Nick, Madison, Chip, and Xander rushed back into the Rock Porium to see how things were going with Vida—and to try and come up with a plan to defeat Necrolai. Walking in and closing the door behind them, they were surprised to see that Jason was nowhere in sight. Vida was on the floor inside the circle, crying.
"V, what's wrong?" Chip asked.
"And where's Jason?" Madison said.
"I don't know," Vida wailed. "But I think I hurt him…"
They looked at her in shock.
"What do you mean?" Madison stammered.
"I didn't mean to," Vida cried. "But I was trying to get out of here—and I know I shouldn't be—but I pretended to pass out and Jason came running over to check on me—I hit him! Like, really hard and I might have bit him, but I don't really know because it all happened so fast…but he cried out in pain and stumbled away from me—I think he went out the door…"
She burst into tears again, burying her face in her hands.
"We have to find him!" she pleaded.
The other four rangers exchanged grim looks. Madison was pale as she glanced anxiously back and forth between her sister and the door.
"Don't worry, V," Nick said. "We'll find him."
"Please take me with you," she begged. "I have to know he's ok…"
"Sorry, V," Xander said, shaking his head. "But I don't think that's a good idea…"
"He's right, V," Chip said. "You need to stay in the circle."
"I know!" she cried. "But I have to know he's ok…I'll never forgive myself if—"
She burst into tears again.
"I promise I'll stay right next to you guys," she said. "And if I try to go anywhere else you can just put me right back in another circle."
The other four hesitated.
"Please," she begged. "We have to find him before it's too late…"
"Alright," Xander said. "But only because of Jason."
He scrubbed part of the circle away with his foot and Vida stepped out, smiling at him with tears still in her eyes.
"Thank you," she said. "Now let's hurry."
"Right," Nick said, nodding. "He can't have gone far."
Turning to look at Madison, Chip, and Xander, he started splitting them up into teams.
"Madison and Chip," he said. "Take Vida and head back toward Rootcore—she'll be safer there anyways and we can see if Jason went that way. Xander and I will head in the other direction and do a loop to see if we can't find him in the other direction."
"Got it," Xander said, nodding.
"Ready, V?" Chip asked. "V?"
He frowned, looking around.
"She's gone!" Madison exclaimed. "Now what do we do?"
The door opened and they all spun to see Jason walk in. He stopped, looking at them in surprise. Jason was carrying a large red hoodie in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.
"Hey guys," he said. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soo—where's V?"
He'd seen the empty circle.
"Jason!" Madison cried, darting forward to hug him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Maddy," he said, hugging her back. "But where is V?"
"She's gone," Xander muttered.
"What?" Jason exclaimed.
"She said she'd hurt you," Madison said, looking up at him. "V told us she was pretending to faint and that you stepped inside the circle and—and I thought you were hurt…"
Jason groaned.
"I went to my car to plug my phone in," he sighed. "And V had been complaining about being cold and hungry, so I was fixing the problem. I already fixed the other ones—that's why there's a trash can there and a puddle of water."
The four teens frowned, looking at him in confusion.
"She said she was going to be sick so I gave her the trashcan," he explained quickly, tossing the sweatshirt and chips onto the nearest counter. "And then she pretended to pass out, so I woke her up with a bottle of water. All that trouble and you guys let her out?"
"Sorry, Jason," Nick said. "But she did say—"
"V's been saying a lot of things, rookie," Jason growled. "Doesn't mean I fell for any of it. You guys really should take your own advice. Now where did she go?"
All four of them pointed straight toward the door. Jason grimaced, taking a deep breath.
"Great," he snapped. "Then this is what we're going to do. You four, head out toward the edge of town and make sure she's not heading for the woods. I'll head further into town to make sure she isn't going to hurt anyone else. Let's go."
Without waiting for an answer, Jason headed out the door. Shrugging, the four rangers took off out the door and in the opposite direction.
"Well, that was convenient," Xander commented as they ran toward Rootcore. "We'll have to thank your brother, Maddy."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because he gave us a clear path back to Rootcore," Nick said. "Without us having to make excuses."
"What if we find Necrolai before Vida?" Madison asked anxiously. "How do we destroy her? Fly trap was one thing…"
They were back at Rootcore, though there was still no sign of Vida.
"Chip's book," Xander suggested. "It's got to have a chapter on destroying vampires."
"Chapter 13," Chip said, nodding. "Basically, it's the old stake-in-heart scenario. Unless we're dealing with the queen of vampires…"
Nick frowned.
"And what does it say about destroying them?" he asked.
"It says you can't," Chip sighed.
The room was silent for a moment.
"Well, that's encouraging," Xander muttered. "Wait—the xenotome. That tells us what we need to know, when we need to know it. We need to know it now."
He led the way up to the Xenotome and they all gather around it.
