"Alright, dude... and dudette. In order to defeat me, you'll have to be in complete harmony with your animal spirits," RJ smiled as he stood in the middle of the training mat, blindfolded. Casey and Lily were circling around him while Kaylee and Tori watched from the steps. "And get very lucky."
"Come Lil, he's all ours!" Casey smirked.
"Are you sure about this RJ?" Lily laughed. "I don't wanna dent your metaphysical Zen."
"I'm using the swoop technique," RJ explained, adjudging the blindfold. "Eyesight is a bonus, not a necessity. Now, hit me with your best shot!"
"Fire away!" Kaylee sang.
Casey and Lily both charged without another word. However, R.J. effortlessly blocked both of their punches, grabbed their arms and spun them away. Casey then tried a punch and Lily a kick, both of which R.J. blocked one-handed. Casey, in pain, waved his smarting arm. Lily took R.J. on one-on-one, but he easily leaped high into the air, out of the way of her attacks, then dodged and fended her off one-handed again
Casey yelled and charged, but R.J. stepped aside and Casey tripped, rolling into a large speaker in the corner. He looked up fearfully as the speaker began to fall on him, and R.J. ran forward, stopping it and pushing it back into place. Casey and Lily then decided to gang up on RJ, but were stopped and restrained. Lily began to yell with pain, but Casey covered her mouth then held a finger to his lips; Lily nodded. However, their try at a silent attack was no good. R.J. punched Casey clear across the room, and he landed painfully in R.J.'s chair. Lily winced before RJ grabbed her and flipped her onto her back.
"You were distracted, and defeated," RJ laughed, removing the blindfold. "Remember guys, the enemy is merciless and just as graceful as-"
RJ tripped over the edge of the mat, but caught himself before he face planted.
"You?" Tori laughed.
"C'mon guys, Theo, Fran and Kira can use our help downstairs," Kaylee called, taking off her sweater revealing her green JKP shirt.
RJ sat down in his chair as the others left. He was about to turn the TV on when Casey knelt down beside him.
"RJ, you've gotta teach me something," the tiger frowned.
"I just did. Now, I'm on break!" RJ smiled, with the remote in his hand as he reached for a bowl of popcorn.
"No," Casey sighed. "I mean, you gotta teach me more. It's obvious that Theo, Lily and Kaylee are way ahead of me!"
"Well, in your defense, Kaylee is technically a retro... and a Ninja..." RJ smiled, "but if we do this, you have to do whatever I say. That's the only way it works."
"You've got it!" Casey smiled, standing back up, "I'm good!"
RJ smiled as well, leaning back into his chair. He might as well take advantage of this situation. He hadn't slept well the night before and now his shoulders were killing him, "Rub my shoulders."
"Wha... right now?" Casey frowned. RJ nodded, getting comfortable in his chair while Casey moved behind him and started rubbing his master's shoulders. Kira walked into the loft to grab and extra apron after learning she was working in the kitchen, and frowned at the sight. Casey opened his mouth to explained but Kira shushed him.
"It's okay," she laughed. "Secret's safe with me."
Casey groaned as the former yellow Ranger walked out, giggling like a school girl. As she opened the door to the kitchen, Casey heard her yell: "You won't believe what Casey and RJ are doing!"
-----Jungle-Fury-----
RJ, Casey, Lily, Theo, Kaylee and the two former Rangers stood in front of the TV set. On the monitors, Camille and a group of Rinshi were walking out of a building, holding a precious artifact they had stolen. As the guards tried to stop the chameleon, Camille whipped her tongue out.
"Ah yes, the old museum heist. Typical," RJ smiled as he watched Camille. The four Rangers ran off to the fight, "Be careful Rangers! She's a feisty one!"
Kira and Tori were on their way into the parlor to help Fran while she was short-staffed when they heard RJ call Camille feisty. Kira turned to the Master and frowned.
"First Casey, now Camille," she giggled, "pick a team, RJ!"
-----Jungle-Fury-----
"Not so fast lizard lady!" Theo yelled as the Rangers arrived on the scene, stopping Camille from leaving with the bag.
"Oh, Power Rangers... How sweet," Camille smiled sarcastically. She snapped her fingers at the RinShi and yelled, "Attack!"
The Rinshi behind her hop forward. While they distract the Rangers, Casey noticed Camille was trying to sneak away.
"I got her!" he called. Kaylee kicked a Rinshi down and turned to Casey.
