Chapter 9

Frozen Solid Part 1

It only took one glance at the broken up lair to know that if her master had made it, she was going to be in trouble. Very serious trouble.

Ernestine gulped and stepped up in search of any life under the rocks and boulders. A few moments later, she found a couple of Flunk Bots but nothing else.

She gulped again. "Master . . . ?

No reply.

She breathed a sigh of relief, realising that her master was gone . . . and that she finally had her freedom-

"ERNESTINE!"

His voice was so hard, it shook the rocks around her, enough to make her fall over. She looked up and saw his huge hand shoot through the rocks followed by his monterous body.

"Master . . ." Ernestine got up and headed up to him. "I am delighted to see you," she lied.

He grabbed her by the neck. "Don't waste my time! We all know what you did in that last battle! You are a traitor! A coward and a traitor! I should have known that you'd be useless! Now I am going to do something I should have done a long time ago!"

He raised his hand and prepared to smack it down on her . . .

"WAIT!" Ernestine squeaked. "If you destroy me . . . then who's going to create your army?"

He hesitated for a moment. Then he reluctantly lowered his hand. "Fine . . . I'll leave you this once. But you're lucky. Now create me a creature that won't disappoint me."

Ernestine gave him a shaky nod. "V- very well, Master."

"And one last thing . . . since you can't use your new powers responsibly, I'll be taking them off you."

"What? NO!" squealed Ernestine but her master ignored her and still holding onto her neck, drained away most of her energy. As he let her go, she collapsed onto the ground.

"What are you lollygagging for? WE NEED WARRIORS!" he roared.

"So team . . . following our previous fight, I think we can all agree that we need to improve our strength," said Dr. Sparks. "So I'll a few tests for you each to attempt. That way we'll be able to see what you need to work on."

The five Rangers nodded. Dr. Sparks grinned and showed them the first test. It was a large boulder.

"This is a test of instinct of strength. I want you to try and see if you can break this rock with your bare hand. So . . . who's first?"

Jason stepped up. He immediately threw his hand down on the rock. It didn't make a dent and Jason winced at the pain from whacking his hand against the hard rock.

"I'll try," said Olivia. She stepped forward and took a tamer approach. Placing her hand gently on the rock, she examined the rock, wondering how she would break it. Then after a few seconds she threw her hand down as hard as she could. Again, nothing happened but the pink ranger was left with a very sore hand.
Even Alex and Callum couldn't seem to break the rock and ended up with their hands throbbing.

"Or for goodness sake! Let me try!" snapped Zoe.
"It's hard!" Alex warned her.

Zoe ignored him and placed her hand on the rock. She gently placed her hand on the rock, planning how she would strike it. Then, before anyone could react, she threw her hand up and whacked it against the middle of the boulder. The moment her hand came into contact with the boulder, it immediately split in two.

"Too easy," Zoe smirked, dusting off her hands, ignoring her gaping teammates.

"How did you do that?" gasped Jason.

Zoe said nothing but stuck her nose in the air with pride.

The next test was even harder- they had to eat and swallow a live fish!

Jason managed to get the fish in his mouth but swallowed it too soon and ended up throwing it back up.

Alex also managed to get the fish in his mouth but spat it out because he couldn't stand the feel of the fish wriggling around in his mouth.

Olivia picked the fish up but dropped it straight away when it wriggled around in her fingers. After that, she decided she wasn't going to do the test.

Callum was too scared to eat it.

But once again, Zoe surprised the others by passing the test with no problem at all- almost as if she were eating a biscuit or a piece of cake.

"Tastes just like chicken," she grinned when her teammates asked her how she did it.

A few more tests were ran and after that Dr. Sparks came to a conclusion.

"Jason, I would like you to work on impulse control. Alex, you did well but I think you need to focus a bit more. Callum and Olivia, you need to have more confidence in yourselves. Don't think about it- just do it. And Zoe . . ."

"What do I need to work on? I'm the only one who passed all the tests," said Zoe, staring at him.

"Yes, and that's what worries me the most."

"WHAT?" Zoe's eyes widened. "What do you mean 'that worries you the most'? Are you saying that being strong is my weakness?"

