Earth Song Chapter Thirteen
Earth Song
Chapter Thirteen: Helping and Healing
Note: I do not own Power Rangers Jungle Fury or Ninja Storm, nor do I make money from writing this. I’m just amusing myself.
Crossover: Ninja Storm/Jungle Fury/Mystic Force/Dino Thunder (if you squint)
Timeline: About ONE MONTH after “Chapter 12”
Genre: Drama/General
Summary: The song has begun, summoning the Children of Earth to react. Heroes will rise from unexpected lines
Rating: T (language, content, violence, etc)
I’m watching her move; there is no way she should even still be able to, not this well. Her elegant feet are contained in ballet slippers, and she is carefully choosing her steps. They told her she would never dance again; they told her that her the muscle damage would make it too hard for her. She defies them with every move she makes. She spins and goes on pointe, and I can’t help but realize just how much I love her. She stops short and lets out a cry of pain, she fall hard and fast, landing on her knees, her hands slamming to the floor.
I cross to her and I look at her left leg, the skin is contorting and spasming. Placing the side of my thumbs on her skin I begin to rub in wide circles, seeking to relieve her pain. She gasps and the remaining silent tears race down her face. If anyone walked in here right now they’d probably mistake what we’re doing. She’s on her back, her ankle is on my shoulder and my hand is on her upper thigh.
“You ok? Is it lessening?” I asked, Gabby just nods and I continue to rub, feeling the muscles slowly begin to relax under her skin.
“Thank you,” she says, her voice is a hoarse whisper.
She’s tired. Tired of the hospital. The therapy. The Doctors. The doubt. Her own body, she’s just done. I lift her up and cradle her in my arms and hold her. She buries her face into my neck.
“Ah Gabby, Sensei Brooks, there you are,” the Doctor said, she sighs and uncovers her face.
“Yes?” she asks, blinking up at him, I can tell she’s waiting on more bad news. He’s already made five dramatic speeches telling her about her muscle damage, her seizures, depression, burn marks and her memory loss.
“Would you like to go home?” he asked, her face lit up.
“Are you kidding?” she asked, hope lacing in her voice.
“No, I’m serious.” He said, I stand up, still holding her and a beautiful smile lights her face.
“Bye!” I tell him and Ninja Streak out of there.
I stop on the outskirts of The Wind Ninja Academy and I set her down. She stands firm on the ground and looks around.
“Why did you bring me here?” I shrug.
“Really wasn’t thinking, I just wanted to leave. I usually just automatically come here,”
“Dustin, this isn’t my home anymore,” I sigh and she looks at me with those doe eyes, she’s so sad.
“But-“
“Then where do you want to go? JKP?” I ask, she shakes her head.
“Lily and RJ will go nuts and focus on me and not work. That and they just became a couple, I’d be intruding I can’t do that to them. I want to go to my Uncle’s. I never did get to go,” she said and turns away, stalking off through the thick woods, a slight limp in her leg. I follow her closely; I place my arm around her and hold her firmly against me.
We walk for a while for what seems like forever and finally come across it. The door is open and so are the shutters. Gabby seems concerned. That’s when a figure comes out of the house and steps into the light. It’s Jarrod. Gabby is just as surprised as I am.
“Gabby, what are you doing here?” Jarrod immediately asked, fear in his face as he crossed to us.
“I got released, I’m ok as I’m going to be.” his hand reached out and patted her on the shoulder. He’s so awkward sometimes but bless him, he’s trying.
“Good, good. I hope you don’t mind Gabby but I’ve been cleaning up your Uncle’s place. Since it’s yours now, I figured you’d want it livable.” He says, she smiles up at him and he seems relieved.
“Can I see?” she asked, he nodded.
“Of course! It’s your home!” he said, and she latched on to his arm and he helped her up the three wood stairs and inside. As I see Gabby’s reaction, I can tell this is a vast improvement.
It’s a small cottage, big windows, one room, tiny kitchen. There is a great window on the back wall carved into the symbol of her family. An old chair sits in the corner, but the light pink walls make it cheerful. It seems he’s not only been cleaning but painting and is almost finished. Given how small this place is, it won’t take long to finish. I peek into the bedroom, there is no furniture and it smells strongly of wet paint. Both doors were open in the room, one was a walk in closet and the other was a nice sized bathroom, given how small the house is.
