Note from "Z": Hey guys, WE'RE BACK! We figured we made you long enough for another chapter of this story…………..three years………..so uh, yeah……lol here it is.
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A few days had passed since the incident at Kelly's house. Although Sonny was still "sick" in Kelly's eyes, she had lifted the ban of being anywhere but the house, which Sonny was grateful for. In attempt to salvage her career at the music academy, Sonny had written a long letter to the board of directions, explaining that she'd come down with a bad case of laryngitis, and practically begged them to give her another shot once she was better.
It had taken almost three full days of being on her hands and knees, begging Kelly, but her cousin had finally caved and gave her an open position at Storm Chargers. Sonny split her time between attending customers, and working on music choices as background noise within the store. While all of this went on, the rangers where splitting there time between trying to find a cure for Sonny and trying to find out who the black ranger was. They hadn't encountered her since the time she went incredibly brutal on all of them and they hoped to have some insight on who she might be before they had to face her again. The six of them sat in Ninja Opts trying to figure out the latter when Dustin spoke.
"Hey, guys," he said, causing the others to look at him. "Don't you think it's kind of weird that Sonny and the black ranger both showed up around the same time?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" Shane asked.
"Well, what if Sonny is the black ranger?" Dustin asked. The others stared at him for a long while before they all burst out laughing.
"Sonny, the black ranger?" Shane asked.
"She's harmless," Hunter stated. Dustin quirked an eyebrow at his friend in crimson.
"Maybe that's what she wants us to think," Dustin said. "I seem to remember two certain people being cool, if not somewhat elusive, when I met them at the track. Little did I know they were the two people kicking our asses on a semi-regular basis, ring any bells?" Hunter and Blake looked away innocently and cleared their throats. "Thought so," he said. "Tori, Cam, you two spend the most time with her, what do you think?"
"I think you've been reading too many comic books," Tori said.
"She can't be the black ranger," Cam said. "The last time we faced her, Sonny was in the woods running away from some Kelzacks she saw." Sensei looked at the six teenagers.
"Dustin, as much as I appreciate you using your logic in trying to find out who this new ranger might be, sometimes a spade is just a spade."
"Dude, who said we're talking about a deck of cards?" Dustin asked.
"He means that sometimes things are just what they seem," Cam explained, rolling his eyes. "As in, sometimes there are such things as coincidence. Sonny and the black ranger appearing around the same time are two separate things."
"Oh..." Dustin trailed off. He crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. "It was just an idea." He commented, a defeated tone in his voice. Tori reached over and ruffled his hair.
"It was a good try Dustin." She commented. Dustin shrugged.
"And hey, that line of reasoning did work with these two," Shane said, trying to make Dustin feel better and pointing at Blake and Hunter, referring to the fact that the two new guys in town appeared right when the Thunder Rangers did.
"Okay, can people stop using us as examples?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, that was months ago, get over it," Hunter huffed.
"No need to get your panties in a bunch." Tori commented. "They were just making a comparison." There were a few moments of silence before Sensei spoke.
"Until we can get some definite proof of who this new ranger is, just be careful. She is very powerful and dangerous." He warned them before scurrying away.
"Dad's right," Cam said.
"I just don't get what this chick's deal is," Dustin said. "One minute she's taking down one of Lothor's baddies, then she's wiping the floor with us. Tori, you're a girl, any insight you've got to offer us?"
"Oh, so you think this is a female thing?" Tori asked, her tone indicating he should be careful how he answers that.
"Well, no………I mean, I just figured as a girl……you might know how a girl thinks……"
"Well, you're a guy, does that mean you know how Lothor thinks?" She asked.
"Well, no," Dustin said.
"There we go, then."
"I give up then." Dustin commented before standing and leaving Ninja Ops.
"Maybe we should just occupy ourselves with stuff so we don't over analyze it." Blake commented.
"We've got to head to Storm Chargers anyway," Hunter said. "Now that Sonny's working there, Kelly's even stricter about us being there. She doesn't want her cousin doing all the work,"
"Do you guys need a ride?" Tori asked.
"Yeah, thanks," Blake said.
"Hey, can you drop me off at the skate park on your way?" Shane asked. Tori nodded.
"I'll meet you guys out there," she said. The three of them nodded before leaving to find Dustin. She turned to Cam.
"Any luck figuring out how to help Sonny get her voice back?" She asked. Cam sighed and shook his head.
"It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Cam replied, rubbing his hands over his face. Tori place her hand on Cam's shoulder .
"Don't beat yourself up over it Cam. I know you'll find a well to help her." She reassured the green ranger before making her way towards the door.
"If you need a break, you know where to find us." She commented before exiting.
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Tori, Dustin, Hunter and Blake all entered Storm Chargers and found Kelly ringing up some customers.
"Hey guys," she said.
"Hey, Kelly," they responded. The boys went off and started to work as Tori went to the counter to converse with Kelly.
"So, how's having your cousin working here?" She asked. Kelly sighed.
"Hard. I keep telling her to take it easy and relax, but she keeps wanting to do a lot around the store,"
"Well, she's probably feeling like she needs to keep herself busy," Tori said.
"You're right," Kelly said. "I just don't want her getting even sicker,"
"I know," Tori said. "Hey, where is she anyway?" Tori asked.
"Bathroom," Kelly said. "She's been there a while though," Kelly said.
"I'll go check on her," Tori offered before walking towards the back of the store. The employee bathroom was by the store break room. Tori approached the door and stopped when she heard a voice coming from inside.
