Author's Note: Sorry for the outrageously late update. Trying to write them all out before I post anything, but it makes things easier of me, plus I can also plan other stories in advanced then too, and I am helping a friend with her story on another part of the site, and another friend needs editorial help on his Harry Potter story, anyway, here is Ranger Blue.
Dedications: Big thank you to the following: DigimonPrincess, Neverland-Emerald-Wolf, myheadsinthegalaxy and Just2aw3s0me.
Chapter Ten: Ranger Blue
I don't own Power Rangers RPM. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.
Title: Corinth's Black Sheep
Summary: My name is December Landsdown, Demi for short. For years my parents have wanted me to be like my older sister. When the Venjix virus is unleashed they may just get their wish... just not in the way they'd expect.
"... As promised, I will now open the floor to any and all questions regarding the Ranger bio series suits, vehicles and hardware." Dr. K said as she turned her back on the screens, it displayed several different pictures of the Rangers suits and Zords. "Anyone?" she asked, as none of the Rangers spoke or raised their hands. "Speak now or forever hold your peace."
With a snap of her fingers, several hands rose into the air, with Ziggy raising two of his own. Dr. K smiled and pointed at Scott.
"What's with the eyes on our Zords?" Scott asked.
"What eyes?" Dr. K frowned looking back at the screen.
"What do you mean what eyes?" Scott asked. He pointed at the picture of his eagle Zord, where two big eyes were placed at the front. "Right there, the front of our Zords."
"They are not eyes." Dr. K sighed. "They're optical field scanning sensors for your cockpit's H.U.D display."
"Well, they look like... well, they look like..." Scott stammered.
"They look like eyes." Demi said, defending her friend. After a rather late night the previous evening she had been happy to just sleep through the meeting, but Michael bursting into her room and forcing her downstairs into the kitchen meant that sleeping was a no-go.
"Yeah." Ziggy nodded. "Big, googly, anime eyes."
"Next!" Dr. K yelled.
Demi whined and rubbed her ears as Scott re-took his seat.
As Scott sat down, Ziggy jumped up.
"OK, so sometimes, when I morph, I can't help but notice this gigantic explosion right behind me, for no apparent reason."
Dr. K cocked her head to the side and stared at the green Ranger as if he had just landed from another planet, far, far away.
"I assume you're referring to the residual energy runoffs that are sometimes necessary to clear the suits bio field channels during the morph." Dr. K pointed to the screen as a picture of Ziggy morphing appeared.
"I'm referring to the six-story-high fireballs - like that one right there!" Ziggy exclaimed, pointing at the giant explosion on the screen. "Now, could that happen to me in the kitchen or something?"
Dr. K rolled her eyes and looked to Michael, desperately needing a save.
"C'mon, guys," said the bodyguard. "Does anyone have a realistic question that needs to be asked? Demi, how about you?"
"Um..." said Demi, looking thoughtful. "Nope. I'm good. It's much more interesting watching these guys' crash and burn."
Michael sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine," he said, looking at the rest of the Rangers. "Flynn, what about you? Do you have a question?"
"Yeah. When we morph, is it absolutely 100% necessary that we scream, 'RPM, GET IN GEAR,' at the top of our lungs?" the blue Ranger asked.
"Uh, that's a very good point." Ziggy agreed. "Some of us out there are trying to impress chicks."
Demi rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You've got a long way to go before that happens," she muttered, loud enough for the others to hear her.
Dillon and Scott smothered their amusement under the wicked glare from Dr. K and Michael, while Summer nudged Demi in the ribs with her elbow, and Ziggy shot the white Ranger a loathsome look.
"The vocal call out is a voice-recognition safety and security measure." Dr. K explained, patiently, although she felt the desired need to hit each of the Rangers over the head.
"Well, maybe we could have a bit of a change." Flynn suggested.
"A change?" Dr. K challenged.
