So I saw the new Power Rangers movie and it kicks ass. My friend and I went to go see it 3 days ago and wow, you should have seen us. We we're fangirling like no tomorrow. I won't spoil anything here (trust me, it is so hard not to just go through everything that happened in the movie) but if anyone wants to geek out with me over the movie than feel free to PM me. If you didn't like the movie for some reason (why though?) also feel free to PM me in a POLITE manner. Anyways, let's hope this movie kicks me into high gear and I can maybe get a couple more chapters out this year. Also, I think I got my year's right for Stephanie's age. Anyways she suppose to be 17 turning 18 (she was born in October and this is in the summer) going off to University.
All that Stephanie could do was watch.
She watched herself morph.
She watched herself battle her friends.
She watched her best friends crash to the ground and then being told to go retreat by Hunter.
She was locked in her body and she couldn't do anything. Stephanie hated being brainwashed.
Hunter and Blake"s identities were still intact so they were able to stick around after the battle to make sure everything went according to plan. They found Kelly my the side of the road who had been watching the battle from afar and figured they would bring her along to make sure nothing got to out of hand.
Back in their motogear Blake and Hunter ran up the hill towards the wreckage and found the three Wind Ninja's all in a pile back in their civilian clothes.
"Guys!" Blake yelled to them as they ran. "We saw the wreckage, is everything okay?" The three looked up to the incoming visitors and started to pull themselves together.
"I was just in the car driving near by and on the radio I heard - I heard there was an alien attack." They could all tell Kelly was too shaken up by just being in the area of the fight to question why all these teenagers were out in the middle of nowhere. Blake went right up to Tori and helped her up. It was really unfortunate that Tori had to be a Ranger. He thought she was pretty cool.
"Does this kind of stuff happen around here a lot?" Blake asked her hoping to have some conversation with her while he still could. But of course Mr. Leader, Shane had to butt in.
"Didn't you ever wonder why housing was so cheap around here?" He said with some snark.
Kelly continued to ramble through their exchange. "We need to call someone! The Police! The FBI!... The CIA!"
Tori gave her a quick hug and said "Kelly, we are all fine. You know this happens all the time. Don't worry." All three wind Ninjas looked between each other and nodded. They needed to find Stephanie and try to fix her. But first they had to get away from everyone so they could plan in private. "Anyways we have to go. We somehow got caught up in the fight and we should really get to the hospital for a check up." Tori lied. And before anyone could say anything else they quickly marched away to the main road and quickly Ninja Streaked away.
The remaining three Rangers walked through the forest trying to get back to Ops. "So I think my morpher is toast." Dustin said holding up his wrist that had his morpher on it. All the wires were exposed and it was sizzling with electricity. Shane held up Dustins wrist to face and took a closer look comparing it to his. "Do you think Sensei is going to freak when he see's the Zords?" Dustin continued on.
"Are we really not addressing the elephant in the room?" Tori spoke up. "Because we really should talk about it."
Shane looked over at her sadly. "My best friend has been kidnapped and most likely has been brainwashed. What is there really to talk about?"
Cam was not impressed. His Morphers were destroyed by the three dimwits and they didn't even care enough to feel that sorry about it. At least the pink dimwit would have tried to help fix it! She wasn't very technologically literate but to Cam it was the thought that counts. Too bad she was evil now. He found her to be the least annoying of the four. "Well you managed to reduce years of technological advance into a pile of scrap metal in a single afternoon." Cam really was not impressed. "Not to mention what you did to the Zords."
"Cam. Now is not the time." His father admonished.
"I'm sorry. He's right." There was an awkward pause as everyone knew what they were referring to. "Luckily I created an auto reconstruct function." Cam walked over to his work station to put down the Morphers and the Ninja's not knowing what else to do followed him there.
"Wait what? Sorry, I kinda blanked back there." Dustin said.
"The Morphers are fixing themselves." Cam replied as patiently as he could.
"Oh! Okay! Right! That's cool." Dustin smiled.
Sensei then came leaping onto the table making sure to do a backflip off of Dustins head.
"Sensei." Shane asked. "Why didn't they finish us off?"
"Yah, those Zords they have were sicko bro." Dustin chimed in. Cam just looked up at Dustin, confused by his use of the word sicko. Dustin just shrugged back at him. "I mean Sensei." Dustin through in as an afterthought.
"I suspect that has something to do with our Pink Thunder Ranger. She is still trying to fight the brainwashing.
Cam started to click away at his computer, trying to find information on the Thunder Rangers Megazord. He managed to pull up a video of the Zords coming together so the Ninja's could have some sort of visual for Sensei's explanation. Without Stephanie, Cam new the Rangers would be hopeless in trying to follow along. "The Thunderzords. They are created by the same technology that powers your own."
