A/N: Hahahaha, don't kill me *anime sweatdrops* It's been 10 months. almost a year, since my last update. How time flies. I've still got exams guys (mocks next week). AS levels are definitely a million more times stressful than GCSEs. So I can't promise regular updates. They'll be random.
Xoxogirly: I think this is the first time that you've reviewed in ages *squeals* After all, I go through all this trouble for you ;)
JFVM: All I'm gonna say is good guess...
hewhoreaps: Lol jealousy and rivalry. More of that to come. Yep, Hayley will continue to be silent... Kim's being a spectator right now, but her time to shine will come.
Boris Yeltsin: Thanks. Please continue reading XD
Jeremy Shane: Legendary Thanks & More Please ;)
brankel1: And you shall continue to :P
20080634: Hmm maybe. Or it'll go the canon way. But he'll definitely be the white ranger.
Emolichic1: kk :)
Tempest S: Wait and see...
This chapter has very little Kim in it but the next one will focus on her, a lot more. This chapter is just setting the issues up.
"We're almost there! Can't you two hold it together long enough without fighting?!" Michael yelled as he drove his jeep, taking a risk by turning around to look at the boys. Ethan and Conner were currently arguing about whether invincibility or super speed was cooler.
"Being invincible means no one can harm you!" Ethan stated proudly.
"Well super speed means no one will even get the chance to hit you in the first place; they wouldn't be fast enough!" Conner countered haughtily.
"If Kira was here, she would scream at you both right now. And I think we all know you two would be helpless in such a situation," Mike stated as a matter of fact.
Usually, Kim would've turned around to shut the boys up. But strangely enough, she was silent. With only one thing, or rather person, on her mind. Thomas Oliver.
"Speaking of Kira... she really should've come with us," the blue ranger mused.
"Not really. It's that special time of the month..." the red ranger replied, wincing. Ethan nodded in agreement, flinching as he remembered Kira's intense mood swings during the whole Nikki Valentina drama. And that was exactly a month ago.
Mike wondered why they even knew when their teammate's 'special time of the month' was and immediately turned to Kim to see her reaction. He got nothing. Nothing. No comments, remarks, not even a simple smile or smirk. He could guess what, or rather who, was on her mind but couldn't really say anything about the situation without worsening it. Now he wished Hayley or Kira had come along. After all, it would probably be easier for Kim to talk to a fellow female about it.
Oh yes, of course, he knew about Kim's brief relationship with Tommy. She had mentioned it once or twice. The room always did tense up whenever Tommy's name came up; it was a fleeting first love which had ended without proper closure, making it awkward to talk about. So soon enough, the two had silently agreed it was a forbidden territory. This inevitably meant that Kim was doomed to suffer alone when Tommy plagued her thoughts. Especially now since she was getting closer and closer to Tommy by the minute. After all, the Dino rangers were off to the 10th Power Rangers reunion at Angel Grove.
"What was the last contact you had with her, Zeltrax?" Mesogog demanded as he examined his various freak experiments.
"Elsa was nearing the carbon infusion, my Lord," Zeltrax answered instantly, like the loyal dog he was. "She should be there any moment."
"We have kept our prize well hidden from Doctor McKnight for nearly a year. The waiting is over," Mesogog bragged proudly. "The opportunity to equalize our forces, to go toe to toe with the mighty Dino rangers, is at hand. Nothing must interfere..." he continued, bending over so his eyes were level with a spider on one of the many test tubes.
"And we will do everything in our power to ensure that it does not," Zeltrax reassured his master, who at that moment, devoured the spider.
"Of course, you will..." the Lord freak responded in a condescending tone.
"Kira! Come down and eat something!" Mrs Ford yelled from the bottom of the staircase, leading to Kira's bedroom.
"Oh God! Mom! I'm dying... Just leave me alone!" Kira was in pain. Not only because she was physically sick but also because she was uncontrollably acting like Cassidy Cornell. Mrs Ford had had enough and burst into Kira's room, where she found her daughter writhing on the floor in pain.
