Author's Note: A change of name for this chapter, mostly because it deals with more than just Xander's problems.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended in the making of this series. I simply own my OCs and anything that is unrecognizable from the show. Power Rangers belongs to Saban... although Mystic Force was created by Disney. Enjoy.

Shout Outs: Big thank you too Pixiescale1185 for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Appreciate it mate.

Warning: Rated T for safety.

Mystic Force: Against All Odds

Summary: "I didn't ask for this," "I know, but this is your destiny... this is our families legacy... and our time is now!" After the fall of the Lightning Academy and the arrival of the darkness, Rebecca learns that the prophecy has begun and Aliyah is now in great danger.

"Have you spoken to Vida yet?"

"No,"

"Are you planning on speaking to Vida?"

"No!"

"Aliyah!"

"What?" Aliyah snapped turning swiftly to her boyfriend. "She tried to kill me, Cam!"

"Tried," Cam pointed out. "As in unsuccessful!"

Aliyah shook her head. "It doesn't matter whether she was successful or not," she sighed. "Vida is my best friend... and she tried to strangle me! I'm sorry if you think that I should just forgive her straight away, but I can't, she brought some very horrific memories to the surface."

"She is your best friend," said Cam, "or she was your best friend?"

"It's the same thing!"

"No, actually, it's not," said Cam, shaking his head. "One is present tense and one is past. If she is your best friend, then that means no harm, no foul, but if she was your best friend, then that means you've moved on. So, which is it?"

Aliyah sighed and looked away. "What does it matter?" she asked. "Whether I still consider her a friend or not, she still tried to strangle me!"

"Ali -"

"Please, don't..." Aliyah said shaking her head. "Trying to ignore the fact that Vida tried to strangle me is not going to help matters, I can't just forgive her for what she did! I didn't forgive Hunter -"

"And look how well that turned out," Cam muttered.

"Hunter and I hated each other long before he tried to strangle me," Aliyah snapped.

Cam sighed. "Ali, you just need to - Where are you going?" he asked as Aliyah brushed past him. They had been standing in the middle of Ninja Ops during most of the conversation, and now she was striding towards the exit.

"If you want to stand here and defend her, then by all means do so," said Aliyah, glancing back at him from over her shoulder. "But don't expect me to change my mind just because it is you trying to change it... you, of all people, should know that I am not easily persuaded. I'll come to terms with this when I'm ready, and I'll deal with the fallout in my own way! Until then I'm going surfing!"

Cam pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. It was times like this that he realized just how tough Aliyah was to handle.

~*Against All Odds*~

"Where's Aliyah?" Nick asked, as he and Rebecca climbed the mountainside. It had been over half an hour since they had split away from the others, each of them pairing up and going in different directions, and almost an hour since Chip had figured out where the Fireheart was hidden.

"Blue Bay Harbour," Rebecca answered. "She's been there since that incident with Vida."

"So you think she's avoiding her?"

Rebecca nodded. "Seems like it," she agreed, pushing aside bracken of brambles. "I can't say I really blame her. Vida strangling her brought some very nasty and unwanted memories to the surface, and Aliyah doesn't do very well with remembering."

"She's been strangled before?" Nick inquired.

"Yeah," Rebecca nodded. "Once. Three years ago, when we were Ninja Rangers, although she was strangled long before she had even accepted her Ranger powers."

"Was it a friend?"

"Sort of," Rebecca nodded.

"Sort of?"

"Hunter Bradley," the Black ranger elaborated. "I wouldn't call him a friend, at least not like you and me, friends, but he and Aliyah had some issues before and after he had tried to strangle her."

"Were those issues ever resolved?"

Rebecca shook her head. "No," she sighed. "Even to this day, Aliyah and Hunter do not get on!"

Nick heaved a heavy sigh. "I hope she and Vida can work out their differences soon," he commented.

"Yeah, me too," Rebecca agreed. "But I have a feeling that Aliyah and Vida's situation is, in several ways, different to the situation Aliyah shares with Hunter. Aliyah and Hunter had no forms of a relationship and/or friendship before he tried to strangle her; if V and Ali value their friendship, and to some degree, I believe they do, they'll work this out!"

