The night over Angel City was as beautiful as ever. The dark sky resembled a black blanket sweeping high above the rooftops and skyscrapers, with bright, sparkling stars sprinkled along it for as far as the eye could possibly see. Many of these stars were, however, swallowed by the light of the full moon, looming above, yet despite its distance it appeared to take up quite a large portion of the Californian sky. Indeed, the night was peaceful. The beauty of the night attracted many eyes to gaze at it in awe. But on this night, one set of those eyes was not interested in the beauty, as while they gazed outward, they were seeing inward.
Inside their small hotel room, two figures found themselves at anything but peace. Stephanie McLauren stood tall, her blue zipper tied around her waist separating her grey tank top from black jeans, her arms crossed as she stared out of her window into the dark world beyond its glass in nothing but sheer silence, cluing her companion into recognizing that she was also deep in thought.
Drew, her younger brother, sat upon his bed, using the wall to keep himself up. His tired eyes would glance over at his sister every once in a while, hoping that she would eventually peel herself away from that window to remind him that she was actually there with him.
However, she continued to just stand there with her back to him, completely silent. He closed his eyes to enter into thought of his own - what was wrong with her, he wondered. She had barely said a word since returning from a fight three hours previously, only mentioning the new rangers she had saved before retreating into her own mind. This silence scared him. If only she would say something - anything. But instead, he decided to take the initiative.
"I wouldn't stare at that window as much." he called, hoping to gain her attention. "Knowing this place, it might break."
Finally, albeit slowly, she turned her head to him, her facial expression giving away much of what she was now thinking in that very moment, not that it had to.
"What the hell are you on about?" she asked coldly, her eyebrows raised in confusion.
Drew sighed as he hopped up to his feet and shuffled over to his sister. She watched as he stood next to her. Even when both were standing, she stood at least a quarter of a head taller than he did, forcing him to look up into her eyes as he tried to read what she was thinking.
"Is this such a bad thing?" he queried, referring to the other rangers. "I mean, they could hel-!"
"Drew."
He stopped mid-sentence as she stared a hole right through him. He knew simply from that look that finishing that sentence would be a waste of his breath.
"Look, I'm just saying tha-"
"I know what you're saying!" she snapped, causing Drew to back up slightly, before sighing as she closed her eyes. "They almost got themselves killed out there. If I didn't show up when I did-"
"But you did."
She turned her glance back to the outside, but she wasn't watching the world before her - her mind instead focused on the world behind her - recalling the events of the previous few hours as best she could. She remembered Blue Ranger being pinned down by the demon and the others being blasted to the ground by its power. And she recalled how easily she got her shot into it as well.
"They struggled out there." she muttered, her voice as distant as her mind could ever be. "They had no idea what they were in for."
"Neither did you at one point."
Her eyes returned to Drew's, but this time she was not staring through him, but staring into him, recalling the event which he was referring to. "That was different."
"How?" he asked, this time beginning to get slightly annoyed. "You had no idea what you were in for when you first started or how to fight a bloody demon!"
"I was alone!" she thundered back.
Drew narrowed his eyes as he glared back into hers.
"You were never alone!" he growled. "Not once have I ever left your side, and nor ever do I plan to."
"What would you have me do, Drew? Huh? Join them? Cut them some slack, maybe?" she responded rhetorically. "Oh, sorry you nearly died tonight. Better luck next time, eh?"
Stephanie's sarcasm was enough to tell Drew that this argument was not one that would be won upon trading oral blows at one another. It frustrated him to no end - SHE frustrated him to no end. Her attitude, her reluctance, he didn't quite get it. He just wanted her to listen to his point of view.
As she returned her gaze to the outside, he leaned in to her and rested his head against the side of hers, the right half of his face snuggled up with the left side of her own as each of them wrapped an arm around the other.
"Look." he spoke softly to her. "I'm just worried about you. We've lost too much; I don't want to lose you too."
She pulled her head away from him as he looked up into her eyes. Instead of the cold abruptness he noted earlier, they were now brighter and warmer. As a small smile appeared on her, she placed her free palm on the side of his face and smiled. "Baby," she said, just as softly. "I'm your big sister. You're never going to lose me."
He smiled at her, knowing how genuine her love for him was, and enjoying the fact that she was no longer locked in her silence. Now it was him that was locked – locked in her embrace, as he rested his head against her once more.
"Promise me that." He whispered to her.
Steph and Drew were not the only ones that found themselves wide awake in the dead of night. Across town, another young family sat in the darkness. Jonathan Tucker gripped his chest at the spot where the Vorkah demon when it pinned him down. Despite the new ranger armour, the pain was still needling at him.
Misha sat on the other end of the sofa. Her eyes were staring into the darkness as she found herself recalling the events of the last few hours in great detail. Health-wise, she was faring better than her cousin. The pain she felt when she and the others were zapped by the monster had long since worn off, no doubt in thanks to her ranger armour.
"You still sore?" she asked somberly, glancing over at him.
Johnny shook his head as he stretched, feeling the tiredness begin to seep in as he began to realize how long he had been awake. "Nah." he muttered back, attempting to cover his pain. "I'm alright."
Misha's eyes drifted away from him as she returned her gaze to the dark walls before them. "You don't need to put a brave face on, y'know." she said. "That thing was pretty damn strong."
Johnny's thoughts then turned back to the demon she was referring to. He remembered being pinned under its leg as his friends got zapped, and there was nothing he could have done to stop them. "Yeah..." he said with a sigh.
After a split-second, Misha's face began to brighten up as a large grin crossed her face. "But so were we."
As she returned her eyes to his, he nodded slightly. She was right, of course.
He remembered the pulsing power, and just how easily he overcame the Piranhi whereas before they had been at the receiving end of a beating from the demonic soldiers. The power was no doubt incredible, and yet, something wasn't quite right.
"What do you make of this Laura girl?" he queried.
Misha rocked her head from side to side slightly as she took a deep breath. "I don't know. I guess..." she trailed off as she lowered her head slightly. "I guess it's just a good thing that she was there...maybe."
"Good thing?" he responded, his tone low and giving away his suspicion. "I
don't buy it."
"Don't buy what? The fact that we're now superheroes or something?"
"All of it!" he snapped back, jumping to his feet. Misha watched, slightly upset as she detected the frustration in him just as he began pacing back and forth.
"It's too co-incidental. First we get our asses kicked, then we're given powers by this strange girl to fight monsters, we still get our asses kicked, then this other ranger shows up to save us, but this Laura person claims to know nothing about her." Johnny sighed. "Yet she seems to know a hell of a lot about everything else!"
He turned back to Misha.
"Sorry, not buying this."
Misha shook her head. She knew that Johnny had a point, but that never meant that she enjoyed seeing him like this.
"Johnny..." she called softly, trying to calm him.
While it was a subtle attempt, it appeared to work as he slumped back down next to her, resting his head against the headrest of the sofa and staring up into the ceiling.
"I just don't trust her." he proclaimed.
Misha frowned - not at him, but at the entire situation. She understood exactly where he was coming from, but unlike Johnny, she saw the upside of it all.
"Look, I don't trust her either." she said as she rested her own head against his shoulder. "But you said it yourself - she knows a hell of a lot. If we're gonna do this, we're gonna need her."
