Hi guys! I'm not dead! But I do suck! Sorry for the no updates!

Thunder Strangers Part 3:

"See, I knew there was something about Blake and Hunter," Shane said, looking at the screen.

"Well, man, you don't need to say, 'I told you so,' ok? I mean, I feel bad enough already," Dustin protested.

"As well you should," Alex said from the couch, where she was preparing to unbind Ana's powers. "Now would you two shut your traps? Cam and I are trying to concentrate!"

Cam snapped. "That's them," He said, pointing to a soft pulse on the screen. "My father enclosed himself in an energy sphere before he was captured,"

"Wait," Alex said, "So that was that weird meditation thing he was doing while I was trying to bite Blake?"

"Yes," Cam replied. "But it's good news. The energy sphere will protect him and allow us to track his location…."

"How far?" Alex interrupted.

Cam sent her a dirty look. "I was getting to that: Within a 25 mile radius,"

"But he can't transform or use his ninja powers, can he?" Shane asked.

Cam shook his head. "No, and he's about to go out of range,"

"Why are they taking him out there?" Dustin asked confused, "To the middle of the forest?"

Alex's eyes widened. "Tommy, please tell me I'm really bad at geography,"

"Why, Alex?" Her brother asked.

"Well….."

"Found it!" Tori interrupted triumphantly, "The Mountain of Lost Ninjas,"

"Crap," Alex muttered. "I wasn't wrong,"

"Of course!" Cam said, wondering why he didn't figure out sooner.

"Oh, that's where all those freaky ninja-" Dustin started.

"I take offence to that. My brother's a ninja, and so is Ana, me, and you, if I remember correctly," Alex huffed. Tommy gave Dustin a dirty look.

"I mean, um, nice ninja ghost dudes are, right?" he finished.

"Ninja ghost dudes?" Tommy asked. "Wow, you really are a bit of a…"

"Tommy, do yourself a favor and shut up before you finish that sentence," Alex said. "At least Dustin's nice, a lot more than I can say for a lot of boys,"

"So you do study your ninja history," Cam said, interrupting the oncoming brother sister brawl.

"Yeah, sometimes," Dustin replied.

"Then you should know that the Mountain of Lost Ninjas is where the cavern of spirits is," Cam explained, getting up from his computer chair.

"Which houses the Gem of Souls. It's the only thing on Earth that's powerful enough to break the energy sphere surrounding sensei" Tori finished.

"That's got to be what the Thunders are after," Cam realized.

"Then that's where we're going," Shane said strongly.

"And Ana and I will follow as soon as she wakes up," Alex added.

(Divider)

"You ready for this, Alex?" Tommy asked uncertainly.

Alex let out a sigh. "As ready as I'll ever be. Let's get this over with so we can help sensei. He's been really nice to Ana and I the last couple of days, now it's our turn to help,"

Tommy nodded, and Alex sat criss-cross applesauce, grabbing her sister's hands in her own.

"Apollo, deus solis et prophetiam obseravit sororem tuam obsecro. Sanctum tuum videre lucem becon sinis esse in bono virtutis. Benedicam arte vires vocas ducem, sequi vestigia. Est in prophisized unum, exaudi vocationem!"

With that, a bright glow emitted from Alex's hands and slid into Ana's body. The color rose into her pale cheeks, and slowly her green eyes fluttered open.

Ana looked anxious. "Did it work?" she asked, pushing herself up. She grinned. "It worked. Now, let's go,"

"What do you mean? I haven't even told you anything yet," Alex protested, running after the purple ranger.

"I'm telepathic now, remember? Fully, no pain, maybe a little overwhelming from time to time, but not with only a few people in the room. Come on, Alex, you really think you aren't thinking about running and saving sensei? I had a vision while I was in limbo, and we cannot let it come true,"

The twins ran out of the ninja ops then, leaving Tommy as guard and grabbing their morphers. They had a guinea pig to save.

(Divider)

"Tracking systems are online!" Cam said in the back of the van.

Yeah Cam, Ana projected, and if you don't pull over and let us in, we might never find sensei, tracking systems or no. Trust me, I had a vision and it wasn't pretty.

