Chapter Two
"Karone help," Leo Corbett said while laughing as the small band of kids piled on top of him. He was busy at the Terra Venture day care center helping Karone baby-sit the kids while their parents were at work.
"All right you guys, that's enough piling on top of Leo for the day," said an approaching voice.
They all looked up to see Karone smiling as she approached them.
"Your parents are here to take you home," she said with her usual soft sweet voice.
The kids picked themselves off of Leo and headed to where their parents were waiting for them.
"Bye Leo, bye Karone, see you tomorrow," one of the little girls said waving.
After they had left, Karone turned to Leo and offered him a hand. Accepting it, Leo stood up and brushed the remaining grass off his outfit. As usual he wore his blue denim shirt with his red sleeveless shirt underneath, his tan khaki pants and his black lugz.
"You sure act like a big kid a lot of the time Leo," Karone said with a grin.
He stood their looking at her and couldn't help but stare, she was wearing her usual black leather top that tied down the front with a single lace, and matching leather pants, both of which showed off her slim body, and her black boots . Her shoulder length blonde hair flowed freely accept at the top where a small braid held a portion in place. Her soft creamy skin had a slight tan to it, and her green eyes sparkled slightly. He stop staring and grinned. "Look who's talking," Leo playfully retorted.
"Oh?" Karone replied walking up to him and giving him a gentle push.
"Yeah," Leo said gently pushing her back.
The next thing they knew they were rolling on the ground wrestling each other. Laughing they finally stopped and Karone found herself lying their with Leo on top of her.
"Okay, you win," she said grinning, revealing a perfectly set of bright white teeth.
Leo grinned back at her and said, "Guess you're right, we are a couple of big kids."
Their grins slowly began to fade as they stared into each others eyes. Slowly Leo found himself leaning down and his lips met hers in a soft but loving kiss. A thrill went up and down Karone's spine as Leo kissed her, slowly she found her hands reaching up and gently wrapping around the back of Leo's neck.
Suddenly Leo stopped kissing her and sat up. He broke free of her hold and stared at Karone with a slightly horrified look on his face. "Karone, I didn't..." he began but then stopped, he quickly stood up and turned and ran.
"Leo?" Karone said as she watched run off. She couldn't understand what was wrong. One thing she was sure of thought, no man had ever kissed her like that, she had been overcome with a sense of longing, and joy.
Kai Chen stood next to Damon Henderson as they stared at the sight in front of them. They were in one of the empty hanger bays at what was left of Terra Venture's old Space Port. The remains of the Megaship were lying there on the main floor charred and almost unrecognizable. Bit by bit though, the puzzle before them was starting to take shape.
"You really think you can rebuild her," Kai said turning to Damon with a skeptic look on his face.
"With a will there's a way," Damon said grinning, "The salvage crews brought what was left of her here at my request, and Alpha says he has all the blue prints we need to rebuild her.
Kai shook his head and grinned at the mechanic, "Okay, so I guess I'll see you in what, ten to twenty years?"
Damon chuckled at Kai's lack of faith and said: "A lot less than that, with the old assembly and repair equipment here still in perfect working order, we can have her back up in only a matter of months."
"I'll have to take your word for it then Damon," Kai said as he turned and headed out of the hanger, "And believe it when I see it."
"Don't worry cuz you'll see," Damon said watching his friend leave. He turned to Alpha as the robot walked up to him, "All right Alpha, let's get to work."
"Okay Damon," Alpha replied as they tried to decided what to do first.
Kendrix Morgan sat at her desk in the R&D department, experimenting with a new type of fruit sample that had been gathered from one of the tropical regions.
She was almost finished with the experiment when Mike walked into the room. She glanced up and smiled at the young commanding officer. Studied him for a second as he examined a report from one the other scientists. The former Magna Defender seemed more than happy to busy himself with things other than battling the forces of evil. Although Kendrix could tell that deep down, he missed his powers a great deal. It had been evident when the Rangers had been recalled to duty to fight Trakeena once more, only four months ago.
"Hey Mike," Kendrix said as Mike approached her, "To what do I owe this visit?"
"I came to see how you're doing," Mike replied.
"I'm doing fine," Kendrix said, "Just finishing up with an experiment."
"Glad to see that," Mike said, "Listen I need to ask you something, have you talk to Leo lately?"
"No. Why? Is something wrong?"
Mike hesitated for a second, then said: "I don't know, it just seems that he's been acting a little strange lately. He's been kind preoccupied with something. I figured since you two sort of used to share a sort of closeness, maybe he might have mentioned something."
