Tommy's eyes tensed up as he made soft whimpers. "That's what you get for waiting too long to get your ribs wrapped up," scolded Hayley, as she tightened the bandage around his chest.
"Well, I figured I could handle it. It's done me fine in the past." Hayley tightened the bandages again. "Yaoh! Hey, that hurt!" he yelled.
"I don't know what it is with you tough macho guys, but you all are not that tough." Hayley wrapped the bandage once more. "There. It's finished." She handed him his shirt. "Try to take it easy for a while, okay?"
He had to laugh at that. "Right. I'll take it easy trying to control a bunch of teenagers along with saving the world from mutant dinosaurs."
"I'm serious." She playfully hit him on the shoulder. "You're real lucky that you didn't get hurt worse." Hayley crossed her arms against her chest. "You know, maybe you should think about staying at Mr. Collins' place until this thing with Zeltrax and Janixsaur is over." Lately she had become concerned about Tommy. He'd been a lot more tired lately and seeming to lag behind, and with Zeltrax hot on his trail, there was no telling what could happen.
Tommy smiled; leave it to an old girlfriend to tell him what to do. "Hail's, I'm perfectly fine at my lodge."
"Right. And you've got a nice shiner to prove it," she said, pointing out the fact that his right eye was bright red and puffy, turning to a darkish purple.
"He just caught me off guard is all. It's not going to happen again. Promise."
Hayley sighed. He always knew how to get himself out of anything. "Alright, you win." She tossed him a washcloth. "Now help me clean up the place, so I can head home and get ready."
"Oh, big date with Eric tonight, huh." He laughed. "Anything I should know about?"
"Shut-up! And wipe that smile off your face."
Eric was in the living room getting his shoes on. Jen was sitting on the couch watching TV, while reading a book. Alex was across the room, doing push-ups. "You two sure you don't want to come? Hayley said she'd love to have you."
It had seemed like forever since either one had been out just to have some fun. And although Eric wasn't keen on the idea of hooking Jen and Alex back up, he knew Jen needed to move on. Wes would have wanted it that way.
"Sorry, but I don't have the time to go out and have fun with the future at risk," responded Alex, as he changed his position and started doing sit-ups.
Eric frowned. Although it wasn't too long ago, he probably would have said the same thing, but that was until Wes and now Hayley had come into his life. "Suit yourself." Eric looked over to Jen. "Jen?"
"Hmm. Oh, thanks Eric, but I don't feel like going out tonight; besides you know what they say, three's a crowd. But I hope you and Hayley have a nice time on your date." Without another word Jen got up and headed out of the living room down the hall, and up the stairs.
He could sense something was wrong. Something was off between her and Alex, and last time he had checked the two had worked out their differences. So now what could have happened? Eric got up and walked over to Alex. "Anything I should know about?" he asked.
"We had a little argument, that's all," he responded flatly. "She'll be fine by tomorrow."
Eric crossed his arms against his chest. "What about?"
"It doesn't concern you," remarked Alex sharply, trying his best to ignore Eric and go back to doing his sit-ups.
"Nothing better happen to her while I'm gone."
Alex shook his head, annoyed. Since when is he all big brother over Jen? He got to his feet and faced him. "What do you think I'm going to do to her?" Why did everyone seem to always make him out to be the bad guy? "Do you really think I would intentionally hurt her?"
"No," Eric sighed, while looking him right in the eyes. "It may not be your intention to hurt her, but whatever you've been doing lately has been doing more hurt to her than anything."
"Whatever I'm doing is what's best for her," remarked Alex furiously. What right does he have telling me off? He doesn't know what's going on. The guy barely even knows me or Jen.
Eric nodded his head. "I hope you're right, because I sure hate to see her dig herself into an even bigger hole."
Alex got right up into his face. "Don't you have a date to get to?"
Eric looked him directly in the eyes. He wanted nothing more than to take Alex by the shoulder and throw him through the wall, and find out whatever it was he was keeping from Jen, but he opted not to. He started to back away and turned around and headed towards the door.
Frustrated, Alex punched the wall. He abruptly laughed. "Just when I think we're all starting to get along, I go ahead and blow it." He sighed heavily. "Nice going Alex." He leaned back against the wall and slid down, bowing his head down. Being a friend and good leader was a lot harder than he thought.
"Man, I can't believe in a little more than a month we'll be graduating and going to the prom." Conner looked around at his friends. They all had gone to the Cyber Café to hang out, just the four of them; take it easy and get Trent out of the hospital for a few hours other than for school.
