✔ | Same Fear

Without Any Words

The interaction that happened between Hammie and Stinger after dealing with the Jark Matter's minions didn't exactly go unnoticed to the rest of the group. In fact, even they sensed that it wasn't just Hammie who was acting weird for a long time. Well, not that long ー but you still get the point.

In any case, that last interaction between the two aforementioned Kyurangers somewhat created a tension within the Orion that the rest didn't know how to handle it. And to think they still had a lot of battles to go on to. So many areas on Earth to liberate to. But how would any of them be able to do that if their teammates won't even talk ー let alone spare a glance ー to each other?

Without anything to do on that particular day, Lucky left the bridge and tried to find Hammie so he could talk to her for a while. He did succeed in finding her in the pantry. But it appeared that she was still miffed about something. And he could tell that it wasn't just about Stinger. When he looked at Spada who was in the kitchen watching Hammie munched her food almost in anger, he saw the chef just shrugged and continued to do more cooking ー probably as his way to escape the tension that Hammie was forming, surely unnoticeable by the space ninja herself.

With a resigned smile, Lucky approached Hammie who was still busy eating.

"Oh? Lucky! Did you also come here to eat? Spada made another delicious meal today," Hammie greeted with her usual smile.

But Lucky didn't say anything. Instead, he just sat on one of the stools opposite to her and continued looking at her, eating. That was when Hammie stopped eating and stared at Lucky in curiosity.

"Is there something wrong?"

Lucky shook his head and just continued watching Hammie chow down her food, slightly less angry this time.

But the space ninja couldn't help feeling uncomfortable being watched like that. So with a deep sigh, she ate the last bit of her food and drank water before facing Lucky.

"Seriously speaking, what do you want, Lucky? It's not like you to watch someone eat with that kind of serious expression on your face," Hammie inquired quite frankly, but her teammate didn't seem to mind.

"I just wanted to know what's wrong between you and Stinger these days. Both of you are acting weird since he saved you from the enemy last time."

The grumpy expression on her face slowly faded at the mention lf Stinger before sighing deeply that even Spada who was in the kitchen had truly found weird.

"If I have the answer to that, I wouldn't be feeling like this. That man is acting as if what he did was just nothing. But whenever I would try to ask him the reason why he was angry that day, he would ignore me. It's like my inquiry didn't matter at all," Hammie explained without looking at anyone.

That was why she didn't notice the serious look on Lucky's face and the frown on that of Spada's as soon as she was done talking.

"That is strange. Besides, I don't even recall you doing something that would anger Stinger, even though he looked angry most of the time," Spada commented.

At that point, it was Lucky who had a frown soon after, along with the recollection of what he had observed on the day Stinger saved Hammie.

He looked... worried. And scared, too. But why? At the moment, he didn't dare voice out any of his thoughts because he wanted to make sure.

Stinger had his reasons of acting strange towards Hammie since that day, Lucky was sure of that. He just have to figure out what.

xxxxxx

Meanwhile, Stinger could have heaved a sigh after listening to Hammie complaining about his actions towards her since that dangerous day. But he shook his head and walked away from the door leading to the pantry in which he was leaning at for quite a while to eavesdrop on the conversation. And also, whether he admitted it or not, to check on Hammie.

Walking away from where she was ー again ー had only stirred his mind of the reason for his actions towards the space ninja. True, it was making everyone crazy contemplating on various reasons. But the nagging feeling, fueled with unprecedented fear, was making it all worst for him ー prompting him to keep it all to himself.

Upon looking up, Stinger soon noticed that he arrived in a room where he could see the docking area for the Kyu Voyagers. He did hear that Hammie had spent a lot of time there when she wasn't chosen to participate in some Earth liberating missions. He couldn't help wondering why, though.

As his eyes inadvertently landed on the Chameleon Voyager, his mind immediately conjured visions and images before he could even put a stop to it. The visions, however, wasn't exactly beautiful ones.

It was the ones he saw in his dreams lately. Same scenes, over and over, as if tormenting him and taunting him that it would come to life no matter what he did to try and stop them from happening...

xxxxxx

It was the same starting point. The Sasori Voyager crash landed somewhere near the place that the Kyurangers had to liberate. What the team didn't anticipate, however, was the ability of the Daikan to actually fly and use the sky and the clouds to its advantage. It truly drove them crazy and frustrated. The Daikan kept on firing at them one after the other until only the Shishi Voyager and the Ryu Voyager were left still flying and dealing with the enemy. The rest of the still surviving and functioning Kyu Voyagers fought with the other Jark Matter minions on ground.

As soon as Stinger, now his suit dematerialized, looked around the area to see the other Kyu Voyagers that crash landed on the ground. In particular, he was looking for the Chameleon Voyager in which he knew had taken the worst damage from the Daikan's aerial attack. He and Spada saw how the enemy targeted Hammie, Raptor, and Kotaro's Kyu Voyagers before his was taken down, as well.

Not minding the head and the left arm injuries he sustained because of landing harshly, Stinger walked around to look for Hammie and check on her condition. He was sure that Spada and even Garu were able to locate Raptor and Kotaro and rescue them. Now it was his turn to look for the space ninja and assess her situation. A few minutes later, he was able to locate the Chameleon Voyager ー all broken and the surroundings were on fire ー but it wasn't enough for him to calm down. He needed to check on Hammie's situation and know if she'd be alright.

But before Stinger could approach the said Kyu Voyager, an energy ball headed straight towards it that he still managed to sense. His eyes widened at the sight, unable to move because it was approaching fast. He had to move or both he and Hammie would be toasted by that energy ball. He found himself dashing towards the Chameleon Voyager and opened the hatch. Before he could enter to check on Hammie, he heard a large explosive sound right above him. Upon looking up, he was surprised to see the Shishi Voyager hovering above, as if shielding the Chameleon Voyager.

"Hurry up! I'll deal with this one," Lucky shouted and charged towards the enemy who fired that energy ball.

Stinger returned to his senses and entered the opened hatch. Just like him, Hammie's suit was also dematerialized. So he could clearly see the injuries she sustained from that attack.

"Hammie! Hammie!" he called out as soon as he landed inside the hatch.

Not wasting any more second, he approached the injured girl. But as soon as he tried carrying her, his heart sank upon sensing something wrong with Hammie. She was starting to feel cold. Putting two fingers on one part of her neck, he tried feeling her pulse. Nothing came. His heart continued sinking further and his head shook in denial.

"Hammie! Wake up! Hammie!"

Unfortunately, the space ninja remained unresponsive. It was when he noticed something that horrified him. A shrapnel that came from within the hatch had pierced Hammie's chest from the back ー to where her right lung was located. Stinger checked his hand and that was when he saw blood.

In horror, he looked at her now pale and seemingly lifeless figure.

"Don't do this..." he started whispering, most likely in denial. "Please come back... Please!"

He carried her, and the next thing he knew, he was shaking his head in disbelief and tried to wake her up, but to no avail. Moments later, he found himself screaming in horror, with no care of the fire surrounding the Chameleon Voyager that started to get bigger due to the surrounding fuel around the area.

But Stinger could care less. He screamed as he embraced Hammie's bloodied body close to him...