Mariner Bay, March 13th, 2000
Miss Fairweather sat bolt upright in her bed, panting. She looked around the dark room, disoriented, and slowly her dream came back to her. Demons had invaded the Aquabase, and for some reason the Rangers couldn't morph. As the Batlings smashed up the windows and water began to pour in, Miss Fairweather had somehow caused the water to smash into the monsters, then drag them out the hole. Then she'd held it still while the window was repaired.
Shaking her head, Miss Fairweather started to lie down again. But she couldn't go back to sleep. It had felt so real and natural, controlling the water. With a sigh, she got up, and went over to the fish tank set in one wall. It was three a.m.; she could indulge a silly urge.
Raising one hand over the pool, Miss Fairweather looked hard at the water. It rippled, and then a single tentacle of liquid rose up towards her hand. With a yelp, Miss Fairweather jerked her hand away, and the water collapsed with a plop.
"Impossible," the scientist breathed. She tried again. The water followed her hand up and around, forming a ring that floated in the air. With an incredulous giggle, Miss Fairweather ran her fingers through it. Hydrokinesis. She made a mental note to investigate further in the morning. Then the scientist went back to bed.
Xanthe was in the Lightspeed laboratory, in the guise of Dana, quietly mixing together a new batch of H2O-SP—she was running low. The Aquabase had everything she needed, and the Aquitian knew the recipe by heart.
As she injected herself, Xanthe glanced over at the small pool, and realized that she could have rehydrated naturally. Then she shrugged: what's done is done, and she was rehydrated now. But as she began cleaning up, a female voice spoke up from the doorway.
"So you're a scientist too, Dana?" Dropping the case, Xanthe whirled around, and froze at the sight of Kelsey. The Yellow Ranger smiled and came inside, closing the door after her. Xanthe looked down at the spilled, shattered vials, and swallowed hard. It looked like they were all broken.
"I—I was just cleaning up. I couldn't sleep, and I found one of the interns trying to clean up this mess, so I sent him to bed and took over." She laughed a little, hoping she didn't sound too nervous. "Honestly, I have no idea what these chemicals do."
"You really suck at lying," Kelsey replied airily. Xanthe stiffened. "Hey, relax; I'm not with the Monitors. Tell you what, my morpher should run down pretty soon, we can both reveal ourselves." Pulling out a Gyro Morpher full of pink sand, Kelsey watched as the last few grains fell.
"You—" Xanthe began, just as pink light enveloped Kelsey. When it faded, a teenage girl stood there. She had a freshly-scrubbed look, her clothes didn't fit very well, and her curly red hair was still damp. Xanthe's jaw dropped, just as she felt a surge of energy from her own morpher.
"Detra?" She said, quickly grabbing the Gyro Morpher. She transformed back, and Detra's face lit up.
"Xanthe!" The girl exclaimed, leaping forward and seizing Xanthe in a hug. "Sis! I thought you were dead!" The pair hugged for a long minute.
"How did you get the Amaranth Morpher?" Xanthe asked, releasing the human and looking her up and down. She touched a red mark wrapping across Detra's shoulder, and the ginger winced.
"Captured, almost turned, escaped, grabbed the thing and ran. Did just what you said in your holo-messages, and it's been working out. You?"
"Very similar—though I have a teammate. Garfield Brooks, he's blind. He should be around here somewhere." Xanthe shook her head, and laughed again, though with a touch of sadness. "Life has been so insane lately, Detra. I've missed you."
"Me too—no, wait," Detra paused, putting up a hand. "No, I've missed you. 'Me too' would mean I missed myself. I thought you were the Akra."
"Obviously not. Do you think it'll be a stranger?" Xanthe asked. Detra half-shrugged.
"If you're done here, I'll help you clean up and make a replacement batch, and then we can get some sleep." Xanthe nodded, and the two women started cleaning.
Miss Fairweather carefully looped the water through itself in a complicated knot, as the Rangers and Captain Mitchell watched, spellbound. Several of the other technicians and security officers had stopped what they were doing to stare as well.
