The team arrived in the middle of a crossroads, right in the middle of the city. Kendall was checking her GPS scanner, walking around with little to no notice as to where exactly she was going, as evidenced by the squeal of tyres and the blare of horns from motorists that had to hammer on the brakes so they wouldn't run over the Purple Ranger. Fortunately, since she was morphed, not only would any hits not have been lethal, but the motorists didn't seem too hostile when they saw that it was a Ranger on official business.
"Sorry, we'll clear the street as soon as possible miss." Riley said to a motorist, patting the hood of his car as he and the others formed around Kendall. "Ms Morgan, it's not often I agree with Heckyl, but you really should be more careful around traffic."
"I don't understand this; according to the GPS signal we should be practically right on top of her." Kendall told them.
"I guess that explains why we've been playing blocker for you walking around this same block four times." Chase commented. It wasn't just traffic Kendall was oblivious to in her concentration on the GPS signal, Chase and the others had to subtly guide her around street signs, lamp posts and even pedestrians on her journey. Kendall started shaking her scanner.
"I can't understand this. Maybe they ditched the cell." Kendall suggested. "Maybe we should fan out and..."
"Uh...Ms Morgan?" Shelby asked, pointing to a manhole cover that was open ajar. Kendall rolled her eyes.
"Of course, why didn't I think of that?" She asked, heading over and shifting the manhole cover over to reveal the passage. She had a look around, but couldn't see anything. "Alright, there's only one thing for it!"
"You're not seriously suggesting..." Chase's words tailed off as she hopped down the manhole. "...Okay, I guess we're going down then."
"Come, the damsel awaits us in the catacombs for rescue!" Ivan declared, leaping down. "Heeeyyyaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Yeah, it looks like we're going down then." Riley answered. "But maybe we should use the ladder?"
Tyler and Shelby responded by leaping down as well. Chase just sighed and shook his head.
"OK, I guess that's another way too." He replied. "Go on Koda, you're the cave guy."
Down in the sewer, the others started to gather around Kendall as Chase and Riley climbed down the ladder, finally joining the others. Kendall examined her scanner again.
"Now this...I didn't expect." Chase said, looking around with surprise at the tunnels they were in. The descent into the sewers had been a lot longer than he had expected, and the sewers themselves were very wide and spacious. He didn't claim to be an expert, but as far as he knew, sewers were generally little more than large, glorified pipes.
"Looking at these caverns, this is stone, not brick. I don't think these were always sewers." Riley told him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say they appropriated some of the natural caves that ran under the city anyway."
"You mean they found a site of historical significance and instead of preserving it...they turned it into a sewer?" Tyler asked, sounding a little surprised. Riley shrugged.
"They did it to the Salem Witch Dungeons." Riley answered. "They were found when they were digging the foundations for a cell phone tower. The company let historians take all the pictures and everything they needed to re-create it a few miles down and then built it anyway!"*
"Are you guys seriously talking about this now?" Shelby asked impatiently. The truth was, as much as it was a sewer, on any other day, she'd probably have wanted to study it thoroughly, but right now, her only thought was on her friend. "Ms Morgan, are you having any luck?"
"The signal's a lot stronger, I've got a lock." Kendall told them. "Erin is right down..."
"This way." Koda interrupted her. They all looked to where Koda was standing. He pointed to something on the floor. "Footprint, look like monsters."
"Then we know where the varlet has taken the maiden!" Ivan declared, bringing out his Ptera Sabre. "Onward my comrades!"
With that, he took off, running down the tunnel, splashing through muck and mire the Rangers didn't even want to think about. They all just blinked as they watched him go.
"So...we're going for the subtle approach?" Chase asked sarcastically. Shelby brought out her Dino Sabre.
"Ivan, hold up!" She screamed out, running after him. "Save some for me!"
In the main chamber, Erin was starting to come to. She had almost started to think that this was all just a horrible nightmare until she found herself still wrapped in the pastry. Half-Bake was just sprinkling a few more spices onto the pastry, before going to check the oven.
"Perfect, it's almost up to temperature." He cackled as he rubbed his hands together with glee. "This'll be my finest..."
"WAIT!" Erin called out. Half-Bake just grumbled under his breath as he turned to look at her.
"What is it now Pink Ranger?" He asked her.
"Um..." She stammered, trying to think of something, anything she could say to stall him for as long as possible. "What herbs and spices are you using?"
"Excuse me?" He asked her. "Are you questioning...?"
"You...you do want to make this your finest dish ever right?" Erin asked him. "So, what are you using?"
