Chapter 3: Recorded

Where am I? I'm tied up!

"Ah, welcome, my dear, to my ship," said a sinister voice behind Jules. She spun around.

"Lothor," she spat his name. The binds chewed into her wrists. She was seated on a stone chair. Lothor was seated on his "throne" with Marah and Capri oh either side of him.

"Oh, so nice to know you know my name," he cackled. "I hope you like the accommodations. Sorry for the slight drab," he explained. "It's under renovations." Suddenly, his goons appeared all around.

"Zurgayne, Joobo, Vexicus, Motodrone" Jules gasped. The generals turned at the sound of their name from the prisoner. "Ew, you guys look worse than the toy figurines."

"You'll pay for that," warned Zurgayne, pulling out his sword and point it at Jules.

A stream of giggles reached their ears. "Ha ha, that is so true!" squealed Marah. Capri wasn't far behind.

"Yeah, like ew," she agreed.

"Silence!" yelled Lothor. Then he turned to look at Jules, "I think we have just the thing that will defeat the Power Rangers."

"What's that, Uncle?" asked Marah.

"Not, 'what' my dear," he guffawed. "Who."

Back in Ninja Ops, Dustin ran into the room and stopped before Cam and Sensei.

"We've got to save her!" he hollered.

"Who?" asked Cam. Suddenly, Tori, Blake, Hunter, and Shane appeared next to him. The wind from their Ninja streaks ruffled his hair.

"Jules," he said. He turned to the others. "We were at the beach, we were talking, and then suddenly, Marah and Capri appear out of nowhere and kidnapped her. I tried to get her back, but there were too many Kelzaks," he sat down and hung his head.

"Dustin," Tori came and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Wow, this has really upset you." She softly laughed.

"Yeah," agreed Shane. "I thought I'd never see the day that Dustin would trip because of a girl," he shook his head. Tori shot him a look. "Sorry, bro."

"This doesn't have to do with the fact that she's Nathan Gailes' sister, is it?" asked Blake.

Hunter lightly hit Blake on his arm with the back of his hand. "Right! That's why her name sounded familiar."

"No, guys, really," he looked up at them. "I mean, yeah, she is a Gailes and everything, but I got to know her as a person, you know, as Jules, not as the sister of Nathan and part of the Gailes clan. She's one of a kind, and I feel bad that I couldn't protect her from Lothor," he raked his fingers through his hair.

"I understand your concern, Dustin," said Sensei, jumping through the air and landing on Dustin's knee. "For now, put your emotions aside and focus on the inner Ninja in you. Only then can you save her." He sprinted through the air and landed on the computer console. "Now, why does Lothor want Jules? What is it that she has?" asked Sensei in his forever calm voice. He turned to Dustin. "I believe you can answer this, Dustin."

Dustin got up on his feet and paced the room. He rested his chin on his knuckles as he thought. "I don't really know, Sensei. We weren't exactly chatting about Lothor and his goons."

"Well, there must have been something in your conversation to trigger his attention," said Cam, sitting in front of the console, tapping something out on the keyboard. "Maybe this will jog your memory," he pressed the center button. The screen flashed and on came an image of Dustin and Jules talking at the beach.

"What? No way! You were spying on us?" Dustin threw his hand up in the air. There were parts of the video he didn't want the others to see, most especially the part right before she got captured. Luckily, they weren't there yet. The conversation played on before them.

"Hey, speaking of local celebrities, I'd like to know about the Power Rangers."

"What?" he gasped. "Are you serious?"

"What? I know they stay in Blue Bay. What's that look supposed to be? One that says 'There's no such thing as Power Rangers,' or 'Aren't you too old to talk about them?" she joked.

"Ahm… It's just that, not a lot of people would come out into the open and talk about them like that." He shifted in his seat.

"Like what? Dustin, I don't understand. I mean, they're heroes, and you act like it's wrong to talk about them?" She walked away.

"No, wait, Jules, I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what do you mean?" she faced him.

"It's just that… the look on your face, I mean, like you really want to get to know them, the Power Rangers I mean," he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Oh? I didn't know I had 'the look' on my face. I know the Power Rangers care enough to save our earth to stop Lothor and his henchmen from taking over. Oh my gosh! I can't believe I didn't notice it at first!" she giggled then sat on the sand. Dustin looked on.

"What?" he sat next to her.

"Dustin, no wonder you looked so guilty when I wanted to talk about the Power Rangers! I know your secret," she pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Secret?" squeaked Dustin. "What secret?"

"Yeah, Dustin," Blake looked at him, arms crossed. "Did you tell her anything about us?" the others turned and looked at Dustin as well. Dustin put up his hands in defense.

"No way, dude, I didn't tell or do anything to make her believe that we're the Power Rangers!" he said. He pointed to the console. "Look at the screen, we're not even done talking yet," and everyone tuned back to the conversation.

"Ah," Jules shook her head. "You're a fan of the Power Rangers like I am. I saw that spark in your eye when I first mentioned their names, and you looked like you wanted to boast but held it back. Am I right?" she poked his chest with her index finger, playing him. "I'm right, aren't I? Aren't I?"

There was a collective sigh among the Rangers.

"Ok, ok, you got me Jules, yes, I am a fan of them, a big one. I mean, I even have the collectibles, comic books, toys, everything!" he waved his arms in enthusiasm.

"Collectibles! How cute," she admitted, "Now we have something else to talk about besides moto-cross," she added.

Cam paused the video. He swiveled in his chair and faced the team. "So, maybe this snippet caught Lothor's interest," he explained.

"But Cam, lots of people talk about the Power Rangers. Why would Lothor decide to take her instead of the whole community that speaks about us?" asked Tori. Shane stood next to Dustin.

"Maybe," said the Red Ranger, "Lother might have thought, since she's a fan of the Power Rangers, she must know a lot about them."

"You think that's the reason why he took her?" asked Hunter. "Because she knows about the Power Rangers?"

"Well," said Blake, sitting next to Tori on the table, "She did mention she is a fan, and fans need to know a lot of dirt about their idols, so to speak. Hehe," sniggered Blake, "Kind of like us with Nathan, huh?" he nodded at Dustin.

"If that's the case," mused Dustin, "If what she says about being a big fan of the Power Rangers is true, then, like me, she knows our strengths…" he let that hang in the air. It was Shane who finished the sentence for all.

"And she knows our weaknesses."