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Chapter 7: A Firey Rescue
Tracy's POV
I'm outside the base, in the training area, I'm happy that everything is getting back to normal around S.P.D.
"Alright, everyone, come on out!" I yell.
I toss the team's Pokéballs in the air, and I call out their names as we get to work.
"Sparkles and Shellshcoker, you're up first. Shellshoker, use your Bubble attack, Sparkles use String Shot." I tell my butterfly and turtle Pokémon.
As the bubbles come toward Sparkles, her string shot pops every single bubble, and the water spray causes her wings to sparkle brightly in the sun.
"Good work, you two. You both are looking great," I compliment my Pokémon. "Okay, Big Sister and Quickdraw, you're up next."
Big Sister and Quickdraw nod.
"Big Sister, Assist, Quickdraw Iron Tail," I command.
Her Assist attack produces Ninja's Ancient Power, and it comes within range. Quickdraw's Iron Tail comes in contact with Ancient Power; the sphere shatters into tiny pieces. Cruger walks up.
"Well, our newest cadets are looking good," he says.
"Oh, Commander, I didn't see you. I couldn't agree more. Wait, did you say cadets?" I ask him, confused.
"Yes, I did. Your Pokémon team has helped us in protecting the city," he answers.
"True, and it's also helped them to get even stronger," I add.
"I am aware that your Pokémon team needs to train, but don't forget that you need to train as well," he tells me.
"Don't worry, sir. I was planning on doing some training in a few minutes," I say confidently.
Cruger nods then exits. Twenty minutes later, I put the team back inside their Pokéballs then Quickdraw jumps onto my shoulder before I head to the range. Upon arrival, I set Quickdraw on the floor and approach a large machine in the room.
"Well, I guess it is time that I do a little training myself," I say.
"Hi Tracy, need some help?" Sky asks, surprising me.
I jump back, fall, and land right on my backside.
"Dang it, Sky, next time warn somebody when you are going to do that," I snap, hot with embarrassment.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologizes, offering me his hand and helps me up.
"No worries, and thanks, I could use the help," I say, accepting his apology.
He starts up the machine, and the targets begin to float around the room.
Okay, I can do this,
I take ai start firing my blaster at the targets. When I am done, the machine said okay.
"Right, you ready to try again?" he asks.
"Yup," I answer.
He starts the machine up again, and the targets once more begin to float around the room. I retake aim, but before I can fire my blaster, Quickdraw wakes up from his deep sleep, sprang off my shoulder, and used Thunderbolt. His attack destroys all the targets.
"Quickdraw, what has gotten into you, you've had your training for the day!" I say.
"But Tracy, you have to admit that was incredible," Sky says, very impressed with what he just saw.
"True, but I'm supposed to work on my accuracy, and this machine is not calibrated for Quickdraw or the rest of my team," I tell him.
"I made a program that will release two sets of targets, so you can train together," Kat explains as she enters the room with a CD in her hand.
"Sounds cool, let's try it," I say eagerly.
Kat puts the new program into the machine and starts it up. Quickdraw and I take aim and both of us destroy all the targets. The display reads "Exceptional".
"Will it work with all my other Pokémon?" I ask.
"I haven't been able to see how it will react to the different kinds of attacks that your Pokémon use," Kay answers.
I offer to have my Pokémon help her with the experiment, and I still could get some more training to boot. She expects my offer, and we work for about ten more minutes. In Kat's lab, she's plugging in the experiment information into the computer.
"Well Tracy, I'm very impressed with all of your Pokémon and their power is incredible," Kat compliments.
"Thanks for the compliment, Kat," I say with a smile.
"You are very welcome. Are they all okay after that long session?" Kat asks.
"Yeah, they're fine, just a little tired," I say confidently.
Quickdraw's stomach growls loudly.
"And little hungry too," I added, chuckling.
"You know that we can program some food for them in the food synthesizer," she says.
She hands me a tray of Pokémon food. I let the team out and give them their lunch. After they finish, I put everything away and get the team back into their Pokéballs. I've just got the last one- Shellshocker into his Pokeball when I hear a call to the command center.
Normal P.O.V.
The alarm goes off again, ringing loudly. Commander Cruger calls the team to the command center, and they enter the command center a few seconds later.
"Okay, cadets, there have been a string of robberies lately that I need you to go and investigate," Cruger explains.
"We're on it Sir," Sky says, trying to act as the red ranger.