Misha's warm words struck a chord in Johnny, as new thoughts began to spiral within his head. A chord, yes, but not one he would like to play to her that night, not after everything. As he glanced down at her, he noticed how her eyes were already closed and she was drifting off to sleep. He considered that perhaps she had the right idea - now was a time to sleep, not to fight.
Now was a time for rest.
Many hours later, the early morning sun was as bright and welcoming as ever. Its light began shining down upon Angel City as its residents began to stir and prepare for the day ahead of them. While many wished goodbye to their families to spend their Sunday at work, or sat around the breakfast table to begin their day together, one of those residents was already wide awake.
Deep inside the bookstore she called home, Laura smiled to herself as the sweet aroma of fresh coffee floated past her nostrils. Her small kitchen was filled with the rich dawn light as she stirred the mug slowly, mixing in the milk with the black coffee to make the beverage a nice, welcoming golden brown.
As she descended the spiral staircase down into the lower level of her bookstore, she held the mug with both hands, raising it to her lips to sip the coffee slightly. Lowering the mug, she glanced up at the single frame door, through the window of which she saw something that she was not quite prepared for.
Through the pane of glass, she watched as Olivia Guyver and Trevor Logan both shot her a quick smile and motioned for her to unlock the door. Laura slowly nodded and proceeded to do just that.
"Well," she began, opening the door to allow the other woman entry. "I didn't expect you back so soon."
Olivia shot her another smile as she stepped in. "Oh, I know it's a bit early and all."
Laura glanced down at her watch as it read 08:05 back to her.
"Not early at all." she responded with a smile of her own. "So, what can I do for you?"
Olivia lowered her head as she came to a stop in the center of the shop.
Trevor just glanced around the shop, taking in the surroundings all over again.
Laura meanwhile headed over to her counter and placed her steaming mug down.
"Well..." Olivia began. "We've been talking, like, all night and all, and there's something we want to talk to you about."
"Oh?" Laura queried, turning to face the duo. "About last night, I presume?"
"Yeah." confirmed a rather tired looking Trevor. If Olivia hadn't told Laura that they had been up all night, she would've been able to guess it thanks to the bags under his eyes.
Olivia, meanwhile, retained some of her energy – quite a bit of it, actually.
"We were talking, and then we started talking about what we should be talking to you about. But we were talking so much last night about that other ranger that we forgot to talk to you about what we should've talked to you about."
Laura stared back at her, completely confused. "Talk to me about...?"
"About one of those demons." elaborated Trevor as he scratched the back of his head. He actually felt a bit embarrassed. "One of them, well, kinda, a little bit... got away."
Laura sighed as she turned her back on the duo, reaching for her mug. "Oh...a demon escaped...?"
"Kinda..." confirmed a rather nervous Olivia. "Red Ranger showed up and it took off. We never even saw it run or anything."
Laura slowly turned back to them, looking into their somewhat concerned eyes. "Did it see you morph?"
Olivia just lowered her eyes to the floor while Trevor nodded.
"Ah. Well..." muttered Laura. "This is rather inconvenient."
"Can't you find it?" Trevor piped up, sounding quite hopeful. "I mean, you gotta have a way to track it, right?"
Laura headed back behind the counter and opened the book that had been lying there – Olivia and Trevor noted that it was a different one than Olivia had read from the day before. Laura began shuffling through the pages.
"It's probable that it went back to the Emptháa demon that summoned it."
She said, thundering through the pages.
Trevor piped up again. "Hold on, you mentioned that before..." he said, recalling the previous conversation they had before they became rangers.
"What exactly is an Emptar demon?"
"Emptháa." corrected Laura, sternly.
"An Emptháa demon," she continued as she stopped flipping through the pages, turning the book so that the other two could see. As they each looked down at the text, Trevor couldn't make sense of the writings, but Olivia found herself understanding each and every word, alongside a picture of what was clearly a female demon, with a large crown covering the upper part of her face, with two large gems on either side and one thinner gem in the center.
"Emptháa demon Dalas..." muttered Olivia, catching both the attention and astonishment of Laura and Trevor. ""Says that she has the power to summon demons from the depths...and can form psychic links with other demonic and magical beings."
Trevor was still somewhat confused. "Meaning...?"
"Meaning..." began Laura, glaring up at him. "If she links with that demon – and she most likely has – she knows what it knows. It saw you morph, therefore now she likely knows your faces and will likely send that demon back here to come after you."
Trevor and Olivia shared a concerned look with one another, before both of them looked back to Laura.
"We didn't stand a chance last time." muttered Olivia. "If Red Ranger didn't show up..."
"Then we should start looking for a weakness." Laura said, pointing to the landing above them. "All the other books on demons are up there. Call your friends. We've got some research to do."
Stephanie McLauren wasn't one for peace and quiet.
Instead, she preferred the quick pace, sense of danger and fighting for her very existence each and every day. She loved the energy brought on by swinging her sword at monsters from hell, saving the lives of others and generally kicking the heads in of anything dangerous that came her way.
That's why she hated the day time.
Rather than being out on the rooftops overlooking the city or hunting down demonic villains, she instead found herself cooped up in her tiny hotel room on her own. Drew had left a few hours previously, telling her something about needing a few supplies for some computer program he was working on, leaving her alone with her thoughts – and alone with her favourite punch bag.
As she hammered the large red punch bag with her thunderous fists, her mind remained focused on the night before- although this time not on the new rangers, but upon the new demon she had failed to defeat in her usual manner. It wasn't like her to let a demon escape, and it somewhat disappointed her for not getting the pleasure of watching it explode.
Her thunderous punches were so loud that she never heard the door to room 21B click and creak open.
"You still at that?" Drew asked as he crept in, holding a large bag, presumably of computer supplies.
Steph stopped, somewhat out of breath, turning to him. "Yeah." She hammed the bag one more time. "Gives me something to do."
"You need to get out more." He noted, placing the bag. "By the way, on the way back I saw this book shop. Might be worth taking a wee look for, well, books and that."
The mention of the bookstore returned Steph's mind to the previous night once more, looking down upon the store the other rangers went to after their encounter with the demons. "Yeah, I know it." She said as she reached for a bottle of water she had placed on her bed. "Might check it out later."
He nodded to her as he sat down on his own bed and began rummaging through the bag.
"What you got?" she asked.
He never lifted his head, continuing to search through the bag. "Nothing much. A few USBs, some cables and a new external hard drive." He said.
"Gonna need all this for my umm...little project."
Steph only shook her head as she drank from the bottle once more.
"Aye that book store..." Drew continued as he began pulling things out the bag. "Should look at things for local knowledge. See what we can find out about this place being the source of the evil and all. God knows I've had no luck online."
Steph stopped drinking as her eyes widened. "The source?" she asked.
Drew glanced up at her. "Aye. You mentioned that once or twice. Angel City is the source."
"Drew..." she said, clenching her teeth together. "I... didn't mean 'the source' as in 'the source of the evil'."
Drew stopped, almost frozen before glancing up at his sister, who had a rather nervous look on her face. "You what?"
She slowly sat down on the edge of her bed. "I meant 'the source' as in...you know, the source of the letter."
"The letter?"
"Aye." She nodded. "Thought you knew that..."
"And the package as well, I suppose?"
She nodded again as he lowered his head.
