"Beetles in the sand," Dax pondered and he and his team searched through the forest, where Kaylee's signal died. "Thanks for the tip, Egyptian guy!"
"Can we not think about Egypt right now?" Will frowned, pushing a branch away from his face. "Right now, Kaylee and Ronny need us."
Hartford had finally let up on the search for the jewels in order to send the Rangers to rescue their team-mates. He realised the importance of every member on the team, and now understood that losing one member was much worse that losing one jewel.
"Guys, stop!" Rose yelled, bending down next to a rock and putting her fingers on something red, "Look, its blood."
"Blood?" Mack frowned.
"Last I knew, Moltor, Lava-lizards and Fearcats didn't bleed."
"You think its Ronny's or Kaylee's?" Mack asked his girlfriend, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. He knew she was suffering a great deal with the loss of her two girlfriends.
"I hope not..."
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
"Guys, look," Kelly pointed to a fork in the road ahead as she sighed. Kira looked down after taking a sip of water and groaned.
"Oh man, c'mon!" she frowned.
"Which way do you think they went?" Kaylee asked.
"That is the oldest trick in the book," a fourth voice laughed as the girls turned around to find Norg. All three of them groaned as the yeti marched up to them and gave them all a hug.
"I thought I told you to sit?" Kelly frowned.
"Yeah, but then I remembered that Flurious told me to find the Fearcats' secret hideout first!" Norg grinned, "Yeah... I'm trying to make myself useful!"
"Sounds difficult," Kira rolled her eyes, but laughed when Norg nodded.
"Yeah... it is."
Kaylee smirked, before looking down the center lane. Norg shook his head and touched her shoulder, before pointing down the trail.
"They want us to follow those tracks, but they didn't go that way," he told her.
"How do you know?" Kaylee asked, "I thought you said you didn't know where Ronny was?"
"I don't!" Norg smiled, "but yetis are very good trackers! It runs in our blood. We also eat a lot of blubber..."
"Wait... wait a second," Kaylee stopped him as she stood up, touching his arm. "Go back to the tracking thing... how do you know they didn't go this way?"
"Simple, these tracks head west!" Norg explained, as if everyone knew the answer. Kelly and Kira exchanged smiles as they listened to the idiotic yeti, which was proving he wasn't such an idiot after all. "They go towards the mountains! Fearcats and the mountain goats don't get along. So they wouldn't go that way!"
Norg turned to the set of tracks on the right and continued to explain which way the Fearcats wouldn't have gone.
"And... and... these tracks head north! Towards the North Pole! Fearcats and Santa also don't get along! So they wouldn't go that way!"
Norg ran over to the farthest set of tracks on the right and beamed, "And these tracks were made by a buffalo, so they didn't go that way," he finished.
"Wow," Kelly smirked as Kaylee looked at her with a surprised gaze. The two nodded happily, before Norg spoke up once again.
"Unless they took a prisoner!" he frowned. Kaylee, Kira, and Kelly all turned to him, thinking he meant Ronny. "Oh, the poor buffalo!"
The three girls sighed in relief as Kira got an idea.
"Norg, maybe we should work together," she suggested, walking over to the yeti and grabbing his arm gently.
"I don't think that Flurious would like me helping you," Norg shook his head.
"Well, maybe you don't have to help us," Kira smirked. "You could just follow the tracks, and I'll follow you."
'But, that would be helping!"
"Not if we make it a business deal," Kira grinned, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a CD. When she had been called by David to rescue Kaylee and Ronny, she had no choice but to take a copy along with her. Especially when David told her that once Ronny was home, they were going to have a dance, with music.
"Oh!" Norg grabbed the shiny CD and stared at it.
"If you let us follow you, then I'll let you have this CD, for free," Kira smiled. "You can play it when you get back to Flurious, and you two can have your own little party!"
"Okay, it's a deal!" Norg exclaimed, hugging the small girl.
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
"Her energy is almost fully drained!" Mig smiled.
"You should have waited for us to transfer the power!" Benglo frowned, turning to Moltor.
