This chapter took on a mind of its own in the best way possible. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original characters and content.
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
It was just after 11am on a sunny Saturday morning, and Gymfinity Gymnastics Center was just starting to buzz with activity. The rec kids were all pouring in for their lessons and the lower levels were enjoying some open gym time. The level ten group of Maddy and Dana, however, were entering their third hour of suffering in their grueling practice.
Thanks to the upcoming competition season, all the girls on the level nine and ten team were forced to have practices from eight to noon on Saturdays. Dana and Maddy had been paired together in training in part for their opposing strengths and weaknesses. Dana, with her long, lean body and graceful elegance, was the queen of the bars and beam. She could make both events look effortless. Maddy, on the other hand, was compact and built for tumbling. She could throw vaults and tumble without a problem. Even the acrobatic elements on beam she could handle. It was the fluid grace on bars and the dance elements on beam and floor that she struggled with.
"Remind me why we do this to ourselves again?" Dana moaned from where she was sprawled across a set of mats. Maddy was inclined to agree with her teammate. They had spent the entire morning doing pressure sets, which meant that they practiced it exactly like they performed. If they wobbled or made a mistake, they had to start over. They had each done three bars routines, four beam sets, two vaults, and had two floor sets apiece ahead of them still.
"I have no idea." Maddy sighed as she lowered herself into the splits, folding easily in half as she stretched out in preparation for floor. "You want to go first, or me?"
"I'll go first. Coach will be easier on me if she sees me before she sees you." Dana said but didn't move from her bed of mats.
"And then she'll murder me for my lack of expression if I go after you." Maddy lamented. "I think there's no way we both get out alive."
"Ladies." Coach Carter was suddenly looming over them. "I trust you're warmed up and ready to go?" Dana scrambled up off the mats and tried to look like she'd been productive. The slight raise of the stoic coach's eyebrows told both girls she hadn't been fooled. "Maddy, you'll go first while Dana does her stretching properly." Her teammate grudgingly sank into the splits as Maddy stepped onto the springy floor, bowing her head as she waited for her music to start. Their assistant coach tried to tailor their floor routines to fit their personalities, but Maddy felt like hers didn't quite…work. Her music was an instrumental version of Mi Gente, and the choreography to go with it was somewhere between sassy and dramatic. Maddy was struggling to find the right balance of emotions to use, which made it even harder to pull together a cohesive performance.
Her music suddenly began, and the gymnast forced her mind to blank out from everything except the job she had ahead of her. Her tumbling passes were some of the hardest that could be done at level ten. The minute and a half long routine seemed to blur together, punctuated by shouted corrections.
"You look like you have the performing ability of a goldfish! Connect!"
"Emotion! Emotion!"
"Flow through the turn, don't spin like a drunk toddler!"
Maddy sank into her last pose and the music died off. It was quickly replaced by the usual hubbub of the gym.
"You look robotic on the dance features." Her coach said sternly as Maddy returned for her corrections. It wasn't the first time it was her critique, and it wouldn't be the last. "I need you to loosen up, try and connect to the music." The only thing Maddy focused on connecting to during her floor routines was her feet to the springy floor. She refrained from saying that to her coach.
"I want you to watch Dana's routine and focus on her artistry in her dancing and facial expressions." Coach Carter continued, motioning Dana up from where she was stretching.
"Yeah, don't focus on how I look like an asthmatic pug halfway through." Her teammate muttered as she walked past to take her turn on the floor. Coach Carter ignored the comment while Maddy tried not to laugh. "Then we'll run yours again. Dana, I hope you focused on how sharp Maddy made her tumbling look."
Dana's floor routine was both sassy and smooth, set to a samba. The tumbling wasn't the hardest, but she made up for it with the performance factor. Her facial expressions were flawless. Maddy did the opposite. She had the hardest tumbling possible packed into her routine and relied on that to get a good score. What she lost in artistry deductions she made up for in execution. Maddy winced as poor Dana stumbled out of her second tumbling pass, her hands hitting the floor.
"Start over!"
This was going to be the longest hour of her life.
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
"I'm never going to understand how you can hit floor routines so casually. How aren't you dying?" Dana asked, slumping wearily onto the bench in front of their lockers. Maddy grinned, thinking of her 'extracurricular' workouts.
"I do a lot of conditioning outside the gym. Old habits die hard." When she had been a junior elite training at Gym-Max in Los Angeles, she had been training twenty-five hours a week and conditioned on top of that. Ninja training was a good stand in for logging hours on the treadmill or stationary bike. "And I'm definitely still dying. I'm just better at hiding it."
"I have to go home and get cleaned up, then I'm going shopping for Christmas dresses with my mom." Dana reluctantly stood back up, her back cracking loudly as she did so.
"Huh. I guess Christmas is coming up." Maddy said, her voice slightly muffled as she yanked on a t-shirt over her pink and purple ombre leotard. "I've been so busy I haven't thought about it."
"More importantly, Christmas break is coming up." Dana corrected her. "I'm so sick of drowning in homework." Maddy gulped, thinking of the stack of math homework she had yet to do.
"Yeah, it'll be nice to not think about school for a while." The purple ranger laughed nervously. Not that I think about school much anyway.
