Chapter Nine
Jasmine lay on the table in Ninja Ops fingering her pendant. She and Tori were waiting for the guys to meet them so they could try and figure out what was up with Jasmine's amulet, but the guys were late.
"Where do you think they are?" Tori asked as she twirled around in the chair that sat in front of the computer.
"I have no clue." Jasmine replied turning over on her stomach and propping her head in her hands, "They better get here soon though."
"I know, and they complain about how we take a long time, they're almost thirty minutes late!" Tori said.
"Men." Jasmine laughed shaking her head.
"What about men?" the two girls looked up at the entrance to Ninja Ops and saw the guys walking down the stairs.
"Just saying how hypocritical they are." Tori said as she continued to spin.
"We're not hypocritical!" Dustin exclaimed, then a blank expression covered his face and he turned to Cam, "What does hypocritical mean?" Cam shook his head with a laugh and simply brushed Dustin's question off. Jasmine watched Cam walk over towards the computer and she couldn't help but remember what had transpired between them in the woods earlier that day. Had Cam forgotten, or was the memory still as fresh in his mind as it was in Jasmine's?
"So where were you guys?" Tori asked Blake.
"Shopping." Blake responded, Hunter 'discreetly' elbowed his brother in the ribs and Blake hurriedly corrected himself, "I mean we were at the track."
"Sure." Tori said casting a look at Jasmine.
"So what did you girls buy?" Jasmine teased.
"Nothing." Cam spoke up; "we couldn't find anything we liked."
"Dude way to stick with the cover story." Hunter accused the green Samurai.
"What's so bad about saying we went to the mall?" Cam asked.
"I find nothing wrong with it." Jasmine said, "I like a guy that's into shopping."
"Oh really." Hunter said giving the pink haired girl a knowing look as Jasmine bit her lip when she realized what she said.
"Um... so I guess we better get to work on this huh?" Jasmine said quickly, trying to cover her slip up.
"Yeah." Cam said. He took the necklace from Jasmine's hands and the two looked at each other for a quick second as their hands brushed each other. Jasmine dropped her hand and her gaze quickly and went back to her seat on the table.
"So what exactly is this supposed to do?" she asked as she settled back down on the table.
"The scanner's gonna tell us if there's any sort of power within the pendant. If there is it I might be able to figure out a way for you to harness it." Cam replied.
~*~*~
Cam placed Jasmine's amulet on the small tripod and let the scanner go over it. He pressed a few buttons on the computer and waited for the results to come up. Nothing. He tried again. And again nothing. He shook his head and cleared it of all thought, focusing on the task at hand. There was nothing abnormal about Jasmine's amulet, well nothing other than the fact that it helped her conjure up fire at will.
"Anything Cam?" Jasmine asked. Cam looked over his shoulder at her and shook his head.
"Nothing." He said. Jasmine hung her head and sighed.
"I guess we'll never know then," she said walking over to take the amulet from the tripod, "I just wish we could figure out how this stupid thing conjured up that fire."
"Wait." Cam said reaching his hand out to stop Jasmine's hand from grabbing the pendant. The contact overwhelmed him, and Cam's body felt like it was on fire. Slowly, he took his hand off of Jasmine's, and the heat left his body.
"What?" Jasmine asked placing the amulet back down.
"Where did you get this necklace?" Cam asked picking up the silver chain and fingering the amulet.
"My grandmother gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday."
"Do you know where your grandmother got it?"
"From her grandmother. The amulet's been in our family for over a hundred years. Each grandmother passes it on to her eldest granddaughter on her sixteenth birthday. Why?"
"Do you have any idea how your ancestors came by the pendant?"
"Um...there's a story about it, but that's all it is, a story."
"Let's hear it."
"Okay, but I don't know how much good it'll do." Jasmine sat down and began to think, "It starts like this. In a tiny village deep in the heart of the Amazon, there was a woman that possessed strange powers. All the others in the village feared her and the powers she possessed. Warring tribes were afraid to attack the small village because they'd heard the stories of the sorceress.