"Your device works too slowly for my liking!" Moltor growled. "The longer we wait, the closer the Power Rangers will get."
"We chose the fastest Ranger!" Mig answered, "You just have to be patient."
"She's not the fastest!" Moltor reminded the cats. "Not after we inserted that bio-chip into hers and the Green Ranger's skin! Her powers are gone!"
"The Power Rangers will never find us here, anyways. We have all the time in the world to let her drain."
Just as Benglo finished, the monitor turned on, showing Kaylee, Kira, Kelly and Norg headed towards the secret base.
"You were saying?" Moltor frowned.
Ronny could barely comprehend anything her captors were saying. Her eyes were slowly shutting, and she knew that if she got their way, she might never wake up. She turned to the machine and saw that she only had two bars of energy left. She felt the last of her power slowly slip away.
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
Tyzonn parted a bush before stepping over it, then left his hand to push down the leaves for the other Rangers to pass.
As Rose stepped over, she saw something Green, Yellow and Pink catch her eye. She found energy she never knew she had and ran off towards the green one, before nearly tackling it over in a hug.
"Kaylee!" she exclaimed.
Kaylee felt a few extra pounds jump on her back, so she turned around and saw Rose, smiling at her.
"Hey, you guys came," Kaylee giggled, hugging her friend back, "but I thought Hartford was all, Kaylee and Ronny can die for all I care!"
"He was," Mack smiled, walking over with the boys, "David talked some sense into him."
"Did you find Ronny?" Rose asked.
"Not yet," Kaylee sighed, "but we're close... right Norg."
"Right!" the yeti nodded, watching the Overdrive reunion. The other Rangers turned to Kaylee and frowned in confusion.
"Don't worry," Kelly assured them, finally making herself and Kira noticed, "He's our prisoner/tracker."
"W-when did you guys come back?" Dax asked.
"When David called us," Kira smiled, "We weren't about to pull a Hartford on Kaylee and Ronny, so we joined the rescue mission, found Kaylee, and now you found us."
"We still need to find Ronny though," Will sighed.
"I FOUND IT!" Norg cheered, bringing the attention onto himself, "Flurious will be so happy with me!"
Kaylee turned to where Flurious was pointing and frowned.
"You found some boulders..." Kaylee growled, before turning to Flurious, "Where the fuck is Ronny!"
"This is where the Tracks end!" Norg said, showing Kaylee where the tracks stopped, and the boulders started.
"You're useless!" Kaylee yelled, clutching her head as she dropped to the ground against the boulders, "You said you could find the Fearcats! I thought you would lead me to Ronny! Now she could be dead!"
Norg lowered his head in shame, before an army of lizards jumped out from a portal on the boulders and attacked.
The Overdrive Rangers held the lizards off while Kira and Kelly pulled Kaylee to her feet.
"C'mon, they'll distract them," Kira said, "Ronny's gotta be inside."
Kaylee didn't need any more convincing as she ran for the portal and jumped inside. Kira and Kelly were right behind her.
Inside the boulders was a secret base. When the girls recovered from their drop to the ground, they looked around.
"One way," Kira nodded, pointing to the door leading to the other room. "No need for Norg."
"Think you can super ninja your way inside without being detected?" Kelly turned to Kaylee with a smile.
Kaylee nodded, but as she stepped forward, a lava lizard spotted the three girls and called for back-up.
"Kaylee, GO!" Kira yelled as she held off the lizards. She knew Kaylee was determined to save Ronny, after the yellow Ranger had risked her life to save her, and knew that it was best if Kaylee went alone.
"We can handle these guys!" Kelly assured her, just narrowly dodging a kick in the face. "Sorta!"
Kaylee nodded, thanking her friends as she ran down the halls, jumping over a few lizards and leaving the yellow and pink Ranger to deal with them.
Kaylee skipped to a stop when she found herself face to face with a door. She tried pushing it open, but it was locked. It was also too heavy for her to break down on her own.
