Once a ranger always a ranger

Chapter 41 The final battle against King Mondo part 3 & meeting Justin

I looked at Tommy. "There's no time for that." I said. "Ariel is right. As you stay here on earth it is best to fight fire with fire. Join hands with me." Trey said. We all joined hands with him. "Focus your powers towards each other." Trey said before using his staff to make us grow to the same size King Mondo is at. "I wanted that gold ranger power. You will pay dearly for denying it to me." King Mondo said. As we were fighting Rita, Lord Zedd, Goldar, and Rito were watching us. "When is this plan of yours going to reveal itself?" Rita asked. "At the rate this is going the rangers and Mondo will destroy each other and we won't even need my plan." Zedd said. Then Tommy got knocked to the ground. "This game is over and I win." King Mondo said. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" I said as I went after him for thinking that he won. Trey helped me take him down. "Way to go guys." Jason said. "We did it together, as a team." I said. Back on the moon King Mondo was talking to Lord Zedd and Rita. "I was down but not out, no thanks to you Zedd. You could have helped." King Mondo said. "Sorry old boy, but after seeing your magnificent display of power I realized we're just not in your league." Zedd said. "Yeah, you're way out of our league." Rita said. "We just stopped by on our way out to give you a little gift." Zedd said. They gave them a present. "Well, we gotta run." Rita said. They got back into the RV and drove away. A week later I came back home from camp and met with Jason. "Hey Jason, what's up?" I asked. "Not much." Jason said. "Jason, I can't say I know how you feel, but if I had to give up my powers, it would be really tough." I said. "Yeah, it is." Jason said. "So, what's next for you?" I asked. "I don't know. I have a lot more free time on my hands, that's for sure." Jason said. "Yeah, anyway, no matter what happens, we'll always be friends, no matter how far away we are from each other." I said. "I know." Jason said. Then we saw Emily walking down the beach towards us. "You know, things can't be all that bad." Jason said. "Yeah, things can be a lot worse." I said. "I'll see you later." Jason said. "Alright, see you later." I said as he walked away. Then Calvin came up behind me. "Is Jason okay?" Calvin asked. "Yeah, he'll be okay. Come on, let's go home, I'm starving." I said. A month later I started to volunteer at the shelter in town. It's my first time there and I saw one kid who looked like he should be in sixth grade. He was shy too. I walked up to him. He was by himself. "Hi, I'm Ariel, what's your name?" I asked. He looked at me. "I'm Justin. It's nice to meet you." Justin said. "It's nice to meet you too. So, how long have you been living here?" I asked. "Ever since my mom died. I miss her." Justin said. That really hit home for me. "I know how you feel. I miss my mom too." I said. "Really, your mom died too?" Justin said. "Yeah, but she died years ago. And eventhough she died years ago, I still miss her sometimes." I said. "No way." Justin said. "Yeah, what about your dad?" I asked. "I don't even know where he is now. He dropped me off here but didn't tell me where he was going. I didn't ask him. I knew why he brought me here but he hasn't come back for me yet." Justin said. "I bet he'll come back for you someday." I said. "Thanks, that makes me feel a little bit better." Justin said. "No problem." I said. Then Katherine came up to me. "Ariel, ready to head out for today?" Katherine asked. "Yeah, I'll be right there." I said. Then she walked out. I turned back to Justin. "Look, I would like to talk to you some more but I should get going." I said. "Alright, will I see you tomorrow?" Justin said. "We'll see." I said before leaving. The next day Kaitlyn told me that she heard that the shelter might close down. "Well, if the shelter does close down, where are the kids going to go?" I asked. "I don't know. Some of them are taking it kinda hard. Hey, listen, we have a trip to the kickboxing center arranged for the kids tomorrow. Wanna come?" Kaitlyn said. "Yeah, what time are you guys leaving the shelter?" I asked. "Seven o clock in the morning." Kaitlyn said. "I'll meet you there at six thirty." I said. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." Kaitlyn said. The next morning Tommy, Adam, and Rocky were all at the kickboxing center practicing for the tournament that's coming up. "Come on Rocky. Focus Rocky, focus! Tommy, Tommy, follow through, your follow through! Rocky get back in there. Let's go! Alright. Watch your form. Get in there. Get in there! Watch your hands, come on. Move! Adam, get in there. Rocky, spinning heal, kick my hand." Coach Daniels said. Rocky tried the spinning heal kick but missed and fell onto the ground. "No, now look, you're trying too hard." Coach Daniels said. Meanwhile at the shelter we got all of the kids on the bus including Justin. I was sitting next to him. All of them were singing some songs that I remember singing when I was young, and I mean like when I was in preschool or younger, like toddler age.

Anyway, Justin wasn't singing with the rest of them. "Are you okay Justin?" I asked. "Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind right now. And I just don't feel like singing." Justin said. "You know, if you don't want to sing, you don't have to." I said. Meanwhile at the kickboxing center Adam, Tommy, and Rocky were all taking a break. "Hey Rocky, maybe we are trying to hard." Adam said. "Maybe we're not trying hard enough." Rocky said before attempting the spinning heal kick again but this time he fell out of the kickboxing arena and hit the ground hard. He landed on his back. That's when Coach Daniels, Tommy, and Adam went over to him to see if he is okay. "Don't move." Tommy said. "Ow! My back!" Rocky said. "Can we get some help?" Tommy asked loud enough for anyone who was nearby to hear. "It's gonna be alright." Coach Daniels said. "Just relax." Tommy said. "Man, I'm so stupid." Rocky said. "You're okay, just calm down." Adam said in an attempt to calm him down. "Don't worry, help is on the way." Tommy said. The paramedics got there before we did. We walked in just as the paramedics put Rocky on a stretcher. I was talking to Justin about something that was actually really cool. That's when we noticed Rocky on the stretcher. We all stopped in our tracks. We were all shocked, especially Justin. "Rocky." Justin said. "Justin, wait." I said. We walked over to him. "You'll be okay. Just hang in there." I said when I got over to him. Meanwhile on Lerigot's home planet Divatox is not happy that Lerigot got away. "Idiots! You're worthless! And you!" Divatox said. "Me?" Elgar said. "You lost Lerigot. You let him get away." Divatox said. "I told you those bolt brains didn't have a clue." Elgar said. "Oh shut up Elgar! Those are your bolt brains, which makes this all your fault." Divatox said. "Come on, don't punish me. I'm your favorite nephew." Elgar said. Then Divatox turned away. "Hey, you two losers, I nearly got fired for your screw-up. You're just lucky Aunt Divatox likes me." Elgar said. Just then Divatox sliced off one of his hands. "Not again." Elgar said. "Never send a moron to do a mutant's job." Rygog said. "If you're so great why don't you do the job Rygog? That little runt Lerigot is still out there with the key to the island of Muiranthias." Elgar said.