"Xenotome, how do we destroy the queen of the vampires?" Chip asked.
They all watched as an answer appeared in the book.
"Dawn crystal?" Chip said. "That must be the only way to defeat Necrolai. Well, it says how to make one, but it takes time…and ingredients I don't know if we can get…"
Sighing, they started to turn away.
"You can't," Udonna said, hurrying in and over to join them. "But I did. We must hurry. There is not much time. We must make the crystal before—"
She cut off, setting down the ingredients she'd brought with her.
"Before what?" Madison asked. "Before it's too late? Is that what you were gonna say?"
Udonna sighed, looking at them.
"Make no mistake, rangers," she said grimly. "We are in danger of losing one of our own."
Madison gasped, biting her lip.
"That's not gonna happen," Xander said firmly, putting a hand on Madison's shoulder. "Udonna, you make the dawn crystal. We'll find Vida."
"No," said Chip. "I'm staying to make the crystal. I owe Vida that much."
Nodding, the other three ran to get their mystic flyers and headed out the door to search.
Jason jogged down the street, looking for any sign of his missing sister. He'd purposefully sent the young rangers back toward the forest, knowing they'd want to regroup at their headquarters. But he was still hoping to find Vida—or that they would find her on their way. He wasn't really sure how he felt about running into her on his own without that circle right now.
"Vida!" he shouted, looking around. "V!"
No answer and no sign of her. Determined to find her one way or another, Jason kept searching. But after searching for a good portion of the night, he was starting to lose hope that he'd find her at all. He was just about ready to head back to his car to call Tommy again when he finally spotted her walking down the street.
"V!" he shouted, running over to head her off. "Where have you been?"
But she just brushed past him. Frowning, Jason reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Don't touch me!" she snapped, whirling to face him.
"V, it's me," Jason said, looking at her warily. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she said. "Now leave me alone."
Turning, she started to stalk away again, back toward the Rock Porium.
"You aren't going anywhere right now," Jason said, grabbing her arm again. "And what are those for?"
He just noticed the bag she was carrying. It was full of apples—which struck him as extremely odd.
"Nothing," she snarled. "Now leave."
"Not happening," he said, reaching for the bag. "Now give those to me, because all I can think of right now is Snow White—and not in a good way."
Vida hissed, shoving him backward. She was stronger than he'd been anticipating and Jason stumbled backward a little, though he kept on his feet.
"Don't do this, V," he said.
Stepping around her, he placed himself between the Rock Porium and Vida. She growled.
"No one will stop me from carrying out my mistress' commands," she hissed, her eyes flashing red.
Jason's eyes widened in surprise.
"Aw, man," he muttered, taking a defensive stance. "This really isn't good."
But he didn't budge, refusing to let Vida pass him. Dropping the bag, Vida snarled and lunged for him. Jason blocked her attacks. He didn't want to hurt her, so he concentrated on defending and keeping her contained rather than actually fighting back. But she was a lot stronger with the powers of a vampire running through her—not to mention the extra strength boost from being a ranger. Taking a kick to the chest, Jason stumbled backward.
"Got no choice," he grimaced, reaching behind him.
He froze in shock when he didn't find what he expected to. His morpher, which should have been in his pocket, was gone. Not having needed it until now, he hadn't noticed it was missing. But Vida didn't give him a chance to think about it. She attacked again, determined to rid herself of any interference. Jason defended himself as best he could.
"V, you've got to snap out of it!" he shouted, wincing as she landed a hit to his rib cage. "This isn't you!"
But Vida was beyond listening and Jason was quickly tiring—without his morpher he didn't have the strength or energy to keep up with the spell-bound Vida. Stumbling after she caught him in the thigh with a strong kick, Jason didn't catch himself in time to block her next strike. Vida's next kick caught him directly in the side of the head and he collapsed. The last thing he saw before the world went dark was Vida laughing as she picked up the bag of apples.
"Maybe she left town," Madison said fretfully. "Maybe she was taken. Maybe she—maybe she—"
She groaned, leaning on the counter with her face in her hands. They'd been out all night searching for Vida while Chip and Udonna made the dawn crystal. But they hadn't seen any sign of her. Now they were back at the Rock Porium to regroup.
"We'll find her, Maddy," Nick said reassuringly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I promise."
Madison nodded, smiling faintly.
"Find who?" Vida interrupted, taking them all by surprise.
She was standing in the doorway of the Rock Porium, smiling at them.
"Vida!" Madison cried, rushing to throw her arms around her sister.
Vida laughed, smiling as she hugged her back.
"Sis, I'm fine," she said. "Calm down. I'm fine. I had quite a night. But I'm ok."
"Why did you take off like that, V?" Xander asked.
Vida shrugged.
"Sorry, guys," she said. "But I didn't want any of you to get hurt…The good news is—it's over. Necrolai is gone and I'm free of her spell."
