Reasons to keep Going [Travel thread. Charles, Jack.]

Mae's eyes opened slowly as she woke up from her little power-nap. It was a nice little bit of recovery that she needed to press on with what lied ahead of them. Zachary, the crime boss of Standasen, was right in the center of all this. She knew that Jack's obligation as both a cop and a protector of the islands. After what had happened with Tamara, she wanted to stand by her friend's side this time around through the whole thing, unlike last time, where Jack and her friends had gone to face the big bad without her. Not this time around, however. She felt ready to tackle the bigger things with this newfound strength, and for once, she wasn't going to hold anyone of her friends and allies back. Plus, what she had seen in her dreams had only strengthened her resolve to fight for the future. A life with Charles... a Daughter... and eventually getting married. It had also reminded her of how this all had come to be. A pleasant experience for sure. Now, she was ready to go fight again... The islands depended on them once again, and she wasn't going to let them down. She looked at Charles with a light smile followed by a cheerful "Good Morning. Kinda." She had only been sleeping for about three hours or so, but it was enough time for her to have recollected her strength. Her thoughts circled around her dreams, and what she could do to make them a reality... She picked up her phone, and called Jack Rannells.

Jack awoke with a start and fell screaming out of his bed, which unfortunately for him, was the top bunk of the bunked bed. He hit the ground with a heavy thud and was almost knocked back into sweet unconsciousness but he was quickly reawakened by the blaring sound of his alarm clock. Why in Zordon's name he ever decided to rig a fog horn to his alarm clock he would never know... In reality it was because not much else could awaken the Red Ranger from his deep sleeps anymore... So with a tired hand Jack summoned his TechSlicer and cut the blasted clock (and table underneath) in half. The Noble Time Piece died a warrior, and it shall awaken the gods in Valhalla now...

Speaking of deep sleeps... MAN! It felt like he had been asleep for MONTHS! Like seriously, how long can one guy sleep ya know? All he could remember from last night was up until about half way through his talk with Isla and Rita... After that it was a blur of plot and wacky misadventures that could easily fill up a few weeks of RP (that is if you decided to measure time like that which Jack chose to for reasons even he didn't quite remember but sure as hell made sense to him at the time). But alas... It's all a blur now, not a fragment of it was left lodged in his mind... Shame really, those events would be lost forever much like that embarrassing picture of Charles from the Christmas party...

In other more relevant news however, Jack got up off the floor and made his way to his kitchen, he needed breakfast, because after all today was another big day. Today he finaly slapped some cuffs on that smug troublemaker Zachary, and nothing was going to bring him down from his good mood! Why is he in a good mood you ask? Well while yes yesterday was a giant screaming disaster, some good came from it. Charles and Mae were back together for one, Officer Jenkins and Sargent Murphy both owe Jack twenty bucks on that one. In addition Jack had finaly awoken to his full potential and made peace with his past and all that, but more importantly Charles and Mae were back together!

So, riding this good vibe, Jack poured himself a nice big bowl of Booty-O's and flipped on the morning news... Huh... Surprised they got the news stations up and running so fast. It was about here that Jack's phone began to ring. He smiled when he saw the caller Id and happily hit the call button. "Yo! Mae, hows it going? You and Charles sleep well last night? Or not at all? Ahahah! Oh man... Still got it." Jack laughed through a mouth full of milk and marshmallow unicorn horns

"Yeah. I just woke up, as a matter of fact." Mae replied with a light chuckle, before her tone got a little bit more serious. "Now... I was just wondering... Are you going to take down Zachary?" Mae asked. Considering he was a cop and all that, his loyalty was with Isla, and the two leaders were in conflict, from Mae's understanding. This Zachary had some obvious ties to what was going on. It was just a matter of figuring out how he and Isla were connected to this whole mess. Regardless of what, Mae would stand by Jack's side, through thick and thin. "Because if so, I'm coming with you. Both as the Pink Ranger and your friend. I feel like I can actually make a difference now..." she gave a brief pause, thinking a bit on what to say next. "We're in this together. I'm not gonna let you face whatever awaits us there without me this time."

/Watching Mae sleep is entertaining./

"..." Charles cringed as the thought formed in his mind. Wow. He was a friggin' robot and that still sounded wrong as all hell. Maybe he should rephrase it..?

/Watching Mae sleep pleasures me./

Gosh, even worse. Was there no possible way to make what he was thinking sound not perverted..? Because as the data stood right now, he calculated approximately a 98.76% chance that there was no way. So maybe he should just stop thinking about it? But how when his eyes were glued to the yogurth-haired girl's sleeping silhuette? Maybe he should avert his gaze..? But what if she rolled in her sleep and ended up falling? He wouldn't be able to catch her if he wasn't looking!!!

Okay, that just sounded like a very bad excuse. Well, might as well go along with it, then~

Charles had just gotten back to staring intently at his girlfriend when suddenly... she woke up.

