A/N: I just updated the cover photo, I hope you guys like it!
Oh, and a PS, if anyone sent me a PM in the last few months or so, I just got them. I always seemed to ignore them until earlier this week, however, I felt that it would be a bit awkward to respond to a PM that was sent more than a few days ago, so I thought that I would just tell you now. If you PM me in the future, however, there is a 50/50 chance that I will respond, mostly because never really read them, but I'm trying to get more on top of it, so feel free to PM me about anything from story ideas, chapter ideas, to just wanting to talk! Now, on with the chapter.
Last Time On Power Rangers Dino Squad
Scott broke away from his fight with the Zorima and jumped up, flipping through the air, before coming down and bringing his sword down on Aigaron's head. Aigaron cried out in pain and lifted the black ranger up by his neck. "You rangers think you can even try to beat me? You'll never even be close to winning! Deboss will prevail and all you rangers will be dead!" He brought his axe up with his other hand, ready to strike, when a purple blast hit Aigaron's hand, making him drop Scott onto the ground.
Scott gasped and rubbed his neck as he saw the purple ranger and cyan ranger arrive in different directions and begin to attack. The cyan ranger took out all the Zorima quickly with Jesse and Robin, while the purple ranger carefully pulled Scott to his feet.
"You alright?" He asked, his voice overly familiar to the black ranger.
"Que..." He was cut off when the purple ranger began talking again.
"Are you alright?" He asked with more force than necessary.
Scott nodded, bringing his hand away from his neck. "Yeah, thanks. Who are you?" He asked, though he was pretty sure of the answer already.
"Scott, I..." He was cut off harshly as Aigaron struck him from the behind with a tough blow to the back that, while it didn't cause him to fall over, it caused him to demorph. However, he turned around quickly, not allowing the black ranger to see his face. That is, until, he was struck with the Axe again, this time puncturing through his skin deeply, so far that you could see his bones being snapped clean through with the axe.
Scott was shocked, and put a hand up to where his mouth was under his helmet. Aigaron pulled the axe out of the man's body and began to fight the others, while Scott was horrified to see that his suspicions of who the purple rangers was was found to be true. "No!" He cried, catching the man as he fell. "Dr. Parker! Can you hear me?" He asked, demorphing and patting his dying father figure on the cheek, trying to arouse him in some way.
"Scott," He coughed, opening his eyes halfway. "It's okay. It was always meant to happen."
"No, it wasn't! You were supposed to live! To be my mentor, my teacher, and my father figure! This shouldn't be happening!" He cried in despair.
"Just remember everything I've taught you. You can make it without me." Dr. Parker coughed again, and his eyelids began to droop.
"No! Please!" Scott cried, but it was too late. Dr. Parker's eyes closed and his breathing slowed to a stop.
The other rangers, despite being injured and exhausted before they got Aigaron to retreat, walked over to Scott and stood behind him quietly as cried and mourned his loss. The cyan ranger stood off to the side a bit, and said nothing.
Now
Dr. Parker was a well known person at Sol Valley High, being the main history teacher in the school, and aside from that, the rangers really didn't have much to say about him. It was hard to mourn about someone they hardly knew, but Scott did know Dr. Parker. He was like a father to him, even when his real father was around.
So, while the other rangers sat together in the infirmary, taking care of their injuries from the battle, Scott laid in his room, tears streaming down his face as he stared at a wall and thought back to simpler times, when there wasn't a risk of people dying, getting hurt, or anything happening to them.
~Flashback~
"Scott, come over here!" A five year old Scott jumped down from his chair at the table. He scurried over to his dad as fast as his little legs could carry him. He froze, however, when he saw a tall man standing in the living room, talking to his father.
Despite him standing back a few feet, his father noticed him immediately, and smiled brightly at him. "Scott, come here." Scott shyly walked over to his father, hiding his face away from this new person.
"Scott," His father laughed. "This is one of my best friends, Dr. Quentin Parker."
Scott said nothing, and shied away when Quentin leaned down and put his hand out to shake his hand. Quentin laughed a bit, and Scott's father spoke up. "Scott, say hello." He encouraged.
"Hi." Scott said in a small voice, peeking up at Quentin as he smiled warmly at him.
"Hello, Scott. It's nice to finally meet you. Your dad always says a lot of good things about you." Quentin said, holding out his hand once again.
Scott slowly pulled away from his father and grabbed Quentin's pointer finger and shook it. Quentin gave a hearty laugh at this.
"It's nice to meet you too." Scott said, managing a small smile.
~End Of Flashback~
Looking back on that day made it harder for Scott to deal with what had just happened.
It couldn't have happened. He couldn't be dead. Scott thought, but a voice in the back of his head disagreed. I'm sorry, but you saw it happen. You know it's real, but you need to accept it.
