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

*Italic indicates thought

Episode XII: Like Me

Chapter One: Jasper's Secret

A/N: Hey guys! So, yesterday I found out I was accepted to my top choice college! I've been so excited, otherwise this would've been done yesterday, lol. Anyways, enjoy!

"You don't find love it finds you. It's got a little bit to do with fate and destiny, fate, and what's written in the stars." -Anaïs Nin

The Rangers were practicing their fighting when they heard the explosion. Jasper released Austin from a head-lock and Leo, Andy, and Chris stopped their three-way spar. The five of them looked at each other, then pushed teleportation buttons on their morphers. They teleported down to the basement and were engulfed in a cloud of smoke upon arrival. Leo coughed and covered her mouth and nose with her shirt. "Quinn!"

Quinn coughed somewhere in the mess. "Hey guys!" There was a crash, followed by a beep. A whirring sound started and all of the smoke started to get sucked up into a fan. The room cleared pretty quick and everyone could see again. Quinn smiled at them.

"What the hell was that?!" Austin demanded.

"Sorry," Quinn apologized. "That was an unfortunate side-effect of a project."

"How come Z isn't down here?" Andy asked.

"Oh, he's just used to things blowing up down here."

"Comforting," Austin nodded.

"Are you ok?" Leo asked her as Quinn dusted herself off. She pulled a couple pieces of metal from her hair.

"Yeah!" Quinn smiled. "Totally!"

"Are you sure?" Jasper asked.

"Positive. You guys can go back to practice."

"Alright," Leo said. She and everyone but Jasper turned to go. Quinn started to turn back to one of her work tables, but then noticed the black ranger watching her.

"Jasper I'm fine," she said.

"Are you sure? You don't...need any help or anything?"

"No, I'm fine. Go with the others."

"Well...ok." Quinn turned away and he stayed another moment, watching her. Unknown to him, Austin saw this and started smiling. As soon as the black ranger started for the stairs, the green ran up them. He ran to the dojo, still grinning mischievously.

"Gutter Punk likes Computer Q!" he sang loudly. Everyone looked at him curiously.

"What?" Andy asked.

"You heard me. Gutter Punk likes Computer Q."

"No way."

"I'm telling you it's true."

"What's true?" Jasper asked, coming in.

"You have the hots for Computer Q," Austin explained, crossing his arms.

"What?! I-I do not!"

"Do to! I saw the way you were looking at her. You like her!"

"Shut up Austin!"

"Boys!" Chris yelled. "Knock it off."

"Not until he admits he likes her!"

Leo sighed. "Jasper, please give him a yes or no so we can get on with our lives."

Jasper rubbed his arm uncomfortably. "Ok fine. Maybe...maybe I have a tiny, little crush on Quinn."

"What?!" Andy asked in disbelief.

"Really?" Chris responded in surprise.

"I knew it!" Austin cheered. "You like her!"

"Are you satisfied now?" Jasper inquired, clearly embarrassed.

"Aww come on man. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Q is brainy. That's your type. I get it."

"Her over-protective dad was also a power ranger," Andy pointed out. "Not someone I would dare mess with."

"Yeah, but Jasper is a ranger too," Chris pointed out. "That might win him some points."

"Can we stop?" Jasper asked. "Alright, so I have a small crush on Quinn. It's no big deal. It's not like she likes me back anyways."

"You don't know that," Leo argued. "No one really knows what's going on in Quinn's head. She could like you."

"Absolutely," Chris agreed.

"Can we just forget about it, please?" Jasper asked.

"Let's get back to practice," Leo said.

-Thunder Strike-

Emperor Stormicon stared into his spear head. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes, the sunstone is still with the Rangers. Soon we will have the perfect weapon to use against them. Tornidon!"

"Yes Sire?" Tornidon asked, bowing. "What can I do for you?"

"Send down a demon to distract the Rangers! I want nothing to interfere with the sunstone!"

"Of course Emperor. I shall go down to the demon room right away."

-Thunder Strike-

Quinn picked up the broken and blackened device that had exploded earlier. She'd thought that the latest device she'd built would be powerful enough to contain the gem stone that Leo had found. She sighed as she examined it. It was currently being contained in a shatter-proof glass case. She removed the case and picked the stone up gently. It shimmered in the light as she turned it over cautiously.

There's so much power in this, she thought. So far she's been unable to contain it at all. "There has to be somehting...maybe...that might be the only way." The alarms went off and she put the gem back in the glass case. She hurried over to her computers as the Rangers teleported down.

"What're they up to now?" Chris asked.

"An attack near a shopping plaza," Quinn replied.

"There'll be lot's of civilians," Leo said. "Let's go!"

The Rangers hurried over to their bikes. They started them up and drove out, teleporting down to the battle.

