A New Shade of Pink
by Lady Dawson
Chapter Five: New Ranger
Liz held on to Conner the entire time that she was flying through that weird green portal thing that they were going through and the next thing that she knew, they were in the forest, landing somewhere in the middle of it and she let out a slow breath, trying to get her mind in one place. The Blue and Yellow Rangers were getting off of their bikes as Conner got off his, helping her down.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I will be once you get me off of this thing," Liz grumbled. She had never liked motorcycles and had flatly refused to get on one ever since she was a kid, but this had been an unusual circumstance.
Conner chuckles as he helped her down off of the motorcycle, the tingly feeling going through her as his hand touched hers. Liz swallowed, staring down at their linked hands before she looked back up at him now, her brown eyes looking up at his masked face.
"We're gonna have to talk," he said before looking over at his two fellow Rangers, who were watching this in complete bewilderment. "She knows . . . at least, about me. Not about you two, I don't think . . ."
"Wait, let me guess," Liz sighed, looking at the two of them. She pointed at the Blue Ranger. "Ethan," she guessed before looking at Yellow, "and Kira. I should've known."
Ethan let out a groan before his helmeted head looked directly at Conner. "Oh, Dr. O is going to love this," he complained. "I really hope that you've got a good explanation for this, because I've got nothing." Liz only grinned at him just as the portal reopened and a dozen of the dinosaur freaks appeared out of nowhere.
"Okay, somebody want to explain how they did that?" Liz asked. "Or how you guys did it? And what are those things, exactly?"
"They're called Tyranndrones," Kira informed her. "And we'll explain the rest later. For now, you need to get out of here."
Liz gave her a look. "No way," she said. "Those guys killed my family, they kidnapped me and threw me into a really dark and slimy cell. No way am I running from this."
There was no time to argue since the newly-dubbed Tyranndrones—Liz really preferred dinosaur freaks, because it just summed it up all too easily—moved into attack and Liz jumped in with the Rangers, fighting with everything that she had, with Conner moving right next to her in order to keep her out of danger.
And possibly to keep her from getting herself kidnapped again. But either way, Liz wasn't complaining.
Downing Tyranndrone after Tyranndrone, Liz felt the gem in her pocket start to pulsate and she threw out her hand, sending them straight into a tree before doing the same thing with the others.
It felt like forever until all of the Tyranndrones were destroyed and by then, Liz was exhausted. Conner, Kira, and Ethan powered down, all of them looking at Liz.
Just as Conner opened his mouth, possibly to ask something, a beeping noise caught their attention and a familiar voice came through what looked like a silver bracelet on Conner's wrist. She looked and saw that Kira and Ethan had similar ones.
"Hey, is everything okay? You guys make it out all right?"
"Is that Haley?" Liz whispered, startled. Ethan nodded once as Conner moved the bracelet towards his mouth to speak into it.
"Yeah, we're all right," he answered the café owner. "Mission accomplished, but, uh . . . there were a few problems. We'll explain when we get back to the lab." Conner looked at Liz, then at Ethan and Kira. "You should probably come with us. Dr. Oliver's gonna want to hear about this."
"Wait a second, Dr. Oliver's in on this?" Liz wanted to know, raising an eyebrow as Conner climbed back on the motorcycle. "Oh, you can't expect me to get back on that thing! No way! I am deathly afraid of motorcycles!" she protested weakly.
"And . . . how exactly are you going to get to Dr. O's?" Conner inquired, cocking an eyebrow as he grinned wildly at her.
Liz folded her arms across her chest, trying to come up with an answer. "Well, I'm . . . I'm going to walk," she said firmly. "It's a lovely day out and I feel like walking." Conner gave her a look. "Remind me to kill you later for this," she muttered as she climbed on the back of the bike.
"I'll help you if you want me to," Kira offered with a laugh as she and Ethan climbed on the back of theirs.
"I might take you up on that," Liz muttered darkly as she gripped Conner around the waist as the engine roared to life and they raced through the forest, heading directly for what she assumed was their secret command centre. They couldn't get there soon enough, she thought weakly as she shut her eyes, blocking out the sights as she waited until she was able to get off of this death trap, as she constantly referred motorcycles as.
Finally, Liz felt them coming to a stop and she opened her eyes to find herself in some kind of underground ruins mixed with modern technology, where Haley, the local café owner, and Dr. Oliver, a high school science teacher, were already waiting for them. Both of them looked startled when they saw Liz on the back of Conner's bike.
"What are you—?" Dr. Oliver began.
"Dr. O, before you go off, she sort of figured it out on her own," Conner protested, holding up his hands to ward off the explosion that was probably coming from the teacher.
"It's not his fault, Dr. Oliver," Liz said weakly. "I just . . . I kind of knew." She didn't explain how she knew, just that she did. Even Liz couldn't really explain how it was that she knew. "If you're worried about secrecy, I'm not gonna say anything."
Dr. Oliver sighed before looking at Conner pointedly. "We'll talk about this later," he informed him. Conner looked down guiltily. "Take a seat, Liz," he instructed, gesturing towards one of the seats.
After a quick look at Conner, who nodded encouragingly, she slowly walked down and took the seat that he had instructed. Liz twisted her hands nervously as she looked up at her science teacher.
