Once a ranger always a ranger

Chapter 10 making battle plans

We teleported to the command center to meet with the others. "There they are." Jason said. "We were just about to contact you guys." Tommy said. "Yeah, so John told me that you guys were making some battle plans and you guys wanted to talk to me about the ones you made so far." I said. "Well, we're also making an extra one for the final battle against Rita Repulsa and the rest of her minions." Billy said. "Well, the thing is that we have to take down the rest of her minions before we take her down, and that's going to take a while." I said. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there." Kimberly said. "A good one." Kaitlyn added. "Alright, so what is the plan for the next battle?" I asked. "Well, we were thinking that we could do the battle in our ranger forms only if Rita Repulsa forces us to escalate the battle." Trini said. "Guys, that's a terrible plan, even for us!" I said. "You heard when Zordon said." Jason said. "Yeah, but this plan is so terrible!" I shouted. "Ariel, you know what Zordon said to us. We should try it without us going into our ranger forms first and if we still can't get it done when we're not in our ranger forms we can morph." Billy said. "No way! I'm not going through with that!" I said. Tommy noticed that I was about to shut down. "Ariel, let's go outside and take a break from this." Tommy said. I followed him outside and we teleported to the park. "What was going on there?" Tommy asked. "Tommy, you really want to know?" I asked. Tommy nodded. "Okay, the thing is, I started to shut down." I said. "What do you mean by shut down?" Tommy asked. "It's complicated to explain. Let's just say that when I shut down I won't move, I won't talk to anyone, and if it's really bad it might look like that I might cry." I said. "So, when does it happen?" Tommy asked. "It only happens when I get really frustrated, angry, or sad." I said. "Wow, I never knew that you had it that rough." Tommy said. "Sometimes it's viewed as avoidance or as a defense mechanism. For me, it's more on the defense mechanism end." I said. "I see. Well, how about you head home and I will talk to the others about how we can improve the battle plans?" Tommy asked. "Okay, just tell John and Kaitlyn that I went home and that I'll see them tomorrow morning at school." I said. "Don't worry, I will." Tommy said. Then I walked away and Tommy teleported back to the command center. The next morning at school I was at my locker when John came up to me. "Hey, so why did you leave the meeting early yesterday?" John asked. "I was about to shut down." I said. "Okay, anyway Kaitlyn wants to talk to us during recess today." John said. "About what?" I asked. "I'm not sure. I guess we'll just have to wait until recess to find out." John said. Later that day at recess Kaitlyn walked up to us. "Hey guys." Kaitlyn said. "What's up?" I asked. "You guys will not believe what I heard this morning." Kaitlyn said. "What?" John and I said at the same time. "Okay, I don't know if you guys know this but on either the second to last day of school or the last day of school, they are going to have fun things set up for all of the sixth graders. All sixth graders get to do fun things all day. They called it like a sixth grade day thing. I think we should do it." Kaitlyn said. "Wow, that sounds like it would be fun." I said. "That is going to be great. Probably the best way to end sixth grade since once we get into seventh grade the whole recess thing won't exist anymore." John said. "So, you guys will do it with me?" Kaitlyn said. "Well, yeah." John and I said at the same time. "Great! I'll see you guys later, okay?" Kaitlyn said. "Okay." John and I said. Kaitlyn walked away from us. I leaned up against one of the beams by the swings. "Man, the best way to end the year for all sixth graders. It's going to be so much fun." I said. "Yeah, it's going to be great. Anyway, I have something to talk to you about but we only have like three minutes left of recess so how about you meet me after school today?" John asked. "Actually, I promised Tommy that I would hang out with him after school today. But you're welcome to join us if you want." I said. Then Tommy walked up to us. "Hey Ariel, still up for hanging out at the youth center after school today?" Tommy asked. "Yeah, and I was wondering if John can hang out with us." I said. "He can if he wants to. It's his decision." Tommy said. Then Tommy walked away. "That was a little weird." John said. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Didn't you see the look on his face? Something is going on." John said. "He's probably just having a rough day." I said. "That's not it. There was a look in his eyes too that tells me it's anything but a rough day." John said. "What are you trying to prove?" I asked. "Have you ever seen something like that?" John asked. "Uh, no?" I said. "What I'm trying to say is that he might be trying to hide something, we don't know what." John said. "I'll talk to him about it. So, do you want to hang out with us after school?" I asked. "Sure, I guess." John said. "Okay, we're going to be at the youth center and work on our homework with a few friends. Then we're just going to hang out afterwards." I said. "Okay, do we meet outside of the school or do we meet at the youth center?" John asked. "We meet at the youth center." I said. "Alright. I guess I'll see you later then. Anyway, it's time to go back inside." John said. We went back inside for our afternoon classes. Later that day I was walking to the youth center with Kaitlyn when some putty patrollers showed up. "Oh man, I knew this day was going too well." I said. We started to fight them when one of them threw what looked like a bow at me. "Ariel, look out!" Kaitlyn said. I caught it but got shocked which sent me to the ground. Then one tried to attack me while I was down but Kaitlyn grabbed him, pushed him away and kicked him to get him further away from me. "Are you okay?" Kaitlyn said. "Yeah. Man, that was weird." I said. Then another one got over to it and threw it at us and Kaitlyn caught it but got shocked too. I got up as she was sent to the ground. I fought some off as Kaitlyn got back up. Little did we know that Rita was watching us. "Everything is going according to my plan. Now we just wait for the spell to take affect." Rita said. Meanwhile in town Kaitlyn and I managed to fight them off. I looked at her and she looked at me. A blue colored flash came from my eyes and her eyes. "What's your problem?" Kaitlyn said. "I could have used some help here." I said. We started to walk towards the youth center. "What are you talking about? If it weren't for me, you'd be history." Kaitlyn said. "Man, that's so typical. You think everyone else in the world is helpless but you." I said. "Not everyone, but in your case." Kaitlyn said. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. "Figure it out." Kaitlyn said. "You know what, I'm getting real tired of you acting like you're better than everyone else, and I'm sick of taking orders from you!" I said. "If you don't like it take a hike! The power rangers will be just fine without you!" Kaitlyn said. Then she went home while I went to the youth center.