Disclaimer: the usual….
CHAPTER 18
Controlled In Time
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lina cried as the bright red light consumed her body. It was so weird. It was like this comforting, warm feeling was supposed to be there but instead it was pure, unbearable pain. She was so sick of feeling pain. She didn't know how she was supposed to learn to control the armor in the long run, but she was sure going to learn to do it for this fight.
"HA! POWER OF THE INFERNO BLAZE!" she cried, causing the light to burst from her body, leaving her clad in the red Inferno armor atop her normal ranger suit. The energy light burst knocked the Sting-Wingers and Rangers off their feet. Trakeena growled.
"You don't scare me," she said before lunging towards Lina, who easily blocked her attack.
"That's because you're stupid," Lina declared, sincerity written all over her comment. She head butted Trakeena, who doubled over in pain and rolled away trying to regain her composure. Lina summoned a sword from nowhere and engaged in a fight with Trakeena. The rangers finished off the Sting-Wingers, trying not to get distracted by the amazing fighting Lina was doing. After several minutes of fighting, it became so obvious to anyone that Lina was winning. Even Trakeena was willing to admit she was losing the fight with the Red Inferno Ranger, just not out loud.
"Man, where did she learn to fight?" Damon asked in amazement. Kai was oblivious to any of his teammates. Something in his gut told him that this fight was not going well, even though Lina was kicking butt.
"This is nuts, she's winning. Why am I so worried?" he asked himself. He watched as Lina brought her sword up to bring a final strike on Trakeena when she dropped it and screamed.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she cried as electric circuits bigger than any before surged from her body, causing her to convulse and her suit to go in and out of power. She dropped to her knees and kept screaming as Trakeena backed off to get away from the electric currents.
"LINA!" Kai screamed, attempting to run to her aid.
"Dude don't!" Leo shouted as he and Mike did their best to restrain Kai. As quickly as the attack had started, it stopped and Lina collapsed, unconscious. Trakeena was too quick for the rangers, however.
"STING-WINGERS!" she cried.
"NO!" Kai screamed, breaking free from Leo and Mike's grip and running towards Lina as Sting-Wingers appeared. They took hold of the unconscious Inferno Ranger and disappeared before Kai could even get close enough. He fell to his knees and punched the ground in frustration.
"AH, CRAP! WHAT IS GOING ON!" he cried, to no one in particular. The others were cautious in approaching him.
"Kai, come on, let's go see if Alpha can track her from the Astro Megaship," Maya offered. Kai slowly but surely followed his teammates back to the Astro Megaship. Meanwhile, somewhere on Terra Venture, Trakeena had unconscious Lina encased in a power box, in an attempt to try and tap into her powers.
"Hm, even if we don't get HER powers, we can trade the Lights of Orion for her to the rangers, then destroy them before we turn her over," she said before walking out of the room. The rangers were pressing in numerous codes, trying to track down any sign of Lina.
"Rangers, there's a message coming in," Alpha said, bringing up the message. The screen showed Trakeena in a seemingly deserted location.
"That's Jet Star Point," Mike said, recognizing the location.
"Rangers, if you ever want to see your precious Inferno Ranger again, you will bring me the Lights of Orion and don't make me wait," Trakeena ordered before cutting the message. The rangers were silent.
"We can't just give her the Lights of Orion," Kendrix said.
"But we can't just leave Lina like that," Damon said. Kai bit his lip, he was so worried about Lina.
"Rangers, I have an idea," Alpha said. The rangers leaned and listened to Alpha's plan, liking everything they heard. Twenty minutes later found the rangers walking towards the cave Trakeena was using at Jet Star Point. They looked around cautious, unmorphed, when they saw Trakeena coming out of the cave, followed by Sting-Wingers holding Lina by the arms. Kai had to restrain himself from running to her and beating the crap out of the Sting-Wingers. Leo approached Trakeena, a scowl on his face.
"Here are the Lights of Orion," he said, handing over the box and backing away cautiously. Trakeena opened the box and smiled at the sight before her.
"Now release Lina," Mike said. Trakeena glanced at him and snapped her fingers. The Sting-Wingers pushed Lina forward. She stumbled a little but kept going to the rangers. Kai was the first one to get to her. He engulfed her in a hug, causing her face to be to the other smiling rangers.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Lina was silent. All she did was crack the most evil smile the rangers had ever seen. She pushed Kai off her and threw an outside crescent kick, then swept him off his feet with a low spinning heel kick. She stood straight up and smirked at the rangers before turning into a Sting-Winger. Trakeena laughed.