Dustin, in full morph but his visor, sighed as Cam pulled over and let the two morphed ninjas in the back. "How long til we get there?"

"I told you to go before we left ninja ops," Cam pointed out.

Alex shrugged. "He's right, I was a witness. Anything you are going through now, you brought upon yourself,"

"That not why I'm asking," Dustin protested. "I'm just freaking here,"

"That's actually pretty normal," Ana said. "Your mentors in trouble, you're afraid you won't see him again, and then who will train you to use your powers to their best potential to help protect citizens of Blue Bay?"

The rangers started at the purple ranger. Alex sighed. "Don't mind my sister; the mini psychologist. At least when her powers are on full, that is,"

In another part of the truck, two more visor less rangers stood by their bikes "Hey Tori," said Shane, "It wasn't your fault,"

Alex came over, seeing the situation. "He's right Tor, it's not,"

"Well then, whose was it?" Tori asked sadly.

"My money's on Hunter and Blake, the ones who actually captured him in the first place," Alex replied.

"You were just doing what you thought was right," Shane added.

"I mean, what if this wasn't a scheme? You couldn't have just left him out there," Alex pointed out.

"It could've happened to any one of us," Shane continued. He patted her arm gently, than mounted his bike. Alex followed suit.

"Tor, don't feel so bad. Heck, you know that one of my brother's friends, Andros, had to kill my brother's mentor? At least you aren't forced to kill sensei," Ana said, going next to Tori on her purple cycle.

"I may as well have," Tori muttered.

Ana shook her head. "Not if we get there in time,"

Cam came out from the truck's technical area. "This is as far as I go," he explained.

"So the rest is up to us?" Alex asked.

"The rest is up to…: he realized what Alex just said. "Anyway, please find my father,"

The five rangers nodded and got ready to ride off the truck. The door opened and they could see the world moving in reverse.

"Guys, let's go," Shane said.

"Ready!" Tori exclaimed.

"Hit it," Dustin added.

"Let's do this!" The twins said at the same time.

With that, the rangers rode off the ramp on the back of the truck, leaving a smiling Cam behind. Maybe the rangers weren't such duds after all.

Hey, Ana snapped. I heard that!

(Divider)

"Coming through! Shane called in front of the twins, shooting lasers at dead things that looked like zombies.

"Right behind you!" The twins called, not far behind. They were in perfect sync, like always during a battle.

The 5 rangers pulled up surrounded by the zombies. "Whoa, who do we fight?" Dustin called.

"Our money's on the dead things?" The twins asked together.

"Anyone not wearing a primary color," Shane guessed.

"Hey!" Alex and Ana exclaimed.

"Unless that color is purple or orange," Shane amended.

"Good plan!" Tori called. Then she screamed, being pushed off her bike by a zombie.

"Tori!" The twins yelled. But they didn't have time to check on her; the dead things were going after them, too. They quickly defended from their bikes, then rode over a few. The ninja's did a handstand dismount and began fighting those who were not living.

"Hello!" They heard Dustin call, "I'll take that!"

Ana flipped over Alex. "They got sensei!"

"Yes!" Alex high fived her sister, then they went back to fighting.

"You ok?" They heard Dustin ask.

"I think he's fine! At least, if him being a guinea pig isn't messing with me," Ana mentioned to her sister.

"Not for long!" They heard Blake yell.

"Never mind," Ana said.

"No! Wait! Hey!" Dustin called.

"Dustin, I really don't think that's going to stop them," Alex joked, cracking a couple of dead guys skulls with a high kick.

The group fought as hard as they could, but they were ultimately surrounded.

"These guys are fearless!" Shane cried.

"Um…I'm not sure they even have fear. I'm not getting a read off them," Ana explained nervously.

"Nothing!" Alex asked in disbelief.

"Nope. They don't have any thoughts," Ana confirmed.

"Also, they're dead, it's not like they have a lot to lose," Tori pointed out.

"Other than a limb or two," Alex muttered.

"So that would be the glass half-empty, right?" Dustin asked.

Alex groaned. "Dustin, I don't think there's a positive way of looking at this!"

"Back off!" Hunter cried as the zombies tried to get closed.

"How about a truce?" Shane asked. "Let's do this together!"