"I can't do this any more," Tori heard a voice say. "I'm just feeling so helpless and………..You're right, you're right……I just wish there was more that I could do……" Tori's brows furrowed before she lightly knocked on the door.
"Sonny?" She called. She waited a while before the door opened and Sonny walked out, smiling at her friend.
"Hey,"
"Who were you talking to?" Tori asked. Sonny gave her a look that was a cross between confused and amused.
"Talking to?" She asked. "I wasn't talking to anyone,"
"…….I thought I heard……." Tori said, her voice trailing off. Sonny looked closely at her.
"Are you okay?" She reached up and touched Tori's forehead. Tori shook her head, making Sonny lower her hand.
"Sorry, I thought….never mind." She said. Sonny gave her one last smile before she walked past her to the front of the store. Tori pushed the door of the bathroom open, looking inside. "No one," she muttered. She shook her head and went back to the store. She found the guys standing by the service area while Sonny was busy restocking shelves at the others side of the store. Tori went over to the guys.
"Hey," Blake said, putting an arm around her when she approached. He saw that she seemed troubled. "What's wrong?" He asked. Tori bit her lip and motioned for Hunter and Dustin to come closer. They walked over to them.
"Guys, I think something's wrong with Sonny," she said softly. Dustin turned to look at Sonny who had taken a break from restocking the shelves as she pointed a customer towards the skateboards, laughing gently along with the customer when he felt stupid for not seeing them before.
"She seems okay to me," Dustin said. Tori seemed uneasy.
"I don't know…….just…….I heard……"
"Heard what?" Hunter asked.
"Well, when I went to the bathroom to check on her, I'm pretty sure I heard her talking to someone………but she was the only one in there…."
"Are you saying she was talking to herself?" Blake asked. Tori nodded.
"She was saying something about…." Tori paused as she tried to remember what was said. "…….something about 'can't do this anymore' and……feeling helpless…."
"Did you ask her about it?" Hunter asked.
"Well, when she came out, I asked her who she had been talking to and she acted as if I was imagining things or something. Totally denied saying anything at all."
"Maybe you were," Dustin said. Tori gave him a mean look.
"I know what I heard," she said.
"Well, what do you think it all means?" Blake asked.
"Well, she's been kind of down lately," Tori asked. "I mean, this whole voice thing is making her a little depressed. She tries to hide it, but I can tell."
"So, you think she's just gone crazy?" Dustin asked, laughing a little at how absurd that sounded.
"I……I don't know…." Tori said. She bit her lip and looked down. "Honestly," she said. "I think she's verging on suicidal or something…." The three looked at her.
"What?" Dustin asked. "That's a little far fetched, don't you think?"
"You should've heard how she sounded…….Desperate……scared……helpless……..I just….."
"Do you think we should tell Kelly?" Blake asked. Tori shook her head.
"No, no. Kelly will just make her relax more or something…..and that might make things worse," Tori said.
"So, what do we do?" Hunter asked.
"Do about what?" Came a familiar female voice. The four rangers turned to find Sonny staring at them, arms crossed across her chest. They were silent. "Well?" She prodded. They stared at her for a second.
"Uh…." Blake and Hunter began.
"Uh……My mom's birthday present," Dustin blurted out. Sonny gave him an odd look. "Yeah, yeah, my mom's birthday is coming up and I…..uh…..bought her a bottle of perfume……..but…I just found out she's allergic to that kind of perfume, and the store won't give me a refund….."
"You four our huddled together and having a secret pow-wow about a bottle of perfume?" Sonny asked, not believing them.
"Well, it was a really expensive bottle…" Dustin said.
"We're not having a secret pow-wow," Tori assured her. "Dustin….just didn't want Kelly to hear…..You know how Kelly is, she'd rush over to the store and chew the sales people out and scare them into giving Dustin his money back.." Sonny thought about this.
"Well, yeah, Kelly can be slightly intimidating sometimes," Sonny said. She suddenly gave them a big smile. "Okay," she said. She laughed softly. "Sorry, for a minute there I thought you guys were like talking about me or something."
"No, no, just Dustin's perfume problem," Hunter assured her.
"Well, Dustin, why don't you just hold on to the perfume?" Sonny suggested. "You know, in case you meet a girl or something, you've got a little gift ready for her,"
"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Dustin nodded. "Thanks, Sonny," he said.
"No problem," she said. "Oh, before I forget, Hunter, Kels wants you to get those boxes of motocross gloves from the back so I can restock the shelves."
"Oh, yeah…sure," Hunter said. He made his way to the stock room, casting a look at the other three behind Sonny's back before he disappeared in the room.
"So, what kind of perfume is it?" Sonny asked.
"What?" Dustin asked.
"The perfume you bought for your mom, what kind is it?"
"Uh…it's……uh…That really fragrant one…" Dustin said. Sonny chuckled.
"As supposed to the many odorless perfumes?" She asked.
"Uh…..that……Elizabeth Taylor one…" Dustin stammered. Sonny whistled lowly.
"White Diamonds? Wow, that's expensive. If I'd known my cousin pays you enough to buy that, I'd asked for a raise," she joked. Hunter returned with two boxes and placed them over at the shelves that contained the gloves before joining the others.
"Got the boxes," he said. Sonny nodded.
"All right, thanks. Well, I better get back to work," she said before walking off, the others watching her carefully.