You guys have spoken, and it was loud and clear. All the comments I received were so nice and supportive. You say that you remember reading Power of Winter and loving it, but support a re-write. So, a rewrite I shall do. And the old stories, will be deleted. I'm going to start from scratch. Some of you may be disappointed by that, but it's what I feel is the best way for me to be able to rewrite this story, and hopefully continue on to Dino Thunder, and actually finish it. I'll also try my best to keep up with both this, and The Power Within. When one gets updated, hopefully so will the other.
Thank you so much to starpower21, Gwendolyn Yuki, BigBangVIP, mirajanewolf46, thunderyoshi, M. .K.S., PrettyRecklessLaura, WickedlyMinx, and lizziestrong for the encouragement to rewrite Power of Winter. You guys are awesome.
Already some things will be changed. First off, she'll still be Andrea Scott, but I'll use one of the girl spellings. Andy is the boy spelling. So she shall be Andi from here on out.
Andi will be older, 18 from the get-go, not 16-going-on-17. She won't be living with her big brother Jason, but on her own. She will still be a freestyle motocross rider.
Anyways, enough with the super long author's note. Let's do this!
Angel Grove, California meant different things to different people. To some, it was their home, where they were born, and raised. To others, it was a place of new beginnings. But to others, still, Angel Grove was the sight were monsters from outer space, aliens, first started attacking the Earth. Over the course of 6 years, 5 different evil villains tried to attack the small city in the beginnings of what was supposed to be an entire world-wide takeover.
None of them were successful. 4 teams of Power Rangers stepped up, and fought the monsters off, saving their entire planet from destruction. The first team was the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. Their leader was Jason, later replaced by Tommy, and included Kimberly, Trini, Billy, Zack, Adam, Rocky, Aisha, and Katherine. There was never more than 6 of them at a time. Jason, Trini, and Zack left, getting replaced by Adam, Rocky, and Aisha. Kimberly was replaced by Katherine. But it seemed like no matter what combination of the 10 there was, they were always successful.
When Aisha was replaced by Tanya, the Rangers also switched from being Mighty Morphing, to Zeo. The Zeo team was good, and even Jason got to join in the fun for a little while. Although Billy leaving was a really big damper on everything.
After Zeo was Turbo, where Rocky was replaced by 12-year-old Justin after an accident. But the others, they had lives. They all wanted to go to college, and do other things, so the others passed on their mantels. TJ became leader, along with Cassie, Ashley, and Carlos. This team was a little less… coordinated. None of them had the martial arts training that most of the Mighty Morphing and Zeo teams had had. But they moved forward, and the four older Rangers ended up as Space Rangers, with a new leader in Andros, a human from the planet KO-35. With the help of Zhane, they were able to get Karone, Andros' long lost sister back, and the world was saved.
After that, it seemed like the aliens decided that Angel Grove was too hard to conquer. It was obviously well protected, so the aliens moved to someplace where they thought wouldn't have any Power Rangers. They were wrong.
Terra Venture was just as well protected, so they returned to Earth, and attacked Mariner Bay, California. Mariner Bay was protected. The next year would have been quiet… if an evil villain from the past hadn't wound up in Silver Hills. Rangers from the future showed up to stop him, and stop him, they did.
Turtle Cove was the last place to be attacked, and the last place to be saved. The Wild Force Rangers did well in protecting their city, and Earth had since been quiet. But that quiet was only just beginning to be disrupted when Andrea Scott learned of her destiny. After all, when you're the little sister of the world's first Red Power Ranger, a Ranger destiny is almost expected.
Andrea found out her brother's Ranger identity on accident. When Zordon of Eltar asked for Five Teenagers with Attitude, he hadn't expected the 8-year-old sister of the future leader to show up as well, holding tightly to her brother's hand. The giant floating head took her presence in stride, however, knowing the girl to be smarter than your average 8-year-old. She was there from the beginning, cheering her brother and his teammates on, having Alpha help her with her homework, and watching the occasional movie on the Viewing Globe.
