Wrench made his way into a tavern in The Sump, the poorest area of the Warrior Dome ship, and immediately started scanning the area, looking for his quarry. It had been a long search, and it surprised him that it brought him down here. This was pretty much the last place he ever expected to find the one he was looking for.
He ducked to the side as a creature flew through the air, hitting the wall beside him before exploding. He looked up to see another creature being sliced in half across the waist, before also exploding. Once the smoke cleared, he could see Ripcon standing behind it. Ripcon looked to him and snorted.
"What do you want tin man?" He asked derisively as he put his sword away, heading back to the bar while others parted ways to allow him to pass, still horrified by what they had seen. His shuffling, stumbling gait gave away the fact he'd been drinking for a while, and all things considered, Wrench couldn't really blame him.
Ripcon had been searching for the traitor that had brought the Gold Ranger onto the ship for weeks now. He had been ever since he had stumbled on the hidden lab following the blast that released him. Unfortunately, so far he had always been one step behind...or more accurately, a marathon behind. While he knew it was Odious that was responsible for the Gold Ranger's presence on the ship, he had been unable to prove it, and at every turn, every time he thought he was nearing that one piece of evidence he could present that would see her pay for her deceptions, she always managed to find some way to slime her way out of it, or worse to turn it against Ripcon. Now, there were some that were saying that he was the traitor on board.
In his desperation to bring results to Galvanax, he had purposely sabotaged one of Cosmo's shows, sending Trapsaw; a creature that anyone could see was woefully inadequate for the task in order to force a confrontation with the Red Ranger. It had turned out terribly, leaving Ripcon now in even worse position than he had been in some time. His faint hopes of his retirement to production had all but evaporated, and Cosmo had already warned him that he was just waiting for the moment to throw him to the wolves. Galvanax all but wanted to destroy him himself, and his standing in the crew was at an all-time low.
That he returned to The Sump at all, the place where he began his career, and worked very hard to get out of was a strong indication that he had all but given up. His disdain for the area was well known and the first thing he did when he could was leave and never look back. His current state was a far cry from the proud warrior that he was only days before. Wrench went over to his side.
"I never thought I'd find you here." Wrench told him.
"You no doubt hoped." Ripcon scoffed. The two had never been especially cordial. Still, Wrench could see that they now had a common problem. He had stumbled on Odious' secret lab long ago, and found the Gold Ranger back when she had him captive on the ship. He didn't know what she was doing to him, but since he recognised some of the devices he was hooked to as machinery for altering memory, he presumed she was trying to manipulate him into fighting against the Rangers. He had kept this knowledge from the rest of the crew when Odious threatened his life, but now he could see that if allowed to go unchecked, Odious would soon manoeuvre herself into a position to claim almost complete control of the ship. Like it or not, he couldn't reveal what he knew or risk questions being raised why he didn't speak up sooner. His best hopes of being rid of her were with Ripcon.
"I thought you were made of sterner stuff Ripcon." Wrench told him. "I thought you'd be working to bring Odious down..."
"Galvanax wants her in charge, he's welcome to her." Ripcon grumbled. "If he can't see what she's really like..."
"But what if he could?" Wrench asked him. Ripcon just looked to him.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Odious is sending one of her monsters to Earth this week, she is preparing to unleash Toxitea." Wrench informed him.
"Toxitea?" Ripcon asked. "What does she think that witch can do?"
"Exactly, one has to ask how she intends to administer a poison to the Rangers." Wrench stated. "What kind of in-road do you suppose she has to get close to them?"
"You think she has some infiltrator that she hasn't disclosed?" Ripcon asked him. Wrench showed him some security footage from only a few minutes previously. It showed Odious teleporting off the ship.
"Why else would she teleport off the ship and not log where she's going?" Wrench asked him. "Why else would she have her own security protocols programmed that don't register her destination?"
"What do you have to gain from this?" Ripcon asked him, becoming suspicious. Wrench just took back his tablet.
"Let's just say that Odious' elevated position is as much of a problem for me as it is for you." Wrench answered. "So, do you want to sit here killing your liver? Or do you want to keep an eye on Odious?"
Ripcon downed the last of his drink, before getting up and leaving. He stopped at the door.
"If you're setting me up Wrench..."
"Like I said, she's as much of a problem for me as she is for you right now." Wrench answered. "I want to see her gone as much as you do."
With that, Ripcon left the bar to renew his investigations. So far, Odious had been one step ahead, but if she was sneaking around, keeping her actions secret even from Cosmo and Galvanax, maybe soon she would get to be a little too clever for her own good.