I can hear Jarrod and Gabby talking softly and as I enter the main room, through the carved arch I see her sitting in the chair and Jarrod is sitting on the ground in front of her, looking up at her. He looked like a child, listening to a story and I lean on the arch, listening to her.
“-he believed in you so much Jarrod. He would be proud of you, for what you’ve done. The path you’re taking, he told me how much it pained him to know what happened to you. He did care, he knew it hurt when he left, but he couldn’t take it anymore. But he never stopped caring. And I thank you, for doing all you are for me, this means a lot,” she told him and she leaned back, letting her head loll back and her eyes slowly fell closed. She was clearly tired so Jarrod waited patiently for her to open her eyes again.
“Anything I can do to help,” he told her and she smiled through half open eyes.
“Thank you, you’ve done so much already. I’ll let you be since I’m only in the way, I’ll going for a walk,” she said and stood up slowly. She’s pushing herself but I wish she wouldn’t.
“Not so fast,” came a strong voice and Master Swoop enters the house, ducking into the archway. “I wish you had patience’s, child,” I know that’s directed at me. “Thankfully, that hospital has close ties to Pai Zhua and they are aware Gabby is now my ward. Gabriella, here’s your medication; you need to take them on time everyday. They are to stop your seizures and for your pain, plus your prescriptions. You also needed to fill out your discharge papers, which I have done,” he said and handed Gabby a stack of papers. She promptly looked around and set them on a small side table and then opened her palm as Master Swoop offered her one pill. “Take your medication,” he said gently and went to the kitchen, pulled down a glass and filled it with water. She popped the pill in her mouth and swallowed.
“Happy?” she asked, he nodded.
“Thank you,” he states and looks to Jarrod, “Jarrod, you’ve done a good job cleaning this place up. It does seem livable now. Gabby, your furniture and belongings are still in RJ’s loft if you’d like me to bring them over,” he offers.
“Thanks Master Swoop, I don’t think this place is people friendly yet, but when it is, we’ll move the furniture. I’ll see how my day goes and from there, I’ll figure out where to stay. I guess since I’m out, I should begin my schooling at Pai Zhua soon,” she says, Master Swoop nods.
“Of course, we’ll have to figure out who will teach you but we’ll wait,” he says gently, “We’re not going to rush, your body is healing but you’re still weak and now with your limitations-“
“I’ll get over them. Don’t act like I’m helpless, I got enough of that in the hospital!” she snapped, but she looked like she was going to cry, Master Swoop held up his hands.
“I didn’t-“
“I know,” she cut him off quickly, “I’m just a bit…touchy,” she said and he nodded and to our surprise, pulled her into a hug.
“No fear, Cub, you will become stronger than ever before. It will be hard but I see you’re ready to fight for it,” he said, she nodded and held onto him tight. She pulls away and looks up at him, then bows.
“Thank you, Master Swoop, I’m grateful to have you watching over me,” she says and he smiles.
“You never have to thank me,” he tells her and she comes back to me.
“I think we’ll take that walk now,” I tell them and together we walk out and into the woods.
As we walk, suddenly the ground seems different, the Earth is speaking in whispers, but one tree in particular seems to be speaking. I look to Gabby who is wearing the same confused look.
“Is that tree talking to you?” I ask, she nods.
“That’s never happened before, we’ve heard screams, not whispers,” she says and I do what my reflexes tell me to do, I touch it. Then everything goes white.
----EARTH SONGS---
“Dude, did we just travel though a tree?” Dustin asks, I’m shaky as my feet firmly hit the ground. His arms steady me, and we look around.
We seem to be in a park, well the entrance to one. Across the street are a line of shops and there is one person loitering outside of one called “The Rock Porium”. She’s watching us suspiciously; she heads back down into the shop. I cannot believe my eyes as I see a woman with wings head up from the shop and approaches us; she comes close enough to make me realize he wings are real. They pulse with what I assume is her heartbeat. She whispers ‘excuse me’ and brushes past us and disappears through the tree we came in.
“Dude,” it was all I could think to say and Dustin nods.
“I know. I mean I’ve seen some weird sht but…dude, that was a fairy!” he looks like he’s about to start jumping up and down.
Curious, we head across the street and down the stairs into the loud shop. The blonde woman is still there; her work shirt states her name is LeeLee. But that’s not what catches my eye, a huge black monster is dancing at the DJ booth and a girl with hot pink hair approaches.
