Disclaimer: Don't own anything except Lina and her fellow rangers and anything related to them. Many apologies twice over for the delay. I've got an eight to five job Monday through Friday, so I'll try to update once to twice weekly, around the weekends. Thanks to everyone who still reads this and reviews.

CHAPTER 24

Time to Trust

"Okay, they've got you in this lock. I know it's hard but you've got to try and relax Lina," Eric instructed as he and Lina went through their training sessions for the fourth straight hour.

'Yea right,' Lina thought, trying not to roll her eyes where Eric could see. She always thought of herself to be the best ranger she could be but there was no mistaken that she was a girl and being as tired as she was and having a hunk of man like Eric as close to her as he was made it hard to keep her hormones in check. But as much as she was feeling that, she knew Eric wouldn't be more than a brother type friend to her. Lina breathed in and out to calm herself down and relax. She concentrated and maneuvered and eventually had Eric on his back, pinning him to the floor with her knee on his chest and hands ready to strike as if she was in a real battle. Eric caught his breath then smiled and started chuckling. Lina relaxed and moved her knee to the other side of him, just straddling him and laughing with him.

"The student has become the teacher," he said, laughing. Lina laughed and tried to catch her breath at the same time.

"Man, it's been so long since I've had a good, regular workout like that," she said, reveling in the good time she was having in the Time Force realm. Playfully slapping her hip, Eric moved to get up as Lina got off of him. He offered his hand to her and pulled her up, throwing his arm around her shoulder, as a friend/brother would to a girl.

"Well, why don't we go get something to eat with the others? My treat," Eric offered. Lina smiled at that.

"Sounds good to me," Lina said as they walked to the Silver Guardians locker rooms to change. A short time later, Eric and Lina met the others at an outdoor café where they enjoyed a nice lunch together. Just when they thought the day would go off without a hitch, they heard screams from around the corner. Instantly on their feet, all seven rangers ran to the scene to see Cyclobots, Ransik, Nadira, and some type of new monster that was a giant mix of muscle and metal.

"Ah, rangers, say hello to my little friend, Mus-tal. The end has come at last," Ransik said, as he and Nadira broke out in evil laughter.

"Don't they ever come up with new things to say," Lina sneered.

"Cyclobots, attack!" Nadira cried. The hoard of minions ran at the rangers.

"Let's go!" Wes cried. The seven rangers engaged in civilian battle, easily gaining upper hand. Though they were still tired, Eric and Lina fought the best and took out more than half the Cyclobots. Mus-tal and Ransik approached Lina. She got in a defensive stanch in front of them.

"Hand over the power source!" Ransik demanded.

"Uh..no!" Lina replied. Mus-tal approached her and Lina went into her most powerful and forceful kick to his abdomen, which sent her flying back onto her butt.

"Ow!" she screamed, realizing this wasn't going to be a piece of cake. Her air circulation seemed to empty immediately when Mus-tal clutched her throat with her powerful hand and picked her right off the group. Struggling for breath, Lina clutched at his hand to try and loosen it.

"I'll give you one more chance. Give me the power source," Ransik demanded, knowing there was no way out of this one for her.

"LINA! QUANTUM POWER!" Eric cried as he ran towards them, morphing in mid air. He blasted at Mus-tal. It hardly phased him but bothered him enough to drop Lina. Eric got in front of Lina, who struggled to get her breath back.

"HA!" Eric cried as he engaged in an immediately losing battle with Mus-tal. It gave the others time to get in on the action.

"TIME FOR TIME FORCE!" they cried, morphing into their familiar red, blue, green, yellow, and pink spandex suits. Lina was still disoriented from the lack of oxygen as the rangers fought as hard as they could to hold off Mus-tal, but they didn't even make a dent in him. Lina knew that even if she had the strength to morph, it wouldn't make it difference. What were they going to do? She snapped back into reality when she heard Ransik laughing.

"No matter Rangers. I will have that power source before too long," Ransik said before he, Mus-tal, and Nadira disappeared. The tired rangers limped back over to Lina, who had gotten up enough strength to get to her knees. Eric, despite his injuries, helped Lina to her feet.

"Let's go back and regroup," Jen said. They made their way back to the clock tower. Whatever injuries needed to be, they bandaged them up and tried to get their strength back. Eric looked over and saw Lina sitting on the ledge, looking out over the city. Clutching his arm, he walked over to the window and scooted up next to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Lina tried to hold her emotions together.

"I should've gotten up to help you. I'm sorry," she said, feeling too ashamed to look at him. Eric lifted her chin so that she would look at him.

"You were hurt. If you had gotten up and tried to help, you would've gotten hurt worse. I trust you enough that you would've done something had you thought you could," he said. Lina was stunned.