Dr. Sparks nodded. "Exactly. You push yourself too far. You need to learn to relax."

"Tell that to Callum! He's meant to be the leader of this group! Do you see him relaxing?" demanded Zoe, pointing at the red ranger.

"I relax when I can and I push myself when I have too," said Callum calmly. "But you- you're working yourself 24-7! I haven't even seen you ENJOY yourself since we started this thing."

"Yeah, do you know what the word 'fun' means?" said Jason.

Zoe glared at her teammates. "Fun? I have plenty of fun! I train, I fight bad guys, I train more, do a little ice skating, fight more bad guys and then train. That's my kind of fun! Train, fight, train, train, fight and a little bit of ice skating!"

"Well how about this?" said Dr. Sparks. "How about you train yourself how to loosen up and enjoy life a bit more?"

"Huh?"

"Training dismissed!" announced Dr. Sparks. "You can go home and have some time to relax!"
Callum, Olivia, Alex and Jason beamed and headed out. Zoe gave Dr. Sparks a horrifed look.

"Are you for real?"

"Yes I am. I'll see you when I need to see you."

The blue ranger stared at the scientist. Then, very reluctantly, she stormed out of the lab and used her Blue Energy Morpher to change from her training gear to her ordinary clothes- a white shirt with blue stripes, light blue bootcut jeans and white trainers.

Learn how to relax? LEARN HOW TO RELAX? Had Dr. Sparks gone mad? What was the point in relaxing when there were thousands of villains to fight out there? In the last battle, Master Paine had nearly beaten them. If Callum hadn't- and that was another thing. How come Callum got to have the best moments and yet he couldn't even break a boulder with his bare hand? Zoe groaned in frustration.

She had walked a few meters when she became aware of the sounds of a cry for help and sprinted a few paces to see a teenage boy being attacked by FlunkBots. Although she remembered all too well what had happened last time she had decided to fight a battle alone, she decided to fight these FlunkBots by herself. They were just a few FlunkBots, no sign of any other aliens.

Zoe flipped her way into the army of FlunkBots. "Get out of the way!" she shouted at the boy who immediately ran to safety, giving Zoe enough space to jump into the air, bounce off a FlunkBot's shoulders and land in another FlunkBots stomach. One FlunkBot tried to grab her but Zoe grabbed it's arm and swung it round, sending it crashing into a nearby FlunkBot. Two FlunkBots tried to knock Zoe over from underneath but Zoe performed three backflips in the same area, avoiding their hands and feet before jumping into the air and sticking out her feet, kicking the FlunkBots in the stomach. They collapsed and all six of them disappeared.

As soon as they all disappeared, Zoe ran over to the boy and helped him up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he panted. "Thanks for that."

"No problem," said Zoe and all of a sudden she felt a little bit shy. "I just did what anyone else would have done."

"I'm Isaac," the boy smiled. "What's your name?"

Zoe blushed pink a little but replied "Zoe Cristalle."

Isaac's eyes widened in approval. "Aren't you the girl who won New Zealand's Best Ice Skater like six years in a row?"

"Seven. How did you know?" said Zoe, amazed.

"I watch that event every year," said Isaac. "I've always wanted to try out ice skating myself but I'm so bad at it! But the way you twirl and manage to keep your balance . . . it's amazing! I'd do anything to be as good as you."

Zoe blushed even more. "Th- thank you," she murmured a little uncertainly.

"Say . . . Zoe . . . I know we just met and all but seeing that you saved my life a minute ago . . . Would you like to hang out with me tomorrow? At the ice rink? Maybe there you could teach me some of your tricks?"

Zoe hesitated. "Isaac . . . you seem like a really nice guy, but I don't do dates."

"It wouldn't be a date. Just hanging out. So we could get to know each other a little more," said Isaac, smiling pleasantly.

She hesitated even more. "Even if I did want to hang out, I'm really busy . . . I have a summer job."

"Can you tell your boss to give you a day off?" Isaac pulled a face which Zoe couldn't resist looking away from. Those sky-blue eyes were just begging for her to say yes . . .

Zoe sighed. "Alright."

Isaac beamed. "Thank you so so much! You won't regret this, I promise!" he said, racing off.

