be stupid. I don't know why I was mad at you for such a thing as that. I mean, you were only trying to protect me. But now, we're all here to protect you. Don't worry, baby. They'll get you outta here. You got the best people for the job. And I don't plan on going anywhere until I know we can hold each other again. You got that. I love you, Thomas Anthony Oliver."
Everyone else in the room seemed slightly uncomfortable with the comment. Yet, they all knew that it was true. She didn't want to hide it anymore. Adam cleared his throat, everyone turning to look at him. "I know this is a serious matter, but don't you three gotta head to school?"
"You're right." Conner nodded, but looked back at the encasing. "But this isn't the best way to start off a day."
"Dr. O isn't exactly fit to teach a class." Ethan stated.
The three ninja rangers exchanged a look with each other than turned to their pink counterpart who shrugged. The teens exchanged their own set of looks concluding that they must have some mental connection or something going on.
"Do you guys have some sort of code in the way you look at each other, because that's starting to freak me out just a little bit." Kira spoke up.
"It's a ranger thing, isn't it?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah, but I didn't think that it was necessarily true." Ethan said.
The ninja rangers looked at each other again, shrugging. Rocky and Adam turned to Aisha, giving her the move to take her place as their substitute for the day. The teens couldn't argue with it and followed the yellow ninja ranger out of the room. Hayley informed them if they found out anything, they'd let them know.
-----
Hours passed.
"Trent?!" Ethan's eyes widened, his mouth agape. "There's no way, can there?"
"Great!" Conner turned away, kicking the air frustrated. "Being our friend one minute and kicking our butts the next. That's not right."
"I told you, he couldn't help it." Kira felt defeated. "The gem is too powerful."
Conner shook his head, crossing his arms. He didn't take that excuse at all. "No way, Kira. Stop defending him."
"I'm with Conner on this one," Ethan nodded looking at the encasing across the room. "I mean, look at what he did to Dr. O."
The three ninja rangers walked up behind Kira, in hopes it would add to the defense she had for Trent.
"Slow down you guys," Adam directed. "If you're forgetting, a certain doctor of paleontology was in Trent's shoes at one time."
Ethan and Conner took a step back, knowing that he was right. Each one turned to the encasing, seeing the worried petite woman beside it. She had been there for hours without really saying much to anyone. They figured she needed to get her space.
"So, Tommy, isn't exactly in the greatest state at the moment," Rocky began.
"But it doesn't mean that we won't figure this out," Aisha said. "We've all had our fair share in a few set backs."
"Don't worry, Kira. We'll try and help him out." Hayley stated.
Kira looked at each adult, minus Kim, and saw an encouraging smile on their faces. She only hoped that her ranger counterparts would give him a break. And as the two teens filed out the room with Hayley, she looked back at Kim, hoping she can get her to talk to her about what has happened.
-----
Hours later.
Kira had offered Kim to take some time out of moping about the lab to give the others a chance to get some work done. But neither had much to say, considering they were both facing problems with their significant other. They needed to talk about their issues, but just having the other's company was good enough.
They were at the lake in one of the parks just outside the woods. Kira stood there with a picture Trent had drawn of himself in the White Ranger suit. Kim stood beside her, putting a comforting hand around the yellow dino ranger.
"I never would have seen this coming." Kim shook her head, sadly. "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay. How about you?" Kira looked over at the petite woman beside her. "How did you deal with this?"
Kim sighed. "It was hard. Really hard. My friends were trying to be comforting, I didn't want their comforting. I wanted to help out Tommy in any way possible. I mean, I was crushed. After Jason broke the spell, I didn't want to leave his side ever again. I cared about him. The very moment I met him, and though he tried to kill me–all of us–I didn't want to give up on him. I felt lost in myself."
"But you got over it? You helped him out."
Kim nodded. "We all did. But I knew he appreciated my help the best. And we won't give up on Trent. We'll find a way to help him out."
"I heard my name." a low voice spoke from behind them. "I thought I'd find you here."
The two girls turned around slowly, startling the person dressed in white. He looked from the yellow dino ranger to the former pink ranger, confused. And worried that he might have said too much.
"Um...hey, Kim. What are you doing here?" he asked slowly.
"Don't worry, Trent." Kira shook her head. "You're fine. Kim already knows about who you are."
Trent raised an eyebrow in confusion. He took a step forward cautiously. "Uh...whatever happened to secret identities?"
"It's okay, Trent. I know you're the White Ranger." Kim nodded. "Your secret is safe with me, because I know exactly what you're going through. I used to be a ranger myself."
Trent took a step forward. "Wow. Look, I'm sorry about..."
Kim shook her head. "Kira tells me you can't control your powers. I understand. You should let us help you."
"I can't." he felt slightly uncomfortable to have the woman he had seen with Dr. Oliver there beside his crush.
