Legacy Rangers (Book Two of the Chosen Universe)

Chapter Sixteen

KATIE

She was not exactly pleased when Zeke called her communicator to tell her what had been going on. Katie had trusted Tori! What the hell was her problem, and why had she zeroed in on Josh? With no idea what else to do, she contacted Tori's teammates.

"Listen, I asked Tori to do me a favor and help my team train," Katie said to Cam. "She went nuts. She's been straight-up abusive to Josh, who has enough issues as it is. What the fuck is her problem?"

"That's not like Tori," Cam said with concern. "She's normally very good as a trainer. The students love her."

"Yeah, well, my team hates her. I need her replaced, and I'm about to go back to Earth just to kick her ass."

"I'll bring the team to Angel Grove. We'll figure out what's going on with her."

"Good. Can I talk to Dustin?"

Cam passed the phone along. "Sup?" Dustin greeted Katie.

"What's up is your buddy's a bitch," Katie said. "I need a new trainer for my team. You're supposed to be the epitome of mellow and laid-back. Can you help them without abusing any of them?"

"Uh, sure... I can do that," Dustin replied cheerfully. He had such an easy way about him that Katie relaxed a bit just talking to him.

"Thank you... I feel terrible about this. I was trying to look out for them and I screwed them. I wasn't even there to see it. Our Red Ranger finally called my communicator to tell me what was going on."

"So where are you?"

"KO35. I'm helping Andros with something, and it's taking a little longer than I expected, but I should be back home in a few days. I'm also training with a new toy..." She smiled. Katie had convinced her father to give her a weapon of his from a team other than the Mighty Morphin one... His Brachio Staff from his time leading Kira's team. As a little girl, she'd frequently grabbed it and run off on him, especially while he was stuck in his morphed form for a while and couldn't go outside on their block because she knew he wouldn't be able to chase her. Tiny Katie had been a tiny terror and she'd gleefully turned the knobs on the staff as she figured out she could make the earth shake. She'd also set her father's butt on fire once. She laughed at the memory.

"Awesome. You keep doing You, Katie. Let me worry about your team. They're in good hands now."

Katie believed him. Still, she went over everything he needed to know. Since half of the team was mid-nervous breakdown, she made sure he knew exactly what each one of them would need, and how to handle emergencies. Dustin listened and promised her he'd take care of them.

Satisfied that the team was safe, Katie hung up and went back to training with the Brachio Staff. It had a lot more features than she'd realized at three years old, and she had mastered most of them, but she was determined to perfect it before she used it in battle. KO35 had some good places to train where no one else was around to be affected by random earthquakes or sudden fires. Katie recalled keeping her mother away from her by causing the earth to shake.

I wonder if she was evil then, too, Katie thought. She'd never been close to her mother, and now she suspected it was because on some level, she'd always known what that bitch really was. She pushed the thought out of her mind so she could focus on training. She had to get this right so she could get home to her team.

TORI

She was mildly surprised when her entire team showed up in Angel Grove. "Um... Hi, guys... Is something wrong?" Tori asked.

"From what we hear, yes," Cam said. "How are you feeling, Tori?"

"I'm fine. Super, actually." She had to remain calm. She had to protect the truth. Her Mistress would be most displeased if she didn't.