SailorStar9: Well, now that Chapter 9 is out, this is Chapter 10. Read and review. Come on guys; is it so hard for you to leave a review, rather than just putting this in your favorites? Disclaimers: I own nothing, except the plot and the pairings.

Chapter 10: Scent of a Ranger

Shane, Tori, and Dustin were sparring at the beach as Shane grabbed Dustin's ankle and flipped him to the ground. Cam ran towards a cliff wall and climbed halfway up before pushing against it and attempting to flip over, only to end up landing on his back when he reached the ground. "He is such a show-off." Tori said with an eye roll before she and the others helped Cam up.

"Let me try again." Cam requested.

"You know what; maybe we should call it a day." Dawn suggested. "You look pretty tired."

"No!" Cam insisted. "I'm fine."

Shane's morpher beeped as he raised it to his mouth. "Go for Shane."

"Shane," Sensei's voice was heard. "Could you please ask Cam to return to Ninja Ops? I'm having trouble with the mainframe. I must've pressed a button I wasn't supposed to."

"I'll be right there, dad." Cam said before Shane cut the connection.

"That didn't sound good." Tori noted.

"I told him to stay away from the supercomputer." Cam sighed. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He told the other rangers before streaking away.

Tori looked down and sighed. "I'm really worried about Cam. I mean, he runs all of Ninja Ops, and now he's a ranger too."

I know, right?" Shane agreed. "He never gets any down time."

"The dude's gonna burn out." Dustin stated.

"Here's the problem." Cam removed two circuit boards. "It's just a couple of crossed wires. This shouldn't take much longer than…"

"Son," Sensei cut in. "I'm afraid you're taking on far too many duties. Why don't you try some recreational activities, like the others?"

"I don't have time, Dad." Cam stated. "I've too much to do."

"One must retain a balance in life." Sensei advised. "Work is important, of course. But so is…"

"Maybe now he'll accept my suggestion?" Ami muttered, seeing Cam had dozed off in the middle of the lecture.

"Sensei, have you seen Cam around?" Shane asked when he saw Sensei on the table.

"We're meeting up with Blake and Hunter at the beach and wondering if he wanted to come with." Tori added.

"He is over at the supercomputer." Sensei replied.

"What exactly are you two doing?" Tori looked over at the two geniuses who were working on the supercomputer.

"I'm helping Cam program an AI," Ami replied.

"AI?" Dustin echoed.

"Artificial Intelligence," Cam explained. "I've had this idea in my mind for a very long time, and I finally got some work done. I want to see how I can improve the AI of Ninja Ops. The best computer I have access to, is this one. And Ami is the only one in our group that knows enough about computers to be of any help in the programming."

Ami turned to look at the three Rangers, "What we're trying to do with this, to put it simple, is... a sentient, self-aware computer entity."

Tori understood most of what they were saying. "You mean, like those Terminator guys?"

"More than that. The Terminators aren't really self-aware. They're just programmed to act like if they were. But stay around them enough time and you'll realize they're not quite..." Cam paused. "Alive."

"Is such a thing even possible?" Shane asked.

"Think about it this way; is a reality-altering, magic-powered crystal with enough power to blow a city up possible by scientific standards?" Ami smiled.

Shane sighed, "I see your point. But you aren't dealing with magic, just programming a computer."

"I know," Cam said. "I never said I thought it was easy, but I like the challenge."

"You do realize that such a creation could be quite a... threat?" Sensei asked.

"Possibly it will." Cam nodded. "In the wrong hands."

Ami frowned. "Well, I see no bugs in your program so far. But it's still acting like a normal AI would."

"So it's ready?" Tori asked.

"For a test run, yes. But it still acts like a computer," Cam sighed, a bit dejectedly.

Ami nodded "Aiko?"

"I'm online and awaiting orders," a soft female voice said from the computer's speaker.

"'Aiko'?" Tori muttered.

"Hey at least it's not called HAL," Shane said with a chuckle.

Cam nodded, "It's quite weird to be addressing a computer, so... run Virtual Self subroutine."

The others, except for Ami, gasped as a young girl materialized in front of them. She didn't look older than 10, and had black-bluish hair and black eyes, and was wearing a blue shirt and long skirt. The strange thing about the girl was, she was... transparent.

"What the... who is that?" Dustin asked.

"My name is A. ," the girl said.

"But how is it...?" Tori asked. "It's that holographic thing, right?"

Cam nodded, "Yes. She... is using holograms to create her 'body.' I thought it'd be easier to address her this way." The others noticed he was calling the AI a 'she' and not an 'it' but didn't comment on that.

"But... it looks, you know..." Dustin gestured

Shane looked at the 'girl.' "Black-bluish hair, black eyes, and 'her' face look like a combination of Ami and Cam's facial features..."

Tori grinned, "Hey, it's only natural; after all she's kind of Ami and Cam's daughter, right?"

"I see what you meant, Cam," Shane said as he looked at the 'girl.' "Aiko's just standing there. A human girl her age would, at the very least, breathe."