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
Maddy was perched cross-legged in her desk chair later that morning, brushing her damp hair and thinking. Her eyes landed on the bowl sitting on her desk.
"Do I really have the natural performance ability of a goldfish?" Maddy wondered aloud, tapping Clementine's bowl with her index finger. Her fish only did a lap around the bowl in response. Sometimes she wished her coach wasn't always so harsh. At her old gym in Los Angeles, her coaches had all been really nice. Maybe it was because they felt bad for her after the abrupt end of her elite career. Even before that…but maybe it had been because she was young? With a sigh, she went back to brushing her hair. She tried her best, facials just didn't work for her. Shawn Johnson didn't have crazy facial expressions and artistry, but then again, Shawn Johnson was Shawn Johnson and didn't need it. Maddy set her brush down on top of a stack of overdue algebra homework and pulled her phone off her charger. She vowed to do the homework before the weekend was over, but she'd go find her friends first. Maddy punched in Hunter's phone number and waited impatiently for him to pick up. It rang four times, and Maddy was almost sure it was going to voicemail when someone finally picked up.
"Hey Maddy, what's up?" A voice that definitely wasn't Hunter's asked, causing her to frown curiously.
"Blake? Sorry, I thought I called Hunter's phone." Maddy apologized, pulling her phone away from her ear to check and see if she'd entered the right number after all.
"You did. He's just…kind of busy right now." Maddy thought she heard the clang of metal on metal in the background. "Top end of his engine blew out in the first race and he's trying to fix it before the next one."
"Oh yikes. I'd help, but I think I'd just make things worse." Maddy had a rather profound lack of mechanical prowess. She always just had Dustin fix her bike.
"We're heading to Storm Chargers afterwards if you want to meet us though." Blake offered.
"I'll just plan on that. Tell Hunter I said good luck on the rebuild."
"Will do. Catch you later!"
Maddy clicked her phone back off, looking down at the stack of homework again rather forlornly. I could sit here and do this…or I could take it to Storm Chargers and work on it until the guys come back! Decision made, she scooped up her books and went in search of her backpack.
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
Hours later, Maddy had completed one and a half assignments out of the four that were due on Monday. They weren't very long assignments, but they just didn't make sense. Why did she have to solve for x and then do the problem? Why couldn't they just tell her what x was so she could get the answer right?
"Algebra I is pure torture. I think that'll kill me before Lothor does." Maddy said glumly as she snapped her book shut. "What was so bad about addition and subtraction?"
"Algebra I was the worst." Dustin agreed sympathetically as he restocked a display of shirts. A commotion at the door of Storm Chargers caught both of their attention. It was Hunter and Blake. Judging by their grins, it had been a good day.
"Hey, how'd it go?" Maddy asked, and Hunter proudly hefted up a huge trophy complete with a little gold motocross figure on top in response. "First place? That's fantastic! When I talked to Blake it didn't sound like you'd be able to get your engine done in time."
"You beat some really good riders today, it's hard to believe you're still getting faster!" Dustin added as he straightened up a rack. He was technically working, after all.
"That's only part of it. It felt like I was riding a factory bike out there."
"That freaky guy hooked you up. I'll get him to help me next time, and we'll see who wins." Blake teased his older brother.
"What freaky guy?" The earth and lightning ninjas asked in unison.
"Skinny, kind of nerdy looking. He did a whole rebuild in a couple hours." Description sounded familiar, but Maddy couldn't quite put a finger on a name for the mystery mechanic.
"Ah, you met Perry." Dustin said sagely, moving onto the next rack of gear he was supposed to be straightening up. Maddy, Blake, and Hunter all trailed after him. "He's this total moto genius."
"You know him?" Blake asked eagerly.
"Yeah." Dustin said casually, not seeing anything special about the information. Maddy wasn't desensitized to Perry's motocross skills since she wasn't a Blue Bay native.
"He's basically a ghost. I've been riding here off and on for years and I've only seen him like, twice." Maddy added, offering what she could remember.
"Do you guys know where he lives?" Hunter pressed. Maddy shrugged while Dustin paused thoughtfully.
"He used to have a warehouse he worked out of sometimes down in that creepy area by the train tracks. Moore Road, I think? It's right across from where the appliance factory used to be."
"Oh ok I can picture that."
"Do you have an address?" Hunter asked hopefully.
"Dustin!" Kelly called from the front register, pointing to the back of the store. A group of people were heading for his workshop and the yellow ranger quickly finished his restocking.
"Hey, I'll see you guys later!" Dustin called over his shoulder as he went to help out the customers.
"I can show you." Maddy offered. "It's been a hot second since I was on that side of town but I remember where it is still. Why do you want to find this guy so bad anyway?"
"Well, Kelly's been telling us a lot that if we want to keep up with the best racers, we need a mechanic to help us out."
"Makes sense." Maddy forgot sometimes that Blake and Hunter could literally be pro riders if they wanted to be. They still had an open invitation from Factory Blue. She admired their dedication to her Rangerhood. If Nike came along and offered to sponsor her in exchange for going back to L.A., she'd have a hard time saying no.
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
"Well, this is it." Maddy said, clambering out of Hunter's truck and gesturing to the building that housed Perry's workshop. "Even spookier than last time I was here." It was located in the heart of the old Blue Bay industrial district, and the building had certainly seen better days.