"Uh, like, um..." Flynn stammered. "'Rangers to the Rescue,' or, um, 'Ranger Justice Unleashed'?"
"Just is an abstract ideological concept." Dr. K pointed out. "We deal with tangible realities, not justice. You want justice? Then read a comic book."
At her words, Flynn chewed the inside of his lower lip as his mind faded back to the time when he was back at home, reading a comic book at school.
~*Ranger Blue*~
Ten-year-old Flynn McAllister grinned as he flipped through the pages of his comic book Rebel Justice Unleashed, Volume two, it was obvious that it was his all-time favourite because the book was worn and torn from the number of times it had been used. Mid-way through reading, Flynn heard the voice of a little girl begging for something to be returned to her. He put the comic down and looked over his shoulder where he spotted two bigger boys holding a pink lunch box over the head of a small blonde.
With a frown, Flynn put down his comic book and wandered over to help.
"You better do what she says," he said. He had always wanted to be like the heroes in his comics, now he was going to get his chance. "After all, she did say the magic words."
After that Flynn found himself on his stomach in the grass, the bully was kneeling on his back and pinning his arm behind him while the rest of the children formed a tight circle around them chanting 'fight' over and over again.
Finally, the bully let go and walked way.
Flynn groaned and rolled over, he smiled at the blonde girl that he had tried to help. "You're welcome, lass," he said, but immediately regretted his decision to play her hero as she dumped her lunch all over him.
When he got home that afternoon, Flynn wasn't at all surprised to find out that his father had learned about the fight at school. He should have guessed that the teachers would've called ahead and told his father what had happened, now he just had to sit back and take his father's lecture, like always.
"Flynn, my boy," the older man started. "What were ya thinking?"
"I was thinking I could help," answered Flynn. He was clutching his comic book to his chest.
"And look what that got you - two weeks' suspension," said his father. "No good deed goes unpunished, Flynn, remember that."
Flynn lowered his head and looked down at his comic book, before it was ripped away from him by his father.
"You think you're one of these superheroes out of one of your silly comics?" he asked, throwing it into the trashcan. "What are you going to do with your life, son? Dance around in silly-coloured tights? Trust me, son, there's no such thing as superheroes."
~*Ranger Blue*~
Back in the present, Flynn snapped to attention as the sound of the monitors blared loudly throughout the garage. He shook himself and looked around as the voices of his friends shouted at one another from all over the room.
Summer and Demi were at the computers, while Dillon, Ziggy and Scott were heading for the doors.
"It's a shield breach," called Summer.
"Industrial district, zone seven." Demi added.
"Let's go!" Scott shouted, heading out of the garage door.
Summer and Demi followed after him, along with Dillon and Ziggy, while Flynn shook his head in confusion and scrambled after them.
~*Ranger Blue*~
"Let's make this snappy, can we?" Tenaya barked at Crunch, Shifter and the Grinders. "For once it would be nice to get this done before you-know-who shows up."
"Sorry, Tenaya," shouted Scott. "You're too late."
Tenaya sighed and raised her hand to signal the Grinders forward. "Attack!" she shouted as, with a whirr of energy, the robotic foot soldiers rushed in to intercept the Rangers.
Without even morphing, the Rangers made easy work of the Grinders, before facing off against the three Generals.
"Ready?" Scott asked.
"Ready!"
"RPM, Get in Gear!"
After morphing all Rangers, save for Ziggy, rushed forward to face their next threat, while the green Ranger pointed at the fireball that had just disappeared from behind him. "There, did you see that? That explosion! I'm telling you - that was just a little one."
"Ziggy, look out!"
"Huh?" the green Ranger murmured looking up, he squeaked and ducked as Tenaya aimed a high kick for his head. "Was that really necessary?" he asked, before grunting as she caught him in the side and kicked him to a car.
"Actually, Rangers - and this feels so good to say," smirked Tenaya, as she grabbed Ziggy's shoulder and flipped him over. "You are the ones who are too late."
