(Disclaimer: PRNS isnt mine, only Aria Bradley. now we get a little insight on her past)
Chapter 9: Return of Thunder part III
-Beach-
The five rangers were on the beach, trying to locate where Aria would be when they realized that the temperature had dropped immensely.
"Hey, is it just me or is it getting seriously cold here?" Dustin asked, rubbing his arms for warmth. Something in the sand caught his eye, picking it up he realized it was the necklace Aria wore every day. 'Must've fallen off while we were fighting' he thought. It was a thick silver band that had an interesting purple gem embedded in it; the band had a weird inscription on it that consisted of a bunch of unfamiliar symbols. He pocketed it and told himself to keep it safe for her.
"Yeah, most of the time I'd say it's just you, but it is getting seriously cold here" Shane agreed
"I'd really like to know why we can morph, but we can't reach Ninja Ops" Tori brought up
"Yeah, well I'd settle for knowing where we are"
"Portico Island" The Bradleys answered at the same time. The Winds just stopped and stared at them in disbelief.
"What?" Blake asked innocently
"Anything else you wanna share with the class?" Shane said
"Nah you don't wanna know, trust me"
"Trust us, we do" Tori said
"I heard Lothor talking to his pals just before he sent us back to Earth," Blake began "Ari read about it back at our Academy, this place doesn't exist on any map. And rises up out of the sea every 200 years or something…"
"And then what?" Dustin asked
"Well that's the part that's kinda harsh" Hunter answered
Tori, picking up on what was happening asked "You're telling us that his whole place is sinking back into the ocean?!"
"Told ya you wouldn't wanna know"
"Come on, we better find some higher ground" Shane said as the group moved back up the island.
-Across the Island-
Aria was getting frustrated; she had since stopped flying and was stumbling on a hillside. "Where are you? Must destroy rangers!" She shouted out madly.
From on top of a boulder Choobo spoke to Aria "That's right, Thunder Rangers Blake and Hunter are your enemies. Lead me right to them"
Aria shot her head up "I work alone" she said in her distorted voice and shot a blast at Choobo before walking away.
-Grassy Cliff-
The other Rangers found a spot to take a break for a while. They had been hiking for hours and seriously needed one.
"Is anyone else worried we haven't seen Aria for hours?" Dustin asked
"Not me;" Shane said "I could use a break from getting my ass whooped" at that moment Blake and Hunter turned and shot a glare at the red ranger.
"Hey no offense, but your sis isn't exactly playing well with others these days"
"Look," Hunter began "Ri is a great ranger, and one day you're gonna be glad she has those powers."
"Sure, when she stops using them against us"
Tori sat down beside Dustin, "How'd you get them anyway?"
"What?" Blake asked
"Your powers, you never told us how any of it happened"
"Yeah, and what about the whole eye thing with Aria" Dustin added
"It's a long story, you really wanna know?"
"Yeah well it's either that or watch Dustin play in the dirt" Shane said motioning to Dustin who was using a stick to dig a hole in the ground.
Hunter began their story "Sensei Omino taught our parents the way of the Thunder Ninja, when they…passed away he brought us to the Thunder Academy. He helped us get through everything, we felt like we belonged again."
Blake continued, "We all did very well in our training, especially Aria. Sensei Omino he was…grooming us for something, we didn't know what."
"So that's when Lothor showed up" Dustin concluded
"Yeah, our school was attacked, Kelzaks and aliens were everywhere. Sensei gave us our morphers he told we'd know what to do."
"Except at that moment he got captured by Lothor," Hunter said
Dustin spoke up again, "When you get into those ball things…what's it feel like? You know is like cool going up a freestyle ramp-" The brothers just rolled their eyes in annoyance before Shane told him to shut up.
"Once we got onto Lothor's ship he was really pissed that the ranger powers got passed onto us"
Blake finished "It was when he told us the lie about our parents."
"So that's when you got all medieval on us" Shane concluded
"Let's not go there again" Tori said right away
Blake went to his sister's defense "You gotta understand, Aria's a great person, but when someone betrays her trust, you better watch out"
Hunter continued "She would never use her powers on another person, but when she's enraged or hurt than it tends to take control."
"Yeah, you never explained those by the way" Shane brought up
The brothers turned to each other; they would need to know sooner or later, might as well tell the truth.
"Our parents told us how each of us were adopted, Blake and I were at a regular orphanage when they took us in; Aria was different though."
"One day, Sensei Omino was outside of the Academy when he heard a baby crying near the entrance. There he found Aria; she was only about three months old when he found her, we don't know for sure." Blake continued
"There was nothing with her, no letter, no birth certificate, nothing. She was only wrapped in a purple blanket and had a silver chain necklace and a matching ring hanging from it."
