Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, but I do own this team and their adventures.

*Italic indicates thought

Episode VII: An Ace Ranger

Chapter Two: Matters of the Mind

A/N: Hey guys! This chapter is a little short, but hopefully the next one will be longer! Enjoy!

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself." -Harvey S. Fierstein

The Rangers raced through the city on their bikes, Leo in the lead, towards the attack. As soon as they arrived, the red ranger looked around. "Let's morph!" Leo told them. It was a brand new trick that they'd accomplished most of the time when they tried it in simulations.

"Got it!" the other four agreed.

"THUNDER STRIKE, STORM WARNING!" They drove their bikes up a ramp and they used this opportunity to activate their morphers. As their bikes hit the ground again they were fully morphed.

"How much longer you think until Quinn can make these faster?" Austin asked them.

"Who says she's making them faster?" Jasper asked him; they drove between cars in traffic, causing little kids inside to press their faces against the window.

"Why do we need to go any faster?" Andy asked. "We're already going pretty fast."

"Can you guys focus?" Chris asked.

As soon as they arrived on the scene of the attack, Leo frowned, Where's the-

"Right here, Red Ranger!" the demon shouted, hitting her with something. Leo was thrown off her bike and was sent flying. She rolled on the ground, sending pain shooting through her body.

"Leo!" the others shouted.

Leo looked up and saw the demon standing in front of her. It had a grey body that looked kind of squishy. He had a plastic looking, clear cover for the top of his skull, that revealed a brain. He had a brain in each hand, which were connected by what looked like wet, squishy spinal cords. As with what seemed to be the norm for these demons, he had no mouth but pink eyes. She pulls out her blaster and shot at the demon, but he avoided her shot before she even fired. "Be careful guys!" she told them. "This one's tricky."

"Aren't they all?" Austin asked as he drove towards the demon. He fried off blasts from his bike, but they all missed amazingly. "What the- ah!" He felt something wrap around his waist and was suddenly jerked off his bike. He flailed around, trying to to get himself free. "What the fuck?!" He couldn't get his hand in his blaster.

"Hang on!" Jasper yelled, grabbing his own blaster. He raised it up and aimed for the pink, slimy appendage that had wrapped itself around the green ranger. He shot at it, but the brain stem lofted Austin up more and caused the blast to hit him in the knee.

"Ah! Holy fucking shit!" Austin saw his vision go a little dark at the edges. Damn those blasters have a good firepower.

Chris rode over to Leo, who pulled herself bike. "What'd we do?!"

"Get Austin down!" Leo replied. The demon waved his hand and funnel clouds descended down upon the battle.

"Darklings, descend!" Mindicus yelled.

"Of course he summoned them. Andy, you and me got these guys! Chris, Jasper, get Austin down before he keeps cursing!"

"You got it!" Chris nodded and got off her bike. She pulled out her blaster and inserted her weapons tag. "Thunder weapons, activate!" She ran at the demon and threw her wind fans at the brain stem. The brain stem whipped around and the fans hit Austin in the chest. "Whoops."

"What the hell?!" Austin demanded. He pushed his hands down on the stem, trying to get free.

"Ahahahaha!" Mindicus laughed. "You Rangers can't beat me!" He threw the other brain and hit Chris in the chest and stomach. She stumbled back in pain and the brain stem wrapped around her chest. He lifted her up in the air.

"And now he has Chris," Jasper sighed. He summoned his cloud maces and attacked Mindicus.

Andy rode around the Darklings, keeping them all contained in one area. He fired off blasts and they soared through a couple layers of foot soldiers; dissipating them on contact. He used his foot to steady himself as he took a sharp turn and rode back at them. He gunned the throttle and drove strut through a few of them. A group of four raised their hands and created a guts of wind that messed with his balance on his bike. He drove faster, trying to counteract the force of the wind. He felt another guest of wind and lost control. He doll on the side, and was extremely grateful to his suit for keeping him from getting torn apart as he slid on the asphalt. He crawled out and grabbed his blaster. He started shooting the Darklings as they attempted to converge on him. He saw Leo taking them down left and right as she wove her way between the throng.

Austin was doing his best to get out of his predicament, but it was looking like it was pointless. He saw the small brain that was on the end of the spinal cord and hit it in frustration. He felt the spinal cord loosen for a second before it tightened to the point that he thought it would snap him in half.

"You Rangers can't beat me!" Mindicus bragged as he dodged every attack Jasper came at him with. He swung one of his arms down and the spinal cord shortened really fast and Chris hit Jasper from behind. The black ranger was knocked off his feet. "I can read your minds!"

"He can what?!" Andy demanded, ducking arms and slicing through the line of demons.

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Leo muttered, spinning and hitting multiple demons with her rain sticks. "If he can read out minds he can know what we'll use to at attack him before we do it." She jumped and flipped over a couple, then hit them as she came down. With the Draklings finished off she ran at Mindicus, wondering how they could hope to beat him if he was able to read their minds.