"So…where's the front door?"
"I think that hole in that wall kind of resembles a door." Hunter strode confidently towards it, and with a shrug, Blake followed his older brother.
"Wait. I feel like we can't just walk in. What if he's not here? Or somebody else even creepier is here?" Maddy protested even as she followed them closer. They all paused at the entrance.
"We're ninjas. We can handle a little creepy. Besides, I'll protect you if you're scared." Hunter smirked, and Maddy's mouth dropped open.
"What-I-but-" She spluttered indignantly. "I don't need anyone to protect me, I'm not scared of anything!" With that, she pushed past him and stomped into the building in an attempt to prove her boyfriend wrong. "Hello?" The lightning ranger called into the dimly lit entryway. Or what passed for an entryway, she supposed. Everything was covered in dust, rust, or both: it looked like nobody had set foot in the building for years. It was the epitome of creepy, not that she would admit that now. The trio made their way down the first hallway they saw. Thanks to the holes in the ceiling, there was at least patches of sunlight to illuminate their surroundings.
"Are you sure somebody works here?" The navy ranger asked, ducking under a cobweb.
"I mean, he used to. I don't know about now." Maddy shrugged. She didn't even have to slouch as she passed under the same spiderweb. Perks of being short.
"It's awfully quiet for a bike shop." Hunter remarked as they neared the end of the hallway. "He's a great mechanic, shouldn't this place be packed?"
"Is it too scary for the big, bad thunder ranger?" Maddy teased. "Do you need someone to hold your hand?" Hunter opened his mouth to presumably issue a retort, but then he closed it thoughtfully.
"Do you guys hear that?" Sure enough, there was the faintest whisper of a voice drifting down the hallway. "I bet that's Perry!" Hunter strode confidently down the hallway, closely followed by Blake. Maddy sighed and trailed after. Please don't be a serial killer. The further they got from the entrance, the louder the voice was. It was easily identifiable as man's, albeit rather high pitched and nervous sounding. They rounded the corner into what looked like a workshop. Sure enough, there was Perry. He wore a faded blue jumpsuit that was at least a size too big over his thin, lanky frame, and other than a receding hairline, he looked exactly like he had the last time Maddy had seen him.
"Divided by sixteen, set to the square root of eleven…" The mechanic mumbled to himself as he worked intently on something. Man, she couldn't escape math even in a spooky warehouse!
"Perry!" Blake greeted loudly. It looked like the boisterous greeting had nearly scared the poor mechanic out of his wits. "We've been looking for you!"
"W-w-what are you guys doing here?" Perry stuttered nervously. He hastily yanked a tarp down over his project as the trio came nearer.
"Have you ever thought about hooking up with a team?" Maddy heard Hunter ask, but she tuned out the rest of the conversation as she wandered through the workshop. She couldn't shake the creepy vibe she was getting from the space. Probably had something to do with the glass columns that were filled with some sort of bubbling liquid. One was blue, the other green. Total mad scientist vibe. Or maybe Perry was just into big lava lamps. Something shiny caught her eye, and she turned. Judging by the shape of the silver tarp, there must be a bike underneath it.
Dustin would kill me if I didn't sneak a peek at one of Perry's custom bikes. Maddy reasoned.
"What's this?" The lightning ninja asked curiously, beginning to lift the edge of the tarp.
"Don't touch that!" Perry shrieked, shoving past her and yanking the tarp back down. Maddy stumbled backwards into Hunter, who kept her from landing on the floor.
"Geez, I'm sorry!"
"Must be one of your…secret projects?" Blake offered awkwardly. Perry nodded so aggressively Maddy was a little worried his scrawny neck would snap under the strain.
"I just don't want to get any dirt on it." In response, Maddy held her hands out for inspection.
"Dude…I wash them." The gymnast replied indignantly. Her palms were covered with callouses from both Samurai training and gymnastics, but they were perfectly clean.
"Heh. W-well, you know what I mean." Perry said, as he attempted to herd the trio towards what looked like the exit. "I'll see you later on."
"Later."
"See you." Blake and Hunter replied nonchalantly. Maddy kept her mouth shut until they were safely back into the afternoon sunshine and out of earshot of the mechanic.
"Are we going to talk about how Perry is totally freaky? Major mad scientist vibes."
"I mean, he's good at what he does." Blake replied.
"And as long as he's at the track to help us, he can do whatever mad scientist stuff he wants to." Hunter shrugged.
"I have to meet Tori, Shane, and Dustin at Ops, so I'll catch up with you later. Good luck with your mad scientist."
"See you."
"Hey, if you guys get turned into lab rats, don't say I didn't warn you!" Maddy called after them jokingly. She didn't have to be able to see her boyfriend's face to know he was rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah."
Maddy wasn't quite halfway to Ops when her morpher beeped. She ducked into an alleyway as she slowed out of ninja streak.
"Go for Maddy. What's shaking?"
"We've got some kind of gold alien down on the corner of Monroe and Trackside. I'm on my way, but Tori, Shane, and Dustin need backup. I'm sending your bike on autopilot to your location."
"Man, I just came from down there." Maddy mused. "I'll see you there. Maddy out!" She glanced around to make sure no civilians happened to be watch before she brought her arm up. "Ninja Storm, Ranger Form, HA!" Maddy activated her morpher. Her suit formed around her, giving her the usual boost of energy along with it. "Power of lightning!"