Kaylee thought about zwopping into the other room for a second, but realised she had two problems. One, she had promised her friends she would risk hurting herself further with it.
Two, she had no idea what the other side looked like, and if she couldn't picture it, she couldn't zwop.
"How to get inside, how to get inside?" Kaylee muttered to herself as she tried to think of different ways to break down the door.
"Remember Kaylee, you may be small, but that doesn't mean you're not powerful. Strength has nothing to do with size, but with passion and determination... though size does help."
Leanne's training finally paid off for more than just beehives in her pants and fortune cookie talk! Leanne had told Kaylee those words before she left the Academy to go to Reefside. Kaylee never quite understood it until now.
Kaylee took a deep breath as she glared at the door. It wasn't that tough.
With a scream, she ran into it, breaking the lock and opening the heavy doors with one body check. She dropped to the ground, holding her shoulder in pain, before she heard a beep.
She looked up and saw a monitor, covered in red squares, and only one green one left. That's when she saw Ronny in the middle of the room, barely breathing and on her knees as he hands were attached to a machine that was glowing yellow.
"Dammit!" Kaylee yelled, getting to her feet and running to the yellow Ranger.
"K-Kaylee... look out..." Ronny managed to say, before Kaylee was knocked to the side by the Sentinel Knight. She groaned when she realised there was another roadblock.
"I don't wanna deal with lego-gone-rogue!" Kaylee yelled, throwing a punch at the Knight, staggering him and giving herself time to make it to the control panel. She found the button to reverse the effect the machine was having on the Knight and pushed it. Instantly, the knight dropped to the ground and returned to sword mode.
Beep... beep... beep
Kaylee looked up and saw the final green square was slowly turning red. She turned to Ronny after ripping open the control panel.
"If you don't make it, I'm going to kill you for sacrificing yourself," Kaylee told the yellow Ranger.
Looking down inside the control panel, she saw six different coloured wires. She held each of them in her hand as she examined them.
"Red, blue, yellow, black, green and pink..."
Beep... beep... beep
Kaylee didn't have enough time to analyse what each wire did, so she had to go on instinct.
"Most of my friends are yellow!" she said, closing her eyes as she cut the wire.
When she opened them, she saw the machine had shut down, and a row of red squares had turned back to green.
She turned around and saw Ronny was lying on the floor.
"Ronny!" she yelled, running over to her friend. She pulled the yellow Ranger up and into a hug as Ronny remained motionless.
"Ronny, answer me you idiot!" Kaylee yelled.
"What... took yo-you so l-long?" Ronny smirked, opening her eyes and looking up at Kaylee.
Kaylee let her tears fall as she looked down at her sister, "You bitch, I thought you died! You had me worried sick!"
Ronny tried to stand, but found she was too weak. Cutting the wire may have given her a small amount of her energy back, but it still wasn't enough for the race car driver to move.
"Don't," Kaylee warned her, pushing her down.
"Can you zwop us out of here?" Ronny asked.
"I can try," Kaylee nodded. She held Ronny tight as she closed her eyes.
"It's Zwopping time!"
Kaylee held her head in pain as the headache came back.
"I told you not to try!" Kira frowned, running into the room with Kelly and the rest of the team.
Mack walked over to the girls and picked Ronny up, carrying her out the door to the surface, while Kira wrapped her arm around Kaylee.
"Good job, kid," she smiled.
"Hey, I may not be a retro, but I get the job done."
"You just need a little help once in a while," Kelly laughed, poking the blonde.
"I'll agree with that."
"C'mon guys, with Kaylee and Ronny safe, we better go after that jewel," Rose called, finally smiling now that her two best friends were safe and sound.
"Mack, you stink," Ronny said weakly as she rested her head on Mack's chest, slowly falling asleep.
"Hey, I've been running around Egypt, and this forest for you," Mack laughed. "Forgive me if I'm sweating under this leather uniform."
"You smell worse than my brothers, and they reek!"
"Shut up, Speedster," Mack smiled as Ronny fell asleep.
