Several Thugs were at a loading dock. They knocked out all the guards and grabbed all the laptops, phones, and other electronics.
"Are you guys sure about this? What if the power rangers catch us?" One thug asked.
"Be realistic Freddie, the power rangers don't have time to waste on us."
"You're right we don't." A voice said.
A voice said from behind. The thugs turned around to see six rangers all holding their weapons.
"So why the hell are we here?" Ashtin asked.
"A true warrior always brings justice. No matter how big or how small." Aang said.
"We could crush these guys." Katie said twirling her spear.
"It's important not to rush into things Katie." Caden advised.
"Oh so now you care about me." Katie hissed.
"Will all of you guys shut up already? We have a job to do." Aqua said twirling her daggers.
The blue ranger charged at the thugs. Everyone was amazed at Aqua's speed and technique. In less than a minute, Aqua had the ten thugs unconscious on the ground. She looked up to her teammates.
"Ok you need to teach me that move." Katie grinned.
"Simple move I learned." Aqua shrugged. She didn't want to get into it.
Aang seemed impressed. "Aqua that technique, I've seen it before. A mixture of Kung Fu's crane and takwendo's dragon fist."
Aqua blushed. "It was just a little something I picked up."
"From being MMA fighter perhaps. Something you refuse to tell us about?" Caden said raising an eyebrow.
"It's not your business. Besides I don't pry on things in your life. Like how you and Katie broke up." Aqua pointed out.
Caden winced while Katie guarded her facial expression. Ashtin however made no attempt to hide his amusement. He laughed out loud.
"I'm starting to this girl more and more." He grinned.
"It's not secret what happened between me and Caden. He was a jackass. Besides I don't do boyfriends." Katie said.
"That's not exactly how I remembered it. And I said I was sorry." Caden apologized.
Ashtin kept laughing. "Trouble in paradise?"
Caden turned to Ashtin and hissed in response. Soon police sirens were heard.
"We should get out of here." Aang said.
His teammates nodded and they teleported back to the base.
By the time Aqua made it to her apartment it was 11:50 pm. She sighed. Doing Aang's mandatory nightly patrols exhausted her. She knew being a power ranger was her responsibly, destiny forced her to do it. Even if she didn't like it. As she hopped onto her elevator she made sure to clutch her purse.
She didn't necessarily live in the safest neighborhood. Her parents were drug addicts that abdoneded her and her brothers when Aqua was a preteen. Ever since then her brothers were on the streets. Then one day Aqua met Mrs. Loreal. She was a friendly lady who would give the kids food and occasionally shelter. Her husband took Aqua under his wing. He taught her how to fight.
He took her to MMA matches so she could see how it worked. Then one day he died of cardiac arrest. All the kindness that Mrs. Loreal used to have vanished. And with that she kicked them out on the streets, leaving the poor kids to fend for themselves. Then one day Aqua stumbled upon an MMA match. She managed to get a coach and a sponsor and she hasn't lost a fight yet.
Especially after she became a ranger. Her instincts heightened and skill increased. As she opened the door to her apartment, loud snoring from her little brothers were heard. Aqua rolled her eyes. They always snored loudly, just like her dad. Aqua winced at the memory of thinking about her parents.
"Hi Aqua." Jessie said to her.
Jessie was the girl who lived a couple floors under her. In the kind of neighborhood she lived in babysitting earned decent money because parents were always working or simply wanted nothing to do with her kids.
"Hey Jessie. Hope my brothers didn't tire you out that much." Aqua said.
"No problem, Blake is an angel although is a Jimmy little rowdy." Jesie said.
Aqua laughed. That sounds just like her brothers. "Do you mind watching them Thursday? I have another match." Aqua said.
She needed to be at every single match, she couldn't risk not getting money for her brothers and her to live. Jessie sighed.
"Sorry Aqua, I can't. My family and I are going to North Carolina for my sister's wedding." Jessie said.
"Oh." Aqua said.
She did her best not to seem upset. She smiled at Jessie. "I understand, see you later."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"I'll sleep with you." Katie said to him.