She grinned as they looked at her in surprise.
"Let's head back to Rootcore," she said, jerking her head toward the door.
Outside they could see that the sun was coming up.
"I'll tell you all about it on the way there," Vida said.
"Alright, let's go," Nick said, frowning. "But you're going to have to tell us what happened."
Chip grinned in excitement as the spell completed and revealed the dawn crystal.
"It worked," he said, looking at Udonna.
She smiled, nodding.
"Well done, Chip," said Udonna, reaching to take the crystal.
"You won't be needing it," Nick announced, leading the way into Rootcore.
Chip and Udonna turned to look in surprise as Nick, Madison, and Xander walked in with Vida.
"V!" Chip exclaimed, running down to meet them. "Are you alright?"
"Is she alright?" Nick grinned. "She defeated Necrolai all by herself."
Chip and Udonna both frowned.
"Why didn't you call?" Chip asked. "We all wanted to help."
Vida smiled, shrugging.
"I know," she said. "But it was my problem. You know me."
Her friends nodded in agreement, just glad to have her back again.
"Defeating Necrolai by yourself?" Udonna said thoughtfully. "That must've been quite the battle."
Vida nodded in agreement, but it was Nick who spoke up.
"We were a little suspicious before," he said. "But she walked all the way home in broad daylight. Not many vampires can do that."
Chip grinned.
"Hail Vida! Vampire slayer!" he said, striking her new pose in celebration.
Vida frowned, looking at him for a moment. Then she shook it off. Chip slowly lowered his hand in confusion as she turned to the others.
"Vampire slayer…" she smiled, pulling an apple out of her bag. "And gift giver. I picked you all a little something."
She started passing them out.
"I love apples," Xander grinned, taking his.
"Thank you," Madison smiled.
Nick nodded in a appreciation, taking the apple she offered.
"A gift from me, to all of you," Vida said. "To my best friends in the whole world."
She handed one to Chip and then turned.
"Udonna," she said, holding one out.
Udonna took it, still watching Vida carefully. Chip frowned, turning the apple over in his hands.
"To the rangers!" Vida exclaimed, holding the apple up in the air.
"To the rangers!" Nick, Madison, and Xander replied.
They started to take a bite, but Chip stopped them.
"Wait," Chip said, shaking his head. "Something's wrong. She couldn't have picked these apples. They're not grown in Briarwood."
Vida rolled her eyes.
"Picked—" she said. "I meant picked up at the store."
The other three nodded, accepting that explanation. But Chip wasn't ready to let it go.
"What about the pose?" he persisted. "You didn't even recognize it."
"I recognized it," Vida protested. "I've just moved on from it. You know me. I never stick with anything for very long. Now, I'm gonna get a complex if none of you eat my gifts."
She smirked, taking a bite of her apple. The other three rangers started to take bites of theirs as well.
"No!" Chip exclaimed, knocking the apples out of their hands. "I'm telling you—this is not Vida!"
"Hey!" Xander frowned as the apples hit the floor.
"Chip," Madison sighed, looking down at her apple. "Now you've gone and ruined perfectly good apples…oh!"
The apples on the floor had just wasted away.
"Talk about your rotten apples!" Xander said in shock.
They all turned to look at Vida for an explanation.
"She's gone!" Nick exclaimed.
And she was. Vida was nowhere to be seen. Exchanging grim looks, the four rangers spun and ran out of Rootcore to try and catch her. By the time they caught up, she'd already reached town. But they kept chasing, determined to stop her.
"Hold it right there!" Nick shouted as they reached a dead end. "There's nowhere else to run."
Vida stopped, slowly turning to look at them.
"You are so right!" she smirked.
The rangers stared in surprise as Necrolai appeared behind Vida.
"Good servant," Necrolai crooned. "Very good servant. Now get them!"
Vida nodded.
"Yes, mistress," she said, fixing her gaze on the rangers.
Pulling out her wand, she morphed and charged the rangers.
"Oh, no! Vida!" Madison cried.
"Magi staff! Come on!" Vida shouted, not hesitating as she ran to attack her teammates.
Jason groaned, wincing as he slowly opened his eyes. His head was killing him. Blinking at the bright light, he frowned.
"That is not my ceiling," he muttered.
"Good morning, Mr. Scott," an unfamiliar voice said.
Jason tensed, quickly turning to see who was speaking. But he grimaced, immediately regretting moving that quickly. The nurse who had been speaking to him sighed.
"Where am I?" Jason asked, putting a hand to his head. "And how did I get here?"
"Briarwood Hospital emergency room," she answered pleasantly. "Someone found you in the street last night—unconscious. At first we thought you'd been hit by a car, but your lack of injury surprised us. Outside of a grade-two concussion and some rather odd bruises, you'll be just fine. We didn't want to move you until you woke up, however."