As soon as her morphing sequence ended, her beautiful purple and gold Ranger bike pulled up next to her. Hopping on, Maddy disengaged autopilot and took off towards her friends' location.
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
Maddy skidded to a stop on the loose gravel, gracefully flipping over the handlebars to land in front of her friends, who were struggling to stand up. She drew her Lightning Lance and held it out defensively as she took in the alien. The monster in front of her was gigantic, towering over her. His heavy golden armor and glowing orange eyes made him intimidating, but he at least wasn't sticky or slimy like some of their other foes. Rather than leading off with some sort of insult, the monster just growled at her. Rude.
"Has anybody told you that you look like Ultron had a baby with one of those trophies from the Oscars?" The lightning ninja quipped. She could hear Dustin and Shane dying of laugher behind her and could easily sense Tori and Cam's collective eye roll. "Bring it on, Goldilocks!"
"Watch it, he's a heavy hitter!" Shane called a warning.
"And I'm not?" Maddy grunted as she ducked under a blow.
"You literally weigh like a hundred pounds."
"I actually weight one fifteen and it's all muscle!" Maddy yelled back indignantly before turning her attention to the fight. "Hey Goldie, where are your Kelzak buddies? Did we destroy all of them?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." The monster ground out.
"He speaks!" Maddy performed a tidy back handspring out of the way of a blow. "Let's see if this is your style." Her lightning rod crackled with energy, and she swung it at the monster. Rather than electrocuting him, he…caught her weapon between his hands. It didn't even leave a scratch. Maddy poured even more energy into her weapon, more than she ever had before hoping it would do something.
"Uh-oh." Suddenly Maddy was flying over her enemy's head. He had used her staff as a leverage point to toss her. She crashed through a stack of old rubber tires, nearly bringing others down on top of her. Before she could regain her bearings, the golden warrior was picking her up. Maddy growled in irritation as her feet only met air as she kicked.
"It's really rude that you all do this to me!" Orange eyes simply studied her, as if she was an interesting specimen under a microscope.
"Interesting." The creature's voice was gravelly. "You have more raw power than all of them combined, but you lack the control I need for my project." He suddenly redirected all the energy Maddy had thrown at him straight back at her. Her whole body seized up as it tried to absorb the energy. Purple lightning crackled over her uniform eerily. He tossed her with casual violence to the ground, turning and disappearing into the nearby warehouse. Maddy tumbled head over heels. She looked down at her hands, a panicky feeling taking hold as she realized that energy was still flickering over her suit with no sign of stopping. I don't know how to control all of this! The lightning ninja tried to grasp more firmly onto her powers, only to feel like it was slipping through her fingers.
The purple ranger had managed to push herself up onto her knees as Tori, Shane, and Dustin crowded around her. Maddy was afraid to say anything, afraid to take even one iota of concentration away from keeping her tentative grasp on her powers. Dustin reached out a hand to grasp her shoulder, only to get yanked back by Cam, who had stayed a few steps back from the huddle.
"Don't touch her! She could fry you on accident." The Samurai warned. "Maddy, you have to control it!"
Easy for him to say. She thought bitterly. Picturing her element in its calmest state wasn't super helpful when her element didn't HAVE a calm state. Her fists were clenched so tightly that they were shaking. A burst of purple sparks still managed to escape. Tori, Shane, and Dustin all scrambled backwards to avoid it.
"I…can't!" Maddy hissed through gritted teeth. "He did…something to my powers!"
I wish Mom could have taught me how to control my powers better. The thought slipped into her mind unbidden. The familiar roar of the Thunder Rangers' bikes effectively derailed that train of thought.
"What happened, are you guys ok?" She heard the familiar voice of Hunter shout.
"We're handling this, go after the monster! He went into the building!"
"We'll be back as soon as we can!"
"There has to be something we can do." If there was anything Shane hated, it was problems that he couldn't help solve.
"I don't think there is." Cam sounded uncharacteristically unsure. "What research I've done has shown that only lightning ninjas can share power. Maybe Blake or Hunter could-" Cam's voice faded out as Maddy wracked her own brain for a solution. Shame there wasn't a horde of Kelzaks, she could take care of them all at once. She forced her eyes open, hoping perhaps thinking that had summoned them. If I can just find somewhere to reroute this it'll be fine. Kelzaks unfortunately didn't appear, but she did see another possibility.
"Cam? Rubber grounds electricity, right?" Maddy asked as loudly as she dared.
"Yeah, why-" The lightning ninja turned away slightly and extended her fingertips towards the pile of old rubber tires she had been thrown into minutes earlier. Lightning exploded outwards from her fingers. It was over in a couple blinding seconds, her powers reduced to a much more manageable level.
"That's why." Maddy said wearily as her friends gaped at her, and then at the slightly smoking pile of tires. Her whole body felt tingly and shaky, but maybe that was an after-effect of about getting overloaded by electricity.
"Under the circumstances, that was smart." Cam approved. The lightning ninja was so rattled by the events of the past couple minutes she didn't even react to the genius green ranger calling her smart.
"Dude, that was crazy!" Dustin exclaimed, purposefully lightening the mood. He offered her a hand up that she accepted. "Bummer Lothor wasn't here, you totally would have smoked him."
