Back in Time
Chapter 15
The group of rangers watched as Kira ran into the woods, sharing looks of confusion as she disappeared.
"Is she alright?" Kim asked, looking at the Dino Thunder team, who all looked just as confused at their teammate's actions.
"I don't know." Conner said, still frowning at the space between the trees that Kira ran through. "You don't think this is to do with me walking in on her in the shower, do you?"
"I don't think so." Dr O replied, shaking his head slightly. "She doesn't act like this when she's angry."
"No. She's already dumped you on your ass." Ethan added. "Is it me or did anyone else think it seemed like she was upset about something?"
"She definitely didn't seem to be overly pleased about something." Billy replied.
"She's been having mood swings the whole time you guys have been here." Jason said. "One minute she's being mardy, the next she looks like she wants to rip someone's head off."
"She's gone through a lot." Dr O replied with a snap, making Jason frown.
"So have we. It comes with the job of being a ranger." Kim replied. Conner and Ethan shared a look, Ethan shaking his head at the red ranger, silently telling him not to divulge what they know about Kira's dad.
"She's going through a lot more than just being a ranger." Dr O said. "She has every right to be emotional right now." They were all silent for a moment before Billy tried to change the subject.
"So, Dr Oliver and I think we might be able to get the device working soon. We just need to alter how it operates. And then we can test it." He said with a slight smile.
"How are you going to test it?" Trent asked, making Dr O smirk, trying to ignore his worry about Kira to try not to raise suspicion about his feelings for the yellow ranger.
"We use a test subject." He said with a smirk, making the others frown until Conner suddenly smirked.
"Zeltrax?" He asked, making Dr O nod.
"Exactly." He replied.
"But how will we know that he's gone to the time that we want him to?" Ethan asked. Before anyone could answer, they heard a noise coming from quite deep in the woods, the sound making the Dino Thunder rangers jump onto their feet.
"That sounded familiar." Trent said, the Mighty Morphin rangers sharing looks before standing up too. "What was it?"
"I don't know." Conner said, the group listening as hard as they could. Less than a minute later, they heard the noise again, and Dr O's eyes widened as the other Dino Thunder rangers shared worried looks. "Ptera scream."
"Kira's in trouble." Dr O said. Without any hesitation, all 10 rangers stared running towards the woods, moving in the direction Kira's ptera scream came from. "Conner, run ahead. You can get to her quicker." Even though he was the leader of the team, Conner knew Dr O was right and nodded before using his Tyranno speed to run ahead, reaching Kira in a matter of minutes. He took a second to take in the large number of Tyrannodrones trying to attack Kira, as well as registering Zedd and Zeltrax in the background. He only just processed what was happened before he used his speed to rush in front of Kira, throwing back the drone that almost grabbed her, making Kira sigh in relief as she saw her teammate.
"Thanks for joining me." She said, turning and continuing to fight the minions that tried to get her from the side.
"What is this about?" Conner asked as he kicked a Tyrannodrone back.
"No idea." She replied. "The others on their way?"
"They'll be here soon." Conner threw a Tyrannodrone into a tree, smirking when it stayed down. "We need a minute to morph."
"Don't you think I know that?" She snapped, looking up as she realised something. "Conner, I have an idea." She got closer to him and soon they were back to back, Tyrannodrones surrounding them. "Get ready to duck." She said, letting Conner know exactly what she was planning. They waited for the Tyrannodrones to get a bit closer, trying to keep an eye out for all of them. "Now." She said. Conner ducked down, putting his hands over his ears as Kira let out a Ptera scream, putting as much effort into it as she could. They Tyrannodrones flew away from them, some of them flying into Zedd and Zeltrax and knocking them down.
"You rangers are insufferable." Zedd growled, pushing the Tyrannodrones off of him and standing up.
"We know." Conner smirked, standing next to Kira. "But do you know what else we are?"
"What." Zeltrax hissed.
"Not alone." Kira sighed in relief as the other rangers came out of the trees behind them and they all stood in fighting stances.
"Come to join the party, Tommy?" Zedd asked, looking straight at the white ranger.
"Leave, Zedd." Tommy snapped.
"Not until we get what we came here for." Zeltrax said, making Dr O realised what they were doing.
"Let's end this." Conner said as they got into their formations. "Ready?"
"Ready." They all replied, the Dino Thunder team flicking their wrists to make their morphers appear. "Dino Thunder! Power up!" Kira, Conner, Ethan and Dr O called.
"White ranger! Dino power!" Trent called.
"It's morphin time!" Soon, 11 rangers were stood in front of the bad guys.
"Get them." Zedd ordered. The Tyrannodrones attacked the rangers, but they were no match for the angry rangers. They all paired off in their colours, with the three girls banding together. Kira, Trini and Kim fought side by side, helping each other to send the Tyrannodrones flying all around them.
"Kira, duck!" Trini called, before throwing a Tyrannodrone towards Kira, who ducked just in time for it to hit other drones behind her.
"Nice throw." She said, taking a moment to look at where Zedd and Zeltax were. "No matter what, keep Tommy as far away from Zeltrax as possible."
"What are you doing?" Kim asked, seeing how Kira surveyed her surroundings.
"I'm gonna get those bastards." She snapped before using a Tyrannodrone in front of her to launch herself into the air, flipping over the crowd of Tyrannodrones and landing right in front of Zedd and Zeltrax. Before they had time to register what was going on, she kicked Zeltrax, sending him flying back and grabbed Zedd, flinging him into a nearby tree. "You two are done."
"This is not over." Zeltrax snapped, standing up.
Kira grabbed the arm he swung at her and used him momentum to flip him onto the floor, taking his distraction at wanting to kill Tommy to her advantage. She put her foot on his chest, keeping him there as she bent down to his level. "You are never going to win. Not as long as us rangers are around to stop you."