Down on Earth, the Rangers were training, along with Aiden. It seemed that he hadn't lost a step in his training. He was clearly a gifted warrior, and his style was clearly just like Brody's. They all knew that Brody's exposure to the Ninja Steel had enhanced his abilities, opening his mind quickly to new ideas and training concepts that would otherwise take years of study, but Aiden it seemed was no slouch.
They had separated out into two groups, armed and unarmed training. Aiden had opted to stick with unarmed, telling them that he hadn't used a sword in years. It made a lot of sense, since they doubted a twelve year old would get terribly far running around with a sword. It would be pretty conspicuous, and draw too much attention at a time when he was trying to avoid being found. It also would have just been an extra burden at a time when things like clothing and blankets would be far more useful for his survival than a sword that was likely as tall as he was when he fled the Romero Farm. Brody had taken on the armed training.
Preston and Sarah had elected to be one team, taking on the combination of Brody and Calvin. Brody wanted to see how they were all developing in the techniques he was teaching them. He knew that there were certain things that would take his team a lot longer to master than him. He had, for instance, mastered Ninja-streaking, a technique that normally took years to master. So far the closest any of the others came was Sarah managing to very quickly get across the yard and almost fracture a kneecap on a stack of car parts! Still, there were a lot more useful techniques for them to know than just swinging a sword. After all, it wasn't always the best fighter that won a fight, and many of the opponents they would be facing had been training a lot longer than most of them had been alive. Any trick they could add to their arsenal could tip the balance of a fight.
Preston and Sarah had managed to blindside them with a quick-step that threw them off-balance, and were pushing through for the advantage, but as Calvin looked to Brody, and the Red-Ranger nodded, they both started glowing, before the Pink and Blue Rangers swung for them, striking them down. Only as they fell, the two exploded on impact, leaving nothing but straw on the floor.
"The Ninja Scarecrow Move?" Sarah asked. This was a manoeuvre that Brody had been teaching them, and had expressed was potentially very useful to confuse enemies, but it required tapping into their spiritual energies as well as just their physical skills. They'd all practiced with varying degrees of success, but had never attempted it in the middle of a fight. It took a lot of concentration and mental energy, which was difficult to summon when under pressure of an attacking opponent. They expected Brody to be able to manage it, but Calvin; it was impressive he pulled it off even under Brody's direction. An area of the backdrop came down like a curtain behind them both, revealing their opponents.
"Surprise!" Calvin called out as he and Brody took Sarah and Preston down. The Pink and Blue Rangers hit the ground, leaving them vulnerable and the Yellow and Red Rangers in position to finish them. They were both disappointed, but quickly saw the funny side of it.
"Wow, Cal that was pretty awesome!" Preston congratulated him as the pair helped them up.
"Yeah, how did you...?"
"Oh, a little patience and practice." Calvin told them. "Not to mention a whole lot of trial and error! Trust me, I messed that up a lot more than I got it right!"
As they went to get a drink and rest for a bit, they looked over to where Hayley, Levi and Aiden were practicing. Right now, Levi and Aiden were sparring. Aiden did indeed have a very impressive style, distinctly a lot of influence of the Wind Ninja Style, but it was clear his time on the streets had brought in a lot of other influences as well. Hayley smiled as they backed away from each other.
"Nice moves Aiden!" She complimented him, noting that for someone with no Ranger Powers, he was putting on a pretty impressive showing for himself. He wasn't just keeping pace, on a lot of drives, he was actually putting Levi under pressure and forcing him on the defensive, something not many of them could do given Levi's aggressive and direct style. Aiden just smiled.
"You think that's impressive, check this out!" He told her. He jumped in the air, spinning seemingly-impossibly and throwing out a couple of kicks. Levi stood, both impressed and also a little confused since he could see by the distance Aiden was in absolutely no danger of hitting him with either kick at all. However, Aiden rushed towards him, revealing the plan all along. Ninjitsu at its root was a very practical art, with most of the flips and somersaults seen in Hollywood movies being pretty much just that, Hollywood. While they did exist, most of the flasher techniques were generally always intended more as distractions than anything else, leaving the victim open for more direct attacks like punches, throws or holds. Levi had to duck a lot of very hard punches coming his way.
"Whoa, what gives?" Levi asked, before having to duck a haymaker that looked like it was destined to break his jaw. He eventually grabbed Aiden just to force him to stop, before shoving him away. Hayley looked to Levi, and the expression on her face said what he was thinking. It wasn't just him; it looked a lot like Aiden had been making a very real effort to hurt him. A little way off though, he could see Brody watching and didn't want to make a scene. He remembered what Aiden had told them. For most of them, their Martial Arts had been practiced as a hobby, with them only really needing to use them in real fights recently. For Aiden, on the streets, he'd been having to use his knowledge to defend his life since he was a young boy.