"Yes because sleeping with me will make me do your math homework." Ashtin said rolling his eyes.
"Works all the time. I once got a kid to my science project in eight grade in exchange for him keeping my bra." Katie said. "Little did he know it belonged to my grandma?" Katie grinned.
Ashtin rolled his eyes. Ashtin, Aqua, and Katie sat in the library. Ashtin agreed to tutor them, well agreed to tutor Aqua, Katie was just tagging along.
"Can we talk about something relevant like I don't know Geometry?" Aqua said slightly irritated.
She needed to get this done so she could go to her match. "Agreed Aqua."
"So I was thinking the three of us can hang out?" Katie asked.
"What about Andy and Caden and Aang?" Aqua asked.
She didn't think it was fair to leave the rest of her team out. Katie face darkened when she heard Caden's name but it quickly vanished.
"Well Andy hates me, Aang is too busy training, and Caden is a complete di-"
The three were caught off by their morpher ringing. Each ranger turned to each other and nodded. The grabbed their morphers from their pockets and got up.
"Took you three long enough." Andy said impatiently tapping her foot.
Aqua frowned when she saw the rest of the team was their already. "How did you guys get here so fast?" Aqua asked.
"Super speed duh." Andy said as she pulled out her pink morpher.
"What were you three doing?" Aang asked.
"Having a threesome, too bad you missed it." Katie said sarcastically.
She tossed her blond hair back, which caught the attention of Caden.
"Seriously what were you guys doing?" Caden asked.
"You heard the lady." Ashtin smirked, causing Caden to glare at the silver ranger.
"Can we talk about this later and see what the problem is?" Aqua asked.
Sometimes it felt as if her team were too focused on arguing then they were on saving the day. She could handle this by herself. Aqua smiled as she got an idea. While her team was arguing, Aqua used a rabbit hole portal to slip away to the science of the crime. She ended up in town square where she saw several monk demons terrorizing the city. Aqua pulled out her blue morpher and morphed into her suit.
"Hey there!" Aqua yelled.
The monks turned back to face her. The ones with swords howled, while the ones with bows aimed at her, while the ones with spears charged. Aqua realized they organized by weapons. As several arrows were shot at her Aqua leaped out of the way. That was too close.
Aqua pulled out her daggers and charged. Her daggers clashed against one of the monks swords sending a vibration through her body. Aqua always felt a surge power when she used her daggers. Maybe it had to do with her being morphed.
Aqua then spun around and kicked another demon in the face as she stabbed a monk through the heart. The monk screamed and turned into purple smoke. Aqua looked around. She probably only got 10% of the monks.
"Time to use my elemental attack." Aqua said.
But Aqua hesitated. Would it be as strong without Katie? The two of them needed to be together to weird the powerful element. Aqua quickly brushed that idea aside. She could handle this. This was no different from one of her matches.
"Element Unlocked: Wood!" Aqua yelled.
Several twigs were flung at the monks. What the hell! That wasn't an attack, the twigs only annoyed them. How come she couldn't tap into something more powerful? Just as she said that, a monk stabbed her in the chest causing her to power down. Aqua screamed, she collapsed to the ground groaning in pain. Her body felt numb, and soon the only thing she felt was sleep.
"Is she okay?" A female voice asked.
"Define okay. If you mean if she's going to liveā¦.."
"Shut the hell up Ashtin." Another female voice said.
"Stop bossing me around Andromeda." Ashtin said in dull voice.
The fact that he could be monotone and sarcastic at the same time perplexed Aqua. When Aqua opened her eyes she saw her team.
They were all looking down at her with a concerned expression. "Sleeping Beauty was awake, and we didn't have to give her a kiss." Katie smirked.
"Actually in the original fairytale the prince actually slept with the princess to wake her up." Ashtin pointed out.
"Only you would know that." Andy said rolling her eyes.
"What were you doing out there by yourself?" Aang asked concerned.
Aqua blushed. She didn't want to talk about it. However Aang was persistent.