Tracy starts to daydream about the day she and Michael first meet. Cruger sees a goofy grin creeping across her face.
"Tracy, did you just hear what I said?" Cruger asks.
"Yes, sir," Tracy says.
"Than what did I just say?" he asks.
"Something about robberies," she answers.
"Alright, everyone get to work," he orders.
The five Rangers leave the command center. Tracy walks to her room and goes inside. Pikachu jumps on her shoulder and the two of leave to go to work. Pikachu and Tracy were patrolling the city.
"Well, pal, it looks like everything is in good shape. We should head back." Tracy says.
Pikachu spots smoke rising from the east. "Pika, Pi" Pikachu says quickly.
"What's up, Quickdraw?" Tracy asks her partner.
Pikachu points towards the smoke floating in the air.
"Fire, come on Quickdraw! Let's go see if we can help," she says.
Tracy runs off towards the smoke with Pikachu on her shoulder.
Tracy's P.O.V.
Quickdraw and I arrive at the scene as flames and smoke shoot up towards the sky. I see two little boys, apparently very scared, yelling from the upstairs balcony.
"Help us, please!" the kids shout at the top of their lungs.
"Don't worry, I'm going to help you, just stay calm," I say.
"Inferno, I need your help, come out," I say as I tossed his Pokéball into the air.
"Wow! There's another Pokémon trainer in new tech city!" they yell together.
I fly up to the window where the children are and carefully put them on Inferno's back. We fly them to safety and set the boys on the ground.
"You two okay?" I ask.
"Yes," the boys reply.
"That's good. So, what are your names?" I ask.
"I am Johnny," the first boy says. I guess from the sound of his voice and his appearance that he is around 8 years old.
"And I am Xavier." the other boy answers, and I decide he's about 6.
"Where is your babysitter?" I ask.
"She ran away when the fire started," Johnny answers.
"Man, she is not a very responsible babysitter, but we can talk about that later," I say.
"OH NO!" Xavier yells, very upset.
"What is wrong Xavier?" I ask him.
"Chelle, she is still trapped inside!" he answers quickly.
"Who's Chelle?" I ask, confused.
"She's our baby sister," he responds, with tears in his eyes.
"Okay, you two get a safe distance away for the building. I let you play with my Pikachu while you wait for me to get back, okay?" I tell them.
The boys nod and follow Quickdraw over to a small lot that was a few feet away from the house. I fly back inside the building. I know that I have to work fast because the flames are spreading like a blaze through a pine forest. I use Shellshocker's water gun attack to douse some of the flames but the smoke is getting thicker. I begin to crawl down the hall. Luckily the baby's room was just down the hall. When I got to her room, I check to see if the door is safe to open, but it is hot to the touch.
"Shellshocker, use Skull Bash to break down the door, and after that cool down the room with Rain Dance," I command.
After I enter the room, I see the little baby and she isn't even crying. "Wow! You are one brave baby, now how about we get you out of here?" I say. I see that the curtains are still in good shape.
"Okay, Ninja, come out and use Slash on the curtains," I say.
I toss his Pokéball into the air. After Ninja appears, his attack slash attack goes through the curtain like a knife through soft butter. I wet it down using Shellschoker's Bubble attack before I pick up the baby and wrap her up.
"Okay team, let's get out of here," I say, trying to stay as calm as possible.
As we leave the room, the support beam for the door frame falls down towards us, but Shellshocker uses Hydro Pump and knocks it away. We get back to the window where we entered. I have the baby in one hand, supported against my right shoulder. I put Ninja and Shellshocker back inside their Pokéballs and climb onto Inferno. I fly over to the lot after we land, I give Chelle to Johnny.
"Thank you!" the boys say in unison.
"You're welcome boys; I need to get back home," I say, smiling at them.
"Are you a Power Ranger?" Johnny asks.
"Yes, I am. I guess the uniform gave it away," I answer.
Normal P.O.V.
The boy's parents come running up. The mother begins frantically hugging and kissing her two sons and her daughter.
"Xavier, Johnny, Chelle, thank goodness you are alright!" Mrs. Andrews says.
"Mom, you're embarrassing me!" Xavier whines.
"Hi, I am Marie and this is my husband Philip. Thank you so much Cadet, for saving our children. How can we ever repay you?" she says with tears of joy in her eyes.
"Yes, my wife is right, you deserve a reward, what is your name, Cadet?" Mr. Andrews says.
