Time Force Delta Squad: Trapped (S2 Game)

"Yeah.." Kari said breaking off to take a deep breath. Her feelings being all over the place lately, she sighed and looked up at him. "Luka and Tan are both my next two stops on the apology train. I just have to figure out what I'm gonna say. "I'm Sorry!" Doesn't seem good enough to cover it." She said with a slight shrug.

"Alluka's tricky because her emotions are all over the place. Hence her Flare and her injuries. She doesn't know how to have a clear head or even relax properly. Rolo is spending time with her, helping her unwind. Once she's better, she'll talk to you." Cody answers with a small smile. "As for Tan, I was planning to reach out to him. With the clusterfuck I'm having lately, I miss the chance to speak with him. I want to let him know not to push us away with his self-depreciation. He's much as important as the rest of us."
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"Sometimes I wonder why you guys can't talk to each other about honest stuff."

Alluka glances at Rolo with a curious expression. After they have their brunch, they stroll around through downtown to pass the time. "What do you mean by this?"

"It's just... I see you guys being weird and distant. I hear you all argue over K'hysh sometimes and you guys hurt each others feelings. I just... don't want to hear more arguments."

Alluka blinks in realization. "Does this happen to you before?"

Biting his lip, Rolo kicks a pebble away. "Just... my mom and dad. I hear them fight. Sometimes, I saw my dad hurt and mom fake-hurts, I think? I remember clearly that one time, my dad packed his stuff and took me with him. He was really hurt, and I think we went to stay with Uncle Corduroy."

"For a week, correct?" Alluka implies, recalling the stories from her boyfriend.

"I think so, before the accident. I don't remember hearing much fighting when I stayed with several foster families." Rolo admits. "I guess because I was busy reading my book."

Alluka considers her boyfriend's nephew's words. "You know not all conflicts end negatively. Sometimes we need space to figure out what we are feeling until we are ready. Like you and your uncle. You are mad at him for a while until you choose to forgive him, and look at you both now, you are inseparable."

Rolo has never thought about it. He becomes caught up with what he's feeling that he miss the specific memo of coming back closer than ever. "Then all of you guys will be together again after you get your heads straight. Even when K'hysh is... back."

"We will cross the bridge before we get there." Alluka admits with a small understanding smile.

"He is indeed." Kari said smiling over at Cody. "We will be okay, we got some sped bumps to get over, but we will be the team we were or better." She said with a shrug. "We just have to keep working at it."

"If only he looks past that. He can't hurt himself forever." Cody turns his head away so he can sigh. "That's why I can relate to him. Expectations, harming yourself to please others, not believing in yourself. We're...like this in a way. Key difference, I'm glad I'm not Red." He chuckles lightly.
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Alluka and Rolo take the bus on route to the theater. With Rolo being tired to walk, Alluka opts to take themselves on a bus instead, mainly because she knows Rolo doesn't want a piggyback ride in order to keep his dignity in line.

“Huh?" Rolo presses his face against the backseat window, noticing the pier. “What is that, Alluka?”

Alluka follows her gaze. “Oh, I have never seen an amusement park near the pier before? Has your parents done this?”

“No. They don't have time,” Chris says.

“Oh.” Alluka blinks. “I have been to amusement parks near land, but definitely not near sea.”

Christopher considers the thought. "Maybe we can both try it. I mean it would be cool and tell the team the whole adventure about it. Plus you'll be even cooler than Uncle Corduroy." He smirks.

"One-Upping your Uncle, you sneaky-you." Alluka smirks back. "Sure we will go. If you would want to. We can always catch a movie another time.”

“Sweet!” Rolo whoops. “Let’s do this!”

M'yrnn walked through town, spotting Tanjiro at the cafe with the waitress. He kept walking down the street, sighing to himself. "We're fractured. I wonder what will happen now..."
______

On Arianas' ship, the Queen of the Battalion yelled as she ran her sword through several monsters and Dark Water grunts, slamming Crimson Bolt into teh wall before kicking Aquisa and sending her flying into the front screen. "INCOMPETENT FOOLS!" she yelled, taking hold of Drakis and flinging him away, destroying her throne as the robotic assisstant crashed through it and dented the floor. "All you have to do is find ways to KEEP K'HYSH CONTAINED and you all fucking failed!"

Bolt slowly got to his feet, coughing as he readjusted his helmet. "We didn't even know. Not until it was too late, Majesty. We thought Fumiosa would be able to take them down using the Pink Ranger, and she almost succeeded, but taht Martian got the better of you--" He stopped talking as he got a dagger in the throat, falling to his knees.

