Chapter Eleven
Night had already fallen at the Lightspeed aquabase and currently Captain Mitchell was preparing to test out a new morpher dubbed as the Titanium morpher. He along with the others rangers excluding Joel were in the weapons lab with Ms. Fairweather. The group watched as the some scientists prepare Carter who had volunteered to test out the new morpher. Once one of the scientists strapped the morpher onto the red ranger's wrist, Ms. Fairweather looked to Captain Mitchell.
The Lightspeed captain nodded and in turn, Ms. Fairweather looked to Carter and spoke into the microphone, "Here we go." Joel soon arrived not a moment too soon and silently stood by the other rangers. Jean tightly fisted the front of her shirt and bit her bottom lip as she gazed at her boyfriend with worried eyes. Kelsey and Dana placed their hands on the beauty's shoulders which calmed her nerves somewhat.
Carter thus pressed a button on the morpher, "Titanium power!" as the morphing process began, the ranger leader was having trouble turning into the Titanium ranger. In just in the blink of an eye it was all over, leaving Carter down on the ground on one knee, panting heavily.
Jean quickly rushed over to her boyfriend's side with the rangers following. "Carter! Are you ok?!" exclaimed the dark wavy haired beauty, still panting from the whole ordeal the red ranger leaned against her and slowly nodded "Yeah…I'm ok…"
While the rangers helped Carter back to his living quarters to rest, Mitchell returned to his office with Ms. Fairweather following. There the lead Lightspeed scientist placed the Titanium morpher on the captain's desk, "I don't think we should continue testing the Titanium powers. The circuitry is too powerful for an ordinary human."
With that being said Ms. Fairweather turned to leave while Mitchell picked up the morpher and looked at it, "It would have been fantastic…" the lead scientist stopped at the door and looked back at him. "Yes…It truly would have…Good night, Captain." Thus Ms. Fairweather took her leave from the room.
Mitchell stood up from his desk and walked over to his safe, opening it with his key. He placed the Titanium morpher inside and closed the door, locking it safely away. The Lightspeed captain returned to his desk and placed the key away in a side drawer, before he closed it, Mitchell pulled out a picture frame containing a photo of himself holding a young Dana in his arms with a little boy by his side.
Though he didn't stare at the photo for long, he quickly placed the frame back in the drawer as a knock sounded upon his office door. "Come in!" The door slid open to reveal Dana and Jean standing there holding a small cake together. "It's us, Dad!" said the pink ranger
Captain Mitchell stared at the two in surprise, "Dana, Jean…It's midnight, I thought…" he trailed off as he saw them come over with the cake. "I can't believe that the two of you remembered!"
"Well I was too young to remember much of my big brother…And Jean remembers a little playing together with him when they were kids." Said Dana
"But we do know that Ryan would've been twenty today, so we'll celebrate like we always do." Told Jean
She pulled out some matches and began lighting the birthday candles, once making sure they were all lit, Dana placed the cake on her father's desk. "Come on, we both have to make a wish. You too, Jean. Even though we're not related you're still considered family."
The captain's assistant smiled a bit and joined Mitchells at the desk, together they all blew out the candles at once. It was quiet between the trio for a bit when Mitchell softly asked, "What did you two wish for?"
"That we wished for the same thing…" said Dana, she walked over to the small aquarium and gazed at the fish inside "That the car crash had never happened and that Ryan was still here."
"We can't change the past, can we?" Mitchell then stood up from his desk and brought Jean over to Dana, "I have another wish…I wish that whatever happens that you know that I will always love you…The both of you…Dana is right Jean…You're family to us and I've always thought of you as a daughter to me." Dana and Jean happily smiled at Mitchell before tightly embracing him.
Though that night at the base, when most of the residents had gone to bed, an intruder had snuck in and stole the Titanium morpher right out of Mitchell's office and left without being noticed. The next day in Mariner Bay, Vypra had showed up with some Batlings and began attacking the city. Ultimately this caused Carter and the others to quickly rush to the city and put a stop to the demons' attack.
Captain Mitchell and Jean were in the Command Center keeping a close eye on the rangers through a monitor. While Mitchell took his eyes off the screen to look at the clipboard that was handed to him, Jean's eyes widen in shock as she watched the Titanium Ranger appear right before Carter and the others.
She immediately grab Mitchell's arm, "Sir!" the Lightspeed captain turned his attention back on the monitor and stared at the image in disbelief. "Titanium Ranger…" Mitchell thus ran out of the Command Center with some of the officers staring after him.
The Lightspeed captain quickly ran to his office and checked the safe to see that the morpher was really gone. Mitchell hit the wall in frustration and immediately returned to the Command Center with Ms. Fairweather at his heels. The lead scientist stood by Jean's side and stared at the image of the Titanium Ranger, "Oh no…" Everyone anxiously watched as Carter and the others tried to go against the Titanium Ranger, but much to their dismay the silver ranger proved to be too powerful for them.
