Hello, all! I apologize for the freakish wait. We've been having some family issues, and my grandpa sadly passed away back in February. We've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get everything sorted, especially with my grandma; they were married for 65 years, so she's now trying to figure out how to live without him, but we managed to get her to move down closer to us, she WAS living 4 hours away. We're all healing, don't worry, it's just a slow process.

Also, they took Ninja Storm off Netflix. Which means I'm back to trying to find alternate means to get the episodes. It'll be the same way with Dino Thunder when I get to it, and Zeo and Turbo for Power Within. At least Mighty Morphin is still there, I guess.

Also, I got bit by a spider, and ended up allergic to the antibiotic they gave me, was put on a steroid, and was mildly allergic to that, as well. So I've had a wild year. I didn't even get ANY of the powers of Spider-Man and I quite frankly would like a refund.

With the sad news out of the way: Thank you so much to Disneyfan10, brankel1, RiveraJ88, Alex B. Goode, DJ Scales, Malfoy-Whitlock-21, and MusicLovingPunkAnimeGirl for your lovely comments on the last chapter! We're over 100 comments! That's so cool! Thank you all, seriously, so much!

Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and here we go!

When Sensei had everyone gather around a couple of marble blocks, Andi knew. Oh yes, she just knew that some hilarious shenanigans were going to go down.

"Right," Blake said, raising his eyebrows at the sight before him.

"No way, dude," Hunter said with a shake of his head. "There's no way he does it."

"I don't know, man, he's pretty strong for a little guy," Dustin said.

"Quiet," Shane said. "A little respect for the master."

Andi and Tori shared a look, and the White Ranger brought a hand up to cover her mouth and hide a laugh. God, boys could be so clueless.

"Now, watch closely, Rangers," Sensei said, before jumping forward. "He-YAH!" he split the block cleanly in two, causing the boys to all drop their jaws in amazement.

"That was radical!" Blake exclaimed.

Tori glanced up at Hunter, who's jaw was still dropped. "You were saying?"

"I stand corrected," the Crimson Ranger said, crossing his arms. "But how?"

"Oh come on, haven't you guys ever seen The Karate Kid? Power comes from the mind, not the body," Andi said with a grin.

"Correct, Andi," Sensei said.

"That's a great movie," Tori commented, knocking elbows with the White Ranger.

"Alright," Hunter said, rubbing his hands together, "I'm up!"

"Oh, you sure you wanna go there, bro?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

"Look, if he can do it," Hunter said, "Then I… can give it my best shot!" he grinned, very sure of himself.

With a shrug, Shane loaded a new block for Hunter, and stood back with the others as the Crimson Ranger tried to break it.

He did not break it.

Shane laughed, "looks like rodent one, Thunder Ranger zip."

"You think you can do it?" Hunter challenged, pointing up at the Red Ranger with his uninjured finger.

Shane looked at him, and then, blowing a raspberry, gestured for Hunter to get up. He did so, moving to stand between Blake and Andi as Shane took his spot.

Shane attempted to break it the same way Hunter had; with his hand. He, too, failed, and let out a pained scream.

Tori went next, the Blue Ranger kneeling in front of the marble brick. She, too, failed at it.

Blake tried a new method, by smashing his head down onto the brick in a headbutt. Blake also failed, falling back onto his back with a massive headache.

Dustin tried, next, but he failed as well.

"Alright, little Miss 'it's the mind, not the body,'" Hunter said, nudging Andi with his elbow. "You're up."

Andi snorted. "You kidding me?" the White Ranger asked. "I know I'm going to fail, and it doesn't matter that Jason's not here; he will somehow find out, he will tell the others, and I will never live it down. No thank you."

Hunter snorted in response, but still turned to Sensei.

"You have come far in your training but you still have a long way to go," Sensei said.

"Yeah, but you're like a full-on, super ninja master," Dustin said.

"And if we keep practicing, then one day we'll all be full-on, super ninja masters too," Andi said. She bumped her shoulder against Dustin's, and the Yellow Ranger grinned at her.

Suddenly, there was a yell behind them, and the Rangers turned just in time to see Cam easily break the marble break into multiple pieces. He quickly noticed the other Rangers staring at him, though, and stood back up.

"What?" he asked.

"Way to go, Cam!" Andi exclaimed, a wide smile bringing her lips up.

"Alright, how did you do that?" Shane asked. He sounded fully unbelieving that the boy in green had managed to break what none of the Rangers had managed to. "Oh, you used some kind of laser beam, right?"

"Or you switched the bricks out," Dustin suggested. "I saw that in a stunt show once at a theme park."