"Better of ME?!" Arianas snarled. "Better of me!? I had her suppressed. I had her contained. But no! Her fucking douchebag of a brother shows his face, she starts to fight back to save Blue and the child, and then gets loose in a moment of weakness adn stops my plans. If I could get rid of her without killing the body, I would. but unfortunately, that seems to be a problem."

"Majesty, perhaps if you had chosen a body that hadn't been able to fight back, this wouldn't have happened," Stolkan said, raising his sword and blocking strikes from Arianas. He lowered his blade, shaking his head. "There were plenty of victims of other species on the Lunar Colony, but you ordered the Red Ranger. Without the behavioral disk, the connection is weaker. But we are trying to find ways to make it permanent before the Rangers either unite or fall in making a choice about teh Martian."

Arianas growled and kicked Drakis out of her way, sending him crashing through the wall. "Give me a location map of Silver Hills. Pinpoint the Rangers." The map loaded, bringing up a hologram in the middle of the bridge. "Pink and Blue are on the Waveruner near Silver Guardians. I cannot attack there without a stronger force. Red continually frequents that diner...potential, mayhaps. Yellow, off on his own. Surprised he doesn't try and make peace with the Argonite Colony. Maybe they kicked him out for what happened. Green...ah, little M'yrnn M'ilos wandering around town. hope he knows he won't get his sister back any time soon." Her eyes scanned the map, seeing a black dot farthest from the others. "Ahh....little Alluka. She's the only one I haven't played games with yet. With her powers, I'd have to do something fun and unpredictable. Oh....oh-hohohohoho!!! I have the perfect storm."

Kari smiled over at Cody and gave him a nod. "I have to say, I do." She said with a slight shrug. "What about you?" She asked.

"As relieved as I am, I have a long way to go. Trying to make up for lost time. Still, I feel at ease." Cody admits with a small shrug of his own. Eventually, his eyes catch a glimpse of Soujiro passing by, his expression seemingly sad. "Soujiro?" He calls out.

Sojiro looked up to see Cody, "Oh! Cody, um... I got Chinese...," he said as he held up bags of still-warm Chinese food, looking bashfully.

After Rolo wins a giant smiley face ball playing a water gun game, they walk to the edge of the pier and find a bench to rest at. Alluka snaps a quick picture of Rolo grinning out at the sea, one hand on the guard rail, the other clutching the ball, and sends it to Cody as an update. Then she sits on the bench beside the boy and enjoy the sea breeze.

“Almost as good a day as the other famous amusement parks?” Alluka asks.

“Yep!” Rolo confirms. “This is the bestest day I’ve had so far.”

“Bestest?”

“Well, one of the bestest.”

“Yeah, me too,” Alluka says. “I am glad I get to spend the day with you, bat.”

“You’re welcome!”

Alluka chuckles, feeling the dots connect. She has been holding her identity up to her body’s capacity to do the work she loves that not everyone gets the chance. While Rolo won’t have it, he’s worth everything. “You ever think about what you want to do with your life?” She asks Rolo. “What you want to be when you grow up?”

“Wizard. Someone has to make the magic.” Rolo answers without hesitation. “I don’t think a Power Ranger or a Time Force officer fits the mold.”

Alluka sighs. “I hope you do find something you love. No matter how short or long this dream is, it is going to show who you really are. I hope you get that.”

Rolo turns to look back at Alluka, placing his free hand on her shoulder. “You’re gonna be okay. I just know it.”

Alluka’s throat feels heavy as she meets the boy’s eyes, seeing the admiration and love in him, and feels for the first time reassured.

As Rolo looks back out at the ocean, his expression grows confused. “Alluka?”

“Yes?”

“Has the weather changed weird?”

Alluka has no idea what that’s supposed to mean. She twists her torso to look behind Rolo’s head, seeing a an incoming storm with lightning following suit. Other pier visitors are starting to panic around them, commenting on the exact same thing Alluka is now fearing.

"This is not good. We must leave!" Alluka tells Rolo.
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Sojiro looked up to see Cody, "Oh! Cody, um... I got Chinese...," he said as he held up bags of still-warm Chinese food, looking bashfully.

"Don't be scared." Cody reassures his Yellow friend quickly. Before he says more, he receives a call from Tanjiro. "Hey Tan, I'm here at HQ with Kari and Soujiro. Alluka's not here. She's at downtown. Is there something going on?" He asks his Red teammate, unaware of the weather report right now.