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
After leaving Ronny back at the Mansion to rest, the Overdrive team, Kira, Kelly and Karly were walking through the deserts of Egypt in search of the jewel to the Corona Aurora. Kelly and Kira decided to tag along, seeing as they were already with the Rangers, and Karly was coming just for the hell of bringing her with the others.
"You know, I'm getting some faint signals, we must be close to something," Mack said, holding his Tracker in his hand as the others trailed behind him, dying under the hot sun.
"This desert is hundreds of miles across," Rose stated, shielding her eyes from the sun as she tried to look around, "We need some sort of sign!"
"AH!" Kaylee yelled, pointing to a skull in the sand. Everyone, even Karly, turned to Rose and gave her a sad look.
"Not the sign I was hoping for," she sighed.
"Okay, Karly, you're really getting hot, walk you fluffy kitty!" Kaylee breathed, taking her cat off her head and putting her down on the hot sand. Karly jumped as she tried walking to Rose, and leapt up onto the Pink Ranger's shoulder, before sitting there.
Meow!
"Not what I meant," Kaylee frowned.
"I don't know how much farther I can go," Kira whined, drinking the last little bit of water from her water bottle.
"The readings are increasing," Mack assured her as Tyzonn wrapped his arm around her to help her walk. "Let's just keep moving."
"Easier said than done," Kelly groaned.
Dax suddenly grew very excited as he bounced up and down and pointed into the distance, "LOOK!" he cried, "Water! We're saved!"
Kaylee looked to where he was pointing, and frowned. She may have lost her powers, but she was still able to sense when water was nearby, and right now, none of her ninja senses were tingling.
"Um... Dax!"
"It's just a mirage!" Rose yelled, but that didn't stop the blue Ranger from taking off towards the "body of water" and jumping in.
"Cannon ball!" he yelled, before disappearing under the sand.
"DAX!" the Rangers cried, running after the blue Ranger. His head suddenly popped out from the sand as he spit.
"I think I found something!" he smiled.
"Sinkholes..." Kira teased her friend, poking at her sides. Kaylee shook her head and backed away.
"I am not going in there!" she announced, turning to walk back.
"Kaylee, it might be a lot cooler under there than it is up here," Rose told her.
"But... sinkholes! Do you now know the story?" Kaylee frowned.
The Rangers, minus Kira, shook their heads, "Right, I never told you..." Kaylee laughed nervously.
"Kayl, we know of you claustrophobia," Will smiled, "but we might need you down there."
Meow!
"Hey, even when scared, I'm still better than a rock!" Kaylee frowned, picking up her cat.
MEOW!
"Am so!"
Meow!
"Fine, I'm going in," Kaylee sighed, "but if I get scared and need to hold something, I'm squeezing you!"
"C'mon short stuff," Kira laughed, taking her friend's hand as they stepped into the sand pit, "I won't let the walls close in on you."
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
"It's dark in here!" Kelly teased, pulling a flashlight off her belt before shining it down the hallway.
"Shut up, Kel," Kaylee frowned.
"C'mon guys," Mack laughed, walking up front with Kelly. Rose was right behind him, followed by Will, Tyzonn and Dax. In the back were Kira, Kaylee and Karly.
"This reminds me of a movie I worked on about dangerous, scary, mummies," Dax said in a deep voice as he turned to all his friends.
Rose shook her head, pulling out the beetle from her pocket, "I wonder what the significance of the beetle is?"
As she walked, she accidentally stepped on a piece of ground that sank under her feet. It didn't go far though, and seemed to trigger some kind of trap.
"Uh-oh," she said, stopping in her tracks. The Rangers behind her stayed where they were, while Kelly and Mack turned to look at her.
"What's that sound?" Kaylee asked as a buzzing noise echoed all through the chambers and halls.
"I think I tripped something..." Rose breathed, slowly turning around and looking over her friends' shoulders.
Karly, sensing danger, jumped out of Kaylee's arms and ran down the hallway, hoping to find shelter.