Jason nodded, frowning as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
"Now, just a few routine questions," the nurse said, standing next to the bed. "What's your name?"
"Jason Scott," he sighed.
After the nurse had finished asking him all of the basic questions, she moved on to trying to figure out what had happened to him.
"Now, Mr. Scott," she said, walking over to open the window a little bit. "Do you remember anything that happened to you last night?"
Jason started to say no, but then a flash of Vida, her eyes glowing red, flashed across his memory. He grimaced, taking a deep breath.
"No," he lied quickly. "I don't remember anything."
"Very well," the nurse said. "That's not uncomm—oh dear."
"What's wrong?" Jason asked.
She was staring out the window of his room in surprise.
"Stay here," the nurse said. "The power rangers are outside—we may need to evacuate. Just stay in bed until I get back."
Spinning, she rushed out of the room. Moving as quickly as he could with his head spinning from the concussion, Jason got out of bed and headed over to the window. The figures of the five rangers were too far away to make out faces, but he could see enough to tell them apart—mostly by color and height. The four were facing the fifth, which had to be Vida. But none of them were morphed or fighting.
"Great," Jason sighed in relief, leaning against the window. "They found her—oh, that can't be good."
He'd seen a figure in black appear behind Vida, and then suddenly his sister morphed and charged her friends.
"Aww, V…" he muttered. "You don't want to hurt them, kiddo. You'll regret it later…I should know…"
He watched as the rangers fought to stop their teammate.
"Come on, rookie," he groaned. "Biggest mistake you could make right now. Never take on a morphed ranger when you're un-morphed—that's better. If a little unusual…"
Vida had just knocked all of them backward. As they went tumbling, they morphed in midair. Jason chuckled.
"That would have been nice," he said. "Whenever we got thrown like that is was usually out of morph, not into it…"
With all of the rangers morphed, now, the battle continued. They were struggling, trying not to hurt Vida as Chip tried to get to the vampire—Jason was pretty sure that's who the other person was—and destroy her. But when Chip finally got a clear shot, Vida was suddenly in the way. Jason tensed, but Chip didn't fire.
"Come on, V," Jason said. "You've got to snap out of it."
Vida took Chip down, pointing her staff at him. Then suddenly she stumbled backward, staring down at Chip on the ground. Jason rolled his eyes.
"Of course," he muttered. "They can get through to her while she's morphed. But can we do that for Tommy? No. We all have to de-morph and risk getting ourselves killed just to prove we aren't trying to hurt him—he can't believe us without that…"
He continued to grumble, shaking his head as the fight continued. Vida retreated, placing herself in front of the vampire as Chip took aim again. But when Jason saw her strike the pose they'd been laughing about a few days before, he wasn't worried.
"You'd better move out of the way fast enough, kiddo," he said, watching closely. "Good girl!"
Vida had dived out of the way just in time. Chip's arrow struck the vampire. In rage, the vampire rounded on Vida, forcibly de-morphing her. No longer under the protection of the vampire queen, but still a vampire herself, Vida flinched in the sunlight.
"Come on, kid," Jason said. "You're allergic to sunlight right now. Put that cloak to good use and cover yourself!"
She didn't, but it didn't take long for the rest of the rangers to take down the vampire. Jason sighed in relief as Vida got to her feet. At that moment, the nurse finally returned. She was surprised to see Jason out of bed and hurried over to see what was happening.
"Oh, wonderful," she sighed, looking out the window. "It's over…"
Jason shook his head.
"Give it a minute," he said. "They're not done yet."
She frowned, but suddenly the ground shook as a figure in armor the size of a building appeared. The nurse paled.
"And right on schedule," Jason muttered. "Monster as tall as a building. Now would be a good time to evacuate."
Eyes wide, the nurse nodded and turned toward the door. She paused, looking at him expectantly. Jason sighed, looking back out the window one more time.
"May the Power protect you guys," he said quietly enough that the nurse wouldn't hear.
Turning, he followed her out before she could get someone else to make him come.
"It's great having you back, V," Xander grinned, leaning on the counter.
All five of them were back at the Rock Porium, relaxing after their fight. Vida nodded in agreement.
"It's good to be back to normal," she said. "Though I'm going to have to say something to Leelee later—I think I freaked her out."
The others laughed, nodding in agreement. Except Madison, who was frowning.
"Maddy, what's wrong?" V asked. "Everything is back to normal now."
"I know…" she sighed. "But I feel like I'm forgetting something…"
"Well, while you try to figure that out, let's get something to eat," Chip said. "I haven't eaten anything since lunch yesterday—I'm starving."
Madison gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth.
"Oh no!" she cried. "Jason! We were going to try meeting for breakfast again today—but the last time I remember seeing him was last night when we split up to look for V…"
Vida paled, leaning against the counter.