"After they tried to kill us?" Alex asked.

"You might want to reverse the spell first!" Ana seconded.

Hunter surprised everyone though, by saying, "Fine by me. But only for now,"

Then they broke apart and everyone teamed up in order to kick the zombie's to Guatemala. Alex and Ana teamed up, of course, Blake and Tori teamed up, and Shane and Hunter worked together. Dustin fought alone. With each working hard, they managed to defeat the zombies and turn them to dust.

"All right!" Dustin cried.

"Yeah!" Tori cheered.

"We did it!" The twins called triumphantly.

"Got him," Hunter said, after he and Shane defeated the last of the undead warriors.

"That was great teamwork," Sensei mentioned from his energy ball.

"All right!" Tori cried.

"You rock, bro!" Dustin called.

"Wait," Ana paused, still sensing angry thoughts from Hunter and Blake, "We're not out of the woods yet,"

"Yeah!" Tori said, completely ignoring Ana.

"Don't call me bro!" Blake said, flipping Dustin onto his back.

"Blake!" Tori cried.

"Is this a good time to say I told you so?" Ana asked.

"Good one!" Shane said from across the field.

"Yeah right," Hunter replied, hitting Shane's stomach.

"Shane!" Tori, Ana, and Alex cried, helping him to his feet.

Blake and Hunter laughed evilly, holding sensei in their hands.

"Let's go!" Hunter called.

"We're outta here," Blake said. He followed his brother, who had ninja streaked into the air.

"They're getting away!" Tori cried, following the brothers with her eyes.

"No they're not!" Shane cried.

"Right," Dustin, Alex, Tori and Ana responded. "Ninja streak!"

And that's how they ended up fighting Hunter and Blake in the queries.

"Why are you doing this?" Dustin called.

"Simple—Revenge," Hunter and Ana said at the same time.

"Ana," Alex warned, placing her arm on her sister's shoulder, who seemed to snap out of it. That's when the ground began to shake.

"Huh?" Both Hunter and Tori asked.

"What's that?" Dustin followed.

"Huh? Revenge for what?" Shane asked.

"Zurgane's megazord," Ana answered. "And for sensei killing their parents," she blinked. "What in the samn hell?"

"Sensei killing their whats?" Dustin cried in disbelief.

"Whoa!" Tori called, as Ana heard the cackling Zurgane since he was in range.

"Hey! Is that?" Shane asked.

"Zurgane!" Tori cried.

"I just told you that," Ana protested.

"Who gave him the keys to a zord, huh?" Dustin asked.

"He built his own," Ana said in a trance. Then she snapped out of it. "Alex, it's happening again!"

"If you guys ask any more questions I will be forced to kill you!" Ana cried to her fellow teammates.

"That'll keep em busy," Hunter mutters.

"Yeah," Blake agrees.

"Guys, they're getting away," Cam said over the morphers.

"Not again," Shane cried, turning around to Blake and Hunter. "Whoa, man!"

"You guys go after them," Tori called. "I'll keep Zurgane busy,"

"We're with you, Tori," The purple and orange ninjas said.

"All right," Dustin said.

"Let's do it!" Shane exclaimed. They both ran off.

"Hey Cam, what about those Zords?" Tori asked.

"Ours too, tech dude," Alex said.

"Alex! That's disrespectful!" Then she went into a trance. "On their way,"

"What's up with her?" Tori asked.

"It's a prophecy ninja thing, I'll explain later!" Ana said, exasperated.

"Just do not ask a question with my sister in the vicinity," Alex explained.

Then the zords appeared. "Here goes nothing!" Tori cried, running in.

"Come on, Ana, let's grow. Get it?"

"Yes, Alex, very funny," Ana said, jumping into her zord. The zords combined into two separate megazords.

"Okay Cam," They heard over intercom. "A little help here,"

Alex pouted. "What about us?"

"I'll send you a power disk that will allow you to control the megazord by yourself, Tori. And as for the twins, you have some fun new toys,"

"All right," Tori replied. The power disk showed up in her interface. "Who says woman can't drive?"

"Males of before time to about the end if time; some still say today that woman are unable to perform manly tasks," Ana answered. She frowned. "Tori!"