"I know, it just seems like yesterday the year started. Meeting Dr. O, and finding the dino gems," added Ethan.
"Yeah it's hard to believe school will be over soon," said Kira softly. She sounded sad, almost regretful that it was going to end.
"You don't sound too happy about it. Didn't you get into the arts and music institution?" asked Conner.
"Yeah. I did." She sighed. "I don't know. I guess I'm just going to miss things the way they are." She looked at them. "We've been through a lot together."
The room fell silent. She was right, they had been through a lot together this past year. They had all become rangers, friends, they had all became so close, they were a family almost.
"We sure have," responded Trent, smiling faintly at Kira and the others. If it hadn't been for them, he wasn't sure what would have happened to him. For the first time in years, he was happy with his life. He had friends who cared about him, who were there for him and who would forgive him and give him a second chance. "I just want to thank you guys for welcoming me into your lives, and being here for me these past few days. It means a lot."
Kira took Trent's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Hey, you're a big part of our lives too," she laughed. "Who knows, if it hadn't been for you, we'd all probably still be stuck in that comic book."
"Don't remind me. That is one experience I'll be glad to forget," remarked Conner.
"I don't know, Conner, there was just something so intriguing about it," responded Ethan.
"Yeah, with you Ethan, everything's intriguing." Everyone then started to laugh, as they began to talk about the past year and look forward to a brighter future.
Tommy sat at his desk going through the drawers and cleaning everything out to make everything a little more organized. He had been here a little less than a year. He couldn't believe how much of a mess everything was. Most of it was just junk, papers, forms, odds and ends that he no longer needed. "Man, I can't believe I still have all of this."
He stacked a pile of papers on his desk, making everything even, and set it nicely off to the side. He pulled a few old newspaper clippings out from his desk. Mostly clippings of his acknowledgment and awards, while working with Anton Mercer, and some of the clippings had Smitty in them.
For a long moment he just stared at the pictures, thinking of old times and better days, back before the mess with him and Smitty had taken place, back before he and Anton had gone too far in their experiments.
He wasn't sure why he had them; his parents must have given them to him, just before he left for Reefside. Although they didn't understand why he had taken off from school and left to work with Mercer, they were proud of him.
He sighed heavily. He didn't need these anymore. They only reminded him of the horrifying nightmares of failed and dangerous experiments. He crumbled them up and tossed them into his trashcan, but a picture had fallen from the clippings and dropped to the ground. Tommy bent down and picked it up.
It was a picture taken very early when he first joined Mercer's team. Mercer, along with Smitty and himself were in the picture, but so was a young woman who had her arms wrapped around Smitty, smiling brightly. Tommy stared at her for a long moment, trying to remember who she was. She had dark long brownish hair and dark beaming eyes. His eyes then caught the sparkling object down by her hand, a ring. She was Smitty's fiancée, but for the life of him, he couldn't put a name to her face.
He rubbed his eyes and looked at his clock. It was nearing midnight. Tired, he set the picture down on his desk, and got up and headed off to bed.
"The time is nearing, Hexasaur, when you will destroy the rangers once and for all," announced Janixsaur.
"Yes, master. This time there will be no mistakes; the rangers' doom is near. I will not fail you again," vowed Hexasaur.
"See that you don't." Janixsaur walked circles around his minion. "Or your fate will lie with Elsa's." He then stopped and faced Hexasaur, and eyed him, motioning for him to get to his feet.
Hexasaur rose from the ground. "You have my word. By tomorrow's end the rangers will be no more."
"Good." Janixsaur smiled darkly. His plans were coming into order, by tomorrow the rangers would be finished, once and for all. And with the Quantum ranger dead, Time Force would cease to exist. He laughed and patted him on the arm. "Make me proud tomorrow." The powerful dinosaur then turned around and started to head into his dark chambers, but stopped halfway. "Hexasaur."
"Yes, master."
"You never did say what you did with Elsa. Just how did you dispose of her?"
Hexasaur's face was blank. "I don't remember master."
Janixsaur didn't answer, a cunning smile crossed his face, and he entered into his chambers, leaving Hexasaur alone in the darkness.
Hexasaur walked into his chamber, a dark and cold room. He sat down, and looked around at the emptiness, the coldness and horror all around, dark green and orange fires burning. His face was motionless and distant, but hidden deep inside was a voice screaming out in pain and fear. He was scared to death…
"Somebody! Anybody! Please help me!"