"Kim knows exactly what you're going through..." Kira pleaded.
Trent shook his head. "No. I can't. The gem's already taking over just like he said. And it's not safe to be around me."
"Who?" the girls asked in unison.
"That doesn't matter." Trent rubbed his forehead. He could feel the changes in his body, the way he was starting to lose control. "I can't do this. Kira, please. You gotta understand I have to get outta here."
"But..." Kira tried to say.
"Look, I said no!" Trent snapped, saddened that he did that. He looked into the hurt eyes of his crush, the pain crushed him.
He snatched the picture and retreated without having the two girls say anymore to him. He threw it into the lake without looking back.
Kira collapsed into the waiting, comforting arms of Kim. She couldn't seem to cry, but never felt so miserable or scared for someone.
To be continued....
Summary: Tommy is fossilized. The dino rangers must turn to their new mentors for guidance until further notice. But at what cost will it be when they find out the White Ranger was really a friend to them? And if what Kira is saying is true, can they help him before it gets too serious?
Disclaimer: Power Rangers not mine. Hoping it will in the future, but for now, gotta just dream it were true.
A/N: Well, obviously the title gives it away. This does tie into "Truth and Consequence." But what more do I have to say, is that it had to be manipulated just a little bit. Then again, I must apologize for the long wait in getting this on the net. Long story. Sorry. But anyways, read and review. May the Powers Protect you Always.
"The shadows pay up in both the truth to lies and the consequences to them. Be careful where you stand." –Eclyptyk Neo
Next day. Early morning.
The three teenagers had gotten word that Dr. Oliver was in serious trouble. The three ninja rangers were already there with Hayley when they arrived. Hayley was running a bio-netic scan over the encasing of the black dino ranger.
Aisha and Rocky noticed the lost in Adam's eyes, as he refused to comment on the previous day's events. He was given the offer of a power coin, that was in fact a trap for him to join Mesogog. Though, it was short-lived, he could feel the surge to destroy the other rangers. His friends. And that's not what he wanted. He hoped that Mesogog wasn't telling the truth about having his life in the hands of the evil being. He didn't want that. But he didn't really want to tell the others of his finding. His only concern laid in Tommy and how to free him from his encasing. When he got to the warehouse, he found Aisha and Rocky there with Tommy.
They transported the body into the lab and retired for the night. Than they returned the next morning with Hayley hoping to get some answers. "This isn't right." Ethan shook his head. "Is he okay?"
"What the hell happened?" Conner grew worried.
"What's the deal? Is he frozen or something? This doesn't look good at all."
"Not quite." Hayley turned back to the teens. "It's more like he's been fossilized. Been fused into this amber-like substance."
"Can you get him out?" Conner's face grew with great concern.
Hayley shook her head, sadly. "Too risky. He's able to stay alive in there and I'd be worried to break him out without knowing exactly what damage the molecular bonding has done to him."
"Great. A paleontologist turned into a fossil." Ethan sighed. "The White Ranger's got a great sense of humor."
Kira looked around the room, seeing the three ninjas looking intently at them. "And what about you guys? What do you have to say about all this?"
"I thought you guys were suppose to be sharp like ninjas." Conner didn't think anything like this would happen with them around.
The three teens looked at their newly inducted mentors, with a questioning stare.
"Give us a break, Conner." Rocky tried to look at the bright side of things, but his own anger and frustration was peaking through. "We're still trying to grasp what Tommy told us."
"And we haven't had the chance to make any communicators with all this going on." Hayley defended the ninja rangers.
"And if you haven't noticed, the old crew went back to their normal adult lives, while we're here helping out." Aisha stated.
"But you guys have done this before." Kira encouraged, still not understanding why they didn't stop the White Ranger.
Each ninja ranger exchanged a look with the other, shrugging.
"That was a long time ago." Adam replied.
"And even if we did, we don't have the power to morph into actual rangers. The ninja suits can only provide so much protection. "Rocky corrected.
"Well, I'm getting sick and tired of this." Kira stated. "I've had about enough."
"We'd better find out who this guy is and deal with him. Now." Conner declared in his best leadership voice.
----- Kim walked up to the porch and looked at the door to the quaint blue house in the woods, absently. She must have been crazy to even be on the porch of her love's house when she hadn't talked to him in days. It was true. She was avoiding him. Trying to figure out what to do with him.
It was early morning.
School hadn't started, and she figured it was best to catch him at the early hour to apologize. She knew he was never a morning person, and after all these years knew it hadn't left him. Jason did convince her of the pathetic gap she was putting between them when Tommy was already doing that with no problem. That was something she didn't want him to do anymore. He also informed her of their absence, needing to go back to their normal lives, but that Aisha, Rocky and Adam were gonna be around more due to the recent discovery of their ninja powers. She pulled out the house keys that Tommy had given to her days ago and found the one to open the front door. As she opened the door, she looked back at the driveway, not realizing until now that there was a red sports car beside the black jeep. It was Conner's, and Kim seemed a little worried to have the red dino rangers–and possibly, his ranger counterparts–there in the early morning before school started.