"Alright." He said, obviously a tad down. "So you've got the address where they sent from? So let's go an-"
"It was a P.O box, Drew." She replied, as he closed his eyes and sighed in response. "Sorry honey."
"Brilliant." He muttered, slumping back down onto his bed. "So this mystical source which I thought was the source of this great evil demonic power that I've been researching turns out to be a bloody P.O box..." he glanced up to her once more. "That has to be a new one."
She pouted.
"So...you couldn't have used another term like, oh I don't know, maybe 'This is where the letter was sent from'..." Drew said with a sigh.
"Sorry..."
"Steph," he said. "If you're holding out hope tha-"
"It was her handwriting." Steph sharply cut in, before taking a deep breath to keep herself calm. "And it was sent from somewhere in this city."
Drew nodded slightly to her, but he didn't quite agree entirely with her. "Well, maybe if you were to talk to-"
"No."
Drew glared up at her, deep into her cold, unforgiving eyes. He knew that she was aware of what he was about to say, judging from her glaring right back at him. He pulled himself to his feet, but still had to look up into her eyes.
"What is this?" he asked, his tone just as cold and unforgiving as hers could ever be. "You've been wanting to find out where that letter came from ever since you got the bloody thing."
"Since WE got this 'bloody thing'!" she corrected, raising her voice to him.
"What happened to me not being alone, Drew? "
Drew almost laughed. If it weren't for the fire in her eyes and the growl in her voice, he could almost have sworn that she was joking. "Oh that's priceless that is." He smeared. "Think about this then – Mum disappears, that letter shows up, then demons attack, then new rangers turn up. A wee bit co-incidental, don't you think? And then there's you having your head so far up your own arse to see that sometimes, just sometimes, you might need other people's help."
He shook his head as she stepped further towards him, putting her face in his as both sets of eyes growled at one another, before she stepped away, headed for the door. Drew, however, was not about to let her go so easily.
"You know, I think I've finally figured you out." He said, causing her to stop dead in her tracks. "You're afraid. You're afraid that somehow you're to blame for what happened to mam; that maybe there was something you could've done to stop it. You're afraid not because you weren't there to stop mam leaving, but maybe somehow you drove her off. Maybe if you backed away, she'd still be here – that's what you're thinking, right? That's why you're keeping your distance from these other rangers. You're afraid that you being there for them will only result in one of them getting hurt and you having to go through that pain and that guilt all over again – that's what your bloody problem is!"
He shook his head again as she remained still with her back to him.
"You're afraid that everyone you love will get hurt. So…what happens to me?" He asked rhetorically. "Is this how I get hurt? Watching my sister retreat deep into her own shell of shame and guilt? Because that hurts, Stephanie. That hurts a hell of a lot more than anything else in the world."
Steph's only response was a deep breath, before opening the door and slamming it shut behind her as she left.
The rough waves crashed against the rocky landscape poking up from beneath waterline of the Blood Ocean. The sound was just as horrific as the groaning souls screamed with all their might. They appeared angry, as if they were detecting the very existence of something which they detested.
It wasn't just the landscape the waves thundered up against, but also along the lone vessel to sail these waters - the very same that had been doing so for many centuries - The Barge of the Undead.
On board the ancient vessel, its occupants were not in disarray or upset at the rather unpleasant ride they were receiving. Instead, curiosity had taken them under its cloak. Perak - the small, humanoid octopus creature - stood with one of his many books in his left hand as he normally did. However, instead of reading the ancient text, his eyes were focused ahead of him, at the ancient Emptháa demon called Dalas, and the warrior Vorkah demon she had sent out hours earlier to Earth.
From Perak's perspective, the two were simply standing staring at one another. They had been this way since the Vorkah had returned merely hours previously - the first ever demon to return to Perak's knowledge. Apart from the odd creaking of the wooden ship, all was silent on board with the exception of the odd "Hmm" from Dalas. Perak watched them with excitement, eager to gain the information which Dalas had promised him upon sending the demon out.
Where Perak was only seeing what appeared to be a demonic staring contest,
Dalas was actually looking deep into the mind of the Vorkah demon, in effort to gain access to its memories and to the information which she seeks.
Finally, Dalas broke her stare with the monster before her and made another of her common "Hmm." noises as she glanced down at the floor.
Perak could hardly contain his excitement. "Well?" he asked with his voice as wheezy and raspy as ever.
She looked over to him. "Seems we were right, Perak." she said steadily. "The Circle are back..."
Both Perak and he Vorkah continued looking at her as she scrambled back atop her favourite set of crates, picking up her harmonium in the process.
"Four of them at first." she continued, as she brought the instrument into a position where she could begin to play it. "Relatively weak and of little concern."
Perak looked into her eyes. "At first?" he asked curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
Dalas glared back up at him. She often found herself frustrated by Perak and his constant desire for knowledge, but in this case, she considered it justified, especially since she was the one that promised it to him.
"I mean," she continued, glaring at him. "Another one arrived much later than the rest. This one was stronger and seemed much more dangerous."
The Vorkah demon remained still and silent, like a robot awaiting orders from its commander. Perak, however, turned his back on both it and Dalas and placed his book down upon his own crate as his mind began working.
Dalas simply watched him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. She had known him for many centuries, and had come to learn that whenever Perak placed one of his books down on his crate, his mind was doing what it did best - scheming.
"You know what this means," he asked slowly, turning his head around to speak to her. "Don't know?"
Dalas looked away from him as she attempted to uncover the answer.
"The Circle is not united." proclaimed Perak, catching Dalas' full attention once more. As she glanced back up to him, he turned around to return that glance. His tone of voice gave away the fact that whatever he had come up with, he was proud of it. She had come to trust that over the years.
"You seem certain of that." she said, keeping her eye on him. "Perhaps, we should see just how right you are."
She and Perak then turned their eyes back to the Vorkah demon, who remained silent and still, awaiting its orders.
It was rapidly approaching lunch-time before Johnny and Misha found themselves out and about. The sun was blazing warm and the streets of Angel City bustling with life as the duo walked through the crowds of people enjoying their warm Sunday.
Misha was a few steps ahead of Johnny, feeling more eager to reach their destination than Johnny. Upon approach, Misha pushed open the door to Laura's Bookshelf and hurried inside, leaving Johnny outside for merely a second as he glanced up at the name of the store, before following in his cousin's footsteps.
Inside, he found Misha standing in the middle of the floor looking around. Above them, Olivia could be seen taking various books off the shelves of the upper landing, while Laura was scrambling down the steps with more books in her arms.
"Umm," began Misha, feeling a bit confused. "What's going on?"
What neither of them saw was Trevor off to their left until he scrambled by in front of them, with even more books. "Research party." He muttered, obviously far from enjoying himself.
"Research?" asked Johnny, echoing his cousin's confusion. "And what are we researching, exactly?"
"That big demon thing." Called Olivia, as she glanced over the banister at the edge of the landing, catching the cousins' attention. "You know, the big ugly one."
"You mean the one that almost blew us sky-high?" Misha queried, with a look of concern quite obvious on her face. "That one?"
In contrast to Misha's concern, Olivia seemed quite perky. "That's the one!" she said with a smile, much to Misha's dismay. She huffed heavily – the last thing she wanted was to see that creature again. The pain it caused was too fresh in her mind, but she had a feeling that seeing it would be the least of her worries in the very near future.
