Lapis woke up with cold sweats. Not again. His nightmares had returned. And it didn't look like they had changed much. The future still had charge of his mind. Minun was awake, looking worried as Lapis steadied his breathing. His eyes looked around, finding the clock. Shit- he was late for the lineup. He quickly changed before going down. Sage nodded to him as he got to the main room.
"You took your time."
"Sorry."
"It's fine. Star tried to get you up earlier, but you didn't seem to want to be disturbed." Lapis frowned. With what he was in? He would've rather be disturbed. He chose not to say anything as Sage smiled. "Now that you're up, You'll be with me. I'm heading over to Fall City. The Professor stopped by, so we're going to guide him back to the lab over there. We might also be able to let you meet the Rangers there." Lapis nodded as they headed out. An elder nodded to them.
"Ah. So you're finally up." Lapis gave a soft smile as Sage grinned.
"Yeah. Sorry for the wait, Professor." He then glanced at the Physical Ranger. "Lapis, this is Professor Hasting. He designed the Capture Stylers that most Rangers use. Professor, this is Lapis, our new Physical Ranger." He nodded to the ranger.
"Excellent. Well, we best get going."
~
Most of the walk was easy. Except it seemed like someone was trying to cut them off. Lapis practically pushed the trees that kept falling out of the way. It was quiet in the cave as they looked around.
"Almost there." The Professor went in front as Lapis paused, hearing a noise. He wasn't able to check it before the ground trembled, two large boulders splitting the group up. Sage yelped.
"Professor!?"
"I'm alright!" Silence followed as Sage gulped.
"Gotta find a way around..."
While he started to look around, Lapis studied the boulders. He could move one if he did it right. He wasn't strong enough to break it, but he could move it if he kept good posture. Sage had gone into a side tunnel as Lapis went to one of the boulders, finding a good position and posture, before lifting. It took him a solid minute, probably the same amount of time it took Sage to go around, for him to push the boulder just enough to where he could slip through. Scanning the area on the other side, Sage hadn't gotten there as he regrouped with the Professor. Only there were two others with the elder.
"Get off me!" Lapis went to intercept when they grabbed something from him and bolted. "Hey!" The two were gone before Lapis could give chase. He chose to worry more about the Professor since there was no way he would catch up. He was strong, not fast. He gulped before he turned to the elder.
"Are you ok?"
"I am now. Those mutts..." The sound of running filled the air as Sage joined them, being out of breath as he knelt down to rest.
"Phew..." He then straightened up and was about to speak, probably to ask the same question Lapis just asked, when he saw the Physical Ranger already there. He went another route. "Sorry about that."
"Eh, two different approaches to the same problem. All's good." Sage nodded as he steadied his breathing.
"Right. Let's keep going."
~
Upon arriving at the base, the Professor had Lapis stay outside so that he and the two Base Leaders could speak. Sage, who was unaware of what he missed, told Lapis to keep any Fall City Rangers and Civilians outside until they were done. Lapis agreed, having nothing better to do. He met Aria, a Battle Ranger who was Star's rival, sorta. Lind and Keith also got introduced, two Regular Rangers, before the door opened. Sage smiled as the Professor went to the lab.
"Sorry about that guys. Come on in." The four Rangers entered as the blonde on the other side of the room rubbed his face, removing the discomfort that was there. Whatever they were talking about wasn't good.
~
While the Fall City base went looking for the two guys from the tunnel, Joel, the base leader, asked the two Ringtown rangers if they could take care of the town folks. They agreed, using strength and speed to assist in problems. It wasn't until later were they really needed.
"I'm not going down there."
"Suite yourself."
"Oh- wait-"
Going through the sewers wasn't great, but it was needed. Between Joel, Aria and Sage, there was almost nothing for Lapis to do. He actually kept holding them back. At one point, he was so out of it that he didn't realize they had left him until Minun got his attention. Oh lovely. He didn't have the strength to get his feet until Sage called out to him. He got up and ran to catch up.
Somewhere near the end, when they were arguing over who was going to catch the Muk, who was obviously the ringleader, Lapis had zoned out, his hand pressed against the wall as he steadied himself. Aria finally stepped out of the fight to let the Base Leaders argue over the capture before she noticed how unsteady Lapis was. Sage finally just took the capture, leaving Joel to complain. Aria placed a hand on Lapis's shoulder, steadying him before the Base Leaders went over. Sage paused.
"Are you ok, Lapis?" The Physical Ranger didn't respond, his grip on the wall being shaky. Aria gulped.
"Let's get him back to the base. He needs to lay down."