She pulled her luggage through the door, setting it aside placing the jacket, Tommy's jacket, on top of it, closing the door behind her. She also came to the conclusion that she would make the guest room occupied while on her stay, if not a place on Tommy's bed.
She called out his name, but got no answer.
"This is stupid, Kim." She told herself. "There is no point in staying mad at him, now. Not after all those messages he left. He really wants me back in his life, he's just scared. So am I. But I guess we can be scared together while we re-establish our relationship."
She began to explore the main floor of the house, never getting a proper tour of the house. She called out his name again, but got no answer figuring he was either still asleep or off on some early morning jog in the woods. She wasn't planning on going anywhere until he returned anyways.
She walked into the study, seeing the room was filled with books, dinosaur artifacts and pictures. Past. And present.
She walked over to the far wall where his desk was located, finding the multiple degrees plastered on the wall. But as she approached the wall to get a closer look, she tripped over a cord, tripped and took down a shelf of books as she fell.
BAM!
-----
BAM!
The group nearly jumped out of their clothes at the loud crash. It came from right above them.
"What was that?" Kira caught her chest, breathing slow.
"Looks like we got a visitor." Adam concluded.
"Let's go see who it is." Conner suggested to his dino ranger counterparts.
They nodded and followed their leader up the stairs.
The three ninjas exchanged a look, and then turned to the technical advisor. They made one conclusion.
"Kim." they all said with no surprise.
-----
Conner was the first to peak his head out of secret doorway, relaxing as he recognized the small petite woman in the room.
The other rangers followed, sending small greetings to the woman. Kim relaxed when she realized it was only the three teens.
"Need help?" Conner asked, displaying a charming smile.
Kim got to her feet, setting the books back on the shelf. "Thanks." she hesitated, looking around the room. "You know, I owe you guys an apology about all this. I didn't expect any of this to happen."
The guys hadn't talked to Kim since she found out they were the new ranger team. But Kira ran into her along with the yellow rangers, catching up on a few things that day after the discovery.
Ethan held up a hand, shaking his head. "If this is how love goes, than it's all good."
"Yeah, just kinda glad to see you, ya know." Conner said.
Kim looked at the teens again, seeing the worried look on their faces. "Something's happened. Where's Tommy?"
The teens looked at each other, taking a step back. No one answered her. They each pointed to the opened secret door, the answer to her question waiting down there.
Kim was the first one down the stairs. The teens followed after her. Ethan closed the door behind him.
Before Kim could make it down all the stairs, she saw the amber encasing her love. Adam and Rocky were quick to catch her as she nearly tripped down the last set of steps. They helped her over to a chair, as the group slowly crowded around her with deep concern.
"What happened?" she said barely above a whisper.
Ethan held up two fingers. "Two words. White Ranger."
"Fossilized." Conner added.
Kira and Aisha put reassuring hands on the original pink ranger's shoulders. She took their hands, holding them close as her frozen form could not believe what was in front of her. "Can you get him out?"
Each person shook their head slowly.
"Sorry, Kim. Until I get more information, I can't provide a safe passage for him to get out." Hayley admitted, seeing the great sadness in her.
"Don't worry, we'll figure something out." Rocky said.
"That White Ranger doesn't know who he's messing with now." Conner nodded, matching his fellow red ranger's determination.
"You okay?" Aisha asked her friend.
Kim looked at the yellow ninja ranger, blinking away some tears. She nodded slowly. "I'll be fine." Kim slowly got to her feet, walking over to the amber encasing holding her lover inside. She ran her hand against the smooth covering, but as she did, the tears began to fall. Kim turned back to the encasing, running her hand over the smooth surface again. "Hey, Tommy. It's me. I guess first off, I should apologize for not returning your calls. I just needed some time to think it all over. I must be stupid. I don't know why I was mad at you for such a thing as that. I mean, you were only trying to protect me. But now, we're all here to protect you. Don't worry, baby. They'll get you outta here. You got the best people for the job. And I don't plan on going anywhere until I know we can hold each other again. You got that. I love you, Thomas Anthony Oliver."
Everyone else in the room seemed slightly uncomfortable with the comment. Yet, they all knew that it was true. She didn't want to hide it anymore. Adam cleared his throat, everyone turning to look at him. "I know this is a serious matter, but don't you three gotta head to school?"
"You're right." Conner nodded, but looked back at the encasing. "But this isn't the best way to start off a day."
"Dr. O isn't exactly fit to teach a class." Ethan stated.
