Chapter Three
Someone was shaking Joey awake.
"Joey. Joey, wake up." They whispered.
"Damon, Leo, what are you guys doing?" Another voice said.
"We're waking her up. The doc said she could leave, so we're gonna show her the new room she's sharing with Maya and Kendrix." A third voice said.
"At seven o'clock in the morning? That girl's had a tough time these past few days. You ought to let her sleep." Joey groaned and sat up.
"Seven o'clock? Why? It couldn't wait?" She mumbled, looking around at Leo, Damon, Mike and Kai.
"Nope, sorry kid." Leo said, grinning.
"Come on." Damon grabbed her hand and pulled her out of bed. The five of them walked quickly through the halls. They stopped at a door.
"Ready?" Leo asked.
"Yeah. Sure." Joey said. Damon knocked on the door and it slid open to reveal Kendrix and Maya, grinning in the doorway.
"Hi, Joey. Come on in." Kendrix said. Maya took her hand from Damon and pulled her gently inside.
"This is your bunk." She said, pointing to the top bunk. Joey grinned, looking around the room.
"Wow. You live here?" She asked, wide eyed.
"Yeah. It's not much, but we figured it must be better than that hospital room."
Joey shook her head. "This is amazing." She said.
"We also took the liberty of getting you some new clothes. We didn't think that the jumpsuit you're wearing could be very comfortable." Leo said, handing her a bag.
Joey opened it and saw a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a black jacket. Joey smiled and shook her head.
"What's wrong, don't you like it? I told you we should've gotten the green shirt." Damon hit Leo on the shoulder.
"No. It's great. I just...why'd you do it?" Joey asked.
"Honestly?" 'Cause those clothes you're wearing are starting to stink." Damon joked. Joey rolled her eyes.
"The point is that you needed it. And we're going to take care of you until we find your home." Mike said. Joey smiled.
"Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate it." She told them.
"No problem. We're going to go get something to eat. See you girls later." Leo said, as he and the other boys left the room.
"We already made breakfast. Why don't you tell us about yourself?" Kendrix said.
"Like what?" Joey asked, sitting down at the table.
"Like your home planet. What kind of things did you like to do?" Maya asked. She and Kendrix sat down on either side of her.
"Well, me and my friends went hunting a lot. But that's because we had to get all the food for our village. My Father was one of the twelve elders of the village, even though he was only thirty or so when he was elected. He represented the constellation Aries. Each family has a specific constellation they are connected with. Ours is Aries. So along with that we are also connected with Fire, because Aries is a fire sign."
She told them stories from her childhood. Like the time her cousin held her upside down hanging from a branch of a tree. Or her oldest cousin's first kiss, and how she had made fun of him for months about it.
"Well, haven't you kissed anyone?" Kendrix asked.
"No, I was twelve when I was captured. Not a whole lot of romance opportunities when you're locked up in a cell for five years." Joey replied bluntly.
Maya put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
The rest of the day was spent with Leo showing her around the base.
She watched the rangers' train, practiced reading, writing, and counting with Kendrix and Mike and when no one was looking, talked Kai into sparring with her. By the end of the day, she was so tired, that she forgot about dinner and fell asleep as soon as she lay down on her bed.
It was a dream. Either that or a memory.
She knew it wasn't real. But that didn't make it any less frightening.
She was sitting in that awful chair. The same one she had been stuck in everyday for five years. There was a bright light over her, shining in her eyes so that she couldn't see anything or anyone.
But she could feel the pain.
She could definitely feel the pain. She wasn't sure what they did to her, but whatever it was it was excruciating and endless.
Not stopping, no matter how much she begged and pleaded.
No matter how many times she told them she didn't know anything about the Stars.
Suddenly the whole room lit up. She could see the faces of her torturers. But as she looked around, she wished she had never known.
Her father was there, along with her family and friends from her home planet. Suddenly the room was filled with people. It was suffocating. She saw the power rangers as well.
The rest of the room was dark. All she could see was the faces of those she trusted laughing at her, cruelly.
She began crying, and as she watched Leo level a laser gun, aiming for her.
She screamed.
She sat up in bed, tears running down her face, breathing heavily. She hugged her knees as she tried not to make any noise.
The next morning, Jo got up early and made breakfast for everyone. It took her a while to find everything, but she eventually found what she needed to make a decent breakfast.
The smell of food seemed to wake all the rangers up.
"Dang, girl, where's you learn to cook like this?" Damon said, looking at the spread of pancakes, French toast, eggs, and other foods.
"I can't imagine Trakeena taught you how to cook."