"Oh no…" she said, shaking her head.
"V, what's wrong?" Xander asked, frowning.
"It's Jason," she stammered. "I—I think I hurt him…"
The four other rangers looked at her skeptically.
"That's what you said last night…" Chip said slowly.
Vida groaned.
"I know!" she said. "But I mean it this time—I'm not trying to trick you. And if you don't believe me, put me back in that stupid circle and I'll prove I'm not a vampire anymore!"
Madison paled as the four exchanged glances.
"Are you sure, V?" Nick asked. "A lot happened last night."
"Yes!" Vida cried. "I'm serious. He ran into me early this morning when I was on my way here with the apples. He tried to stop me and—and I attacked him…"
"What?" Madison gasped. "Guys, we have to find him."
"I'm sorry," Vida said miserably. "I wasn't thinking clearly and he tried to stop me so I reacted under Necrolai's orders and with the super-strength from the vampire spell in combo with my ranger strength—"
"Jason didn't stand a chance," Chip said, horrified.
Vida nodded as Madison started shaking her head.
"I remember fighting with him," Vida mumbled. "He tried to defend himself—but I left him lying in the middle of the street…"
"Let's go, then!" Madison cried. "We need to find him. He could be seriously injured or—"
She choked off, shaking her head.
"We're going to find him," Nick said firmly, putting an arm around her.
"Find who?" Jason interrupted.
They all looked up in surprise. Jason was standing in the doorway of the Rock Porium. He looked exhausted and there was gauze wrapped around his head. He was also holding an ice pack to his head.
"Jason!" Madison exclaimed, flying over to him and throwing her arms around him.
He winced, but hugged her back with one arm. Vida stayed frozen, staring at Jason.
"Not so loud," he grumbled, looking down at Madison.
"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.
"Concussion," he sighed. "I woke up in the hospital this morning…I guess someone dragged me there last night…Don't know who though. I did get to see the power rangers fighting through my window."
The five kids all froze, but Jason pretended not to notice.
"Then we had to evacuate because there was a giant—" he paused.
Frowning, Jason looked at them for an answer.
"Zord?" Chip offered.
"Yes, that one," Jason said. "Anyways, they made us leave—apparently they didn't want anyone to get stepped on or risk us still being in the building if something hit it…"
"Probably a good idea," Xander said. "Zord battles are dangerous for bystanders."
Jason raised an eyebrow.
"Not that we've gotten that close to one," Nick said quickly. "But they're kind of hard to miss."
"Uh-huh," Jason said. "Whatever you say, rookie."
Nick glowered at him. But Jason had turned his attention to Vida.
"How are you feeling, V?" he asked. "Everything back to normal?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, looking down at the floor.
"Then come here," he said, holding out his arm to her. "You really had me worried, kiddo. I saw a lot of weird things happen growing up in Angel Grove—but the whole vampire thing…let's not do that again."
She hurried over to give him a hug. Jason wrapped his free arm around her, hugging her tightly.
"So what happened last night?" Chip asked.
Jason shook his head, wincing again.
"No idea," he said. "Last thing I know I was out looking for V—then I woke up in the hospital…"
He felt Vida flinch against him, so he hugged her tighter.
"Alright," Jason said, taking a deep breath. "My phone is in my car and I need to go call—I need to call…"
He frowned, rubbing a hand across his face.
"Trini?" Madison suggested.
"Yes!" Jason said. "Just don't tell her I couldn't come up with her name…"
Vida started snickering. Ruffling her hair, Jason headed back out the door. Nick looked at the other four in confusion.
"Who's Trini?" he asked.
"His wife," Vida smirked. "His pregnant wife."
"Ouch…" Nick said. "He's going to pay for that…"
"You have no idea," Xander laughed.
Outside, Jason climbed into the front seat of his car and shut the door. He grimaced as one of his myriad of bruises brushed against the seat. Unplugging his phone, he started scrolling through the rather long list of missed calls.
"Trini, Trini, Trini," he muttered. "Trini, Trini, Rocky, Trini, Adam, Tommy, Tommy, Trini, Trini—I'm in so much trouble…"
Skipping the rest of the list, he dialed Trini's number and waited for her to pick up. She answer after only two rings.
"Jason Scott!" she exclaimed. "Where have you been?"
He flinched.
"Trini, not so loud…" he said.
"Do you know how worried I've been?" she continued, ignoring his request. "Why have you been ignoring your phone? I know you're spending time with your sisters but you still need to answer your phone—what if there was an emergency? You can't do things like this to me!"
"Trini…" Jason groaned. "Can you please quiet down? My head already feels like it's caught in a vice grip…"
"Why?" she snapped.
He winced again.
"I may have a concussion…" he mumbled.
