Chapter 4 – Rock You Like A Hurricane

Scottish Highlands

None of the trio wanted to admit it out loud but their new pink ranger was pretty good. They watched her cartwheel away from a couple of Cedals before striking them down with her rod. "Star Rod, Wind Power", she called out and twisted the object in front of her body. A strong breeze began to whip up in front of the pink ranger and several of the Cedals were catapulted into the nearby trees. With a strong upward thrust Cho slapped another Cedal away with her Star Rod. She followed this up by twisting her body and jamming her staff into another footsoldiers body.

"Where did she learn how to do this?" Harry mused out loud.

"She's not that good", Ron snorted. They watched as the pink ranger began to get overwhelmed by the number of Cedals. A couple of them succeeded in blocking an attack from the girl and grabbed her arms. With an effortless flick they tossed the pink ranger away and she landed in a heap next to the others.

Hermione knelt down next to Cho and placed a hand on her shoulder, "You can't take them all on yourself", the yellow ranger stated.

"I didn't see you rushing to help", she snapped in response and pushed away the younger girl's arms.

"Well we don't really know what we're doing", Harry replied with a hint of impatience.

"Yeah that much is obvious", Cho grumbled before taking a deep breath. Whether she liked it or not, they were all on the same side so getting frustrated wouldn't solve anything. The Cedals were beginning to lose interest in the group and were returning to their destructive rampage. "Alright quick crash course", she began, "you have three primary weapons, a Star Blaster which is a little bit like a muggle firearm, a Star Dagger which is exactly as described and a Star Rod which you've just seen me use".

"You make it sound so easy", Ron shook his head.

"I assume you know that you have different elemental abilities", Cho continued, ignoring the sarcasm from the blue ranger. "I want you to keep your element in the forefront of your mind at all times, it'll help you focus your Chi power until you can be taught some more advanced techniques".

The others were a little sceptical but decided to follow the advance of the pink ranger. After a few moments concentrating on their different elements, they could feel the difference. Their bodies almost hummed with power and energy, like they were one with their new powers. They were able to sense the sources of negative Chi in the area and it clinged to the Cedals like an oppressive cloak.

Harry stepped forward purposefully and pulled his Star Rod out from its holster. He could feel the power of fire burning through his body and he wanted to put it to good use again these annoying footsoldiers, "Hey Cedals", he shouted. The black suited creatures immediately turned in his direction, "you're time's up", his Star Rod ignited with fire at the tips and he quickly advanced towards the nearest enemies.

With new found confidence, the red ranger quickly eliminated two Cedals after hitting them with the burning tip of his weapon. As a third charged towards him, he adjusted his grip and buried his Star Rod into the abdomen of the Cedal. Drawing on his Chi power he lifted the creature up into the air and tossed it away from the battle sight. "Let's see if this works", Harry said and pushed his free hand towards the monsters, "Fire Blast", he called. Just like the previous day, a small ball of fire hit the footsoldiers and they slowly burned to a crisp. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and looked over to see how the others were doing.

Ron decided not to bother with his Star Rod, instead he wanted to see how he would fight with a dagger instead. The blade of the dagger was white and there was a red and white handle around the hilt of the weapon. The blue ranger tapped into his Chi power and jumped high into the air. He aimed for the middle of a small group of Cedal and twisted in the air. The dagger cut through the chests of the monsters and they collapsed to the ground in defeat, "That was bloody fantastic", Ron gasped. Suddenly he sensed two more Cedal trying to sneak up behind him. He twisted around and swiped the air in front of him, "Gravitair", he called and the two creatures shot high into the air, not to be seen again.

The yellow ranger had a guilty secret that she hadn't told the others about. Hermione had realised that her decision making under pressure wasn't great and needed to find a way to improve this. Without being able to use magic her options were limited but then she had an idea. The local video game arcade would be a good way to train her reactions and her aim in the event of another magical battle. She had gotten pretty good over the last two months, earning a high score that no one had beaten. Fortunately this simulated success was translating into skill with her Star Blaster and she hit the black suited creatures every time. "This is moving too slowly", she muttered, "Time Fast". Her movement were suddenly accelerated but even with this burst of speed, Hermione was still a crack shot with her blaster. When her last opponent was defeated she paused to survey her handiwork and a small smile formed under her helmet.

For Cho this was just another extension of her training sessions. For the last ten years her uncle had prepared her in case the Gormal were released from her prison. According to the stories that had been passed down through her family, each of the five ancient warriors were suppose to be responsible for training a successor. As time passed and with no sign of the Gormal, the old ways were slowly forgotten by the other families until just her descendants were left. The others drifted away from their Chi powers until all record of them were lost into the mists of time. "I will not disappoint you uncle", Cho said firmly and began to spin her Star Rod. "Twister", she called and a pink funnel of air began to move towards the Cedals. They were sucked up in the mini tornado and scattered across the remains of the village.

"Alright I think that's the last of them", Harry called out. The red ranger wasn't feeling great and he suddenly sunk to his knees. He gasped for air before his morph failed and he was left kneeling in the dirt. His vision was a little fuzzy but he could see that Ron and Hermione were having the same difficulty. "Try to relax", Cho said softly to them, "you're not used to expending this much Chi in one go".

"You don't seem to be effected", Hermione gasped between her shallow breathes.

"I've been training for years", she replied, "give me your morphers", the pink ranger added. The others looked at her in confusion, "I'm going to transport you to my training room back at Hogworts". The trio reluctantly offered their left arms, the pink ranger teleported Ron then Hermione before finally taking Harry back herself.