"You think so?"

"I hope so,"

Nick smirked and nodded, just as both their morphers jingled from their cloaks.

~*Against All Odds*~

"We heard an explosion," Nick said as he, Rebecca, Chip and Maddie regrouped with Vida and Xander, who, between them, was carrying a treasure chest.

"What happened?" Rebecca asked. "Are you two alright?"

"We're alright," Vida nodded. "Mr. Unlucky's curiosity got the better of him!"

"Curiosity is a dangerous thing," Rebecca said, frowning at Xander. "I'll just leave it at that and not ask any more questions."

"What's this?" Maddie asked, reaching for a scroll that was attached to the front of the chest, the second she removed it, a timer appeared and started counting backwards. Unrolling the scroll, the Blue ranger handed it to Rebecca, who read it out loud.

"'This ancient puzzle is your task at hand. Solve it quickly to receive what's grand. But if you fail this timely chore, the Fireheart will be no more."

Chip sighed. "Great, another riddle!" he complained. "Why couldn't things be simple?"

"When is life ever easy?" Rebecca asked.

"What are we gonna do?" Xander asked. "Is there anyone who can figure this out?"

"I know one person," Rebecca nodded. "But he's got a more difficult task on his hands."

The other Mystic's looked puzzled.

"Cam," the Black ranger explained. "But he's trying to convince Aliyah to talk to Vida, and he's having a very difficult time with it."

Xander smirked. "Trying to convince Aliyah to do something she doesn't want to do is like trying to get blood out of a stone!"

"As much as it pains me not to have my best friend on my side," Vida nodded. "Xander's right. If Aliyah doesn't want to speak to me, then no one and nothing will get her to change her mind. At least not until she has come to terms with what has happened,"

"And that could take months," Maddie pointed out.

"Years even," Chip added.

Rebecca frowned slightly. Half of her team knew her sister better than she did.

~*Against All Odds*~

"It is still counting down!" Maddie complained as she squatted in front of the Fireheart chest. Cookie, Aliyah's pet feline, padded towards her, winding her elegant body between the Blue ranger's legs and purring at the sensation.

"Sorry, guys," Chip apologized. "I've never seen a puzzle like this! I don't even know where to begin."

"None of us do," Maddie said, straightening up. "And we've already lost half an hour!"

"Can't you try and reason with Cam?" Nick asked.

"I have called him," Rebecca said from the Xenotome. "But 1) he's not answering, and 2) according to Tori, he's out chasing Aliyah."

"Chasing Aliyah?" Vida asked. "Why, where has she gone?"

"She said something about surfing," Rebecca shrugged. "So she could be anywhere!"

"Or maybe she's gone surfing?" Xander suggested.

Rebecca shook her head. "You lot should know Aliyah says one thing, and does another," she pointed out.

"True," Xander nodded.

"So when she said she was going surfing," Nick frowned.

"She was using it as a cover up to do something else," Vida nodded. "We used to do it all the time growing up, you know, up until the time she moved away."

"How old were you when you met Aliyah?" Rebecca asked, keen on knowing a lot more about her sister. "I know I never paid her much attention when we were at the Lightning Academy. I had my friends and my own studies, and she was pretty much left to do as she pleased, she was confined to the academy until she was eight years old, so -?"

"We met Aliyah a little after our seventh birthday," Maddie answered. "Mom and Dad had taken us to Reefside, to visit an old friend of my dad's, and I remember seeing this little girl running through the woods. I told my parents but they didn't believe me..."

"So, when they were talking to their old friend," Vida continued, noticing the look on Rebecca's face. "Maddie and I snuck off into the trees. We met Aliyah just beyond the frontline. We must have played for about an hour before my parents were calling for us, Aliyah came out of the trees with us, and my parents were forced to believe Maddie."

"She told us that she lived in Briarwood," Maddie nodded. "Mom and Dad gave her a ride back into town, but she refused to tell them who her parents where and where she lived. They tried taking her to the police station, you know, to report finding a missing child, but she run off into the trees before they even knew what was happening. V tried to follow her, but dad held her back."