"My goodness, couldn't you just have asked for some acetaminophen!?" Kira couldn't even muster enough energy to look sheepish. "I'll get you some. Please get off the floor, you've got a visitor." She didn't give her daughter a chance to ask who before she was already halfway down the stairs.
A few minutes later, Kira was still rolling around on the bedroom floor when a familiar voice said, "knock knock."
"Hmm..." she turned her head in the direction and suddenly the pain intensified due to... embarrassment. "Trent!" she yelped, blushing madly as said guy helped her sit up and sat next to her on the floor. They both leaned against the foot of her bed just as Kira managed to pull herself together a bit.
"I would ask how you're feeling but..." Trent trailed off, merely smiling at the purple ranger.
"How can you smile when I'm in so much agony?" Kira moaned, sounding more and more out of character. Her gaze fell to his hands which were closed around something. "Oh, you got me something?"
"Yeah, your mom asked me to give you this," he replied as he pushed a Tylenol tablet into her hand. Kira pouted in disappointment and proceeded to chew the tablet.
'Romantic,' she thought bitterly. 'And I can't believe mom just sent him up here when she knows what state I'm in!'
"I wasn't expecting you but it's good that you came and visited me. Ethan, Conner and the rest of them are out of town," Kira stated, waiting for the tablet to kick in.
"I see. Well, I got you this," Trent told her, giving her a glass of water. She took it but glared at him, barely mustering enough energy up to smack him on his arm. As she drank the water, her eyes met with a cute sketch of herself, dangling in front of her face. Upon closer inspection, Kira spotted the words 'get well soon' and realised it was a card.
Lost for words, she put her empty glass of water down and took – almost snatched - the card from Trent.
"I hope you get better. I don't like seeing you hurt; you looked ill at school yesterday," the young artist said.
"Yeah, my mom won't let me miss even a single minute of class let alone a whole day," Kira scowled. "But the card made my day. It's so sweet." There was a silent moment where they just stared at each other before she started talking again. "You'll make a great artist someday."
"Thanks. It's great that someone appreciates my artistic endeavours," Trent stated wistfully, giving a little sigh.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kira asked, her tone confused. Surely she wasn't the sole admirer of his work. Or him - she saw the way some girls gazed at him (even Cassidy).
"My father doesn't exactly support my interests..."
"How do you know?"
"I can quote him: 'Trent, I am in no way supportive of your artistic endeavours.' And something like, 'Trent, drawing cartoons won't get you anywhere.' The list goes on," Trent explained, rolling his eyes.
"He'll come around."
"I hope so. Then I won't have to sneak over to Hayley's cyberspace to be able to draw..."
"So, anything else?" Kira asked eagerly.
"Yeah... I like your pyjamas!"
Elsa approached a secluded spot in the woods. She scanned the area using her special glasses (?) until she located the carbon infused power source.
"Exactly where we left you," she thought aloud, taking the glasses off. "The energy should almost be ready now.
Elsa placed her special laptop (?) on a rock and chuckled, programming a beam to shoot out from the laptop, revealing three statues resembling dinosaurs/biozords. She proceeded to cover her ears with protective gear before making her laptop emit an intense energy wave, resulting in an explosion.
Afterwards, she ran to the remains of the explosion and was pleased with what she saw...
Hayley was in the woods using a measuring device to get an energy reading when Kira arrived.
"Came as soon as I could Hayley!" she exclaimed. Thanks to the Tylenol and Trent she was feeling better than before. It took a special guy to help her through her 'special time.' "What did you find?"
"Some sort of energy. The readings are so intense, this meter can't even register them!" the red-head replied in frustration. Something like this had to happen today of all days!
"What... kind of energy?" Kira inquired hesitantly almost afraid to know the answer.
"Same kind that's in your morpher..." Hayley trailed off, letting the teen put two and two together.
"There's a dino gem here? Where is it?" the purple ranger queried. This was not good.
"It's not here anymore," Hayley answered.
"Why didn't you or Doctor M notice it before? I mean you've got plenty of equipment!" The MIT grad sighed.