"These Thunder Ninjas though!" Tori piped in haughty. "They work for Luthor and have some how managed to brainwash Steph. This doesn't make any sense."
"Yah, no more than Zurgane booking out of there once they showed up." Shane turned towards Tori.
"I suspect, like all evil alliances, there is dissension in their rank. That can be used to our advantage when the time is right." Sensei said.
Dustin who had been fiddling with his morpher throughout the exchange help his up to Cam and said "I hope these come with warranty."
"We can't just stand around here being helpless. There has to be something that we can do." Tori said.
"For now, you must return to your daily lives. If Luthor expects anything out of the ordinary than that would only give him more power." Sensei advised.
"But be careful." Cam added. "They've already stolen the tsunami cycle disks" He gave a pointed look to Dustin. "Just, whoever you speak to, make sure you trust them."
"You've done a really good job you know." Blake spoke to Stephanie. "You really are an amazing Ninja. Mom and dad would be so proud." Blake sounded so sincere and regretful that they had to do this Steph. Stephanie would have pointed out that if he was so regretful he wouldn't be doing this to her in the first place but her body still wasn't her own so she just sat there. They had taken to hanging out in the woods again her sitting in the bed of the truck, watching and listening to the guys who she considered family.
"Isn't kind of creepy of how her eyes follow you but there is like no signs of her comprehending." Hunter said.
"It is. I don't know why Luthor thought this was a good idea. We would have convinced her eventually."
"We need to head out. Keep up our image." Hunter said. "Stephanie." he pointed at her. "Stay here."
It's not like I'm in control of what I do or anything. Steph thought. Did she still think? This is kinda like an out of body experience for her. So did she still have a brain to think with? This was too confusing for her. I want out. Or back in. Oh! I don't know. I just want to go back to my friends. Stephanie felt like yelling. While the guys weren't looking her body's mouth moved. Maybe, I still have some control.
Tori returned to her normal. Or as normal as an 18 year old to be surfing mid afternoon when the sun was at its peak. She had been so lost in thought while surfing she hadn't even been able really enjoy surfing. So after awhile she decided to just give up and head home. Tori pulled her wetsuit down to her waist and threw a blue tank top on over her bikini and started to walk back to her van. While walking she didn't notice that she had bumped into someone.
"Hey! Not going to say hi?" Blake called out to her when she had continued walking.
"Sorry, I was just somewhere else." She was thinking about Stephanie to be completely honest.
Blake nodded, "it's been a rough day I take it?"
"Yah." Tori smiled. It wasn't as rough now that Blake was here. "Thanks again for earlier today. Making sure we were okay. That's what you get for hiking while your city has active Rangers!" Tori laughed. Hunter just glared back at her.
"It was no problem. Anytime." Blake smiled back at her.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Cool."
"I'll catch you later."
"Sure thing!" Blake said to her before she continued her trek to her van. When Blake looked over his shoulder to Hunter all his brother could do was smirk at him. "Oh, just shut up."
"Smooth bro, you must show me your moves sometime." Hunter laughed before receiving a punch to his gut.
Hunter and Blake moved onto Shane and Dustin. The plan was to talk to those two losers and maybe get some hints on what their new plan of attack was. They walked into Storm Chargers and were casually greeted by Kelly. Both greeted her back knowing how kind she had been towards them and how supportive she was of their motocross career. Blake looked to the back of the store notice the Red and Yellow Rangers huddled together seeming to have an intense whisper talk. Maybe it was about their favourite Pink Ranger?
"Okay! So guys, all you have to do is fill these forms for the race and have your parents sign them-" Kelly had handed them forms. Blake was doing his best to fully pay attention to Kelly while Hunter just ignored her and stared at the back. But when she mentioned parents.
"We don't live with our parents." Hunter snapped at her.
Kelly looked up at him surprised. She knew Hunter was cold and distant but he was never really mean. "I know a girl who doesn't live with her parents." Kelly mumbled.
"Don't sweat it and ignore grumpy." Blake said. "We'll get these forms back to you tomorrow."
"Great, we'll see you out there then." Kelly replied happily. Hunter looked at Blake then to the two fools in the back. Blake quickly shook his head no and they both turned to leave the store. It wasn't the best time to talk to them. Anyways they had to go check on Steph. Once they were around the corner of the store they Ninja Streaked away. Unfortunately, they didn't watch to see if someone was following them or not and didn't realize Dustin had run after them.
"Hey! Where did they go? He asked to himself, very confused.