(Divider)

Zurgane's megazord walked closer to the two megazords.

"Prepare to be sorry you ever met me," Zurgane threatened.

"We already are," Alex exclaimed.

Then laser's showed up from Zurgane's zord's head. The lasers hit both zords square in the chest.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh?" Tori asked.

"No, we're going to beat him," Ana answered. "Tori, stop asking questions!"

"Can you turn off the spell?" Alex asked.

"You don't think I'm trying?" Ana said, irate.

"Blizzard power!" Tori called.

"We might want to focus," Alex decided.

"Right," Ana agreed.

"Quintessence!" They called, harnessing the divine energy they knew they could control.

The wind megazord turned it's right shoulder toward Zurgane's megazord, and the head of the lion zord started snowing on him. At the same time, purple and orange energy came from the Divine megazord's hands. Both caused Zurgane's megazord to spark and fall.

"That's what I call chillin," Tori said.

"That's what we call power!" the twins chorused, high fiving.

(Divider)

In the past five minutes, the tables turned. Now the wind and divine megazords were feeling the wrath of urgane with millions of slashes on the chest. Their megazords fell over.

"Uhh, I meant to do that," Tori said.

"This is the start of a really great plan!" Alex announced.

"That we haven't thought of yet," Ana said softly.

The zords got up and tried to battle Zurgane again. Zurgane blasted them with lightning, which was doing wonders to their megazords.

"Looks like you all could use a lift!" he said, using the ray to levitate the two megazords in the air. An explosion popped and the megazords fell hundreds of feet to the ground.

Zurgane walked over to where he knew the cockpits were. He tried to stab them with his claw-thing.

"No!" Tori and the twins cried.

"Yes," Zurgane said menacingly. Tori ducked out of the way, and Ana unbuckled her seatbelt as her and her twin ran to the other side of the cocpit.

"It's over, admit it," Zurgane said. He pulled the two megazords onto their feet. "You failed,"

*Flashback*

"Anyway, please find my father,"

*Flashback*

"That's it Zurgane," Tori yelled. "You're through ruining my day,"

"You are not going to use that thing to harm any innocent people," Alex cried.

"We're not going to let you get away with this!" Ana followed.

"Dolphin laser!" Tori cried, shooting Zurgane with her right arm.

"Wolf Howl!" Ana shouted, the head of their megazord letting forth an earsplitting scream that only Ana seemed immune to.

"Who do you all think you are?" Zurgane cried after getting up.

"I'm a big fish with attitude," Tori replied.

"We're students of Apollo," Alex and Ana said strongly.

"Dolphin Blast!"

"Lizard Beam!"

Zurgane's megazord almost exploded from the impact of both rays.

"A megazord is nothing without accessories…" Tori started.

"Exspecially dangerous accessories…" Alex grinned.

"Power sphere 5!" Tori called.

"Don't forget us!" Ana shouted. "Power Sphere 7!"

"Turbo Canon!" They both yelled, combining weapons with each other.

Long story short, they shot Zurgane and sent him packing. But not before an angry, "I'll be back!"

(Divider)

"Hey guys!" Tori called, running up to them, "You got him! Excellent!" She looked genuinely relieved.

"See, Tori, I told you my vision wouldn't come true if we got here in time!" Ana said triumphantly.

"Are you ok, sensei Wantannabe?" Alex asked.

"I am fine, thank you Alexandria," Sensei replied.

They turned as they heard a yell. "Mind if I cut in?" Blake called, running around with his sword and fighting the rangers.

"Uh, yes!" Alex objected, kicking Blake.

"Not again!" Sensei moaned.

"You'll be ok, Sensei Wantannabe," Ana comforted, holding the ball while fighting.

"Thunder Storm Canon!" Hunter called.

"Oh crap," Ana said as she realized it was pointed strait at her.

Then she saw him lower it. "Come on, Blake," he muttered. "Get out of the way.

"You don't have to do this!" She cried, "You can throw your canon on the ground!"

Blake and Hunter ignored her. "I can't; just take your shot!" Blake yelled.

"Come on, we are not bad people! Don't sacrifice yourself to destroy us, you nitwit!" Alex yelled.