In fact, there was one worry she had at that very moment – and he was standing right next o her.
"The one that we had to be rescued from?" Johnny remarked, his attention focused on Laura.
Misha glared up at him, as Olivia and Trevor only glanced over for a second before returning to work – they each had an idea what was coming next.
"By that 'mysterious' Red Ranger?"
Johnny's eyes remained on Laura, who only looked up for a slit second before returning to one of her books. "I told you," she began, keeping what was becoming her trademark cool tone, before gazing back at Johnny. "I don't know this red ranger. I don't know when she arrived, I don't know how she got here, I don't know how she knew about that demon and I certainly don't know why you're not believing what I'm saying – or was I lying when I said that you were now superheroes fighting to save the world from vicious hell demons?"
Johnny shot her a dirty look, as Misha placed her head in her hands in shame as Laura and Johnny shared a firey stare.
"I don't know Red Ranger." Laura repeated, returning her eyes down at her book. "I know demons. I know that we should be researching this demon to find a weakness instead of arguing about this other ranger."
Olivia and Trevor watched on as Misha turned to Johnny. He could see in her eyes that she was clearly angry at him for causing a scene. He slowly nodded to her in apology.
"She's right." Misha said to him, her voice as commanding as Laura's was cool.
"This thing might come back-"
"It will come back." interrupted Laura as she continued reading.
Misha sighed before continuing. "Will come back, and when it does we have to be ready."
Slowly, he nodded again.
"So shut up and start reading." Misha ordered, causing Johnny's jaw to drop almost to the floor as she guided him towards the stairs. Trevor and Olivia simply giggled slightly before they continued reading.
Mid-afternoon in Angel City was quite a busy time during the weekdays – the schools were closing for the day, people were preparing to leave work and head home, and others leave home and head for work. Sundays, however, were quite different. Thanks to the relaxing nature of the day, and the warm sun hanging high, many of the city's people preferred to walk or use their own transportation, leaving Angel City's light rail tram system almost obsolete on that day as the trams would cart around mostly fresh air.
One such person not aboard one of the trams was Stephanie McLauren. She had always loved railways to some degree – it was one of the things she and
Drew could easily bond over. She sighed to herself as she watched one of the silver and black tram-trains rumbled past without a care in the world – much unlike her.
Steph recalled Drew's words with much ease. Indeed, they had been echoing in her mind ever since they left his mouth. Strangely, though, she was unsure of how to feel.
Drew, however, knew exactly how to feel.
Back in their hotel room, he was to be found slumping on his head, holding his head in his hands as he leaned back against the wall. He felt guilty, shameful and disgusted – he regretted each and every word he said.
Despite being in completely different locations, both of them mimicked each other to near perfection on their mental actions – both of them thinking about not only what was said, but what was meant. Was he right in what he said? Did he mean it deep down?
Drew knew he did, but that never stopped his guilt.
Suddenly, Drew was jolted from his thoughts as the computer he had set up between his bed and the door began to beep, almost like an alarm. In fact, it was an alarm.
He scrambled to his feet and hurried over to it, staring down at the sleek black monitor, showing a map image of Google Maps with a group of pulsing red dotted lights to the upper right of the screen. He reached into his right pocket and pulled out his black smartphone, and hut his sister's name on speed dial. He only hoped that she would actually answer.
As Steph was about to cross the street following the passing of another tram, she suddenly felt a vibration emanating from her jacket's inside pocket. She didn't even need to guess what was going on, as she answered her phone.
"Where?" she asked coldly.
"City beach." Drew responded. "Looks like Piranhi."
Steph turned away as another tram rumbled by so that she could hear her brother. "I' on main street." She yelled over the tram. "How far is the plaza from here?"
Drew skimmed his fingers across the keyboard as he tried to find main street on the map. "I'd say…" he murmured, until he found it. "About a mile eastward."
She nodded. " I'll be there."
She hung up the phone and instantly began looking all around her. The city was busy, no doubt, but even in the crowds there would be a safe haven – somewhere she could escape to. Nothing across the street that she could see, not that she could see much beyond the people, but that was no concern, as she spotted a long, narrow ally way behind her.
She jogged into it, keeping her pace until she was approximately halfway up its long, littered pathway. As she stopped, she took one last look around, finding that no-one was watching her, and removed her morpher from her jeans pocket. She flipped the device out so it resembled a phone and brought her arms across her chest in a cross.
"Summon The Circle!"
She pulled her arms back out to her sides as – in a flash – her red ranger suit enveloped her body, and the energy and power radiated right through her.
Red Ranger closed her fists as the power raged into them, and her mind set itself on the task at hand. She was ready.
Minutes later, she found herself viewing Angel City and its trams from a different perspective. As she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, Stephanie kept on eye on the streets below in case the Piranhi decided to come inland. Looking up, she could see the ocean seep into view, signalling to her that she was closing in.
"You're almost there." spoke Drew over the communication system. In her ear, she detected the commitment and heart in his tone. She knew that despite her being the only one out there to o the actual fighting, he was standing-by ready to help in any way he could.
Coming to the edge of the last rooftop, she saw them. The Piranhi were clearly enjoying themselves, terrorizing the city's beach-goers and wreaking havoc on any set up beach furniture they could find.
All that was about to come to an end.
Red Ranger leaped off the final building into a somersault, rolling through the air with grace and ease, and rolling further as she landed over her shoulders instantly into action. She swiped one incoming beast off its feet, before jumping up to her own and striking another in the head with the very same leg. As another tried swiping it's sword from behind her, she rolled clear and removed her own sword from its sheath. She swiped it at the Piranhi which had tried to strike her with its sword, causing its chest to spark with damage in the process. She twirled around, slicing another at the waist with her blade as she did, causing it to tumble to the ground. As she stopped twirling, she opened her belt buckle and removed the black disk sitting there awaiting her.
She attached it to the hilt of the blade just as the remaining Piranhi regrouped.
"Power Blade!" she yelled, spinning the disk. "Burning Tornado!"
As the flames began swirling around the blade of the weapon, she twirled it before swiping it through the air, sending a energy wave of fire right at the surviving beasts. As the energy fire made contact, the Piranhi erupted into a series of small explosions, as Red Ranger re-sheathed her weapon.
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Steph raised her right hand up to the side of her helmet. "They're down." She muttered coldly.
The response she got wasn't exactly what she had been looking for.
"Hang on…" Drew muttered, the concern rather obvious in his voice.
Beneath her helmet, Steph raised her eyebrows in curiosity. She could tell from the tone of his voice that something was amiss, but she couldn't be sure what. Before she got the chance to find out what, she could hear Drew's fingers at work as they skimmed over his computer keyboard once more.
"What is it?" she asked.
She heard him sigh slightly before he responded. "I don't know. I thought I picked up something else there for a minute, but not anymore."
Red Ranger stole a glance around, confirming that she was completely alone.
"Something else?" she asked.
"Aye."
Stephanie shook her head. She could still hear the concern in her younger brother's voice, and she had come to trust that if Drew thought something wasn't quite right, that meant that something wasn't quite right. Still, she did see nothing else.
"Maybe it was a glitch." She stated, her voice as cold as artic stone.
