Back in Time
Chapter 11
The next day, the four Dino Thunder teens were in the clearing outside the cabin they were now staying in. Dr Oliver and Zordon both agreed that they needed to spend time outside and get away from the command centre before Conner hit the console with a football.
"Why did Dr O ditch us again?" Trent asked from where he sat on the grass with Kira, watching Conner and Ethan attempt to set up a football goal.
"He's trying to find a way to get us home." She said, lying on her back and closing her eyes as she enjoyed the sunshine.
"You know you can sunbathe better if you take that jacket off." Trent remarked. Kira was wearing blue jeans with a yellow tank top, which she had covered with a black, cropped jacket.
"You trying to get me to undress?" She commented, not opening her eyes.
"What? No! Ew." He said, cringing at the thought. "I just thought that you wouldn't get as hot if you took the jacket off."
"Well, it's staying on." She snapped, standing up. "I'm going to sit inside for a bit." Ethan and Conner turned to watch her walk away.
"Something's not right." Conner said as Trent stood up and walked over to join them. "She's been acting strange ever since we got here."
"Maybe it's something to do with that bruise on her arm." Ethan said before his eyes lit up. "Dr O! He knows!"
"How would Dr O know?" Trent asked. "Why would Kira tell him and not us?"
"Maybe she had no choice." He suggested. "Before we got blasted here, she missed school. Dr O said something happened and she would tell us when she was ready. He must know what happened."
"Then let's ask him." Conner said, raising his communicator to his mouth. "Dr O, you there?"
"What's wrong Conner?" Dr O replied.
"What is going on with Kira?" He asked. They heard a sigh on the other side of the communicator.
"Conner." He warned, his voice sounding strained.
"Come on Dr O. We know that she told you. We're her friends. We deserve to know what's happened to her." He said.
"Kira is a big girl. She is more than capable of deciding when she wants to tell you. But do not push her. You know her. If you push, she will only drift further away. And right now we need to stay together and stay positive." He said, making the three sigh. "Is there anything that I can actually help you with?"
"Have you figured out a way to get us home?" The boys jumped and spun around to see Kira stood behind them, hands on hips and eyes narrowed.
"Maybe. I'll let you know when I have figured it out." He said, a slight laugh in his voice. "I'm going to leave you to it. Try not to kill them Kira. We still need them to defeat Mesagog."
"No promises." She snapped. A beep let them know that Dr Oliver had dropped the connection, and Conner dropped his wrist as the three boys stood facing an angry yellow ranger. "Something you nitwits want to know?" She asked.
"Um… no?" Trent said warily.
"You sure? Because it seems like you were asking Dr O to tell you about my private business." She said, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow.
"Well…" Ethan started, looking at Conner, who straightened his back and put a determined look on his face.
"We want to know how you got that bruise on your arm." He said with determination. Kira sighed and dropped her arms.
"Just that bruise?" She asked, making them frown. She sighed before taking the jacket off, letting them see the multiple bruises on her arms.
"Kira." Ethan breathed in shock. She lifted her shirt slightly, letting them see that her torso was mostly black and blue with bruises. "Who did this?"
"My Dad." She muttered, covering the bruises once more. "He gets angry. And when he's angry, he gets violent." There was a moment of silence before Conner lurched forward and pulled Kira into a hug, Ethan and Trent soon joining in.
"We love you Kira. I just wish you told us earlier." Ethan said. They all pulled away and Kira gave them a small smile.
"Dr O and Hayley are going to see what they can do to get me away from him." She said.
"When we get back to our time, I'm gonna kill the bastard." Conner snapped, pacing in front of them.
"Oh no. Hot head has returned." Trent commented, making Ethan smirk as Kira walked over and smacked Conner round the back of the head.
"Hey!" He protested.
"You are going to do nothing to him. I am never going back there. And besides, if you kill him, then we will be one ranger down since you will be in jail." She snapped, moving away when she heard her communicator beep. "Trust me Conner. You need to calm down before we get back. And you need to keep your temper." She lifted her wrist and answered the communicator. "Hey Dr O."
"Kira. I need you to do me a favour." Dr O said. "I need you go to where we first arrived in Angel Grove. There might be something there that can help us."
"But I don't know where that was. And besides, the others were somewhere else when we got here." She said.
"Alpha's found the energy spike from when we got here and can teleport you there. It's a large area though." He said.
"Ok. I'm ready when you are." She said, moving away from the boys before bracing herself for the teleport.
