CHAPTER SEVEN: Change the Setting

Bonnie rolled over in bed. Lifting her head, she eyed the slight bulge in her stomach in an irritated fashion. "Pretty soon I'm not gonna be able to hide you anymore…" She thought to herself.

It had been four months since the Space Knights relocated their base into the depths of the sea. It had also been four months since there had been any Venomoid activity whatsoever. She was a little suspicious by it, but she wasn't complaining—it gave them all some time to recoup from the annihilation of the Space Ring.

Her stomach growled furiously then. Now that the sun had been blocked out, Commander Jamison was even tighter with the rations than usual. Everyone had been limited to one miniscule meal a day…and it was hard—especially when you're eating for two. No sun meant no heat or light; consequently, all plant-life eventually froze to death on the surface.

Mankind was starving right now…and not once could Bonnie remember the light in the Science Department going out ever since. Andy and Marlow were researching their asses off—trying to find ways to grow genetically altered and synthetic plant life down here in the middle of nowhere.

So far it hadn't been working very well.

Closing her eyes, she laid her head back against her pillow and sighed. She focused her thoughts, and tried to get 'connected'. The more she practiced with her psychic abilities, the better she got with them. "Ringo…" She wondered.

It was easiest to get a hold of him if he was asleep. Why she kept trying to get into his mind was beyond her at some times. But ever since that day she was able to make a direct contact…she felt as if she had to. His free spirit was in there somewhere—she just had to find it. It was as if her nightmare was his silent plea for help. Sifting through her thoughts, she found nothing. "Come on! You've got to be here somewhere…" She was determined to get this telepathic bond-thing down pat. Andrea said that all Tekkamen have it—but there was a stronger connection between two who were mates.

Mates. Bonnie scoffed at the word silently. How odd it felt, speaking of one's self in such crude terms. It was as if she'd been reduced down to a mere animal on a nature documentary. On the other hand, she felt strangely closer to him…in such a way that words couldn't even begin to explain.

Rolling over again, she pulled her blanket up over her head. "Oh well. Not like there's anything you can do about it now." She thought to herself. She wrapped her arms around the little stuffed dingo resting beside her, and held it tight. "I'll get you back…I know I will." Eventually she nodded off to sleep.

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Ringo slowly walked into his room to retire for the night. Shedding his clothing into a pile on the floor, he flopped down backwards into bed and shut his eyes. Four months…and he had not been allowed to do anything. Why Saber was making them all wait to attack was beyond him. But it was okay, he supposed. It gave him time to sharpen his battle skills. Every day that passed, he grew closer and closer to achieving mastery of his new powers. Although accomplishments often left him with a sense of fulfillment, Ringo still felt empty.

Hollow—like he was just a shell, void of anything within. With each day, the thought of destroying the Tekkaman called Lightsabre became harder to grasp. "Why?" He wondered. "Why kill her at all? Wouldn't it be better to have her join us?"

He let out a tired yawn and scratched his stomach. In the back of his mind, he really didn't want to destroy her. At first he didn't have any problem with it…but the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to do it.

When he was alone like this, it often made him think too much. Questioning authority was just in his nature—he couldn't help it. When he was by himself, often times he'd suddenly want to return to Earth, and just be his old self again. But his head would start to hurt really bad after the thought…so bad, in fact, that he'd just pass out from the pain. And when he'd wake up, the cold and dark, angry feeling would claim his being once more.

Feelings. Channeling his thoughts, he could almost feel the faint presence of her mind off in the distance. The feeling of her grew stronger as time went by. Surprisingly her thoughts were always warm and gentle. Never once had he felt any hostility from her. Strange…and after all he's done…

Suddenly he wished Lightsabre's tranquil warmth would wash away the frigid darkness that engulfed his very soul. Ringo shut his eyes and went to sleep—his head was hurting again.

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Vitani curled up underneath the covers and snuggled herself against her husband of five year's chest. It had been a long day—she was tired. "Balzac…?" She whispered in question. "Are you awake?"

He ran his hand along the top of her head, and playfully messed with her ponytail. "Yeah, I suppose so. Where were you, 'Tani? It's almost two in the morning."

She cringed. "Some of the computers in the central network crashed this evening…"

"Oh…sucks to be you, doesn't it." He answered in a taunt.

Vitani lifted her head to look at him. The faint glow of the fluorescent lights in the hallway slipped beneath the crack in the door and glistened in his eyes. "Sort of. But at least now that I'm a Space Knight, I don't have to worry about being sent away on assignment for months at a time."