The other boys agreed with him, only to falter when Cam tossed a piece of the block at them.

"Okay, maybe not," Dustin backed down.

"It's gotta be a trick," Hunter said, shaking his head.

"Guys," Andi warned, looking offended on Cam's behalf. Tori had the same look on her face as Andi did.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Cam asked.

"Get what?" Shane asked.

"Just because someone isn't a ranger, doesn't make them completely useless." He stared at them, not caring as the boys began to look guilty. "I need some air." With that, the boy in green turned and walked out of Ninja Ops.

Tori gave the boys a look of disgust, quickly following after Cam. Andi, however, took a few steps as if to follow her, and then turned on the boys.

"You think he's mad at us?" Dustin asked, sharing a confused look with Shane.

"He's always mad at us!" Shane exclaimed.

"What did we say?" Blake asked, sounding just as confused as the other two.

"Seriously, guys?" Andi asked, gaining their attention. "Just because he doesn't have powers, doesn't mean he can't do the same things we can!"

"But he's the tech guy!" Dustin exclaimed. "I've never seen him spar, once!"

"So?! He grew up at a ninja school, you really think he didn't learn some things?" Andi questioned, hands on her hips as she glared at the four boys. They at least had the decency to look ashamed of themselves. "God, you guys are worse than Andros was!"

"Andros…?" Blake asked.

"Fifth Red Ranger, leader of the Space Rangers. I was 14 when I met him, and he thought my having this-" she pulled out the Velociraptor coin that she kept tucked under her uniform, "- was a bad idea because clearly a 14-year-old Earthling couldn't know how to fight well enough to protect herself. I proved him wrong. And what Cam just did should have been more than enough to prove to you four that he is just as good at what we do as we are, and what do you guys do?"

She met eyes with all four. They all looked away uncomfortably.

"You accuse him of switching out the bricks, or using a laser, or some kind of trick. Shame on all of you."

With that, Andi turned, leaving Ninja Ops. She quickly found Tori and Cam at the beach, Cam attempting to skip rocks over the surface of the water.

"You alright?" Tori asked, the blonde looking at Cam with a careful, but concerned, smile.

"Yeah," Cam responded. "Just tired of the lack of respect."

"Well, the scolding I just gave them should put them into order," Andi said, stepping up on Cam's other side.

"Besides, who says you don't get any respect?" Tori asked. "Cam, everything we're able to do is because of what you're able to do."

"Yeah, we would have lost a long time ago if we didn't have you building amazing tech for us," Andi said. "The way I see it, the Tech Guy might as well as be the leader of the team."

"It's not enough," Cam said. "I wanna be part of it."

"You wanna be a Ranger," Tori surmised.

"I get that feeling," Andi said.

Cam nodded, not looking at either girl and instead staring out at the water.

"Why don't you talk to Sensei?" Tori suggested.

"I have. He's forbidden me."

"Forbidden you?" Tori asked, confused. "Why?"

"He can't just forbid you from becoming a Ranger," Andi said. "Jason forbad me from becoming a Ranger when I was 12, but here I am."

"He made a promise to my mother, back before she died," Cam said. "I was just a kid then, but he says that nothing is more important than keeping promises to a loved one."

Andi took this in, and shook her head. "No. No, that's not a good reason. You would make an amazing Ranger, Cam, and he needs to know that." She turned as if to go back to Ninja Ops, but Cam quickly grabbed her arm.

"Andi, no," he said. "This is my problem to deal with, not yours."

"Cam, I think you're forgetting that I grew up watching my brother and his friends save the world, feeling the exact same things you are, now. I had to fight just to be able to go to the Winter Academy. I don't like knowing that you're going through the same shit I had to."

"You were a kid back then, you couldn't be a ranger," Cam reasoned.

"Justin, the third Blue Ranger? Was 12 years old," Andi said.

"Cam, your father just wants what's best for you," Tori jumped in, trying to avoid an argument.

"He's going about it the complete wrong way, but he is trying," Andi agreed, crossing her arms under her chest.

"I know that," Cam said.

"You have to tell him how you feel," Tori said. "Make sure he understands how important this is to you."

"He is the most reasonable Guiney pig I've ever met," Andi added, playfully knocking shoulders with the boy in green.

Cam grinned, holding back a laugh, and glanced first at Tori, and then at Andi.

"Go talk to him," Tori said.

"Okay," Cam finally agreed. "But if he doesn't listen, I'm not cleaning his cage for a month."

