Chapter 39- Leadership

155 8 0
                                    

Everyone was so happy that Shelby had woken up. She was released from the hospital a few days later after she had woken up, with all sorts of prescriptions and instructions to Tyler on how to administer the medicines. For a while, it was like everything was normal again.

And then, after a short time of peace, one last bad occurrence hit the team. Mei Lang, the new Talon Ranger, was found knocked out near the end of Amber Beach, shot in the head multiple times and barely alive. Ivan managed to save her by speeding to the hospital in ranger form and bringing her in, soon before the criminal who'd done it was caught and jailed for life. The two of them had fallen in love in the past few weeks and it hurt the Gold Ranger so much. But he was definitely dealing with the pain better than Tyler had been.

Speaking of Tyler, he and Shelby had often been spending long days away from the museum down at the beach. The Red Ranger often told the others that something was wrong; that Shelby didn't seem like herself anymore. At one point, she'd even thrown herself into the waves like Kendall had before, telling her boyfriend later that she wasn't thinking straight when she tried to commit suicide. She'd wanted to escape, to get away from everything. But Tyler had explained to her that he had saved her because he wanted her to stay with him, to be his guide in life. His guardian angel. She steadily agreed, knowing that she'd never want to be away from him again.

The person who was faring worst from everything, however, was Chase. After both Shelby's and Mei's incidents, Kendall had broken down, even trying to kill herself more than once, even when her mind was her own and she was thinking for herself. With Tyler occupied by his own problems, it seemed that the Black Ranger was the team's new leader.

But what was there to lead? Chase has been thinking about that more than ever lately. Ivan wasn't in any condition to fight while he was praying for Mei's life, Tyler or Shelby were too fragile, and Kendall herself was more close to death than any of them when she didn't want to live. If more villains showed up at any time, the team would be more vulnerable than ever.

He walked in on Kendall again soon enough in the kitchen of the Dino Bite Café, rummaging around in the silverware drawer.

"Oh no, no, no," he snapped, slamming the drawer shut as his girlfriend pulled her hands back, glaring at him. "I'm not letting you go so easily. You need to stop trying to kill yourself. One more of these events and I'll need to take you to a therapist."

Kendall swayed on her feet for a moment, then fell into Chase's arms, sobbing loudly. "But it's so hard not to want to..." She whimpered incoherently as he picked her up and carried her out of the room, all the way to the Dino Lab. The whole time, she never fought. She was torn between wanting to leave the world and having Chase by her side. Life had broken her.

"Is there any way I can help you out of this?" he asked her, setting her down on a counter. "Things should be normal now; I don't understand why you're trying to do anything to yourself now."

"It's too late," she replied, sweeping her long hair out of her face. Her glasses she placed on the counter as she rubbed her eyes gently. "You know what was done to me and I hate it."

"Kendall, you survived death!" Chase snarled at her. "If you can do that, you can do anything. Don't berate yourself from what you've gone through. Mei will be fine soon and Shelby just needs time to get over her own thing. You can help us make the team strong from this. If you can come back from this, it may be easier for the others to come back too."

At that point Kendall seemed to snap out of a spell. The fire faded from her eyes and she took a deep breath. "I- I'll try. For you... and for Shelby, Ivan, and Mei." She shuddered. "Especially Mei."

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Mei looked around the room and sighed. She was ready to go back to the Rangers, but the hospital wasn't releasing her just yet. Being shot in the head hadn't messed up her brain, but the doctors still wanted to run more tests on her to make sure. It was making her extremely restless.

"Lady Mei, are you doing alright?" Ivan inquired as he entered the room, startling his girlfriend. "I heard you will be back soon."

"Yeah, I will," she answered. He sat on the edge of her bed, grasping her hand in his.

"Is your head okay?"

"I think so. But the doctors don't and that's annoying."

"Mei, they were just trying to help you so you don't have to come back here."

"True... wait, what do you mean by were?"

"They did a bunch of tests on you while you were asleep. That's the only reason I was allowed to come here; you're being released today."

"Really?" Mei gasped. "That's- that's amazing!" She swung her legs over the side of the bed and wrapped her arms around Ivan, embracing him. He returned it, a smile spreading over his face.

"I'm sorry about everything," he murmured.

"It's fine... I'm just glad everything's alright."

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

It was a hard time and she didn't know what to do.

There was nothing else to do.

Nothing but dwell as she walked along the beach alone.

Shelby shuddered as she thought of the horrible memories that had been brought back to life at the hospital. So much pain. So much betrayal. So much heartache.

Now she was being protected by Tyler. But sometimes, she felt like she didn't want to be protected. At times, she'd considered trying to commit suicide when she was alone again. But it would never work. She had heard that Kendall had tried and failed and how torn up Chase had been when he'd caught her. And she didn't want Tyler to be like how he was at the hospital. If she had died, it seemed he would have killed himself.

I won't do that to him again, she thought, sitting down at the edge of the water.

"Shelby?"

"Tyler...?" She turned her head, but it wasn't him. In fact, it was his father.

"Hey, how are you feeling right now?" James asked as he went and sat down beside her, careful not to get wet. "Tyler had some business at the café to do, so he wanted me to check on you."

Shelby forced herself to give him a small smile. "Well, tell him I said thanks. But he can be a bit overprotective these days."

"He actually has had a right to be. When you were in the hospital, he nearly lost you."

"What do you mean? I know I almost died, but-"

"According to what the doctor told him, your heart stopped more than once during the night," James said to her. "Luckily, there were always other doctors on hand, but Tyler was almost scared to death when he heard about it in the morning."

"Wait... did that really happen?" The expression on Shelby's face had changed to horror.

"Yes. He was honestly depressed."

Shelby drew in a sharp breath and buried her face in her hands. "I don't want to do that to him though!"

"He cares for you very much. But hopefully, he'll deal with that kind of thing like Ivan did in the future." James patted her on the shoulder and stood up again. "Will you come meet us back at the café for lunch?"

"Of course. Just give me some time." Shelby nodded to him. "Tell Tyler I'll be back soon."

Power Rangers Dino Super Charge- BetrayedWhere stories live. Discover now