Under Hunter's watchful eye, Dustin passed his Power Disk over to Hayley for her to examine and compare. She had been studying Tori's for a long time now, but couldn't figure out what went wrong when Cam and the Thunders tried to reverse Lothor's powers on the three Winds. She hoped that through comparison, she could find her answer.
"You don't know how much I've needed this," Hayley told Dustin as she took the disk and hooked it up to the computer. Dustin smiled slightly before he turned around and saw Hunter glaring at him. He lowered his head.
"Dude, I'm not going to hurt her."
"Until she tells me otherwise, I can't trust you," Hunter frowned. Dustin was about to say something until he saw Kelly's still unconscious body in the background. Hunter was extremely protective of his girlfriend. He had to be. She wasn't a ninja, but actively involved in the ninja life, and she was very hard-headed when it came to her friends and had put herself in danger without thinking of the consequences.
"Alright, fine, just stop staring," Dustin said. "You're making me uncomfortable."
"Bite me," Hunter growled before he turned to look over at his brother, "How is she, bro?"
Blake looked up, "Not awake yet."
"It's for the best," Tommy said. "Until Hayley figures out what went wrong, Tori needs to stay down."
"Yeah, I don't think I want to fight her again, dude," Ethan nodded.
Blake sighed before turning to look back at Tori. He held her hand in his, disappointed that this was the first time he saw her. Lothor ruined everything.
"I guess we should just be looking nothing else has happened yet," Kira said. Cam quickly tapped his knuckles against the wood on Tori's cot. Kira heard him and nodded, "Thanks."
"What do you think Lothor is planning?" Conner asked. He tossed a little red soccer ball in the air. "World domination?"
"Maybe he can defeat Mesogog for us," Ethan smiled. He knew it was wishful thinking, but there wasn't much else to do for the time being.
"Yeah, that'll happen," Shane chuckled. "Lothor's good, but he's lazy. He'll only defeat Mesogog once he doesn't need him anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if he sends Mesogog out to fight us."
"If I fight a dinosaur, that'll be cool," Dustin said as he sat down close to Shane. The Red Ranger glanced at him for a moment but placed his hand on Dustin's shoulder. He sympathised with his yellow Ranger, unlike everyone else. While everyone still doubted that he was back with them, Shane knew that Dustin was back. There was no way he could come up with a plan this elaborate, and even when he was under Lothor's power, he was still as gentle as could be. Dustin was just a good guy, through and through.
Hayley swivelled around in her chair, "Well, I have the results. Anyone want to hear them?"
"Go ahead, Hayley," Tommy nodded. Hayley held up the blue and yellow Power Disks. She tossed the yellow one back to Dustin.
"He's telling the truth," she said. "As far as I can tell the Power Disk works like it was originally supposed to. Dustin was just faking it."
"I told you," Dustin said, looking at Hunter specifically. Hunter let a small smile escape. He was happy his friend was back and all that worrying had been for nothing.
"So what happened with Tori?" Blake asked. "She wouldn't fake it."
"It's probably got something to do with Leanne shocking her moments before you tried the energy transfer," Hayley said. "The energy in her body didn't mix well with the energy coming in and it just didn't work."
Leanne lowered her head, "My bad."
"Saved my life," Kira shrugged.
Blake looked at Hayley, "So does that mean we can't change her back yet?" he asked. "I had to shock her to get her to pass out."
"It depends on how long the energy stays in her body," Hayley said.
"She's a water ninja." Leanne said. "Water conducts electricity."
"I would wait, then," Hayley nodded.
"You might want to use this time to figure out what you're going to tell her," Tommy instructed. "She may have a lot of questions."
"Yeah, like what happened," Kira chuckled. She glanced over at Kelly's bed, seeing the red head wasn't awake yet. "Hayley, what's happened with Kelly?"
"She'll be fine," Hayley assured the yellow Ranger. Her body's probably resting.
"You would know how hard Tori can throw," Dustin nodded. "Imagine if that pillow had been a knife."
Kira gulped loudly, holding her stomach. Hunter turned to his friend as a thought hit.
"Why the hell would you let Tori throw a knife at Kelly?" he asked. "I thought you were protecting all of us?"
"I couldn't let her know I wasn't siding with her! She already thought I was incompetent because I let Kelly escape!"
"So, to protect Tori, you put Kelly in danger?"
"I had this under control," Dustin said. "She's fine, isn't she?"
"She's probably terrified!" Hunter shouted. Conner tossed his red ball at the crimson Ranger's head.
"Dude, relax," he said as he motioned to Kelly, "She's not hurt and Hayley said she would be fine. Dustin's plan worked."
"Conner's right," Tommy said. "Right now I'm more worried about Mesogog and Lothor than I am about the girls."
Dustin sighed in relief, happy everyone was staring to back him up until he saw something moving in the corner of his eye. He turned towards Tori.
"Uh, you guys might want to let Hunter beat on me," he whispered as Tori stirred again.
"Tori?" Blake called gently as he leaned over her. Tori's eyes flew open suddenly as she grabbed Blake by the shirt. She pulled herself up and threw him to the ground as she jumped out of bed.
"Dustin," she shouted, turning to who she believed was her only ally. Dustin looked at her.
"I tried," he mouthed.
Hunter quickly picked up on Dustin's idea and grabbed his arm, yanking him back.
"Just calm down, Tori," he said. "We're not going to hurt you or Dustin. Just give up."
While the Rangers tried to talk Tori down, Kelly slowly started waking up. She rubbed her neck as she opened her eyes and looked around.
Dustin and Tori were down in the Ranger base. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she figured her friends must have gotten them back.