Seeing enough of the action before her eyes, Jean darted out of the Command Center with Mitchell calling after her, "Jean! Don't go! It's too dangerous!"
Back in Mariner Bay, Carter and the others quickly ran a good distance away from the Titanium Ranger in order to call on the Rescue Bird. Carter aimed the weapon at the silver ranger with his team standing by his side. "Stop right there!" said the red ranger, the Titanium Ranger simply ignored him and pulled out a weapon of his own.
"I warned you!" said Carter who fired the weapon at the ranger.
Much to the group's surprise and disbelief, the Titanium Ranger blocked their attack with just his weapon and returned fire on them. Carter and the others cried out from the attack and collapsed to the ground. The Titanium Ranger evilly laughed and began approaching the fallen rangers when suddenly Jean appeared as the black ranger and kicked the silver ranger away, "You stay away from them!"
The Titanium Ranger stumbled back a bit from the hit, "So…You must be the black ranger Diabolico wants…I was beginning to wonder whether or not you were going to show up…Now you're coming with me!"
"Don't think I'll go without putting up a fight!" retorted Jean
The two rangers charged at each other and began to intensely fight with one another. Carter and the others watched in disbelief as the two rangers blocked each other's blows and kicks, not once landing a hit. "Look at those two go!" said Joel
"I hate to say it but those two are evenly matched. I don't think either one has actually landed a hit." Said Chad
Jean quickly jumped back to avoid a kick from the Titanium Ranger and landed right in front of Carter and the others. Just before she could charge at the evil ranger once more, Captain Mitchell immediately contacted her "Jean, you and the others need to fall back. The Titanium Ranger is too much for any of you to handle."
"But sir, I can take him."
"That's an order Jean!"
The black ranger looked back at the team who nodded, she tightly clenched her fist and replied to her captain, "Yes sir…We're falling back now." Jean looked back at the Titanium Ranger, "This isn't over!"
"On that much we agree, but know that the next time we meet you will be brought to Diabolico."
"We'll see about that!" Jean thus helped Carter and the others get back on their feet before quickly retreating back to the aquabase.
Once they had safely returned the rangers had gathered in the meeting room with Captain Mitchell and Ms. Fairweather. And just now the group had been informed that the Titanium morpher had been stolen from Mitchell's safe. "Stolen from the captain's safe?!" exclaimed Chad
"That had to be somebody from Lightspeed!" said Kelsey
"Yeah, but nobody would do that." Told Joel
"Then who else?" wondered Jean
Captain Mitchell sighed and took a seat at the table causing everyone to do the same, "All right…No matter who it was the fact remains that Diabolico has the morpher and the Titanium power. We have got to get it back fast."
Ms. Fairweather shook her head at this, "That won't be easy…"
Meanwhile at Queen Bansheera's palace, Diabolico and his followers were currently preparing for their next plan of attack on Mariner Bay. "If the rangers fight, they'll be destroyed. If they run the city is ours!" said Vypra "Either way they choose, we win! Ha ha ha!" said Loki
Diabolico turned to a man who was sitting down in the shadows, "You have mastered the powers of the Titanium morpher, thus proving yourself worthy of being the Titanium Ranger. Now let's use those powers to take back our homeland!"
Back in Mariner Bay, the rangers had begun patrolling the city, looking for any signs of trouble. The team split into groups of two in order to cover more ground, currently Carter and Jean were scouting a local park only to see that everything is fine. The couple stopped at a nearby fountain, Jean softly sighed and brushed back her bangs "Something is not right…It's too quiet…I don't like it Carter…"
"Yeah neither do I."
"Should we take another look around again?"
"Yeah let's do that."
"Why don't we split up this time?"
"I don't know Jean…I mean what if something happens to you?"
"I'll be careful Carter…It'll only be for a few minutes."
"…Fine…But if anything happens you contact me right away."
"I will."
Much to her surprise, Carter kissed Jean on the lips and murmured "Stay safe for me…I love you…" she smiled at him and cupped his cheek, "I promise…I love you too." The couple shared one more kiss before going their separate ways.
Five minutes had passed when Jean came across an office plaza with some civilians and office workers enjoying their day outside. Just as she was passing through the area, from out of nowhere something had crashed right in the middle of the plaza. Jean quickly made her way through the gathering crowd and soon spotted the Titanium Ranger standing in the middle of the crash site.
"Oh boy…" Jean quickly contacted her boyfriend through her morpher, "Uh…Carter? You and the others might want to make your way down here and fast."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Guess who made a reappearance at the plaza?"
"Titanium Ranger…All right we're on our way, keep him busy until we get there."
"Understood."
"And Jean?"
"Yeah?"
"Be careful."
"For you always."
Jean immediately snapped her attention to the Titanium Ranger as civilians began running away. The evil ranger began approaching the dark wavy haired beauty, "So we meet again black ranger."
"Looks like I don't have a secret identity anymore…" thought Jean, she got into a fighting stance "I was starting to wonder whether or not you were going to show up again."
