Hey everyone. Thanks again for your great reviews. Here's the next chapter (I'm not very good with monsters and stuff but I've given it my best shot!) Enjoy...
Tori, Dustin, Shane and Blake reached the quarry together. They saw the alien almost straight away.
It was humanoid in shape and looked as if it was wearing some sort of medieval armour. It turned to its head to face them as they approached; the only part of its face that could be seen was two glowing green eyes from deep within its helmet.
"Well well well, what have we here? Only four of you to face me?" he gave an evil cackle. "Never mind, prepare to face your worst Knightmare!" With that he raised what looked like a lance and pointed it at them, firing bolts of energy towards them. It missed, but was very close.
"Right, let's blast this dude." Dustin said.
"Ok guys, time to morph." Shane said.
NINJA STORM
RANGER FORM
HA!
the Wind rangers yelled.
Blake, on his own, followed with the Thunder Ranger's cry of
THUNDER STORM
RANGER FORM
HA!
It was one of the few times he had done it without his brother beside him and man did it feel weird.
Drawing their Ninja Swords, the three Wind Rangers ran at Knightmare. With a quick flick of his wrist, Knightmare slipped the lance into its holder on his back and drew his own sword from its sheath at his side. He countered the Ranger's blows easily. Blake ran at him, Thunder Staff at the ready but was easily thrust aside.
The rangers regrouped.
"Where the hell is Hunter?" Shane gasped for air.
"Don't know." Blake answered. "This is not like him…"
"Guys, now is not the time to discuss Hunter's recent behavior." Tori said. "Let's get this dude then we can complain about his lack of group commitment."
The others agreed and the fighting resumed.
Meanwhile in his room Hunter was hunched up in a corner staring at his beeping morpher as if it was going to bite him. He knew that his friends were out there right now battling some evil, putting their lives on the line to save the world again and he was powerless to help them. He put his hands over his ears and attempted to block out not only the sounds of his morpher, but also the sounds of the argument his parents were having downstairs. Phil was shouting again; Maggie was screaming and crying. Hunter knew it wouldn't be long before Phil would come storming upstairs to take out his anger on him…
After about ten minutes of fierce battle with neither the Rangers or Knightmare gaining an advantage, Knightmare just turned and ran.
"See you in your dreams rangers." he yelled over his shoulder, and then was gone, leaving the rangers stunned.
"Why'd he just go?" Tori asked.
The others had no answer.
"And where the hell was Hunter in all of this? Man, I can't believe he'd bail on us like this." Dustin said.
"Hey bro." Shane said to Blake. "We gotta be getting to Storm Chargers. You're already late and I want a word with Hunter." he added menacingly.
But once they reached Storm Chargers, Hunter was nowhere in sight. Kelly looked a bit flustered.
"Hey Kelly, have you seen Hunter today?"
"Hunter? No."
"But he should be at work, right?"
"Didn't he tell you?" Kelly asked.
Seeing the blank look on their faces, she continued. "His parents came in here yesterday looking for him. He'd told them I'd called last minute and needed some help. I hadn't, of course. Turns out I've called him a number of times recently. His mum said that he was always at work. The funny thing is, I don't even know his new phone number, and he certainly hasn't been in here."
Blake and Shane exchanged glances. They knew exactly where he had been at those times. Seemed fair that he hadn't told his parents.
But then Kelly surprised them "They also had no idea he raced. They thought work finished at six, not five. He hadn't told them he was at the race track." She shrugged. "I don't think they approve. Anyway, last night I got a call from Phil, Hunter's step-dad, saying that Hunter won't be able to work here anymore. And that was that. I haven't seen Hunter all day." With that she turned and went to serve a customer that had just entered.
"Well, that settles it. Something funny is going on. Let's go see what Hunter has to say for himself." Shane said grimly. They turned and headed for the door.
"Guys, could you just give me a … hand?" Kelly sighed. They'd gone again. She really was going to have to get some more reliable staff…
