Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, but I do own this team and their adventures.
*Italic indicates thought
Episode IX: Land of Fiction
Chapter One: Fictional Travel
A/N: Hey guys! I finally got this chapter done! The song at the beginning is one of my favorite that we sing in church: "The Cross of Christ" by Passion ft Chris Tomlin. Let's start the episode!
"Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us." -Paul Theroux
Quinn mumbled under her breath as she typed. She was getting so frustrated that her fingers were barely hitting the keys on her keyboard fast enough. Eventually she had to stop and sit back. She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "There, the second set of configurations and coding is downloading," she said. "Nothing for me to do now but wait a few hours." She rolled away and left her computer. She went upstairs, making sure to lock the basement door with a code only she knew so no one could get in.
She found her way into Leo's room; walking quietly so not to disturb the red ranger as she played. She sat on her bed and watched as her fingers danced across the keys of the keyboard. Leo's voice carried in amazing pitch with the keys as she played.
"Our God is high and lifted up
"It is the cross, my only plea
The blood he shed delivers me
Our savior's arms are open wide
A love so great, the cross of Christ
"See the lamb of God
See the Father's love
All to Jesus we owe
He paid it all
"See the lamb of God
See the Father's love
All to Jesus we owe
He paid it all
"And all to Jesus we owe
He paid it all
"It is the cross, my only plea
The blood he shed delivers me
Our savior's arms are open wide
A love so great, the cross of Christ
"It is the cross, my only plea
The blood he shed delivers me
Our Savior's arms are open wide
A love so great, the cross of Christ
"It is the cross
See the lamb of God
See the Father's love
All to Jesus we owe
He paid it all
"See the lamb of God
See the Father's love
All to Jesus we owe
He paid it all
"It is the cross my only plea
The blood he shed delivers me
Our savior's arms are open wide
A love so great, the cross Christ."
Quinn stayed quiet as the song as finished snd Leo looked at her. Quinn clapped and smiled. "That was beautiful," she told the red ranger.
"Thanks. You finally decided to join the rest of us who don't live in the basement?" Leo asked her. Quinn had been spending all her time in the basement lately. No one knew what she was doing, not even Z, but it was obvious to everyone she was obsessing over it.
"Yeah. My brain feels like it's going to explode. I'm so bored!" Quinn threw herself back on Leo's bed and the red ranger nodded slowly. She and the other Rangers knew that Quinn being bored was a very bad thing. She tended to get very...uncontrollable and bounced off the walls when there was nothin occupying her mind.
"Why don't you sleep a little bit?" she suggested.
"I can't sleep. My brain is too...awake to sleep. Sometimes I don't sleep for days because I'm just not tired." Quinn got up and looked around the room. "But at least I have you to talk to. It's so much better than wandering around this big, empty house trying to entertain myself."
Leo nodded. "I can keep playing music for you if you want. I have other hymns I was going to play."
"Why hymns? I thought you really liked your violin."
"Song is an important part of worship. My parents always told me I should thank God for my talent by honoring him with song"
Quinn nodded. "I see. Well, I don't want to bother you." Which was true. Even though she found it mesmerizing to watch Leo play music, and she didn't really understand religion, Quinn followed the other's lead and left Leo alone when she was doing things like praying and playing worship songs. She got up and left the room, closing the door behind her. She wandered over to the library, deciding to read. She walked in and saw Andy was at a table typing away. He looked up when she came in and took his headphones out of her ears.
"Hey, long time no see."
"Very funny."
"What brings you up from the depths?"
"Boredom." She started walking along the walls, trying to find a book to read. Andy watched her with interest. She pulled a couple of books off the shelf and looked at them. She put them back and continued to wander.
"How do you keep track of which ones you've read and which ones you haven't?" Andy inquired.
"Oh, I don't," Quinn answered, still browsing the shelves. "I've read them all."
"What?! There's no way!"
"Why not?"
"Who honestly has that much-" Andy stopped just shot of say 'free time'. Quinn seemed to realize what he'd been about to say though.
"Well I do since activities in the house are all I ever have time for." She looked back at the shelf and selected three books. "I love this trilogy."
"Doesn't it get...boring reading the same books over and over again?"
"Well sure. But I get some new books on my birthday and Christmas and stuff. But I usually have those finished within a couple weeks."
"Impressive, you must really like reading."
"I love it! Reading is so much fun! It's like going on an adventure every time I open a book."
"Think so?" Andy asked, smiling at the newfound similarity with Quinn.
"Absolutely. Because that's the thing about books; they let you travel without ever moving your feet."