The blue ranger shrugged. "You're welcome." Then she realized something. "What time will we meet at?" she called, running after Isaac. Isaac ignored her and ran around a building.

Zoe sprinted after him and around the building only to see that he was no longer there. She lowered her eyebrows.

'That was weird,' she thought to herself.

But then she realized-

'He liked me,' she thought with a grin. 'That cute guy actually likes me! Just wait till I tell the others . . ."

She turned around and started heading back out. Isaac peeped his head around a wall and grinned.

"Is she gone?"

"Yes," Isaac chuckled. "Everything is going according to plan."

"Perfect," Ernestine sneered.

The next day, Dr. Sparks continued to run tests on the Rangers. Again, Jason acted before he thought, Alex just wasn't that focused enough and Olivia and Callum were too nervous to go through most of the tests. But Zoe aced them, no problem.

"Okay team . . . I can see you progressing slightly," said Dr. Sparks when they were finished. "Except for Zoe. I really need you to just relax."

"I'm relaxing all I can! I'm enjoying this training!" exclaimed Zoe. She then groaned.
"Can we go now?"

Everyone stared at her.

"Since when are you so enthusiastic about leaving training?" asked Alex.

Zoe was about to tell them about Isaac when a mischievous grin came to her face. Why not twist the story a bit? The others would be so jealous!

"I've got a date!" she smiled.

Jason's jaw dropped, Alex gasped, Olivia's eyes widened and Callum lowered his eyebrows.

"With who?" he asked in a suspicious tone.

Zoe stuck her nose in the air. "You wouldn't be interested."

"I want to know," said Callum.

The blue ranger snorted. "I met him yesterday. It was love at first sight," she lied.

"We're going on a date today and it's going to be amazing!"

"A date? Don't you think that'll ruin your tough-girl image?" said Olivia.

"Nah," Zoe tutted, becoming more confident as she made up her little story. "It's not a
"date" date. Just us hanging out and stuff."

"Can we come with you?" said Callum.

All attention was turned to the red ranger.

"Hold your horses there! This is HER date, not yours!" said Jason.
Alex and Olivia nodded in agreement and Zoe stepped up to Callum so they were almost nose-to-nose.

"If you ever come with me on a date then it will be if I ask you on one," she hissed. "But that's not gonna happen. Callum Lancer, I wouldn't ask you out on a date in a million years. Even if you were the last guy on earth. And if you spy on my then I will beat the red energy out of you. You got that?"

Callum nodded uncertainly.

Zoe smirked. "Perfect. Now if you excuse me, I'll be off on my date now." She pulled out her Blue Energy Morpher and used it to change from a black and blue tracksuit to a blue tank top, a denim jacket, denim skinny jeans and navy converse.

"See you for training," she grinned, heading out.

As soon as she was gone, Callum said "I'm going after her. I don't trust this sudden date thing."

Alex ran up and blocked his path. "Did you hear what Zoe just said? If she catches you then you're screwed!"

"Alex's right," Olivia agreed. "This is Zoe's date and we can't ruin it for her. She's
finally got some free time on her hands. Don't mess it up."

"But-"

"Dude, promise us you won't go after Zoe," said Jason sternly.

They all looked at Dr. Sparks who said "Rangers . . . I have to agree with Callum here.

This date is a little sudden. If she had a boyfriend, she would've announced it sooner or gone on a date earlier ago."

"So . . . are you saying that I can go after Zoe?" said Callum hopefully.

Dr. Sparks sighed. "As much as I'd love to say no, it would be pointless. After all . . ."

The scientist gave Callum a look. "You are the leader."
Callum's heart leapt. "Thanks so much!" he said, racing off.

"Just make sure Zoe doesn't see you!" Dr. Sparks called after him.

Okay . . . She couldn't see the lab anymore. Zoe stopped walking and laughed to herself.
How could they have possibly believed that she had a DATE? Had they all gone mad? Well, to
Zoe they were pretty much mad already but still.

Of course she'd never agree to go on a date! A tough fighter girl and a Power Ranger going around doing mushy romantic nonsense all day- it just wasn't her type. Zoe pulled out her Blue Energy Morpher, about to use it to change into a more casual outfit-

"Hi Zoe!"