Getting kidnapped and taken to Rita Repulsa's lair on the moon wasn't a part of the plan, but it happened, and Andrea grew from the experience. It was then that Zordon gifted the girl with the Purple Velociraptor Power Coin, to protect her and give her extra strength when she needed it.
When she was 13, Andrea, by then going by Andi, joined the Winter Ninja Academy, a ninja school hidden in the mountains behind Angel Grove. The Turbo team was just getting started. Andi thrived at the ninja school. She already knew how to protect herself, Jason and Adam both had made sure of that. But the school allowed her to tap into elemental powers that she didn't even know she had, elemental powers that allowed her to control ice and snow.
She fell in love with freestyle motocross that year, as well, and was a quick learner with the sport. Which brings us to now, 5 years later. The 18-year-old was working at the Angel Grove Juice Bar. The juice bar went through a couple changes during Andi's childhood, but was once again owned by Ernie, a kindly older man who knew exactly who the original Power Rangers were (although they didn't know that). She had graduated high school already, and was taking online college courses.
"Alright Ernie, I'm heading out for the day!" Andi called. She had just finished wiping down the last tables, and the clock read 4:30. She needed to be at the ninja school by 5.
"Okay, Andi, have a good night! And stay safe!" Ernie replied, smiling at her.
Andi smiled back, and left the youth center. Her car, a dark blue Jeep, sat in the parking lot, and although it continued to have air conditioner problems, she still loved her car. Attached to it was a small trailer, holding her motocross bike and gear. So, tossing her backpack into the passenger's seat, Andi started the Jeep, and drove away from the Youth Center. It took her about 20 minutes to get out of the small city, and onto a road that lead into the mountains. She only went a mile up, though, before she found the even smaller dirt road that veered off the main road. She followed that for a while longer, and finally parked by a few other cars.
Andi got out of her car, shouldered her backpack, and found the pile of snow that signified the entrance to the school. With a smile, Andi stepped forward, and through the portal. On the other side, was a wide, grassy clearing. Some older-looking, Japanese style buildings stood, spaced out, and Andi could see some of her fellow ninjas sparing, attacking and deflecting with snow and ice. She smiled.
"Andrea!"
Andi looked up at the voice, expecting her friend Kelsey, only to be greeted with her sensei, Sensei Mako.
"Sensei Mako," Andi said, bowing to the older woman.
"Andrea, you must listen," Sensei Mako said, "I have just gotten word that the Wind Ninja Academy in Blue Bay Harbor, and the Thunder Academy in Reefside, have both been attacked."
"What?!" Andi exclaimed, taking a surprised step back. "But, the academies are all hidden, how was someone able to attack them?!"
"We believe it to be the exiled ninja, Lothor," Sensei Mako explained, "Which is why I must ask of you, something I was hoping to never have to ask of anyone." Sensei Mako reached into her robe, and pulled out a small box. There were carvings on the lid of the box, and when Sensei Mako opened it, Andi found herself looking at what could only be a morpher.
It was rectangular, and a bit bigger than any morpher she had ever seen, but Andi had seen her fair share of morphers and knew one when she saw one.
"This is the Winter Ninja Morpher," Sensei Mako said. Lifting the morpher out of the box, she held it out to Andi. "To activate it, you say "Winter Storm, Ranger Form"."
"Why are you giving this to me?" Andi asked quietly. "Why not Kelsey, your daughter?"
"Because you are our best student. Kelsey is strong, but she would not be able to handle the responsibility. We got word that Sensei Watanabe, his son, and three other students survived the attack at the Wind Academy. They have been given the Wind morphers, although the fate of the two Thunder morphers, I do not know." Sensei Mako grew quiet, but a sudden boom of thunder startled her into action.
"You must go!" Sensei Mako exclaimed.
"What?! Why?!" Andi demanded.
"He is here, and if he catches you with the morpher, then there's no telling what he could do!" Sensei Mako looked over her shoulder, at her unsuspecting students. They had no idea what was coming. "With both your morpher, and your coin…"
"How do you know-" Andi started, only for Sensei Mako to cut her off.