"From what I can gather, the energy source was hidden using a cloaking device." The implications of the situation finally hit Kira with full force.
"You mean the dino gem is in the hands of our enemy?!" the teenager screeched.
"Most likely," Hayley admitted, completely defeated. And with most of the Dino team missing, it was going to get worse before – if – it got better.
"Where were you?" Anton Mercer asked from his seat, back turned to his son who was hovering at the doorframe of his office.
"Out... With a friend," Trent answered carefully, stepping inside the office.
"I trust you had time to think about our earlier conversation," Anton stated rather than questioned, flipping through a business book.
"Is that what it was?" Trent asked sceptically, leaning on his father's desk, several metres away from said man.
"I assume you are referring to the fact that you aren't... um... happy with the outcome?" the world-renowned scientist inquired coolly.
"I'm just not crazy about you telling me not to draw anymore," Trent fired back. Anton nodded and closed his book.
"Trent, when your parents disappeared... You and I agreed that I would act as your father..." he paused to take a deep breath and forced the next words out. "And fathers are sometimes forced to make decisions for their children that their children don't care for." He felt faint and didn't hear what his son said next.
"Dad, I get that," Trent reassured his adoptive father in a mature and cool manner. Soon enough, he noticed his dad's unusual demeanour. "Dad... are you alright?"
"Yes," Anton said, managing to pull himself together. "I'm fine." He swivelled his chair in the opposite direction, away from his unconvinced son. "As I was saying, I can only raise you the way I know how. The way I see fit." He loosened his tie. "Now all I expect from you son is you abide by my rules. Okay?"
Trent looked taken aback before responding with, "That's fine."
"Now go. I have work to finish," Anton concluded.
"Yeah, me too," Trent replied, leaving the room with a feeling of suspicion.
As Anton immediately got up, an invisiportal appeared in front of him. He slowly approached it and tentatively touched it, disappearing instantly. What he didn't notice was that his son had just witnessed everything.
"Do you mind?!" Elsa snapped at Zeltrax, who was lingering around her as she was drilling her dino egg.
"My apologies. I was merely admiring your work." Elsa let out a huff.
"Well admire it from over there!" she scoffed, pointing to the other side of the lab. "It's hard for me to concentrate with cyborg breath all over me!"
"The news had better be good, you two," Mesogog crooned from the opposite direction.
Elsa took her mask off and neared her Lord after pausing her work. "Sir... Although storing the artefact in the carbon energy formation has helped, it hasn't completely released itself."
Mesogog growled ungratefully. "What are you telling me Elsa?" he demanded, walking past her and towards Zeltrax.
Elsa wasted no time in answering. "I need more time."
"Time... Time is a luxury we cannot afford."
"Yes well, I understand that Sir," the lone female spoke, walking towards her Lord again and coming to a stop on the other side of Zeltrax. "Although I do feel as though the end result will fully justify our patience."
"Perhaps you're right. What is your solution, Elsa?"
"I have managed to simulate the final stages of the energy transmutation sequence. It's only a matter of hours before its energy will join with your own," she explained, feeling pleased with herself.
"Mere hours ey? Well, you have twelve..." Mesogog warned, strolling off back to his throne.
Elsa smirked and put her protective mask on before pushing Zeltrax out of the way. "You're in the way!" she yelled as she picked her drill up and got back to work.
"What are you up to, Dad?" Trent pondered as he walked into his dad's office again. He thought his father would've been back by now. Was his dad in trouble?
A sense of dread washed over him as he remembered the strange occurrence he witnessed before. First he went through a strange portal which happened to be a gateway to Hayley's cyberspace and then his father himself went through a similar one. What did it all mean? Was it merely a device his father had invented for instantaneous travelling? Or was it more? "What's going on around here?"
The teenager casually strolled around the room, examining everything his father owned. Maybe there were some clues... Remembering the portal his father went through, Trent walked towards the spot his father had been a few hours back. Strangely enough, a green portal appeared before him. It was very inviting, despite the ominous feeling it gave off. And before he knew it, Trent Fernandez-Mercer was transported to a remote island.