The three ninja rangers exchanged a look with each other than turned to their pink counterpart who shrugged. The teens exchanged their own set of looks concluding that they must have some mental connection or something going on.
"Do you guys have some sort of code in the way you look at each other, because that's starting to freak me out just a little bit." Kira spoke up.
"It's a ranger thing, isn't it?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah, but I didn't think that it was necessarily true." Ethan said.
The ninja rangers looked at each other again, shrugging. Rocky and Adam turned to Aisha, giving her the move to take her place as their substitute for the day. The teens couldn't argue with it and followed the yellow ninja ranger out of the room. Hayley informed them if they found out anything, they'd let them know.
-----
Hours passed.
"Trent?!" Ethan's eyes widened, his mouth agape. "There's no way, can there?"
"Great!" Conner turned away, kicking the air frustrated. "Being our friend one minute and kicking our butts the next. That's not right."
"I told you, he couldn't help it." Kira felt defeated. "The gem is too powerful."
Conner shook his head, crossing his arms. He didn't take that excuse at all. "No way, Kira. Stop defending him."
"I'm with Conner on this one," Ethan nodded looking at the encasing across the room. "I mean, look at what he did to Dr. O."
The three ninja rangers walked up behind Kira, in hopes it would add to the defense she had for Trent.
"Slow down you guys," Adam directed. "If you're forgetting, a certain doctor of paleontology was in Trent's shoes at one time."
Ethan and Conner took a step back, knowing that he was right. Each one turned to the encasing, seeing the worried petite woman beside it. She had been there for hours without really saying much to anyone. They figured she needed to get her space.
"So, Tommy, isn't exactly in the greatest state at the moment," Rocky began.
"But it doesn't mean that we won't figure this out," Aisha said. "We've all had our fair share in a few set backs."
"Don't worry, Kira. We'll try and help him out." Hayley stated.
Kira looked at each adult, minus Kim, and saw an encouraging smile on their faces. She only hoped that her ranger counterparts would give him a break. And as the two teens filed out the room with Hayley, she looked back at Kim, hoping she can get her to talk to her about what has happened.
-----
Hours later.
Kira had offered Kim to take some time out of moping about the lab to give the others a chance to get some work done. But neither had much to say, considering they were both facing problems with their significant other. They needed to talk about their issues, but just having the other's company was good enough.
They were at the lake in one of the parks just outside the woods. Kira stood there with a picture Trent had drawn of himself in the White Ranger suit. Kim stood beside her, putting a comforting hand around the yellow dino ranger.
"I never would have seen this coming." Kim shook her head, sadly. "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay. How about you?" Kira looked over at the petite woman beside her. "How did you deal with this?"
Kim sighed. "It was hard. Really hard. My friends were trying to be comforting, I didn't want their comforting. I wanted to help out Tommy in any way possible. I mean, I was crushed. After Jason broke the spell, I didn't want to leave his side ever again. I cared about him. The very moment I met him, and though he tried to kill me–all of us–I didn't want to give up on him. I felt lost in myself."
"But you got over it? You helped him out."
Kim nodded. "We all did. But I knew he appreciated my help the best. And we won't give up on Trent. We'll find a way to help him out."
"I heard my name." a low voice spoke from behind them. "I thought I'd find you here."
The two girls turned around slowly, startling the person dressed in white. He looked from the yellow dino ranger to the former pink ranger, confused. And worried that he might have said too much.
"Um...hey, Kim. What are you doing here?" he asked slowly.
"Don't worry, Trent." Kira shook her head. "You're fine. Kim already knows about who you are."
Trent raised an eyebrow in confusion. He took a step forward cautiously. "Uh...whatever happened to secret identities?"
"It's okay, Trent. I know you're the White Ranger." Kim nodded. "Your secret is safe with me, because I know exactly what you're going through. I used to be a ranger myself."
Trent took a step forward. "Wow. Look, I'm sorry about..."
Kim shook her head. "Kira tells me you can't control your powers. I understand. You should let us help you."
"I can't." he felt slightly uncomfortable to have the woman he had seen with Dr. Oliver there beside his crush.
"Kim knows exactly what you're going through..." Kira pleaded.
Trent shook his head. "No. I can't. The gem's already taking over just like he said. And it's not safe to be around me."
"Who?" the girls asked in unison.
"That doesn't matter." Trent rubbed his forehead. He could feel the changes in his body, the way he was starting to lose control. "I can't do this. Kira, please. You gotta understand I have to get outta here."
"But..." Kira tried to say.
"Look, I said no!" Trent snapped, saddened that he did that. He looked into the hurt eyes of his crush, the pain crushed him.
He snatched the picture and retreated without having the two girls say anymore to him. He threw it into the lake without looking back.
Kira collapsed into the waiting, comforting arms of Kim. She couldn't seem to cry, but never felt so miserable or scared for someone.
To be continued....