"Follow batman!" Dax yelled, pushing his friends farther into the tunnels just as a swarm of beetles crawled up on the ceiling, floor and walls of the tunnel. They were covering every inch of the path behind the Rangers, and Dax didn't wanna know if they were friendly beetles or not.
MEOW! Karly's meow came from a small room, where there were no insects. The Rangers ran in after her and quickly blocked off the door using a large stone.
"Phew," Kelly sighed, dropping to the ground and wiping away the sweat.
"I liked the tunnels better," Kaylee muttered, hugging herself as she looked around the dark room. It may have been wider that the tunnels, but now it was an enclosed space.
"I didn't," Kira smirked, walking up to a table and picking up a tablet, "look!"
Rose walked over to her and pulled out her tracker, scanning the tablet, "It's something," she smiled.
"C'mon, let's head back before something else tried to attack us," Kaylee said, turning to where she came in. She saw the rock was still blocking the door, and didn't feel like finding out if the beetles were still on the other side. "Um, how do we get back?"
"Zwop?" Mack suggested, but Kira shook her head.
"Kaylee lost her powers," she frowned. "Unless you've got a bottle of painkillers, we're not trying that."
"There's a little hole up there," Kelly pointed to a small hole, where the sunlight was flooding in. "I'm sure Kaylee, Kira and Rose can fit in there."
"What about the rest of us?" Will asked.
"Have fun with the beetles!" Kaylee giggled, already halfway through the hole.
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
"So, while Ronny and I were captured, Hartford sent you guys to Egypt?" Kaylee asked as she and the other entered the Mansion with the tablet. "The only people in the world who could save us... and he sends you to Egypt?"
"What are we, then?" Kira laughed.
"Backup... understudy?"
"Ha-ha."
"Look who's finally home," a voice laughed from the game room, catching Kaylee's attention. She turned to the source and giggled when she saw Dustin standing in the middle of the decorated room.
"DUSTIN!" she smiled, running into his arms. She suddenly realised why he was at the Mansion and, still holding his hand, she turned to Ronny, who was completely rested and placing a pumpkin on a table. "He's my one special friend!"
"Though you might like it," Ronny grinned.
"Like it?" Kaylee smirked. "I love it! Do you know how long it's been?"
"Six months," Dustin laughed, kissing her. "It's been six long months since I last saw you."
"No... it's been too damn long!" Kaylee yelled happily, bouncing around.
"Dustin, put Kaylee on the phone before you lose something of importance!"
"Shit," Dustin frowned, grabbing the phone from its holder and handing it to Kaylee. "Tori wants to talk to you."
"She's dressed up as a phone!" Kaylee giggled. "That is the best costume yet!"
"Kaylee... I'm not a... good to know you're okay," Tori sighed.
"Oh! Speaking of okay, I have to get changed! Halloween party time! C'mon guys, costumes, NOW!"
"Kaylee, we just got..."
"That's an order from you leader!"
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
A few hours later, the party was going strong. Many guests filled the game room as they danced or stood around to talk. Each Ranger had special guests as well, just like Ronny promised.
"Hey," Ronny smiled, walking up to Will as she held Doc's hand. She was dressed as a vampire, while Doc was a Zombie. Will on the other hand was wearing a skeleton costume, and didn't seem all that proud of it, "I see you've embraced the spirit of Halloween!"
"Not quite," Will frowned, tugging on his bones, "but I figured it was the least I could do after the day you and Kaylee had."
"Will, what's the real reason?" David laughed.
"I could hear the music from my room."
"Thought so," Ronny giggled, "but, seeing as you're not one for this whole Halloween thing, I brought you someone special."
Ronny reached into the crowd of people and grabbed onto an arm, pulling out a woman around her age.
"Will, meet Andrea," she smiled.
David leaned in, whispering to Will, "Single and looking for a charming skeleton."
Will smirked, holding out his arm for the woman to take, "Well, hello there," he said, leading her away as they began a conversation that would last the night.
"Hey guys!" Dax laughed, bouncing over with Rose. He was dressed as a wannabe Rockstar. He was aiming for Rockstar, but his attitude didn't qualify, so the others decided to add wannabe. Rose was dressed as a cat. "Look at Mack! He's doing the robot!"
