"So what's next?" the Mandibuzz Ranger asked as the group all gathered inside for a momentary rest and to grab something to eat.
"Well, now that the poison's gone, Macho can actually go about healing all that nerve damage" Macho explained as he handed her a sandwich.
"Which means I hopefully won't need this anymore", Zekks noted as motioned to his cane.
"Or be dead weight" Dawn inserted slyly
"I heard that"
"Good, cause I'm not about to make you hearing aids" she replied as she took a long drink, still not breaking eye contact.
"But in all seriousness" the Infernape Ranger began as he finished bandaging his shoulder, "that's really great news!"
"Indeed" Zekks smiled. "And how about the rest of you? From the bit I caught outside, it looks like your training's almost finished."
Though before the Infernape Ranger could begin a response, Dawn cleared her throat as she put her cup down.
"Not quite" she began as a devilish glint appeared in her eye, "I've still got one challenge left for our little Monkey Boy!"
'Why is she suddenly using that nickname?' the Infernape Ranger thought to himself as the Bewear Ranger began to sweat a little.
"OH, I almost forgot!" Dawn resumed, her voice back to normal. "Here's the rest of your schematics, Vinnie."
"And?" he asked eagerly
"The math checks out, thought I did make a few notes" she explained. "Theoretically, I think it could work – whether or not we have the right parts or time to properly test all of it is another story."
"And what exactly is 'it'?" the Houndoom Ranger asked
"Well..."
"NO SPOILERS!!!!!" Vinnie chastised
"You realize it'd be easier to plan if we knew the asset you were working on" the Greninja Ranger sighed
"I don't want to get people's hopes up if it doesn't work out" Vinnie added somberly, his ears drooping.
"Then we'll trust you to tell us when the time's right. Fair?" the Mandibuzz Ranger offered, to which he nodded happily.
"Speaking of assets", the Bewear Ranger began, "any luck on Shay's Journals?"
"No" Dawn added somberly. "We tried using 'Harvest Festival' as a cipher; but nothing."
"That makes no sense" Zekks sighed. "I'm certain that's the spell!"
"It still could be", the Mandibuzz Ranger offered. "We're probably just still missing something."
"And a pretty big something at that", Vinnie clarified. "I scanned the entirety of the first journal – primarily to see if I could speed things up – but after I finished compiling everything, I noted well over a thousand distinctive symbols!"
"What?" everyone sort of asked at he same time
"And that's just one journal" the Infernape Ranger added. "There's no guarantee there's not more."
"Exactly" Vinnie concurred. "We could try every permutation, every cipher imaginable; but with that many variables, it's almost impossible – at least in one lifetime."
"What are we not seeing?"
"Seeing" the Bewear Ranger's mind lingered on that word. "Wait! Dawn, you're sure you saw actual words in one of these journals before?"
YOU ARE READING
PokéRangers: New World
FantasyImagine a world much like our own; but where Pokémon exist only in ancient mythology. It is here that 6 youths were chosen to wield their powers and become PokéRangers. After a ferocious battle, our heroes have found themselves in a time of unexpect...