"That's cool." Levi told him, trying to lighten the mood. "But we don't go full-contact here Aiden. It's just training."
Aiden grabbed Levi's arm and twisted it, almost like he was trying to break it. Instinctively Levi flipped backwards to release the pressure, before grabbing hold of Aiden and shoving him away.
"ENOUGH!" Levi snapped, looking far from happy.
"Yeah, chill out Aiden!" Hayley said gently as she came to Levi's side.
"Hey, I'm not one to complain, but that's not cool!" Levi told him. "You want to go full-tilt, at least let the other guy know that's the deal so that you both know what to expect."
"Come on, seriously?" Aiden asked with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, we all train so we can all improve. Not beat each other's brains in." Hayley told him. "It's not a contest."
"Hey guys, what's going on?" Brody asked, coming into the middle of them.
"It seems I don't play nice enough for your friends." Aiden told him, gesturing in Levi and Hayley's direction. "I guess they figure next time they go up against Ripcon or Galvanax they can just ask them to go easy on them."
"That wasn't what we were saying at all!" Levi responded.
"Yeah, we just said..."
"Whatever, it's almost time for school to start. It's time I was making tracks." Aiden told them. "I'm out of here; I'll be back around later."
As he left, Brody looked to them.
"Guys, what's the story?" Brody asked them.
"Honestly, Brody, your brother doesn't want to train, he just wants to show off." Hayley told him.
"He's been on his own for ten years! Cut him some slack!" Brody answered. They didn't really want to press the matter. It was natural for Brody to want to back up his brother, but there was something that didn't seem to sit right with them about things. Although he wasn't a sensei or anything, he had to remember enough about the training his dad gave him to know a little about how training went.
Brody was a lot further in his training than the rest of them were, that was a given, and if he wanted to, he could probably pummel most of the team within an inch of their lives just to make a point if he felt like it, but while pain could be a good teacher, people tended to learn very little by being totally outclassed and they definitely learned very little by being decimated. Learning was a long process that required the teacher to accept and know that the student did know less than they did and to instead coax and encourage their students rather than dump large amounts of knowledge on them at once. It wasn't like many kindergarten kids would learn to read by being handed a copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
"Come on guys." Sarah sighed as she interjected, seeing the scene starting to build between them. She wanted to give Aiden the benefit of the doubt. She was sure that Brody would have a word with him about his teaching methods in private. "It's time we were getting showered and changed. The first bell will be going soon."
With that, they all headed for the locker rooms. Brody remained for a moment though to think about things. He knew Aiden could be a little full-on. He had been when they were kids, but he also knew that deep down Aiden was a caring person. He didn't know what exactly he had been through in ten years, but since he did know that he had to use his skills for survival, he could understand if he perhaps wasn't used to treating his skills as anything other than a tool to save his life. Maybe it would take him a little while to get used to not every fight being life or death. Still, he figured maybe he could approach the subject with him gently later.
Sarah was just coming out of the shower rooms, combing her hair as she prepared for first class, when she bumped into Monty. She smiled as she caught his books, steadying them.
"Wow, we really have to stop meeting like this." She joked. Monty didn't look amused though. He had a dark expression on his face and didn't answer her at all. Sarah realised then that the last time she had seen or spoken to him, she hadn't exactly been the friendliest. In fact, because he was trying to drive them off the protest site at the Ribbon Tree, she had used the one thing she knew would hurt him. She had blurted out that she knew about what he had done in middle-school. Fortunately no one else seemed to know what she was talking about, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt him. She could see he was still reeling from that. As he was walking away, she took a deep breath.
"Monty!" She called out. He stopped in his tracks and turned towards her. "I'm sorry."
"What?" He asked.
"I...I had no right to say what I did." She told him. "I was mad that you were trying to break up the protest and I...I had no right to say that. I have no idea what really happened, and...I'm really sorry."
"It's fine." Monty gulped. "It's...it's fine."
"No, it's really not. I obviously brought up something that really upset you and that was a low blow." She told him. "I never should have said anything. Whatever happened, it was none of my business. Please, forgive me?"
"Fine." He told her. Sarah felt a little better, but could tell he wasn't quite ready to forgive her. Maybe he had a right to be angry.
"Hey, it's not like I don't know what it's like. I'm no stranger to the occasional accidental explosion." She admitted. "I mean, this is my third set of eyebrows..."
"You don't get it at all." Monty muttered.
"Monty, whatever happened, I'm sure it was..."
"That's just it though, it was no accident!" Monty snapped at her.
"I don't know..."
"It was the biggest mistake of my life, but it wasn't an accident!" Monty told her. "I was trying to kill Ace!"