They paid the twins no mind as Hunter aimed.

"You guys, look out!" Tori yelled.

"We're about to get blasted!" Came Ana's concerned shout.

"Whoa, Shane, Alex, come on!"

"Um, I'm a little busy!" He said, fighting with Blake.

"We both are," Alex said, providing much needed backup.

"Do it!" Blake cried.

"No!" The twins yelled together.

Hunter fired the blaster, and everyone was caught in the explosion, including Blake. Sensei was knocked over by Ana's falling body and was tossed directly to Hunter. Alex put her gymnastics to use, did a quick flip in the air and landed squatting on her feet, though she lacked the strength to stand.

"Hello again," Hunter said to the guinea pig.

"Oh well," Sensei sighed.

"Sensei!" Ana cried weakly. Hunter was shocked and surprised. The blast should have taken a lot out of them: How could the purple ranger, whom he had put in a coma for 2 days, have the strength to cry for her sensei? Impressive, but not something to dwell on; he had revenge to get. But first he had to make sure his brother had withstood the blast.

"Blake!" Hunter called to his younger sibling. Alex finally stood up without anyone noticing.

Ana, plan 15C?

Be careful, Alex. Don't let them suspect.

I'll be fine. I'll keep tabs on them. Track me and meet me when they stop moving.

Then Alex quickly ducked behind a tree, demorphed, and shapeshifted. When she walked out, she was a beautiful squirrel. As long as Hunter and Blake didn't notice a squirrel with a bright orange strip on it's tail was following them, the plan should go off without a hitch.

"I'm ok," Blake finally called back, struggling to stand. He was hardier than he looked. "We got what we came for. Let's bail,"

"You don't have to do this!" Ana tried appealing to the better half of their psych, but even she had to admit to herself she sucked at that technique, especially after years of no practice.

Hunter laughed. "Later,"

Ana tried to stand, to run. "No!"

They had already teleported out, it was no use. At least until Ana noticed something that made her smile.

The two teens had been so caught up in revenge they had failed to notice a small, brown squirrel with a distinctive orange strip hanging on for dear life to Blake's leg.

The other three rangers stood just directly after Ana. "Man, I can't stand those guys!" Shane cried.

"Don't judge them by their actions, Shane," Ana protested. "They may not be in control of them. I learned that the hard way,"

Tori looked at purple ranger. "What do you mean?"

Ana had already quickly got up, concentrating on trying to find Alex's thoughts. It was always harder when one of them wasn't human. "Tommy was evil, once. He got turned evil by an evil space sorceress when he was my age. He wasn't in any control of his actions, he was only an observer. So Lothor might be influencing them somehow, although I doubt they don't have complete free will like Tommy did,"

The rangers looked shocked, but Ana didn't notice. She finally found Alex's thoughts and sent a note to her to keep her human influences, since the instincts were slightly overpowering her need to tail Blake and Hunter. "Yes! Guys, we have hope!"

"What hope? They're going to kill sensei!" Dustin shouted. Then he looked around. "Hey, uh, do any of you see Alex?"

"I know where she is," Ana said. "One of the universal powers of our academy, that means the power is shared by all elements, is shapeshifting. Right now, Alex is currently a squirrel trailing Hunter and Blake, and she can give me the location,"

(Divider)

"The ninja spirits sense our presence," Alex heard sensei say from her rock.

Yeah, I agree with you sensei. Normally, I don't mind the beach, but this place is freaky! Alex thought.

"The cavern," Blake guided Hunter's gaze to a small cave toward the end of the surf.

Shit! Ana, they're at the Cave where the gem is. Hurry, I can't be morphed when I shapeshift, I'll be vulnerable.

We're on our way. Just keep following them and do not get near the gem, whatever you do!

"Consider what you are about to do carefully," Sensei continued. "There are powerful forces here,"

Yes, please! That cave looks creepier than the beach.

Alex, focus. Fight or flight response is setting in.

Alex snapped out of it, Thanks for the jolt, Ans.

Meanwhile, Hunter was doing a very different type of snapping. "Quiet! The Gem of Souls will take care of you!"

Not if I can help it, Alex thought.