“Sup Dustin? Aw! Your cutie is awake I see!” Uhh…
“Gabs, this is Vida, she’s Maddie’s Sister,” Dustin supplies, that would explain how she knows me.
“I take it you’re the Pink Ranger?” I ask, then it struck me, I am missing some memories but some are coming back clearly, her hair for instance, “You DJ! I saw you in club months ago,”
“Probably. My hair makes me memorable, though I’m probably going to dye it soon before it becomes my trademark. I don’t want anymore people calling me Pinkie, there’s too many already,” she says, “But its good to see you up. Want a potion while you’re here? I see you’re still limping,” Vida said, Gabby sighed.
“There’s that and memory loss, fatigue, seizures, burns and the horrific cramps in my leg,” I say glumly, Vida gave a flat smile.
“Well, in time that stuff should fade, but at least you’re alive and you didn’t lose your legs!”
“Wow! Vida! That was something positive!” someone nearby said in faux surprise, Vida leaned over and punched the guy in green.
“Shove it Xander! I have my moments!” she said, fist shaking, Dustin laughed.
“She’s definitely the balls of the group, ain’t she?” he asked, Xander nodded.
“Oh yeah Mate, she’s the force of the Mystic Force.”
“Here Gabby, drink this, though you may want to sit down, you’re gonna go numb,” Vida says and hands me a vial. I throw it back and shiver, I instantly feel tingling.
“You weren’t kidding,” I tell her and she nods.
“Yeah, its one of the stronger batches,” Xander said, “We usually reserve it for the worse injuries.” I can see why, though now I’m becoming sleepy.
“Getting tired?” Vida asked, and I nod or at least I think I do, “Stuff sacks your ass too. Good night Gabs, it was good to see you awake for 10 minutes,” she says and I close my eyes and there’s nothing.
When I wake up, I don’t even have to open my eyes yet to know I’m safely tucked in at RJ’s loft. I smell pizza and hear RJ, Lily and Dustin whispering softly to each other. I’m tucked in tight to Lily’s old bed and I mean I can’t move. I’m secure. Inhaling, I listen to their soft voices, they are talking about me. He updated them about what we did today, seeing Jarrod. They seem impressed he was helping and how much progress he made. Lily promises to go over tomorrow to get the garden back into shape.
I continue to lie there, trying to gather my strength to open my mouth, that potion still held me in its comfortably numb bliss. I can hear RJ stop and begin to move, heading up here to the spare room.
“Well good evening, Miss Phant,” he says, his eyes cast an eerie glow in the dark. “I see your senses are almost as good as mine,”
“Yeah…it’s really…”
“Weird? Yeah. It does take some time to get adjusted to. You’re going to have to learn when to tune in and out for the most part. I know your sense of smell isn’t that powerful, it’s just the eyes, ears and speed…correct?” he asked, plopping down on the foot of the bed. I have no energy to even move over.
“Yes. Since those are natural to deer,” I tell him and he chuckles.
“In two weeks we will begin your training at Pai Zhua, we have all decided to give you more time for rest and therapy,” he tells me, naturally I want to begin right away but if they thinks that’s what’s best, I don’t feel like arguing right now.
“Ok.”
“The Mystic Force is also going to be leaving supplies of potions at your Uncle’s Cottage from now on. They still feel horrible for what happened. But, it seems their Green Ranger Xander is hearing the Earth Song. Dustin spilled to us about what you’ve been hearing. It’s not just you two, or even the Earth trained students in the Wind Ninja Academy. Lily hears it from time to time, given she has the ability to call your Uncle’s Elephant Spirit still. She’s not as bad as you and Dustin or even Xander. Xander apparently has full blown seizures when it happens. I still have to place a call with Tommy Oliver to see if he can track it and if it’s happening to the past Rangers he knows,” It’s a mixed blessing to know that now.
“Alright. Let me know please, tomorrow though, I’m so tired RJ,” I tell him and he smiles and pulls another blanket over me.
“Honey, they gave you a potion that could take down a team of Rangers. So you just concentrate on resting,” he says, laughing softly. The last thing I hear is him saying ‘goodnight’.
Later I feel Dustin climb in next to me and he cuddles down. His arm loops around my waist and he presses his lips to my cheek. I hardly feel it but knowing he’s there means the world to me.
---
To Be Continued (There's only TWO more chapters to go! T_T, with at least three side stories already in the works ;))