Kendrix smiled at the older Corbett brother's choice of words, then replied: "Mike, Leo and I both agreed to be very close friends, that's all, we had shared a sort of interest in one another, but it was only an attraction, nothing more. If anything I kind of consider him more like the slightly immature older brother I never had."
Mike could help but laugh at this. He was about to reply to this comment when the source of their discussion came running into the room.
"Mike, Kendrix," Leo stammered.
"What's wrong Leo," Kendrix asked staring at him with a concerned look.
Quickly and slowly Leo explained to the two about what had happened between him and Karone in the park. When he finished, he sat back and held his head in his hands taking a deep breath.
Kendrix turned and looked at Mike, they both had smiles on their faces. They had both known that at one point or another, one of the two would make a move. Although the outcome however was a slight bit startling.
"So you just left her their?" Mike said after a minute.
"What else could I have done?" Leo replied looking up at him, "I didn't know what else to say to her."
"Well, how do you feel about her?" Kendrix finally asked, all though having gotten to know Leo a little, she sort of already knew the answer.
Leo hesitated for a second, before it finally dawned on him, "I love her."
Kendrix and Mike both gave him a knowing smile and nodded their heads in agreement.
"So are you going to tell her?" Kendrix asked.
Leo thought about it, then shook his head, "No. I can't."
"Why not?" Mike asked.
"Because, I know she doesn't feel the same for me," Leo replied.
"Do you know that for sure, or are you just guessing" Kendrix said looking him straight in the eye.
"I'm sure of it," Leo replied.
"So what are you going to do when you see her again tomorrow?" Mike inquired.
"I don't know, I guess I'll just try and act like it never happened," Leo said with a weak smile.
Meanwhile on the moon, a small glow appeared in what remained of the Scorpion Stinger.
Deviot collapsed to the floor. "Finally I'm free of that cursed void I was in," he snarled. Pushing himself to his feet he stared in awe at the site before him. The cocoon stood in front of him, still intact. "As I hoped, the cocoon is still here for me to use. Now it's time to seek my revenge."
Suddenly an energy blast hit the cocoon and it vanished in a flash.
"No!" Deviot gasped, "Who dares to interrupt my plans?"
"Deviot, you worthless fool, you have disappointed me," said a dark clad figure as he stepped from the shadows.
"Skokahn," Deviot said, fear suddenly entering his voice. He bowed respectfully to the powerful warlord. "Forgive me master, I didn't realize it was you."
"I'm not surprised you weak and impudent fool," Skokahn replied walking up to him. "Why I bother to even let you live is beyond me."
Without another word he reached out his hand and a beam of green light shot from it, engulfing Deviot. When it vanished, Deviot stood before his master not only healed but transformed into an even more power version of himself. One hand now had tentacles, his face had taken on a more insect like appearance, and his feet now had large sharp claws to them.
"Awe, it feels good to be back to full strength," Deviot said with an evil growl.
"I've only healed you and fully restored your powers, so that you may complete the original assignment I had given you," Skokahn said coldly. In some ways Skokahn resembled a human, in fact he looked exactly like one, accept for the outfit he wore and the slightly greenish colored skin he had.
"Awe yes, the quest to destroy "The One", I'm afraid I've yet to encounter the individual, your lordship," Deviot replied.
"Obviously," Skokahn retorted, "You must find them and destroy them first, before they have had a chance to seek out the wise man on that world below us, and retrieved "the sword of the ancient ones."
"What sword is that exactly?" Deviot asked.
"It was a sword that once belonged to the Guardian of the gateway that leads from our universe to this one," Skokahn said, "The sword was lost when I trapped him in that void over ten thousand years ago. But the sword will reappear to 'The One' during battle when his powers are at their peak. I must not let that happen, only 'The One' if properly trained has the power to defeat me, when the time of my accension arrives!"
"And so they shall not master," Deviot replied, "I shall see to it."
"I'm counting on you Deviot. You must not fail me," Skokahn growled, as he and Deviot headed into the main thrown room. "Now onto the business at hand, it comes to my attention that the army you commanded was wasted by that fool Trakeena. Well, I think that it's time I brought that army back."
With a sweep of his hand, an entire army of the ugly bug creatures appeared. However unlike the original Stingwingers, these ones were mutated, their clawed arms now had hands, and their wings were larger and more visible. They bowed respectfully to him and awaited his orders.
"Awe my noble troops, there's is much to do, so get to work changing this place to better suit my liking," Skokahn commanded, "It's time for me to start preparing for the future."