"What?" Trini exclaimed.
"Ok, I'm putting you on speaker," he grumbled, pulling the phone away from his ear. "Maybe that will hurt less…"
"Jason, what did you do?" she demanded.
"I didn't do anything," he protested.
"Then what happened?" she said.
Jason sighed.
"It was V," he said.
Trini was silent for a moment.
"Your little sister gave you a concussion?" she said slowly. "I'm not so sure I believe that…"
"Well, I wasn't expecting it either," Jason said. "Remember when I called to say I was staying longer? That something—odd—was going on with V?"
"Yes," Trini said. "Is she alright?"
"Oh, she's fine," he muttered. "V got turned into a vampire—"
"She got turned into what?" Trini cried.
Jason grimaced.
"A vampire, Trini," he said. "She caught me alone—which reminds me. Where's my morpher?"
"I took it out of the jeans in your suitcase when you were out of the room," she retorted. "You aren't supposed to be interfering, remember? Therefore you don't need it there."
He took a deep breath.
"Trini, if I had my morpher I wouldn't have a concussion," he said. "And I'm pretty sure we're lucky it's just a concussion. I didn't stand a chance against V with the vampire strength combined with her ranger strength. And if she hadn't been so focused on getting to the others, it could have been a lot worse…"
On the other end of the line, Trini gasped and took a shaky breath. Having been power rangers once, the fast healing abilities that came with the power were always a part of them. However, those abilities worked best when they actually had their morphers—or at least the coin, in Jason and Trini's case—with them. The further away they were, the less effective the healing was. Which was why Jason's head was still hurting him.
"Trini, I'm fine," Jason said. "I promise. It's nothing worse than I've dealt with before. The doctor said I'm going to be out of commission for a few weeks and then it'll be like nothing ever happened—and that's his estimation for a normal person. I'll be fine in a couple of days. Especially after you give me my morpher back."
"Jason…" Trini sighed. "Where are you?"
"In my car," he said. "Still in—in…mmm…"
"Briarwood?" she said for him.
"Yeah…" he said. "But now that V is alright I'm going to head ho—"
"You stay right where you are," Trini snapped. "You are in no condition to drive a car right now. I'm coming to get you."
"Trini, you can't drive two cars at one time," Jason said. "What about my car?"
"I will figure it out," she said shortly. "Now get back inside and give your car keys to V or Maddy before I let you go."
Grumbling to himself, Jason climbed back out of the car and headed inside.
"So, do you think he remembers anything?" Xander asked.
The five kids were waiting for Jason to come back inside. Vida shot a glare at him as the other three shook their heads.
"It doesn't seem like he does," Nick said.
"Nick is right," Madison said. "He'd be asking more questions about what happened if he remembered you attacking him, V."
"Yeah," she said, sighing. "Big brother isn't one to let things like that go. We're lucky he was too far away to see our faces before we morphed during the fight. Jason would flip."
"No kidding," Chip said, shaking his head.
"I don't want him involved in any of this," Madison said softly. "I know he's strong—but he can't fight the monsters we deal with. And if he got hurt…"
"We're just going to have to make sure he doesn't find out," Vida said firmly. "He doesn't need to know what happened. I—I really don't want him to look at me any differently…"
"He wouldn't, V," Xander said. "He's your brother."
"And besides," Madison said, trying to cheer her back up. "Tommy would kick his butt if Jason made you feel guilty—none of this was your fault."
Vida smiled at that. Then the door opened and Jason walked back in. He walked straight over to Vida and held out his car keys.
"Here," he said.
Looking at him in confusion, she took the keys. Then he held out his phone.
"Hello?" she said slowly, not sure what was going on. "Oh. Hi, Trini—yeah, I have his keys."
A smirk crossed her face and Vida stuck the keys in her pocket.
"Oh, don't worry," she laughed. "He's not getting them back. We'll see you in a few hours."
Hanging up, she handed the phone back to Jason. Grumbling, he put his phone away and grabbed a chair, still holding the ice pack to his head.
"What was that about?" Madison asked.
"Trini's coming to pick big bro up and take his butt home," she grinned. "He's not allowed to drive himself."
"That's great—well, seeing Trini is," Madison said, catching herself.
Jason just rolled his eyes and settled back in his chair as the kids laughed.
"Does anyone have any aspirin?" he asked, wincing. "Aspirin would be nice."
"I'll get some," Vida quickly volunteered. "Stay right there."
Jason complied as she darted out of the room.
It was fairly quiet at the Rock Porium for the next few hours. So, when the door opened a while later, Jason and the five kids all turned to see who had come in. The man who had walked in was wearing dress slacks and button up, long-sleeved dress shirt with a tie. He had glasses on and his dark hair was cut short.
"Alright, what did you do this time, bro?" Tommy grinned, striding over.