The other end of the conn remained silent for a second. She assumed that
Drew had heard her, but was likely staring at the screen as if he could will the problem to reveal itself. "Aye maybe." He finally responded, the concern still rather obvious. "You alright? You're not hurt are you?"
At any other time, she would have no problem answering that very question. Sure, the Piranhi never hurt her, but the events of today made the answer somewhat unclear. "I dunno." She muttered. "Maybe."
Drew didn't need her to elaborate.
"Look, Steph…I didn't-"
"Not now." She said, quite abruptly, stopping Drew dead before he could finish. As she closed the conn, she closed her eyes as the contemplated the last few seconds. Her mind switched between this and the conversation she shared with her brother earlier, and then suddenly she realized something.
Where were the other rangers?
For once, it was quiet.
The moaning and groaning of those damned souls below almost seemed like it had come to an end – almost. The waves lapped calmly against the passing barge as it creaked and groaned itself, almost as if it too was one of the damned.
It was silent on board as well. Dalas sat atop her crates, strumming her harmonium as she stared out into the hellish abyss beyond the horizon. Her music was as slow and demonic as her very own existence had been. That was enough to send chills down even the most evil of spines.
Across from her, over on the side of the vessel usually occupied by Perak stood the Vorkah demon. The creature remained tall, still and silent, standing in one of the corners looking out into nothing.
Perak had vanished into the room where their other companion slumbered. The tall creature rested atop its makeshift bed while Perak lapped it's forehead with a damp rag which he dipped every so often into a plateful of the blood snatched up from the ocean. He knew that this wouldn't awaken the creature, but at least it gave him something to do while Dalas plotted their next move.
He didn't know that that move had already been made.
It was only with the sound of Dalas' voice coming from the other room did he decide to go in and see what she was up to.
"Ah…you're back." He heard her say, accompanied by a thump, which he presumed was her hopping off her crates.
As he crossed into the main room of the vessel, he saw that his female companion was w joined by another arrival - before her, silent and unmoving, stood one of the Piranhi. Perak watched as the Piranhi creature and Dalas shared a stare as she dwelled into the creature's memory, but unlike her contact with the Vorkah, this one only lasted a few seconds.
"Hmm." Dalas murmured as she broke the stare.
Perak's curiosity was peaked. "What is this? What are you up to?"
Dalas began pacing as she tapped one of her fingers off her chin. It appeared as if she was ignoring Perak, who simply watched on with interest.
"It's interesting...isn't it?" asked Dalas as she continued pacing.
Perak was beginning to get confused. "What is?"
Dalas looked up at him and giggled. "The Piranhi are born from the Ocean of Blood." She said as she walked over in front of the unmoving foot soldier, but keeping her entire body facing Perak. She then placed one hand on the Piranhi's head. "Yet one touch of it after their birth and they are completely incinerated."
With that, Perak watched as Dalas pushed the Piranhi through the gap in the wall of the ship, sending it crashing to the ocean of blood – and to its very death – below.
Dalas kept her eyes squarely on Perak. "I sent a group of them to Earth to see if The Circle really are not united, It appears the Red one fought them alone." She then turned to look out the window before her. "That one was to stay out of view and watch."
"Interesting." wheezed the elderly octopus creature as he began to waddle over to her side. "But we already knew that The Circle weren't united. The Vorkah demon told you that." He pointed towards the silent Vorkah demon in
the corner.
"The Vorkah demon," yelled Dalas as she angry turned to Perak. "The Vorkah demon only clued us into it, the Piranhi confirmed it!"
Perak humphed and began to waddle over to the Vorkah demon on the other side of the room. Dalas watched with interest as he came to a stop before turning his head back to her.
"I know what you're thinking." He wheezed, returning his gaze to the tall and silent Vorkah. "I hope that it works, Dalas; for all our sakes."
Dalas giggled to herself as she and the Vorkah locked their gazes upon each other once more.
Drew rubbed his forehead as he closed his eyes, shielding his vision from the computer that he had been staring at for what felt like an entire age. Here was a young man who should be out enjoying his Sunday afternoon, but instead was inside spending it by being stressed over a rouge demon signature.
His eyes snapped open once again when he heard the thunderous sound of the door to his hotel room slam shut. Turning his attention to the source of the noise, he witnessed his sister striding over towards him with purpose.
Desperately, he wished to apologise to her regarding their recent conflict, but she had other plans.
"Anything else?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder as she gazed into the computer screen.
Drew shook his head in response as his eyes returned to that very same computer screen, which was displaying to both persons the same road map view of Google maps that formed part of his demon tracking program.
"Not a bloody thing." he muttered. "I dinnae get it though. It was there!"
"I didn't see anything." Steph noted, her voice as low and serious enough to let Drew know that challenging her on the issue would not be his best course of action. "I still say glitch."
Drew opted not to challenge her, instead keeping his tactics solely on the program itself. "I just wished I knew for definite. Otherwise, I know I'm gonna be at this all night."
"We're gonna be at this all night!"
Misha groaned as she dropped her head onto a pile of open books scattered around the round table the group had set up to help them research. Indeed, many hours had already passed since the research itself began, and she, along with the others, felt that they were no closer now to finding their demon than they were before, perhaps due to the fact that most of them could only go by the portraits of the demons in the books rather than the mystifying text itself.
"Found it!"
All eyes darted up towards Trevor as he jogged down the spiral staircase with an open book in his hands. To herself, Misha noted the impeccable timing, given her earlier groan.
As Trevor reached the last step, Misha and Johnny got up from the round table, while Olivia and Laura joined them at the foot of the stairs from their positions at the counter.
"Liv." Trevor muttered as he handed the open book to his long-time friend
Olivia, who was also the only one other than Laura who could begin to understand the ancient writings within the books pages. Upon taking the book into her own arms, Olivia instantly recognized the demon pictured as the very one that they had encountered the previous evening.
"It's a Vorkah demon." she said, scanning the book with her eyes. "Says it has incredible strength and…oh…"
If Olivia didn't have the others' full attention before, she certainly did now.
"What?" Misha asked, the look on her face teamed with her quivering voice signaled to Olivia that her friend wasn't sure if she wanted that question to be answered.
"And is practically…indestructible." Olivia muttered slowly as she closed the book over, keeping her finger in place as a sort of bookmark. "Great…"
The others remained silent as they attempted to soak up Olivia's words just as she did herself. Only Johnny was not content with remaining quiet with such information.
"Hold on…" he began, attracting the attention of everyone else in the room.
"'Practically' indestructible?"
Olivia skewed up her face "Well, that's what it says…" she flipped the book back open and pointed to a section of text beneath the picture, showing it to Johnny in the process. "See?"
Johnny narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer "No Livvy." He said as he ran his eyes over the passage. "I don't see. I can't understand any of that."
Olivia pouted. "Well if you could, you would."
In that instant, Laura – being the only other one present who could understand the ancient writings – leaned past Johnny and Olivia handed her the book. Reading the text Olivia had pointed to, she nodded.
"That it what is says." She said with confidence, keeping her eyes on the page. "It also says that the Vorkah demon is a seeker of silence."
"Wait, what does that mean?" asked Trevor as he crossed his arms.
"It seeks silence…" Johnny began, once more attracting the eyes of the others as his mind began to work. "Livvy, you found something earlier that said that these things arrive through the water, right?"