(Divider)

"Hunter and Blake think sensei destroyed their parents," Shane summed up. "There's no way that he could do something like that,"

"They don't know that," Ana reminded him. "All they know is what they've been told, which is obviously not the truth," She had been trying to get into contact with Alex for the past 10 minutes, but Alex's scattered squirrel thoughts were harder to track than a human's. At least she's not an ant this time, Ana thought, remembering the time when she and Alex had first gained that power.

Cam looked up from the computer. He had figured double the effort would help, but after 10 minutes of Shane trying to rationalize, he was ready to throw the air ninja out of the MCC. "Of course he couldn't. My father's only ever fought in self-defense. He teaches his students respect, decency, virtue,"

Again, Ana went to calm him. "Yeah, but do Hunter and Blake know your father personally? No. For all they know he's Rubin Carter,"

"We know that," Tori said, catching on to what Alex was doing. "We don't believe those lies anymore than you do,"

"But obviously Blake and Hunter do," Ana said. "We aren't calling into question if Sensei Wantanabe is a good person, but they have and have decided on the wrong option,"

Cam sighed. "I don't know what to do,"

"You'll figure it out, Cam," Ana said, putting an arm on one shoulder.

Suddenly Shane brightened slightly. He reached his arm for the other one. "I do," he said quietly.

"Really? What?" Ana asked.

Then a picture of the cavern in Alex's thoughts popped onto the screen, and the purple ranger understood.

Cam sighed. "Just be careful,"

Ana nodded. "We will, Cam,"

(Divider)

The four rangers walked into the cavern.

"No!" Shane and Ana cried. The gem of souls was glowing green right above sensei's energy field. Alex lay on the ground, shivering. Ana knew much more exposure to the gem of souls and Alex would die from the exact opposite of her element- hypothermia. She could already feel herself start to drain.

"Put it down. Sensei didn't do anything," Shane coaxed.

"All you're doing is hurting innocent people. Me, my sister, and sensei," Ana responded.

"Lothor told us everything,"

"Yeah, well Lothor's evil," Ana tried that angle.

" Your sensei destroyed our parents," Blake stated

"I don't think that's what happened, Blake," Ana said gently. "Sensei only fights in self-defense,"

"Lothor saw the whole thing," Hunter replied angrily.

"Like I said, Lothor's evil," Ana tried to coax his real side out, the same way she had done to Tommy during a Time Force mission gone very, very bad.

"Why should you believe him?" Tori asked, helping out Ana. She saw Alex on the floor and knew how pale Ana was getting. Something was going on with them and the gem of souls, and she somehow knew neither twin could go on much longer.

"He's a liar. He does anything to get what he wants," Ana leaped off of Tori's statement. She was grateful for the help. Already it was becoming hard to stand. She had never experienced a power drain like this, and Alex didn't have much time left.

"Why should we believe you?" Blake asked.

"Because we fight for the forces of good," Ana said. "Not for personal gain,"

"Dude, evil space ninja's are not exactly known for being one of the good guys," Dustin explained.

Ana leaned against a wall for support. "Not to mention honesty is not that important a virtue when you're trying to take over the world,"

"We're done talking," Hunter said, getting ready to smash the gem against the energy field.

"No!" Tori and Ana cried. The ninja's rushed over to the gem to take it from Hunter, except for Ana, who fell down the wall, crying in pain. Alex's thoughts were not there anymore- her sister had lost consciousness.

"Put it down, Hunter," a voice said. Ana opened her eyes as much as she could- only a slit- and saw two ghosts in front of Hunter and Blake.

"Lost ninjas," she gasped slightly, then winced. She had less than five minutes before Alex froze to death, and maybe only a few minutes longer before her own.

"Who are you?" Blake asked.

Ana was too weak to fight the spell. "Your parents," she gasped.

Hunter looked at them with a look of pure joy on his face. "Mom? Dad? How did you…?"

"They live here," Ana said, quietly, creeping as much as she could over to Alex to try and help her twin warm up.

"This is the Mountain of Lost Ninjas," Hunter's father explained. "We'll be here for all eternity,"

"It's where all ninja spirits go, Hunter," Ana picked up weakly. "We'll be here one day,"

"Because of him, right?" Blake asked, pointing to the energy ball.