He smiled slightly. "Good to know I'm not the only one who felt that way."

She gave him a grin in return. "Great—and here I always thought you sighed relief every time I was sent off."

He scoffed gently and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Not even close…"

She traced her fingers down the smooth skin of his jaw before lowering her head to kiss him.

"Good night…" She said, resting her head on his chest once again.

His eyes shut slowly. "Damn." He muttered under his breath. "And here I thought this would've gone somewhere."

She let out another yawn. "Hnh. Sorry…"

He gave her side a gentle pinch. "You should be."

She lifted her tired head once more and gave him another kiss. "Can I give ya a rain check…?" She inquired hopefully.

He kissed her in reply. "Just so long as it doesn't have an expiration date."

She giggled softly and pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. She put her head down for the last time.

"Night, 'Tani." He said, closing his eyes.

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Bonnie opened her eyes and looked at her clock; she'd only been asleep for an hour at most. Her stomach growled at her viciously…and suddenly she craved chicken dipped in chocolate. Although she had her doubts of going to the Science Department and finding a synthetic chicken sitting on a table waiting for her, she went ahead and got out of bed anyway.

She didn't even bother to change as she meandered down the halls in her oversized tee shirt. As she'd expected, the lights in the lab were still on—meaning there was still someone in there. She poked her head in the door. Andrea was typing up a report while munching on a pop tart. (Because she was pregnant, she was allowed a few extra snacks here and there.)

Bonnie's eyes ventured about the expansive lab, desperately searching for her fabled 'synthetic chicken'. Andrea turned her head and looked at Bonnie. "Hi, Bunny! What are you doing out of bed so early?"

A look of sheer disappointment washed across Bonnie's face. "No chicken…?"

"…Chicken…?" A stack of papers sitting atop a desk repeated.

Bonnie nodded. "Where's the synthetic chicken?"

Andrea knit her brows together in confusion. "Synthetic chicken? Bunny, are you even awake?"

Bonnie nodded again. "Oh sure, I'm awake…I was just hoping that I'd find a lab grown chicken in here somewhere…"

"Sorry, Bonnie. No chickens here…" The stack of papers apologized.

Bonnie placed her hands on her hips. "Well, MAYBE, if you guys slept more, I would get my chicken faster! Because then your brains won't have to work at a slower pace to avoid frying." She declared.

Andrea sighed, and returned to her typing.

"You two work too hard." Bonnie continued. "I mean, when was the last time you guys had six hours of sleep? The research and experiments aren't going to come any faster by working yourselves to death. Then where would we be? I mean, look! Even all your lackeys don't stay up until three in the morning!"

"Well…your chicken isn't going to come any faster with you coming in and telling us what to do…" The papers replied.

Bonnie wrinkled her nose and pushed the stack of papers down with her hand as she bent over the desk. "Excuse me!" She growled, poking her face in the scientist's, who sat behind said papers.

"Here I am actually giving a damn and you have the audacity to tell me off!?" She reached over and grabbed him by the collar of his lab coat. "I want my chicken, dammit! I want my chicken, and I want it now!" She exclaimed, shaking him back and forth violently. "You don't understand! I NEED the chicken! If I don't have any chicken, I think I'll fall over and DIE!"

Marlow pried her hands away from his lab coat. "What ever happened to you giving a damn?"

Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "? Who ever said I gave a damn about you? I was talking about Andy—I just spoke using plural so you wouldn't feel left out!"

He didn't even bother to reply and returned to his work instead.

"It's okay, Bunny. I'm not being worked to death! Just think. Once we get everything sorted out, we'll have a huuuuge feast, with lots of chicken and chocolate and everything. I promise. And you'll get first pick."

Bonnie nodded sadly. "Oookay…fine…" With that she turned on her heels and slowly dragged her feet out of the lab.

Her mind wandered as she went back to her room. Bringing forth her sapphire crystal, she stared down at it as she kept walking. "Surely by now I can fight, if ever I was needed…" She thought to herself. "What's going on up at the surface? It's been months since anyone has seen it…" She leaned her head back into her shoulders, and passed by her room. She decided to go to the hangars instead.

Maggie crawled out from beneath the Blue Earth at the sound of the door opening. "Oh, hi Bunny…what are you doing here?"

Bonnie jumped with surprise at the sound of another in the room. "Maggie! You scared me. I can't sleep, so I thought I'd come here."