She looked up as the Attack Bot she had brought with her grew massive.
"Whoa," said Demi, stumbling into Scott as the ground rocked beneath her feet. "But we did even destroy it first!"
"We don't have time to figure it out," said Scott. "We got to stop it."
"From doing what?" Summer asked, confusedly.
Scott shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "From doing whatever it is it's supposed to do."
"Uh, OK, not the face," said Ziggy, forgetting that he had a helmet to protect his head from attacks.
Tenaya ignored him and pulled him up by the shoulder. "I love Rangers," she smirked, "so determined, so heroic, and they come in all sizes, shapes, and colours, too." She pulled him forward and then shoved him backwards, knocking him off of his feet and onto his back.
Ziggy tried to get up but was knocked back down as General Shifter slammed his axe down onto him; the green Ranger protected himself by crossing his arms over his face and holding the axe up in the air. "Time out!" he called, but no one listened to him.
With Ziggy busy with Shifter, Flynn rushed in to cover him with Tenaya. He grabbed her wrists, but she retaliated by twisting out of his grasp and grabbing his own.
"Red is the perfect one," said Tenaya, listening the occupational status that she thought fit each of the Rangers personalities. "Black is the brooding bad boy, Green is the clown, Yellow is the supportive one, and White, well, she's the heart..." she paused and smirked. "So what are you supposed to be?"
Flynn hesitated, before throwing Tenaya away in anger. "I'm Scottish," he growled, engaging her once again in battle. They were evenly matched, both avoiding blows and countering attacks.
Demi gasped as she fought her way through a group of Grinders. She was fighting back-to-back with Summer when Ziggy had come flying towards them, taking out half of their foot soldiers in the process.
"Ziggy!" Summer called looking around to see he had been fighting Shifter. "Demi, can you handle these clowns?"
"Which clown?" Demi asked. "The robotic idiots surrounding us, or the one that just nearly took us out?"
Summer shook her head and drew her blaster. "Engine cell, active!" she slipped it into her blaster and turned it into her Nitro sword. "Play nice," she added to her sister, before running off to meet Shifter head on.
"I can't!" Demi called. "If I play nice, I get toasted."
But Summer didn't hear Demi, instead she was more focused on fighting the big general in front of her. Recovering quickly, Ziggy jumped to his feet and looked around.
"Oi, pretty boy!" Demi shouted, catching the green Ranger's attention. "Want to make yourself useful? Fight these losers so I can help Scott!"
"Yeah, right, my thoughts exactly." Ziggy nodded changing his blaster into a Nitro sword. He swept it over Demi's head, missing her by centimeters, and replacing her with the Grinders, as she run off, transforming her own blaster into a sword, and intercepting Crunch who was battling Scott.
Demi grimaced as she looked up into the hunk of metal. "What are you supposed to be?" she asked, trying to kick him away.
"You're worst nightmare!" Crunch growled, bearing down upon her.
Demi strained under the pressure of holding him back with her sword. "You need to lay off the nuts and bolts," she said. "You're heavy!"
Crunch snarled and swept his staff through the air, he aimed it at Demi's feet and flipped her, before kicking her in the stomach and sending her crashing into some stacked crates.
"Demi!" Scott exclaimed, running over her to help. "Are you OK?"
"He's going to pay for that!" Demi yelled.
Scott smirked and held out his hand. "Double team?" he asked.
"Let's get him!" Demi nodded, taking his hand.
Tenaya grumbled as she hit the ground, and then rolled back to her knees. She took aim at the blue Ranger and fired two blasts at him. They never hit as Dillon rolled in front of his friend and activated his invincibility shield to protect both himself and Flynn.
When the shield had disappeared, Dillon took his chance with the attack bot. Dillon blocked each of Tenaya's hits, before grabbing her arm and holding her at bay. "Energy locked," he called to Flynn. "Need recharge time!"
"I can give you 10 seconds," said Flynn.