"Oh, good morning- er, afternoon- er, what time of day is it even?" He'd always lose track of time while indulging in his pleasantries observing Mae sleep. "You sleep wellllllllllllll-" ...aaaaand she's on the phone. With Jack? Okay, talking to Jack was certainly one of the ways to regain vigor. Or well, get woken up by his constant shouting. Charles sat down and listened to Mae's side of the conversation. He raised a hand when she was done. "Uhm, I'm here too..." He said awkwardly, as she'd pretty much just been mentioned Jack and herself...

"Yeeep! Was just about to get going actualy. Got my armor polished and my suit dry cleaned! You would not believe how hard it was to find a dry cleaner that was open last night... YEESH You'd think the world was comeing to and end with the kinda service I got... Wait... OH! Yeah... Now it all makes sense yeah..." Jack chuckled as he downed the last of his milk and started putting on his gear. "Ether way, I'm headed for the tunnels right now. I've got a squad car waiting on the tracks so we won't have to walk. I kinda assumed you'd be comeing so I took the liberty of retrofitting a pair of old Pink and Gold cosplay suits I had with some real armor if you catch my drift, I'm talking full ballistic cloth and Plexiglas helmet. It'll stop any small arms fire from even point blank range! Not saying it won't hurt but hey, it'll keep you alive."

Jack smirked as he slid his helmet on and switched over to the blue tooth transceiver hidden in the ear piece"That's right... I'm a god damned genius... You can thank me later. Heh. Remember this is a gang we're takeing down, not demons or shadows. Your soul isn't the only thing that's gunna be on the line here, your physical body will be in just as much danger."

Jack grabbed the last of his gear and filled a dufflebag with supplies and first aid equipment, had to be sure he was read for every contingency"Meet me at the station in fifteen Ranger, don't be late... And remember, You're not going out there to be a hero, you're going out there to find and apprehend a dangerous crime lord. As far as the law is concerned you're a deputized officer Mae. Remember that. Now I gatta get going, tell Charles I said Hi and that I hope he didn't overtax his legs with you last night, I just got done upgrading them and I don't want them to give out quite yet, heh. Judgement Ranger Out!"

With that Jack hung up the phone and left his apartment, ready to walk into the lion's den.

Mae nodded in response to Charles' unfinished question as she kept on listening to what Jack had to say. "Thanks for looking out for us, Jack. We appreciate it." She replied in response to the Armor get-up and what-not. Charles may not need it, but Mae might. "Roger, Jack." She with a nod that would never reach it's intended recipient. Although, perhaps it was just something she did subconsciously. "Charles says Hi as well. And don't worry, I'm sure his legs are just fine. Haha." A light chuckle escaped her lips. What was on that man's mind? Did he just come to the conclusion that they had "Done it"? His silly, goofy self was back, and she was pleased to hear this. Even in this dark hour, he somehow managed to keep his spirit up. And she, of course, did the same.

"Alright then, See you there." And after that, Mae hung up, and turned to Charles, giving him a light kiss on the cheek with a slightly apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I just had to make that phone call while I still remembered to... Now, did you rest well?" The girl clambered slowly out of bed. Oh golly. She had been really tired yesterday... She hadn't even changed clothes at all... Oh well. No rest for the wicked, as they say. "This is it, Charles... We're going to take down Zachary Dunbar with Jack and the others today, and hopefully put an end to all this. I'm... scared." She sure put on a brave face, but deep down, she was scared of losing everything she loved and cared for. Zachary wasn't just some random shadow. He was a major crime-lord, with ties to everything that had transpired on the islands. "I don't wanna lose you... so I'll do everything I can to keep you safe. Now..." She'd rest her right arm on his shoulder.

'Sure his legs are just fine'..? What were they even talking about? Charles wasn't doing anything with his legs. And like, how would he even get them broken here in the apartment? Maybe it was a joke, then. But what sort of joke-Charles didn't know. Maybe it should stay that way, even if his curiosity did almost prone him to ask about it, he somehow figured he'd end up regretting it.

And then Mae planted a short kiss on his cheek. Oh, how he sometimes regretted not being able to blush. This way he definitely ended up looking distant and cold towards it, nooooo. To counter this, he blinked twice cutely in confusion, before stretching his lips into a smile. "Not a problem." He said blissfully to this girl who was also his friend. "But I don't sleep. You do remember that, right?"

He followed Mae out of bed, no, well, he got up as well. He listened to her lay bare her doubts before facing her seriously. "And I don't want to lose you. So we'll protect each other. That way, nobody has to get hurt. I'm with you, don't forget." He extended a hand to her in the end. Together they would overcome this. Jack, Mae and Charles. There was no doubt about it.

"Oh, yeah... Right. You don't sleep." That was just something she had to get used to. Him being a robot and whatnot would certainly make things interesting. Not that it was an issue, really. But in the future, he couldn't just sit beside her bed and just watch her sleep (which was how she assumed he spent his night). That just wouldn't do. But it was an issue to tackle in the future. Right now, they had bigger problems to adress. Much bigger problems.

Mae grasped his outstretched hand, a warm smile stretched across her face. "Thank you, Charles. Now let's get going. We can't keep Jack waiting forever..." And so, the two lovebirds left their nest hand in hand, heading for the tunnels where Jack awaited them. Today, a crime-lord would go behind bars, and perhaps they could all get some sort of way to fix this mess that they were in...