Rebecca nodded. "Your parents believed the whole 'do-not-enter-the-forest-or-you-will-never-be-seen-again' lie?" she asked.

The sisters nodded.

"Yeah," Maddie smiled. "But I knew that we'd see Ali again. We'd really hit it off."

"And she couldn't have been more right," Vida agreed. "Ali came looking for us the next day, and we kinda just went from there."

Rebecca smiled and exchanged a look with Nick. She no longer hoped that Vida and Aliyah would get over their differences; she now knew that they would. A friendship, like the one Aliyah and Vida shared, was extremely rare, and not easily broken.

~*Against All Odds*~

"What do you mean you argued with Cam?" Connor asked. "I didn't think that was possible..."

"We argued before," Aliyah pointed out, kicking the soccer ball back to him.

"Yeah, but that was different," Connor shrugged. "He had lied to you back then. Wait, he didn't lie to you this time, did he?"

Aliyah shook her head. "No. But he did try and change my mind!" she explained.

"On?"

"Someone tried strangling me," Aliyah explained, with a heavy sigh. "It just brought some rather unpleasant memories to the surface, and I'm unsure on whether or not I should forgive this person. I mean, I didn't forgive Hunter, and he and I rarely talk any more, and when we do talk, it is fighting with one another."

Connor smirked. "Well, fighting isn't the same as talking," he pointed out.

"Bite me!"

"Where?"

Aliyah rolled her eyes. "Shut up!" she smirked.

"You walked into that one,"

"Whatever,"

"So, who tried to strangle you this time?"

Aliyah hesitated. "Her name's Vida," she finally said. "She's an old friend."

"Define: old friend,"

"As in someone I met when I was eight years old and have been friends with ever since,"

"Oh, that is an old friend," Connor nodded.

Aliyah growled. "Are you going to try and help me, or you just gonna be flippant?" she asked.

"Sorry," Connor shrugged. "Just trying to get all the facts. When did she try and strangle you?"

"A few days ago,"

"Where?"

"Briarwood!"

"What time?"

"Connor..."

"What?"

"Do you seriously need to know the ins and outs of what happened?" Aliyah asked. "I hardly think that the time and date of when it happened is going to help?"

"You never know," Connor shrugged.

Aliyah shook her head. "No, you're just being nosy now," she snapped.

"OK. OK." Connor said, holding his hands up in defence. "But don't you think that you owe it to this Vida chick to explain why she did what she did?"

"I already know why she did it,"

"Well, unless she was under the influence of evil," Connor pointed out, causing Aliyah to shift uneasily. "You can't really blame her. Remember Hunter? He was under the influence of evil when he did it, and I get that you never really forgive him for it, but you went after Trent instead, remember?"

"Yes, yes, I remember," Aliyah grumbled. "So what are you saying? That I should just forgive and forget?"

Connor shook his head. "No. I think you should just talk to Vida," he suggested. "Maybe she is feeling just as bad as you are about this whole ordeal. I take it she knows that you were nearly strangled before, right? I mean, she doesn't have to know about you being a Ranger, which would be highly difficult to explain, but she could know how you feel about strangulation, yes?"

"I guess," Aliyah shrugged. "When did you grow a brain?"

Connor grinned. "I have my moments!"

"Meh..."

"Meh, to you too!"

Aliyah smiled and shook her head, just as her morpher jingled from her jacket pocket.

~*Against All Odds*~

Claire pouted as she observed the flower pot in front of her.

"What's up?" Aliyah asked as she hurried towards her cousin.

"My Perfection potion failed," Claire moaned.

"Perfection potion?"

"Yeah. I created a potion that would cause sad and dreary flowers to become gorgeous again," Claire explained. "But it failed, just like everything else!"

Aliyah smiled, reassuringly. "Hey, don't let this get you down," she said. "You know the rules; never give up on something that is worth it. You'll figure out the problem sooner or later, Claire-bear."

Claire giggled at the nickname. "I haven't been called that in -"

"Twenty-one years?" Aliyah asked with a small nod. "Yeah, Udonna told me that your Mother used to call you it all the time. I figured you needed something to cheer you up."

