"You can't just leave on the job like that!" Kelly exclaimed. "You do this all the time, and I've been letting it slide, but this is rediculous, Dustin!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't have a choice! It was, uh... an emergency."

Kelly studied his face. "It always is," she said softly. A pang of guilt shot sharply through Dustin. Kelly sighed. "Where WERE you?"

"I..." Dunstin involuntarily glanced at the large morpher on his wrist. "I can't tell you."

Kelly looked hurt. Truly hurt. "Dustin..." she looked down, not wanting to ask what was on her mind. "You're not doing... drugs, are you?"

"NO!" Dustin cringed at the loud volume of his response.

"Well what do you want me to say?" Kelly said, back on defensive. "Do you expect me to just ALLOW this? Why can't you tell me," she asked firmly.

Dustin's mouth hung open but no words would come out.

"That's what I thought," Kelly whispered, barely able to breathe.

"Kelly, wait..." Dustin reached out and grabbed her shoulder as she turned away.

"What. What more is there to say, Dustin. Are you going to tell me where you were? And why you always leave in such a hurry? You're shutting me out! You never used to treat me like this!"

Her words stunned Dustin. He froze. He never used to treat her like this.... What had he done to their friendship? "Kelly, I never ment to hurt you-"

"Well you did," Kelly tried to hide the pain swelling up inside of her chest. She swallowed hard. Why was she getting so upset over this? Dustin disappeared all the time. What made this time any different?

Dustin could think of no lie to tell that would justify his actions, but he couldn't tell her the truth. Wait! Why couldn't he? He needed to go talk with Sensei. 'That's what I'll do,' Dustin thought firmly.

Kelly looked pained. She could only interpret his silence one way... She turned and disappeared into the storage room, choking on the knot her throat. She leaned against the closed door and let a tear tumble down her cheek before pushing her feelings aside and focusing on her work.

'That's it,' Dustin thought angrilly. He stormed off to Ninja Ops.

*******************

Blake sat in silence across from his brother. He couldn't force himself to think about anything but the look on Tori's face as he had turned away from her. Would she ever forgive him? He had to choose Hunter over her. He didn't have a choice. He closed his eyes, and the image of Tori's broken-hearted face shone all the more brightly.

Hunter was lost in thought. Everything felt cold and empty. He had nothing. He was hurting Blake somehow and he knew this. He was surprised to find his thoughts drifting to Marah. It was odd that it felt as if something were missing now that she was gone. He was stuck in a ditch that he couldn't crawl his way out of. Blake had that pathetic blonde twig to pine for and the willingness to join forces with the Wind Rangers. He still had hope and faith in other people, despite all they had been through. And what did Hunter have? A dull pain in his chest? A desolate mind-set? An empty thirst for revenge? He didn't even have Marah to unleash his anger on now. He truly did have nothing. He was holding back his brother from a relationship and a chance at happiness. Blake NEEDED some happiness in his life. Hunter tried to give that to him through their comroderie, but obviously it was not enough. Overwhelmed, Hunter sank his face into his hands. What could he do now? Had he burned all his bridges? 'There has to be something I can do,' he frowned inwardly. 'Anything.'

*****************

"Now what?" Choobo asked cautiously. He was sitting across the table from Kapri. She looked more menacing than ever. Marah and Lothor sat together, staring blankly at the wall. A chill ran down Choobo's spine. "They give me the creeps."

"Suck it up," Kapri spat, not looking up from the paper thin computer screen she held in her hands.

Choobo shifted uncomfortably. He glanced at Marah and Lothor, then quickly looked away. The dimly lit throne room was completely silent.

"AAAAAA!" Lothor suddenly lurched up to his feet. Choobo, Kapri, and an empty Marah all looked at him. Lothor fell to the floor, shaking violently. His eyes rolled back into his head.

"UNCLE!" Kapri rushed over. "Uncle!" She pulled back in horror. He was having a seizure.

A swarm of kelzacks skidded to a halt in the doorway, backing up the hallway. The room was filled with Lothor's grunts and shrieks as he jerked uncontrollably.

After a long time, he fell motionless. Kapri turned him over onto his back with a trembling hand. "U- Uncle...?" her voice quavered. "Uncle?" she shook him slightly. He didn't move. His wide eyes stared up, unseeing. He wasn't blinking. He wasn't breathing. "Uncle?" Kapri shook him more forcefully, her voice becoming urgent. "UNCLE!" she wailed and collapsed on his broad chest. She let raw sobs tear through her entire body. "What have I done to you?" she wimpered between sobs. Choobo stood in shock.

"Is he... Is he dead?"

Kapri's head snapped up, her eyes flashing dangerously. "GET OUT! GET OUT! ALL OF YOU!" Kapri was up on her feet in seconds. Her voice was wrought with emotion, a rare glimpse into her soul. Her face was completely soaked with tears. Pink banges clung to her forehead. "OUT!" she screamed with everything she had left in her. The kelzacks scurried away, followed by a cowardly Choobo.