"Wait!"
Casey ran after the chameleon until they reached a secluded place. Casey punched Camille back, but she quickly recovered as she pushed herself off the wall of a building and slammed into Casey.
"HEY! Pick on someone kinda closer to your own age!" Kaylee yelled; pulling out her Sais and slashing it across Camille's chest before the villainess could land on the ground. When she did, she put her hand to her injuries and saw the blood. Camille grabbed her Sais and tried to use the handles to knock Kaylee's weapons out of her hand.
"So, are the like the babysitter of the red Ranger?" Camille mocked as she tried to pull away from Kaylee who grabbed onto her arm and flipped her over. "You probably already know red is supposed to be the tough one!"
"Leave him alone!" Kaylee yelled. Camille stood up and ran from the fight. Kaylee turned to the red Ranger and frowned, "Don't listen to her."
Casey didn't even look at Kaylee as he punched the concrete and stood up. He walked away muttering something about more training.
Kaylee turned to the direction where Camille had left and frowned. Dustin hadn't showed up this time. She was wondering what was happening in their base. She was especially wondering what was happening between him and Camille behind her back. She had seen the way Camille looked at him... and how he looked back at her. She knew it was Dai Shi's feelings for Camille, but she couldn't help but feel a little jealousy and anger. Dustin was supposed to be hers.
-----Jungle-Fury-----
"Napkins folded!" Fran called, holding a checklist in her hand as screaming kids waited outside.
"Check!" Tori smiled, folding the last of the napkins and putting it on the table before her hand went to her stomach, rubbing it gently.
"Condiments: neatly on display!" Fran called again, handing the ketchup to Kira. The rock star put the ketchup in the middle of the row of condiments and smiled.
"Check!"
"Kira, you should make condiment art!" Tori giggled.
"Shayne Baker looks nothing like me in that movie!" Kira yelled.
"Slapshot 3... that's why she looked familiar when she first came out. You and that Emma chick look so much alike!" Fran laughed.
There was a knock on the window, interrupting the three girls as they turned to the large group of people at the door.
"I hate kids," Kira frowned as she put her finger up, telling them to wait a minute while Fran finished the checklist.
"You better get used to it," Tori smiled, putting a hand on her stomach then winking at Kira.
"Employees!" Fran called. She looked around the room, but only Kira and Tori were present. "Half check..."
"Oh boy," Tori frowned, turning to Kira.
-----Jungle-Fury-----
"I can't believe she got away!" Casey yelled angrily as the Rangers returned home, only to find RJ checking out his chair.
"Don't take it so hard, Case. She's slippery, Slimy, sss..."
"Smelly?" Lily finished for her long time friend.
"Thank you," Theo smiled.
RJ walked up to his cubs and frowned, "I think you broke my chair!" he told the Red Ranger.
"Forget the chair. I need more training!" Casey said.
RJ walked over to his toolbox and pulled out a screwdriver. He handed it to Casey and smiled, "Fix my chair."
"But-"
"Remember, whatever I say!" RJ reminded the Ranger before walking off. It felt good to be the boss.
-----Jungle-Fury-----
Casey groaned as he tightened the last screw on the chair, and then flipped it back to its upright position.
"There. It's fixed. And my forearms will never be the same again," he frowned. Looking around, he suddenly realised that his team-mates had not been around the loft for a while now. "Where's Theo, Lil and Kaylee?"
"I sent Theo and Lily to check up on Fran, while Kira and Tori talk to Kaylee about something personal," RJ explained.
"Dustin?" Casey frowned, causing RJ to nod.
-----Jungle-Fury-----
Theo and Lily walked up to the door leading to the dining room and winced when they saw the mayhem going on with only one employee taking care of a party of kids.
"Look at those little monsters," Theo frowned. "I'm not going in there!"
"But don't you think we should help Fran?" Lily asked.
One of the kids stood up and put a straw to his mouth before blowing out some sort of liquid on Fran. The liquid covered her face in a yellow goop as the kid pointed at her and laughed. Another kid stood up and threw his plate of spaghetti at the window where Theo and Lily where spying.
"I... I think she's just fine!" Theo said quickly, scared off by the spaghetti.
"Me too!" Lily agreed, running up the stairs to the loft. When they got in they saw Casey and RJ talking.
"Great. Now maybe we can get some on-on-on training?" Casey asked the mentor.