"One day the woman was down at the river when a young warrior from another tribe ambushed her and captured her. He took her back to his village where everybody thought that he had brought certain destruction upon them. Well he took the sorceress to his hut where he treated her just like he would any guest. Eventually the two of them fell in love and were married by the chief of the tribe. The next year they had a child.
"Well now the other tribe wanted their sorceress back because they had since fallen under attack. So they launched an attack on the tribe that had taken her. The woman was torn between the tribe that had raised her and the tribe that had taken her in as one of their own. So instead of choosing she fled to the waterfall that was just on the outskirts of the village. There she picked up a stone that reminded her of the crescent moon. She built a large bonfire and placed the stone in the middle of it. Then she stepped into the fire and stood on top of the stone. When the fire died the woman's ashes were absorbed into the stone along with all of her powers.
"The stone lay there for thirty years until the woman's granddaughter came to visit the site of her grandmother's death. The young girl found the amulet and some strange force drove her to take it. Since then it has been handed down from grandmother to granddaughter." Jasmine glanced up at the six Power Rangers, waiting for them to say something.
"That is some story." Tori said after a long pause.
"It sure is." Shane said.
"I told you guys that it probably wasn't true. It's just something that was made up to make the amulet seem mysterious, that's all." Jasmine said.
"Now hold on." Cam said, "There might be some truth to it. I mean weirder things have happened around here."
"That's for sure dude." Dustin said with a laugh.
"Whatever." Jasmine said as she stood and took the necklace from Cam's hands. She put it back on and sighed as she felt the familiar weight around her neck. The stone was still warm from Cam's touch, and the warmth seeped into Jasmine's body. She reached up and fingered the stone gingerly. What if there was some truth to that story? When Jasmine's grandmother gave it to her, the girl hadn't really believed the old woman. But her grandmother had never lied to her before, so why should the history of the stone be any different? The words that her dying grandmother had said as she passed the amulet on to Jasmine rang clear in the young woman's mind.
~*~Flashback~*~
"I want you to have this Jasmine." Jasmine's grandma said pulling the silver chain, which was usually worn around her pale neck, out from under her pillow.
"But Grandma, this is your necklace." Jasmine protested taking the piece of jewelry from the dying woman's wrinkled and trembling hands.
"Now it's yours Jazz," her grandma replied, "Remember the story I told you, about how this stone came to be in our family?"
"Yes."
"Well the stone still holds those powers that your ancestor once possessed. Only one pure of heart and strong of spirit can call upon the powers when in need of them. Just remember dear that with great power come great responsibility."
~*~End Flashback~*~
Those had been the last words that Jasmine had heard from her grandmother's lips. As the young woman thought back on it now, it was almost as if her grandma knew that Jasmine would be the one to harness the powers of the amulet. But how could she have known? Jasmine continued to finger the stone as she thought, tuning out the world around her.
"Jazz? Jasmine?" The girl looked up at a worried Tori, "What's up, you're crying."
"What?" Jasmine reached up and touched her cheek, feeling the wet tears that were sliding down her face.
"Are you okay?" Tori asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine." Jasmine replied shaking her memories from her head, "I'm just remember what my grandma said when she gave me the necklace." The alarm sounded throughout the room, interrupting anything else that Jasmine was gonna say. The Rangers and their companion turned to look at the screen where Zurgane stood with an army of kelzacs.
"Let's do this." Shane said as the Power Rangers lined up to morph.
"I'm coming with you." Jasmine said standing up quickly.
"No way Jasmine." Cam said looking over his shoulder at her, "You're gonna stay here where it's safe."
"Fat chance." Jasmine snapped. Cam started to say something, but Sensei stopped him.
"She will go Cameron," the guinea pig said raising his paw to stop his son's protests, "It might help Jasmine to call upon her powers."
"Fine, but be careful." Cam said looking at Jasmine's gloating smirk.
~*~*~
Well, I'm not that happy with this chapter, but I'm posting it anyway because I really needed to update this story. I'm sorry if the story that Jasmine told about the origin of the stone didn't make any sense, but I wasn't sure how to write it. Anyway, tell me what y'all thought.