Kapri held Lothor's body to her chest. "What have I done..." she wailed, rocking him back and forth. Suddenly she looked up. Marah was staring at her with vacant eyes. Kapri thought she would vomit at the sight. She could only cry harder.

****************

"She needs our help," Blake was saying. Hunter stared at the camp fire, digging his boot into the forest soil. "Who knows what they've done to her. That mind-warping technology is risky business. I can't even imagine what the side effects could be like."

"Neither can I."

"Well, what are we going to do about it? Just sit here?"

"No. We need a plan," Hunter said, his mind already racing with possible strategies. "We need to get on that ship...."

"Hunter." Blake was frowning. "You'll kill Lothor when you see him. If we go up there, you won't be able to focus on rescuing Marah...."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I'LL DO."

"Bro-" Blake started.

Hunter waved the comment away. He now remembered Lothor. "What if they WANT us to do this?" he thought aloud. "Try and save poor little Marah. They'd have us right where they want us!"

"Hey, I thought you were finally siding with Marah..."

"WE CAN'T BE SURE. Look how long we believed in her uncle! Look how convincing he was!"

"That was different! We were so caught up in our grief that we-"

"I STILL AM."

Blake could not think of what to say to this. Whatever he did say, Hunter took the wrong way. It was impossible to reason with him. "Look, let's sleep on it, okay? We'll decide what to do in the morning."

"Fine," Hunter spat. He jerked his blanket about himself and lay down, not uttering another word.

******************

"Sensei, this is impossible! I can't lie to Kelly any more!" Dustin was pacing back and forth in front of the wise man-turned-guinea-pig. "I can't stand it."

"Do you understand the consiquences that could occur should you reveal your true identity to her?" Sensei asked calmly.

"The Yellow Ranger is NOT my true identity. DUSTIN!" he pointed to himself. "DUSTIN is my true identity." Almost instantly he regretted the utterance.

The Sensei only nodded. "You do not want you destiny to interfere with your friendship."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Dustin kicked himself mentally.

"Dustin," Sensei brought the young man's attention back to him, "when the time comes to tell her, you will know. Do you trust me?"

"I do, Sensei. I do... But HOW will I know?"

Sensei grinned, having predicted that Dustin would ask this question. "When the times comes, it will feel right."

"So I WILL tell her?" he asked anxiously. "When the time comes?"

"She is close enough to you that your secret will be safe with her. You trust her as well, do you not?"

"Well, yeah. Of course I do. I just..."

"Go," Sensei chuckled.

"Right." Dustin bowed slightly before exiting on unsure feet. "The right moment," he repeated to himself. "Wait for the right moment...."

**************** Kapri stepped rigidly into the throne room. Choobo was strapping Marah to the chair. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," Kapri said coldly through gritted teeth. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to break down again. Once was enough. "I don't want her to die too."

Choobo nodded hurridly and dashed over to the control panel. Waving his fingers, he selected a sequence of buttons. Once more the machine hissed and decended on the silent girl's head. There was a crackling blast of strange orange light.

"Why is it orange?" Kapri hollored above the noise.

"Probably due to the reverse mechanism," Choobo called back.

Moments later, the light disapated. There was silence.

Marah sat blinking. Where was she? She felt physically sick as she looked around and realized where she was. Memories came flooding back to her. Had she been mind-warped? She couldn't remember anything after being strapped, kicking and screaming, into the chair and being taken over by a frightening darkness. Now she was in the throne again, and it felt as if no time had passed. She stared at Kapri.

"What did you do to me?" she asked carefully, afraid her voice might fail her. She was surprised to see the foreign expression on her cold-hearted sister's face. Was it guilt? Something wasn't right. "What happened? Kapri? Tell me!"

Karpi's eyes glazed over and became cold and distant. "Our uncle is dead."

The word slammed heavily against Marah's chest, laboring her breathing, tightening her throat. She stammered. "D-dead...?" Kapri said nothing. "DEAD?" Marah could not feel the pain, in fact she could not feel anything. She sat frozen, then looked down and tried to sort things out in her head. But it made her dizzy trying to think. It was the only thing she could feel now. Fluttering eyelids drooped down and closed heavily as Marah fell limp in the chair. She had fainted.

"Take her to her bedroom," Kapri said dimly. "Let her sleep off the post-shock of the mind-warping proceedure.

"Yes, your highness."

"And Choobo?"

"Yes?"

"Make sure a kelzack stands guard outside her door."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Okay, so that's my chapter! Can't you just feel the tension? Bwahahahaha. Don't worry... I won't start power tripping and kill off everyone ("It's MY story! Mine! Mine I tell you!), just Lothor... for now. Heh heh. That's all I have time to write right now, so enjoy it! Only one person actually reviewed the last chapter... PLEASE REVIEW!!! Please? Pretty please? *bats eyelashes*

~McGann'sGirl~