"I suppose there's no harm, it's not like you're going to share my recipes with anyone." He answered as he thought about it. "I went with some salt and pepper, those are a given, I put in some mint, some parsley, a little sage..."
"Get away from her you fiend!" Ivan roared as he ran into the room, swinging his Ptera Sabre into him. Half-Bake stumbled away, before snatching up his hammer. He swung for Ivan, who rolled away, adopting a double-handed grip on his Sabre.
"Gold Ranger, thank God!" Erin screamed as she saw him. "This freak was going to eat me!"
"Have no fear madam." He assured her. "The next meal THIS monster will enjoy shall be in the afterlife! Have at thee!"
Back on the ship, Heckyl was sitting on his Command Chair, looking somewhat gloomy. He had been in a terrible mood since he had heard about their supply situation. Singe, Wrench and Fury came into the room, bowing respectfully.
"You called for us?" Singe asked him. Heckyl just gestured around the room.
"Do either of you notice anything wrong with this picture?" Heckyl asked them in response. "Its dinner time, and I don't see any dinner!"
"Master Heckyl, we did send out a Spike Ball for more supplies, but unfortunately, reports show that it was destroyed." Singe told him.
"They destroyed my Spike Ball?" He shrieked. "And the groceries?"
"They're gone too." Singe answered. "I'm sure we can make something from..."
"Wait...why are you making the dinner? Isn't that Half-Bake's job?" He interrupted them. They all just looked around each other, trying to think how to answer.
"Um...none of us have seen him since we laughed at him earlier." Wrench said nervously. "His equipment is gone too..."
"You think he actually went to take on the Rangers?" Heckyl yelled. They all looked on nervously, wondering what he was going to do next. He just sighed and waved them off. "Oh well, it's not like his cooking will be missed. I'll go out for pizza or something. We can figure out his replacement in the morning."
Back in the sewers, Ivan and Half-Bake were locked in battle. Ivan was actually laughing as he took on the monster, dodging his attacks as Half-Bake smashed his hammer into the stone. Tyler just looked to Kendall.
"It almost seems a shame to break this up when he's having so much fun." Tyler commented. Kendall just shook her head.
"When do we ever get the chance to test out new weapons against a target with so little risk?" Kendall asked him. "Gold Ranger, stop messing! We've got this!"
"Ah, now the rest of you have gotten here." Half-Bake said breathlessly as Ivan broke off to rejoin his team. "Hand over your Energems and maybe I'll give you your precious Pink Ranger back."
"Think again!" Shelby called out, stepping to the front. "You've been messing with the wrong Pink Ranger!"
"What? You mean...you were telling the TRUTH?" Half-Bake yelled in panic, looking between Erin and the Pink Ranger. He wasn't the brightest creature in existence, but even he knew enough to know that no person could be in two places at the same time. "Never mind, I have enough ingredients to bake all of you into a pie!"
"You won't be baking anything anymore!" Tyler responded, morphing into T-Rex Supercharge Mode. "The kitchen's about to get closed down!"
The team all formed up behind Tyler as Half-Bake pulled a large wad of dough out of a bucket.
"Here, have some of my destruction dough!" He called out, throwing it at them. The team just stood firm as the dough hit them, sparking off their suits, but causing no significant harm. The monster looked on in horror, seeing them still there, with Tyler's blaster pointed right at him. "Um...is it too late to talk about this?"
"Does this answer your question?" Tyler asked as he pulled the trigger. In a massive blast that shook the whole room, Half-Bake was utterly destroyed by the resulting blast. Tyler just turned to her.
"You did it again Ms..."
Kendall clamped a hand over his mouth, before pointing in Erin's direction, reminding him not to use their real names in front of non-Rangers. Ivan made his way over to where Erin was still trapped in the pastry.
"Now, let's release you. There's no reason for you to be trapped here a moment longer." He said, slicing apart the pastry with his Ptera Sabre. He helped Erin out of the dough, at which she just looked to the Rangers apologetically.
"You...you all saved me; even after everything I said and did." Erin said apologetically. "You would have had every right to just let that monster turn me into a pastie and yet...you came down here and risked your lives to save me."
"It's what we do miss." Ivan assured her. Erin pushed her way through to the Pink Ranger.
"I owe you the biggest apology of all." She stated. "All of the wonderful things you've done, all the risks you've taken and...I was taking credit for it. You must really have hated me."
Realising that this was her chance to make Erin understand her frustrations, she just put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'd say I was more confused why you would take credit for things other people have done." Shelby told her. "I'm sure you're an amazing person in your own right. Maybe...maybe that's who people really need to get to know."