He stopped, looking at Jason expectantly.
"I didn't do anything!" Jason protested.
Tommy snorted, adjusting his glasses.
"Then why am I here?" he asked. "Trini interrupted a board meeting, pulled me out without an explanation, and practically dragged me down the hallway by my tie before shoving me in the car and driving here. Obviously you did something."
Jason glared at him.
"You know," Jason growled. "If my head wasn't pounding so hard right now I'd come over there and—"
"And what?" Tommy grinned. "Beat me? Good luck with that, Jase."
"Tommy!" Madison and Vida exclaimed, interrupting Jason's next retort and running to hug Tommy.
"Hey, girls," he smiled, opening his arms to hug them both. "What did you let your idiot brother get himself caught up in this time?"
They laughed as Jason glowered at Tommy. Over by the counter, Nick leaned over to Xander and Chip.
"That's the guy I'm supposed to be scared of?" he asked quietly. "He's a nerd."
"He doesn't always look like that," Chip said. "Trini had to have pulled him straight from a meeting in those clothes—though I'm surprised he's still wearing the tie."
"He probably didn't want to lose it," Xander grinned, shaking his head.
"Good point," Chip snickered. "He didn't come in his car, after all."
"I still don't see what's so threatening about him," Nick scoffed, watching Madison and Vida chatting excitedly with Tommy. "I could take him."
"Sure you could," Xander said, shaking his head.
The door opened again and a petite woman, obviously pregnant and wearing a yellow sundress stalked in. Her long black hair was pulled out of her face and her gaze went straight to Jason.
"Trini!" Madison exclaimed, turning to hug her.
Vida joined and Trini smiled at both of them, hugging the girls.
"How are you two doing?" she asked.
"We're fine," Vida answered quickly, hoping Jason hadn't told Trini anything. "Are you two ready for the new baby?"
"Almost," Trini said, glaring around Vida and Madison at Jason. "Someone was supposed to finish the nursery this week, but that's not happening now. He's not using tools with a concussion."
"Trini, I'll be fine," Jason said, walking over to give her a hug.
She glared at him, smacking his arm as soon as he was close enough. Jason flinched and rubbed a hand over the spot where Trini had hit.
"Geez, Jase," Tommy smirked. "She didn't hit you that hard."
Trini was watching Jason now through narrowed eyes.
"He's right," she said shortly. "Is there anything else you need to tell me?"
Jason shrugged.
"Couple of bruises," he said. "Nothing serious."
"And the gauze on your head?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Trini, I hit my head on the pavement," he sighed, pulling her into a hug. "It bled for a little while. I'm fine."
She grumbled, but didn't try and pull out of his hug. Jason frowned as he realized something.
"Hey, Trini," Jason said slowly. "Where's Mark?"
"He's at Tommy's house," she said. "I dropped him off with Hayley before I went to get Tommy."
"Yeah," Tommy grumbled. "I didn't get to play with the kid. No—I get kidnapped instead."
Trini rolled her eyes.
"You can play with him when we get back," she said. "We're going to your house anyways."
Tommy grinned as Jason groaned. Over by the counter, Chip and Xander snickered, catching Tommy's attention.
"Hey, Tommy," Chip grinned.
Tommy smiled back. But when Xander started to wave, he turned away. Xander frowned while Chip and Nick both smothered laughs.
"So how long can you stay?" Madison asked, looking at Trini and Tommy.
"Actually, we have to get going," Trini said regretfully. "I need to get Jason home. But we'll try to come visit soon, alright?"
Madison and Vida nodded reluctantly. Exchanging hugs, they said goodbye and Trini, Jason, and Tommy headed for the door.
"Oh!" Trini exclaimed, pausing at the door. "Vida. Keys?"
"Right!" Vida said, pulling them out of her pocket.
She tossed the keys to Trini, who neatly plucked them out of the air.
"Thanks," she smiled. "Take care of yourselves."
"Or I'll be coming back," Jason said, shooting a glare at Nick.
"Is that a threat?" he smirked.
Jason's eyes narrowed and Tommy grabbed his arm to stop him from stalking back toward Nick.
"Watch yourself, rookie," Jason growled.
"Relax, Jase," Tommy said, shaking his head. "He's just a kid. You can beat on him later if you really think you need to. Right now, let's get back to Reefside. So, who's driving genius here home?"
He directed the last part at Trini.
"I am," Trini answered immediately. "I don't trust the two of you alone in a car right now. So, sorry, Tommy, but you're driving home by yourself."
"He should be used to it," Jason smirked.
"Hey," Tommy protested. "I could talk to my pit crew on the radio when I raced. Can't do that in a normal car."
"But at least the scenery changes," Jason shot back.
"Scenery isn't exactly my concern on a racetrack, Jase," Tommy said drily. "That tends to cause more problems than it solves."