"Sensei called our parents right away, he knew they wanted another kid and thought it was best to give her to them. Everything was fine, the three of us bonded really well; but one day something happened to her."
Hunter recalled the day her powers came
It was 1991, and five year old Aria was running around in her family's backyard. Her silver chained necklace swinging wildly from her neck. Her two big brothers, 6 year old Blake and 7 year old Hunter were outside with her but were playing a game they had made up. Hunter, deciding to be the typical mean older brother went to Aria and started chasing her. Thinking it was just a game tag Aria laughed and ran in circles around him.
Blake, also thinking it was a game, started running with Aria as well. However, Hunter had come up behind the little girl and ripped her necklace off. When the chain snapped Aria stopped in her tracks and turned to Hunter. Blake ran inside to get their parents knowing another fight was going to break out.
"Give it back!" she demanded
"Or what Ari? You're just a girl!" Hunter retorted
"GIVE IT BACK!" her eyes blackening and the air around them picking up and darkening
Hunter's eyes widened with fear as he saw what was happening.
Then suddenly a ball of black energy erupted from her little hand. Hunter had tears coming down his face out of fear and had dropped the necklace to the ground.
From the back door Aria's mom and dad watched in horror as their baby girl started to fly upwards and tower over their eldest son. Her little body had a dark force around her, causing her curly hair to whip around her face.
A distorted voice came from the small child, "GIVE! IT! BACK!" she sent the blast at Hunter, hitting him in his stomach.
Aria's mom came running out, followed by her dad who was checking up on Hunter, and snatched the necklace from the ground. She looked up to the little girl and held it up to her; she too had tears running down her face. Slowly Aria descended and reached for her necklace. When she had hold of it she calmed down completely and returned back to normal. However, she saw she did to Hunter and burst into tears. Blake came running out to both siblings and giving them each a hug; or at least attempting, since Aria refused to let anyone touch her.
"Thankfully, because she was only 5 her powers weren't as strong as they are now. I only have a small scar on my stomach, no other damage." Hunter finished "But we think that's why Aria's Thunder Ninja powers are also insanely strong"
The Winds sat there with their mouths open in disbelief. 'She was only five years old,' Tori thought 'She was traumatized at such a young age'
"From that moment on, Aria trained herself to not feel strong emotions; rage, pain, sadness," Blake finished "That eventually evolved into not feeling any other emotions. She was so scared of losing it again that she bottled everything up inside"
"She's got a lot of emotions pent up"
"Then we gotta help her" Tori said as she got up and stood beside Blake "Come on, we better go find her"
Shane nodded his head in agreement while Dustin just sat there
"Do we have to?" he whined not really wanting to get his ass whopped again. Hunter pulled him up by his collar to make him stand up.
-Meanwhile-
Aria collapsed on her knees and started crawling in the dirt, the toxic steam wasn't just messing with her brain, but her powers; they were draining and she was going back and forth from craziness and sanity. "What's happened to me?" she groaned. She looked up from behind her hair, now wet with sweat and ocean water, at the green alien in front of her. Her eyes slowly fading from black to grey-green then back to black
"Do we really need to go over this again? Repeat after me, the rangers are you enemies, your brothers betrayed you, say it Blake and Hunter betrayed you"
As if her brothers' names were trigger words for her she repeated Choobo; venom dripping in those words, "They betrayed me". Rage started to build up inside of her again causing her eyes to go black yet again.
"That's right, brothers bad, Choobo good. Now, pull yourself together, I wanna be home in time for my cartoons"
With new regained strength Aria took off again to find the other rangers. "No more Rangers!" she laughed evilly before starting off.
-Quarry-
The rangers were now back at the quarry walking on rocks and partially blinded from all the smoke.
"Man this island reeks!" Dustin exclaimed
This was heard by Aria across the way, she smirked then threw herself down a sand hill to try and look injured.
"Look, over there!" Hunter cried out, the five ran over to the fallen girl, however she got up and had a sick smile on her face before she blasted at them. It didn't hit any of them but they were still blown back, when the smoke cleared they saw SuperToxipod had appeared on Island too.
"You guys better bail! 'Cause I'm one bad snail!"
"If you're a snail, how come you look more like a crab?" Dustin joked
"Crab, snail whatever!" S.T (this is how he's being referred to as now) yelled as he blasted the rangers.
"Time to plug this slug"
"Ready?"
"Ready"
"NINJA STORM!"
"THUNDER STORM!
"RANGER FORM! HA!"