Zoe jumped and hid the morpher behind her back. "Isaac! You sca- I wasn't expecting you!"

"Sorry," said Isaac. "I didn't mean to scare you like that."

"You didn't scare me," said Zoe, glaring at him.

Isaac chuckled. "Sure I didn't. So . . . shall we head off?"
"Sorry?"

"We're going out to the ice rink today. You said you'd teach me how to skate."

Zoe could've done a facepalm but was smart enough not to. "Oh yeah . . . I did."

"So what are we waiting for?" said Isaac enthusiastically. "Come on, let's go!"

'Wow, someone's enthusiastic," Zoe thought to herself as she and Isaac headed off, oblivious to the fact that Callum was watching their every move and quietly following their every step . . .

"Whoa, the ice rink's really quiet," said Zoe when they arrived inside. The entire room was air conditioned to keep the ice from melting.

"Well that means there's just the two of us," said Isaac, making Zoe blush a little. "I'll go get us some skates, shall I?" he added quickly before racing into another room, just as Callum was sneaking in. Luckily, neither Zoe nor Isaac noticed, even when the door made a creaking sound.

As soon as the coast was clear Isaac grinned to himself and pulled out a pair of ice skates and then took something out of his pocket which was almost like silver snowflakes and he sprinkled over the skates. "I hope you like getting in a spin," he chuckled.

A few minutes later, he came out carrying two pairs of skates and quickly handed the blue pair of skates to Zoe. "Looking at your outfit, I'm guessing you like blue," he said.

"Thanks," muttered Zoe, taking off her shoes and putting on the skates, failing to notice Isaac's evil grin. "How do you know my size?"

"Lucky guess," said Isaac. He had already put his skates on. "Can we go now?"

"You really are enthusiastic about this, aren't you?" said Zoe, giving him a suspicious look.

"I'm skating with New Zealand's Best Ice Skater! How do you think I feel?" Isaac laughed.

Zoe shrugged. She was glad she had brought her Blue Energy Morpher with her. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

Nevertheless she got up and the two of them headed up to the ice. Behind them, Callum sneaked up and hid behind a chair, watching them anxiously.

As soon as Isaac ended up on the ice, he slipped and landed on his butt, making Zoe laugh.

"Where did you learn how to keep your balance, the circus?" she joked, helping him up.

"Where did you learn how to skate so awesomely?" laughed Isaac.

Zoe blushed a little. "It's called practice. From an early age."

"Can you show me some of your moves? Like that spin trick you do?"

At first Zoe was going to say no because she wasn't keen on showing off her moves in front of just one person. She wasn't even that fond of Isaac. But then she realised that the sooner she showed him her moves, the sooner she could get out of here and away from Isaac.

"Well if you insist . . . I'll do that twirl you like."
Isaac grinned as Zoe skated up to the center of the rink. She took a deep breath before beginning to spin, the way she'd normally do in a skating competition, with a long flexible leg in the air, arms up tall and she span gracefully, getting faster . . .

"You can do any pose you like when you spin," explained Zoe. "This one's my favourite though."

"I see," said Isaac. "Go faster."

"You can only go so fa-" began Zoe but she was interrupted when she began to twirl at a faster pace against her own will. "Okay, this hasn't happened to me before!"

That caught Callum's attention. He stood up and watched as Zoe span around helplessly, getting faster, faster, faster still . . .

"ISAAC!" Zoe screamed, realizing his trap. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SKATES?!"

"Nothing, nothing," Isaac lied, but he was chuckling.

By now Zoe was spinning so fast, she could hardly see anything. She could feel her stomach churning, her eyes getting blurry and her head hurting. She couldn't even get her hand to reach down for her Blue Energy Morpher.

"STOP!" Isaac shouted and immediately Zoe skidded to a halt. Too dizzy and wound up to expect the sudden halt, she lost her balance and stuck out her hands to support her fall. She landed hard on her right hand and the loud crack that was heard as soon as her hand hit the ice was enough to send Callum running out onto the rink and up to Isaac.