"Teleporting now." Kira disappeared in a flash of yellow, before reappearing moments later in the woods, close to where they woke up after they were sent back to this time.
"Alright. What am I looking for?" She asked into her communicator.
"Something that doesn't belong. If my theory is right, then some of that device Zeltrax used came through with us. If we can find it, we might have a way back home." He said. "Do you want me to come and help you?"
"Nah, I should be alright. I'll let you know when I find something." She said before cutting the connection and beginning to walk around. She soon found the clearing where they found the three boys. She had a look around, not finding anything. She moved on, searching everywhere she could think of, but not finding anything.
Almost an hour later, Kira slumped down at the base of a tree with a sigh, holding a hand to her ribs. She breathed deeply and lay her head back against the tree, wondering how she had ended up in this situation. She closed her eyes, wincing in pain before lifting her communicator to her mouth. "Hey, Dr O?"
"Yes Kira?" He answered.
"Is that offer of help still going?" She heard him laugh over the communicator, bringing a smile to her face.
"Alpha's tracked your signal. I'll be there in a second." He replied. Kira dropped her wrist and looked up to see a streak of black light as Dr O appeared in front of her. "You ok Kira?"
"Yeah. My ribs just ache a bit." She said, taking the hand he held out and letting him pull her up. Before she could let go of his hand, he pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips against hers. She kissed him back, putting her arms around his neck. He pulled her close, only to make her wince as he put pressure on his ribs.
"Are you ok?" He asked, quickly dropping his arms and stepping away.
"I'm fine." She said, only to sigh at the look he gave her. "You just caught my ribs, that's all."
"Kira, you really need to get your ribs checked out." He said, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"I don't. They're probably just bruised." She said, giving him a smile. "Now come on. The sooner we find what we're looking for, the sooner we've got a chance of getting home." He smiled and grabbed her hand. They walked through the woods, looking everywhere they could to try and find anything that could help them.
"We haven't had the chance to properly talk since we got here. How are you coping?" He asked, looking at her as she kept scanning the ground.
"I'll be happier when we leave. I'm not a big fan of watching the younger version of you suck faces with Kimberly." She replied with a small smirk.
"I'm sorry. I never wanted you to see me like that with another girl. Even if it is the past." He said, looking down.
"Tommy, I'm sorry. I shouldn't let it get to me. I don't even know you in this time." She said. Dr O was about to reply when she dropped his hand and ran towards a tree. "Tommy! Look at this." She lifted something up and showed it to Dr O. "This looks like the device Zeltrax used. Just… burnt. Do you think we can still use it?"
"I hope so. Let's get it back to the command centre." He lifted his wrist, letting Kira see the watch-like communicator the rangers of this time use under his silver Dino Thunder communicator. "Alpha? Can you transport Kira and I back to the command centre?"
"Teleporting now." Alpha replied. The two disappeared in Yellow and Black streaks, before reappearing in the command centre. Dr O looked over at Kira to see her doubled over, holding her ribs.
"Kira? What's wrong?" He asked, putting his arm around her waist to help hold her up.
"No-nothing." She gasped in pain.
"Alpha, can you scan her?" Dr O asked, leading her over to the medical bed in the corner.
"No, I'm fine." She gasped, although she didn't put up a fight as Dr O helped her lay down.
"You're not fine. Alpha?" He said, looking over his shoulder at the robot that was walking over.
"Ay ay ay! Let me see." Alpha said, making Dr O stand to the side. Alpha held a device over Kira, scanning her before looking at it when it beeped. "Kira, you have two broken ribs."
"Broken?" She asked, pain still evident on her face.
"The scanner is also detecting multiple contusions and lacerations." If the robot could, Dr O knew he would be frowning. "What happened to you?"
"We need to get you to a hospital." Dr O said, making Kira shake her head.
"I can't go to a hospital. What do you think they'll do when they run my name and see that I'm supposed to be an 8 year old girl in Reefside?" She said, making him frown.
"Kira is right, Dr Oliver." Zordon said, making Dr O turn to look at him. "Alpha can use a device that will speed up the natural healing process of Kira's body. The ribs will heal in minutes."
"Is that a good idea?" Kira asked, making Dr O look at her. "If my ribs are healed, will it heal everything else? And if it does, then what do we do about my dad?" Dr O paused for a moment, looking at her with concern.