Andy nodded in agreement. "I agree. Reading can be like...finding a friend who will never judge you."
"Or maybe the only friend you ever had. Fictional characters were the only people I ever knew before you five." Andy nodded in understanding as Quinn left the library. He was about to go back to writing when meh noticed that's she'd left the door open. He got up and went to go shut it. He paused in the doorway when he saw Quinn curled up on the window seats reading. He turned and saw Jasper leaning against the wall; causing him to jump.
"What're you doing, skulking around in the hall like that?" Andy asked him. Jasper jumped and looked over at Quinn, before quickly pushing Andy back into the library. He shut the door behind them and Quinn looked up. She looked around before looking down and continuing to read.
Inside the library, Andy was giving Jasper a look of disbelief. "What the heck?! First you were skulking then you push me?!"
"Skulking? Really?" Jasper asked him.
"Sorry, that's my writers' vocabulary again. But still why would you-"
"Never mind."
"But-"
"I said never mind!"
"Alright, geez." The door re-opened snd Austin came in.
"I was passing by and heard yelling," the green ranger smiled. "Naturally I was hurt that I wasn't invited to the party."
"Who would want you at a party?" Andy asked him.
"Hey, I partied hard. Almost tried LSD but then decided against it." He sat down in a chair and leaned back, putting his feet up on the table. "Figured I'd stick to my drug of choice."
"Yeah, you're a real D.A.R.E. success story. Now will you two get lost? I need some peace to write."
Austin leaned back more and tilted his head back. "How many books do you suppose we in here?"
"At least a few hundred," Jasper replied, sitting on the edge of the table.
"And Quinn's read everyone of them," Andy supplied as he sat back down in front of his laptop.
"What?! Now way!"
"It's true. She just told me herself."
"I believe it," Austin nodded. "Computer Q is crazy smart. Only someone who reads a lot could get that smart. Plus she has plenty of free time."
"Quinn is pretty smart," Jasper smiled. He saw the look Austin and Andy were giving him and rubbed the back of his head. "So if she's read all the books, why is reading now?"
"What else does she have to do?" Andy asked. "She's bored, and it's ether this or someone has to play tag with her in the halls."
Austin quickly shook his head. He still felt out of shape from the last time he'd needed to play tag with Quinn. The whole team was sore for a few days after that. "Never again."
"This wouldn't be a problem if Z would at least let her into the yard once in a while," Jasper said.
"It's freaking walled in for God's sake!"
Andy sighed. "Can you two please-" He sighed as their morphers chirped at them. He got up and joined Jasper and Austin in the middle of the room as they all teleported down to the basement. When they got there they arrived a few acid ends before Leo and Chris. A minute later Quinn bolted down the stairs and to her computer.
"You know Quinn, you ought to make yourself a teleportation device," Chris advised her, but the other girl merely shook her head.
"I can't. Z is afraid I'll teleport outside or something. The attack is at Thompson Street."
"Lets go guys!" Leo told them. The five of them ran over to their bikes and hopped on. They statutes them up and teleported to the battle.
-Thunder Strike-
When they got to the battle they discovered that the Darklings had scared off all the civilians already. They got off their bikes and each put a hand to their morphers. "Hey demons!" Leo yelled, getting their attention.
"THUNDER STRIKE, STORM WARNING!" the five of them yelled, morphing. They split up and divided themselves among the demons. Leo had her blaster out and was firing off quickly. She destroyed two in a row and kicked a third in the chest. She artfully avoided the out-stretched arms of a group; throwing her blaster through their heads. She jumped and flipped laver another small group, rolling as she landed so she could snatch her morpher up. She came up on one knee and started firing again. The Darklngs advancing towards her started dropping one by one; taken out by her now much more sure shots.
Chris was ducking and weaving with her wind fans through the crowd that had surrounded her. They grabbed at her from all sides, but she sliced their arms and hands with ease. She flicked her wrist and sent one of her fans flying. It spun as it cut down the Darklings near her. It boomeranged back and she threw the other one the other way she caught it. While she waited for her second fan to come back, she kicked one in the head and punched another with her free hand. She caught her wind fan as it flew back to her and she swung them opposite ways. This allowed her to decapitate several Darklings in front of her. She was blown off her feet by a sudden gust, but she landed back on them and ran at the demons that had blown her back.