"It can't be him," Ana said.

"Liliana is right, Blake, he is not the one responsible for what happened to us," Blake's mother told him.

"He only fights in self defense," Ana whispered. Her face was stark white, and she could barely breathe without excruciating pain. Alex was worse, and was cold to the touch. But she knew if Hunter and Blake continued to fight for evil, their deaths would do nothing.

Hunter was infuriated "Well then who is?"

Ana's spell forced her to say it. "Lothor,"

"Yes," Hunter's father said. "The one they call Lothor,"

"I told you," Ana whispered.

"It's not a shock," Tori admitted, kneeling down to the two rangers. They were both too pale than healthy, and Alex's breathing was slowing. They needed to get out of here, now, if they wanted the girls to stay alive.

"He lies. A lot," Ana could barely stand to talk, but talking was the only thing that kept her conscious.

As if they noticed, the ghosts of the evil rangers' parents began to leave. Blake was the first to notice. "They're fading. No, no, wait! Come back!"

Ana's eyes were squeezed together tight. "Apollo help us,"

"We'll always looking over you," Their mother said.

"Just like Mom and Dad," Ana said quietly. She was no longer aware of what she was saying. Alex was barely breathing.

"Make us proud," Their father told them.

Hunter started to cry. "Come back,"

They won't, Hunter, Ana projected. They can't.

"What a sight," The rangers whipped around and saw Lothor at the mouth of the cave. "The thunder rangers crying for their mommy, and the devine rangers are lying on the ground almost dead. My ears were burning. You've been talking about me, haven't you?"

Unfortunately, you apparently follow the "names have power" rule, Ana projected, although it wasn't as effective with her eyes clenched tight.

"It was you all along," Hunter said. "You lied to us,"

Give him the "evil ninja of the year" award.

"Not the brightest bulbs on the tree, are you? Now give me the hamster, we got business to attend to," Lothor ordered.

Their brighter than you, and there is no way you're getting sensei until I stop breathing.

"And dude, he's a guinea pig," Dustin said, determined.

He gets really mad when you say he's a hamster.

"And we're not giving him to you," Shane growled.

Over our dead bodies.

"Fortunately, that is already being arraigned. So I'll just take him,"

You will not!

Tori stared at him in disbelief "Um, hello? Lot's of us, and one of you,"

Even without us fighting, that's five people, plus a ninja master, you dimwit.

"Oh please," the ninja deadpanned. He whipped out a blast of red energy.

No!

"Get back!" Hunter cried, running in front of the beam to protect his brother. The gem vaporized, and immediantly, the weight on Ana's breath eased. She could open her eyes, and saw her sister was still unconscious, but alive. She felt energy starting to surge into her limbs.

"What happened?" Alex asked, opening her eyes. "I'm so cold,"

"I told you to stay away from the gem, didn't I?" Ana asked her sister. "You and I almost died!"

"It was either that or let Hunter and Blake kill sensei, and I didn't feel that was a viable option, Ans,"

"Guys, are you ok?" Dustin asked the twins after seeing Lothor was far away.

Alex nodded. "Yeah, we've been on death's door before,"

"What happened?" Tori asked.

"The gem of souls is conflicting magic to our innerbound energy," Ana explained. "It's dangerous for us to be near it,"

"Dude, you nailed Lothor!" Dustin realized. Hunter opened his hand and saw shards of the gem of souls.

"Oh my gods," Alex realized. "Hunter, you just saved our asses. Thank you,"

"How did you do that?" Shane asked.

"I used it to protect us, but it shattered. It's broken," Hunter explained, dumbfounded.

"Thank you," Ana said. "You may not realize, but Alex was about 3 seconds away from freezing to death, and I wasn't far behind her,"

"But isn't releasing that power really…bad?" Dustin asked.

Alex shrugged "I'm looking at the bright side- it isn't for every Devine ninja on the planet,"

Sensei gathered their full attention, "For better or worse, the power of the gem cannot be destroyed, Dustin,"

"But it isn't whole," Ana realized what sensei was saying. "A house devided against itself cannot stand, right?"

"Speaking of power, what happened to Lothor?" Tori asked.