Maggie nodded slightly. "Yeah, me and Mac decided to alternate overtime days. I'm stuck here tweaking the Blue Earth—I don't know why, considering it can't go anywhere until we can get a launch ramp built…and god only knows how long THAT will take considering all the other stuff we have to get done."

Bonnie shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe Commander is just giving us things to do to ease our minds."

Maggie nodded. "Maybe you're right." Her auburn eyes sparkled with interest as she caught glimpse of the sapphire gem in Bonnie's hand. "Is that…your crystal?"

Bonnie nodded, and held it out to her. "Yeah."

Maggie carefully took it and held it up for closer inspection. Bonnie's crystal was the deepest blue she'd ever seen—beautiful, that was for certain. Her eyes grew sad for a moment as she noticed it was the same color as the eyes of their lost comrade. Kicking the thought out of her head, she gave it back.

"It's a pretty crystal…have you ever transformed before?"

Bonnie shook her head, and perched herself on Pegas' foot.

"HELLO-BONNIE." A voice boomed over her head.

She jumped again, and looked up to find Pegas looking down at her. "P-Pegas?" She asked.

"AFFIRMATIVE." It answered. Bonnie swung her head around to look at Maggie. "What-how-why…?"

Maggie shrugged. "I have no idea why we decided to patch it up…oh well. Mac went out scouting around for things one day, and just so happened to stumble upon Pegas' wreckage."

Bonnie gave Pegas' cold metal foot a friendly pat, and sighed. "To answer your previous question: no, I've never transformed before…to tell the truth, I'm kinda afraid to."

Maggie flopped back down onto the floor, and disappeared beneath the Blue Earth once again. "Don't be silly—you and Andrea are going to be real important in the battles to come…"

Bonnie swallowed the lump in her throat. "Yeah…but who wants to fight…why did the Venomoids ever have to…oh, it doesn't matter."

The occasional clinking of Maggie's tools echoed throughout the otherwise silent hangar. Bonnie shut her eyes, and leaned back against the cold machinery as she lulled off into deep thought. She could feel a faint flicker in her subconscious mind…and this time she wasn't about to let it get away. An immense frigid feeling tainted with darkness consumed her body as she zeroed in on it—it was him again.

"I…can't take much more…of this…" His voice was strained with pain.

"Hang on, Ringo…please…" She squeezed her eyes shut tighter as she desperately tried to keep the connection going.

"You've gotta help me…I…can't do this…on my own, I…I'm losing it, Bonnie…" He continued.

A sharp pain seared across her head then. "Jezus…it hurts…"

Bonnie was determined not to let the sudden headache keep her at bay. "Be strong, Ringo…we're going to get you back…just keep fighting it! I know it's hard…I know it hurts…please just…"

He cut her off. "Hurry…! I can't—"

"BOLD-SOLDIER-BOY, YE-LEAVE-YOUR-HOME-AND-HEART-TODAY. THE-LASS-YOU-LOVE, LEAVE-WEEPIN' AT-THE-DOOR. THERE-IS-NO-JOY-WHEN-SWEETHEARTS-ROAM-SO-FAR-AWAY. BUT-THE-BOLD-YOUNG-SOLDIER-BOY-MUST-GO-TO-WAR…" A loud mechanical voice sang.

Pegas had jilted Bonnie out of her thoughts so hard; she ended up toppling over onto the cold floor. "Oh no!" She exclaimed. Quickly she tried to reconnect, but it was too late—she'd lost him for the time being.

Bonnie stood up and kicked Pegas' shin. "PEAGAS!"

Pegas stopped its singing, and turned its head to look at her.

"SHUT UP!"

"THAT-COMMAND-IS-NOT-IN-MY-MEMORY-BANK…" It replied. "DEFINE-'SHUT-UP'."

Bonnie ground her teeth and stormed back to her room, leaving Maggie with a giant question mark floating above her head.

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Ringo opened his eyes. It was so dark, so cold…he felt so lost, desolate and alone. "Don't leave me…" He murmured softly to the silence. He found small tears trickling down the corner of his eye as he was curled into a tight ball on his side. "Oh god…don't leave me…" He closed his eyes once more and tried to fight the shivers that consumed his soul.

"I don't want to be left here…"

His conscious faded in and out before the sharp pain in his head came back to claim him prisoner once more.

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A/N: I am presently working on the next chapter and should have it up in a day or so. Bonus illustration: (put this all together because it's not going to let me paste a url. www dot deviantart dot com/deviation/45462714)

Balzac, Marlow and Vitani scribble. :P