Disclaimer: the usual………………

CHAPTER 15

Chase Down on Terra Venture

Lina was floating in a cloud of white light. She was used to this warp traveling by now and just sat back and sighed. The time was going faster than the speed of light but it seemed slow to her. At least slow enough to where she could sit back and think about everything that happened in the previous realm.

She had barely seen her teammates when she thought about it. She saw them for less than twenty minutes before they split up to search for the Space Rangers. Then she ran into Carlos and had the fight that had knocked her out. Then she saw her teammates for less than two hours because it was at least thirty minutes after she had received the stone when they returned to the ship with the Space Rangers. It may have been little time but it was enough to make her feel refreshed from missing home. She couldn't but wonder why Luke had been acting a little differently. He was usually so open and carefree but this past time was…well…different. She couldn't quite place her finger on it. She didn't remember the things he had said to her when she was in a coma but she remembered hearing his voice, and how soothing at had been to her. She smiled at the thought of how comfortable it had made her feel having him nearby. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when her floating suddenly became violent. She sat up, trying to grip edges that weren't even really there.

"What in the world…?" she tried to ask before feeling pressure pulling her down. She suddenly started to fall.

"AHHHH!" she yelled, covering her face with her arms as if to brace for the unexpected. Even through her barricade of her own body parts, Lina was able to make out a flash of light and now only hear but FEEL a loud thud.

"OW!" she cried, quickly taking her arms down and caressing her pained side. She opened her eyes to see if she was badly hurt but what she saw next made her forget all about her pain. Standing all around her were mostly young men and some women in uniforms. Amongst them were various people in other clothes. Lina instantly recognized some of the suits as the ones a couple of the rangers wore on Terra Venture during the Lost Galaxy era. It suddenly dawned on Lina that she had made her grand entrance into this realm with nearly a hundred people as an audience. She gave a nervous smile and glanced around as suspicious eyes bore into her.

"This is going to be interesting," she said to herself through a plastered smile. One of the bulkier muscled cadets stepped forward.

"Ma'm, you're going to have to come with us," he said firmly. He reached to try and grab Lina's arm but she pushed it away in a simple martial arts move.

"Sorry, not happening yet," she said before pulling a move that even shocked her. She bent her knees down low and then spun her body hard. She effect caused her to start spinning in the air until she stepped on the ledge of the second story.

"Whoa, cool," she said as she caught her balance. She did a back flip as two more cadets tried to get a hold of her, but they ended running into each other instead. Lina turned on her heel and ran like a rocket away from the mob after her

"Zeek, this better not be one of your stupid tests," she muttered through her teeth as she kept running. Suddenly, she heard several high-pitched screams that she recognized instantly to be a group of little kids. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked outside to see a group of kids surrounded by Sting-Wingers. She whined a little to herself then ran outside through some double doors. Lina knew that there was no point to morph at this point because she already pumped on adrenaline from the chase down and easily took out all of the Sting-Wingers. A back-flip here, a front-flip there, and nearly half of them took out themselves from running head first into each other. A few low spinning heel kicks, a couple of ax kicks, some big time roundhouse kicks, and the rest were history. The children were in awe at her martial arts skills.

"Wow, thanks lady," they said, running up to her and giving her a hug. Lina smiled as she tried desperately to catch her breath. She quickly remembered the dozens of troops that had been chasing her and looked around for any sign of them, knowing she had gained a good lead in the chase. She gasped when she spotted a few groups looking around in the inside of the building. She snuck away from the kids and took off running just as one spotted her.

"THERE SHE IS!" he screamed, loud enough to be heard from the outside of the building. Lina kept running as fast as her legs could carry her. She thanked the heavens for all of those years she had dedicated to martial arts, dance, and gymnastics because she would have no strength at that point had it not been the great shape she was in. She glanced back as she ran, only to crash right into someone. The two bodies tumbled to the ground as a new amount of pain surged through Lina, causing any she had gained since being in the realm to resurface.

"Ow, sorry…," she started to say as she tried to work through the pain.

"It's okay, no harm done. Are you all right?" asked a calming voice. Lina managed to adjust her vision long enough to realize she had smashed straight into Kai, the Blue Lost Galaxy Ranger.

'What is it with me and Blue Rangers so far?' she thought to herself as Kai helped her up. They stared at each other a little bit. Kai was a little fascinated by the new beauty before him.

"I thought I had met everyone on Terra Venture, but I don't recall ever meeting you," he said with a smile, still staring at her. Lina actually felt herself getting a little nervous from that comment.

"Well, um, there's a reason for that and I will be happy to explain that to you later but right now, I have to go," she said before running off in the other direction. Kai watched her take off, right before a group of troops ran past him, going directly after her. His morpher beeped just as the last troop ran past him.

"Kai here, what's up?" he asked. Meanwhile, Lina ran into an open center where a lot of people were roaming around, enjoying the day when another group of screams rang through the air. This time, Lina knew it wasn't just a bunch of kids. She glanced over and saw people hiding or crouching down at the mercy of Trakeena and the Sting Wingers. The power rangers were trying desperately to fight them off as well as rescue some people caught in a blazing circle of fire. They didn't have the protection to walk straight through the fire, and some how the flames just kept rising every time they tried to jump over into the circle. Even Mike, the Magna Defender's armor couldn't keep out the scorching heat.

"Somebody help us!" screamed a teenage girl from inside, as she clutched to a man Lina guessed was her father. She sighed, knowing she had a free moment, as the troops were now wrapped up in fighting Sting-Wingers. She knew that her powers were modeled after the ninja storm rangers, so she tapped into "inner power" self of hers and concentrated on the fire. She held out her hands and her deep concentration caused her eyes to change color as a wind started to pick. The circle of fire started to turn into a stream of fire that floated into Lina's direction and encircled her like a tornado. Everyone, good and evil, had their eyes on Lina just as the fire around the innocent civilians died down. Damon and Kendrix ran to them and got them out of the way before anything else happened. Lina suddenly felt a surge of energy.

"HA, POWER OF THE INFERNO!" she cried. The flames seemed to burst and engulfed her body, quickly dying down to reveal a new armored suit for Lina.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday," Damon said. Trakeena snarled at the new ranger.

"Sting-Wingers, back to the ship!" she ordered before disappearing herself. Lina, again, became real nervous as she knew there were many eyes on her. She powered down and began to slowly back away before feeling a body right behind her. She slowly turned around to come face to face with Commander Stanton.

"I think you'd better come with me," he said. Lina moaned.

'This is going to be fun one,' she thought sarcastically.