"Thanks,"

"No problem," Aliyah nodded. "Now, I was wondering if you had seen Vida?"

Claire shook her head. "No. But Rebecca is in your room..." she added.

"I don't need a big sister right now," Aliyah said. "I need a best friend!"

"So we're still best friends?"

Aliyah spun around and came face-to-face with Vida. "I don't know are we?" she asked.

"You're not gonna hug me, are you?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of hitting you," Aliyah said with a faint smirk. "But I guess I can let it slide."

Vida smiled. "Ali, i'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean - Necrolai made me -"

"V," Aliyah cut across her. "I get it. I understand... I know that you, unlike Hunter, wouldn't try to strangle me whilst under the influence of good."

"Ali, you're my best friend," Vida pointed out. "You've always been my best friend! I wouldn't dare try to kill you... I'd rather kill; than see you get killed."

Aliyah smiled. "Friends?" she asked, holding up her fist.

"Friends!" Vida nodded, bumping fists with the White ranger.

~*Against All Odds*~

Aliyah smiled at Phineas as she and Vida arrived at his home.

"Hey," Vida nodded.

"Hey, be careful what you say," Phineas warned them. "Tough crowd."

"Duly noted," Aliyah nodded. "Xander!" she added, walking towards the Green ranger. Vida had filled her in on everything that had happened with Xander, and she was more than ready to help, he may have had a huge ego, but Xander was also her best friend, she wasn't about to lose him anymore than she was gonna lose Vida.

"We've been looking for you all over the forest!" Vida said.

"Well, you found me," Xander shrugged. "At least I fit in out here!"

"Rebecca is working on an antidote right now," Aliyah promised. "You're gonna be fine!"

Xander shook his head. "It's too late!" he complained. "Look at me! I was so worried about looking perfect! Now, I'll never be able to show my face to anyone ever again. Xander the Great's gone for good."

Aliyah rolled her eyes. "No, he's not," she defended. "He's sitting right in front of me, doing the one thing I never thought he would ever do! Feel sorry for himself."

"Look, I never meant to ride you so hard," Vida apologized. "It's just you're always so confident. It's kinda nice to see you human... sorta speak," she added sheepishly.

"How can I be confident now?" Xander asked.

"Confidence comes from the inside," Vida said, "and your insides are still intact. Xander... you are great..."

"You just don't have to be Xander the Great," Aliyah said.

Xander hesitated, allowing their words to sink below the surface. "Yeah," he nodded. "I guess you're right. I am more than just a pretty face."

"C'mon," Vida said, holding out her hand. "Let's get you back to normal."

"Yeah," Aliyah nodded, holding out her own hand.

Xander smiled, he, Aliyah and Vida had always shared a closer bond than the others, and it was at times like this that he was glad of their friendship. Taking both hands, he straightened up and took a step forwards, only to find that his feet refused to move. "Can't move!" he grunted.

"You're taking root!" Aliyah gasped, looking down.

~*Against All Odds*~

"Nick, Maddie and Chip are in trouble!"

"Yeah, well so are we!" Aliyah argued.

"Claire is on her way with the antidote!"

"Then go help Nick and the others," Aliyah said. "We'll catch up!"

"Ali -"

"Xander is my friend!" Aliyah snapped. "I'm not leaving him here - Oh, Claire, are you OK?" she added, spotting her cousin running towards them, only to trip and land flat on her face. "I gotta go!"

"Ali, don't you dare -"

Aliyah snapped her morpher closed and hurried to help the blonde back to her feet. "Is that it?" she asked, taking the spray bottle.

"Yeah," Claire nodded.

"Quick," Xander cried. "My mouth is starting too..." he trailed off as his mouth sealed shut.

"We don't have time to spray it," Aliyah said, taking the bottle and tossing it at Vida. "Bring on the downpour!"

Vida nodded, caught the bottle, and materialized into a pink cloud. Thunder crashed as the antidote rained down on the Green ranger, restoring him to normal.

"It worked!" Claire cheered, happily.

"It's gone," Xander sighed, turning to his friends. "Thank you. I could not have gone through this without you!"

