The Hellhound's Return

Light Source, Part II

Kali smiled.

"Yeah. I'm sorry," Nick sighed. "You're right."

"'Course I am," Xander replied, and Kali didn't need to see his face to know he was smirking. She could hear it in his voice. "As for Kali, I may have her attention, but I don't have her heart." He sounded closer now and when Kali looked up she found him staring at her from the doorway. He didn't say, just stared at her. "Do I?"

Kali held his gaze for a split second and then looked away. The familiar feelings of guilt bubbled in her chest and she felt tears in her eyes; she squeezed them shut, willing them not to fall as she took a deep breath. She'd always prided herself on being able to hide her emotions, had she become that easy to read?

"Wait, what?" Nick asked, confused.

Kali sighed and pushed away from the wall. "LeeLee isn't outback," she said, jumping up onto the front counter. She refused to meet Nick's gaze or Xander's, for the matter. The idea of being caught eavesdropping was humiliating enough, to be called out on her feelings when she didn't fully understand them herself, was worse.

"Maybe the others have had a better chance?" Xander asked, firing off a text to Vida. It didn't long for her to reply, but the message was anything but uplifting. They hadn't found anything either and were returning to the Rock Porium to regroup.

Nick shook his head. "Now what are we going to do?" he asked.

Kali finally met Nick's gaze. "You know I don't make promises lightly," she said. "But I meant what I said at the park. We'll get her back. Whatever it takes."

Even though he knew she was right, Nick couldn't bring himself to smile or even nod.

No less than five minutes later, Vida, Chip, and Maddie entered the shop, closely followed by Toby. He was panting and sweating from his run, but that didn't stop him from jogging on the spot as he met them. "Oh. You're here," he said, surprised. "I was beginning to wonder if you worked here or not."

"Yeah, sorry, Toby, we've had a few things going on," said Kali, shifting aside to let Vida brace herself against the counter.

"Boy, this diet and exercise - it sure makes the world of difference," said Toby, jogging through the team, his skates on his hands. "I feel fantastic!"

"Glad you're feeling better, Toby," said Nick.

Toby stopped jogging and skated across the floor on his hands. He looked around at his employees, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper as he took in their appearances. "Why the long faces?" he asked. "You want some water? Maybe some fruit?"

"You know not all fruit is good for you, right?" Kali asked. "There's a lot of natural sugars in some fruits, and that's bad for you."

Toby cocked his head to the side and blinked. He looked like he wanted to say something, but decided against it at the last second and tried to fold his arms instead, almost hitting himself in the face with his blade skates in the process.

"Look, I know something's wrong," said Toby, shaking his blades from his hands. "You come, you go. You come back, you go away again. You might as well tell me. It will make you feel better."

The team shared rejected looks and then slowly nodded as they turned to Nick. They did owe Toby an explanation on all the times they had abandoned him during a shift.

Nick sighed and jumped down from the records table he had been sitting on. "You're right," he said. "It's time you knew the truth. Um..." he hesitated, glancing one last time at his friends, making sure that this was 100% a group decision. When they didn't argue, he turned back to Toby. "We're the Power Rangers."