"Never." Scott growled through his tears. "I'll never accept it. It didn't happen!"
There was a faint knock at his door, and despite him not wanting to be with anyone at the moment, he let the person open his door. "Scott?" It was Robin, peering in at him with a sympathetic gaze. "I'm so sorry." She said quietly as she walked in and silently shut the door behind her.
She walked over to him, sat on the side of his bed, and put a hand on his shoulder. He said nothing. "Scott, I know you probably don't want to do anything right now, but..."
"I don't want to do anything right now." Scott said, looking at her with a slightly harsh look, wondering what she was about to say.
"I understand completely, but Kyro wants all in the main room, and I told him I would see if you wanted to..."
"I really don't." Scott said, turning over in bed so he could face away from her.
"Scott," She said sadly.
He said nothing. It was obvious how upset he was, and her prodding wouldn't help the situation. "I'm sorry. I'll go." Robin stood up and opened the door. She looked back before leaving and sighed, seeing him still making no movements. She left and closed the door behind her.
She walked into the main living room, where the Cyan ranger was standing awkwardly next to Liela, still morphed. Liela seemed to be waiting for something.
Robin sat in between Jesse and Spencer on the couch and sighed. "I couldn't get him to come, sorry guys." She said with a frown. "I feel so bad."
"He's just mourning for now, he'll get better." James said, leaning over to look at them.
"How do you know?" Jesse asked.
"I felt the same way when the demons began to kill off everyone. Eventually, you get used to it." James sighed.
"Maybe you should talk to him about it." Robin suggested.
James shook his head. "I would, but I don't know him well enough to actually relate to it. I have no idea if he's lost someone before."
"I'll talk to him." Spencer offered.
Robin and Jesse bit their lips. "Are you sure?" Jesse asked, reaching over and putting a hand on Spencer's shoulder.
He frowned slightly and nodded. "Why not?"
"Well we don't want you talk about anything that brings up bad memories or maybe makes you uncomfortable." Robin said gently.
Spencer chuckled lightly, despite his slight annoyance at their unnecessary concern. "Guys, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me."
"We didn't say there was, Spence." Jesse responded. "Just want you to be okay with it."
"I am." Spencer said, slightly more infliction in his voice.
"Guys." Liela said, catching their attention. "Kyro just informed me to start without him, as he is calling upon someone."
"Who is he calling?" Matt asked. As the leader, he found this his concern.
"The next purple ranger." Liela muttered, looking a bit sheepish.
"What?" Jesse exclaimed. "You're kidding, right? He just died!" Then, a realization hit him like ton of bricks hit him. "Wait, you guys have backups for us?"
"Before you say anything..." Liela started, but she was cut off when the green ranger stood up and continued.
"You guys don't really care about us. You care that we do what you say and fight evil, but if we die in the process, who cares?" He spat in disgust.
"Let me explain," Liela started, pausing. Seeing as he was going to let her speak, she continued, "There's this prophecy, and if it forewarns a ranger dying, we find a replacement. It's not that we don't mourn, we care for all of our rangers, but we must move on. The world can't afford us waiting. You must understand."
Jesse calmed down, and took a deep breath, also wincing very slightly from his still remaining injuries. Liela raised an eyebrow, "Are you alright?"
The others looked at him, but Jesse continued to look at Liela and not them. "Fine."
"Are you sure?" Liela prodded.
"Yes." Jesse stated quickly before sitting down. He could feel the others gazes, but refused to look back at them.
"Well.." Liela began. "Now that that's done with, lets get on with this." She turned to the Cyan ranger, "Please demorph."
He nodded and demorphed. The rangers either gasped or raised their eyebrows.
"Mason?" Robin asked, surprised more than anything. She, out of all the rangers, knew Mason the best, having been friends with his girlfriend, Kristi, and did a project with him at the end of last school year.
"Hey guys." Mason smiled sheepishly. "I bet you didn't expect this, huh?"
"To say the least." Matt admitted.
"Rangers." Kyro said, stopping them before they could say anymore. "She will meet you at the next battle."
"Who is 'she?'" Matt asked, looking at Kyro.
"The next purple ranger." Kyro answered.
"Yeah, we know that." Jesse said. "But who is she specifically."
"You'll find out later." Kyro said, not revealing much to them. "Robin, did you talk to Scott? Why is he not here?"
"He's upset. His father-figure just died in his arms. Give him some time." Robin growled.
"I'm gonna go talk to him." Spencer said, standing up and walking out of the room.
"Should we really let him do that?" Jesse asked, glancing over at Robin with a worried look.
"Maybe nothing will happen." Matt suggested, pitching into their conversation.