"We're a team, you can't just handle everything yourself." Aang said.
"Yes I can. I was doing pretty well out there by myself, they just got the upper hand, next time I'll be ready." Aqua.
"No you won't." Aang said.
"Why is that?" Aqua asked.
"Since you can't work with us, I'm suspending you from the team."
"What?" Aqua asked. She tried to keep her emotions in check.
"But that's not fair." Andy said placing her hands on her hips glaring at their leader.
"All of you don't take me seriously as their leader, so I have decided to punish you guys accordingly." Aang said.
"You do know how idiotic this is? With one less member that means we have less of a chance, to you know, save the world." Ashtin pointed out.
Aang frowned. "That is my decision, and I expect you all to stand by it."
It was 10:00 PM that night and Aqua sat in the break room with the rest of her team. There was Jimmy, a nosy Italian who was greedy as hell, he was her manger. Claudia, his sweet assistant who didn't care for the violence of the fights, Gustavo a Hispanic man who trained Aqua, and Fredrick, the person who funded Aqua and gambled on the matches.
"Are you ready for this?" Gustavo said.
Aqua nodded. She was training nonstop for this fight in particular. The person she was going up against was Nichole McJagger, aka the Iron Fist. She was an eighteen year old French girl with a mean temper and wicked skills. Aqua saw video of Nichole brutally defeating eight men at once. And that was when she didn't have training at ten years old. For eight years she did not but train.
She looked less like a woman and more like a tanned skin boulder with brown braid and stone cold glare. Aqua was a newer fighter, this gave Aqua an advantage. She knew more about Nichole than Nichole could know about her.
"Carol Greenwood vs Nichole McJagger!" An announcer said.
Carol Greenwood was Aqua's fake name. These type of MMA fights weren't necessarily legal, a lot of people here were shady guys who would probably come after Aqua and her brother.
"You ready?" Jimmy asked.
"I was born ready." Aqua took off her blue jacket revealing blue shorts and a white sports bra. She put on her favorite sky blue gloves and stepped out of the room.
She always felt an adrenaline rush walking through the crowd. Some cheered for her, others against her. As she reached the arena she saw Nichole was already there. She stood emotionless, as if she wasn't fighting anyone at all. Aqua gulped. Nichole was undefeated, and unlike the other people she fought Nichole wasn't blood thirsty. Instead Nichole fought as if it were fact. As if it were as simple as breathing.
Someone like that was dangerous. Aqua heard the announcer collect bets and try to get some emotion out of the crowd. Nichole cracked her knuckles and glared at Aqua. A bell was heard then chaos broke loose.
Nichole charged, she swung her massive fist which struck Aqua in the mouth. She flew five feet backwards. Aqua felt a river of blood build up in her mouth. Her lips felt numb and her teeth clattered. The Aqua felt nothing at all. She felt power rush inside of her. The same power she felt when she morphed. For a brief second the rabbit aura appeared around her. Yet it was so quick no one noticed.
All of a sudden thousands of fighting moves were transferred into her brain. Aqua turned to Nichole, and she did something that surprised everyone in the room. She grinned.
"That the best you got?" Aqua laughed.
She felt a rush of energy course through her veins. The power of the rabbit was energizing her. Aqua leaped in the air and kicked Nichole in the face. She made sure to use her heel so she wouldn't damage her toes. Nichole gasped in pain and stumbled back.
Everything after that happened in a blur, a couple minutes later Aqua hears the announcer say her name in shock. It takes a moment to register to Aqua but when she looked down and saw the unconscious figure of Nichole she knew the sweet truth. She won. She could hear many of the crowd members gasp.
How had a petite girl like her take down an undefeatable champion?
Nichole couldn't bear to leave the bathroom. She was disappointed in herself. She lost, to a short American girl who had only been fighting for a year at most. This was her life. And that bitch took it away from her. She yelled in frustration.
"Sucks doesn't it." A female voice said.
Nichole looked up and saw a pretty Chinese girl dressed in armor looking at her with a smile.
"What do you want?" Nichole asked.