David and Ronny turned to Mack, dressed up as a robot, as he danced the robot.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Kaylee was putting the finishing touches on her costume as she spoke on the phone with her sister.
"You can't use any of your powers?" Tori asked.
"Not a single one..." Kaylee nodded, "and Ronny lost her powers too. I think the Fearcats did something to both of us when we were prisoner."
"Other than that, are you okay?"
"Yep," Kaylee smiled, "good enough for a party. I'm going as Robin, because Karly's batman. What are you actually dressed as?"
Tori looked down at her clothes. She wasn't celebrating Halloween this year so she didn't have a costume, but she didn't was to disappoint her sister. She saw one of Kaylee's socks were stuck to her shirt, thanks to static from the dryer. As she ripped it off, she laughed.
"Static cling."
"Huh?" Kaylee frowned.
"Nothing, just... go enjoy your night with Dustin," Tori chuckled. "Just, be careful."
"Tori, do you really think Dustin and I are going to do something stupid?"
"Remember, use protection! You're not ready for kids!"
"You're disguising, you know that?" Kaylee laughed, hanging up the phone.
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
Kaylee made her way downstairs, with Batman on her shoulder. She looked through the crowd of people for her fiancé.
She stopped when she spotted a Blue Wind Ranger in the crowd.
"Tori?" she asked, walking up to the Ranger. The suit hadn't been put on via morpher, it had just been thrown on like regular clothes.
"Guess again," a deeper voice asked, and Kaylee backed away, pointing as she tried desperately to say something.
"Dustamatin... Dusti-Dustin... Dus... DUSTIN?" Kaylee finally managed to yell.
"Yep," Dustin laughed, removing the helmet. "Borrowed it from Tori. It's a little tight, but your reaction is priceless."
Kaylee took a deep breath before running in the other direction, "KELLY!"
Kelly, who was dressed up as a devil for Halloween, turned when she heard her name, and was suddenly attacked by a traumatized blonde.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Kelly laughed, hugging her friend.
"Um... she has," Kira, who was in a witch costume, and called herself the bitchy witch, laughed.
"Dustin... Tori... spandex... SKIRT!" Kaylee yelled, pushing into Kelly as she turned and pointed to Dustin. Kelly held back a laugh, before realising Kaylee's dilemma. Not only was her fiancé dressed in woman's spandex, but he was dressed as her sister. Even a friendly hug would be awkward.
"Dustin, you had to dress up as Tori, didn't you?" Kelly laughed.
"It's priceless," Dustin smirked.
"It's scary! It's even scarier than Tyzonn and his superhero, underwear over pants costume!" Kaylee yelled.
"Okay, I'll get changed," Dustin laughed, poking at Kaylee's ribs.
As Kaylee watched him walk away, she shuddered in fear and disgust, "Eww..."
-----Operation-Overdrive-----
After Dustin had gotten changed, it took a few minutes before Kaylee could look at him. Once her fear had settled and she had moved on, she found herself dancing all night with him. After six months with barely any communication, both parties were happy to see each other.
Now, they were nowhere to be found.
The party was long over as the Rangers were picking up food and more from the floor.
"Um... shouldn't Kaylee be here to help us clean up?" Tyzonn frowned. "Isn't it an earth custom to have a cleanup crew? And I thought everyone who lived in the house was responsible for cleaning up."
"It's not an earthly custom," Rose laughed, "but she should be here to help."
"I saw her head upstairs with Dustin during the party," Ronny said. "They've been up there for a while, and last I checked, the door was locked."
There was a long, awkward silence, before Ronny turned to Rose, "Um... mind if I bunk with you tonight?"
"Why?" Rose asked.
"Um... Well, the reason I invited Dustin, and not Tori, was because he and Kaylee are engaged, and it's been six full months since they've been in the same city... what do you think they're doing right now?"
"I'll get you a blanket..." Rose laughed nervously.