While the guys were gone Stephanie sat very still and very quietly. It kinda sucked. Her Ninja garb was starting to get uncomfortable. Interesting. She thought. I can feel being uncomfortable. Maybe I'm slowly coming back. She tried screaming this time putting all the effort she could in making a sound. Her mouth in turn formed the shape as if she were screaming. Stephanie was fighting it. She new she could break through. Just then she heard a rustling in the air. The Thunder Ninja's were coming back. Stephanie had started to refuse to call them my their names in her head. These people weren't the Blake and Hunter she grew up with.
Quickly she closed her mouth and so did her body's mouth too.
"Steph use to be really good at forging signatures." She heard Blake say behind her.
"Stephanie is a goody too shoes also." Hunter said back. Both of them laughed. They must be referring to my whole Ranger thing. Stephanie thought.
"I wonder. If she would follow an order like forging a signature while brainwashed." Blake wondered.
"Only one way to find out. Stephanie." Her body looked up. "Forge a guardian's signature." Hunter said while holding out some papers and and pen. This is it. This is was the ultimate test. See if she could disobey an order. With all her willpower she commanded her hand to stay where it was. Steph could see her hand twitching, fighting the two very conflicting orders. Finally though, her hand stayed down. She felt feeling return to them.
I'm coming back baby! Steph thought excitedly.
While Stephanie was busy fighting her brainwash orders, Blake had excused himself to go practice at the track. He was feeling bit out of it and wanted to clear his head a bit. He couldn't believe what Luthor had done to Stephie. She was just a shell of herself now, acting on their command. This was the complete opposite of how Stephanie is, she is usually a spitfire, Keeping everyone in order and out trouble all the while still stirring up her own very special sort trouble. Blake still remembers the time he realized that Stephanie was one sneaky son of bitch.
1998
"Blake, come here!" Blake heard someone whisper yell. He was walking through the school's ground just after dinner, taking in the fresh air. Looking around he turned his head in multiple directions looking for where the voice was coming from. "Behind the tree you dummy!" He looked at the tree he was walking by and he saw Stephanie's head stick out from behind it. She was in civilian clothes, wearing black jeans with a pink cardigan. "I want go out!"
"Out? Out where?"
"I want to go get ice cream. Sensei never brings home ice cream."
"But that means we have to leave the grounds. We don't have permission for this."
At that Stephanie stepped out from behind the tree and presented him some papers. Both were permission forms letting her and Blake off ground signed by his parents.
"How did you convince them?" Blake asked.
"I didn't." She smirked. She had an evil gleam in her eye. "Come on! Let's go!" Steph grabbed his hand before he had anytime to respond she streaked them out into the forest and to the city.
"Oh no!" Blake looked up in front of him. It was a ice cream parlour. "Stephanie! You - you-"
"I what? Broke the rules? Oh dear." She said sarcastically. "Come on Blake! Enjoy this!" Blake just looked at her dumbfounded. Ice cream? She tugged on his arm again and walked him inside where a nice lady in a white apron was standing.
"What can I get you two young folks this evening?" Blake stared at her gaping. While nudging her friend to get him out of his stupor she ordered.
"I would like a strawberry ice cream, while he would like cotton candy flavoured." The lady smiled and got to getting their order together. "This isn't too bad."
"This isn't too bad! You snuck out! We snuck out! We are going to be in so much trouble when we get back!"
"Don't worry about it! All will be fine!" Steph laughed. Blake on the other hand did not. "Blake, stop stressing. Just take your ice cream," The lady with apron held out his cone. "and let's go outside and enjoy the sunset. Now deep breath." Blake did what she said and took a deep breath relaxing a bit. He really hadn't eaten ice cream in a long time too. This was nice. Together they sat outside on the small patio the parlour provided and ate their cones in silence.
When they went back later Sensei was waiting for them at the entrance, but Steph was ready with the forms signed. Sighing, Sensei let them go, informing Blake parents what had happened. That night Blake got an ear full on hoe forgery was a crime and then a high five for being a rebel for once in his life. That wasn't as bad as Hunter yelling at him later for going without him.
Coming out of his stupor, Blake noticed Tori was down by the beach (which was now drained of water fighting one of Luthor's monsters. Without even thinking about what he was doing Blake hopped onto his bike, and rode down to the beach. "Hold on Tori! I'm coming!" He revved his bike and in one big turn was able to knock down whatever was attacking Tori in one fail swoop.
"Blake?" Tori asked surprised as he pulled up beside her.
"Run! I'll distract him while you go!"