"We can only hope." Robin said.
~PRDS~
"Scott?" Spencer asked as he walked carefully into the dark room.
"Go away, Spencer." Scott growled from his bed as he sat up and faced the blue ranger. "Nothing you can say will make this any better."
"I get that; better than anyone. You know that." Spencer said, walking closer to the black ranger.
"Don't." Scott put his hand up, stopping him. "You're not helping."
"But I can. I know how it feels to have no hope, or to be endlessly upset. It's not the end of the world." Spencer gave him a small smile. "You're gonna get through this."
Scott rolled his eyes. "I heard you guys talking, Spencer. I know about the new purple ranger. That's bullshit. You guys don't care."
"That's not true, Scott." Spencer said, putting up his hands. "Didn't you hear that we do care, but the world can't wait? I know better than any of them that this must be hard for you, but you have to understand what's at stake here."
Scott stood up and walked up to Spencer. "You have no idea how this feels. Just because you had depression doesn't mean that you know how this feels."
"Scott, you don't understand. Depression doesn't just go away. Everyday I still have to deal with it, but I keep my head held up high because I know I can make it through and because I have people who actually care about me." Spencer explained.
"I didn't ask." Scott replied coldly, making Spencer grimace slightly. "Look, Spencer, just go."
"But, Scott..."
"Go." Scott said, more forcefully this time.
"But..."
"Go!" He yelled, and out of anger, punched the blue ranger.
Spencer fell to the ground and let out a slight cry of shock when his head connected with the floor. Just then, Jesse came in, having heard the commotion, and looked around. He spotted Spencer on the floor cradling his eye, and offered him and hand up. Spencer took the hand, and shakily stood up.
"What happened?" He asked, looking over Spencer.
Scott huffed and got back in bed, facing away from them.
Jesse raised an eyebrow and reached up to pull a hand away from Spencer's eye, but the blue ranger flinched away. "Come on, Spencer, let me see. I'm not gonna hurt you." Jesse whispered comfortingly. He then reached up and gently pulled Spencer's hand away from his eye. He saw that it was already beginning to swell and bruise and turned back to Scott.
"You ass! He was trying to help you and you punched him?!" Jesse yelled. "You know what? You don't deserve to be helped!" He turned back to Spencer and put a hand on his back. "Come on, let's go."
~PRDS~
"It was total bullshit! He punched Spencer!" Jesse exclaimed to the others as he was explaining what happened to them while Spencer held an icepack to his eye.
"It's not a big deal." Spencer whispered, shaking his head.
"Not a big deal? Jeez, Spence, do you know what Reese is gonna say when he sees your eye?" Jesse asked.
Spencer bit his lip. "I.. I don't know. We can't tell him that Scott did it though." He said in a small voice.
"Why not? He deserves what he'd get." Jesse growled.
"I don't want anything to happen. Just drop it. Please." Spencer said.
Jesse opened his mouth to retaliate, but the alarm went off before he could say anything. He growled as they ran out, not bothering to ask Scott to join them.
Scott, meanwhile, watched them leave with hot tears running down his face. He saw Liela looking at him and giving him a sympathetic look, then proceeded to glare at her and go back inside his room.
Liela, despite what he did, felt bad for Scott and followed him into his room. He was standing near his bed, staring at a photo of Quentin and himself many years ago. He turned to Liela.
"What can I do?" Scott whispered, falling to his knees and peering up at her with tear-filled eyes. "I've just lost my father-figure and my friends. What should I do?"
Liela got down on her knees and sat next to him on the floor. "It'll be alright. Just keep going. What's done is done, but that doesn't mean you can't fix it. I mean, you can't bring Quentin back but you can save the relationship you have with the others. You haven't lost them, just their trust. Start out by apologizing, and go from there."
"But how do you know it'll work?" Scott asked.
"I know it will. Trust me." Liela smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on." She stood up, and offered her hand to help him up, which he took. "Let me show you something."
She took him into her bedroom and handed him a picture. In the picture, there was a young girl, man, and woman, along with a baby boy. "Who are these people?" He asked, looking between her and the picture.
"That's me, my mother, my father, and my brother on Urau." Liela said.
"Urau?" He raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of such a place."
"It's a planet. My home planet. Everyone else that works here - that's their planet too." Liela responded. "Well, not everyone else, but mostly."
"Where is your family now?" He asked.
Liela sighed. "I don't know. We all came here together, but my mother originates from Earth, and she was brought to Urau to sold off, but my father step in and took her with him to her mind erased so she wouldn't remember Earth, however, when we got here, she remembered everything and took my brother with her."
"What about your dad?" He asked, staring at the father in the picture, noticing something strange about him.