"What did you just say?" she asked. Eric looked into her eyes.

"I trust you. And so do the others," he said sincerely. Lina did not have time to react before Circuit's alarm went off.

"RANGERS, Mus-tal is attacking the square!" he cried.

"Let's go!" Lucas cried.

"Time for Time Force!"

"Quantum Power!"

"Storm Callers, Go! Power of the Inferno!" The rangers were at the square in no time and were immediately greeted with a bunch of Cyclobots. Despite being tired, they were easy to take down but they immediately greeted by Mus-tal.

"Okay, plan time, I'm open for ideas," Trip said.

"Lend me your powers!" Lina immediately said. The rangers were stunned.

"What!" they asked.

"Lend me your powers. If I fight with the combined powers of seven rangers, plus the power of the Unity morpher, I have a chance to take this guy down. But that's only if you guys trust me enough," Lina said, looking at all of them. Eric didn't even think twice, taking the others by surprise.

"What do I need to do?" he asked. Lina smiled under her helmet.

"Transfer your powers into this morpher," Lina said, as she strapped the Unity Morpher onto her other wrist. She held it out.

"Quantum power!" Eric cried, draining his power into her morpher. After a few seconds, his suit disappeared and he collapsed in exhaustion. Lina wanted to bend down and make sure he was all right but knew there wasn't enough time. She turned to the others and could tell they were ready.

"Red Time Force Power!"

Blue Time Force Power!"

Green Time Force Power!"

"Yellow Time Force Power!"

"Pink Time Force Power!" The rest of their powers drained into her unity morpher and their suits left them.

"Inferno Power Transfer!" Lina cried, immediately feeling an energy boost. Her powers transferred into the morpher.

"UNITY MORPHER ONLINE!" she cried. The power surged through her veins as a whirlwind of power engulfed her body. When it disappeared, she was in a gold suit, much like her Inferno Blaze suit.

"Bring it on ugly!" she cried to Mus-tal.

"Oh, I'm scared!" he cried as he approached her. Lina stood her ground and delivered a powerful palm strike to his chest, sending him flying into Ransik.

"Get off you tub of lard!" Ransik cried. Mus-tal scrambled off him and got to his feet.

"Destroy her and don't come back without that power source!" Ransik cried before disappearing. Mus-tal nodded his head in understanding and approached Lina once again. This time Lina engaged in a furious battle with him. Kicks and punches flew, an equal and exciting battle went on between the two warriors, keeping the other rangers on their toes. Then, the worst happened, when Mus-tal caught Lina by surprise by getting her in the hand lock she had been working on with Eric.

"No," he whispered, seeing her in trouble.

"AGH!" Lina cried. Mus-tal laughed, feeling as if he had caught her.

"LINA, RELAX, YOU CAN DO IT!" Eric cried, not knowing what else to tell her. Lina fought through the pain and focused on the trust the Time Force Rangers had in her and the hope her own teammates had in her to come back with all the stones for the sword. Without realizing, she swiftly broke through the hand hold and knocked Mus-tal to his feet. Not even giving him enough time to recover, she called for her weapon.

"UNITY SWORD!" she cried, sticking her hand up in the air. A glow from the sky came before a bolt of lightning struck her hand, causing a sword to appear.

"UNITY STRIKE, TIME FORCE MODE!" she cried, sending one powerful energy strike over Mus-tal's body. Before the Time Force Ranger's eyes, Mus-tal's body was engulfed in flames and incinerated right before their eyes. Lina felt the familiar warm glow in her pocket and knew she had the next stone. Since her task was fulfilled, the powers from the unity morpher transferred back to the Time Force morphers. The suit disappeared from Lina and she approached her friends. When their powers had returned to them, they got their energy back. It was bittersweet to see them so happy.

"All right, you did it!" Trip cried happily. Lina shook her head.

"We did it. I couldn't have made a dent in him without your trust," Lina said.

"Well, what now?" Katie asked. Lina sighed sadly.

"I only have a few hours," she said, the others immediately knowing what that meant.

"Well let's make the most of it," Eric said, giving her a small smile. Lina smiled and the others agreed. Over the next two hours, they had a great time at the clock tower, devouring pizza and goodies, dancing, laughing, taking pictures and giving Lina a traditional gift of a charm for her bracelet, one resembling the clock tower.

"Thank you guys, for everything," Lina said right before the portal opened up. She gave everyone a meaningful, thoughtful hug. Until she got to Eric, she gave a smile and looked into his eyes.

"You're a lot more attractive when you learn to trust people," she said teasingly. She gave the smiling Quantum ranger a hug before giving him an affectionate kiss on the cheek, which he gladly returned.

"Take care," she said to all them before walking through the portal to the next journey.