Cat: Hey all! I just wanted to give you the heads up that I'm going camping this weekend and therefore won't be able to update for a couple days. I apologize for this delay.
Disclaimer: Here's where I say that I don't own the Power Rangers. If I don't the people that do own Power Rangers might throw rocks at me.
Over the next three days, the Rangers weren't sure of anything. First, Stegozord seemed to get slashed by Tiger, but he insisted that he was on the other side of the island at the time. That second case seemed to break the ice, and small cruelties went on hourly. Bison and Tricera locked horns over grazing pastures, and Tyrano and Red Lion ended up butting heads after every scuffle.
Ank, for his part, tried to slip under the radar. He was a Dinozord, and his own hulking orange mass reminded him of that much. The Dinozords were his friends, but so were the Wild Force zords. And they wanted him to choose sides? It was impossible, so he tried to stay out of it. Kira found him quivering in fear one night, and almost cried for the poor creature.
Ptera and Eagle never got over the first argument, and were going at it constantly. Neither Taylor, nor Kira could get them to knock it off. Alyssa tried to reason with Tiger, but he wouldn't let Stego's lies drop either. Conner and Ethan agreed firmly with their zords, and Cole and Danny were very ticked off at them, while Max just remained grateful that Sharkzord lived in the water allowing him to mostly stay out of the whole thing. Still, he often found himself affected by the tension surrounding everything and had taken to hiding on the beach. All in all, the island was at its breaking point. That's when Shayla called in an expert.
"Ok, we're trying the teleportation system for the first time, so we're only going to try to send two." Haylie said. Shayla nodded. "Now, Maya's got an amazing connection with the Galactabeasts, so, if anyone can help on that end, it's her."
"I can't believe we're sending our zords through therapy." Said Conner.
"Hate to be pessimistic, but what's plan B, in case this doesn't work?" Taylor wondered.
"Hide under a rock?" Kira suggested.
"We'll worry about that if and when we have to." Shayla said steadily.
"You ready? Haylie was asking several people behind her. Presumably they were because a second later she said, "Look for them on your side." Two beams of light, one yellow, one pink, appeared in the Animarium, Kimberly and Maya were revealed, looking very tense. They breathed a sigh of relief. Haylie however, was freaking out.
"We've overloaded the system." Her face was fading in and out, and her voice sounded as if it was coming from a badly tuned radio. "We're losing power. We may—" but they never found out what might have happened to the rangers back home, because Haylie cut out as the communications system in the Ruins combusted.
There was a moment of silence then, "Hey guys." Conner said cheerfully. "How's it going?"
"So, I heard you guys had a zord problem." Maya said.
"That's putting it mildly." Taylor said.
"Well, what's happened?" Kimberly wanted to know.
"The island's split." Cole told her. "If we don't do something, they might get violent."
"I don't mean to sound rude," Kira began, looking at Kimberly. Several people tensed. As everyone knows, any sentence that begins with either "I don't mean to be rude" or "No offense but" is doomed to cause problems. "But what are you doing here?"
Kimberly shrugged. "Nothing much really. Tommy asked me if I wanted to come and I was like, 'why not?' and now I'm here." Plus it was the only way to make sure I don't end up locked in another closet. She added silently.
"Oh that is so weird." Kira shivered as she heard someone refer to her science teacher by his first name.
Kimberly, assuming she was talking about her, looked deeply offended. Cole caught on quickly. "You called her teacher "Tommy." He explained. Kira shivered again.
"Oh, you're right, Kira." Conner said. "That is weird."
"No joke." Agreed a mildly scarred Ethan.
There was a familiar tearing cry and everyone looked up. Two yellow specks were going at it yet again, high in the air. One seemed to find something to latch on to and the other was sent plunging to the ground. Eaglezord flapped hard at the last second, preventing injury.
"Pterazord!" Kira screamed.
"Eaglezord knock it off." Taylor ordered. They both were ignored. Instead, Pterazord fell into a sharp dive and Eagle zoomed upward to meet in the middle. Taylor was screaming herself hoarse and so was Kira. Maya decided that maybe an outside influence would be able to get their attention, but she wasn't having any more luck.
"Cut it out!" Kira and Taylor shouted and finally both zords pulled away. They landed gently, chests puffed out proudly and shooting angry glances at each other when ever they thought that their partner wasn't looking. Ptera lifted up in Kira's mind expectantly. Kira glared daggers.
"Oh no." She said loudly. "Don't give me that. You were not defending me!" Eagle cawed shrilly. "She didn't hurt him, did she?" Kira asked quietly. Taylor was running her fingers along every inch of her friend that she could possibly reach.
"I don't think so."
"It's so strange." Maya said to herself.
"What's strange?" Kimberly asked.
"I've never had so much trouble reaching a living creature before."
"Reaching them isn't the hard part." Taylor said dryly. "It's getting them to do what you ask."