Not far from her, Austin was bashing his way through the Darklings with his hammers. He swung his left one, and then his right one to take out two. He spun around and threw one of them. It flew through several heads and returned to the green ranger, who immediately used it to bash in several more heads. He smacked two in the torso and chest with his other hand as his left one was doing the same. He pulled them in, inviting the Darklings to get closer to him. When they got close enough, he jumped up and spun around to take them out. He smiled and swung at another Darkling that had run straight at him.
Andy was firing from his blaster, moving at a fast pace to keep the Darklings away from him. He grabbed his weapons tag from his neck. "Thunder weapons, activate!" He caught his snow scrapers and jumped up. He swung them with force as he came back down. This disintegrated the Darklings that were closets to him. Two snuck up on him and grabbed his arms. The white ranger spun his weapons so he had readjusted his grip and pulled them across the demons' wrists. They let go and he quickly finished them off. He saw a group of about five readying to blow him off his feet and he tossed his weapons at them. While the snow scrapers took out those demons, he punched and kicked the ones that had decided to jump on him. He caught his snow scrapers and slashed at the demons on ether inside of him with both.
Not far off, Jasper was thinning out the Darklings near himself with his cloud maces. He moved with a practiced ease as he spun the maces. He hit three through the heads and another two in the chest with his other hand. He thew them both in opposite directions and switched to hand-to-hand. He ducked and punched several. He spun and kicked another, and followed up with a another couple punches. He caught his cloud maces as they returned to him and he continued to take the demons out with them. He swung them left and right as he moved quickly through the crowd. He spun around and hit four in their chests and kept moving.
Leo was just finishing off the Darklings near her when she noticed a distinct lack of a moderately powerful demon in the area. "Is it just Darklings?" she asked.
"Looks like it," Chris agreed as she finished off the Darklings close to herself.
"Just a nuisance attack," Andy said. Their morphers chirped again.
"Guys," Quinn told them. "Get to Anderson Ave now!"
"Why?! What's going on?" Leo asked as they ran to retired their bikes.
"Major chaotic energy levels are being detected there along with a demon."
"Alright. " They had just gotten on their bikes when a demon suddenly appeared in front of them. Leo, Chris, and Jasper reacted immediately and fired from their bikes. The demon disappeared again and reappeared behind them.
"What-" Austin began, but then he was thrown forward and just managed to keep himself on his storm chaser. "What the fuck?!"
"He keeps disappearing!" Jasper yelled as he fired from his blaster as well.
The demon laughed. "Having a difficult time Rangers?!" he asked them. He reappeared by Chris and Andy took the opportunity to get a good look at him. He was of a medium build and a navy color. His body was covered in circles that looked like portals, not unlike the ones he kept creating for himself to jump through. His beady eyes betrayed his apparent joy as he kept bouncing around the Rangers. "You can't catch me!" he laughed. "You can't a catch me!"
"Like hell we can't!" Austin snapped. "Come on guys!" He, Andy, and Jasper all revved up and drove at the demon.
"Boys don't!" Leo yelled, but it was too late. Teleporto put his hands near his chest and created a circle of energy between them as one was above the other. He spread his arms apart and the circle was now large than him and full of swirling dark energy. The three Rangers didn't stop in time and ended up going through the portal. The demon laughed as he let the portal dis spear along with the boys.
"Andy, Jasper!" Chris yelled.
"Austin! What did you do with them?!"
"I sent them somewhere. No idea where, but away from here!"
"Bring them back!" Leo and Chris fried at him, but he created another portal and their shots went straight in. They didn't see another portal that appeared behind them, or the shots that hit them in the back. They fell on the ground as their own shots hit them and sent pain radiating through their bodies. They could hear the demon laughing at them.
"I have more people to displace! Bye Rangers!" He created another portal and jumped through it.
Leo and Chris pulled themselves up with their bikes and got on. Leo pushed the communication button on her morpher. "Quinn?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you locate the guys?"
"No. Their morphers aren't giving off a signal anywhere in the city."
"I think we need to find that demon," Chris told Leo. "We need to get rid of him."
"Think that'll bring them back?"
"Doesn't it get rid of the spell every time?"
"But this isn't a spell," the red ranger pointed out. "Quinn?"
"Um...I don't know if destroying him will bring the boys back," Quinn admitted. "Sorry."
"It's ok. Send us the coordinates of where that demon is."
"There's multiple ones-"
"Send them all. We'll have to split up."
"Got it."
Leo and Chris nodded as the coordinates were sent straight to their storm chasers. "Lest get rolling," Chris said.
"I'll keep looking for the guys," Quinn said. "I'll see if I can get in contact with them."
"You do that," Leo nodded. "I have absolute faith in you Quinn."
"Thanks. I won't let you down!"