Chapter Thirty
At Ninja Ops, everyone was quiet since they came back from the aftermath battle between Marah and the Fake Marah. It didn't go well at all especially when they watches Marah died in attempted of trying to destroy Fake Marah who's still survived, which was a shock to everyone. Dustin was sitting at the corner by himself, not saying a word nor looked at anyone. Marah's death really affected him can't help but feel sad for him. She has never seen him like this. Everyone tried to talk to him, but he shrugged them off, not saying anything. He didn't even cried at all even though Tori can tell that he wanted to.
Dustin got up "I'm going call it a day and go home now," he said before he left out of Ninja Ops.
"Poor Dustin," Tori muttered before she turned her attention on Kapri and Cam.
Kapri is now awake and Cam was running some test on her. Hunter had carried her back to Ninja Ops after she got knocked out cold. She was startled when she heard what happened to Marah. Matter of fact, she haven't said a word since Cam told her what happened to Marah.
"No, Marah can't be dead,"Kapri thoughts "She has to be alive. That device should have work".
When she had used their device on Fake Marah, it has extract Marah's power out of her. So, chances are that Marah could still be alive if she was able to retrieve her powers back.
"Kapri, you are going to be okay," Cam spokes all of a sudden, snapping her out from her thoughts.
"What did you say Cam?"
"I said that you are going to be okay," Cam repeated it again "I run some test on you to see if something is wrong with you and so far nothing".
Kapri slightly smiled "Thanks Cam," she got up and head toward the exit when Hunter stopped her.
"Are you leaving?" he asked, sounded disappointed.
"I can't stay".
"Why not?"
"I just can't, please understand".
Tori walked over to Hunter and Kapri "Kapri, where are you planning to go especially when Lothor might know that you betray him".
Kapri sighs "I want to find out if Marah is really dead or not," she replied causing Dustin to look over at her.
"How?" Hunter asked.
"When I blasted Fake Marah with the device, it extracted Marah's power from her," Kapri explained "If Marah manages to get her power, it's possible that she might be alive".
Dustin rushes over to Kapri and grabs her arms "Are you sure that Marah might still be alive?" he asked.
"Dustin," She sighs "I'm not that sure, I don't want to give you hope and then come back empty, which is not fair to you".
Dustin lets go of Kapri's arms and nodded before he turned and walked over to Tori who placed her hand on his shoulder.
Kapri looked at everyone and then at Hunter "I'm sorry, but I must go now," she said before she left.
Hunter was sad to see Kapri leave. He really wants to tell her stay, but instead he remains quiet and didn't say anything. Blake went over to his brother "Go after her, Hunter," he ushered his brother.
Hunter doesn't need to be told twice, he immediately took off after Kapri. Outside of Ninja Ops, Kapri was walking away feeling sad. She really didn't want to leave either, but had to because she worried that Lothor might hurt them once he know about her betrayal. So far, everything is quiet which mean Lothor doesn't know about her betrayal.
That is good news to her because it would help us find out if Marah is really dead or not. She was about to teleports to the ship when she heard footsteps running.
"Kapri wait!" she heard Hunter's voice calling out to her. She turned around saw Hunter rushing up to her.
"Hunter, I already you that I..." she begins to say when Hunter stopped her, grabbing her arms and pulled into his embrace. She was in shock by what Hunter did and was about to push him away when he spokes.
"I admit I didn't want to go, but that doesn't mean I'm going to make you stay," he whispers in her ear "I want you to know that if you find out that Marah didn't make it, just remember that there's one person that care and want to help you".
Kapri become emotion when she heard Hunter said those words. She hugs him back and buried her face in his chest letting the tears fall.
"Thank you, Hunter," she whispered back.
They were in each other arms for awhile. An hour later, Hunter let her go and grabs one her hand and held it "Be careful, Kapri".
Kapri nodded and slowly pulled her hand away "Good bye Hunter," She said before she teleported away.
Hunter watches her teleports, knowing that he would see her again not as Kapri, but as Kaitlyn.
Kapri appears back on the ship and was about to go to her room when she felt something dangling on her wrist. She looked at her wrist and saw a bracelet with a small crimson crystal heart shape. She smiled realizing that Hunter must have put it on her wrist without her noticing.
After that she walked to her room to figure out what her next move would be.
XXXXXX
Two Weeks Later
Outside Storm Chargers
Tori and Skyla were loading the guys' camping gear inside the back of Tori's van, which was completely filled up.
"I hope this camping trip can cheer Dustin up after what happened," Skyla said "He haven't been in a cheerful mood lately.