"No! Stop! Don't!" But Tori's pleas were too late. He was already blasting towards the monsters heading straight for it. At the last possible minute though the ugly thing that looked like a frog jumped over Blake and he went right under his legs. "Watch your back!" Tori yelled across the beach at him. Blake was hit in the back by a couple of blasts and fell off his bike. He hid his head knowing he couldn't morph or he would blow his cover as the Navy Ranger so he prepared for the blow. But it never came. When he looked back up Blake saw Tori engaging with it blow for blow until finally it got the upper hand and flung feet away into what you use to be the water.
"Now it's time for me to finish the job." The frog monster yelled and he shot some of his missile things at Tori.
Blake seeing the opportunity got on his bike and road in front of Tori to take the hit. "No!" she cried out, watching him fall from his bike and roll away.
"So much water! So little time! Catch you later!" The frog dude yelled before disappearing into thin air. Once he was gone Tori turned her back to where the monster once was and fell to her knees beside Blake.
"Are you alright?" She demanded as she flipped Blake onto his back. Once he was on his back Tori realized that Amphibidor wasn't really shooting missiles but very large tadpoles and somehow they managed to cling to Blake's chest. This was so not good.
Cam was once again sitting as his table fixing things for the Rangers that they had destroyed. It was so frustrating always having to fix their toys. They had to respect for him so why was he doing this? It's been some horrible last few days and he just wanted all of this… whatever this was to be over.
"Cam!" Tori called, running into Ninja Ops. "I need your help outside!"
"Can't you see I'm almost done fixing the Morphers?" Cam Huffed
"It's an emergency! My friend, Blake -"
"Don't care."
"You don't see! He's hurt and I don't know what the fuck to do!" Tori's voice wavered, which caught Cam's attention. He looked up at her face and could see the distress on her face. Tori had never looked like that before. Not even during battle. She always had a game face on. This must be serious. That didn't stop him from thinking logically. He stood up.
"And you brought him here? Haven't you heard of a hospital?"
"He was hurt because of me! Just please." She begged. "Just look at him. It was one of Luthor's space freaks and I don't know if a hospital could even help!"
"Fine." All of the sudden Tori's face lit up and she grabbed his arm and lead him outside to where Blake was lying.
After a few minutes Cam was able to diagnose and help the fallen biker and started to pull off the tadpoles. "You know my dad is going to freak when he finds out you brought a civilian here." He stated.
"Well who needs to find out?" Cam just glared at her and she kissed his cheek. "Thanks Cam."
"The morphers are inside. I'll watch him till he gets back." Cam would soon come to realize how much he would regret those words
Come on, come on, COME ON! Stephanie thought. Hunter had just left the truck again to go do God know's what (probably to go spy on her friends but she rather not think on that) and this gave her the perfect opportunity to try and break back through. So far she had managed to lift an arm and stand up and she figured that was pretty good considering just a little while ago she was following orders blindly. She was either just that awesome at freeing herself from mind control or Luthor sucked balls when it came to brainwashing. Either way she was glad to be able to semi -move. Now, move your foot! And when her foot moved she rejoiced. Now, just one foot in front of the other. Heh, I think there is a song for that. It was in that Christmas movie I use to watch with my dad! Slowly but surely (and to be honest a little awkwardly) moving forward in the direction of Ninja Ops. Just one foot in front of the other! She sang to herself.
Tori found herself sitting in her van with Blake just a little later after the attack.
"I just gotta thank you Tori, you saved my life back there."
"It really was no problem."
"It's just funny is all. I was trying to save you and you somehow managed to save me." Blake thought on what he said for a second. "Not that you couldn't save me, it's just not what I was expecting is all. You are totally capable of saving whomever you like."
"Really it is fine Blake, you can stop thanking me." She smiled. Tori was really starting to like Blake in a more than friends kind of way. Not that she was going to say anything at this moment because who knew what Blake was thinking and he had also just been attacked by a monster so she assumed crushes weren't at the forefront of his mind. A large bang on the top of her van pulled her from her thoughts. Blake had called Hunter earlier to come meet him and Tori at track so they could head home together. Hunter leaned his head into the window and looked at the two before talking to Blake.
"Everything good here?"
Blake looked over at her and gave her a look that just made her swoon inside. Just because she was a Ranger didn't mean she couldn't have crushes. She did still have feelings. "It's a long story bro."
"Well you can tell me on our way back. We seem to have a problem with our pet frog." Hunter said while opening the door for his brother. Both nodded bye to Tori and walked off. She couldn't help but smile to herself. It was turning out to be an okay day if you didn't count all the monster fights. Tori let herself out of the car so she could meet up with the rest of her friends. Yah, today was a pretty good day.