"Are you alright?" Tori asked, and Maddy managed to nod.
"Yeah." If her voice wavered a little bit, nobody mentioned it. "I'm ok. Where are Blake and Hunter?"
"They went after Motodrone. Hunter, Blake, how's it going in there?" Shane asked, activating the communicators.
"Motodrone just bailed, we couldn't keep him down." Blake reported. "Hunter got in one good hit, but nothing else worked."
"Motodrone's smarter than the other space goons we've fought so far. He's got some kind of plan in mind." Hunter added.
"He said something about a power source." Maddy remembered suddenly. "He needs a power source for his project, whatever that is."
"Let's plan to meet back at Ops. I want to do some digging on this Motodrone."
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
Maddy was crowded around the mainframe back at Ninja Ops with her other teammates. She was staring blankly at the large computer screen, nothing really registering as she spaced out. It had been over an hour since she'd almost overloaded, but she still didn't feel normal. Her hands felt tingly, almost like the feeling of a static shock. Maddy stuffed her hands into the deep pockets of her Wind Ninja uniform. It wasn't a feeling she liked, not to mention the unease that came with almost losing control completely. The purple ranger had always enjoyed using her powers for the most part, but now…they almost scared her. A nudge from Tori startled her out of her pensive thoughts.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Tori asked softly. She had apparently noticed the fact that Maddy was completely withdrawn from whatever their male teammates were bickering about.
"What? Yeah." Her older friend didn't look convinced, but Maddy didn't know how to begin putting the thoughts that were swirling through her head into actual sentences.
"This is the weirdest thing." Cam said aloud, frowning at his computer screen thoughtfully.
"What is it?"
"I've been running tests on Motodrone and I found traces of human DNA."
"No way." Shane said incredulously. "That thing is human?"
"Looks like some sort of mutation."
"Dude, like the Ninja Turtles." Dustin nudged Maddy. "He's a knockoff Shredder!" His attempt at making her laugh was successful.
"Or is Shredder a knockoff Motodrone?" The lightning ninja proposed in return. "Who came first?"
"It's not one of Lothor's goons, then." Blake spoke up, effectively putting the discussion back on track. Cam shook his head.
"No. I won't be able to figure out exactly who it is until the computer runs through the whole database." The green ranger explained, gesturing to the little loading bar in the corner of the screen. It wasn't even close to being halfway done processing.
"Until then, you must take great care when dealing with this creature. We don't know what he's capable of." Sensei cautioned. "Until then, you're all dismissed."
"Hey, we've got to meet Perry at the track if any of you want to come."
"I think we're going to go do some sparring by the creek." Shane decided for the remaining group. "This morning with Motodrone was not pretty."
"We'll catch you later then."
"Good luck with the mad scientist!"
"Perry is not a mad scientist!" Hunter retorted as he and Maddy fell back into their usual bickering. Gradually, the voices of his teammates became indistinguishable, and then it was perfectly quiet.
Cam had waited for the Rangers to all trickle out of Ninja Ops before he flipped the screen on his computer, studying the biometrics of someone very different from Motodrone.
"Something on your mind, Cam?" His father always could read him like a book.
"I don't think Motodrone did anything to Maddy's powers when he zapped her back." Cam explained, knowing his father had watched the entire fight. He flipped the screen to another chart. "I think she still has a really hard time controlling them. I started going back through the data from the past couple fights, and every time she tries to absorb energy she runs into the same problem she had today, just on a smaller scale."
"I agree with your conclusion, Cam. I had hoped initially that our techniques would be able to be tweaked to fit better with her powers, but it seems I was wrong." His whiskers drooped, the equivalent of a frown. "When her mother studied at the Wind Academy, she was several years older than Madison is now. Melanie had a good deal of additional training before she arrived."
"I just wish I knew how to help her."
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
True to their word, the four Wind Ninjas had gone to the creek that bordered the academy to put in some training. Maddy and Shane were currently sparring while Tori and Dustin watched.
"How did you get so good at this?" Shane asked as Maddy managed to disarm him once again. He picked his sword up out of the dirt, brushing the dust off it before sliding it back into the holster.
"I-" Am actually more of a Samurai than Cam? How do I even answer that? Maddy couldn't think of an excuse. I need to have an answer prepped for these kinds of questions.
"Let me guess: Ninja Turtles?" Tori deadpanned, unknowingly saving her by roasting her.
"Tori, I know you didn't just try and knock the Ninja Turtles." Dustin warned jokingly.
"I was going to say Star Wars." Maddy laughed it off. "The lightsaber fights the kids in my neighborhood back home had were intense."
"Well, unless either of you want to take a turn fighting the resident Jedi, I think we can call it a day." Shane decided. "Good work."
"You know, I feel like I could take on that gold guy all by myself now." Dustin said confidently. He had won a hard-fought match against Tori earlier.
"You'll have to go through me first!" Zurgane suddenly appeared in the clearing in front of them, surrounded by a horde of Kelzaks.
"Where did he come from?" Tori asked as they all dropped into fighting stances.
"Who cares? Let's take him down!" Shane said. They were thankfully already morphed and ready to fight. The black and red foot soldiers took that as permission to charge.
