Something to Fight For

Let Sleeping Zords Lie

"This...is...ridiculous!" Adelaide groaned as she swept her hair up into a high ponytail, wrapping the tail around the base and securing it with another scrunchy. "Could it get any hotter?"

"Don't tempt fate," Riley whined, setting an empty bucket down beside her. His face was gleaming with sweat and he had a streak of dirt smudged into his cheek.

Adelaide giggled as she looked at him.

"What?" Riley asked.

Adelaide poked his cheek. "You've got dirt, right there," she said.

Riley blushed and tried to scrub the smudge away, only making it worse. Adelaide giggled harder.

"How about lending a hand?" Chase called. Adelaide and Riley looked around to see he was talking to Shelby, the only Ranger who wasn't buried in the dirt as they were, but rather sitting comfortably in the shade pouring over a set of papers.

Jumping to her feet, Shebly walked to the edge of the pit and called to them all. "Follow me for a sec," she said. "Keeper gave twelve Energems to twelve different dinosaurs."

"Of course!" Koda cried, straightening up. He hesitated, scratched his head and looked around at the others helplessly. "Wait... I... what?" he mumbled.

Tyler chuckled as Adelaide let out a small giggle.

"We've found six energems, but, five are still lost," said Shelby, taking the lead again. "Those Energems will only be found near the fossils of the Pterodactyl, Ankylosaurus, Troodon, Pachysaurus, Plesiosaurus, and Titanosaurus."

"Yeah, what's your point?" Adelaide asked.

"We shouldn't dig here just because we found bones here before," Shelby said. "I mean, think about it, did you find your Energem here?"

Adelaide shook her head slowly.

"Exactly!" Shelby turned on her heels and marched back to her sanctuary. The others dropped their tools and followed, thankful for the break.

"If we shouldn't be digging here," said Tyler, "where should we be digging?"

Shelby hesitated as she leaned over the table. "I don't know... yet..." she said.

Riley breathed a heavy sigh.

"But I have an idea," Shelby said quickly. "Check this out." She pointed to a square on the map. "If we combine the known areas where the remaining dinosaurs lived with the energy signatures from each dinosaur's Energem, then we could pinpoint more accurately where to look."

"Energy signature?" Koda repeated, looking confused. He sighed and turned to Chase. "What Shelby saying?"

"She just doesn't like getting dirty," Chase answered.

"No. What I'm saying is we need to work smarter, not harder," Shelby said, looking around at them all.

Adelaide frowned as she slurped at her drink only to hear the straw scratching at the bottom of the cup. She pouted and looked to Tyler as he noticed the same thing.

"Yeah, she might be right about that energy signature," Riley confirmed, looking over her notes. Being one of the brains on the team, he could understand what Shelby was saying straight off the bat. But none of the others seemed to care, instead, they were frowning at their cups as they found them empty.

"Hey!" Tyler whined as Shelby chewed her straw.

"You finished all our drinks?" Chase asked.

"What? It's really hot out here," Shelby said, looking from one Ranger to the next.