"I discovered this ability last night, and have been running tests on it," Miss Fairweather said slowly. She flicked her wrist, and the water collapsed with a splash. "As far as I can tell, these abilities are mentally generated."
"Cool," Kelsey breathed. "Can we do that?"
"I doubt it," Miss Fairweather replied. "In layman's terms, you simply don't have the brainpower."
"And you do?" Joel said, folding his arms and raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, actually." Miss Fairweather smirked. "Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it." At that point, a monster alarm began blaring. The Rangers and Captain Mitchell ran for Rescue Ops, and Miss Fairweather ran after them. Then she heard Carter's voice, as clearly as though he was standing in front of her.
"Maybe Miss Fairweather can help us with this demon."
"Carter?" The Red Ranger glanced back at her as they reached the main base, and gathered around the viewscreen.
"What?"
"Didn't you just say something?" The scientist asked. The man shook his head, frowning.
"Weird," he said again. Eyes widening, Miss Fairweather touched her temples. Quickly, she looked over at Captain Mitchell.
"I'd rather not risk our top scientist on the front lines, but these new abilities could be useful—as long as they aren't connected to the demons." The scientist looked at each of the other Rangers in turn.
"Fire-powered monster—burns," Dana thought, focusing on the laughing monster on the screen.
"Well, at least he's a perky one," Kelsey thought, cocking her head to one side.
"This guy doesn't look so tough." Miss Fairweather had to smile at Joel's cockiness. He caught her look, and grinned back widely. "Superpowers are melting the ice queen, awesome!" Her smile faded a little. Ice queen? She just focused on her work—the way Joel was supposed to. Then the Rangers were running out, brushing past her, and Miss Fairweather went to her normal station.
The Rescue Rover skidded around a corner, and the Rangers piled out. They were in the shopping district, in a plaza with a newly-broken fountain and trampled flower beds around it. The monster released the man he'd been holding, and the civilian scrambled away. Laughing, the monster faced the group, all of whom dropped into fighting stances.
"What took you so long? We've been waiting for you!"
"Wait's over. Lightspeed Rescue!" Carter shouted, and the Rangers repeated him. But a wave of fire slammed into them mid-morph, throwing them all to the ground. Their morphs flickered and died, leaving the entire group scorched and in pain. Xanthe clutched at her stomach and thigh alternately, biting back a screech.
"That was way too easy!" The monster bellowed, coming forward.
"You're telling me," Garfield hissed, gritting his teeth and pushing himself up on an elbow. The Batlings charged in while the Rangers were down, and began seizing them by the arms. They struggled, but were quickly overpowered and dragged to their feet. Drawing a black sword whose blade dripped fire, the monster began pacing up and down the line.
"Now, which one should I destroy first? The courageous leader? The cool-headed paramedic?"
"You're so sure you've won, haven't you?" Garfield called. Xanthe looked at him in alarm, and then remembered how much Akra loved drama. The monster turned, and laughed.
"Of course, the hotshot pilot." He struggled, as did the other Rangers, but the monster advanced, raising its sword.
That was when the fountain exploded. The water quickly formed into a tentacle and shot towards the monster, knocking him flat. The Batlings and Rangers looked up to see Miss Fairweather standing on the far side of the plaza, one hand raised and staring intently at the water.
"No, not water! You're putting out my fire!" The monster bellowed, struggling to its feet. Sure enough, its bright red skin was growing duller. Miss Fairweather grinned.
"That was the idea." She twisted her arm, and the water tentacle caught the monster around the waist. Picking the creature up, the water swung it around and formed a ball around it, despite its struggles. The Batlings finally snapped out of their bewildered stares and transformed into bats, flying away with much squeaking.
The monster bubbled and gurgled, turning darker and darker. The Rangers stumbled and limped over to Miss Fairweather, staring at the creature in bewilderment. Xanthe stopped beside the woman, and following Akra instinct, began scanning her teammates' injuries. Nothing looked serious.
"Miss Fairweather, stop," Detra ordered suddenly. Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy. "Please, just do it, this isn't an ordinary monster." Miss Fairweather gaped at her for a second. Then the Akra apparently decided to go with it, and the water splashed on the pavement. By now, the monster was dark blue.