Jasmine lay on the table in Ninja Ops fingering her pendant. She and Tori were waiting for the guys to meet them so they could try and figure out what was up with Jasmine's amulet, but the guys were late.
"Where do you think they are?" Tori asked as she twirled around in the chair that sat in front of the computer.
"I have no clue." Jasmine replied turning over on her stomach and propping her head in her hands, "They better get here soon though."
"I know, and they complain about how we take a long time, they're almost thirty minutes late!" Tori said.
"Men." Jasmine laughed shaking her head.
"What about men?" the two girls looked up at the entrance to Ninja Ops and saw the guys walking down the stairs.
"Just saying how hypocritical they are." Tori said as she continued to spin.
"We're not hypocritical!" Dustin exclaimed, then a blank expression covered his face and he turned to Cam, "What does hypocritical mean?" Cam shook his head with a laugh and simply brushed Dustin's question off. Jasmine watched Cam walk over towards the computer and she couldn't help but remember what had transpired between them in the woods earlier that day. Had Cam forgotten, or was the memory still as fresh in his mind as it was in Jasmine's?
"So where were you guys?" Tori asked Blake.
"Shopping." Blake responded, Hunter 'discreetly' elbowed his brother in the ribs and Blake hurriedly corrected himself, "I mean we were at the track."
"Sure." Tori said casting a look at Jasmine.
"So what did you girls buy?" Jasmine teased.
"Nothing." Cam spoke up; "we couldn't find anything we liked."
"Dude way to stick with the cover story." Hunter accused the green Samurai.
"What's so bad about saying we went to the mall?" Cam asked.
"I find nothing wrong with it." Jasmine said, "I like a guy that's into shopping."
"Oh really." Hunter said giving the pink haired girl a knowing look as Jasmine bit her lip when she realized what she said.
"Um... so I guess we better get to work on this huh?" Jasmine said quickly, trying to cover her slip up.
"Yeah." Cam said. He took the necklace from Jasmine's hands and the two looked at each other for a quick second as their hands brushed each other. Jasmine dropped her hand and her gaze quickly and went back to her seat on the table.
"So what exactly is this supposed to do?" she asked as she settled back down on the table.
"The scanner's gonna tell us if there's any sort of power within the pendant. If there is it I might be able to figure out a way for you to harness it." Cam replied.
~*~*~
Cam placed Jasmine's amulet on the small tripod and let the scanner go over it. He pressed a few buttons on the computer and waited for the results to come up. Nothing. He tried again. And again nothing. He shook his head and cleared it of all thought, focusing on the task at hand. There was nothing abnormal about Jasmine's amulet, well nothing other than the fact that it helped her conjure up fire at will.
"Anything Cam?" Jasmine asked. Cam looked over his shoulder at her and shook his head.
"Nothing." He said. Jasmine hung her head and sighed.
"I guess we'll never know then," she said walking over to take the amulet from the tripod, "I just wish we could figure out how this stupid thing conjured up that fire."
"Wait." Cam said reaching his hand out to stop Jasmine's hand from grabbing the pendant. The contact overwhelmed him, and Cam's body felt like it was on fire. Slowly, he took his hand off of Jasmine's, and the heat left his body.
"What?" Jasmine asked placing the amulet back down.
"Where did you get this necklace?" Cam asked picking up the silver chain and fingering the amulet.
"My grandmother gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday."
"Do you know where your grandmother got it?"
"From her grandmother. The amulet's been in our family for over a hundred years. Each grandmother passes it on to her eldest granddaughter on her sixteenth birthday. Why?"
"Do you have any idea how your ancestors came by the pendant?"
"Um...there's a story about it, but that's all it is, a story."
"Let's hear it."
"Okay, but I don't know how much good it'll do." Jasmine sat down and began to think, "It starts like this. In a tiny village deep in the heart of the Amazon, there was a woman that possessed strange powers. All the others in the village feared her and the powers she possessed. Warring tribes were afraid to attack the small village because they'd heard the stories of the sorceress.