"All I need." Dillon nodded.
"Activating Time Freeze Burst!" Flynn yelled hitting his morpher. A white grid covered his suit, as electrical bursts of energy ripped over him. Flynn frowned as he watched his friends continue to fight, but found that he couldn't move a muscle.
"Rangers, i'm showing a primary suit malfunction in series blue," said Dr. K. "My instruments are showing a time-freeze reversal loop. Rangers, can you confirm?"
"Flynn, you OK?" Summer called, as she tried to keep Shifter at bay. Ziggy, who had been left alone by the Grinders run forward to intercept those that were targeting Flynn now that he was having problems.
Demi jumped over Crunch's staff and turned to look at her friend. "Flynn, talk to me!" she called, ducking as Crunch came at her again.
"Come on!" Flynn cried, trying to demobilize himself again.
~*Ranger Blue*~
"Talk to me, Flynn," said Flynn's father as his son, now graduated from high school, walked into the small garage. "Now that you've finished up with school, what are you planning on doing with your life?"
"I just want to help people," said Flynn with a smile.
"Oh, yes. Helping people, is it?" laughed his father. "By doing what exactly?"
~*Ranger Blue*~
"Flynn McAllister, Police Officer."
Flynn was dressed his police uniform and escorting a young man out of a building, while the chief blew his whistle and run after him. "Flynn, you can't arrest him, he's the Mayor's son!" he said. "Look, it doesn't matter what he's done. They'll have your job."
The mayor's son smirked and reached out to pat Flynn on the shoulder, but the future blue Ranger caught his arm and slapped a handcuff over his wrist.
The chief of Police ripped off his badge.
"You're fired!"
~*Ranger Blue*~
"So, the Police force didn't work out. Maybe a fireman?"
"McAllister, the chief wants you to kill the hose!" shouted another fireman over the radio. He was standing in the middle of a small cul-de-sac, spraying the flats ahead of him with water. "You're causing water damage to the entire block."
"Water damage?" Flynn repeated. "There are lives at state here, man."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a bag filled with water, as a small goldfish swam in circles. An elderly woman gave an overjoyed cry and rushed forward to claim her pets, while Flynn turned back to the radio.
"Sorry, mate, the Chief wants to see you right now."
"Well, he's gonna have to wait," said Flynn. "I'm going back for the plants."
Unfortunately, when he returned the firehouse that afternoon, he was fired.
~*Ranger Blue*~
"Flynn McAllister, international aid volunteer."
This time Flynn was dressed in drab and standing over his team leader, who was packing away his bags and breaking the news to Flynn. "Flynn, the central office is ordering us to evacuate immediately," he said. "Troops are raiding villages up and down the river."
"Yeah, and what about them?" Flynn asked, gesturing to the indigenous tribe of the land. "They can't just evacuate. They live here."
"Flynn, you know the rules." His leader warned. "We can interfere in the affairs of the local people."
"Interfere in the local affairs?" Flynn repeated. "Are you daft, man? We just built an organic tennis-racket factory in the middle of their village!"
"And the factory will provide organic tennis rackets for the... the underprivileged indigenous people of this region. For generations to come. What more can we do?" he asked Flynn. He returned to the car, closed the door and drove away, leaving Flynn with the local tribesmen.
Later that afternoon, Flynn stood with the local tribesmen on the hill overlooking the river. They had blue face paint smudged across their cheeks, and were rendering tennis rackets threateningly at the imposing forces.
"It's a good day to die, eh, boys?" Flynn asked.
The tribesmen cheered and then charged with their organic tennis rackets.
And, once again, Flynn was out of the job.
~*Ranger Blue*~
Flynn stared dismally at the release papers of his three previous jobs. He was back in his father's garage waiting for the impending lecture that he knew was to come. But first he had something to say and, as much as he hated to admit it, he knew his father needed to hear it.
"I guess you were right, dad," sighed Flynn. "No good deed goes unpunished."