"Well I'm here and now I'm taking you back to Diabolico."
"And like I said before I'm not going without a fight!" Jean charged at the Titanium Ranger and began throwing punches and kicks. The evil ranger easily blocked her attacks and delivered a kick of his own. Jean stumbled back a few feet and placed a hand to her chest, "Oh man…He managed to get a hit…"
She rolled up her sleeves, "Better even the playing field…" though before she could even morph, the Titanium Ranger rushed forward and grabbed Jean's arm, lifting her off the ground. While dangling in the air, the dark haired beauty struggled to break free but was having no luck at all.
Much to her relief, Carter and the others arrived just in time to help. The red ranger's blood boiled as he saw his loved one in the evil ranger's grasp, "Jean!" he quickly morphed and charged at the enemy, "You let her go!" "I don't think so!"
The Titanium Ranger easily caught Carter's fist much to the others' surprise, "Carter!" Jean took this opportunity to kick the evil ranger in the side hard. He grunted in pain and dropped the beauty, giving Carter the chance to punch the Titanium Ranger.
As he stumbled a few feet back, Carter quickly helped Jean up and immediately rejoined the group. The red ranger cupped his loved one's cheek, "Are you all right?" "Yeah…Thanks for the save Carter…"
"You'll pay for that!" snapped the Titanium Ranger
"Who are you?" questioned Chad
"It doesn't matter anymore."
"Man, we don't want to have to hurt you!" told Joel
The evil ranger scoffed at this, "Hurt me? Your pathetic powers or no match for my Titanium powers!"
Carter looked at his team, "Let's go guys!" the group nodded and morphed into their ranger form, thus they began their fight with the Titanium Ranger.
At the aquabase, Captain Mitchell was witnessing the whole battle from the meeting room. He shook his head a bit as he watched the Titanium Ranger overpowering the team. Mitchell thus pressed a button on his headset and the image changed to the weapons lab, "Ms. Fairweather, we are running out of time!"
The lead scientist rushed to her work station and sat in front of the screen, "But we haven't finished testing it!"
"That's a luxury we can't afford."
"…All right…" Ms. Fairweather pressed a button on her keyboard, "Carter!"
"I read you!" replied the ranger leader
"Activate V-Lancers!"
"You got it!"
Together the rangers summoned their new weapons which happen to surprise the Titanium Ranger. The group began to examine their weapons, "Excellent!" said Chad
"These rock!" said Kelsey
Jean easily twirled her weapon, "I'm liking this already!"
"All right let's try these bad boys out!" said Carter
Thus the rangers charged at the Titanium Ranger with the V-Lancers in hand. And with the help of their weapons, Carter and the others managed to take down the evil ranger with a powerful attack. Though much to their surprise and shock, the Titanium Ranger had survived their attack and began to slowly stand back up. "I don't believe it! He's coming back!" said Carter, "Nothing could have survived that!"
The Titanium Ranger soon turned around and faced the group with his helmet visor down, revealing half his face. Jean couldn't help but stare at him and thought, "Why do I get the feeling that I've seen him before? Could…Could it be?"
"Stand down before this escalates!" ordered Carter, "Don't' force us to destroy you!"
The evil ranger put his helmet visor back up and began advancing towards the group with his weapon aimed at him. Though while doing so he was struggling to stay up but continued to advance. Carter and the others immediately aimed their V-Lancers at the evil ranger, they were about to fire their weapons when Mitchell exclaimed, "Don't fire!"
"What?! Please repeat sir!" said Carter
"Hold your fire!"
Chad looked at the others, "What is he talking about?"
"But sir! This is our chance to finish him!" said Kelsey
"Don't shoot." Told the Lightspeed captain
The rangers looked at each other before reluctantly putting down their weapons. "Let's go!" told Carter, he and his team turned and began walking away.
"We're not finished! Come back!" yelled the Titanium Ranger
Carter stopped and looked back at his enemy, Jean saw this and gently touched his hand "Carter…" he looked at her and she squeezed his hand, "Let's go…" "…Right…" and thus the couple walked over to the Rescue Rover, ignoring the Titanium Ranger's calls to come back and fight him.
Upon returning to the aquabase, Carter and the other rangers stormed into the room, while Jean calmly entered to find the Lightspeed captain standing with his back to them. "Retreat?! Sir ,we had him!" snapped Carter
"He would have destroyed us without thinking twice!" said Joel
"Now he knows we have the V-Lancers!" said Chad
"That was our chance!" told Kelsey, "Maybe our only chance!"
"Not to mention, he would've taken Jean away once he was through with us!" said Carter
Seeing how quiet Captain Mitchell was, the red ranger managed to calmly question him, "Why sir? Why did you stop us?" the Lightspeed captain slowly turned to face the team and reply, "Because…He is my son…" this sudden news ultimately shocked the rangers, but it shocked Dana and Jean even more as they stared at Captain Mitchell in surprise and disbelief.