"Sir, Knowing that your family is safe and still all here is all the reward that I need," Tracy says very modestly.
Tracy hears the fire truck sirens so Pikachu jumps on her shoulder. She puts Charizard back in his Pokéball and she leaves. Tracy walks in the base and Kat comes up to her.
"Hi Tracy, did you get information about the robberies?" Kat asks.
"No, I couldn't find anything out at all," Tracy answers.
"So, did anything interesting happen on your patrol?" she asks continuing to play 20 questions.
"No," Tracy says, knowing full well that she was lying.
"Then why does your uniform smells like smoke?" she asks catching her bluff.
"No, no it doesn't," Tracy says lying again.
"Tracy," she snaps.
"Okay, while we were on our way back to the base, Quickdraw saw smoke in the distance so I decided to investigate and that's all," Tracy explains.
Tracy goes to her room while Kat walks to the common room and turns on the T.V. The reporter says, "Breaking news. Update about a house fire that broke out about a half-hour ago. I have good news to report to all our viewers: all the children that got trapped inside, including a twelve-month-old baby girl, was rescued by a brave young heroine from the S.P.D. Academy. Now we will go live to Alyssa, on the scene with the Andrews family. Alyssa."
The reporter signals the tech crew to go to the reporter on the scene.
"Thanks, Taylor. I am here with the family. Is there anything that you would like to tell the viewers?" Alyssa asks the small family.
The reporter bends down so that Xavier can reach the mic.
"Yes I do, nice reporter lady," Xavier says.
"And what is your name?" Alyssa asks the little boy.
"Xavier," He answers.
"Well, Xavier, go ahead," she says with a smile.
"All I want to say is thanks to the cadet who saved me, my brother and sister. She taught me that girls are heroes too," he says.
"You heard it here everyone. Girls are heroes too. So, back to you in the studio," she says smiling.
Kat turns the T.V. off and heads back to the command center. Meanwhile, in Tracy's room, Tracy changes into a clean uniform and, as she leaves the room, the alarm goes off. The rangers rush into the command center.
"There is a robbery in progress at the First National Bank," Cruger tells.
"We're on it, sir," Sky says still trying to steal some of Tracy's thunder.
The team morphs and race off to the scene, and Tracy follows behind them. All of a sudden she feels dizzy and catches herself by placing her hand on the wall.
"Hey Tracy, are you okay?" Bridge asks, very concerned.
"Yes, don't worry, I'm fine. I'll catch up. You get going," she orders.
The rangers follow her order and go on ahead.
"You sure you're alright?" Cruger asks.
"Yes, don't worry about me, sir, I'm fine," she says confidently.
Tracy pushes herself off the wall and goes off to help the others. As soon as she takes one step, she feels dizzy again. This time she can't react quick enough to catch herself and she falls to the floor demorphed. Cruger runs over to Tracy and picks her up and sits her on his knee.
"Tracy, wake up!" he says as he shakes her. Tracy opens her eyes for a split second to take a breath. "Don't worry sir, I'm fine...I" she says weakly before she faints. Cruger carries her to the infirmary.
In the infirmary, Cruger is standing next to Tracy's bed very concerned for his red ranger.
"Doc Felix, any idea what is wrong with Tracy?" he asks.
"Not yet sir, but I am running a blood test as we speak. I should have the results in a few minutes." Dr. Felix explains.
Cruger looks over at the machine and notices that her pulse is starting to slow down. Doc Felix goes to get the defibrillator and shocks her. He looks over at the monitor and it reads that her pulse is low. He sets up the defibrillator again and shocks her again.
"Come on Tracy! Show me that fighting spirit of yours," Doctor Felix says.
A few seconds he hears the faint sound of her voice. "Never give up," Tracy says weakly. The monitor jumps to life showing a normal resting heart beat and she begins to wake up.
"You had me scared there for a while, cadet," Doctor Felix says with a smile.
"Believe me, sir, I wasn't trying to," she says weakly.
"It's all right; at least you are fine now," Cruger adds.
"Sorry sir, I hate to disappoint you, but..." she says barely audible.
Then a few seconds after Tracy says that she faints again.
"Tracy, no!" Cruger yells.
Doc Felix puts the defibrillator away and takes out his thermometer and takes her temperature to make sure that what the monitor says is correct. The reading on the thermometer is 104 degrees and the monitor reads the same. The problem is that the temperature is starting to rise.