Flynn's father looked up, but before he could say anything there was a loud crash, followed by an explosion that rocked the whole garage from outside.
"What in the world, Flynn?" his father asked, grabbing onto the work shelf to balance himself, as more and more sonic booms echoed from outside and the ground continued to rock.
~*Ranger Blue*~
"Flynn!" Scott yelled, as he and Demi continued to fight of Crunch. "Flynn, come on! Flynn!"
Summer cried out as Shifter hit her across the stomach with his staff and knocked her into Dillon, who had rushed forward to cover her. She was quickly followed by Demi and Scott, while Ziggy, who was the only Ranger still standing, tried to cover Flynn as much as possible.
"Flynn!" said Demi, jumping to her feet. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him slightly. "He's not responding!" she told the others who had each got back to their feet and continued to fight.
"Fall back!" Scott ordered. "Focus on protecting blue!"
While five out of six rangers closed in around Flynn, Dillon rushed forward to meet Tenaya in hand-to-hand combat. The human attack bot made easy prey of him and discarded him like a rag doll.
"A touching display of teamwork," sneered Tenaya. "But you just gave me and my attack bot time to make our dramatic exit."
"Leaving so soon?" Demi asked. "That hunk of junk didn't even do anything."
Tenaya growled at her, aimed her blaster, and fired several shots into the ground. A cloud of dust and debris blew up around the three generals, and when it cleared the Rangers saw that they were gone. Towering over the city, the attack bot also disappeared in a dust cloud. As soon as the enemy had disappeared, Flynn unfroze.
"My suit, what happened?" Flynn asked, looking down at his hands.
~*Ranger Blue*~
As soon as they got back to the base, Summer and Flynn walked into the lab to get an update on the series blue suit.
"It's probably the return of an energy-flow glitch," said Dr. K. "That plagued series blue during initial development."
"Series blue was plagued, was it?" Flynn asked. "Now you tell me."
Summer smiled sympathetically and patted Flynn's shoulder. "What kind of glitch are we talking about?" she asked.
"You wouldn't understand." Dr. K said.
"You're not even giving us a chance to understand," said Summer.
Dr. K sighed and turned to the group of four behind her. "Very well. Due to the blue colour series time-field manipulation properties, many of the series' basic system elements exist in a fourth-dimensional field where time is suspended. Because time does not move forward on this plane of existence there is a build-up of runoff energy that can reverse the polarity in the electron field, channeled through the series blue suit during morph-cartridge-injection sequencing."
"OK, c-can we say that again but in layman's terms?" Flynn asked.
"That was laymen's terms."
"No, that was computer speech," said Summer.
Dr. K glared at her.
Michael rolled his eyes and walked over. "Basically, what Dr. K is trying to say is until we've figured out a way to divert all excess energy runoffs, Series Ranger Blue is offline." He took Flynn's morpher from him and returned to the otherside of the room, he patted his daughter's head as he passed causing Niamh to giggle and look up at him.
"Hi, Daddy," she chirped.
"Wait, what?" Flynn asked. "Offline? With that thing still out there? What am I supposed to do, then?"
"Colour!" Niamh grinned jumping up. She slid out of her chair and run across to Flynn, pulling on his pant leg. "Colour me, please?"
Flynn sighed and scooped up the toddler.
~*Ranger Blue*~
A school bus pulled up in the middle of Corinth city as Flynn and his father stepped off. He looked around and took in the desperation as people clung to one another, mothers hugged their children and wept over the ones that they had lost, some had lost husbands, others had lost their children and we're clinging onto the desperation that they were alive and had just become separated.
One man, Flynn noticed, was helping people get inside the city perimeters while also asking questions about a young girl called Demi.
"Documentation, please," a soldier asked.
"Her name is Demi," said the man. "She's 5'5 with blonde hair and hazel eyes."
"How old is she?" asked a soldier.
"Sixteen."