"Man, where were all these Kelzaks two hours ago?" Maddy complained as she slashed her way through the bunch with her ninja sword. Using her ninja sword wasn't quite as effective as her Lightning Lance, but after the events of that morning she didn't want to do anything that involved using her powers. With the Kelzaks handled, Maddy wasted no time in going for their boss.
"Zurgane, Zurgane, I haven't seen you in weeks. Did Lothor ground you?" He growled in response, causing Maddy to smirk under her helmet. He was so easy to mess with.
"Somebody ought to teach you to watch your mouth!" Zurgane's anger was making him sloppy, the blow from his sword going wide and missing her by a mile.
"Many have tried, many have failed." The purple ranger cackled, darting forwards to land a solid blow on the bulky general. Sparks flew, but it didn't seem to impede Zurgane at all. Her ninja sword definitely lacked the kick of her Lightning Lance. It wasn't until Shane joined her that they started doing some real damage. With the Kelzaks defeated and four Rangers brandishing their weapons at him, the bulky warrior backed down, turning tail and fleeing the scene.
"You better run!" Maddy shouted after the retreating general. He paused at the edge of the treeline, turning back to pin an impressive glare on her despite not having a visible face.
"This isn't over, lightning brat!" Zurgane snarled, before he vanished into the air. Standing in the empty clearing, the four Wind Rangers allowed their visors to slide open.
"Man. Zurgane hates you more than the rest of us combined." Dustin laughed.
"Honestly." Tori agreed. "I don't think he even bothers threatening the rest of us anymore."
"He gets SO mad, it's just too easy." The purple ranger cackled. "I wonder what he was doing here anyway. Did he seriously show up just to waste a couple Kelzaks, tell me that I was a brat, and run?" The beeping of their morphers caused the question to go unanswered.
"Go for Shane, Dustin, Maddy and I." Tori was the first to activate her communicator. "What's up Cam?"
"Motodrone is back, and Hunter and Blake need help!"
"We're on it!" A quick ninja streak down to the industrial district revealed a completely empty battlefield, aside from Blake.
"Blake!" The navy ranger was struggling to get up. They all rushed towards him, Tori helping him up. His visor clicked open immediately.
"Hunter. He took Hunter." There was no mistaking the fear in Blake's eyes. "He shot some kind of beam and he just…vanished!"
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
Ninja Ops was eerily silent as they waited for the results of Cam's test on Motodrone to finish. As soon as they knew who the human half of the monster was, they'd be able to track him down easily. Maddy was seated cross-legged at the low table, her chin resting on her knuckles as she tried not to fidget nervously. Hunter will be fine. He's strong. He can handle this.
Those three sentences had become her mantra as she tried to keep her cool. Dustin and Shane had remained stoically silent, but she knew that they were just as worried. Blake was understandably freaking out. He was pacing back and forth through Ninja Ops, a hand running nervously through his hair every so often. Tori looked like she was torn between comforting her not-quite boyfriend or hovering over Cam's shoulder as he worked.
"It's almost done processing." Cam answered the unspoken question, drumming his fingers almost nonstop on the edge of his desk as if that would make it go faster. A beep suddenly broke through the heavy silence, and the five remaining Rangers rushed to the mainframe, crowding around Cam. The screen slowly began to load a picture of someone's face. By the time it got to the eyes, the lightning ninja knew exactly who they were looking at.
"No way!" Dustin exclaimed as the image finished rendering. "It's Perry!"
"I knew there was something freaky about him." Maddy muttered. "I bet you anything he's got Hunter in his creepy workshop!"
"Let's go." There was a hard edge to Blake's voice that they'd never heard before, not even when he had been an evil Ranger.
"Blake." Sensei cautioned as they all headed for the door. "I know your brother is in danger, but so is Perry. If you do not destroy the Motodrone technology soon, it will absorb him completely and he will be gone forever."
"Don't worry." Blake nodded once, the anger in his face receding a bit. "We'll get them both back."
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
"We're in position. Whenever you're ready, Maddy." The six Rangers had quietly converged on Perry's workshop, splitting into two teams. The goal for Tori, Shane, Dustin, and Maddy was to lead Motodrone on a merry chase using their dirtbikes. While he was distracted, Blake and Cam would sneak in to free Hunter. She wished she could have swapped places with Cam, but he didn't have a bike to use. The only thing she could do know was play her part to the best of her ability.
"Hey Motodrone!" Maddy shouted sassily, pushing her worries away. She rested her elbows on the handlebars, trying to act nonchalant in case Motodrone was watching. "Want to come out and play?" The workshop remained quiet. The lightning ninja was just beginning to wonder if it hadn't worked when the doors of the workshop violently exploded outwards. Motodrone himself was speeding towards them on a wickedly fast bike. Maddy recognized the paint job on it: it was what had been hiding under the tarp in Perry's workshop. No wonder he hadn't wanted her touching it. Motodrone slid to a stop less than four feet in front of the Wind Rangers in an impressive show of skill. He growled wordlessly.
"How about a little battle of the bikes?" Maddy challenged. "That is, if your heap of junk can keep up with us in the first place."
"Oh, I'll show you what this heap of junk can do!" Motodrone snarled, rising to the bait exactly as they had expected him to.