"Yeah," RJ smiled. He picked up his reaky yoga mat and handed it to Casey. "Why don't you wash my yoga mat? I think there's something growing on it."
"Wash you yoga mat!" Casey half yelled in shock. He looked down at what was supposed to be a white, maybe light yellow Mat. It was now a dark yellow colour, and the smell coming off it was unbearable.
"Whatever I say!" RJ reminded the cub. Casey grabbed a tub from the kitchen and filled it up with water before putting the mat inside. Theo and Lily walked up behind him.
"Are you sure RJ knows what he's doing?" Lily asked. Casey glared at her before getting back to work.
-----Jungle-Fury-----
"So, how are you feeling?" Tori asked her little sister as they walked through the park.
"Jealous... I know Camille's got a thing for Dustin... and he's doing nothing to stop it!" Kaylee sighed, sitting down on the park bench. Kira sat down beside her and put her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"I'm sure if Dustin wasn't possessed by and evil spirit set on destroying the world, Camille would be Marafied by now!" she reassured the blonde.
"But even with Marah... he knew and... I dunno," Kaylee frowned.
"Just trust him, Kayl, okay," Tori smiled. "And, when we go back home, don't do anything stupid."
"I promise," Kaylee smiled, extending her pinky finger. "But I will do anything to get him back, you know that right."
"Oh course we know that!" Kira laughed.
"Why do you think we took the part time job at JKP here?" Tori smirked, "We hate Camille as much as you. We want Dustin to come home to you, and we want you to stay safe."
There was a loud beep coming from Kaylee's solar morpher. She picked it up and looked at it closely before jumping up.
"I got to go!" she frowned, running into the town, morphing before she even left the park.
"You know, that looks kinda awesome," Kira smiled. Tori sat down beside her friend and laughed.
"Let's tell RJ to tell Kaylee's we've gone home," she said, standing back up with Kira.
-----Jungle-Fury-----
"Welcome Rangers!" a buffalo monster, Buffalord, smiled when he saw the four Rangers.
"That thing looks really angry!" Lily commented.
"Do you think he's got any other look?" Kaylee frowned.
"You're going down!" Casey yelled. The Rinshi hopped forward and fought the Rangers. Casey used punches to knock them out while Theo and Lily kicked at them.
"Leave the rest to me!" Kaylee smiled, jumping ahead of the group. She punched a couple foot soldiers before she vaulted off a concrete pillar. In the air, she managed to flip over and kick a Rinshi down.
"Call to the beast inside! Bring out the Leopard!"
A green snow leopard emerged from Kaylee's body and knocked down the rest of the Rinshi. Kaylee smiled as her team joined her against Buffalord.
"Rinshi are strong, but I and even more powerful!" Buffalord yelled. He scratched his foot on the ground, then lowered his head and charged. Casey ran forward to try and stop the attack, but Buffalord's strength was too much. The buffalo pushed Casey backwards through several concrete supports before stopping at a car. Then, with his horns, he threw Casey up in the air.
"Jungle Tonfa!" Theo yelled, coming to his leader's aide. He struck Buffalord's knee, bringing the monster down. Buffalord tried to use this position to charge at the blue Ranger, but Theo jumped out of the way.
"Let me get in on this!" Lily smiled. "Cheetah jabs!"
She punched Buffalord in the chest with swift and powerful jabs.
"Whoa!" Casey smiled, leaning on a pillar for support. "Lil's amazing!"
Buffalord stumbled back, "I need more time to harness the true power of the Buffalo! I will return!"
As he disappeared, Casey tried to stop him, only to have him team-mates hold him back.
"Casey, stop!" Lily called, "He's gone."
Lily and Theo lead Casey away while Kaylee stared at the fight area, looking around.
"That's twice he doesn't show..."
-----Jungle-Fury-----
Casey stormed into the loft, angry at his master. He walked up to RJ, who was sitting on his chair with a bowl of popcorn. He spun the chair, and his master, around.
"Okay, you asked me to rub your shoulders, and I did! You wanted your chair fixed, it's fixed. I even washed you mutant yoga mat with that twist and shake crap! Now, in case you haven't noticed, I have been getting my tiger ass kicked all over the city! When are you going to train me?"
"The spirit of the tiger alright, but the foresight of a lemming," Kaylee snickered as she read a note left on the kitchen counter, telling her that Tori and Kira had gone home for a little while.