The soldier directed him towards a tent on the far side of the field. "All teenagers are being checked over in the medical tent," he explained. "Check there.
"I already have," said the man. "She's not there."
"Michael! Michael!"
The man - Michael - turned around to face Flynn and his father, but Flynn noticed he wasn't looking at them, but rather behind them. He turned to see a wealthy looking family calling and waving. Michael sighed and approached them, although he did not seem too happy about it.
"C'mon, Flynn," said Flynn's father. "Better get inside."
Flynn nodded, although he couldn't help but overhear Michael telling the wealthy couple that their daughters had yet to make it to the dome.
~*Ranger Blue*~
The doors opened and Demi and Scott walked inside.
"Well, do you guys want the good news or the bad news?" the white Ranger asked holding up a disc she and Scott had received from Colonel Truman.
"Bad news." Dr. K and Michael answered, while Flynn and the other Rangers settled for the good news.
"The good news is we figured out what Venjix actually wanted in that warehouse," said Scott as Demi handed the CD to Michael at the computer.
"The bad news is that it's what's under the warehouse." Demi added, watching as her bodyguard fired up the machine. He inserted the disc to the drive and the screen flickered to life to show blueprints for the whole warehouse district.
"Two major seismic fault lines run under Corinth city," said Michael, reading the prints.
"Yeah." Demi nodded. "Venjix used the attack bot to drill into fault line one this morning, sucking out enough molten magma to power it up to an enormous size."
"If the attack bot were able to drill into the second fault line and deposit the lava there..." said Dr. K, shaking her head.
"Then it would throw off the pressure valves at the two faults." Scott nodded.
"Triggering a volcanic eruption big enough to destroy the entire city." Demi finished.
Michael sighed and activated the comms link between his system and the morphers of Dillon and Ziggy. "Guys, you're patrolling close what could be Venjix's next target."
"Closer than you think, actually," said Dillon.
"It's right on top of us!"
Demi rolled her eyes. "Someone tell me why we let him become a ranger, again," she groaned. "He's not fearless, he's fearful!"
Michael shook his head and then looked to Summer and Scott. "You two better get out there," he said.
"On it," they both nodded, heading for the door.
"Dillon, Ziggy," said Michael once again into the comms link. "Maintain visual on the target. Summer and Scott are on the way."
"Better hurry," came Dillon's response. "It looks like that thing just found what it was looking for."
"I'm down-morphing the croc-carrier to you now," said Michael, desperately. "If that attack bot succeeds in drilling to the fault line, Venjix will have won."
Demi covered her mouth with hand and shared a nervous look with Flynn, the blue Ranger was on pins as he paced back and forth behind the computer, while Dr. K and Michael worked to try and stop the attack bot. On the screen they monitored the energy blip that was the Valemax Megazord, while also watching out for Ziggy and Dillon's energy levels.
"Black and Green report," said Dr. K. "Is the attack bot still drilling?"
"Uh, no," responded Dillon.
"Yeah, only because he's too busy blasting us with a stream of molten-hot lava!" shouted Ziggy.
"Guys, Summer and I are arriving on the scene now." Scott echoed over the comms link. "RPM, Get in Gear!"
Niamh looked around to see the red and yellow bio suits disappear. Leaving only white and blue behind.
"Look, they can't sequence the Megazord without me," said Flynn. "I've got to go and help them!"
"Your suit won't work without clearing the energy buildup." Dr. K answered. "Trust me - I built it."
"Trust you?" Demi repeated. "Why should we trust you when you don't trust us?"
"Do you want him to die?"
"He won't die!" protested Demi. "We're Power Rangers, we can't die!"
"Then listen to me," said Dr. K. "He cannot morph."
Demi growled and turned away from the good doctor, grabbed Niamh from Flynn and walked out of the lab, she had no desire to stick around and be yelled at by Dr. K for just voicing her opinions.