Stephanie was walking a bit more normally now. She couldn't Ninja Streak yet and her words were now coming out a bit slurred but as far as Steph could see this was progress. But it would be nice if she could streak her way to Cam and Sensei to warn them about Hunter and Blake. Knowing her luck though, by the time she gets there it would be too late and everything would be going to hell. Because that's what happens when she isn't there and gets brainwashed.
In the distance she could hear the sounds of crashing and metal grating against metal. It must be a Zord fight. Well, it's not she would be much help brainwashed or not. And by the sounds of it was almost over. She decided to just let her friends deal with it and meet them at Ops.
As she was walking she continued to test her voice. It was coming out pretty normal now, it felt like she was walking as she would always walk and her head didn't feel fuzzy anymore. "I think I'm back!" She yelled out and a couple birds went flying out of the tree's she was closest too. "Whoops." she said quietly to herself. Smiling, she was able Ninja Streak all the way to waterfall entrance of the once Wind Ninja Academy. Quickly, Steph opened the entrance and ran to the stairs that lead to the underground base. She saw her friends descending them and talking about Hunter and Blake.
"Yah, so Tori, just so you know, The Bradley's were lying to you." Stephanie's favourite yellow Ninja said.
"What?" questioned Stephanie's favourite blue Ninja
"When we were at Storm Chargers earlier today and when they were talking to Kelly they made sure she knew that they didn't have parents. We're kinda rude about it." Added Stephanie's favourite red Ninja.
She really missed her Ninja's.
They reached the bottom of the stairs before she did as they didn't hear her running after them. By the time she reached the bottom her team was in stare down with the Navy and Crimson Rangers who were holding onto Cam quite tightly. She knew things were going to hell without her there. The three stuck into fighting stances getting ready to attack if the two other Rangers made a move. "What are you doing here?" demanded Shane fastly falling into leader mode.
"Obviously they're here to do evil stuff." Stephanie said pleasantly jumping off the final step and flipping beside Tori landing in a crouched position ready to also attack. Tori looked down at her questioningly. "I promise I'm not brainwashed anymore. Those two there are very crappy at it. So it was easy to break." Tori seemed appeased by the answer and went back to staring down the evil Rangers. Stephanie on the other hand smiled at them. "When you two are all done be all evil and childish we are going to have a very stern talk about brainwashing your friends. It's really not nice." The two looked at each other and dropped their morph, revealing who they were to the Wind Rangers. Just as fast as the Wind Ninja's got into their defensive stances, they dropped them. Stephanie on the other hand went in for the attack and kicked Hunter in the gut. "This for you two being stupid!" Hunter barely moved though, refusing to give up ground.
Instead decided to ask, "Why are you taking their side? They're the evil ones!" Then he kicked her in the gut sending her flying into Shane who easily caught her.
Blake let out a "Sorry Stephie!"
Dustin in a bold move, stepped in front of Stephanie, Shane and Tori as if to protect them. He knew Tori was also hurt too. She had really liked Blake and Dustin knew seeing the guy she liked being all evil would be hard. "So what is it that you want? What the fuck do you want?" Dustin demanded.
"Ask her." Hunter motioned to Tori.
"Blake?" Tori asked, defeated.
"I'm sorry, but we needed to find Ninja Ops. I didn't mean to use you like that. Same with you Steph. We never wanted it to come to this. We were hoping you would come with us freely. But we see now that isn't an option anymore."
Tori was falling apart while Stephanie was getting more angry. How dare they use both of them as means to an end.
"If you hurt him, we will hunt you down." Tori promised. Well maybe Tori wasn't as torn up about this.
"We got what we wanted." Hunter spat throwing Cam to their feet. He landed on his stomach letting out an "oomph" as he hit the ground. "Good Bye Rangers. And good luck in your future battles." Hunter teased. He gave Stephanie one more meaningful look and then they both raised their hands. She new what they were doing so Stephanie threw out her hand infront of herself, directing all her power to her fingers so she could shoot lightning at the other Thunder Ninjas. But they had disappeared in a ball of light so the lightning just hit the floor and fizzled out.
"Well I guess I'm never going to be able to join a Zord again." Stephanie grumbled. Cam pushed himself off the ground and ran through the smoke from Stephanie's attack to get his father's little house.
"Everyone all right?" Tori asked.
"What did they even want here?" Shane asked everybody and nobody at the same time.
Cam took off his glasses and turned to the four Ninja's. "My father. They took my father."
3/4 day wait this time? I gotta say that's pretty good on my front. I'll get started on the next chapter later tonight. Hopefully if everything goes perfectly than I might get up another chapter sometime next week. WOO! I promise Stephanie will be more involved now that she isn't some mindless drone.