She didn't know what surprised her more; that Conner and his friends were Power Rangers or that her science teacher was helping them.
"Liz, you know a dangerous secret. I'm not gonna lie and say that you're not going to be in danger by knowing what you've learned today. You're gonna be in as much danger as any of us are." Liz nodded mutely, keeping her gaze glued to her hands. "But none of us are gonna let anything happen to you."
"I can take care of myself," Liz said without thinking. "I'm not defenceless."
Dr. Oliver held up his hands. "I never said that you were. But Mesagog doesn't fight fair. But we'll do everything within our power to keep you safe and out of as much danger as is possible."
Liz shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she whispered, tears filling in her eyes. "They're the reason that I came here in the first place." Dr. Oliver looked startled and Conner moved closer, kneeling beside her.
"What do you mean?"
"They're the reason why I moved here," Liz whispered. "They . . . that woman, Elsa, she and those things attacked my family. She wanted me to do something, but when I refused, she . . ." Her voice trembled slightly. "She killed them," she whispered brokenly. "She killed my dad and my brother . . . right in front of me. And she said that if I ever changed my mind, then she would be here in Reefside. I came here to stop her."
Tears began to spill down her face and Liz moved her hand to cover her mouth as sobs racked her body. Conner's arms went around her and she buried her face into his chest, letting the sobs overtake her.
His arms around here felt nice and warm and safe. She didn't understand why she felt like right there, in his arms, was the safest place in the entire world. What did it mean?
After she had been crying for several minutes, Liz finally raised her head and wiped her tears away. Kira moved towards her, handing her a Kleenex with a small smile. "Thanks," she whispered, drying her tears with it before she looked up at them with red-rimmed eyes.
"I'm sorry, Liz," Dr. Oliver told her gently. "If I'd been there, I would've done anything to spare you that." Liz nodded, believing him.
"It's not your fault, Dr. O," she whispered, lowering her head. "It's my fault. It's my fault they're dead . . ."
"No, it's not," Kira said not unkindly. "There's nothing that you could have done to stop it."
"Yes, there is!" Liz yelled, pulling away from Conner's grasp as she stood up, plunging her hand into her pocket. "If I had just given her this stupid thing to begin with, then they would still be alive!"
She flung her hand out, revealing for the first time the pink gem that she had kept hidden since her family's demise.
No one moved, no one spoke, no one hardly even breathed as they all stared at the gem that lay in Liz's open hand, all of their eyes wide and Dr. Oliver's eyes fastened on it with some kind of understanding as he slowly let out a breath.
"Well, that explains the energy reading that we found," he said, breaking the silence. "It appeared in Reefside about a week ago. I had a pretty good feeling it was another gem, but we couldn't lock it down."
"Wait a minute, does this mean that Liz is a Power Ranger, too?" Conner asked. Liz's head lifted sharply towards Conner, then at Haley, before finally moving on to Dr. O.
"Hold on a second," she said, holding up her hands, disbelief flooding through her. "How could I possibly be a Ranger? I mean, besides being able to throw things around, this gem hasn't really given me any really cool suits or gadgets or anything like that."
"No, I do that," Haley answered. "If you want to."
"The choice is ultimately up to you," Dr. Oliver told her. "But if we're going to defeat Mesagog, then we could use your help." Liz stared at him, then at Haley before looking back at the other Rangers.
Conner looked ecstatic, Kira looked thrilled, and Ethan looked excited as all three of them waited for her to make the decision that would either gain a new Ranger or lose a potential one.
"I don't know," she whispered. But she knew that she couldn't do this on her own. That had already been proven. She had tried fighting these guys by herself and all it had done was get herself captured and barely escaping death had it not been for Conner and the others coming and rescuing her.
"Oh, come on, Liz, you can't leave me to be the only girl Ranger around here," Kira complained. "Please?"
"Yeah, we could use you," Conner agreed. "And you fight really good."
"All thanks to my aunt and uncle's teaching," Liz pointed out as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to think.
She did need their help. And they needed her, much as she wanted to deny it to herself. Liz took a deep breath and locked eyes with Conner, who looked hopeful.
"All right," she agreed. "I'll do it." A smile spread across her face as Conner grinned happily, scooping up her up and swinging her around.
"Conner, let me down!" she shrieked while the others laughed. "Let me down! Don't drop me!" she begged, but laughter escaped from her as he spun her round and round, unaware of the wistful look that Dr. Oliver cast towards them, almost as though they reminded him of something.
When Conner finally let her down, she was sure that she was going to fall flat on her face because she was so dizzy. "I'm gonna make you regret that, Conner McKnight," she scolded, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the Red Ranger.
Conner gulped and took a few steps back. "Probably when you least expect it," she added with a smile, patting him on the shoulder before looking at Dr. Oliver and Haley. "So what do I have to do?"
"Give me your gem," Haley answered. "And I'll do the rest. Don't worry, you'll get it back tomorrow," she assured her. "I just need to create a morpher and communicator for it, that's all." Liz hesitated, but reluctantly gave Haley the gem that she'd held onto for so long.
And with that one decision, she began taking steps that would lead her to her destiny.