"Do you think we should call Doctor M?" Kira asked frantically. "He was really excited to meet the other rangers but..."
"Well, if you call him, he'll come running regardless of what he'd be missing. Let's see if us girls can sort this out ourselves," Hayley suggested. "He'll be back in a few hours anyway."
"I guess so," Kira agreed. "But Mesogog hasn't sent a freak after us since the whole Ocean Alert incident. Do you think he's up to something? Mesogog has never been quiet for this long..."
"I know. Nothing good has ever come out of that. I hope he stays put for a while; we don't exactly have much defence right now."
"Well looks like every cloud has a silver lining," Kira murmured to herself. It was kind of unnerving and boring because Mesogog, Elsa and Zeltrax weren't attacking them but it gave her more free time (Trent time).
"Did you say something?" Hayley asked.
"Nope."
"By the way, who do you think has the gem?"
"No idea."
Elsa was totally losing it. Only a few minutes ago, she had the perfect weapon to please her master. His very own Dino gem. He was supposed to become a ranger and fight fire with fire. And now... the slate which she had left the Dino gem on was empty. She immediately pushed the blame on the next person, or rather, cyborg.
"You did this?!" she shrieked, tapping her fingers impatiently on the lab surface. If Zeltrax had eyes, he probably would've rolled them at her accusation.
"Why would I do it? What would I have to gain?" he retorted.
"Oh, I don't know! I suppose I'm just grasping at straws!" Elsa yelled in frustration.
This aggravated her even more; she had been hoping Zeltrax was the culprit. If that was the case, she would've been able to get it back by beating him up. She was always up for a fight. But now it seemed like it was in the hands of the enemy unless Mesogog decided to use it already which was unlikely. But who else had access to the lab besides her, Zeltrax and Mesogog? The tyrannodrones wouldn't try anything and they didn't have any other monsters at the moment.
"Whatever the case, we need to find it!" she screeched. "Wait! Maybe it was the rangers? Michael, Yellow and Purple have been here before!"
"The rangers aren't here. Doctor McKnight took his team out of Reefside," Zeltrax informed her in a belittling tone. As far as he was concerned, the mission to find the gem was impossible. If one of them didn't have the gem and nor did the rangers then somebody they didn't know did. "How will we find an unknown foe?"
Elsa thought for a bit before finding a solution. "A creature..." she began, "we need a creature!" She started walking towards the monster-making machine.
"What kind of creature?" Zeltrax queried, following her.
"It doesn't matter!" she snapped. "We just need something fun! Fun... but frightening!"
"Would you mind telling me why?" her teammate questioned. Fun but frightening was an oxymoron. No such thing existed.
That only irked Elsa further. "The gem is pure evil!" she hollered, hitting Zeltrax on his head and then circling him as she continued her explanation. "Whoever is in possession of it will be wanting a battle! A conflict of any kind; they won't be able to help themselves. We're going to give them what they want! You mentioned the rangers weren't here. Now usually, I'd utilise this opportunity to destroy the city. But Mesogog will want to do that himself. Without the rangers' interference, the monster will only have one enemy: the white ranger." Zeltrax finally grunted in approval. "Hopefully, this will allow us to find it... before Mesogog finds us!"
"Good plan," Zeltrax commented. She elbowed him in contempt.
Hayley's computer beeped.
"Oh no!" she cried, her eyes glued to the computer screen. She only had one ranger here with her. What was she meant to do?
"What is it?" Kira asked, running towards her and locating the funny looking monster on the screen. She was torn between amusement and dread. "Any particular reason for that guy?"
"I don't know," Hayley replied. "But don't you think it looks as if he's searching for something?"
"Well, I'll give him something then," Kira said firmly. "Dino Thunder, power up ha!"
She was going to take the monster on, all on her lonesome.
A/N: What a lame cliff-hanger. Anyway, this is bound to be riddled with grammatical errors and whatnot. This is the second update I've done altogether, after a long hiatus. Almost a year.