"I don't know." She said, shrugging as if she wasn't worried.
"Liela, your dad looks a lot like Kyro." Scott mentioned, pointing to her father in the picture.
She took the photo and looked at it before looking at the black ranger. "I've been told that before." She muttered. She then decided to change the subject. "Do you understand why I showed you this?" Scott shook his head. "I did it because you need to see that loss isn't the end of the world. You might never see Quentin again while you're alive, but when dead, you see him again. I know this hard for you, but you wanna know what I did when I lost my family? I met someone new and then I came here and all of my friends made it easier to forget that I was missing them."
"Thanks, Liela. It means a lot that you'd help me." Scott smiled.
"No problem. Now go, help the others." Liela smiled back as he nodded and ran out of the room. She turned back to the photo and looked at her family. "Maybe you are closer than I thought."
~PRDS~
Jesse and Spencer cried out as they were thrown back once again into the side of a building by Aigaron. "Where is this new purple ranger?" Jesse asked, exasperated. "We could use help at a time like this!"
"What do you think I'm here for?" Mason asked, smirking behind his helmet as he blasted the general away from him. His confidence got the best of him when Aigaron came up, pushed him into the ground, and stepped on his back, holding him in place no matter how much he struggled to get free.
"I don't know, what are you here for?" Jesse chuckled as he helped Spencer back to his feet. "You alright, Spence?" He asked.
Spencer nodded. "Yeah."
Robin slashed Aigaron's back, catching him off guard, but not making him let go of Mason. "Let him go you freak!" She growled. He grabbed her arm and flipped her over and slammed her hard into the ground.
"Robin!" Jesse yelled, rushing to her aid as Spencer and Matt ran up and both kicked him at the same time, finally making him fall back. Matt helped the cyan ranger up.
"Thanks, man!" Mason said as Aigaron got back up to his feet. Robin, Jesse, and James - who had been fighting off the last of the Zorima - regrouped with them as they stood before Aigaron.
Aigaron blasted them all to the ground and laughed. "You rangers are purely pathetic."
"Are you sure about that?" Scott's voice asked as he flipped over Aigaron and landed in front of the other rangers.
"Scott!" Robin smiled. "You're here!"
"Yeah, and I'm ready to fight. Are you, Aigaron?" He asked.
Aigaron laughed once more. "You again? Did you come back so I could kill you this time?"
Scott growled, but as he was about to make his move, a blast shot from behind Aigaron and threw the alien into the air, making him land behind the other rangers, just as they sat up.
"What the..." Scott looked over and saw the new purple ranger, standing with it's arm out and blaster in hand.
"The new purple ranger's a girl?" Jesse asked. "Ow!" He cried out when Robin smacked his arm.
"What's wrong with that?" Robin asked as they all got to their feet.
"Nothing, it just shocked me since Dr. Parker was a man and she showed up." Jesse responded. "I didn't know that girls could take over a guy's role on the team, that's all."
Aigaron stood up and growled at the rangers. "You rangers have won this round, but you'll never win the war." He disappeared in a flurry of color.
The purple ranger walked over to them. "Are you guys alright?" She asked, putting her blaster back into her belt.
"Mildly." Matt answered. "Who are you?" The others demorphed and looked at her, Scott standing a little ways away.
She smiled and demorphed. "Alice?" Mason asked, knowing her as a friend of Kristi's.
"Hi guys." She peered over at the black ranger, who had sat down and was absentmindedly playing in the dirt. "Is he alright?" She asked, voice low.
Spencer looked over there and broke away from the group, despite Jesse trying to hold him back. "Are you alright?" He asked, smiling down at Scott.
Scott peered up at him and cringed at the nasty bruise around his eye. The one he had caused. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Liela and I talked, and I think everything will be alright. Are you alright?" He asked as Spencer sat down next to him.
Spencer nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."
Scott sighed. "I'm so sorry, Spence. I didn't mean anything that happened."
Spencer chuckled lightly, confusing Scott. "Look, Scott, it's fine. I know you were in a bad place when I went to talk to you, and I don't blame you for what happened. I knew what could happen, but I did it anyway."
"Are you sure? You could punch me if you want."
Spencer laughed. "I'm fine, anyway, Jesse wants to beat you up, and Reese probably will too, so I'm not gonna do anything." He joked.
Scott cracked a smile. "Wow, thanks." He chuckled sarcastically.
Next time on Power Rangers Dino Charge: While the rangers have to deal with an alien only attacking those doing physical activity, Nikki comes back to town with some bad news for Matt. Meanwhile, Scott meets someone new. Also, Spencer and Alice get closer.
A/N: Alice's actress was revealed in Episode 12: Taken, as well as Mason's if you wanted to know.