"One day the woman was down at the river when a young warrior from another tribe ambushed her and captured her. He took her back to his village where everybody thought that he had brought certain destruction upon them. Well he took the sorceress to his hut where he treated her just like he would any guest. Eventually the two of them fell in love and were married by the chief of the tribe. The next year they had a child.
"Well now the other tribe wanted their sorceress back because they had since fallen under attack. So they launched an attack on the tribe that had taken her. The woman was torn between the tribe that had raised her and the tribe that had taken her in as one of their own. So instead of choosing she fled to the waterfall that was just on the outskirts of the village. There she picked up a stone that reminded her of the crescent moon. She built a large bonfire and placed the stone in the middle of it. Then she stepped into the fire and stood on top of the stone. When the fire died the woman's ashes were absorbed into the stone along with all of her powers.
"The stone lay there for thirty years until the woman's granddaughter came to visit the site of her grandmother's death. The young girl found the amulet and some strange force drove her to take it. Since then it has been handed down from grandmother to granddaughter." Jasmine glanced up at the six Power Rangers, waiting for them to say something.
"That is some story." Tori said after a long pause.
"It sure is." Shane said.
"I told you guys that it probably wasn't true. It's just something that was made up to make the amulet seem mysterious, that's all." Jasmine said.
"Now hold on." Cam said, "There might be some truth to it. I mean weirder things have happened around here."
"That's for sure dude." Dustin said with a laugh.
"Whatever." Jasmine said as she stood and took the necklace from Cam's hands. She put it back on and sighed as she felt the familiar weight around her neck. The stone was still warm from Cam's touch, and the warmth seeped into Jasmine's body. She reached up and fingered the stone gingerly. What if there was some truth to that story? When Jasmine's grandmother gave it to her, the girl hadn't really believed the old woman. But her grandmother had never lied to her before, so why should the history of the stone be any different? The words that her dying grandmother had said as she passed the amulet on to Jasmine rang clear in the young woman's mind.
~*~Flashback~*~
"I want you to have this Jasmine." Jasmine's grandma said pulling the silver chain, which was usually worn around her pale neck, out from under her pillow.
"But Grandma, this is your necklace." Jasmine protested taking the piece of jewelry from the dying woman's wrinkled and trembling hands.
"Now it's yours Jazz," her grandma replied, "Remember the story I told you, about how this stone came to be in our family?"
"Yes."
"Well the stone still holds those powers that your ancestor once possessed. Only one pure of heart and strong of spirit can call upon the powers when in need of them. Just remember dear that with great power come great responsibility."
~*~End Flashback~*~
Those had been the last words that Jasmine had heard from her grandmother's lips. As the young woman thought back on it now, it was almost as if her grandma knew that Jasmine would be the one to harness the powers of the amulet. But how could she have known? Jasmine continued to finger the stone as she thought, tuning out the world around her.
"Jazz? Jasmine?" The girl looked up at a worried Tori, "What's up, you're crying."
"What?" Jasmine reached up and touched her cheek, feeling the wet tears that were sliding down her face.
"Are you okay?" Tori asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine." Jasmine replied shaking her memories from her head, "I'm just remember what my grandma said when she gave me the necklace." The alarm sounded throughout the room, interrupting anything else that Jasmine was gonna say. The Rangers and their companion turned to look at the screen where Zurgane stood with an army of kelzacs.
"Let's do this." Shane said as the Power Rangers lined up to morph.
"I'm coming with you." Jasmine said standing up quickly.
"No way Jasmine." Cam said looking over his shoulder at her, "You're gonna stay here where it's safe."
"Fat chance." Jasmine snapped. Cam started to say something, but Sensei stopped him.
"She will go Cameron," the guinea pig said raising his paw to stop his son's protests, "It might help Jasmine to call upon her powers."
"Fine, but be careful." Cam said looking at Jasmine's gloating smirk.
~*~*~
Well, I'm not that happy with this chapter, but I'm posting it anyway because I really needed to update this story. I'm sorry if the story that Jasmine told about the origin of the stone didn't make any sense, but I wasn't sure how to write it. Anyway, tell me what y'all thought.