-Thunder Strike-

They found themselves swarmed by Darklings almost as soon as they came out of their teleport. Leo drove straight through a few of them and fired at a group that were attacking civilians. They ran off without looking around at all, clearly to scared to focus on anything but getting away. Leo turned right sharply and drove through several more foot soldiers. She fired again, disintegrating a large groups as they tired to stop a group of shoppers from fleeing. "Let's morph!"

"THUNDER STRIKE, STORM WARNING!" the five Rangers yelled. They morphed and stayed spread out, trying to simultaneously fight and get the civilians to safety.

Andy stopped next to some people who were trapped underneath metal support beams. He looked up at the metal roof the at covered the large sidewalk traveling the length of the plaza. There was a hole in it, which explained the support beams. The strange thing was that the sides of the hole, and the edges of the beams themselves were a glowing, molten red. That's weird, he decided. He ignored it for the movement, and started moving the beams to free the people. "Don't worry, he told them. I'm going to get you out of here!"

Nearby, Austin fired off round after round of blasts to destroy the Darklings holding some of the people. "Get out of here!" he yelled to them, continuing to destroy Darklings so they had a route to escape by. He used his foot to keep himself from falling over as he zig-zagged through their ranks. He took them out in twos and threes as he kept shooting at them.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the plaza, Jasper saw something bright out of the corner of his eye. It definitely stood out against the dark grey coloring of the Darklings. He saw a feminine looking demon that appeared to be made of fire standing in front of a little girl. The girl screamed and cowered away from the demon, who pointed her hands at the metal roof. Molten fire shot out of them and a second later the black ranger could hear the snapping of the metal support beams. He drove straight for the girl, snaking around the demon as he did. He passed her and reached down, grabbing her arm. He jerked her in front of him onto his storm chaser. Her heard the beams fall and looked back. They'd landed right where she'd just been. He let her down and turned back to face the demon.

"Get out of here," he told her. "Go on! Run!" The girl nodded and ran with the few straggling civilians. He looked at the demon, then just barely had time to bail off his bike to avoid getting his head roasted. He heard her laughing at him.

"Jasper!" Chris yelled. She drove up next to him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm- look out!" He jumped up and tackled Chris off her bike before the next fireball hit her. It did hit her bike though, setting it on fire. One of Jasper's feet unfortunately was too close and he felt it burn under his ranger suit. "Ah!"

"Jasper!"

"My foot."

"I thought the suits were fire proof."

"They are, but I don't think that stops the heat from burning us."

Chris looked at her storm chaser, still on fire. "Her fire is hot."

"Hey, watch it you two!" Austin snapped. He drove it in front of them, then dove off his bike. It worked as a shield as the next fire ball hit it. "This is no time for talking!" He took his blaster from its holster and started firing. The demon simply raised her hand and shot fire at the blasts. They collided and exploded in the air. "Well that worked well."

"Hahaha!" the demon laughed. "You Rangers are no match for me! My fire can burn as bright as the sun!" As if to prove her point, she raised her hand and all three of the fires burning near the Rangers suddenly got a lot bigger. The Rangers all yelled, trying to shield themselves. The bikes apparently couldn't stand the heat and exploded. The three Rangers de-morphed from the close shockwaves. Flamitora laughed as she raised her hand again.

"Guys!" Leo shouted. She drove at Flamitora, drawing her attention. The demon changed targets quickly and shot the red ranger with a fire ball. Leo shrieked and lost control of her bike. She fell over and her leg got trapped beneath her storm chaser.

"Leo!" the others yelled. Austin managed to get up and ran to help her. Andy meanwhile was shooting at Falmitora and riding around in random patterns to avoid getting bar-b-qued. The green ranger reached Leo and saw that she was unconscious. Jasper knelt next to him.

"You pull her out, I'll free her," the black ranger said. He braced himself and lifted the burning bike as Austin pulled Leo out. "Got her?"

"Yup!"

Jasper let the bike drop and he and Austin picked Leo up. He saw a fire hydrant and an idea came to him. "Take her!" he shouted, running off.

"What- oh!" Austin stumbled as he took Leo's weight. She opened her eyes and he politely set her down. She hissed and clung to him.

"Nope, can't stand," she said weakly.

"Don't worry Holy Smackdown," he smiled. "I got you."

Jasper meanwhile, hopped on Andy's storm chaser while the white ranger helped Chris up. "Hey!" he yelled.

"I'm just borrowing it!" Jasper yelled back as he rode off. He banked to the side to avoid being roasted again and fired at the hydrant. He hit it dead on and water started spraying at Flamitora. She shrieked as it sprayed on her.

"Cursed Rangers! I'll be back!" She snapped her fingers and disappeared in a black funnel cloud.

"Everyone ok?!" Leo yelled as she half limped, half draped over Austin.

"I-I think so," Chris replied.

Leo pushed the communication button on her morpher. "Quinn? Can you teleport us back?"

"You got it!" Quinn replied. "Z get the fire extinguisher!"

"Some sentences you just didn't expect to hear," Andy said.

"Got that right," Austin laughed as they teleported out.