"I know," Tori said; understand why Dustin wasn't happy at her. He would always work and never went out to have fun at all. "Ever since Marah has been gone, Dustin haven't been himself. I mean he does go on his ranger duty and ninja training, but never once I seen him smile".
"Even if he did smile, it would be to show that he's okay to everyone because he doesn't want anyone to worried," Skyla added.
Tori puts hands on her hips when someone came out of Storm Chargers "I thought you guys said you were only going camping for a few days." Tori said when she saw Hunter walked out of Storm Chargers. "This is enough gear to outfit a whole city."
"What? It's just the necessities." Hunter shrugged and grinned a bit.
The girls watched as Dustin came out and they raised their eyebrows at what he was carrying.
"A TV?" Tori asked with a smiled.
"How else are we gonna watch Super-Cross tomorrow?" Dustin asked as he loaded the TV inside the van giving them a smile. Even though it's a smile from Dustin, Tori know full well, he was trying to act like he was fine.
"You're not supposed to watch the Super-Cross tomorrow, Dustin." Tori started as she closed the trunk. "It's called roughing it."
Shane, Hunter, and Blake came out from Storm Chargers carrying their own supplies. "Yeah, well if men were meant to rough it, why did he invent a portable generator?" Shane pointed out as he placed a red generator in the van.
Tori got inside the van, in the driver's seat as Blake went over to the passenger side and open the door. "Well get in the van before I change my mind." She told the boys as she put her seatbelt on.
"Thanks again for giving us a ride." Blake told Tori as he got inside.
"No problem. We wouldn't miss seeing you guys in the wild for the world." Tori smiled. "And if it would help cheer Dustin up, then it's worth my time. Plus this way, we'll be able to find you when things go horribly wrong." she added as she smiled too and Skyla can't help but laughed.
Blake rolled his eyes and grinned as the rest of the guys got inside. "Come on, four of us are highly trained ninjas, and also we have good outdoor experience. What could possibly go wrong?"
Later on, the rangers were still in the van and Tori were driving through the forest.
"Hey dudes, have you ever wondered why the sky is blue, and not see-through?" Dustin asked randomly.
"No." Tori said with a bit of amusement.
Skyla shook her head. She was sitting next to Shane who wrapped his arms around her.
"Same here." Hunter agreed.
"Well, I mean, it's just air, right?" Dustin pointed out as he looked up and Shane held back a laugh. "It should be see-through! You ever wonder about that?"
"Uh, Dustin, I'm the air guy." Shane stated. "You know, 'Power of Air'? You worry about the dirt and figure out why it's brown." He suggested as he, Hunter, and Blake laughed.
"Hey, I was just asking." Dustin raised his hands in innocence.
Tori and Skyla just smiled at the boys as Tori continued to drive. All of sudden a girl in mountain climbing gear ran out of nowhere onto the road.
"Help!" She called.
"Who's that ahead," Skyla asked.
"Last time we stopped at the side of the road, our school got sucked into space." Dustin reminded the others, sensing something is not right.
Tori ignored Dustin and pulled over to the side before everyone got out. "Are you alright?" Tori asked as they approached the girl.
"It's my friend. We need help." The girl panicked slightly. "Do you guys have a rope?"
"Did you pack a rope along with the CD player and the laptop?" Tori asked as she turned to Shane and Hunter.
"As a matter of fact, we did." Shane responded as he and Hunter grabbed the gear from the trunk. "Got it!"
After getting the gear, the rangers and the girl ran to a cliff side, where they saw a bunch of mountain climbers. "Her harness got stuck to the rope." The girl told the rangers as they stopped. "She's stuck!"
Shane leaned over to see the victim crying for help. "Hold on!" He yelled. "We're gonna get you outta there!"
"Lower me down." Blake decided. "I'm the lightest."
"No, I'll do it," Dustin spokes all of sudden and everyone turned to him.
"Dustin, I don't know if it's a good idea for you to go," Shane worried that Dustin might do something stupid like commit suicide.
Dustin touches Shane's shoulder "Trust me; I'm not that stupid to do something stupid. I'm okay," he assured his friends.
Shane sighs and nodded as he and the other guys huddled up a bit. "Okay, we should be ready to go into ranger mode if things get too ugly."
"Reading your mind, bro." Hunter agreed.
Dustin quickly got into the climbing gear while Blake tied his rope to a large rock. "Okay, we're good." The navy ranger assured the others and Dustin.
Dustin nodded before he lowered himself down the cliff side. Once he reached the victim, he patted her shoulder. "You're doing great. Don't worry; I'm going to get you out of here." He told the victim, who was shivering in fear. "Hey, you okay?"