"I guess...I have made a habit out of this." Erin responded, wiping away a tear as she thought about it. "I'll clear things up. I swear I will. I'll let everyone know that I made all this up."
"People don't like being lied to." Riley pointed out. "Are you sure you're ready to face that?"
"I don't WANT to do it." Erin admitted. "But, being wrapped in a giant pastie gave me a lot of time to think, and there are a lot of people out there that really did risk everything, some who've even given everything that deserve a lot better than what I did. I owe it to you, and to all of them."
"That is a brave and noble choice." Ivan complimented her, putting his arm around her. "Now, come, let us leave this place behind. It smells worse than the Prince's outhouse after a banquet."
"Ivan, it's a sewer." Riley reminded him as they walked away. "What did you expect it to smell like?"
Elsewhere in the city, Heckyl walked into a pizza parlour, casually strolling up to the counter. He had a look around while the counter assistant tried to get his attention.
"Jungle Karma Pizza, how may I help you?" The young girl asked him. Heckyl made his way to the counter, smiling at her.
"I'm going to require, oh...fifty pizzas." He told her. The young girl just blinked at him.
"F...f...fifty?" She asked, looking astounded by the order. "That's going to take quite a while to prepare..."
"Oh, you don't need to worry, I'm very patient." He told her. "I'll also require all the ingredients in your pantry, your fridges and your freezer!"
"Sir, I don't understand." She replied. Heckyl powered up an energy ball in his hand.
"Then how about I clarify the situation for you?" Heckyl said as he blasted a stack of pizza boxes. A legion of viviks flooded into the restaurant, coming in to grab everything that wasn't nailed down. "Give me everything in the restaurant now, and I won't raze it to the ground!"
"Y...y...yes sir!" The girl stammered in response, quickly going into the back to begin preparing the food, while Heckyl's minions picked the place clean.
Back at the museum, the Rangers were all gathered around a screen, watching the latest breaking news footage. Erin was on the screen, underneath a banner, declaring the Pink Ranger Hoax Scandal. Emma and Orion were standing either side of her. Not wanting Erin to have to face things alone, Shelby had called in a favour to ask for a couple of publically known Rangers to be there to accept an apology.
"Thank you all for coming at such short notice." She began her statement to the assembled press. "I've already apologised to the current team of Rangers, but I owe the same apology to everyone else that has heard and believed in my lies. I should never have claimed to be a Ranger. It was wrong, and I'm sorry. What the Rangers do on a daily basis is amazing. What they risk is an awesome gift to the world that we can never repay, and the least we can do for them is to respect that gift enough to just be grateful for it, and not to use it to make ourselves look good."
Erin turned to Orion and Emma.
"Most of all, I apologise to everyone who has ever served as a Ranger. Some of you have risked everything, some of you have sacrificed a lot, and some of you, sadly, have paid the ultimate price. By claiming that I was a Ranger, I disrespected all of you." Erin told them. "I only hope you can forgive me."
"I think I speak for all Rangers when I say, knowing what you went through, I think you've learned your lesson. Apology accepted." Emma answered, hugging Erin. In the museum, watching the press conference, Tyler was the first to comment.
"That really took a lot of guts to face up to that." He complimented her, looking to his girlfriend. "I can see why you and Erin are such good friends."
"That's the sad thing. I don't think Erin realises that when people figure out her lies, that's all anyone remembers about her." Shelby responded. "Maybe if she'd just let people know her instead of seeing stuff like this..."
"Shelby, she here." Koda told her, gesturing to the door. Erin walked in, getting a few cat-calls from people in the restaurant. She looked uncomfortable, but from the looks of things, it was something she had already experienced a few times.
"Hey, why don't you show us how you take down monsters!" A guy called over, getting some laughs from his table. Shelby just stood up, throwing an angry look his way.
"Yeah, because I'm sure none of YOU has ever told a lie to make yourselves look better!" Shelby warned them. "You have a problem with her, you know where the door is, and I'll happily toss you through it!"
"Thanks Shelby, but...it's alright. I deserve it." Erin answered, sitting with them at the table. She sounded a little weary as she sat down, handing Shelby back her phone. "You can have that back, but you might want to change the number. I've already gotten a lot of messages and calls that...well...I'm sure you get the idea."
"Erin, it'll get better." Shelby assured her. Erin just looked to her with tears in her eyes.
"Yeah, well...let me know when that's meant to happen." She sobbed. Shelby could see that all this was getting to Erin and took her hands. She no longer cared about all the credit she had stolen from others. This was the Erin she knew, the one that had been her best friend all her life. "I had a lot of time to think, and...It's not just the Ranger thing; I've done this to a lot of people, even you! I don't know why you want to be around me! You should probably have left me high and dry like everyone else did!"