Jo shrugged. "I dunno...I always cooked at home, since it was just me and my Dad. Eventually it just became a hobby..." Jo smiled slightly, remembering,
"He always made fun of me since I would bake when I had nightmares and couldn't sleep. Said he wished I had nightmares every night so he could have cake for breakfast every morning."
Her smile quickly disappeared as she remembered she would never see her dad again. She felt the tears coming and quickly turned and walked out of the room.
The oven timer went off and Kai hurriedly pulled out what was inside.
"It's a cake," he said.
"Do you think she had a nightmare?" Kendrix asked, looking over at Leo. He didn't answer. He was busy staring in the direction Jo had gone.
"I'll be right back guys," he said, leaving the room.
"I don't get it. Why is he so infatuated with this girl?" Kai asked. "Maybe he feels responsible for her. He did save her after all." Mike said. Maya laughed.
"Really guys? Isn't it obvious? He likes her." She said. She and Kendrix looked at each other.
"Boys." They said together, laughing.
Jo had found a bench in the park to sit on. It was supposed to rain today, so not very many people were out. Leo walked over and sat down beside her.
"We found your cake. It'll probably be gone by the time we get back," he said.
"That's okay." Jo replied. "I didn't want any anyway. I don't really like sweets." Leo looked over at her.
"What was the nightmare about?" he asked.
"Nothing important." She replied quickly. Leo raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"Well...at first it was just a memory. When Trakeena would...would try to make me tell her about the Stars. And then suddenly the lights turned on and I saw everyone," Jo couldn't stop the tears, "Family, friends, even you were there. You guys were... You were doing the stuff Trakeena always did to me...and you were laughing and you had your gun... you were gonna..." She broke off, unable to keep her voice steady.
"Oh, God..." Leo said quietly. "I swear, Jo, I'll never let them get to you again. Ever." He wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry quietly into his shoulder. She went stiff for a moment, not used to the kindness, but she gave in.
After a few moments she regained her composure.
"Sorry you had to see that..." She mumbled.
"It's fine. I don't mind. What do you say we go see if there's any food left? I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Leo grinned and pulled her up, walking back to the base. Jo smiled back and followed him.
They were near the entrance of the base when Leo's watch beeped. "Trakeena" he muttered. "Joey, I want you to go back you your room and stay there. You should be safe. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Jo nodded and ran inside. On the way she ran into the other rangers.
"Where's Leo?" Kai asked.
"He's going to go fight Trakeena. I'm supposed to go to my room." Jo told him.
"You guys go with Leo, I'll stay with her." Mike said, turning back towards the girls' room. Joey followed him.
When they got to the room the two of them sat silently. After a few minutes Mike turned the TV on and turned it to the news so he could see how the rangers were doing before he started pacing back and forth.
Joey became uneasy as well and turned to the kitchen for comfort. After twenty minutes she already had bread in the oven and plenty of other foods made.
"Mike. Come eat something. Please." She said, walking towards him. She winced as she saw the rangers take a blow from Trakeena's latest monster.
She looked at Mike, who was looking longingly at the rangers. She knew he wanted to go help his younger brother and his friends.
"You should go," she said quietly.
Mike glanced at the girl, surprised. "What?"
Jo looked at him squarely. "Go help. I know you want to. And they look like they could use you." Mike shook his head.
"I can't. Leo would kill me if I left you here alone." He said.
"I can take care of myself. Leo needs you more than I do right now. Now go." She pushed him to the door.
"Okay...But don't move from this room." He said before turning and running down the hall. Joey Continued to cook as the rangers continued to fight.
"Aw, what a good little housewife." Joey would know that voice anywhere. It had been one of the few voices she heard the last five years.
"No... Trakeena..." Joey turned around.
Trakeena stood, smiling, slowly walking towards the young woman.
"Hello there. Miss me?" she asked as she cornered Joey against the wall. She raised her hand towards Joey.
There was a flash of light before everything went black.
The rangers ran back to the room. It was in shambles. Trakeena had definitely been there.
"Jo! Joey, you here? Joey?" Leo looked around desperately.
"You left her here on her own! You knew how badly Trakeena wanted her and you left her here anyway!" He turned angrily on Mike.
"Please, Leo, It's not his fault." Kendrix put a hand on his shoulder. Leo backed away quickly.
"I have to find her. I promised I wouldn't let them get her again." He ran out the door at a sprint. Mike slammed a fist on the counter.
"How could I be so stupid!" He cried out angrily.
"We have to go after him." Damon said, "He's gonna need our help."
The others nodded in agreement and started off in the direction Leo had gone.