She tried to recall what happened before she passed out. She remembered seeing a figure on the ground moments before the knife was thrown her way. She could remember screwing her eyes shut and freezing up in fear, thinking the knife was going to it.
As she thought about those memories breathing became difficult. She tried to calm down and think as she touched her own face. There were no bumps or bandages, and she couldn't remember feeling pain in her face.
Her heart slowed back to regular pace when she realised the knife never hit her. As her panic faded she remembered a pinching feeling in her neck before she passed out. Someone saved her.
Suddenly she heard Tori screaming.
"You liar!" she was shouting at Dustin. Kelly noticed her body shaking in terror and rage. She must have been confused as well.
"Tori, calm down," Blake said, inching closer to his girlfriend. "He was just trying to…"
"Get away from me!" Tori screamed. She slapped his outstretched hand away and glared at Dustin, "You're going to regret this!" she shouted before suddenly taking off.
"Tor! Wait!" Dustin shouted.
Kelly didn't know what took over her, but she couldn't let Tori get away. She jumped out of bed and raced after her. Just as Tori reached the stairs she tackled her, pinning her to the ground. Hayley raced over with Tori's power disk. Now was as good a time as ever to try and bring the water sensei back. She clipped in on Tori's morpher, hoping it would work.
Tori pushed Hayley and Kelly away and bolted up the stairs. Conner, Kira and Ethan chased after her while the rest of the Ninjas helped Kelly and Hayley to their feet. From upstairs they heard a thunderous noise and Shane and Dustin recognised it as Tori morphing.
Blake hurried upstairs to see what was going on with his girlfriend once he was sure Hayley and Kelly were okay.
Hunter chuckled softly as he wrapped his arms around Kelly.
"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked.
Kelly shrugged, "I still want to know what happened."
"I told you she would be fine, dude," Dustin said, patting Hunter on the shoulder. He looked at Kelly. "He wouldn't believe me."
"So, you're back?" Kelly asked him. "Like, really back? This isn't a joke or a trick or a dream?"
"Never was," Dustin nodded. "I was telling you the truth back then."
"Everyone's back but Tori," Leanne explained for her sister. "As far as we know."
"The power disk should work unless Tori's still buzzing from Blake's attack," Hayley said. "But it's worth a shot. Worst case scenario is we fry her brain and leave her completely confused and terrified."
"That's worst case?" Cam asked.
"I don't want to see her confused terrified," Dustin said, rubbing his arm. "She's already a bitch when she knows what she's doing."
"You don't have to live with her," Leanne grumbled.
Conner, Kira, Ethan's footsteps could be heard as they came down the steps. All the ninjas turned to their allies, hoping for good news.
"She's back," Ethan smiled, throwing his hands up in the air. It felt good knowing his colour counterpart was no longer a threat. "She's a bit confused, but she's back."
Blake and Tori followed, with Blake taking the lead and holding Tori's hand so she wouldn't fall down the stairs. She accepted his help seeing as she was a little disorientated from the energy running through her body, expelling Lothor's influence.
"I want an explanation," she said when her feet hit the ground. She turned to Conner, "And not one that starts with uh and ends with babe."
"Lothor's back," Cam said. Tori nodded her head.
"I got that part. What happened to me? Who are they?"
She pointed to Hayley and the Dino Rangers. She knew she had fought the Rangers and almost defeated them, but she wanted to know what the connection was between them and her friends. If they were true allies, or if the two Rangers were just caught in the same web.
Kira smiled, "I'm Kira, that's Conner, Ethan, Dr. O and Hayley."
"We're the Reefside Rangers," Tommy added. "We're here because we think Lothor and Mesogog have teamed up. Lothor tried to use you, Shane and Dustin as his own army of Rangers."
"And we kicked your butts, huh," Tori chuckled. "Even after a few months, we've still got it."
"I fear the problem is worse than we thought," Sensei spoke finally. While the Rangers had been dealing with Tori, Sensei had been monitoring the satellites, watching for any signs of Lothor or Mesogog. With the Rangers occupied trying to save their own kind, the two villains could have been up to anything. Sensei had a strong feeling in his gut and on the screen it had manifested itself into an army of monsters and aliens from the past. Monster the Ninja and Dino Rangers had previously defeated, as well as Lothor's generals and Elsa.
The Rangers Hayley, Leanne and Kelly rushed to the screen to see what was going on. Blake placed his hand on Tori's shoulder.
"Are you going to be okay to go out there?" he asked his girlfriend.
Tori nodded her head, "No one messes with my mind and gets away with it."
"I hear ya," Kira nodded, high-fiving her fellow female Ranger.
"I'll get Trent," Tommy said. "We can use all the help we can get."
"I'll tag along then," Leanne added.
Hunter immediately turned to Kelly, "No."
"I wasn't going to say anything!" Kelly frowned, crossing her arms. Hunter raised his eyebrows.
"You didn't have to. I know you want to go out there."
"Is it really a bad thing?" Kelly whined. She grabbed his arm, "I'll be fine. I promise."
"She is tough, dude," Conner nodded.
"And you do fight better when you know Kelly's in danger," Shane pointed out.
"We need all the help we can get," Tommy said. Kelly smiled and stuck her tongue out.
"I think I like the Dinos better than you," she laughed. "They trust me."
Hunter rolled his eyes, "One condition."
"I won't leave yours or Leanne's sides," Kelly said. "Blah, blah, blah."
"You guys ready?" Tommy asked his team. Conner, Kira and Ethan nodded.
Shane turned to his Rangers, "Ready?"
"Ready," the ninjas all nodded.
Tommy smiled, "Let's go show them what teamwork is all about."