"I make a point of knowing my students, Andrea Scott," she said, "Now go!" Sensei Mako practically shoved the teen back through the portal, just as monsters began to swarm the academy grounds.
"NO!" Andi gasped as the portal closed in front of her, the sight of her fellow ninja students being sucked into huge bubbles the last thing she saw of the Winter Ninja Academy.
Andi lay on the ground for a while, her surprise and fear keeping her grounded. God, it had been years since she last saw an alien monster in person like that, years since she last had to fight one. While she would admit to sometimes wishing she had a few putties to punch around, she never actually wanted another evil force to show up.
Taking a deep breath, Andi finally stood and picked up her backpack. She shouldered it, and shakily went back to her car. She sat in the Jeep for even longer, her forehead pressed against the steering wheel, while she figured out what to do.
Sensei Mako had told her that a few students and the sensei of the Wind Academy had survived, and the morphers handed out. She would have to go to Blue Bay Harbor. But, that was three hours away. She wondered briefly if Jason would even let her go that far, but she knew that she would have to. Andi was a Power Ranger, now, like her brother before her, and she had responsibilities.
Mind made up, and her jaw set, Andi started her car and drove away from her academy, the place that had been a second home to her for five years. Tears threatened to fall as she drove, but she forced them back. When she finally made it the home that she shared with her older brother and sister-in-law, she went to her room, packed a bag, wrote a note, and left.
3 and a half hours later, Andi finally made it to Blue Bay Harbor. She passed some motocross tracks along the way, and couldn't help the small smile that overcame her features; in her rush to get to Blue Bay, she'd forgotten to leave her bike at home, and so had it with her.
Finding a small, one-bedroom apartment on such short notice was surprisingly easy, so she was able to dump her bag, and the trailer with her bike in it, and head off into the city. Now, Andi knew how Power Rangers worked. She wouldn't be able to find them until a monster attacked. So, she decided to explore.
One store that caught her eye was called Storm Chargers. With a shrug, Andi went in and looked around. The store had everything, it seemed, to motocross bike parks, to skateboards and wheels, to surfboards.
Practically sensing someone coming up to her, Andi turned just in time to see a slightly taller redhead coming towards her.
"Hi, I'm Kelly," the redhead introduced herself, "Welcome to my shop. Looking for anything in particular?"
Andi blinked, and then smiled, "Hi, I'm Andi. Um, do you have any motocross gloves? Mine are kind of on their last leg," she admitted.
"Of course!" Kelly exclaimed, leading the darker haired girl over to a stand that looked like a big T. "You ride?"
Andi nodded, "Yeah, I do freestyle," she said.
Kelly hummed, and then grabbed a pair of black and white gloves from the display. "Takes a lot of skill to be a freestyle rider," she said, "Which means that you must be really good if you're destroying gloves."
"I don't know if that's the phrase I'd use," Andi said, a blush coloring her cheeks. "But-" she was cut off by the front door opening, and three teens, around Andi's age, filed in.
"Hey, Kel!" one of them called. Andi turned slightly so she could see them, and found a color-coded group of friends. She raised a dark eyebrow.
The one who had called the greeting was a boy in red, and looked to be of Hawaiian decent. The girl of the group was blonde and beautiful, wearing blue. Finally, the third member, was a boy with curly brown hair in yellow.
Huh. Andi thought. A boy yellow and a girl blue. That's new. Before she could say anything, though, Kelly called the one in yellow over.
"Hey, Dustin, come here!" she called.
The boy in yellow- Dustin- walked over to the two women, a smile on his face.
"What's up, Kelly?" he asked, bring his arms up to fold over his chest.
"Dustin this is Andi," Kelly introduced, "She's a freestyle rider. Andi, Dustin here is my resident racer," she said.
"Oh, cool!" Dustin said, "Freestyle takes mad skill, bro, if you're doing that, then you must be awesome!" he exclaimed.
Once again, Andi blushed, "Ah, just, 5 years of practice. There are a lot of people who are better than me. And racing takes a lot of skill, too!" Andi said.
"Not as much as freestyle," Dustin said, "I haven't seen you around the tracks, you from out of town?" he asked.