"Cruger, we have to do something to bring down her fever, and fast," Dr. Felix says trying not to panic.
Commander Cruger leaves and returns with a basin filled with water and a few damp towels. He places a towel on her forehead and his assistant comes in and hands him the blood test results.
"Thank you, Sophia," he says.
She nods and leaves the room.
"So, what's the prognosis, doctor?" Cruger asks.
"I have the good news that her blood test came back negative for any virus. The bad news is that it came back positive for some type of chemical poison." He explains.
"Poisoned. What kind of Poison?" Cruger ask.
"That's what we're trying to figure out. Until then, she needs to be monitored closely," he says.
Cruger offers so stay so Dr. Felix leaves her in his very capable hands. About fifteen minutes later, Pikachu comes in and begins to help Cruger take care of the girl. Pikachu sees the towel on his partner's forehead is dry, so he hands Cruger a new one. All of Tracy's Pokémon let themselves out of their Pokeballs as she wakes up.
"That's my team. When one is sick or injured you are right there to help," Tracy says with a weak smile.
They all nod and she falls back asleep. Then they all go to work. Charizard keeps his distance so that his Tail Flame wouldn't get splashed, but it keeps the room warm. Blastoise makes sure that the level in the basin wouldn't get too low. Pikachu and Kecleon continue to wring out the towels. Skitty carries them over to Cruger on its tail. Beautify uses her Psychic attack to carry the dry towels back to the basin to get wet again. Cruger's morpher sounds.
"Sir, we could use some backup. Where is Tracy?" Sky's voice says from the other end.
"I'll tell you later, I'm on my way," he says into his morpher.
Cruger heads out to help the rangers.
In front of the First National Bank, the rangers battle the criminal.
"Hmm, only four rangers. That means my plan worked." The criminal says very pleased with himself.
"What plan?" Sky asks. Cruger rides in on his A.T.V.
"Its plan is to weaken the team by poisoning one of our fellow rangers," Cruger says as he gets off the A.T.V.
"What! Tracy's been poisoned?" Bridge asks, incredulously. The shadow ranger simply nods.
"You may have figured out my plan but you can help your friend with this." the criminal says as he takes out a vial filled with a blue liquid from his pocket.
"That's the antidote," Sky states in a panicky tone.
"Yes, too bad your friend will never get it." the criminal says laughing.
As he begins to throw the vile towards the ground hoping that it will smash into many tiny pieces, Pikachu comes blurring by using quick attack and catches the vial before it hits the ground.
"What was that?" the criminal asks.
"Our new friend," Cruger answers smugly.
"Well, your new friend is fast, I'll give you that, but can it deflect this?" the criminal says with an evil smirk.
The criminal fires its lasers at Pikachu.
"Pikachu, watch out," Bridge warns.
Pikachu uses Iron Tail and deflects the laser blast back towards the criminal. It sends the monster flying backward.
"Good work, Pikachu. Now go back to the base, quick," Cruger tells the electric mouse.
He nods and heads off as the Rangers continue to battle the criminal.
Back in the infirmary Kat and Doc Felix are standing next to Tracy's bed.
"How is she doing, doctor?" Kat asks concerned for her friend.
"Her fever has gone down a bit, but it's still high," Dr. Felix answers.
Then Pikachu comes into the room with the vial with the antidote clenched in his teeth and collapses on the floor. Kat walks over to Pikachu and picks him up and cradles him in her arms.
"Is he okay?" She asks.
"He's exhausted, what is that in his teeth?" Felix says as he took the vial out of Pikachu's teeth
"It looks like the antidote!" Kat says excitedly.
"Well, it looks like the antidote, but how do we know it's not a fake?" Dr. Felix adds.
Kat walks over to the bed and places Pikachu on Tracy's chest. Kat notices that she is getting worse. "Doctor, Tracy can't wait longer and I may not know Pikachu that well, but he risked getting injured or captured just to bring it back to help her. She needs the antidote now!" she snaps.
"You are right Miss Manx's," Dr. Felix says.
Doctor Felix walks over to the bed and tilts Tracy's head back. He pours the antidote into her mouth. He looks over at the monitor to see that her fever is breaking and the rangers rush into the room.
"How is Tracy doing?" Sky shouts.
Doctor Felix places his right index finger over his lips, signaling them that they need to whisper.
"Sorry, how is she doing?" he asks again, lowering his voice.
"Her fever just broke a few minutes ago and she has finally gone to sleep," he whispers.
