Disclaimer: the usual………………………

CHAPTER 11

Emotional Baggage

Lina knew that if the Turbo Rangers weren't aware of her identity then, they were at least suspicious of her as she stood in a fighting stance in front of the Piranatrons along with the Rangers.

"ATTACK!" Elgar ordered. The battle immediately ensued. The rangers fought well but were awestruck by some of Lina's abilities. Lina wasn't about to get a swelled head though. It was just that, so far, none of the minions had as big of a challenge as the Gorons were in her own realm. That did not mean things could change at any minute, so Lina stayed on her guard. She did a front tumble forward towards Elgar. He was about to strike at her when it seemed that she disappeared. He glanced around until he felt some pressure on his shoulders. He glanced up a little to see Lina doing a hand stand on his shoulders. She swung her legs down, double kicking Elgar in the chest, and did a back flip into a fighting position. Elgar fell backwards and could not get himself back up. The Piranatrons seemed to pile up next to him. Lina took this as her chance to duck out of the way. She was not used to confronting a brand new team without someone she already knew. She hadn't exactly planned out what she should say. Little did she know that roaming eyes had already thought ahead and was about to cut her off.

"Well, well…," came a chilling and annoying voice. Lina came to a screeching halt to see that she had come face to face with Divatox. Divatox looked her over and sneered.

"How can the mighty new red ranger seem so shrimpy?" she asked rhetorically. Lina smirked and narrowed her eyes cockily.

"I may be shrimpy, but at least I don't look like my closet threw up on me," she retorted. Divatox growled at the insult and fired an energy ball at her. Lina threw her hands up to block it and ended up firing a couple of fireballs from her hands for the first time she could remember. She was in so much shock that she had a hard time reacting when Divatox lashed out at her.

"AH! DARN YOU!" she cried before charging at Lina. Lina couldn't believe what was happening. She had fired fire balls from her hands and she was actually frozen in battle. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for what was to come but nothing happened. She heard a thud and some rumbling. Opening her eyes, Lina saw Carlos scuffling with Divatox.

"Get off me ranger!" she cried, throwing Carlos off her, literally AT Lina. He slammed into her, knocking them both to the ground. They sat up just in time to see Divatox stumble to her feet. Catching her breath, Divatox thrusted her finger towards Lina.

"I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but you will not get away with messing with the MIGHTY DIVATOX! HA!" she cried, before disappearing into thin air.

"That was original," Lina retorted to herself, almost forgetting that Carlos was there. He glanced at her and looked her up down, getting his first chance to take her in knowing all he did about her. He, of course, thought she was as pretty as he had the night he met her at the dance but the air of mystery that surrounded her origin, as a ranger or otherwise, made her seem as if she was somewhat of a threat despite her actions in helping them. Lina cautiously glanced over to see Carlos staring back at her.

"What?" she asked simply, not really sure how else to phrase her question.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Carlos told her firmly. Lina sighed.

"I'm getting used to that," she said, not really to him. The two of them stood up and dusted themselves off. Carlos grabbed her wrist and tightened his grip a little. Lina frowned at his actions.

"And what are you doing?" she questioned seriously.

"You running off is getting old. I'm just taking some precautions," Carlos stated. Lina rolled her eyes at his attempts and placed her free hand on her hips. Carlos was about to call over his communicator when T.J., Ashley, Cassie, and Justin came around the corner.

"Carlos, are you okay?" Justin asked.

"How'd you get a hold of her?" Ashley asked at the same time. Carlos held up his free hand to stop them from talking.

"I'll tell you at the Power Chamber, let's go. Alpha, six to teleport," he said over his communicator.

"You got it Carlos," Alpha 6 responded. The six rangers were engulfed in light and reappeared in the Power Chamber that was familiar to Lina but not the residents. Just by his movements, Lina immediately knew Alpha 6 was totally different from Alpha 5. And Dimitria was no Zordon.

"Welcome Ranger," Dimitria said politely. Lina managed to take her awestruck gaze off Dimitria to look over at Carlos.

"Can you let go of me now, please?" she asked simply. Carlos glanced down and noticed that still had a grip on her wrist. He released her and crossed his arms, waiting for an explanation. Lina went into her usual story of how where she was from, their reality was a television show, why she was there, where her powers came from, and what she had already been through. By the time she was finished, the rangers were in disbelief.

"Yea right," T.J. said, laughing a little at how ridiculous he thought it was.

"Very creative try though," Cassie said. Lina couldn't believe it….they really didn't buy her story and it was the absolute truth right down to the detail! Alpha looked up from a console and turned to the rangers.

"Uh, rangers, she's telling the truth," he said.