Andi nodded, "Yeah, I just got here from Angel Grove," she said, and Dustin seemed to grow even more excited.
"Angel Grove?!" he exclaimed, "Were you there when the monsters starting attacking?!"
Before Andi could answer him, she heard a noise that, although different from the noise of the old communicator that she still wore, she would still know anywhere. The Rangers were being contacted.
"Sorry, gotta go!" Dustin, along with his two friends, ran out of the store.
"But Dustin!" Kelly called after him, "You just-!" the door slammed behind the three, and Kelly finished lamely, "got here." She sighed and turned back to Andi. "Well, that was my employee Dustin. Let's get you checked out, I doubt you want to spend your day inside a sports store," Kelly said. She lead the way to the registers, and Andi was just getting her bag with her gloves inside handed to her when she heard screaming outside of the store.
"Oh, no," Kelly said, "Not another one!"
"What's wrong?" Andi asked.
"Monsters started appearing a few weeks ago," Kelly said. "You said you were from Angel Grove, right? I guess you guys probably had escape plans and everything set up, everyone probably knew exactly what to do in an attack," she said.
Andi shrugged; it had been four years since the last attack on Angel Grove, the day that the Space Rangers had revealed their identities. "Haven't had to use any of 'em since '99," she said. Andi walked over to the door, and looked out the glass, easily seeing the other rangers fighting off some sort of monster. "You should probably get to safety," the girl advised, before leaving the store, ignoring Kelly's protests.
Once outside, Andi found a large support beam to hide behind, and watched as the three rangers got pummeled by the creature. It resembled a lion, but not how Goldar had. Goldar was the subject of many of her nightmares, but this thing didn't even come close. Hiding behind her pillar, again, Andi looked down at her wrist, where she had placed her morpher.
"Let's see how this thing works," Andi whispered, before taking a deep breath.
"It's morphing time! Winter Storm, Ranger Form, HA!"
Andi had seen many Rangers morph over the 6 years that Angel Grove was attacked. It was always the same; the Ranger would shout the morphing call, there would be a flash of light, and then they would reappear with their suit on. But seeing it and experiencing it was two completely different things.
A rush of energy, similar to when she received the Velociraptor coin, coursed through her, making her feel as though she could do anything. When it was over, and she finally looked down at herself, Andi could hardly believe it. She had white boots, a white skirt, and a white tunic. The rest of her was covered in a silver chain mail type material, with white bracers around both wrists. She was a Power Ranger.
"Power of Winter!" she called at the end.
With a grin, Andi ran out from behind her pillar, and towards the other rangers and the lion monster.
"Hey!" she shouted, gaining its' attention, "Why don't you try me on for size?"
"Another Ranger?!" the monster exclaimed.
"Where'd she come from?!" the Red Ranger exclaimed, equally surprised.
"No idea," the Blue Ranger said.
Andi ignored the other rangers for the moment, instead deciding to run at the monster. When she was still a few feet away, she launched herself into the air and twisted, kicking the monster in the head with one foot, and then the other, before landing behind the monster.
"You're giving me a headache!" the monster complained. He turned to face her, only to find the White Ranger aiming a bow at him. "Uh-oh," he muttered.
Andi released the string, and the arrow flew through the air, easily striking the monster right in the chest. After a moment, it exploded. Andi grinned under her helmet, only for the Red Ranger to step up to her.
"Who are you and where did you come from?!" he demanded, a hostile tone to his voice.
Andi stepped back, but let her morph shatter around her. The white suit shattering revealed an 18-year-old girl, with long, black hair and bright green eyes. She wore a ninja uniform with white trim.
"You?!" the Yellow Ranger stepped forward, his own morph shattering, to reveal Dustin in his own ninja uniform.
The Red and Blue rangers looked at each other and allowed their own morphs to shatter, revealing the other boy and girl from earlier.
"You know her?" the Red Ranger asked Dustin, in true leader form.
"Yeah, yeah, she was in Storm Chargers earlier!" Dustin explained. "She comes from Angel Grove."