Kira turned to her zord in mild surprise. "If you really do whatever I ask, then go and get the other Dinozords. Got that?" Ptera nodded. Kira grinned. "Thanks." She said and Ptera took off obediently.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Taylor asked Eagle. "go and get the others." Eager to show that he was as good as Ptera, Eagle flapped off. A couple minutes later all the zords were clustered around the clearing, the Dino zords on one side, the Wild Force zords on the other. Ank was somewhere in the back, crouching low to avoid being seen.
"Ok, what's the problem guys?" Maya asked the zords. There was silence, though quite a lot of glaring. "Oh come on now. I know something's up." Red Lion growled a reply cautiously.
"They have been interfering in our lives and assaulting us at their leisure." Cole translated. The Pterazord screamed in response. Kira flinched at the volume, then shouted a warning
"Be nice!"
"She says that it was them who have been cruel and unwelcoming, and she reminds them that she was attacked first." Cole told the others. Taylor had already guessed this though because Eagle was straining to get at the other flying zord. She was managing to hold the giant flying beast back by nothing but the sheer force of her glare. Maya flinched as a raging argument erupted.
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Cole gave up translating all together, and was trying to tell Red Lion to back off, while Conner was asking Tyrano what the heck was wrong with him. Bison and Tricera were going at it fiercely, Danny requesting that they both stop, and Ethan telling them to. Eagle screamed again Kimberly went very pale. Ank was backing slowly into the trees, and Eagle screamed once more.
Finally, Conner got tired of the whole thing.
"Everyone just SHUT UP!"
Surprisingly enough, silence fell. For a minute everyone just stared at the Ranger. "Wow. I can't believe that actually worked."
"Me neither." Agreed Kimberly.
The Red Lion growled something in a low and controlled tone. "Red Lion says that he knows that they can't leave the Animarium, but that doesn't mean that they have to tolerate the sight of the Dino zords." Cole said, his voice harsh and disbelieving.
"What does that mean?" Kira asked stupidly.
As though answering her, Red Lion turned away and walked calmly off. The other zords followed his lead and disbanded. The Dinozords huffed loudly, then too left. Ank shivered before waddling off.
"Maya, Kimberly, are you all right?" Cole asked
"yeah, we're fine." Maya answered.
"That was," Kimberly searched for the word.
"Scary?" Conner suggested.
"Random?" Max tried.
"Loud." Kim said finally.
"We're all all right." Alyssa said, though she didn't look very all right. "But, uh, where's Kira?"
"Bathroom."
"Oh."
"That was intense." Conner said.
"Who knew they were so steamed?" Ethan agreed. "I'm thinking maybe we should go home."
"I don't want this taken the wrong way," Danny began. That was, of course, another sentence opener that foretold doom and offense. "But maybe, you're—" No one heard the rest of his sentence of doom as seven zords came crashing through the trees.
"What?" Max asked in alarm.
"They say we're going with them." Cole said, looking as though he himself had no clue what Red Lion was talking about.
Conner shifted away, but Tyrano bent down and grabbed him gently in his teeth. Alyssa was suspended by the collar of her vest in the same fashion, and soon all the rangers were being toted away, Red Lion carrying not only Cole, who was arguing fiercely, but Shayla and Max, both of whom where also trying to talk the lion out of it. The Pterazord flew off noisily leaving Maya and Kimberly standing in the middle of the clearing feeling very stupid and out of place.
"Um. What do we do?" Kimberly asked.
"I have no idea."
"Woah." Kira had just come back from the bathroom to find everyone gone. "Did I miss something?"
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The zord returned yet again to his master, and cawed his report. The figure jumped up, rage filling him. "What do you mean she got away!" The zord looked mildly frightened, but was used to such outbursts by now and did not flinch. The figure settled and took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter. Thank God for plan B."
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The Wild Force zords made camp around the lake, and the Dinozords on the far side of the island, perched on the edge of the cliff. Kira, Kimberly, and Maya trudged through the woods looking for them, but also trying to stay out of sight of the Pterazord in case it tried to carry off Kira. They would need all the help they could get to rescue everyone, and they knew it.
"So what do we do?" Kimberly asked.
"We could try talking to them again." Maya suggested.
"Because that was working so well." Kira stomped all over the idea.
"Well, if you know a way, let's here it."
"My best idea is blackmail, but I'm not too sure how that'd play out."
"It has potential. But considering that it's technically illegal, I suggest we list it as a last resort." Kimberly proposed thoughtfully.
"We could always just—" but they never got to find out what they could always do because at that moment all three girls were teleported elsewhere.
Cat: Yes, short chapter I know. But I couldn't post the next one because it would
give away too much. I wanted to leave you in suspense, cause I'm mean. However, you should all mentally prepare for the identity of Cog-Putty-Man to be revealed! If you've got a guess as to who it is, leave me a review!