Curiously, his friend nodded.
"It seeks silence…" he repeated. "And it'll seek it near the water."
As everyone else continued staring at him in wonder of where he was going, it hut him.
"The beach!" he yelled. "That's where it'll turn up. It's quietest part of town and it's near the water!"
"A sound theory." Noted a somewhat couscous Laura, whom Johnny simply glared back at. "However, it being a seeker of silence doesn't necessarily mean it'll automatically go to where silence already is – being a demonic killer sent here to help destroy the world, I'd bet that it'll go for the loudest and busiest part of town to create the silence it seeks."
Johnny only shook his head.
"Oh?" began Laura, crossing her arms as she was beginning to get annoyed by
Johnny's attitude. "And how long have you been demon hunting?"
"Long enough to know that that doesn't make sense." He snorted, as the others shared concerned glances with one another. Johnny began heading for the door "The beach." He repeated. "That's where it'll be, we should wait it out there!"
Reaching the door, he stopped to see that the others has not followed him.
"Maybe we should split up." Misha said, as she glanced between Olivia and Trevor. "You guys head fo-"
"We split up…" Johnny interrupted, cutting her dead. "and that thing's gonna have a better chance of putting us in the ground."
Misha didn't like his attitude, but she had to admit, he had a point there.
"The beach." he repeated once more, opening the door before taking off down the street.
The others looked to Laura, who signaled them clear to follow him. As they did, she crossed her arms and shook her head in silence.
Back in room 21B of the Ruttingdam Hotel, Stephanie and Drew McLauren were in complete silence. She was exciting the bathroom, gliding a comb through her freshly washed, golden blonde hair while he ran his fingers across the keyboard of the computer he sat before.
Their silence, however, was short-lived.
The alarm kicked in to life and instantly, Steph joined Drew at his side, looking straight at the map on the screen.
"Where?" she barked.
"Beach again." He responded, just as sharply, although that was not intended on his part. "More Piranhi it looks like."
Steph nodded and turned to leave, but before she could get even as far as the door, Drew stopped her in her tracks.
"Wait a minute…" he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear him. With her hand on the handle of the door, she turned back to him.
"Another one." He began, turning his head to her. "Central Street, near the plaza."
"Central Street?" she echoed in confusion.
He nodded as he turned back to the computer. "Aye. That'd be pretty busy this time of day."
Steph turned her head back towards the door as her mind kicked into action – she had a choice to make. Either she was going to the beach to take on the Piranhi, who could easily cause a lot of harm to anyone nearby, or she was going after this ghost signature on the Plaza, which she couldn't even be 100% sure was real – even the Piranhi one could be another glitch, she thought. But nonetheless, her mind was made up. She yanked the door open and bolted out as fast as her legs would carry her, leaving Drew alone as he stared deep into the computer.
As the sun began to disappear over the horizon, the blood-red sky loomed high above the beach of Angel City. The sunset seemed to be quicker than usual – almost as if the sun was running way from something.
In fact, it may as well have been.
A small group of Piranhi swarmed around the lush, golden sands of the beach where only twenty-four hours previously, brothers and sisters of their kind met their fate at the hands of The Circle. Each of this new swarm was mumbling to its comrades, all together at the same time, and yet, they seemed to understand each other perfectly. They certainly understood when one of them pointed towards the incoming rangers.
"I knew it!" Blue Ranger screamed as he and his team ran towards the monsters at breakneck speed. "I knew they'd be here!"
The monsters decided not to wait for the rangers and took off towards them, waving their swords in the air as they did so. Blue Ranger caught one incoming with his left hand and flipped himself over it, landing on his feet heavily, before blocking an incoming sword strike with his wrist and elbowing another Piranhi behind him in the face with his free arm. He kicked the monster he had blocked in the knee before punching it square in the face.
Yellow Ranger also blocked a sword attack by one of the beats, this time with her left shin. She then used her right leg to launch herself into the air, striking the monster in the chin with it as she did so. She then scored a roundhouse on another before instantly diving to the ground and swiping four more off their feet.
Green Ranger caught an incoming fist in his left hand and punched back with his right, striking the Piranhi in the jaw before rolling clear of a sword swing. He kicked one beast in the gut, rolled over its back before dropkicking it, sending it hurdling into three more standing before them. He then grabbed another by the arm and started swinging it, striking various other beasts with it in the process before sending it crashing to the ground.
Pink Ranger struck one of the beasts across the chest with her Power Blade, causing it to spark as it fell to the sands below. She then twirled the weapon around, stabbing one behind her in the chest, took a few steps backwards and removed the weapon sharply, striking the beast twice more before allowing it to fall. As various more began to surround her, she twirled into the air, striking each of them with the weapon as she did, bringing them all down.
Then, she looked up.
"Where's the Vorkah?!" she called to the others as she struck another incoming beast with her sword.
Yellow Ranger held four more Piranhi at bay with her own weapon. "I don't see it!" she coughed, struggling with the beasts as she did.
The Vorkah demon was not at the beach.
Instead, the creature found itself terrorizing residents in Angel City's Central Street, one of the busiest locations in Angel City, even on a Sunday. Men, women, young and old all screamed and fled the monster as it trashed everything it could find – cars, lampposts, even knowing down a few attempted runaways. The creature caught a young man by the shoulder and began laying into him, punching him in the gut several times, causing him to squeal in agony with each thunderous blow. This monster was merciless.
And so was its opponent.
Red Ranger leaped from one of the rooftops and caught the monster, the force of her drive causing them both to roll down the street, freeing the young man, not that he could run now that his gut had been battered to hell by the monster.
Both it and the ranger were back to their feet in no time, swinging attacks and taking blows at one another. Red Ranger tried swinging her fists at the creature, which dodged each and swatted its own at her. She managed to duck and dodge most, but some unfortunately made contact, causing her suit to spark with damage and send her down to one knee.
The Vorkah then swatted her with one hand across the side of her head, sending her down to the ground. She had no time to recover, however, as it undid it's work by picking her back up and giving her the same treatment it gave the young man moments previously – repeatedly punching her in the gut, causing her to wince and scream in agony with each and every blow.
The monster then swung its leg at her, sending her flying backwards with such force that she was sent crashing through one of the red sandstone buildings that lined the streets.
Inside, the residents of the apartment that this red stranger had been sent crashing into screamed with horror at the very sight of it. The young woman inside grabbed her young baby and made her way towards the main door, screaming so loud that it made even Steph's bruised ears hurt beneath her helmet. Still, she didn't care – she had to get up. Battered, bruised, hammered, but not defeated, Red Ranger pulled herself out of the rubble and staggered back to her feet. This fight was far from over.
Back at the hotel, Drew was still seated at his computer, staring at the screen as it now showed various signatures to him, which he easily identified as two demonic and five ranger. He had been watching the signatures of the other rangers since they appeared, and noticed that after they did, the number of Piranhi signatures seemed to drop by the second. In fact, he had been so wrapped up in watching these new rangers, he had forgotten to check the status of the one he already knew.
Realizing this, he glanced towards Stephanie's signature. He couldn't tell her status from what his screen was showing him, but he felt a terrifying sickly feeling deep in his gut – something which he had not ever felt for his sister before. What could he do? Here was a man who could build computer programs to track demonic beings from hell, who could tap into mystical technology to communicate with the user, who…
That's it.