"Angel Grove…" the Blue Ranger mussed, "That's where the Winter Ninja Academy is, isn't it?" she asked.
Andi nodded, "Yeah. I'm sorry for just… appearing out of nowhere, but my name's Andi Scott. I went to my academy earlier, and Sensei Mako told me that the Wind and Thunder academies had both been attacked. But she also told me that a few Wind ninjas had survived and were given morphers, so she gave me mine and told me to come here." Andi paused, and took a deep breath. "She pushed me back through the portal just as Lothor attacked the academy. I didn't try to go back through, but I saw my friends get taken up to his ship. I want to help get them back. Them, and all the Wind and Thunder rangers that are stuck up there."
The Blue Ranger smiled and stepped forward. "Anyone willing to help take down Lothor is okay in my book," she said, "I'm Tori."
"Are you sure you're willing to fight?" the Red Ranger asked, his eyes narrowed at her. "This isn't like at the academy, this is real life."
Andi studied him for a moment, and then asked, "What's your name?"
"Shane," the Red Ranger answered proudly.
"Shane, I grew up in Angel Grove. Angel Grove, where Rita Repulsa, Zedd, the Machine Empire, Divatox, and Astronema all attacked. Sure, we had our own teams of Rangers- 4, in fact- but it was still a good idea to know how to defend yourself. I fought off two or three different variations of putties, cogs, piranhatrons, putra pods, and a tenga warrior. Trust me, I know what I'm doing, and I'm in it for the long haul." She said, green eyes serious.
Shane stared at her for a moment, "Let's take her to Sensei," he finally said.
The other two agreed.
Getting to the former Wind Academy was easy enough. The three Rangers climbed into a van that belonged to Tori, and, after Andi climbed in after Dustin, they were on their way. Tori parked the van right on the edge of the forest, and the portal into the academy grounds wasn't far from that. The grounds of the Wind Academy had obviously been cleaned up, no longer showing the disaster that Lothor had left it as.
Near the entrance of the portal, was a beautiful waterfall. The Red, Blue, and Yellow Rangers headed straight for it, and Andi followed curiously. There was a small rocky outcropping, and underneath it, a door.
"Sensei?" Shane called, "Cam!"
"We… have a surprise?" Tori sounded unsure of how to announce Andi's presence.
"We saw," a deeper male voice said, and Andi found herself looking away from the bookshelves by the door to try and find the source of the voice. "Please, come down here, child."
Andi took a hesitant step down the stairs, almost unbelieving of how big the room actually was. It reminded her of the second command center, just without Zordon's tube. On one of the walls, was a huge screen, obviously their version of the Viewing Globe.
"A ninja from the Winter Academy... How very interesting," the voice said, and Andi looked down to find… a guinea pig?
"Uh…" Andi was at a loss. A talking guinea pig? That was certainly new!
"I am Sensei Watanabe; Lothor's attack caused me to change into this form," he explained, and then gestured to a boy standing behind him wearing a green shirt. "This is my son, Cameron."
"Um, I'm Andi," Andi introduced, bowing slightly to the rodent sensei. "Sorry to just show up, but Sensei Mako told me what happened, gave me my morpher, and then shoved me back through the portal just as Lothor attacked my academy. I didn't know what else to do, so I came here."
"It is good that you did," the guinea pig said. "Another Ranger is always better."
"But Sensei, we don't know anything about her!" Shane protested. "Like she told us earlier, she comes from Angel Grove, where all the original attacks were? How do we know that one of them isn't still alive, that she isn't with them?!"
"Shane!" Tori exclaimed, "She's from the Winter Academy! They wouldn't let someone like that into the academy!"
"Shane," Andi said, "I can personally promise you that I'm not one of those evil groups. I probably wouldn't have made it this long if I was," she said.
"There's something you're not telling us," the boy in green, Cameron, accused, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at her.
With all eyes now on her, Andi sighed. "My full name is Andrea Scott, and my older brother, Jason, was the first Red Ranger."
Silence.
"Dude!" Dustin finally exclaimed. "Your older brother was the first Red Ranger?! That's awesome, bro!"
