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CHAPTER 21

Force of Time

Lina floated through the familiar time realm, thinking about the experiences she had just had in the Light Speed zone and wondering what awaited her in the Time Force realm. She got the sudden vibe that signaled her descent into the next realm and braced herself for what she hoped would be a smooth landing. The flash of light and shuffle of entering a new atmosphere as she closed her eyes and found her feet planted firmly on the ground. She carefully opened her eyes and sighed in relief when she realized she hadn't been planted in front of a large crowd that saw her appear out of nowhere. Her relief was short lived when she heard sirens and a loud "FREEZE"! She quickly took note that a pathway to her left was a dead end unless you were able to jump about forty or fifty some off feet over a fence. She quickly peeked around the corner and saw the Silver Guardians blocking the pathway of a large monster and several Cyclobots. She saw Eric in the red beret distinguishing him in the leadership position and his morpher occupying his right wrist. This gave her a pretty good idea of the timeline she entered into during the Time Force era.

"Silver Guardians, you are under arrest!" Eric declared to the large monster. Lina rolled her eyes.

"Yea right, like that's going work that easily," she whispered sarcastically. She continued to watch the situation unfold, knowing she would pick the right time to get involved if she was needed. The monster laughed and held up a device that everyone assumed was a weapon at first but Lina's breath caught in her throat when she realized that so-called weapon looked suspiciously like a Storm Caller morpher. She knew it wasn't hers because it was clutched in her pocket so her basic conclusion at that split second was that it was one of her teammate's. Lina didn't even stop to think about morphing before bolting from her hiding spot. She was so quick that she didn't give anyone time to respond. She tapped into her telekinetic powers.

"Hey Goldilocks!" she screamed to the monster that oddly enough had gold hair on top of its ugly features. The monster, the Cyclobots, and the Silver Guardians all turned their attention to Lina, who had appeared out of nowhere to them. Lina thrusted her hands outwards, causing all the Cyclobots to launch through the air, causing confusion among the monster and the Silver Guardians. In that split second, Lina did a flip over the monster, grabbing the supposed morpher as she went and landed front of him, blocking the firing range between the Silver Guardians and the monster.

"Hold your fire!" Eric screamed, not wanting to shoot the mysterious girl as he witnessed her maneuver away from the monster but seemed to avoid the Silver Guardians. What he didn't realize was that Lina was calculating a way to destroy the monster, escape without being seen, and avoiding blowing up the cars and the people. Much to the shock of all the Silver Guardians, even Eric, Lina created an energy ball in a matter of second.

"INFERNO BLAZE!" she cried before driving her fist and the energy ball in the ground. The blast directed a path straight at the monster and blew him to pieces. The blast caused the Silver Guardians to duck down to avoid any debris and Lina took the chance to jump onto one of the cars, climb to the other side, and run away from the scene. She was long gone by the time Eric looked up to see what remained of the monster, if anything. All he saw was a fiery pile of black stuff that had once been a terror. It registered in his mind that he didn't see the girl and he looked around, wondering if she had been hurt in her own attack but it quickly dawned on him that she had run off. The Cyclobots had been destroyed by Lina's powerful telekinetic attack.

"MOVE OUT! FIND THAT GIRL!" he screamed to the cadets. They quickly left the scene and Eric followed shortly after. He wasn't sure what to think of this girl. He knew as the leader of the Silver Guardians he needed to find that device she had stolen, in case it was a threat to the city. The fact that she wanted it and took it made him wonder if she was a threat, especially with the power she displayed. He wasn't sure what to think of that theory since she hadn't attacked him or any of the Silver Guardians. As he drove off, Eric saw the clock tower in the distance and he pondered on whether or not to consult Wes and the other rangers in this matter.

Meanwhile, Lina had found her way to the town square in no time flat. She checked around for any Silver Guardians. Any that were around, and it wasn't that many, wasn't aware of the attack or her yet so she knew she was safe enough to rest by the fountain. She picked up her communication/survival device and used it like a phone to contact Zeek.

"Lina, what's wrong?" Zeek asked, not used to her calling him.

"Zeek, are any of the guys missing their morpher?" Lina asked him seriously but quietly so no one would hear her.

"No, they're all present and accounted for. The technology was cleared of that virus Alagor put in it shortly after you left the Lightspeed realm so I'm positive of all the boys still being in possession of theirs. Why?" Zeek asked.

"A monster in this realm had something that looked a lot like our morphers. I managed to get a hold of it but only because I thought it was one of the guy's," Lina explained. Zeek was silent for a moment and Lina knew that meant he was thinking.

"Well, hold on to it but don't try to experiment with it by using it. I'm going to run some scans and see what I can find," Zeek said.

"Whatever you say Zeek," Lina said tiredly. She ended the call and sighed as she sat down on the bench near the fountain. She had to admit that Silver Hills was a nice looking city, much like all the other towns and her own as well.

"Why do all the nice looking towns get attack?" she asked herself quietly. Her attention was drawn away when a Frisbee landed in her lap. She picked it up and looked around to find the owner. To her amazement, it was actually Trip, whose green hair gave him away immediately.

"Sorry about that," he said, running up to her with that cute smile that could make any girl melt. Lina smiled and just handed it back to him.

"No problem," she said. Trip couldn't seem to get his eyes off her but decided to keep his friendly demeanor rep going.

"I'm Trip," he said, extending his hand in greetings. Lina took it and did the traditional shaking in response.

"I'm Lina, nice to meet you," she replied. Trip smiled back at her.

"Right back at you. Do you want play Frisbee with me and my friends?" he asked. Lina knew that his friends meant the other rangers but it actually sounded like fun. Trip immediately recognized the enthusiasm in her voice when a familiar beeping went off and he grimaced. Lina knew she needed to play dumb this time around.

"Problem?" she asked.

"Um, yea, that's my beeper. I've got to go. We'll probably be back here later today if you still want to play," he offered, trying to not grab too many questions from Lina. She smiled, recognizing this tactic.

"Sounds good, I'll see you later," she said, noticing the weight that seemed to be lifted off of his shoulders when she didn't ask him too many questions.

"Bye!" he cried as he ran off to join his friends. Lina waited a few minutes before scanning the city, realizing that this was a fight she probably needed to be involved in. She grabbed the strange new morpher and held it in her hand.

"I hope I won't get desperate enough to try you out before I know what you do," she said before slipping it back into her pocket. She shifted into familiar motions after checking to see if anyone was around.

"STORM CALLERS! GO! POWER OF THE INFERNO!" she cried, morphing into her familiar red suit and going off to assist the Time Force Rangers, not realizing the power she held in her pocket in the form of the mysterious new morpher.