Drew's eyes lit up as he instantly began typing faster than he had ever typed before – so fast that even the starship Enterprise would have trouble keeping up with him. Across his face stretched a smile as his mind settled in and got to work.
The Piranhi once again proved themselves little match for the new team of rangers , as each of them quickly finished them off, sending each of the beasts tumbling to the ground amidst sparks and explosions. Seconds later, the new rangers regrouped to discuss their situation.
"Well genius," remarked Green Ranger, slapping his blue counterpart on the arm. Johnny needed no clues as to what was coming next.
"Where's the demon you were so sure we'd find here?" remarked an annoyed Trevor.
Blue Ranger remained silent, giving no words away to Trevor, which in turn was all the answer that Trevor would ever need
Yellow Ranger decided it was best to keep focused, rather than pinning blame. "Look, I think we need to-"
It was in that moment when something else caught her attention. In fact, it caught all their attention. Raising the right arms to their corresponding ear, each ranger found themselves taken aback by this new development.
"Rangers." called the new voice through their ears. "Rangers, can you hear me?"
Each of the rangers, although each wearing helmets, shared a confused look with one another as they tried to identify the source of this voice.
"W…what's this?" Pink Ranger stammered as she glanced around at her comrades. "More to the point, who's this?"
"Look, there's not a lot of time to explain." The new voice responded quickly, with hints of worry and fear easily detectable within it to each ranger. "Look, you're falling for a trap!"
Blue Ranger shook his head. "What?!"
He heard a sigh on the other end of the con. "Bloody hell." Muttered the new voice. "Look, there was a Piranhi attack earlier today right where you're at now. Red Ranger took care of it, but there was something else there that she never saw."
The rangers continued listening.
"Now here's another demon attack near the city plaza – Central Street. Red's there now, but she might nee-"
"Hold on a second." Interrupted Pink Ranger, catching the attention of her fellow rangers and the source of the new voice in the process. "This other creature Red never saw, what happened to it?"
The owner of the voice sighed again. "I dunno. Vanished off my tracker."
"It went home…" Pink Ranger muttered as she entered deep thought. "Piranhi shows up, Red Ranger fights them alone…then two demon attacks at the same time on different ends of the city…"
"And they're at two different ends of the city because…" the new voice continued as its owner began to realize the plan that was in action here. "…
Because they're trying to lure you to two different ends of the city – they're trying to split you up!"
Johnny nodded. "See? Told you."
"Dalas!" Pink Ranger yelled, turning her head to her Green counterpart.
"Remember what we…I mean…I read? Dalas sent that mystery demon, and she knows we weren't here earlier with Red!"
Yellow shook her head in confusion. "Who's Dalas?" she asked Pink Ranger curiously.
Pink Ranger never answered, turning her focus back to the mystery voice. "Where is Red? Is she fighting the other one?"
"You need to get over there! Now!" The new voice demanded, the determination within it being all the answer Olivia could ever ask for.
"Then what are we waiting for?" she said, turning her attention back to her friends. "Let's go even the odds."
Those odds were stacked heavily against Red Ranger.
She had no time to recover from being thrown through a building, nor from having her gut constantly pummeled, as now she had to deal with being zapped it with lighting what she predicted to be thousands of times stronger than any lightning bolt we had ever witnessed before.
Her suit erupted in an array of sparks as she crashed downwards to the pavement below once more. Coughing and spurting she gripped the rubble surrounding her in her right fist as she attempted to find the strength within her to even stand, never mind put up a fight.
Beneath the suit, Stephanie's body was screaming in agony. Her favourite tactic of shoot first, ask never was simply not working in this scenario. She needed a new plan, and she needed one now.
Before her, The Vorkah demon was slowly advancing upon her, its right arm extended out, ready to shoot what it predicted would be the final blow. If it could chuckle, it most likely would have done. After all, it had won this battle.
Hadn't it?
As it advanced further upon Red Ranger, the Vorkah found itself forced backwards by a tremendous wave of energy, causing it to erupt into an array of sparks and smoke. As both it and Red Ranger shot turned their eyes to the roof of the building that Steph had crashed into earlier, on top stood the Blue, Yellow, Pink and Green Rangers, each welding their Power Blades with disk at the hilt.
"Hey!" called Yellow Ranger to the demon. "Remember us?!"
Indeed it did, as it raised its arm up towards them and sent a thunderous bolt of electricity straight for them. Before it came into contact, however, the team of rangers leapt from the building as the electricity made contact with the rooftop itself, creating a large explosion of rubble which gave the rangers momentum, aiding their flight through the air.
"Power Blade, Aquatic Storm!" Blue Ranger yelled, spinning his disk on his word which powered the blade of the weapon up. He swing it through the air, sending a wave of energized water storming towards the demon, which shielded itself using its arms.
The rangers all landed in line between the demon and a rather confused Red Ranger, who was still lying on the ground, struggling to pull herself to her feet. Yellow Ranger scrambled over to her, grabbing her by the right arm and pulling the red warrior up.
"You alright?" Yellow Ranger asked as Red Ranger regained her balance.
"Wha…" Red Ranger mustered out between heavy breaths. "How did you…?"
"A friend of yours told us." Blue Ranger remarked, holding his sword in a defensive stance and keeping his eye forward on the demon. "And a friend of ours did too…"
Stephanie understood only the first part of that statement, which in turn caused her to smirk underneath her helmet. "Drew…" she muttered to herself, reminding herself that of course, her younger brother would always find a way to come through for her.
Pink Ranger turned her head to the side, eyeing Red Ranger out of the corner of her eye. "I read that this thing's pretty powerful." She noted, recalling reading the book Trevor had found in the bookstore. "The five of us, though? I reckon we're more pretty powerful!"
The others looked at her in confusion for merely a second as they pieced together what she was saying. Steph, however, already got the message.
"Well, since you're here…" she said jokingly, attempting to mask the fact that she was glad to see them.
The Vorkah demon roared as it raised both hands into the air, sending streams of electricity to the sky. It was angered - this was not turning out as it expected.
Red Ranger picked up her Power Blade and took her place between Blue and Green Rangers, with Yellow and Pink adorning the right and left of the group.
Finally, all five rangers stood in line before the demonic monster.
The creature shot another beam of electricity towards them, but again it missed them and collided with the rubble behind, causing it to explode as the team of rangers took off running towards the monster, Power Blades in hand.
Within seconds, they were within striking distance and Red took the first shot. The monster blocked her strike, but in doing do, left itself wide open to kicks to the gut by Blue and Green, which sent it staggering back. Pink and Yellow Rangers gave it little recovery time as they swung their weapons, striking it across both its shoulders.
The monster attempted to swipe at the girls, but they ducked, allowing Red Ranger to swing her newly formed Volclancer at the monster, swatting it back as it crashed into a building in a similar manner as it caused Steph to do so earlier. The creature pulled itself free in a matter of seconds, but when it did so, it only saw one ranger – red ranger – standing there awaiting it. As it roared, Blue and Green Ranger stood off to the monster's left, and began spinning their Power Blades' disks rapidly.
"Aquatic Storm!"
"Forest Thunder!"