"Catch us if you can!" The lightning ninja laughed. The four Wind Rangers immediately turned their bikes around, speeding in the opposite direction of the workshop. Maddy breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the rev of Motodrone's bike behind them. He bought it!
"Man, you sure have a way with words when it comes to these guys!" Shane pointed out as the group cut through an empty parking lot.
"It's a gift." Maddy grinned.
"Hey, he's still pretty close back there." Tori announced, after hazarding a quick glance over her shoulder. "What should be do?"
"His bike looks like it can take some off-roading, want to take him through the Quake?" Dustin suggested. "It could buy Cam and Blake some time!" The Quake was a nickname of one of the many off-road paths that ringed Blue Bay. The ground was heaved up in several spots from an earthquake that happened some thirty years ago. It made for treacherous riding if you didn't know what you were doing, and it would force Motodrone to focus on the terrain and not think about Hunter.
"Good plan!" Maddy called back to Dustin. "Tori, Shane, break off before we hit the forest and meet us at the beach!"
"You got it!" It was a testament to how far the Red Ranger had come as their leader when he didn't protest she and Dustin taking charge.
"We'll see you there!" Shane and Tori peeled off, taking the longer but faster route that skirted the edge of the forest. Motodrone thankfully didn't try to follow them, apparently feeling honor-bound to keep pursuing the one who had insulted him. Good. The terrain shift happened fast: the ground went from the slight bumpiness of usual forest debris to large lumps of displaced earth. It gave the sensation of riding one of the rumble strips that ran alongside the highway.
"First big bump's coming up!" Dustin warned from her left. Maddy tightened her grip on her handlebars to keep from getting launched off as she ramped up and off the naturally-formed ramp. Thanks to her small size, she got quite a bit more air than Dustin or Motodrone. Right before she hit the ground, Maddy punched the gas. The bone-rattling impact of her bike hitting the dirt was coupled with a burst of speed forward that helped her keep pace with the other two riders. She thankfully stayed on her bike. The purple ranger had wiped out on the Quake before and wasn't in the mood to do it today.
"We're coming up on the curve down to the beach!" Maddy yelled to the earth ninja, who whooped in response as they went over an especially big hump of displaced earth. Dustin was definitely enjoying the wild ride on their souped-up bikes despite the situation. As they took the turn, Maddy cut her speed so she wouldn't wipe out as the rocky terrain gradually transitioned to sand. After one last big bump, Dustin thudded back onto the earth, Maddy close behind. Tori and Shane were waiting for them, weapons drawn. The earth and lightning ninjas slid to a stop, killing their engines and vaulting off their bikes. Despite standing on solid ground again, Maddy felt like her teeth were still rattling.
"Perry, we know you're in there!" Shane said firmly as Motodrone pulled to a stop at the edge of the forest across from them.
"We can help you!" Tori added.
"Perry is gone!" Motodrone hissed, only to cry out and slouch slightly forward on his bike as if he was in pain. "Wait…where am I? Why don't I…remember anything?" Tori took a step forward as if to try and help them, but a sudden flash of light caused all of them to freeze.
"Who cares if you don't remember anything?" The familiar voice of Zurgane thundered. "Lothor has sent me here for the one called Motodrone!"
"You'll have to get past us!" Shane said fiercely, drawing his ninja sword.
"As you wish." Zurgane replied dispassionately. "For once, my quarrel isn't with you. Kelzaks!"
"I work for no one!" Motodrone snarled, gunning his bike into motion. He shot energy beams from it as he plowed through the Kelzaks, nearly mowing down Zurgane in the process.
"Man, I'm glad he didn't do that when we were in the Quake!" Dustin exclaimed.
"The purple one is mine!" Zurgane roared at the Kelzaks, who abruptly shied away from Maddy and redirected themselves toward her teammates.
"You missed me that much? Zurgane, I'm honored. I can't believe Lothor's let you off his ship twice in one day!" The lightning ninja taunted.
"Is everything a game to you?"
"Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive." Maddy quoted. "C'mon Zurgane. If you want to fight, let's fight!" She drew her ninja sword, and he drew his two long swords.
"You seem to forget who has the winning record when we've faced before."
"If we both walk away, it's a draw. Technically we're tied."
"Not for long." And the dance began. Maddy knew her limits enough to realize that at the end of a merry chase through the woods and three rounds of fighting, she wasn't going to be able to mount a strong offense. The lightning ninja settled for a good defense. She put all her gymnastics training to good use as she nimbly evaded his blades. Unfortunately for her Zurgane unexpectedly lashed out with a kick rather than his swords, catching Maddy in the stomach. It completely knocked the wind out of her. While she was trying to force her lungs to work properly again, the alien general lashed out with his swords. There was enough power behind the blows to knock her backwards onto the ground. She skidded across the dirt, almost colliding with Shane.
"I'm back and open to suggestions!" Maddy managed.
"You're surrounded, Rangers!" Zurgane said as he advanced. He was correct: they were all ringed in on one side by Kelzaks, and the advancing general on the other.
"Stay back!" Shane was brandishing his sword as he looked back and forth between their two enemies, clearly looking for the best way out.
"Cam's not responding!" Dustin reported worriedly.
"That's not good!" Tori shook her head. "Where is he?"