"What? There's no way that could really happen!" Justin declared.

"But I can Justin, for I have met Zeek and understand the guardianship he has over the Storm Caller powers. Lina is in fact that Red Inferno Ranger on a journey to put together the long lost Gemini sword," Dimitria said. An awkward silence fell over the Turbo Rangers and Lina. Alpha finally got sick of it.

"Uh, Lina, we have a spare room you can stay in?" Alpha said. Lina nodded towards him as a thank you and silently began to walk out. She didn't get very far because Carlos grabbed her hand.

"Don't even think about running off," he said, warning her. Lina snatched her hand away from him and glared back.

"Back off! I couldn't go anywhere even if I wanted to!" she cried before storming out of the main room of the Power Chamber. The other rangers were a little concerned by Carlos' behavior but seemed to let it slide for Lina isolated herself within her room for the next few days. She only really came out if there was a really bad fight that she was needed for. It was becoming more and more obvious to Lina, based on her sudden change of tone with the Turbo rangers, compared to the past ones that her stone this time would be emotional related, as the first one had. She just wish she could pin point exactly what it was.

"Locking yourself in your room is not going to get you back to your brother and the others faster," Zeek said suddenly. Lina was getting used to him popping out of no where, so she just groaned and rolled her eyes.

"It's not going to make things easier if I make friends with the Turbo Rangers either. Just when I get close to any rangers, I have to leave!" Lina shouted in anger.

"So you would rather turn into a cold, hearted, distant…?" Zeek asked, not being able to finish his sentence before Lina interfered.

"Don't you dare say what I think you're going to. I don't want to turn into everything our enemies are but I just don't know how to make things easier. I love making new friends but I hate saying goodbye to them. What am I supposed to do?" Lina asked.

"Just talk to us about it," came a new voice. Lina turned around suddenly to see Carlos in her doorway. She rolled her eyes and groaned in annoyance, both at his presence and at the fact that Zeek had suddenly disappeared.

"Come to warn me about what NOT to do some more?" she asked, a little ticked.

"I was coming to tell you that there was left over pizza if you wanted some but I ended hearing this. Is that why you've been so distant with us? You're scared of getting close to people now?" Carlos asked sincerely, approaching her. Lina noticed the concern in his eyes and took it to be sincere.

"I became friends with the rangers I met in the morphin and zeo stages. It was very painful to say goodbye to them because I had become very good friends with them in a very short amount of time. On top of missing my teammates, it has become very painful to deal with making new friends," Lina explained.

"I understand. I moved around a lot when I was little. I was lucky to even had MADE friends until I got to Angel Grove. It was awesome when my dad stayed here," Carlos said, smiling at the memories. Lina smiled, a little surprised.

"You mean we actually have something in common besides being rangers?" she said, a little jokingly. Carlos laughed a little.

"Yea, I guess we do. Lina, caring about people is a great gift that some people just can't bring themselves to do. Some bad has to come with the wonderful feeling of it," Carlos said. Lina laughed.

"You sound like a Hallmark card, but you make sense at the same time. I guess I just have to work through this pain of goodbyes and just try to enjoy the impact meeting all of the ranger teams does for me," Lina said. She buried her head in her hands and laughed as a familiar light illuminated from her pocket.

"How obvious could that have been?" she asked herself, referring to the lesson she needed to learn in this realm.

"Does that mean you have to rush off?" Carlos asked. Lina smiled at him.

"No, I've got a couple of hours," she said, gazing at him, a new found respect existing between the two of them. Suddenly, the portal opened up, catching Lina off guard.

"Or not..?" she said, wondering what was going on. Zeek poked his head out and offered his hand to her.

"Come on Lina, we have to go," he said. Lina took a few seconds to recover before walking towards the portal. She turned to Carlos and smirked.

"I don't think is goodbye, YET," she said to him before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and running into the portal with Zeek. Carlos smiled after her. Lina and Zeek landed in what seemed like a white, floating bubble.

"Zeek, what's going on? I thought I had two hours after I got the stone?" Lina asked.

"You usually do but there's an emergency in the Space Ranger Realm," Zeek explained.

"What emergency?" Lina questioned.

"You'll have to find out for yourself, I'll be along when I'm needed," Zeek said. A portal opened up behind Lina and actually engulfed her, taking her into the Space Ranger Realm where a surprise awaits on her journey to save her world and her teammates.

WHAT SURPRISES AWAIT LINA IN THE SPACE RANGER REALM? WHAT WILL HAPPEN BETWEEN HER AND CARLOS? WHAT MUST SHE DO TO GET THE GEM THIS TIME?