"If my plan works, you won't be around." He snapped. Kira let him go, moving back and watching as he stood up, Zedd joining him.
"Well, it's a good job your plan will fail." She snapped. "Leave, and I won't kill you right now. You chose the wrong day to mess with a yellow ranger."
"You aren't worth our time." Zedd snapped. He waved his staff and all of the Tyrannodrones vanished, as well as Zedd and Zeltrax.
"Woah!" Kira turned around at the surprised shout and saw most of the rangers had fallen onto the ground. It seems that they were all still fighting the drones when they vanished, their momentum from the fight unbalancing them and sending them to the floor. "Well, that was unexpected." Tommy muttered, standing up.
"You ok Kira?" Dr O asked, walking over to the yellow ranger.
"Yeah. I'm fine." She replied. "Thanks for coming."
"Why didn't you use your communicator?" Conner asked, walking over as well. "Instead of using your scream."
"Didn't have time." She said. "I may have pissed Zedd off. His skin was glowing."
"Yeah, that happens when he's angry." Zach muttered, looking around. "Do you think they're coming back?"
"Not today. I think we're good." Tommy said. They all nodded and powered down.
"Let's get back to the cabin." Ethan said, giving Kira a pointed look that meant don't argue. She nodded and they started walking, Kira falling behind everyone else.
"Hey." She looked and saw that Dr O had fallen into step next to her. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She said, looking back in front of her.
"Kira, what's going on?" He asked, frowning at her. "You've not been acting like yourself for a few days."
"I'm just sick of being here." She said, glancing ahead of her to make sure no one was watching. "And I can't stand the way you look at Kim."
"What do you mean?" He asked, frowning deeper.
"I saw you earlier. When you looked at her, you looked sad. It seems like you want her back." She said, looking down. Dr O grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a stop.
"Kira, I do not want Kim back." He said, looking into her eyes after a quick glance to make sure that the others hadn't noticed them stop. "I'm so sorry if I've made you feel that way. I just miss having them all in my life. I look at how close I used to be with all of them, and part of me wants them back, but the other part of me wants to protect them." Kira was still looking down, so Dr O made sure no one was still in view and put his hand under her chin, lifting her head so that he could look into her eyes. "Kira, I don't want to be with anyone else, only you."
"But you just look so sad and like you want to have what you had with Kim back." She said, trying to hold tears back.
"I don't. I promise you. It's just, seeing the way that I used to be with her, it makes me think about the letter she sent me, and how that was one of the main reasons I pulled away. When I look at all of them, I just get sad that I let myself draw away from them and ruin those friendships." He said. "But I swear to you, there is no one I'd rather be with than you." He bent his head down and gave her a sweet kiss, resting his head on hers when he pulled away.
"I'm sorry for overreacting." She whispered. She rested her head against his chest as he pulled her into a loving hug, his arms making her feel safe.
"Don't be sorry for anything." He said, kissing the top of her head. "I know this isn't the best situation we're in, but we'll get through it. I promise you it'll get better." She was about to reply when a familiar tone came out of their bracelets. "Go ahead." He said, raising his wrist to his mouth as they pulled away from each other.
"Did you and Kira get lost or something?" Conner's voice came through the bracelets.
"Sorry Conner. I just needed to talk to Dr O about something. We're on our way now." Kira said into her own bracelet.
"Everything alright?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.
"Yeah, I'm good. We were just talking about what's going to happen when we get back to Reefside." She said, giving Dr O a quick apologetic look.
"We'll be there in a minute." Dr O said as they cut the communication. "We probably should talk about what's going to happen when we get back, or at least the story we're going to tell them."
"Well, what can we do?" She asked as they started walking.
"You can stay at mine." He said, making her freeze. "We'll make up the guest room and put all your stuff in there. I don't want to push you, but if you feel comfortable with it, the room will only be for show. I would be very happy if you decided you wanted to share my room, but only if you are ready for that."
"Of course I am." She said with a smile. "We'll tell them I'm moving into your guest room if they ask." They continued walking, reaching the cabin in no time. Neither were surprised to see the red ranger waiting for them.
"Where is everyone?" Dr O asked as they walked over to where Conner stood on the porch.
"Inside getting dinner sorted." He replied, frowning at the two. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah. Like I said, we were talking about what's going to happen when we get back." She said, making Conner's eyes showing his worry.
"Do you mean with your dad?" He asked, making Kira nod. "So, what did you decide?"
"Kira's going to stay with me." Dr O said. "I'm giving her the guest room. Her dad's out of Reefside until Sunday so we can get her stuff. The rest we'll figure out when we've got Hayley's help." Conner nodded and looked at his female teammate.
"Are you sure you're ok?" He asked, making her smile slightly.
"In all honesty, no. I'm not going to be ok for a while. But I can't think about that right now. All I can think about is keeping it together while we are here." She said, a small smile on her face. "Now come here you worry wart and give me a hug." Conner smiled and complied, pulling her in for a brotherly hug. Kira knew that he needed it as much as she did. He needed to know that she was coping, and he needed her to know that he was there for her, no matter what.
Dr O watched them with a small smile. He knew that the two teens saw each other like siblings, and that Conner needed to show her that he was there for her. It warmed his heart to see that there were others willing to protect Kira, and who would do anything to keep her safe. He just hoped that when the time came for them to reveal their relationship, Conner and the others would be just as supporting as they were being now.
"Let's go inside and get some food." Conner said, pulling away from Kira with a smile. "Before it's all gone."
"Always thinking with your stomach, aren't you?" Kira laughed, making him smirk.
"Always." They all went inside, none of them worrying about what was coming next. Instead, they all just forgot about their problems and their worries and enjoyed spending the time together.