Ca, nodded, "But even breathing aren't enough if she can't keep a conversation."

"It's a start," Ami said and started typing on the computer's console.

"What is she doing?" Dustin asked, then gasped a few seconds later as Aiko's chest was moving as if she were breathing.

Tori grinned. "I guess they got their own Tamagotchi."

"If I had feelings yet, I guess I would be offended." Aiko said in a monotone.

"So besides standing there, what can it do?" Shane asked.

"I have access to the base's security system and scanners, and some other minor features," Aiko said.

"Minor features?" Dustin asked.

Instead of answering, Aiko 'materialized' a chess board floating in mid-air in front of her. "Games and other applications," she said.

Tori frowned. "So she's like the OS of the base?"

"For now, yes." Ami nodded. "But I intend to work and improve her program until she becomes... self-aware and creative."

"So tell us, how much of her programming is complete?" Sensei asked.

"My programming is 85.7% complete," Aiko said.

"Aiko, from now on, do not answer questions not meant to you, unless you calculate your answer is the best in that situation," Cam said.

"Affirmative," Aiko said.

"And replace 'Affirmative' for 'Yes.'" Ami added.

"Yes," Aiko said.

"Interesting..." Sensei noted.

"What is interesting?" Tori asked.

"Don't you know what they were doing?" Sensei asked.

"Correcting her?" Shane asked.

"More than that," Sensei said. "They were programming her behavior."

Cam nodded, "Yes. Her behavior and reactions can be changed by voice commands, but it's still quite a primitive AI. Primitive for what I'm trying to reach, anyways."

"Does that have anything to do with her... looks?" Shane asked.

"Not really. We just programmed her looks to be like that. She won't 'grow up' physically since there isn't a physical body for her to develop."

"My scanners detect an enemy at the city plaza." Aiko said.

"Must be Lothor's newest minion." Ami noted. "Can the external cameras see it yet?" Aiko nodded. "Show us the enemy entity."

The others gasped as a screen 'appeared' right in front of Aiko. There was no real screen there, it was just a holographic window created by the computer, and in it... was Fragra.

"All over it." Shane nodded before cutting the connection and looking at his teammates. "Let's go." He said as all of them started to leave.

"Hey freak!" Shane called as the four Rangers landed before Fragra. "We're here to shut you down."

"Oh please!" Fragra scoffed a bit as the two Thunder Rangers joined the fight. "Bright colors are so last year! Hello, Darlings!" she sang, taking advantage of the fight and appearing before Tori and Dustin. Spraying a mist at the two Wind Rangers, she turned them into liquids and imprisoned them in two perfume bottles while she laughed.

"Let them go!" Hunter demanded as he took out his blaster and fired it in Fragra's direction.

"Say goodbye to your friends now that they're part of my exclusive perfume line! Ciao!" Fragra laughed before disappearing.

"Come on. We gotta go sniff them out." Shane told his teammates as the four rangers walked away.

"Shane," Ami's voice came over the communicator. "Aiko's got a lock on Tori and Dustin. Cam, I'm sending over the coordinates."

"Got it." Cam nodded and raised a slight brow when a virtual map with two blinking dots materialized. "You've been adding stuff to her programming, haven't you?"

"Guilty as charged." Ami chuckled.

With Aiko's map, Cam led the others to an old abandoned factory.

"How do you know this is the right place?" Blake asked.

"Well, this is where the map leads us." Cam replied, before opening the door as he and the others walked into the factory.

"Looks like some crazy lab." Hunter said as all of them looked around.

Suddenly, Fragra appeared as the Rangers got into fighting stances. "You annoying little Rangers. You found my old factory." She sneered and fired a beam at them.

Shane rolled over to one side while Blake and Hunter went to another, and Cam made it to a table.

"Smell this!" Fragra exclaimed before firing a blast of energy at the transformed Rangers, who were luckily able to avoid it.

"You guys keep her busy. I will go look for the others." Shane decided.

"Got it." Hunter nodded before he, Blake, and Cam fought Fragra.

"Back off!" Shane told Fragra as he took out his Hawk Blaster and shot her, having grabbed the box that held Dustin and Tori. He placed the box on the ground and opened all the caps as the liquids dispersed into the air. "Alright, here's Dustin and Tori. Good thing they were color coated." He said as she took off the caps and Dustin and Tori appeared in the room as the others helped them up.

Fragra got up before charging at the rangers and kicking Cam to the ground before continuing to attack the other rangers. "Enough! You picked the wrong green Ranger to mess with!" Cam stated as he got up and removed his gold armor as his visor spun around. "Super Samurai Mode!" drawing his saber, he charged at Fragra and slashed her.

As Cam and Fragra continued to fight, Cam kicked Fragra outside before leaping outside and charging his sword. "Super Saber, activate!" He commanded as his sword got charged with green lightning before slashing it at Fragra, who screamed and fell to the ground as she exploded.

SailorStar9: Phew, this chapter is done. Yup, and no Cyber Cam in this. Read and review.