"You can't!" Mindicus yelled. Andy saw Austin tugging on the brain that need the spinal cord and chucked one of his snow scrapers at it. It hit the brain and the spinal cord loosened a little bit. Andy ran forward as he caught it and jumped up. He grabbed on to the soundalike cord and his feet were suddenly very far above the ground.

"Oh geez!" he gasped as he grabbed onto something to keep his grip. At that moment, both he and Austin put a hand in the brain. "Ah!" Andy yelled, falling back as he felt a small blast of electricity zap him.

"Shit!" Austin cried, also letting go.

Andy hit the ground and rolled a little bit, falling the right way to prevent too much injury. He de-morphed as soon as he hit the ground though and moaned. Leo jumped up and stabbed her rain sticks into the brain on the spinal cord holding Chris. "Ah!" Mindicus yelled in pain, causing the spinal cords on both Rangers to loosen. Jasper and Leo took the opportunity to grab onto their feet and pull them down. Jasper was winded as Austin fell on top of him.

"You ok?" the black ranger asked the green.

"I think so," Austin mumbled, stumbling off.

Chris fell onto Leo and immediately got off; not wanting to make the red ranger uncomfortable. "Are you ok?" Leo asked her as they stood up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chris answered. Andy joined the group as they faced Mindicus.

"I don't have time to deal with you brats," Mindicus decided. "I have more lives to ruin and chaos to create." He jumped and spun away like he was being carried by a tornado.

Lives to ruin? Andy thought in confusion.

"I would've thought that'd be self explanatory," Austin replied. "He's going to ruin lives. What else would a demon do? What?" he added when everyone looked at him funny.

"You literally just answered a question that no one asked," Chris told him as they circled up a little bit.

"No I didn't Princess. Andy asked."

"No I didn't," Andy said.

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Austin," Leo said, "no one said anything."

(Well someone had to have said something, I'm not a freaking mind reader,) Austin thought.

"No one said you were," Andy told him.

"No one said he was what?" Jasper asked.

"A mind reader."

"I didn't say that!" Austin protested. He blinked and realized what he'd just said. "I didn't say that."

"I heard-"

"No, I really didn't say it, but thought it."

"You what?"

"I thought it. You responded to something I was thinking."

"Yeah, sure I did. Very funny Austin."

Yes you did!

"No I didn't!"

"There! What did I just say?!"

Andy gave him a look like he'd lost his mind. " 'Yes you did'. So?"

"He-he didn't say anything," Jasper said.

"Don't tell me he's got you in on it too!"

"But he really don't didn't," Chris said. Andy blinked and stared at her.

Ok, he thought. There's no way Chris would go along with some stupid prank of Austin's.

Gee, you think? Austin asked sarcastically.

"Oh my god!" Andy and Austin yelled at the same time.

"What?!" Leo asked. She, Jasper, and Chris were all giving each other looks of confusion.

"You just fucking read my mind!" Austin yelled at Andy. "You. Read. My. Fucking. Mind!"

"I know!" Andy replied. "And you read my mind!"

"Wait a minute," Jasper said, shaking is head and waving a hand dismissively. "Are you two serious?"

"Dead fucking serious," Austin insisted. "We can hear each others' thoughts."

"Oh yeah?" Chris asked skeptically. "Then what am I thing right now?"

"Probably that I'm an idiot but that's a given. I don't hear your guys' thoughts. Just his."

"Sam here," Andy nodded.

Leo shook her head. "We need to consult the expert on this one." She pushed the communication button on her morpher. "Quinn?"

"Yeah?" Quinn replied. "What's up?"

"Andy and Austin claim they can read each others' minds."

"Well conserving the fact that the demon you just fount was called Mindicus and he could read your thoughts, I wouldn't be surprised."

"She has a point," Jasper consented.

"If that monster can make it so people can read echo other's minds, then we're gonna have a big problem," Chris said.

"Yeah," Andy agreed. "A person's thoughts are their own private domain. No one has the right to invade that personal sphere."

Do you hear yourself when you talk like that? Austin thought.

Sorry, it must be the writer in me.

"We need to find that demon and get rid of him," Leo said. "Before he causes too much damage."

"I'm getting a lot of weird readings all over the city," Quinn told them. "Whatever he's doing, he's moving fast."

"Then we'll have to be faster. Let's split up. Quinn send us the coordinates for these readings. Chris, you and Jasper go together. Andy, you and Austin are together."

"Who will you go with then?" Jasper asked.

"I'll go alone."

"You can't go alone!"

"I can and will."

"What am I?!" Quinn demanded. "Chopped liver?! I can see what I can do to help her from." Everyone nodded. They already considered Quinn to be the sixth member of their team.

"Alright Quinn," Leo smiled. "It's you and me together. Everyone got it?"

"Yup!" everyone, including Quinn, chorused. The Rangers grabbed their storm chasers and Andy re-morphed. They all powered up their bikes and gave Evan other a nod before riding off in their separate distractions.