"Power of Earth!"
"Water!"
"Air!"
"Power of Thunder!"
The five initiated their Ninja Shadow Battle and fought to take down S.T.
Seeing Aria was no longer at the quarry, Blake used his Navy Antlers to pick up S.T and demand where she was.
"What's it to you?" S.T shot back, Blake tossed him in front of the Winds and let them finish him off.
The five opened their visors and ran towards each other, the Bradleys were upset they didn't get to Aria in time but at least the snail/crab/clam alien was gone.
"Everyone okay?" Shane asked, everyone nodded yes while Hunter and Blake looked around
"Where's Ari?" Hunter asked
Suddenly, Aria popped up from behind a couple of rocks and attacked, "There you are…TRAITORS!"
"Look!" Shane shouted as he spotted Aria. Her appearance was ragged, her hair wild and frizzing, her uniform's gloves and wrist guards had been burned off, and she had maddened look on her face.
She flew over the Winds and blasted her brothers from above before landing softly in front of them. She then transformed the balls of energy to form a whip and used it to catch Blake's wrist.
"Ri, snap out of it! Lothor's done something to you!" He cried desperately
"Liar!"
"Listen to me!" Blake begged as he reached for his sister's shoulder
"No mere lies!" she shouted as she used her hold on him to flip him on his back.
When the others tried to help, Choobo appeared and now they had their own battle to worry about.
It was Hunter's turn to fight; seeing him coming towards her she used her whip to lash at him, catching him in his chest and knocking him to the ground.
"Ari, you gotta trust us!" he yelled
Aria just lashed at him again and yelled in frustration as he rolled away from her attack.
"Why should I?"
Her whip disappeared and she had the balls of energy in her hands as she put her knee on Hunter's chest and held one close to his face
"Aria, please" he groaned, his chest still hurt from when she lashed at him with her whip.
"You betrayed me, and now you'll pay for your betrayal!"
Blake had now managed to get up and ran over to Aria and Hunter. He pulled her off their brother, only for him to be knocked back by Aria.
"It was Choobo and Lothor, they betrayed us, Think Ari think!" he shouted as he backed away from her.
However, she stopped and looked as if she were remembering something. The balls of energy disappeared as she had flashbacks of how Lothor and Choobo tricked them and even her parents at the Cavern.
Blake ran up to her and gently shook her, "Think Ari think!"
Hunter joined in as he came up beside his brother "You're under some kind of spell"
She screamed in a mix of confusion and frustration, "You're confusing me! No more ninja tricks!" as she pushed both boys to the ground, an energy ball in each hand ready to strike. But the two boys swept her feet from under her and got back up.
"We're your brothers!" Blake tried
"I have no brothers" she said darkly as she fired at them both; narrowly missing their visors.
At that moment, time seemed to go by slowly as both boys thought back to promises they made after their parents died.
"Promise me something, both of you" an 11 year old Aria said to her brothers
"What?" a 13 year old Hunter replied
"If I ever lose control of those powers, promise me you'll do whatever it takes to stop me"
"What are you talking about?" Blake demanded as he and Hunter stared at Aria in shock
"Mom and dad are gone now, mom was the only one who was able to keep me in check." She said as she stared at nothing in front of her
Knowing how important this was to her the three agreed.
The Bradley boys looked to each other and came to a silent agreement
"Enough is enough" Blake growled
"Time for some tough love!" Hunter agreed just as Aria was charging at them.
Both grabbed for their Thunder Staffs and struck Aria in the chest causing her to fall down on her back in pain. The two held their weapons by her head to keep her down.
Using his 'Big Brother Voice' Hunter told Aria "Now you're gonna listen and you're gonna listen good!"
"Aria! Your name is Aria!" Blake shouted as Aria was groaning in pain. Her body flailing and her wild hair covering most of her face
"You're our sister! Come on man shake it off! Shake it off!"
"No, you're lying to me. I KNOW THE TRUTH!" Aria yelled, her voice cracking slightly as she grabbed hold of their Thunder Staffs and kicked them off of her. "Something is wrong! My head!" she cried as she stood up, her voice no longer sounding distorted and malicious. She shook her head and shut her eyes tight as more flashbacks came; their first years training at the Academy, them laughing at Blake's attempt to hit on Tori, and laughing at Storm Chargers after meeting the Winds. "Ugh, it's coming back!" she shook her head once more and shot her eyes open, revealing their normal hue, "I remember…" was all she said before collapsing on her back from pain, exhaustion, and guilt.
Upon seeing this Blake and Hunter opened their visors and ran to their little sister, fearing the worse. "ARIA!"