They swing their weapons through the air, sending their respective energy attacks hurdling towards the monster. It raised its arms to block them, but in doing so turned its back upon Pink and Yellow Rangers, who too began spinning the disks on their weapons.
"Earth Fury!"
"Hurricane Spiral!"
The girls sent their special attacks, which caught the monster straight in the back, causing it to erupt into a series of mini explosions. As it fell to one knee, the four rangers regrouped before it, and Red Ranger somersaulted over them, before swinging her own Power Blade through the air also.
"Burning Tornado!"
She sent her energy wave of fire crashing towards the demon at incredible speed, giving the monster no time to shield itself before it hut. The demon roared as it's body erupted into a series of small sparks before it fell into a large explosion, just as Red Ranger landed on her feet.
Pink, Blue, Yellow and Green Rangers high fived one another in celebration, while Red Ranger rested her Power Blade on her sword as she turned to them briefly, before turning her head back to where the demon had been seconds prior, as Drew's words echoed in her mind once more.
"Hey." Yellow Ranger said as she walked up to her side, catching Red Ranger's attention. "We did pretty damn good, huh?"
Beneath her helmet, and through her pain, Stephanie smiled at the other ranger. She lowered her sword as she recalled her brother's pleas, and assessed the results of what had transpired moments earlier, before turning to the other rangers.
"Do you have some place we can talk?"
Laura wasn't used to having many people in her store.
That, however, was not an excuse for not keeping it tidy. She whistled to herself as she placed the last of the books used previously for research back in their rightful places on the shelves of the bookstore's upper landing, hoping and praying that any information that she and her rangers had accumulated from them had proved useful helped the rangers be successful.
Little did she know what she was about to find out just how successful they actually were.
She turned her head back towards the door as she heard it open, accompanied by the sound of rather excited voices as well. Making her way down the stairs, she saw something which completely took her breath away. This was not something she had ever expected.
There, standing alongside Johnny, Misha, Olivia and Trevor stood the morphed Red Ranger, glancing around at the various books. As she stared at the stranger, she felt her eyes begin to fill with tears for a split second before blinking them away as Johnny approached her.
"Hey," he said somberly, lowering his eyes to the floor for a second before looking back into her own. "I…I just want to say I'm sorry. You were right…about everything."
He took a deep breath before continuing. "I should've listened to you."
"Yes, you should have." She responded, keeping her tone serious, before a small smile flashed across her face. "It's just a good thing someone contacted the local media station to warn about a loose bear in the Plaza."
This made Johnny smile for the first time in Laura's presence.
"Now…" she said, stepping off the stairs onto the ground floor. "I see we have a guest."
All eyes fell on the Red Ranger, who raised her right hand to the side of her helmet and began speaking.
"You can come in now." She muttered.
Seconds later, Laura and the other rangers heard the door open again.
Everyone turned to see a young man trundle into the store, nodding to the group as he approached the side of the Red Ranger.
"How you doin'?" he said with a smile as he extended his hand to each of the rangers and Laura, shaking them one by one. "Drew McLauren. I'm the guy who contacted you about saving this one's backside." He joked, nodding his head towards Red Ranger. "And this is…"
He, along with everyone else, turned their eyes to the ranger, signaling for her to de-morph.
With a slight sigh, she raised her arms up in a cross and pulled them back down to her side.
"Power down." She said, as in a flash, the ranger suit vanished, revealing a surprisingly pristine Stephanie McLauren underneath,
Misha's eyes opened wide as she instantly recognized Stephanie from before.
"You!" she called, recalling her encounter with Steph at the bar three nights previously.
"You know her?" Johnny asked curiously, glancing down at his cousin.
Misha nodded slightly, keeping her eyes on Steph, who simply lowered her gaze to the floor, feeling somewhat awkward.
"Yeah." Misha said. "This is Stephanie. We met once."
"That was totally co-incidental." replied the Scottish woman. "I wasn't like spying on you or anything."
Misha nodded, still taken aback. "Good thing…"
Johnny, Olivia and Trevor giggled at Misha's shocked expression, while Laura remained noticeably quiet during the entire exchange.
"So, you wanted to talk?" asked Trevor, turning his eyes to Stephanie.
She nodded, before shooting a glance down at her younger brother. "Aye…" she said. "I…we've…been thinking a bit…and thought…" she sighed. "Maybe we should kinda work together…a bit."
"You mean…" Olivia said as she crossed her arms. "You want to join our team?"
"I mean…" Stephanie continued. "We did no bad out there. You scratch my back, I'll save yours."
Drew lowered his head as he giggled while the others all glanced at each other, clearly thinking the same thing.
"Okay. Deal." Olivia said, flashing a smile at the duo. "Welcome aboard."
Stephanie merely smiled back, until Drew feigned a cough. Glancing over at him, she knew that this was a signal to put forward something else
"Oh…and…" she began. "Don't suppose you know where we can get a spare room…by any chance?"
"Why?" asked Johnny. "Where you staying?"
"Ruttingdam Hotel." Drew responded, shaking his head slightly.
This attracted a sense of unease about the team. Clearly, the reputation of the hotel had reached their ears.
"Why didn't you say so?" Trevor remarked, glancing back at Laura as he recalled seeing a spare room up on the upper landing.
"Oh I don't…" Laura began cautiously, initially about to refuse what Trevor was hinting at, but elected to stop herself finishing that very sentence. "Well, actually…I think I can help."
This caused Steph and Drew to smile at her, knowing that she gave them a way out of that dastardly hotel room.
"But you'll need to earn your keep."
Steph's jaw dropped slightly as she turned to Drew, but unfortunately for her, Drew had already anticipated such a response.
"We'll do it." He said confidently with a nod, attracting wide eyes from his sister, who realized that he had just entered them into employment – customer service employment no less.
"Excellent." Laura responded with a wide grin.
As the other rangers began talking among themselves about this development, Drew took Steph's arm and lead her a few steps back, intent on doing something he wished had had been able to do much earlier.
"Steph," he began somberly. "Look I just want to say…"
"I'm sorry." She cut in, catching him by surprise.
"You were right." She elaborated, placing her right hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I doubted your programming skills. Turns out they actually saved my life." She joked, referring to his communication program.
"And you're right – I am afraid. I'm afraid of getting other people hurt, and yeah, I'm afraid of getting hurt myself. You were right about all that."
He kept looking on into her deep, ocean blue eyes.
"But you were wrong about one thing." She said with a loving smile appearing on her face. "You're not gonna get hurt, baby. I won't let that happen."
"Still," he responded. "I'm sorry."
The two pulled each other into a warm, loving embrace to seal each other's apology, but it was short lived as Misha decided to change topic and get them back onto the focus of their ranger duties.
"So…" she began, glancing around the room at all present. "Does this mean that those demons will be put off attacking now?"
"I doubt it." Steph piped up, her tone turning serious and the fire in her eyes beginning to burn, causing Laura to lower her own away from Steph's, who looked around at everyone.
"In fact…" began a rather confident Drew. "I'd say it'll encourage it. They've got a goal no doubt. Thing is, now so do we."
"Sooo…" Trevor began, somewhat uncertain of the news. "What're we gonna do about it?"
Steph smiled mischievously at each of them as all eyes somehow found their way back to her. "We're gonna do what we're supposed to do." She said, radiating with confidence and excitement.
"We're gonna save the world."