"Well, now that we know the kinda beast you're up against, I've got just the plan," RJ smiled, grabbing a red towel from his back pocket, "Scrub the floor."
Casey turned and looked up at Kaylee in the kitchen, begging her to help him. Kaylee just shrugged and tossed him a DVD of Karate kid. Casey groaned, knowing he was alone, "This is ridiculous."
The Red Ranger started walking away, but RJ stopped him, "We had a deal. Whatever I say, remember!"
Casey's face matched the color of his shirt as he snatched the towel from RJ's hand and started scrubbing the floor. He ran back and forth, with his hands pushing the towel on the floor.
"Faster, faster. Come on, faster!" RJ coached.
Theo walked down the stairs with Lily and frowned at the sight, "And they call me a neat freak."
"Come on Casey!" Lily called, pointing to her morpher to let him know there was trouble.
"Ah, no; Casey needs to finish the floor first," RJ frowned, "but Kaylee can go with you."
"RJ, we're under attack!" Casey yelled. "If I don't help them, they could be destroyed!"
"Then they'll be destroyed!" RJ smiled.
"The hell!" Kaylee called. "That's evil!"
-----Jungle-Fury-----
"Good. Now, stay low. Nice job," RJ was still coaching the red Ranger, while the others were off fighting.
Tired, Casey stood up and threw the towel down. He marched over to RJ and growled, "You know what? Forget this! I asked you to train me, and you turned me into your servant! Now, my team needs me and I'm scrubbing the floor like Cinderella!"
"Well, you would actually just be Cinderel," RJ laughed, "but you asked me to train you, and I have."
"How? By fixing your chair?"
Casey suddenly found himself blocking a punch from RJ. When he caught it, he twisted RJ's arm away from his face.
"See?" RJ smiled, "You used the screwdriver motion to catch the punch."
Casey looked down at his hands. RJ tried to attack him again, but Casey blocked him and flipped him over.
"Twisting and shaking the mat," Casey grinned. RJ tried punching again, but Casey dodged it by going under his arm, then spin kicked out of the way.
"Good, now when you face off against the buffalo, stay low. You'll cut his power in half!" RJ smiled.
Casey started to run off, before turning back to RJ.
"What about the whole shoulder rub thing? How does that help me?"
"Oh, that doesn't," RJ said, rubbing his neck. "I just slept funny last night."
-----Jungle-Fury-----
"That was awesome!" Lily smiled, patting Casey on the back while walking down the street leading to JKP, "So, RJ really was training you?"
"Yeah, who knew chores could lead to violence!" Casey laughed, "I think parents have a lesson to learn in here."
"I'll remember to tell Tori and Blake," Kaylee smirked. She pushed open the door to the parlour and her jaw dropped.
"Oh, now you show up! How convenient," Fran sighed, standing in the middle of the mess.
"Yeah... we were a little busy," Theo said.
"Not so busy that you and Lily couldn't lend a hand while Tori and Kira were away," RJ frowned. The blue and yellow Rangers exchanged glances.
"Sorry Fran," they apologized.
"Well, it's alright. I needed some crash course training anyway!" Fran smiled as spaghetti strings fell off her head.
"So, for not helping Fran," RJ smiled, wrapping and arm around the bookworm. "You two get to clean this place up while the four of us go get ice cream."
"I love ice cream!" Fran squealed as she ran for the door. She stopped before she reached it and turned to her friends. "I shoulder probably go and clean myself up first, huh?"
"Nah," RJ laughed, leading two of his three friends out the door, "Kayl, you coming?"
"Uh, no, you go ahead... I've got things to think about here," Kaylee sighed.
-----Jungle-Fury-----
Kaylee walked into her room and flopped down on her head. She reached over to the end table and grabbed the picture of her and Dustin the day they got engaged. She was hugging him, with Ducky on her head while the Overdrive Rangers clapped and cheered in the background.
"Why haven't you shown up?" she whispered, hugging the picture to her chest as the tears fell down the side of her face.
A/N: There is a follow up to this chapter, that you should read. It's called five months and it's written by PICKLZDADRUMMER. It's explores Kaylee's emotions about everything that's been happening to her recently. It's a very emotional fanfic that will pull on some heartstrings, and it's pretty important to read if you want to understand just how low Kaylee's going to drop in this series. Seriously guys, you really have to check it out, and leave a review for the author. He really wants feedback of any kind: constructive, "good chapter", any help you can offer him would be great.