~*Ranger Blue*~
Flynn stopped and turned to see the man known as Michael arguing with the wealthy couple about their daughters. It seemed that they didn't care about the girl Michael was looking for and were more worried about finding their eldest daughter, Flynn couldn't wrap his head around why they weren't concerned for both of their daughters, but before he had a chance to collect his thoughts Michael had informed the couple he had quit working for them a long time ago, and stormed away.
"Sorry, mate," Michael said to Flynn's father as he bumped into him. But he also didn't stop to get a response, instead he continued on his way, muttering about finding Demi himself. He wasn't no more than a few feet away from Flynn when a soldier approached him and led him off towards the colonel.
Flynn looked down at his feet. Michael had lost someone, someone who was close to him. She was only a teenager, and if she needed someone like Michael, who looked to be a sort of bodyguard, then she obviously couldn't defend herself. What if she had become lost in the waste? Separated from other groups that were fighting to get to safety?
As he was contemplating his thoughts, another voice, this time a woman, called out. She was searching for her daughter. Her name was Penny, and she was only five-years-old!
Flynn stopped walking, a notion that caused his father to also stop and turn.
"Flynn, my boy?" his father asked.
"I'm sorry, dad," said Flynn. He dropped his bag and run back to the bus that he had just got off. Thankfully the doors were open and he raced straight up the steps.
"Flynn, no!" his father shouted after him.
"It's just who I am!" Flynn called back. He closed the doors behind him, put the bus in gear and reversed out of the dome.
He drove through the warzone, passing military men who were doing their hardest to hold off the Venjix drones and attack bots. He run into several grinders that had tried to take on the bus, fully knowing that there had to be people inside, but they grumbled as he gathered speed.
Finally he made it to a gathering of people. He halted the bus and opened the doors, allowing them to pile on. As they took their seats, Flynn kept his eyes open for a sixteen-year-old blonde and a little girl. He didn't see either and his heart dropped at the idea of being too late for help either of them.
As the last person, an older gentleman, took the last seat, Flynn looked around at them. "Any of you called Demi?" he asked. They shook their heads.
Flynn sighed and turned back to the wheel. He was about to pull off again when he heard two small screams from somewhere out in the waste. Without thinking of the consequences, Flynn jumped to his feet and raced out into the cloud of dust, where he found two little girls huddled together, one was a brunette and the other a red-head. The brunette was hugging the red-head close to her, but she wasn't moving.
"Hey," said Flynn after he had dealt with the Grinders. "Is you name Penny?" he asked.
"No," said the girl, shaking her head. "My name's Niamh."
"Niamh." Flynn repeated. "What's your friend's name?"
"Penny."
Flynn sighed and looked at the red-head. She wasn't moving, but her chest was rising and falling shallowly. He knew that if he didn't get her to Corinth soon, and into a medical tent, she wasn't going to make it. "OK. C'mon," he said, scooping the two of them up and carrying them onto the bus, he sat them in the front seat and reclaimed his own.
Another passenger screamed as Grinder tried to climb aboard, but Flynn cut it in half by slamming the doors shut on it.
"Are we going to die?" Niamh asked, without batting an eyelid.
"Not today, lass," said Flynn.
~*Ranger Blue*~
Once back in the city, Flynn opened the doors and threw out the half of the Grinder that had been caught in the door. The woman who was looking for Penny rushed over and gasped at her daughter lying almost dead on the front seat. "Penny!" she cried.
"She's still alive," said Flynn. "Best get her to the medical bay fast."
The woman nodded and, cuddling her daughter close, thanked Flynn before rushing off. She was replaced by the man Flynn knew to be Michael.
"Demi? Nia?" Michael asked.
"I don't have a Demi," said Flynn. "But I have a Niamh."
"Daddy!" the brunette toddler shouted as she leaned forward at the sound of her name. She jumped down from her seat and flung herself off of the bus, into Michael's arms.