"Would you two knock it off?" Trini said. "We need to get going."
Laughing, Tommy nodded and started towing Jason out the door. Trini had parked in front of Jason's car. But they didn't immediately climb into the vehicles. Double checking to make sure no one was in immediate earshot, Tommy crossed his arms and looked at Jason.
"What happened?" he asked. "From the looks of it, V's back to normal—but how on earth did you end up with a concussion? All Trini could tell me was it was something to do with V being a vampire."
Jason sighed.
"Not long after I hung up with you and Hayley," he said. "V managed to trick the kids into letting her out. She took off. So we split up to look for her. I was hoping they'd find her, on their way back to their base. They didn't…"
"I gathered that," Tommy said drily.
Jason glared at him.
"Anyways," he continued. "I found her first. I wasn't going to just let her walk away. Let's just say she didn't like that idea."
"Jason…" Trini sighed, shaking her head.
Tommy groaned.
"Jase, what were you thinking?" he said. "Taking on a ranger armed with powers amped up by a spell? You aren't an active ranger anymore. You heal fast, but not that fast. And you definitely can't match that strength without a morpher."
"She's my little sister," Jason said defensively. "And I think she was trying to poison the other kids."
Tommy frowned.
"Poison?" he said.
"She had a bag of apples," Jason said, shrugging. "First thing I thought was Sn—"
He grimaced, a hand to his head again.
"Snow White?" Trini asked.
Jason nodded.
"Right," he said. "So I tried to snap her out of it. She attacked me instead…."
He shook his head.
"Man," he muttered. "It was all I could do to keep her off of me—and even defending didn't work long…"
"Does V know that you remember?" Tommy asked. "Cause it didn't seem that way inside."
Jason immediately started shaking his head.
"No," he said. "And I don't want her to know. She was trying to hide it, but she feels guilty enough as is. If she knew I remember…"
He sighed.
"It's better that she thinks I know nothing," Jason said. "At least for the moment. As long as they don't know who we are, I don't want her knowing—she can't afford to lose focus like that."
Tommy nodded.
"Good call," he said. "Though that's not going to make the guilt go away."
"You would know," Jason grumbled. "And if she doesn't get over it, you get to talk her through it. I have to deal with you enough as is."
Tommy shrugged.
"Hey, you're alive," he said. "Even if she does feel guilty for a while, at least she can apologize to you for everything later. And, once she knows you won't hold anything against her, she'll be just fine."
"I hope so," Jason sighed. "It really isn't her fault. I mean, look at how many times all of us tried to kill each other."
Trini and Tommy both nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry I took your morpher, Jason," Trini said quietly, a look of guilt flashing across her face. "I was hoping if you didn't have it you'd stay out of trouble…I brought your coin for you, though."
Tommy chuckled, shaking his head as Jason took the coin from his wife and quickly stuck it in his pocket.
"Jason? Stay out of trouble?" he said. "Not likely, Trini."
"Look who's talking, bro," Jason retorted. "You're the danger magnet—can't get anywhere near the bad guys without making yourself a target."
"I'm not the one who got beaten up by his own sister," Tommy said pointedly.
"Yeah, well—" Jason frowned, grimacing when he couldn't come up with an immediate comeback. "I'll answer that later…"
"You know, you're a lot more fun to argue with without the concussion," Tommy sighed.
Jason glared at him.
"I'm getting in the car," he grumbled.
Tommy just chuckled as Jason climbed in and shut the door. Then he remembered something and pulled out his phone.
"Hey, Jase?" he said, knocking on the window.
Grumbling, Jason opened the door again.
"What?" he asked.
"Would now be a bad time to tell you I have a way to keep track of the girls?" Tommy asked sheepishly.
Jason frowned.
"What is that supposed to me?" he growled.
"You know those bracelets I gave them for their birthday a couple years ago—during Dino Thunder?" he said.
"Yes," Jason said slowly. "You said they were just non-functioning prototypes."
"They are," Tommy said quickly. "I never got any further with those than putting in a GPS chip—which is set up to link to the ranger tracking network. And I have the numbers…"
Jason's eyes narrowed.
"You mean you've had a way to track them this whole time and you never told me?" he exclaimed, wincing.
Tommy shrugged.
"Yes," he admitted. "But in my defense I wasn't ever planning on using the trackers. They really were supposed to be just bracelets—so I didn't even think about the chips being in them until recently…"
"Just give me the numbers," Jason growled.
"Actually," Trini interrupted. "Message them to me. He'll probably just lose them right now."
Tommy laughed, but nodded.
"I'll follow you back," Tommy said, taking the keys from Trini and heading to get in Jason's car. "And I'll get you those numbers before you head home tonight."
Nodding, she climbed in with Jason. After a moment, the two cars pulled away, heading out of Briarwood.