A sudden, blinding explosion threw the Kelzaks out of the way and caused Zurgane to take a cautious step back. Maddy threw a hand over her visor to shield her eyes even as it automatically adjusted.
"What was that?" The lightning ninja yelped.
"Better question, who was that?" Tori asked, squinting through the clouds of smoke at the silhouette of their mystery savior. The telltale roar of a dirtbike accompanied the mystery rider out of the smoke. The bike was definitely new, but the rider wasn't.
"Hunter!"
"Bring it!" The crimson ranger challenged the Kelzaks. They were only too happy to oblige. The four Wind Ranger could only watch in awe as Hunter absolutely decimated Lothor's foot soldiers. His new bike was equipped with crimson lasers, and he was taking advantage of them.
"Hey, guys!" Cam called, joining them in their spot outside of the fray. "Guess what! I made a couple adjustments to Perry's bike."
"Really? I didn't notice." Tori teased.
"I'm not big on street bikes, but this is sick!" Dustin exclaimed. "Can you do mine next?"
"We'll see."
"Where's Blake?" Hunter asked as soon as the last of the Kelzaks had been taken care of.
"He went after Motodrone!"
"I'm going after him!" Hunter took off on his new bike, while the remaining Rangers drew their weapons and turned on Zurgane. Facing five Rangers, and having no soldiers of his own, Zurgane merely vanished with a growl.
"That's right! You better run!" Maddy yelled at the now-empty beach. Zurgane most likely didn't hear her, but it made her feel better to say it. "Well, I guess that's the end of that."
"You better not have just jinxed us." Tori warned. "Why do you have-" They were interrupted by the sound of a loud yell from above them. Their heads snapped up in unison to see Blake falling off the cliff that stood sentinel over the lonely stretch of beach. Maddy could only manage a gasp, wanting to look away but being unable to. Shane had taken two big steps forward and brought his hands up in hopes of using his air powers to slow his fall when Hunter suddenly swooped over the cliff after his brother in what looked like a cross between a plane and a jetpack. A collective sigh of relief escaped all of them when Hunter snagged Blake's hand and flew back upwards. They safely landed on top the cliff.
"What is that?!" Maddy and Shane both exclaimed in unison, opening their visors. Tori and Dustin followed suit.
"Still Perry's old bike." The green ranger shrugged as he tugged off his helmet.
"And you made it fly?" Tori clarified.
"Yep. I had the time and Perry's lab had the parts." Cam said nonchalantly. He suddenly seemed to notice their eager expressions. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"
"You're going to do ours next, right?" The green ranger was saved from his overeager teammates when their communicators beeped.
"Hey, Motodrone's history and the coast is clear, if you guys want to come up here." Hunter informed them. Maddy's face scrunched up.
"Wait, really?" She asked suspiciously.
"Really. Why would I lie?" Hunter sounded just as confused as the Wind Rangers looked.
"We just beat a monster and it didn't grow." Maddy clarified. "That is weird."
"It's been a weird day, all things considered." Cam pointed out, and she shrugged.
"Huh. I guess I'll tentatively say that's win number twenty-three. Go team!"
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
Before the day had spiraled into chaos, Hunter and Maddy had planned to hang out and go do something that evening. When it came down to it however, neither one of them had any energy to spare doing anything more labor intensive than just sitting and talking, so that's what they did. Maddy and Hunter were both lying flat on their backs on one of the outdoor sparring pads that hadn't been ruined on the Academy grounds. The mat was still warm from the sun earlier that day, and the cushion in it made it surprisingly comfortable. The two had been alternating between talking and just looking at the stars in a comfortable silence.
"So, I heard that Motodrone tried to give you a taste of your own medicine today." Maddy had to resist the urge to smack her head into the mat.
"Who told you?"
"Does it matter?"
"No." Maddy heaved a sigh.
"If it makes you feel better, the person was just worried about you."
"Was it Tori? It was Tori, wasn't it?" Maddy pressed in a futile attempt to not talk about the issue that had been bugging her most of the day. Of her friends, Tori was the most likely to worry about her. The age gap between them had never been an issue, but Maddy sometimes had to deal with her mother-hen instinct.
"You don't have to be embarrassed about it. It happens at the Thunder Academy all the time." Hunter wasn't deterred by her attempts to change the subject.
"It does?" Maddy asked curiously, pushing herself up on her elbows so she could see his face better. He didn't look like he was joking.
"It happened to me, and Blake too. Every Thunder ninja ever has accidentally tapped into more power than they could handle when they're learning." Hunter assured her, sitting up too. "We have to use different techniques to control our powers than the Wind Ninjas, because thunder's a more unstable element than anything they teach here."
"Can you teach me?" The question was out of her mouth before she could even stop and think about it. "I mean, not right this second because we're both dead, but sometime?"
"Yeah. I don't know if it will work-"
"It's better than nothing. I'm just…" Maddy twisted a finger around her necklace nervously as she tried to figure out how to voice her feelings. "Not being able to control my element was scary. I don't want to feel like that again, not if there's something we can at least try."
"Well, it's decided. We'll start tomorrow."
xxxComesBeforeThunderxxx
And we finish off this enormous chapter with a little bit of fluff between Hunter and Maddy! I'm not quite sure how this took on a mind of its own so quickly, but it happened.
Thanks for reading, and please review!