Meanwhile at the bottom of the cliff, Zurgane appeared before pressing a button on a device and shooting a beam at the victim. Suddenly, the victim snapped its head up and transformed into a Kelzaks fury, making Dustin jerks back a bit. He was in shock to see the victim was actually a Kelzaks fury.
"No way!" he shouted.
Shane looked at Dustin's rope to see that it was loosening. "It's slipping!" He and Skyla went over and grab the rope trying to keeping it from slipping.
"Dustin!" Tori cried as she looked over the edge. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine." The girl replied with a sinister tone in her voice, before transforming into a Kelzaks fury and pushing Blake and Hunter away.
The other mountain climbers walked over and transformed into Kelzaks furies too, so the rangers got into fighting stances.
"Okay, I didn't see that coming." Blake muttered.
"Me either," Hunter agreed as he and Blake got into their fight stances.
"That's what I was hoping." Zurgane said as he appeared. "Attack!" He commanded as the Kelzaks furies started fighting the rangers.
The Kelzaks went over to Shane and tries to pull him and Skyla away from the rope when Skyla kicks them in the stomach and forms a barrier around her and Shane. Shane looked at her in surprised. She looked at him with a smile and gave him an "I'll explain to you later" look.
Meanwhile, Tori rushed over to cliff and looked over to see Dustin avoiding hits from a Kelzaks fury as he was fighting.
"Dustin!" She called as the Kelzaks fury knocked Dustin upside down on the rope.
"Oh No!" Dustin's eyes widened when he saw the Kelzaks fury cut the rope. He yelled as he started falling down really fast.
"No!" Tori screamed as she watched Dustin fall when out of nowhere the black cloak figure appears from below and held her hand out.
"Kapri?"Tori thoughts when she saw the black cloak figure.
A light forms from the black cloak figure's hand and shoot at Dustin stopping him from falling. Then the black cloak figure help by moving him back up with her hand to the cliff where Tori was.
Tori reaches out and grabs Dustin's hand "I got you," she said as she help him up. Dustin was busy staring at the black cloak figure in shock that the black cloak figure save his life. He was wondering if the black cloak figure was Kapri or not.
Once Dustin was on the ground safely, Tori looked to him "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Dustin nodded with a smiled "Thanks".
"No problem," Tori sighed and smiled with relief "Ready to join the fight and help the others out?"
"Yup, let's go".
Meanwhile, the other rangers regrouped at the top of the cliff as Tori and Dustin streaked in front of them.
"You guys okay?" Dustin asked.
"Never better. I think it's time to clean up these clowns." Shane decided as the rangers stood in a line. "Ready?"
"Ready!"
"Ninja Storm,"
"Thunder Storm,"
"Ranger Form, Ha!"
"Ninja Storm!"
The rangers drew their swords/staffs and Blake switched his Thunder Staff into its Star Mode.
"Attack!" Zurgane ordered as the Kelzaks furies charged at the rangers.
"Ninja Sword Gold, Power Up!" Shane exclaimed as his sword glowed gold. Shane slashed his sword in the air and knocked the kelzaks furies to the ground.
"Ninja Sword Gold, Power Up!" Tori and Dustin called as their swords turned gold too. Each of them slashed their swords too and hit the Kelzaks furies.
Shane battled Zurgane, but eventually fell to the ground. "You wanna play rough? Fine!" Shane growled as he got up and called upon his battalizer and went into Flight Mode. "Battalizer, Laser Engaged.
"Fire!" He yelled as he shot a large beam at the Kelzaks furies, who fell to the ground and disappeared.
Zurgane was still standing with a grin face
"What's so funny?" Shane asked "I don't see anymore Kelzaks here".
"What's going on?" Tori asked as she, Skyla and other rangers join Shane "Why is Zurgane grinning?"
"Maybe he lost his mind," Blake assumed.
"Yeah," Shane agreed "Let's just attack him already".
The rangers immediately lunged at Zurgane when a red energy beam ball strikes them in the chest, knocking them to the ground on their back.
"What was that?" Shane looked up with the others rangers and saw a blur figure ninja streaks and landed beside Zurgane.
"Huh?" Blake stared at the blur figure that's dressed in a black uniform with crimson and purple stripes wearing a mask. She was holding a sliver staff with a crimson gem. "Who is that?"
"I don't know,' Dustin grabbed his chest in pain "Wasn't that person who attack us?''
Tori shook her head "I have no idea".
"Me either," Shane added.
"No clue," Hunter replied also staring at the mask figure person.
"Say hello to my solider that is able to kick all you rangers' butts," Zurgane laughed "Attack them and show how strong you are!" he ordered.
The mask figure person aims her sliver staff at the rangers "Prepare to feel my wrath, rangers," she coldly said.
TBC: Review and tell me what you think.