"Dr Oliver, Kira. If you let me know what you are worried about, I can help you." Zordon said, making them look at him. Dr O looked at Kira, who nodded.
"Kira's father abused her. He probably bruised her ribs, but I don't think they were broken until the fight with Brainsaur." He said. "If Alpha heals her, then we no longer have the proof that her father was abusing her and we won't be able to get her away from him."
"But if Alpha doesn't heal her then she will be in a lot of pain, and will have to stay in that bed until you are able to return to your own time." Zordon said, making Kira sigh. "Kira, I am sorry for what you are going through, but even if Alpha doesn't heal your ribs, you have lived in this time for three days now. All of your injuries are healing on their own. They will be mostly healed by the time you return, which means you more than likely will not be able to use the injuries as evidence against your father."
"You're right." Kira sighed before looking up. "Alpha, if you have something that will heal me, please do it."
"Affirmative!" The robot called, walking out of the room to get the device that would help her.
"Dr O, I'll be fine. See if that device is any use to us." She said, making Dr O nod. He turned and started to look at the device that they found as Alpha healed Kira's injuries. Without any warning, a blue light suddenly shot into the command centre, making Dr O jump as Billy appeared when the light landed.
"My apologies Dr Oliver. I didn't think my entrance would startle you." Billy said, frowning as he noticed Alpha healing Kira. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, Kira just had some injuries from the fight with Brainsaur that got worse." He replied motioning for Billy to join him. "We found this in the woods today. It's the device that Zeltrax used to send us back in time. I don't know how it works, and I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be this burnt."
"I would assume that the trip here caused it to burn out." Billy said, picking up the device and looking at it from every angle. "If we take it apart and analyse it, we might be able to figure out how it operates and be able to reconstruct a working replica to get you home."
"Let's do it." They started taking the device apart, Dr O occasionally looking back at Kira to make sure she was doing alright. The two took the device to pieces, using various machines around the command centre to analyse them and figure out how it all worked. All of their attention was on the data on the screen in front of them, which meant that neither of them noticed the red flash of light that entered the command centre.
"Everything ok here?" They jumped and spun around the see Jason stood behind them, a smirk on his face. "We were worried you'd gotten lost Billy. Especially since we've been trying to get a hold of you on your communicator for the past 15 minutes." Billy looked down at his wrist before looking up with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry Jason. It appears we got a bit distracted with our work." He said, motioning to the pile of metal and wires on the table next to them. Jason walked over and looked at everything on there with a frown.
"I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. What is it?" He asked.
"It's the device that brought us here." Dr O said, making Jason look up. "That's why it looks so strange to you. This technology is from 10 years in the future. We're hoping that if we can understand how it works, we can recreate it and get my team and I back to our own time." Jason nodded, looking thoughtful.
"You know, in the whole time you've been here, I never actually thought about how you were going to get back." He said before shaking his head. "Oh well. Anyway, you do know that Kira is asleep over there, don't you?" They looked over his shoulder and saw the yellow ranger had fallen asleep, a yellow blanket now covering most of her body to keep her warm.
"Is she alright Alpha?" Dr O asked, seeing the small robot not far from her.
"Kira is healed. But she needs her sleep." Alpha said, making Dr O nod.
"Yeah. I don't think any of us have slept properly in weeks." He muttered, rubbing his eyes.
"Your guy sending down more monsters than usual?" Jason asked, leaning against the side as Billy went to keep working on the device.
"No more than usual." He said, sighing. "Mesagog attacked our dreams."
"Rita did that with us after she took your green powers." Jason replied, seeming to just brush off what had happened.
"That doesn't mean it wasn't traumatic for all of them, me included." He snapped. "Kim told me about what happened with you guys and I know none of you slept afterwards. Sleep was always the one time when we were all at ease. The only time we weren't anxious or tense. You know what it's like. Every waking moment it feels like you are just waiting for another attack. You know it's going to happen, but you don't know when or where and you spend the whole time you are awake on tender hooks. Sleeping no longer feels safe to them. And I know Kira especially has been doing anything and everything to try and stay awake." He sighed and looked over at Kira again. "I don't think any of us will sleep well until long after Mesagog is gone."
"I'm sorry Dr Oliver… Tommy." He said, making Dr O look over in shock. "I didn't think."
"The sooner we're back in our own time, the better." Dr O said, turning back to look at the device again.
Again, I am very sorry for the long delay in this chapter! Hopefully I'll be able to post new chapters more regularly