"Indeed, being related to an original Ranger is commendable," Sensei said. "How did you find out his Ranger identity? It is supposed to be a secret."
Andi let out a soft snort of laughter and a smile pulled her lips up, "Zordon, my mentor, asked for 5 'teenagers with attitude'. So Alpha, his assistant, teleported Jason and four of his friends to the command center. Only there had been an earthquake a few seconds before that, so Jason was holding onto me. When they were teleported, I was swept up in it, and teleported too. Alpha freaked, but Zordon took it all in stride." She shrugged. "I knew from the very beginning."
"You mean to tell me, that you've been in Ranger business for the better part of… 10 years?" Cameron asked, amazed.
Andi nodded. "Found out when I was 8, joined the Winter Academy when I was 13."
"Dude, I say we trust her," Dustin said, a look of awe seemingly permanently etched onto his face.
"I agree," Tori nodded.
Shane stared at Andi, his dark calculating and judging. Finally, he said, "If these two and Sensei trust you, then I guess I have no choice. Welcome to the team."
Andi smiled, and held out a hand to the Red Ranger. Shane stared at it for a moment before grabbing it and giving it a firm shake.
Just as they separated their hands, however, there was a beep, and Cameron rushed to the computer.
"Looks like that monster from before is back," he reported, "Supersized."
"I don't have a Zord," Andi worried, and then there was a small beep.
Cameron grinned, "Yeah you do. Arctic Wolf Zord is online," he said. "You morphing must have unlocked it."
"Let's go, then," Shane said. "Ready?"
"Ready!"
"Ninja Storm!"
"Winter Storm!"
"Ranger Form, HA!"
"Ninja Ranger Power!"
Now morphed, the four Rangers left, ready to fight the lion monster, Lionator.
"I'm sending out the Zords," Cameron said.
"Thanks Cam!" Shane exclaimed, jumping up into his Hawk Zord once it appeared. Tori and Dustin did the same to their Dolphin and Lion Zords.
"Here comes yours, Andi!" Cameron said.
"Awesome!" Andi cheered upon seeing her Zord for the first time. It was indeed an artic wolf, shaped like a large dog, with white fur. She jumped up into it, and grinned. "So this is what it's like inside a Zord," she said. "I like it."
"Megazord formation!" Shane exclaimed.
The original three Zords combined into a Megazord. Then a coin appeared in front of Andi.
"Andi, Shane, use these to combine the Arctic Wolf Zord with the Megazord!" Cameron told them.
Andi grinned and took it. "Thanks, Cameron. Shane?"
"I got it!" Shane said, "Locked and Dropped! Welcome to the Megazord, Andi!"
Now a part of the Megazord, but in her own little cockpit, Andi couldn't stop the grin that spread over her face. Oh how good it felt to not be useless.
Using their new Megazord, Lionator was easily defeated. The Arctic Wolf Zord added an immense amount of power to the Megazord, to the Rangers' joy.
Back at Ninja Ops, what Tori said was the name of their command center, the four Rangers excitedly talked about the newest win, the first for Andi, but not the first for Andi. She'd been beating monsters- well, the weaker foot soldiers- for years, and it felt damn good to fight the actual monster.
"Well Andi, I think we can definitely say that you make a pretty good Ranger," Tori said with a smile.
Andi blushed and looked down.
"Yeah, you've got some mad skills!" Dustin exclaimed.
"You did well, Rangers," Sensei said, tiny paws behind his back. "The addition of Andrea will be most beneficial to you."
Andi smiled slightly, "Thank you, Sensei," she said.
"Oh, and Andi?" Cameron started, eyebrows raised, "It's Cam."
Andi smiled, and nodded.
Before anything else could be said, though, Andi's phone rang. Her eyes widened, and she pulled the phone out of her pocket. Dominating the screen was a picture of her brother.
"Oh, no," Andi sighed, before answering the phone as she left Ninja Ops. "Jason!"
The others watched this happen, and once Andi was out of Ninja Ops, they all burst into laughter. Oh yeah, having Andi as a teammate was going to be fun.