"Do you think I'd hand over a powerful ranger like her so easily?" she asked the rangers as more Sting-Wingers ambushed them before they had a chance to morph. They tried so hard to fight back, but there was so too many of them. Kai's arms were bounded by Sting-Wingers as he struggled against them.
"LINA!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, distress and pain filling the air. The voice carried to the room where Lina still laid unconscious. The distress and pain in Kai's voice carried into her body and somehow managed to transform the pain she usually felt in the Inferno Armor transformation into that of warm, and comforting with control all over it. Her eyes flew open. The next thing anyone knew, a huge explosion erupted from the cave. The rangers thought Lina was gone and even Trakeena was surprised by it, until a shadow was seen walking through the fire. Lina walked towards the group, unmorphed but confidant in her stance.
"Let them go, now!" she demanded of Trakeena. Trakeena just smirked, thinking Lina still was unstable.
"Make me," she retorted. Lina smirked.
"Gladly. STORM CALLERS, GO! POWER OF THE INFERNO! BLAZE ARMOR!" Lina screamed, calling forth the Inferno Armor at will. That was an immediate bad sign for Trakeena, that Lina could control the Armor herself.
"Inferno Blaze!" Lina cried as she directed a line of fire at a huge group of Sting-Wingers. This gave the rangers enough time for morph.
"GO GALACTIC! MAGNA DEFENDER!" they cried. Once they were all morphed, the fight ensued. Trakeena fought as well, but still clutched the box Leo had given her. The Sting-Wingers just did not want to back off.
"Guys, let's go all out," Leo said. The other rangers gathered around him.
"Lights of Orion activate!" they cried, calling forth the power Trakeena thought she had. She stood awe struck as the armor came to them and together with Mike and Lina in their most powerful forms, took out the entire army of Sting-Wingers. When the dust cleared, the seven warriors approached Trakeena.
"What..how?" she asked, looking from them to the box. She opened the box and picked up one of the object, only to watch it disappear before her along with the others.
"It's a holographic image created by the one and only Alpha," Damon said. Trakeena scowled at having been tricked.
"This isn't over," she declared before disappearing.
"It never is," Leo said before everyone turned to Lina.
"How did you get control of your armor?" Kai asked.
"It was thanks to you Kai. When I heard you scream, I realized I needed the armor to protect the people I care about, whether I'm fighting with them or fighting to keep them safe by being on this mission. That's how I got control of it and my next stone," Lina said bringing out the stone that had been given to her once she had controlled the armor.
"What does that mean?" Kendrix asked. Lina wouldn't look at them when she answered.
"I only two hours before I leave," she said. The rangers were stunned. They didn't realize they would have such a short time with their friend. Kai was especially upset. He wasn't sure what to think.
"Well, come on guys, let's enjoy the time we have left with Lina," Damon said, trying to cheer up the crowd. The others agreed and went about to enjoy every last minute they could with Lina. Nearly two hours later, the gang had all enjoyed a good meal together and were now taking pictures near the same tree Lina had climbed.
"One, two three…smile!" Mike said as the camera took the picture of all of them. They laughed and gathered all the cameras that had been used. Kai grabbed Lina's hand and took her aside.
"I want you to have this," he said, handing her a small box. Lina smiled and opened it, gasping at the beautiful charm that resembled Terra Venture.
"Kai, I love it. When did you get this?" she asked. Kai smiled sheepishly.
"When I took that extra long bathroom break an hour ago," he explained. Lina laughed as she clipped it to her bracelet. She engulfed Kai in a hug before standing back and smiling at him. He smiled back and the two exchanged a sweet kiss.
"Aw, that's so sweet," Maya said. The two quickly broke the kiss, to see the other rangers standing near them, smiling. The laughter died when the portal for Lina suddenly opened up. There was a moment of sadness before Lina finally spoke.
"I'll miss you guys. Take care and fight hard," she said, glancing at each of them, then giving Kai a quick kiss on the cheek. She walked through the portal as fast as she could, not looking back for fear of breaking down into tears.
"Bye Lina," Kai said as the portal closed up behind her.