"This is for my teammate!" he shouted and swiped his leg underneath Isaac, causing him to fall forwards and land hard on his stomach. Isaac grunted and disappeared.

Callum stared at where he had landed, confused for a second but then remembered why he was here in the first place and stepped up to the Zoe, who was clutching her wrist in pain.

"Are you okay?"

Zoe looked up and glared at him. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"You can beat me up later. Right now, we really need to get you to Dr. Sparks," said Callum. He was about to take her good arm and help her up but she refused.

"I can get up myself!" snapped Zoe.

But after a minute of struggling, it became obvious that she couldn't get up without support. "Fine," the blue ranger groaned. "Do what you must."

Callum took his time, wrapping her good arm around his shoulder and slowly but surely helping Zoe to her feet. He couldn't help noticing that her right wrist was hanging at an awkward angle.

"There's no time to walk. I'll teleport us back," said Callum, pulling out his Red Energy Morpher.

"Sorry? I'm not a baby you know! I can manage just fine," said Zoe rudely, pulling her arm away from Callum's shoulder, trying not to show any signs of pain.

"Not with a wrist like that. I'm teleporting us back," said Callum.

Zoe groaned and allowed herself to be teleported to the lab where Alex, Jason and Olivia were waiting for them.

"How did the da- ohhhhh," murmured Jason when he saw Zoe holding her wrist.

"What happened to you?" exclaimed Olivia running up to her teammate and examining Zoe's wrist.

"It's nothing, just a sprain," lied Zoe.

Olivia gave Zoe a look. "That's more than just a sprain. I think we should let Dr. Sparks see this."

"I was just going to take her to him now," said Callum, taking Zoe by her good arm and dragging her away, ignoring the blue ranger's protests.

It turned out that the damage was worse than feared- the fall was so bad that Zoe had ended up breaking her wrist! Her arm was put into a blue cast which would be worn until her wrist healed.

"I'm working on an antidote that should be able to cure your wrist instantly," Dr. Sparks had told her. "But until then, no training, no extreme activities and certainly no fighting whatsoever."

Zoe's jaw dropped. "WHAT?!"

"You heard me," said Dr. Sparks. "No fighting until your wrist gets better. It'll only aggravate the bones."

"And what exactly do you expect me to do? Sit down all day and play with makeup?"

"You could read a book," suggested Olivia.

Zoe yawned. "Boring!"

"How about writing in your diary?" said Jason.

Zoe glared at him. "Yeah, that would be a great idea ten years ago! Even if I was eight, I can't write with my left hand!"

"Wow, you're hard to please," muttered Alex.

"I heard that," said Callum. "Leave her alone guys. This is pretty hard on her."

"You can say that again," Zoe murmured a little sadly.

The lab was suddenly filled with the familiar sound of the alarm. All the Rangers jumped up including Zoe and they ran over to the computer screen. A yeti-like monster was running around, shooting something out of his mouth, turning people into ice sculptures.

"Brr! Chilly!" exclaimed Jason.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get 'em!" shouted Zoe, pulling out her Blue Energy Morpher.

"Oh no you don't," said Callum, taking the morpher off her.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Zoe cried, trying to grab the morpher off the red ranger but he
held it out of her reach.

"You're staying here until your wrist gets better," said Callum.
Zoe was too horrified to protest. "What?"

"You know perfectly well what. Dr. Sparks said that you have to stay here and I'm saying that you have to stay here too. I don't want you to hurt yourself even further," said Callum sternly.

"But-"

"Zoe, I'm the leader and I'm ordering you to stay here!"

Callum's tone took Zoe and the other Rangers by surprise. They had never heard him sound so assertive before.

Until now.

Zoe inhaled deeply. "Fine . . . I don't have a problem with that . . . Do what you like . . . Have fun getting beat up!" And she stormed out of the room, hoping that Callum and the others didn't notice the tears streaming down her face.

Callum sighed and looked at Zoe's Blue Energy Morpher that he was still holding. "Sorry, but I had no choice," he murmured putting it on a nearby desk. Then he turned to the others. "We can still fight that monster!" he said strongly, as he and the others stood in position and pulled out their Energy Morphers.

"It's Morphin' Time! Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Sports Energy, Suit Up!"