Flynn smiled sympathetically as the toddler started to cry, but was more than thankful that he could reunite Michael with at least one of his missing girls.
After getting orders from Michael to get the other people out of the way, Flynn returned to the same spot that he had started off. He deboarded the bus and was hugged and thanked by the rest of his passengers, as they were thankful for his save.
"There you go," said his father, approaching him from behind. "Look at you - racing off to your certain doom for a group of people you don't know. Are you proud of yourself, son?"
"Dad, I had to go." Flynn protested.
"'Cause I am," his father added. "All these years telling you that superheroes don't exist.. it turns out, the whole time I was looking at one.
Flynn smiled as his father clapped him on the shoulder, and seconds later the shields were raised and a beautiful clear blue sky with white fluffy clouds shone all around.
~*Ranger Blue*~
Demi looked up from where she sat colouring with Niamh.
"Where are you going?" she called spotting Flynn trying to escape. "Dr. K and Michael said you can't morph, and without your morpher they're right."
Flynn held up his morpher and shrugged. "I can't just sit around," he said. "It's just not who I am."
"I've heard that one before," said Demi.
"If you knew the story about last year," said Flynn. "You'd understand."
"What, about the time you risked your life to come find me and a little girl called Penny, and resulted in rescuing several more people from the wasteland in the process?" asked Demi.
Flynn looked surprised.
Demi smiled. "Michael told me," she shrugged. "He told me that you came to find me and Penny, but found Penny and Niamh instead. You're a good guy, Flynn, you saved two toddlers who couldn't defend themselves, it was why Michael suggested you to be blue Ranger, you're selfless acts of courage is what makes a Ranger."
"And that's why I have to go help," said Flynn. "I can't sit here and listen to the others get their asses kicked."
"Hey!" said Demi, warningly. "No language in front of the children."
"Are we talking about Niamh, or you?" Flynn teased.
Demi pouted. "Just get out of here before I decide to be an evil person and tell Michael you're trying to escape," she said.
"You wouldn't?" Flynn gasped, playfully.
"Try me." Demi giggled.
Flynn smiled and kissed her cheek.
"Thanks, lass," he said, racing off into the late-afternoon.
"Demi." Niamh called from the kitchen. "Look, Todd!"
Demi turned to see her beagle, who had been bed ridden for the last couple of weeks, padding down the metal walkway from her bedroom. She gasped and raced across the garage as he jumped off the final step, and barked as he was engulfed by two giant hugs from Niamh and Demi.
~*Ranger Blue*~
"Rangers Black and Green, focus zone shield power to zone Alpha," said Dr. K, as she switched places with Michael, allowing him to go check the disturbance in the garage. "Red, Yellow, conserve energy bursts. I know it must be frustrating to remain offline and watch this, Ranger series blue, but -"
"Aye. That's why i'm not watching anymore."
Dr. K frowned and looked down at the console where the blue Ranger's morpher had once been, she then spun in her seat to find that she as alone in the lab.
"This is both reckless and futile, Ranger blue," said Dr. K. "You can't even morph without clearing the energy channels."
"Aye. But I was thinking about what you said," said Flynn. "About reversing the electron polarity. And I couldn't think of any reason not to re-reverse it during standard morph-up. The only drawback is we might get one of Ziggy's runoff explosions... on a gigantic scale, and that may not be the worst thing in certain situation. RPM, Get in Gear!"
The doors to lab quickly opened and Michael stormed back in, Demi was following him looking apologetic.
"Flynn's -" started Michael, but was cut off as Flynn's voice came over the monitors.
"At least that's the way I figured it," said the blue Ranger. "You know, in laymen's terms."
Demi's face brightened and she run towards the monitors.
"Flynn, you didn't die!" she cried.
"Nope." Flynn answered. "Thanks for believing in me, lass."
Demi grinned and looked around at Dr. K.
"See," she said, rather smugly. "Told ya."
Copyrighted ©
Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx
Chapter updated Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 03:20am