Ana shook her head, still being forced to answer. "He's not gone, Tor,"

"I suspect that he is very much alive," Sensei sighed. "And I fear, more desperate than ever,"

(Divider)

Tommy ran a hand through his hair. He was never having child power rangers. His children were going to be very, very normal.

"So, to sum it up, Blake and Hunter almost killed you, then Zurgane almost killed you, and then it was the Gem of Stones? Isn't there some rule that says you can only face one near death situation per day?"

"Did you follow that rule in high school?" Alex smirked.

Tommy sighed: they had caught him. "Do me a favor; never give that stone a chance to reconstitute itself. Figure out a way to kill Zurgane. And dear God, be careful about trusting those two. I was in their shoes once,"

Alex rolled her eyes. "We promise, Tommy. Now, Ana and I are going to the beach to begin the first part of our promise,"

Tommy almost asked them to stay home, but he knew his little buggers of sisters- they hated being coddled. "Be back before dinner,"

(Divider)

"Are you sure about this?" Cam asked.

Alex snorted. "Cam, that thing tried to kill us,"

"I'm a little nervous being near that now," Ana admitted, a weary eye on the shards.

"The gem of souls is dangerous, Cam," Sensei intoned. "In the wrong hands, it could bring harm to countless innocent people,"

Cam nodded, then, with a moment's hesitation, threw the shards into the ocean. Alex and Ana felt a moment of pain cold, but it passed as the shards hit the water.

"The gem has taught the thunder rangers that revenge is never the answer, but there are still those who have to learn that lesson," Sensei explained.

"Hey, as long as Lothor can't use that gem against us, I'm happy. I mean, I never want to almost die again,"

Ana groaned. "Ana, you just jinxed it!"

Cam looked at the teens and his father. "He's not through with us, is he? Lothor?"

Ana shook her head. "No, most definitely not,"

"Far from it, I fear," Sensei said ominously.

Cam turned to the twins. "What is that, Ana? Where you answer every question asked of you?"

Ana turned her head down to avoid the embarrassment of Cam seeing her cheeks flush. "It's a spell cast upon prophecy ninjas. They used to be used to see the future as oracles. But girls never wanted to give creepy guys all the answers, so they cast a spell on us to make us answer every question. I'm usually able to work around it, but when my powers were just unbound or I'm weak, I can't,"

Cam looked confused, and Alex took pity on him. "It's alright, it would confuse me too if I wasn't Ana's protector. Now, Ana and I have to go,"

"Yeah," Ana said. "We're going to Storm Chargers to apply for jobs. I cannot afford to replace all my equipment, and the tyrano zord hates my guts,"

(Divider)

"Here you go," Shane said, handing a girl a package. "And Ana, Alex, your apps are back here," Shane suddenly brightened up considerably. "Hey, how'd the race go?"

"Great, but it could've been better," Ana answered. She blushed slightly. "Stupid spell,"

"Yeah, right on the mark, Ana," Kelly said, for she had come in behind the girls after his motocross race.

"Where are Blake and Hunter?" Alex asked, confused.

"They didn't show," Dustin explained.

"That's weird, if there's one thing I…you know," Ana started, looking at Kelly, "It was that motocross was their life,"

"I thought they were all set, too," Shane said, confused.

Ana nodded. "And they seemed pretty responsible when it came to motocross,"

"So did I," Kelly answered, pretty pissed. She went back to the stockroom.

"That's weird," Alex muttered.

"What's weird?" Tori asked, walking in. "What's up with Kelly?"

"She's mad because of the race," Ana explained.

Shane sighed. "Blake and Hunter blew the race off,"

"That's what I thought was weird," Alex said.

"Yeah," Tori said. "I know about the race,"

Alex frowned. "Not sure I'm following you, Tor,"

"What happened? Dustin asked. "Are they coming back?"

"Yes," Ana answered. "But they left to sort some things out,"

Tori looked at her friend. "You're right, they left. They said to say goodbye,"

Ana noticed the crestfallen look on her face. "Don't worry, Tor, you'll see him again,"

"Yeah, it'll be ok," Dustin said. Then he turned to the twins. "Now, why does Ana answer questions all the time?"

Ana growned. This was going to be a long afternoon.