Chapter 12
At Rootcore, Udonna sensed the tension between Maddie and Nick. She breathed a sigh, for if the rangers were rivals, things would go wrong. Clare tried to reassure Udonna. "They'll make up. Soon this will all blow over," said Clare. Udonna was grateful for her apprentice's assurance, but she wasn't at all convinced. Just then, the rangers arrived at Rootcore.
She saw the anger between the blue and red ranger… Breathing a sigh, they began their training. They trained every day for many hours and they were all excelling in everything. Maddie sat down on the couch and got out her camera and started filming. Vida smiled when she saw Maddie coming over with her camera. "Hey, Maddie," Vida said with a laugh. Maddie smiled and turned around and came face to face with Nick. She lowered her camera and opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't know what to say. He looked around and she bit her lip. Udonna and Clare watched on.
Maddie then walked around him and went to go and put her camera away in her back pack. Udonna then saw something in her mystic crystal ball. "There is danger," she said to the rangers. Nick nodded and beckoned for the others to follow him. They raced out to the forest and saw Necroali and an evil and ugly looking dark monster.
"We meet again, rangers," said Necroali. Then, the monster attacked Nick, Xander and Chip while Necroali attacked Maddie and Vida. The rangers fought with everything they had. Maddie punched Necroali and the vampire queen fell, but Necroali tripped Maddie. Maddie landed on her feet and Vida grabbed Necroali. But then, Necroali twisted Vida's arm and had Maddie's sister trapped. "Vida!" screamed Maddie, about to run towards her sister, but Xander grabbed her arm. "Let me go!" she yelled, but Xander said, "No, Maddie, She'll get you too."
Just then, Necroali and the monster returned to the under world, taking Vida with them. Maddie struggled to get free and when she did, she ran to where Vida had disappeared with the underworld creatures. "Vida, no!" she screamed, sinking to her knees. Suddenly, Nick appeared by her side. "Maddie, I'm so sorry," he said. Chip put his hand on her shoulder and she felt tears come down her cheek. "No, they can't take her. We need to get her back!" she yelled and stood up, running back to Rootcore.
Clare was at Rootcore and she obviously knew what had happened to Vida, since she hugged Madison tightly. The others appeared at Rootcore a few moments later. "Clare, we need to get her back," she told Clare. "Clare, Xander's hurt!" said Chip. Clare looked from Xander to Maddie. Maddie walked over to Xander. He was hurt really bad. "What happened?" she asked. "He got hurt. If you were paying attention instead of worrying about yourself, you would have known that," snapped Nick. Maddie rolled her eyes. "That's enough you two," said Clare, sounding serious for once. Maddie nodded. "Right," she said, looking down, guilt showing in her eyes. Chip looked at Clare and then to Xander who was unconscious and leaning against Nick.
"Bring him over here," said Clare. They put him on a couch. "This is all going so wrong," moaned Maddie. Nick looked at her, but she didn't notice him. She took Xander's hand in hers and squeezed it. Nick walked up to Clare. "Maybe we should take turns watching him," he suggested. "Good idea," she murmured. "I'll take the first shift," Nick offered. "Udonna should be back soon, so when she comes back, I'll tell her what happened," he said. Clare nodded with a smile. "So, what's going on with you and Maddie?" she questioned. "I thought you two were friends now?" she said. Nick winced. "Well, we were, but I… well, let's just say I screwed up. But Maddie keeps on overreacting and being so stubborn and I'm getting sick of it," he said. "But I really do feel bad about what I did to her," he admitted. "And what did you do?" asked Clare.
"I-I promised I'd get some ice cream with her and she went, but I completely forgot and while she was walking home, she saw me… kind of making out with Kuinn," he said guiltily. Clare looked uneasy. "Well… I don't know what to say. I'm not really good with these kinds of situation," she said. "I'm sorry," she said. Nick shook his head. "It's okay," he told her.
When Udonna arrived, he explained what had happened to Xander. She then took care of him for the rest of the day. Three days passed and Xander still wasn't better. "Maddie, it's your turn to watch Xander," said Chip. Maddie nodded. Vida was still missing, and her parents thought that she was spending a week with her friends.
"Please, Xander, get better," she whispered. She sighed and looked around. Xander should be fine. She got up and left Rootcore and went out into the forest. She felt tears swell up in her eyes and she stumbled through the forest until she collapsed. The tears streamed down her cheeks and she buried her face in her hands. "Why can't things go right for once?" she said. She stood and went to go sit on a tree stump. She just sat there, for about two hours, just thinking… thinking about everything that had happened to her, her sister… Xander and everyone and everything. It was all so confusing and she couldn't stop thinking about, even how much she wanted to stop thinking about it.