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CHAPTER 17

Power of Control

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lina cried as the pain surging through her body began to reach new heights. She was in such a great deal of pain, that she didn't notice the soldiers who had come back in to aid her. Commander Stanton was among them.

"Lina! Lina!" he cried, trying to calm her down. None of the soldiers could get anywhere near her. Whenever she wasn't fighting back from the pain, the electric currents from her body were shocking them.

"Sir, we have to sedate her!" one of the soldiers screamed over Lina's cries of pain. As quickly as the pain had come, it suddenly stopped. Lina collapsed to the floor, breathless and tears running down her reddened face. Commander Stanton and the other soldiers were frozen in their places, unsure of what was going on.

"Lina," Commander Stanton said quietly. Lina looked up at the man kneeling beside her. The tears in her pain-stricken eyes were enough to break Commander Stanton's heart. For some reason, he was viewing this girl, who seemed to be all alone, like she was his own daughter.

"I don't know what that was, but I couldn't control it," Lina explained softly, scared to put forth too much energy, as she wasn't sure what set off the energy surge.

"Let's get you to the infirmary," Commander Stanton said reassuringly. Lina, fearful of hurting someone unintentionally, was reluctant to go but in the end, agreed. A short time passed and the doctor could not find anything wrong with her. After relating this news to them, Commander Stanton asked to speak with the doctor outside.

"Are you kidding me! How could you not find something wrong with her? There were electric circuits coming out of her for crying out loud!" Commander Stanton shouted. While the doctor and Commander Stanton argued right where Lina could hear, she decided to take the opportunity to make a quick exit. Unfortunately the only way she could was out the window. She opened it, grabbed the window sill, and gracefully pulled herself up and out the window, landing on both feet. She reached back and closed the window back. She turned to leave only to stop short at a smirking figure.

"Breaking out?" Kai asked, leaning on a nearby tree with a file in his hand. Lina smirked back and placed her hands on her hips.

"Are you stalking me or something?" she asked. Kai walked towards her casually.

"Terra Venture's big but it's not that big. What are you up to anyway?" he questioned. Lina decided that it would be better to withhold some information from him, seeing as she wasn't sure of what was going on herself. So she decided to tell a partial truth.

"Commander Stanton wanted me to have a physical done. I didn't see any reason to stay any longer, so I snuck out," Lina explained, putting on a confidant expression. Kai just smiled at her, a little amused by her.

"Well in that case, are you hungry?" Kai asked. Lina stopped and realized that she was in fact VERY hungry. Her stomach growled and she placed a hand over it, giving Kai an embarrassed expression. Both of them started laughing.

"I'll take that as a yes, come on," Kai said, offering his hand. Lina smiled and placed her hand in his, following his lead. A short time later, they were laughing and eating, enjoying some good food and each other's company.

"I cannot remember the last time I had a burger," she said, taking a bite out of her cheese-burger. Kai laughed as he chewed on his fries and shook his head. Lina glanced at him with a suspicious look.

"What?" she asked.

"It's just…most girls around here are so salad oriented, it's refreshing to find a girl who eats meat," he said. Lina chuckled. She had to admit that there were a lot of girls at her school like that.

"There's nothing wrong with liking salads but I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a carnivore," she said, taking another bite of her burger. Dinner passed by quickly for them but they weren't ready to part ways, so as the sky got dim on Terra Venture, they decided to walk off their dinner.

"So, you're a red ranger and your favorite color is blue?" he asked, smiling a little.

"Yea, what's wrong with that?" she asked.

"Nothing wrong with it where I'm coming from," Kai replied. Lina smiled and turned her head to keep from laughing. She wasn't sure if Kai was aware that she knew he was a blue ranger, but she knew what he had meant none the less.

"WATCH OUT!" came some voices. Lina and Kai looked up to see a group of pre-teens coming towards them on skates. They dodged everywhere to avoid colliding with the kids as they whizzed by. Right as the last kid skated by, Lina's body twisted in an awkward way and she felt herself falling forward. Once again, Kai came to her rescue and grabbed her. The shock of the kids coming by as well as they fall and grab held them still for a few minutes as they gazed into each other's eyes, their lips very close. Kai swallowed a little and leaned forward, lightly brushing his lips against Lina's. Lina closed her eyes and savored the sweet kiss. They parted a little, giving Lina a chance to stand up straight. The two straightened their clothes and laughed a little, before meeting each other's gaze once again. Lina smiled up at Kai. The two leaned in and met in another soft kiss. Lina felt like she was on cloud nine until a familiar pain started to boil in her stomach. She quickly broke the kiss and backed away from Kai.

"I've got to go…I'm sorry…I'll talk to you tomorrow!" she said quickly before running away. Kai was dumbfounded.

"Lina! Lina wait!" he cried before breaking into a run after her. Lina tried her best to get as far away from Kai as possible. She didn't want to take a chance that this could hurt him. Her attempts were met with failure as a wave of pain greater than the last time washed over her and she doubled over in pain, screaming. Kai stopped a few feet from her and stared, unsure of what to do or think. Lina was in so much pain that she was not aware that every so often, the armored red ranger suit would appear on her before disappearing again.

"Somebody help me!" she cried in desperation. Kai was shocked until some Sting-Wingers and Trakeena appeared. He jumped into a defensive stance in front of Lina.

"We'll be taking your little girlfriend with us!" Trakeena declared.

"Not likely. Go Galactic!" Kai yelled. He morphed into suit and engaged in a fight, doing his best to keep the Sting-Wingers and Trakeena away from Lina, not that any of them could get too close with the electric currents coming from her.

'You must learn to control the Inferno armor, you were not supposed to get it yet. Now you must make yourself ready to accept it,' said a familiar voice in her head.

"Zeek, wherever you are, I'm going to get you for this," she said sarcastically as she tried to fight through the pain, though it tired her out more. She managed to turn over and observe the fight, noticing that the other rangers and the Magna Defender were approaching from the other end of the field.

"How am I supposed to control powers I wasn't ready to get in the first place?" she asked herself before another wave of pain came.

"AHHHHHH!" she cried, releasing frustration of the pain in her body. Her body started glowing red once again, brightening to the point that no one could see her.