"You lost, it must an unbearable pain. Believe or not that blond headed bitch took something from me too." The girl said.
"Who are you?" Nichole asked.
She was seconds away from destroying this girl. She wanted to be alone.
"I can make sure you win your next match. A match against the power rangers." The girl grinned.
"How will you be able to do that?" Nichole asked.
"With this." The girl pulled a dark crystal out of her pocket.
She cracked it open and the mist circled around the room. Nichole gasped as she felt her body change.
Aqua was walking across the bridge staring at the water. She wanted to be alone. Her brothers didn't get out of school for another hour, so Aqua decided to walk around. If she were still on the team, she would be training right now. She missed it. Aang getting upset when the others didn't listen, Katie flirting with all the boys, Andy getting angry at her for flirting with all the boys, and Ashtin giving off his sarcastic comments that made everyone want to kill him.
"I miss them." She said aloud.
Aqua heard a ringing and looked down at her morpher. There was danger in the city. She heard a loud crash from town square and frowned. Diamanda and her monsters were up to no good again. Just as Aqua was about to call for help, she realized that she wasn't on the team anymore. Aqua shook the idea out of her head. She could handle this.
"It's Morphing Time! Power Rangers Zodiac Force! Blue Rabbit!" Aqua morphed into her suit and pulled out her daggers.
She created a portal to the city and leaped in. Aqua enjoyed her portals, unlike teleportation it was quite enjoyable. It was basically running at the speed of light, she wasn't sure what dimeson she was in when she was in her portals. Aqua arrived at the city and looked around.
"Why hello there rangers, correction ranger." Aqua turned and looked at Diamanda and her new monster.
It was a female creature, with skin covered in rocks, her eyes glowed bright green, and long black cobwebs hung on the back of her head like braids. She wore black armor with golden gauntness.
"What do you want Diamanda and who's the new monster of the week?" Aqua asked.
"Hello blue ranger, meet Stone Diva, you may remember her form another name. Perhaps Nichole." Diamanda laughed.
Aqua frowned and gasped when she realized that the monster she was talking about was Nichole, the girl she fought.
"How can you live with yourself? Turning an innocent girl into a monster?" Aqua asked.
"If she was so innocent then why did she beg me to give her power? She wanted a way to beat you, I simply supplied her with a resource." Diamanda said.
Diamanda pulled out her blade. "The real question is why you are here by yourself? Shouldn't little girls like you have her teammates by her side?"
"I can handle you by myself." Aqua said.
She charged, but Diamanda leaped out of the way several feet behind her. This caused Aqua to fall on her face. Diamanda laughed.
"I have no intention of fighting just one of you today, it's a waste of my time. However I'm sure Stone Diva wouldn't mind destroying you." Diamanda disappeared in a purple cloud of smoke.
Aqua yelled in frustration. Just as she got up Stone Diva charged at her punched her in the face. Aqua yelled as she flew backwards onto a billboard. Luckily she had her ranger suit on.
Stone Diva laughed. "Who's the ultimate fighter now?" Stone Diva picked up a bus with her massive strength and tossed it like it was a spear.
Aqua yelped and created a portal to slip away as the bus was being tossed towards her. She groaned and turned back to face Stone Diva just as she kicked her in the face causing Aqua to sail to the pond. It was useless, Aqua couldn't fight her by herself. She felt a massive hand drag her out of the water. Aqua gulped, this had to be Stone Diva. However it was not.
It was Caden! The green ranger morphed and reshaped his hand to make it a large shovel and scooped Aqua out of the water. Aqua laughed from under her suit.
"We got her!" Katie cheered.
"What are you doing here? I put you under probation, and why did you think you could handle this monster by yourself?" Aang asked.
Aqua sighed. "I'm sorry. I really thought I could do it. My parents aren't around, so I had to get used to doing thing by myself. I guess that part of me thought I could do this by myself too."
"You don't have to do anything by yourself. We're a team. We got this." Aang said.
Everyone else nodded. "Now we need to figure out how to defeat that monster." Andy sad.