Detra charged over to it, and began peeling apart the armor. The others ran over as she revealed a layer of spongy white stuff just beneath the surface, and began ripping it apart. Only then did Xanthe remember how the Akra created their own monsters, and nearly slapped herself. How had she forgotten about that? Oh, right—the same reason the rest of her memory was a mess. With a shake of her head, Xanthe crouched down to help.
"That doesn't look like an ordinary demon," Carter said. Miss Fairweather began examining it, just as Detra tore through the last of the spongy stuff, and uncovered a bare, flushed throat. A pulse beat visibly there, and now all the Rangers joined in ripping the fake monster apart.
"I'll have to examine this," Miss Fairweather said, taking a clump of the spongy stuff. The Rangers finally uncovered an Asian man somewhere in his twenties, clad in white hospital pajama-style clothes and unconscious.
"Garfield? Detra?" Xanthe asked. Neither reacted. She tried again—still no response. They didn't even flinch.
"Joel, Kelsey?" Now the pair looked at her. Checking the man's temperature, Xanthe lowered her voice. "Joel, I think Kelsey and I can take care of that problem we talked about earlier, okay?"
"Kelsey?" Garfield turned towards Detra, confused.
"We're not alone, Joel," Xanthe added. Slowly, it dawned on Garfield, and he grinned.
"Fantastic! Okay, I'll take care of this guy." With the help of Carter and Chad, Garfield picked up the unconscious man and lugged him back to the Rescue Rover. Standing up, Xanthe waited until they'd gone, and then turned to Miss Fairweather. The scientist had produced a case and equipment from nowhere, and was scanning the blobby stuff.
"Strange—it's organic, and I think it was alive, but it's not demonic," she said, shaking her head.
"It's called White Akra. It's an offshoot of the normal breed, about as intelligent as your average moss, and takes the form of just about anything—monsters, machinery, you name it," Detra said. Miss Fairweather turned and looked at her.
"How do you know all this?" Detra and Xanthe exchanged a smile, and backed up a step.
"One second. Sands of Time, Rise Up!"
Xanthe poses inside a clock tower, surrounded by bronzed cogs and wheels. The hourglass in her right hand shines green, and the sand bursts out. It covers her, forming her suit, and the image of the hourglass forms her helmet.
"Viridian Hourglass Ranger!"
Detra stands in front of a massive sundial, lit by a rosy dawn. The hourglass in her right fist blazes with pink light. With a flash, the sand flows out and covers her in a bright cloud, which quickly forms her Ranger suit.
"Amaranth Hourglass Ranger!"
Miss Fairweather didn't even bother talking. As the pair of Rangers turned towards her, she gestured, and a spurt of water knocked both women off their feet. Scrambling back up, Detra crossed her forearms.
"Wristguns, Laser Trap!" She yelled, and a pair of elegant guns materialized on her wrists. Aiming them both at Miss Fairweather's feet, she fired, and pink lines shot out. They bounced off the pavement and up into each other, then kept going. Miss Fairweather tried to reach through one, but it scorched her sleeve, and she recoiled. Soon, she was entirely surrounded by a laser cage.
"What is that?" Xanthe gasped, standing up.
"One of my attacks. You looked those up, right?" Detra glanced over at her. Xanthe tried to remember, but only found a laughing White Ranger. She shook her head, just as a portal opened up on a building wall. A trio of Monitors appeared, looked around, and spotted them. "Okay, you've got a Neural Net, so—Psychic Wave, that was it!"
"If you say so. Neural Net, Psychic Wave!" Xanthe cried, and twirling the net, hurled it at the newcomers. It wrapped around the man in front, and all the little electrodes woven into the fibers flashed green. A ripple of green energy shot out of the net, and all of the Akra collapsed—even Miss Fairweather.
Xanthe looked over at her adopted sister. The Amaranth Ranger pushed a button on her wrist, and the Laser Trap deactivated. Slowly, Xanthe began to laugh.
"We forgot," she choked. "Just forgot about our attacks!" Giggling, Detra punched her in the arm, crouched down beside Miss Fairweather. Xanthe just stood there, laughing uncontrollably, for a while.