Tracy's POV
I wake up. Quickdraw, Big sister, and Ninja all give me a big hug.
"Okay gang, I'm okay," I say, trying not to laugh.
"If Pikachu hadn't gone out into the field to help us get the antidote, you would still have a 104-degree fever," Cruger explains.
"I've told you before, sir, we are more than a team; we are like one big family," I say yawning.
Normal P.O.V.
Then Pikachu, Skitty, Kecleon, and Tracy fall asleep again.
"We should leave now and let them rest," Cruger says.
They all leave the room so Tracy can get some quiet to rest. They continue their conversation in the hallway leading to the infirmary.
"Doc Felix, do you have any idea how long until Tracy will be fully recovered?" Sky asks.
"That's hard to say, Sky. That poison took a lot out of her, but I will check on her in a few hours to see how her recovery is progressing," Dr. Felix answers.
In the command center, the rangers are sitting around the halo-graphic computer in the middle of the room.
"There's one thing that I don't understand," Sky says.
"What is that, Sky?" Cruger asks the blue ranger.
"How did the criminal poison her?" he asks.
"I think that I might know," Kat says.
Kat shows the footage from Tracy's patrol and they see her rescue the children from the fire.
"Kat, rewind it," Sky says. Kat starts to rewind the footage.
"Stop it right there. Now zoom in and play it in slow motion." He says.
They watch the footage again and see a tiny dart the size of a cats claws pierce her right arm.
"Well, now we know how she got poisoned, but why didn't she tell us about the fire?" He asks.
"Maybe she didn't want everyone to treat her like some big hero." Kat answers.
"She might not want everyone to treat her like a hero but those children sure will," Bridge adds.
As the rangers leave the command center, they run into a young couple with two young boys and a twelve-month-old baby girl.
"Hello, cadets. I am Marie Andrews, this is my husband Philip, our sons Xavier and Johnny and daughter Chelle. We were wondering if you know the name of the cadet who saved our children." Marie asks.
"Yes, Ma'am, I do. Her name is Tracy. Oh, my name is Skyler Tate, but my friends call me Sky." Sky answers.
"Nice to meet you, Sky, but do you know where we can find Tracy?" She asks.
"Yes I do, she's in the infirmary." He answers.
"Mom, what is an infirmary?" Xavier asks.
"The infirmary, Xavier, is like a little hospital," Marie says answering her son's question.
"Can we go and see her, mom?" He asks.
"I don't know, Xavier," She answers, Xavier looks at her with puppy dog eyes.
"Pretty please, mom, with a cherry on top," he pleads.
"Okay, you win this time Xavier," she says giving in to her son's look.
Tracy's P.O.V.
The Andrews family enters the room and Sky sees that I am out of bed.
"Tracy, you should be in bed," he snaps.
"Don't worry, I was just stretching, that's all. And you have friends," I say.
The boys run to me and give me a bear hug. I groan.
"Thanks again Tracy for saving us. You're our hero," they say in unison.
I bend down to be at their level.
"Xavier... Hold on, how do you know my name?" I ask.
"Sorry, I kinda told them." Sky apologizes.
"It's okay, Sky, you're forgiven," I say with a smile.
"I think we should get going now boys. She still needs her rest, so it's time to say goodbye," Marie says.
"Aw mom, do we have to?" the boys whine.
"Yes. Now let's go. I called your cousin Michael and we are going to stay with him and your uncle Austin for a while. They'll be here soon," she informs them
A few moments later Michael walks in the room, and says, "I heard my name."
"Thank you again for helping us out," she says giving him a hug.
"No problem. We are family after all," he says modestly.
The boys hug me again and thank me for the tenth time, then leave the room. Michael tells them to go wait for him in the car. I get off my knees and stand up. He turns around and walks toward me.
"Thank you for saving my little cousins," he says very gratefully.
"No problem. I don't like to see families get torn apart," I say with a smile.
"You know, you are so cute when you act like that," he says, smiling back.
"I know," I say, grinning.
I walk toward my bed, but my legs are now weak from sitting on my knees for so long. I fall forward, but Michael catches me.
"Nice catch," I say, still smiling.
"Thanks," he says.
Michael helps me the rest of the way to my bed.
"You didn't have to do that, y' know," I remind him.
"I know, but I wanted to," he says.
He leans in closer and kisses me on the cheek. Michael leaves the room and so does Sky.