"It's quite simple when you thing about it." Ashtin said.
Everyone looked at him in shock that he figured it out. "You know how to defeat her?"
"It's quite simple." Ashtin repeated.
"Then tell us jackass." Caden said.
"Its third grade science really, how do you break up rocks? Using withering and erosion. If Andy runs around her enough times it will generate a strong wind current, then Aang could slice open that nearby fire hydrant, sending wave of water to Stone Diva. This will make the process of breaking down the rock accurate." Ashtin said simply.
"And you figured all of this out in a couple minutes." Aqua said in disbelief.
Ashtin shrugged. "Okay let's do this." Andy clapped her hands together and super speeded up.
She super speeded around Stone Diva quickly generating a windstorm. Stone Diva roared in outrage.
"How are we going to keep her there?" Katie asked.
Aqua frowned. "CODE UNLOCKED." A mechanic voice said from her morpher.
Aqua pulled out her morpher and grinned. A blue light shot out of her morpher and in her hands was a red stick with multicolored paper around it.
"What is it?" Katie asked.
"No clue." Aqua replied.
"A Japanese Yo-yo. Strange considering our powers are derived from China, but I guess suitable in this situation." Aang asked.
Aqua throws the yo-yo and it wraps around Stone Diva, keeping her in place. "Now!" Ashtin yelled.
Aang threw his sword like a spear and it tore through the fire hydrant like it was paper. Water shot out of the fire hydrant and splashed Stone Diva, combined with the air pressure it caused Stone Diva to turn back into Nichole.
"Another success for the Power Rangers." Katie cheered.
As the rangers were leaving the training base to go home Katie decided to stop Aqua.
"Aqua you were saying something about you having an issue with your parents." Katie pointed out.
Aqua turned away and blushed. She didn't want to talk about it, however Katie was persistent.
"My parents always had a problem with drugs, but they were always able to manage it. But once I was in my preteen years they ran off. Never saw them again." Aqua said bitterly.
Everyone was shocked by what she said. "So I'm not the only one with family issues." Katie said nervously.
"What happened with your family?" Caden asked.
Katie turned to him and frowned. "None of your business." She snapped.
"I and Caden had it rough too. Something bad our relatives did." Andy said.
All of a sudden Ashtin laughed. Andy turned to him and frowned. "What's so funny?"
"The privileged white kids have the nerve to say they had to rough." Ashtin laughed.
Caden frowned at Ashtin. "You're being a real jackass." Caden said.
"Ashtin do you come from a broken home?" Aang asked.
He seemed oblivious to Aang, as a leader he was able to notice things about his teammates. Ashtin's face fell but quickly went back to its cocky/monotone self.
"Yes because the black kid must come from a broken home." Ashtin said.
With that he walked away without looking at the rest of his teammates. Katie looked at him as he walked off.
"I should talk to him." Katie said.
"Of course YOU want to talk to him." Caden said slightly jealous.
"Now is not the time for you to act like a jealous little bitch Caden!" Katie yelled.
Caden went silent before he pulled his sister along. Katie turned to look at Aqua who looked nervous at the situation. Katie frowned when she realized she and her team turned a situation about Aqua into an argument with each other.
"Sorry Aqua. Do you and your brothers live by yourself then? "Aqua nodded.
"Well not anymore, you can come stay with me and my mom for as long as you need." Katie said.
Aqua smiled as the fact that Katie is trying to make an effort of kindness. "Really? Will she mind?" Aqua asked.
"Believe me she'll accept." Katie said.
The two girl walked off talking to each other about their new situation.
A black gemstone sat onto of a large crown. Caden and Katie looked up in wonder. They found it. Just then an explosion went off. Screams, then silence.
Ashtin gasped, sitting up in a cold sweat. He looked at the clock 5:12 AM, two days before it happened. He sighed and sat back.
"They don't know what's coming."
Next Time: Katie tries get Ashtin to open up. The rangers get a lead on the gemstone. Ashtin's cousin comes to visit, but suspicious behavior causes him to question her.