Hogworts

Harry stretched his weary muscles as he slowly returned to consciousness. His vision was a little blurry but he soon realised that he didn't have his glasses on. Once they were in place he took a look around and found himself on a bed in what he assumed was Hogworts. There were a couple of other beds next to his but they were currently unoccupied. The room had stuff that looked similar to muggle exercise equipment. In the center of the room was a large padded mat with a couple of staffs sitting in the middle.

"Welcome back", he heard Cho say from behind him. Harry turned around and the pink ranger was standing over him with a glass in her hand. She had changed into a pair of black leggings, trainers and a pink t-shirt. "Try some of this, it'll give you an energy boost", the older teen added with a neutral expression on her face.

Harry smelt the drink cautiously before taking a sip. He immediately recoiled from the overly sweet tasting liquid, "What the hell is this?"

"An old Chang family recipe", she smiled, "we call it wake up juice. It's disgusting but it gets the job done".

The red ranger said nothing and took another few sips .To his surprise he was beginning to feel a little more energetic, "Where's Ron and Hermione?" he asked.

"Getting changed", Cho responded, "we're going to have a training session in my personal gym", she opened her arms to indicate to the room they were standing in. Cho grabbed something from the bottom of the bed and threw it over to Harry, "Drink up, meeting's starting in ten minutes" and she turned away from the red ranger without saying another word.

Just over ten minutes later the four rangers were sitting on the mat facing each other. Harry, Ron and Hermione felt a little uncomfortable in their new training clothes, much to the amusement of the pink ranger. "Let's start with some basic stretches", Cho began, "get ourselves warmed up".

"Erm sorry but you still haven't explained where we are or how you've got all this stuff", Ron interrupted the older teen.

Cho sighed, "My uncle is an old friend of Professor Dumbledore. When he explained my training requirements he agreed to set up a training room in an old classroom on the fifth floor. It's protected against anyone who doesn't have Chi power".

"Yeah but muggle exercising", Ron continued, "surely there's better ways of training".

"Chi power doesn't just come from our magical cores", Cho answered, "but also from our mind and bodies". She chuckled to herself, "It's ironic that Pureblooded extremists have been searching for the secrets of Chi for centuries but they would never be able to access it without adopting some muggle principles towards exercise".

"It's one thing I've noticed about the magical world", Hermione began, "there's not a lot of physical activity or sport in general. Sure you need stamina to play Quidditch but it's nothing compared to a marathon runner".

"Exactly my point and it's because of your lack of stamina, strength and endurance that you all passed out after the battle today", Cho stated. "It shouldn't take too many sessions to prevent that from happening again but it will take a few weeks to get you to my level".

"Just a few weeks, I thought you'd been training for years", Harry smirked.

Cho shook her head at the thinly veiled attack on her, "The wonderful thing about Chi is that it's all about balance. It doesn't like people on the same side who are too weak or too powerful. Either we'll all get dragged up to the same level as the strongest or we'll all fall down to match the weakest".

"We're only as strong as our weakest link", Hermione tried to summarise.

"Mostly", Cho shrugged, "you all need to work hard because I don't want to get dragged down to your level".

Ron snorted, "You're loving this aren't you, lording it over us with your special powers".

Cho took a deep breath, "Alright let's get this out in the open, you're not my favourite people in the world but there's worse people to be teamed up with".

"Like you're sneaky friend Marietta", Ron smirked.

"Ron", Harry and Hermione hissed.

The pink ranger was struggling to keep control of her temper, "Marietta had her family threatened by Umbridge, they could've lost their jobs".

"Some things are more important than some stupid job", Ron countered.

"The world's so bloody black and white for you isn't it Weasley", Cho's annoyance with the blue ranger boiled over. "Your little stunt with the parchment has permanently disfigured her. You probably would've been better off cutting off a limb, at least could've been magically replaced".

Hermione sensed a retort coming from the blue ranger so she tapped into her new found speed to zip across the mat and clamp a hand over his mouth. "Look I'm sorry about her face", the yellow ranger apologised, "but the stakes were high for us as well. Umbridge was more than willing to use the Cruciatus, who knows what else she would've done to get her way". Hermione paused for a couple of moments before adding, "I'll see if I can find a counter curse to help Marietta out".

The pink ranger looking at the brown haired girl for a few moments before responding with a small nod. "Now we've got that out the way", Harry began, "perhaps we should think about trying to find our green ranger", he turned to the pink ranger, "any ideas that could help us find them?"

"The green ranger's powers are probably the most magical based of them all", Cho responded. "They're based on illusions so they will probably be hard to find". She raised her morpher to chest level, "The green morpher should react to its own so that should help us find him or her".

Hermione nodded, "So why don't we take a piece each and search the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dorms tonight", she suggested. "At least we can eliminate half the school by tomorrow".

"I really hope that it isn't a Slytherin", Ron muttered until his breath.

"Alright we can reconvene here after breakfast", Harry said to the others.

"Good idea", Cho stood up, "but that's not getting you out of training tonight". She grabbed a bow staff, "I think that Weasley needs some help fighting with a bow". Ron gulped and stood up nervously and faced off against the pink ranger. Their team had now expanded to four but it there were still tensions between the Gryffindors and the seventh year Ravenclaw. Hopefully whoever the green ranger, they wouldn't add create any further tension within the group.

A/N – An interesting set of reactions to the new pink ranger. It's made me a little nervous for the big reveal of the green ranger in the next chapter. With Cho I've got a virtually blank slate as JKR didn't delve into her background too much. I also needed someone on the team who actually knew what they were doing to begin with. Everyone will catch up pretty quickly as you shall see