Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made.
Author's Note: This is not where the Megaforce series starts. If you want to read the series without getting lost, I suggest you read my stories in the order they appear:
No To Date Nights - The Party Night - Project Partners - Megaforce: Lives Behind The Masks - Prom Night - A Trip To Remember - First Meetings - Something She Loves – Protective Morans – Samurai In Harwood County – Rainy Days – Luck Had Nothing To Do With It – Ranger Support – Parents and Children – Hero Without The Spandex – Emma's Night – Emma's Mother – Bait And Switch – After Death – A Stormy Day – A Date For Tensou – A Mother's Advice – Mending Fences – Executioner Named Revenge
Gia held Jake's hand tightly while he lay down on a table in the command center. A week had passed with no changes in his mental state after a severe beating left him almost on the brink of death. Just when Gia thought there would finally be some peace for her and her friends, Cliff's parents had come back with a vengeance.
She didn't know what was wrong with them, but it sure was genetic. Enraged by their son's death, Cliff's parents wanted the ones they believed were responsible to pay. They attacked the people closest to Gia, beating up her boyfriend simply because she loved him, and kidnapping her best friend because it was Emma who had been the one to see Cliff for who he really was. In the end, their revenge ended being what took them out. Cliff's father, who had treated his wife horribly throughout most of their marriage, ended up on the receiving end of her rage when she picked up a gun and fired several bullets into his chest. He died. His wife was serving a lifelong prison sentence for murder, kidnapping, and because she had been responsible for the assault on Jake.
Gia won. Cliff was gone, never to hurt her again, and his parents, who were just as crazy, maybe worse, had also been taking care of. The victory didn't feel like a win, though. Everyone was able to recover except for Jake, who because of a concussion prior to his attack, was left in a state of mental disability. He couldn't talk; he had no way of expressing himself. He simply lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling or sleeping. It was like he was trapped inside his own body. Gia, Noah, and his father had no idea how much he could see and recognize of his environment. He hadn't freaked out during his stay in the hospital, but that could have been because it didn't register in his mind that he was in a hospital, or he forgot about his fear of hospitals, or he was scared, and he had freaked out, but due to his injury he couldn't express it at all. Still, everyone around him did their best to keep him comfortable and calm.
Knowing his son's fears, Mr. Holling arranged to take Jake home as quickly as possible and have a doctor check up on him every day. Jake spent several days lying in his own bed without progress. Fortunately, Tensou called the Rangers. He said he had a solution that could help bring Jake back to normal.
"You want to put that in his brain?" Noah asked as he looked down at Tensou with a skeptical frown.
"Last time a chip ended up in someone's brain, it was a problem," Emma pointed out as she looked over Tensou's work on the pink console. She couldn't understand any of it, or what it meant, but felt more comfortable trusting Tensou if she could actually see what he had been doing.
"Yeah, let's not repeat that," Gia said and touched Jake's forehead. She gave him a warm smile so that if he could see it, it would cheer him up.
"Rangers, I promise this is going to work," Tensou held up the chip. "As much as it can, it'll bring the black Ranger back to us."
"It'll give him his motor functions back?" Noah asked. "He'll be able to walk, sit, stand…"
"Play soccer?" Gia added.
"All that," Tensou nodded.
"What about personality?" Troy asked. "I mean, it would be great to have Jake up and running again, but it would be better if he was…"
"Jake," Gia spoke up. "Tensou, how can that little… thing bring Jake back?"
"You have to trust me, yellow Ranger."
"You tried dating my mom only a couple of weeks after my father died," Gia rolled her eyes. "Sorry if I question your decisions a little bit."
"Was that wrong?" Tensou asked Noah and then shook his head, "No, that's not the point. I've got a chip and I'm certain it's going to help the black Ranger feel better again. The procedure is non-invasive, though if you would like faster results…"
"You're not carving his head open!" Gia screamed. Emma put her hand on Gia's shoulder to calm her down. "Sorry, Tensou, but you're just… not."
"Tensou has come up with a computer chip that will, at the very least, restore Jake's motor skills, and will bring us a step closer to having our black Ranger back in action."
"He's got a name and it's Jake," Gia growled to Gosei and Tensou. "I get you're worried about the black Ranger, but I'm more concerned about getting Jake back to full health. We can worry about the black Ranger then. So what are the risks for Jake?"
"Permanent immobility," Tensou said. "Once the chip implants itself into his brain, there will be no going back. I'm certain it will work, though…"
"But if it doesn't?" Noah asked, "Jake will be paralyzed permanently?"
"The odds of that are less than one…"
"Tensou, the odds haven't really been in his favour up till now," Gia rolled her eyes. "What other risks?"
"With this chip, just immobility," Tensou said. "It's your call, Rangers, but I really think…"
"Shut up, Tensou. Noah? You've known him longer. What would he want?" Gia asked as she looked to the blue Ranger. Noah shrugged his shoulders and sighed. Jake had always been one to take risks, but never one this big. While Tensou promised the chip would work there was never a guarantee. Noah had worked with technology and computers long enough to know they could be temperamental.
But when he looked to Jake, lying helplessly on the table, unable to move or speak, unable to be Jake, he knew this was a risk he had to take. He nodded his head as he looked to Gia. Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment but then she came to the same conclusion as Noah.
"Okay, Tensou, you have one shot," Gia said as she squeezed Jake's hand, "Make it count."
"I won't let you down, Rangers."
"This may require a few days," Gosei announced to the Rangers. "Tensou will have to work slowly and carefully to insure minimal damage, especially as the chip approaches his brain. Then, once it is attached, it may be some time still before we begin to see results."
"How long?" Noah asked.
"Three days," Tensou replied.
"What do we do about his dad and the doctors?" Noah turned to Gosei. "They're going to ask where he is. They're going to worry about him."
"And the chip once it's in his head…"
"Will be invisible," Tensou said. "I promise, Rangers, everything will be okay."
"That still doesn't tell us how we deal with his dad."
"Hmm," Troy hummed from the corner and the Rangers all turned to look at them. He didn't say anything except that he would take care of Jake's father before he walked out.
"You know what would be helpful," Noah said as he turned to the girls, "If Troy shared his thoughts a little more."
"I don't know," Emma smirked, "I've always found him to be very open and outgoing."
"Jokes aside," Gia said. She bent over so she was eye to eye with Tensou, "If anything happens to Jake, I'm going to disassemble you and turn you into soda cans. Got it?"
"Y-yes, yellow Ranger. I'll be extra super-duper absolutely careful."