His morpher jingled.

"Hey, new spell code," Xander exclaimed, snapping open the cellphone and inspecting the three glowing numbers on the keypad.

"Then let's try it out," Aliyah said. "Rebecca and the others are in trouble! Let's go!"

Vida and Xander nodded as they followed Aliyah back towards Briarwood city, whilst Claire returned to Rootcore.

~*Against All Odds*~

"Magi Staff! Light power!"

Rebecca looked up as a beam of light smashed into the Hidiacs surrounding her. They yelled in fury, before turning into dust and disappearing.

"And they say the forces of darkness are stronger," Aliyah laughed as she landed beside her sister. "Unless, of course, you use darkness for good, which is very rare."

"Haha, very funny," Rebecca said sarcastically. "Glad you could join us! Where's Xander?"

"Right -" Aliyah said, looking around for her friends, "- there!" she grinned, watching as Xander used, what she assumed was the new spell code, to knock the monster down a few pegs.

"Knockout!" the Green ranger grinned as the monster exploded.

"Yeah!"

"Alright"

Vida and Aliyah cheered as they led the way towards the Green ranger.

"Nice one, Xander," Vida nodded.

"Check 'em out," Xander said, kissing the boxing gloves as Nick inspected them. "New spell code!"

"Hey, we all got it," Chip announced, checking his morpher. "I guess we can all use them!"

"Sweet!" Nick grinned as the gloves disappeared.

Aliyah paused. "Hey, who's got the Fireheart?" she asked.

Nick, Chip and Maddie gasped as Rebecca checked her watch. "We're almost out of time!" the Black ranger exclaimed.

"C'mon!" Nick said, leading the way back to the Rock Porium.

~*Against All Odds*~

"Wait!" Toby exclaimed in delight. "I think I've got it!"

The door opened and the rangers poured inside.

"You've solved it?" Chip asked, excitedly.

"Yes, yes," Toby stuttered. "It's a mathematical conundrum. You see, each of these buttons corresponds to a number, that, when divided by pi gives a series of..."

Aliyah yawned as Toby's explanation went in one ear and out the other. "Where's Cam when you need him?" she muttered, earning a nudge from Rebecca.

"... They all point towards this button!" Toby finished, pointing at one that no one, other than Vida, could see.

Nervously, the Pink ranger looked to her friends, all of whom teetered nervously. Biting their lower lips, wringing their hands, and even biting their nails.

A sigh of relief swept throughout the back office as Vida pressed the button and the latch on the box opened.

"I'm the greatest puzzle solver on the face of the planet," Toby exclaimed.

"Thanks a lot, Toby," Aliyah smiled as Chip, Xander and Nick reached forward, lifted the chest off of the desk and carried it out into the store, as the girls, plus Toby, followed.

"Wait, wait," the store owner called. "Don't I get to know what is inside?"

"Um..."

"Hey, Toby," Xander piped up. "If a tree makes a mi-mistake in the forest..." he stuttered, trying to think fast on his feet, "and a friend comes to help it. Does the tree learn its lesson?"

Aliyah smirked as she realized that Xander's problem wasn't that much different to her own.

"Oh," Toby grinned. "A riddle... a riddle... I'm gonna get right on that!" he said, scuttling back into his office, as the Rangers laughed and hurried off, back to Rootcore.

~*Against All Odds*~

Nick breathed out sharply, as he and the other Rangers clustered around the chest inside Rootcore.

"Here we go," he said, lifting the lid of the chest and revealing a giant red egg.

"An egg?" Chip questioned.

"The Fireheart is an egg?" Aliyah asked, looking up at her sister, cousin and aunt.

"Not just any egg," Rebecca said, with a smile at Udonna. "Am I correct to assume that this is the last of its kind?"

Udonna nodded. "Yes," she said.

"The last of its kind?" Aliyah repeated. "What kind of creature are we talking about?"

"A dragon..."

Aliyah's eyes widened as she looked back down at the egg. "You mean this -?"

"Is the last dragon egg!" Udonna confirmed.

Copyrighted ©

Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx

Chapter updated Friday, November 09, 2012 at 05:15am