At that moment, the Winds had defeated Choobo and saw a de-morphed Blake and Hunter trying to wake up their sister. "NINJA FORM" they commanded as they de-morphed as well.
"No…come on Ri, stay with me!" Blake cried desperately "Stay with me!"
Slowly her eyes opened to see Hunter holding her head and Blake trying to wake her up; his fist near her jugular, constricting her breathing a bit.
"Dude…" she said weakly "Kinda need to breathe here"
Blake and Hunter laughed as they helped her up, they had their family again. "Thanks guys, you kept your promise" she reached up for her necklace only to find it wasn't there. "No…" she said as tears formed in her eyes.
That's when the Winds ran up and saw the three Bradleys on the sand.
"She's back to being Aria" Tori observed
"Good Aria or bad Aria?"
"You know who we are?'
"Yeah…my friends…" she said as the Winds smiled down at her. Minutes later Shane's morpher beeped. Aria was standing off by herself as the others crowded around Shane. 'What have I done? I almost killed my only family.' She reached up to her neck 'And I lost my necklace, the only thing I have of my birth mother' tears were forming in her eyes. After taking a few seconds to blink the tears away she went back to the group. All she heard was something about zords to take them back home. As Shane and the others were about to morph she told them to wait a second.
"I just wanted to say it means a lot, the way you stood up for me."
"Hey, it's okay" Shane said
Then remembering form earlier Dustin spoke up "Oh wait!" he pulled out her necklace and handed it to her "Here, I found it on the beach."
Her eyes widened as she took it and placed it back on; with now happy tears she looked up to him and thanked him.
"Okay, so before this turns into a group hug, we better go" Shane interrupted; she let out a small laugh and walked off with the others.
All of a sudden, S.T appeared again, this time 30 stories high.
"This bitch…"Aria complained as she and the others got ready to morph.
"You guys ready for this?"
"Ready"
"Ready"
"NINJA STORM!"
"THUNDERSTORM!"
"RANGER FORM! HA!"
"NINJA RANGER POWER!"
When the zords came into view, they leapt into action forming their megazords right away. With the combined efforts of the Winds and Thunders they managed to destroy SuperToxipod and head back home just as the island sank back into the sea.
-Storm Chargers-
The Bradleys followed a nervous Dustin into Storm Chargers. Aria was still upset about Portico Island and her normally stylish appearance was replaced with leggings, an oversized black t-shirt, and combat boots. Her curly hair pulled up in a messy ponytail.
"Hey Kel," Dustin greeted.
"Huh, look at what the cat dragged in"
"Kel, I can explain I was kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere-"
Aria spoke up from behind the three boys "It wasn't his fault, he was helping us out"
"Well that doesn't surprise me; you could've called, sent an email!"
"You gotta trust me! If there was any way I would've been here, I'm really sorry"
"Dustin's telling you the truth, as for my brothers and I; we know we let you down a bunch of times. We're through with that, we wanna start over."
"We'll make it up to you" Hunter agreed
"Well, I'm still kinda shorthanded, could do with a couple of stock boys"
"Stock boys?" Hunter said, starting to regret opening his mouth
"You know, someone to open boxes, clean the floors at night-"
"I was thinking more the lines of head mechanic or-" Hunter never finished as Aria put her hand over his mouth
"We'll take it" Blake said
"Great, well you can start by helping me clean up this mess"
"We just got one more thing to deal with and then we'll be back in like half an hour I promise!" Dustin said as he and the other guys practically ran out the door, Aria just shook her head and followed them.
-Ninja Ops-
"Wait a minute, lets me get this straight, after all we've been through you guys just wanna walk away from being rangers?" Shane asked in disbelief.
"We have to" Hunter said
"Lothor isn't gonna rest until he destroys us" Blake agreed
"Join the club dude" Dustin pointed out
"We can't let anything happen to you because of us, you guys are the only thing standing between Lothor and millions of people."
"You've been given a gift, isn't it your responsibility to use that gift?" Tori argued
Aria spoke up from beside Hunter, "Our ranger powers are a gift, my other abilities aren't. Now that Lothor has seen my full power, he'll do anything to get it."
"Tori is right," Sensei said "Sensei Omino knew the Thunder Ranger powers were meant for you. But I cannot force you to live up to your responsibility."
"So what do you say? You guys in or not?" Shane said with a smile
The three told them that they would think about it. Sensei offered the three of them to stay in Ninja Ops with him and Cam for the time being, which they gladly accepted. They easily moved their stuff and settled in.
To be continued…
(A/N: Longest...Chapter...Yet! Review and follow!)