"Erin, I'm not angry, I just...don't know why you do this to yourself in the first place." Shelby admitted. Erin wiped away a few tears.
"It...it always just looked so easy for everyone else. They got homes and they made friends and everything. Dad was always moving around so much, I never stayed anywhere long enough to do the same thing. I never won any trophies or became captain of any teams or anything like that. Hell, by the time I'd unpacked my suitcase it was pretty much time to pack up and go again." Erin told her. "Everyone else had these really impressive stories about all the amazing things they did and all the things they could do...I just figured...maybe if I had a few of those stories myself..."
"Erin, you don't need to impress anyone." Shelby told her.
"That's easy for you to say, you were already so amazing and popular." Erin answered. Shelby just blinked and backed away.
"Wait...you thought I was POPULAR?" Shelby asked her.
"How could you not be? You always got top grades in school, you were head of that Palaeontology club you started, you were so creative with your songs and..."
"Erin...I was NEVER popular!" Shelby told her. "Other kids thought I was a know-it-all because I got those marks! I was head of the Palaeontology club because I was the ONLY MEMBER! That song...OK, that song was kind of catchy when we were seven, but...you don't think the kids are still singing that do you? They moved onto the next boy band three weeks later!"
"I...I just always thought...that's how you made friends. People liked you because of the amazing things you can do." Erin sniffed. "I was never anywhere long enough to get achievements like that, but then I figured...I was never anywhere long enough for people to figure that out either."
"People who are only your friends because of what you can do for them are not your true friends." Ivan told her. "Those who stick by you, even when you do wrong, those are your true friends."
"Thanks guys. I'm really sorry I've been so stupid." Erin said to them.
"I'm going to go get us some ice cream." Shelby told her. "You guys want to help?"
As they left to get some ice cream, Ivan remained with her. Erin couldn't look at him, wondering what he must think of her. She'd made it pretty clear that she thought he was attractive, but now...she didn't know what he must think of her.
"What you did today took a tremendous amount of courage." Ivan told her. "To err is human, but to admit to such failings is an act of a truly brave heart. Even the boldest of people has shown reluctance in such circumstances."
"Thanks, but I really don't think you've ever done anything as stupid as I have." Erin told him. Ivan just smiled.
"There was a legendary tale from my homeland about a knight Sir Ivan." Ivan told her. "There were a band of brigands who attacked convoys and caravans seeking to loot them. There were patrols yes, but on the whole these attacks went unchecked, until one such raid happened to strike a caravan on which Prince George's cousin Gwendolyn was travelling. The Prince ordered Sir Ivan to seek out the leader of these brigands and bring him in. So the tale goes that he did so. He single-handedly slaughtered over fifty of the brigands, and brought their leader back in chains to be hung for treason."
"OK?" Erin replied, looking a little confused.
"There is, however, a lesser-known version of the tale." Ivan told her. "Ivan, believing he would meet resistance, took a contingent of over fifty men with him. When he arrived, he found only half a dozen brigands, and their leader already beaten and bound. The brigands knew that attacking a caravan with one of the Royal Family on board was a step too far and would inevitably lead to their eradication by the crown. So, far from a spectacular battle where he single-handedly slaughtered fifty men, the brigands simply handed over their leader and begged for clemency. Knowing that there were likely more waiting in the wings, Ivan took their leader and left without so much as a single sword being drawn."
He took her hand in his, and drew in closer.
"However, I know which version likely sounded better when told at the local tavern." He said with a smile. "Even the most noble among us like to see our reputation massaged once in a while."
Erin just smiled as he kissed her hand.
"I am certain you have a great many talents my lady." He said to her. "I know you trounced me at chess. You also have something of a flair for fiction. Perhaps you may want to exercise that?"
"Fiction?" Erin asked him. He just shrugged.
"What is a lie but good storytelling?" He asked her. "Though...generally in fiction people know the tales they read are not true. That way they don't get upset."
"Thanks Ivan." She replied as he got up to go and help the others bring in the ice cream. She knew that for the foreseeable future, she would have her lies and her deceit cast up to her, but with Shelby and her new friends, waiting for all that to die down didn't seem quite so bad anymore.
A/N: The little factoid I put up marked with a * is actually true! I visited Boston many years ago, and as part of that I took a tour of Salem. I was astounded to hear that the true witch dungeons were in fact several miles from Salem and had been completely destroyed in the building of a cell phone tower! I guess some people would say...that's progress?