The Hellhound's Secret

Return of Thunder, Part II

Kali sighed as she walked back into Ops. "The cold front has swept up the coast," she told Cam and Sensei. "Nick says it has hit Briarwood and I'm even getting messages from Maddie and Chip in Summer Cove."

Cam chewed the inside of his lip and turned his attention back to the monitor. "Before you ask," he said, as Kali sat beside him. "I haven't been able to locate the others. It's like they've vanished into another dimension."

"That doesn't help," said Kali, shaking her head. "There are hundreds of dimensions littered throughout the Mystic Realm, not all of them are good, and that's without taking the hidden ones into consideration."

"Hidden dimensions?" Cam asked.

"Ones that need more than one magic user to access them," Kali answered. "There are some dimensions, like the shadow dimension, for example, that needs demon powers to open them. Itassis and Matoombo could help, but I doubt the others are there."

Cam nodded, deciding to take her word for it then push the matter.

"We must keep trying to contact them," said Sensei.

Kali nodded slowly. "I'm going to head back to Root core," she said, nudging Cam's shoulder. "Maybe there's something there that can help. I mean, if there is a chance that they are stuck in a different dimension then that's going to be the best place to find it and them."

"Okay. But keep your Morpher handy," said Cam. "We may need you if there's an attack."

"Got it," said Kali, jumping down from beside the monitor and disappearing in a puff of black cloud.

~X~

"What do you mean 'they're gone'?" Xander asked.

Kali looked up from the many books in front of her. "What do you think I mean?" she asked. "They were fighting the Thunder Rangers in a Megazord battle, Toxipod's shell exploded and they disappeared."

"Why didn't they take you, too?" Vida asked.

"Maybe because I don't have a Megazord?" Kali sighed and shoved a book on ancient potion ingredients away. "We can't find them using the Ninja red-eye, and we've tried contacting them on the morphers, but they're not answering. Cam seems to think they could be in a different dimension, which is why I am here and not there."

Eithne entered from the library carrying an armful of books. "The idea that they're in a different dimension is logical," she agreed. "But which one is the question. There are over a hundred in Briarwood alone, not to mention the rest of the Mystic Realm, we may not find them."

"That's not an option," said Kali, shaking her head. "There's got to be a locator spell or something that I can use? I can't fight Lothor alone, I need the others."

Nick placed his hand on Kali's shoulder. "No one's giving up," he promised. "We'll find them."

Kali sighed and nodded. "I'm sorry, I just feel like I'm making rookie mistakes," she said. "I mean, this isn't my first rodeo as a Ranger. But I feel like I did when we first started," she looked around at Vida, Xander, and Nick. "We had no clue what we were doing, and if it weren't for Udonna, we probably would've failed more than half of the time. But in the last month of being a Ninja Ranger, I've let one teammate get captured and now I've lost all of them."

"That happened to us, too, if you remember," said Xander. "We lost Nick in Koragg's dimension."

"Yeah, and remember when Hekatoid turned all of us, except you, Maddie, and Chip into dice?" Vida asked.

"How about the time we got eaten by Murcor?" Nick asked. "Chip and Vida were the only two left."

"I'm the only one left!" Kali argued. "I lost my entire team."

"And we'll get them back," said Eithne, gently. "Don't give up, Kali. Now, what did you do when you lost Nick?"

Kali heaved a sigh as Xander leaned against the table beside her, nudging his shoulder against hers.

"Nick was pulled into a dark seal by Koragg," said Vida. "We had to say the spell backwards to reverse it, and get him back."

"There was no spell here," said Kali. "When Toxipod exploded he unleashed this sludge-like magic which caused the others to disappear."

Xander scratched his chin. "We did try a locator spell on Nick, but it didn't work because of Koragg's magic," he said. "What if, on the off chance, Tori, Shane, and Dustin aren't in another dimension? We could use the locator spell to find them here."

Nick looked to Kali and squeezed her shoulders. "It's worth a try," he said.

"And we get to eliminate the possibilities of where they've ended up," said Vida. "If they aren't in our dimension, then we can start looking at others.

Kali nodded and reached for a spellbook. "Alright," she said, flipping it open to the contents page. "Let's get to work."

~X~

"This is crazy. It's never been this cold here," said Cam. "We've broken every record since the weather service has existed."

Kali smiled faintly as she listened to Cam whine. "Are you okay, Sensei?" she asked, directing her attention to the small rodent.

"Why couldn't I have been a long-haired Peruvian guinea pig?" Sensei asked.

"Look on the bright side," said Kali. "You could've been a naked mole-rat."

Sensei chuckled. "Any luck on the dimensions?" he asked.

"We're still searching," said Kali. "We've tried locating them in this dimension, but no luck so far. We're now breaking off into teams and going dimension-hopping - Daggeron and Eithne are taking the Solar Train, while Matoombo and Vida are checking the Dawn dimension. Udonna and Leanbow have gone to check the Mystic Mother's dimensions, while Claire, LeeLee, and Phineas are checking in with the Snow Prince. Itassis and Nikki are also checking the Underworld, it's still in repairs, but we can't be too careful."

"Do you think they're down there?" Cam asked.

"Honestly, I don't," said Kali. "But it would explain why we can't reach them. How about you? Have you found anything?"

"Unfortunately, no," said Cam. "I've had to turn the heat up, but I'm worried about it drawing power away from the search systems."

"We have no choice," said Sensei. "We must find the other Rangers."

Kali glanced over her shoulder. Nick and Xander were still pouring over spell books, each trying a new spell that they hoped would locate her new friends, but with each spell coming back with nothing, her hope was waning.

"If I need to, I can bring our search to you," said Kali. "Given my Hellhound abilities, I don't feel the cold as much. Same with Nick and his phoenix spirit. We can warm Ninja Ops while you continuing searching. Just say the word."

"We're alright for now," said Cam. "Stay there. I'll call you if anything changes."

Kali nodded. "Be careful, Cam," she said.

"You too."

Disconnecting the call, Kali wandered back to the table and sat back down beside Nick. She pulled a book towards her, all the while feeling two sets of eyes on her. "Cam's struggling," she said, without looking up. "He doesn't enough power to warm Ninja Ops and continue the search for the others. If he runs out of power then others could remain lost, and he and Sensei will freeze."

"We won't let that happen," said Nick, pulling her close.

"He's right," said Xander.

Kali took a deep breath, wiped her unsure tears from her eyes, and returned to her research. There was a gnawing in the pit of her stomach, and she felt incredibly sick and guilty. She was safe at Root core while her new friends were either missing, or freezing to death, and if she didn't do something, and fast, she'd be the only Ninja Ranger left on the planet.

It's short, and I'm sorry. I'm hoping it picks up soon.

~Twix