Tori and Andi both laughed, watched him skip the last rock over the water, and then turned to go back to Ninja Ops. But before they got very far, the water behind them exploded.

They turned back around, just in time to see Marah, Kapri, a bunch of Kelzaks, and a monster with what looked like a small city on his head.

"We hate to break up this greeting card moment," Kapri said, sneering at them.

"But we're like, here to destroy you!" Marah finished the thought. Then she turned to her sister. "Evil enough for you?"

Kapri sighed. "Whatever," the pink haired girl said. "ATTACK!"

The monster, Madtropolis, shot a laser at them, causing the three to jump away from each other to try and avoid the shot. They quickly stood back up, getting into defensive positions.

"Back off, geek!" Kapri laughed.

Just then, the boys arrived, having Ninja Ops in the huff after hearing Sensei's explanation of why he wouldn't let Cam be a Ranger.

"I've heard of cities coming alive, but this is ridiculous," Dustin said.

"Everybody's a comedian!" Madtropolis said. "Now, you gonna morph, or do I have to beg?"

"You got it," Shane said, "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Ninja Storm!"

"Thunder Storm!"

"Winter Storm!"

"Ranger Form! HA!"

"Power of Earth!"

"Air!"

"Water!"

"Power of Thunder!"

"Power of Winter!"

Now morphed, the Rangers stood in a line, watching the enemy as they geared up to attack.

"Cam, run!" Hunter exclaimed.

"No way, I can help!" Cam exclaimed.

Before anyone could respond to him, Madtropolis and the Kelzaks attacked, distracting them.

Madtropolis was good, knocking each Ranger down as they tried to attack him, while the Kelzaks distracted Cam. A final blast from Kapri's staff blew the Rangers to one spot, and Madtropolis stepped forward.

They'd all noticed that he had some kind of ball with him, and he took that moment to open it. "And now, for the drain event!"

Pain.

That was all Andi could feel in that moment, screams of pain exiting her, and the others. Forcing her eyes open, she realized what was happening. White waves were being pulled from her, and the same thing was happening to her friends, in their own colors. The longer it went on, the weaker she felt, but it was so painful, that she couldn't get her lips to form the words for her to power down. Her Velociraptor coin would be able to protect her if she wasn't in her uniform.

"What's doing to us?!" Blake exclaimed, voice pained.

"Try to resist!" Shane ordered.

"I can't!" Hunter said, his voice just as pained as his brother's.

Finally, all of them fell to the ground, their suits shattering around them.

"That outta do it!" Madtropolis put the lid back onto the orb, laughing menacingly. He rejoined Marah and Kapri. "Got 'em!"

"You guys are looking a little pale," Kapri said with a grin.

"Maybe try a little makeup, I've got this pallets that would totally match your skin tones!" Marah added.

"Go… to Hell… You bitch," Andi said, the pain wracking her body refusing to leave.

"Marah, zip it!" Kapri exclaimed, sounding annoyed.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Power Losers!" with that, the three of them disappeared in a flash, as did the Kelzaks surrounding Cam.

The Rangers slowly pushed themselves up, all of them sore and exhausted.

"Are you guys okay?!" Cam demanded, reaching out to help pull Dustin up.

"I feel like I just rode a 45 minute moto on a tricycle," Dustin complained.

"I haven't been this sore since Kim taught me how to backflip," Andi tried to roll her shoulders, but winced as pain flared through them.

"We better get you back to ops!" Cam said, wrapping an arm around Shane's middle to help the leader walk.

The Rangers all leaned on each other as they walked back to Ops, too tired to Ninja Streak.

Once they got there, they all collapsed, making themselves comfortable while Cam retrieved his scanner. Blake, Tori, and Hunter all sat on the table, Tori leaning against Blake with Hunter practically hunched over. Dustin sa between Blake and Tori on the floor, while Andi sat next to him, leaning back between Hunter's legs and her head leaned against his knee.

"Man, that guy worked us," Shane moaned, sitting as still as possible while Cam scanned him. "What happened out there?"

"Madtropolis drained your Ranger energy force," Cam reported. "If you go out and fight again, there's a good chance you won't come back.

"Dude, that's harsh," Dustin noted.

"This is grave news," Sensei said. "We must find a way to retrieve your powers."

"I could call the Zeo Rangers, but they would take hours to get here," Andi suggested.

"Look, there he is," Tori pointed weakly at the screen as a video of Madtropolis showed up on it, holding the orb and laughing.

"Alright, it's go time," Shane slid off the table, although the movement was not without its difficulties.

"You can barely stand, Shane," Cam protested, grabbing the Red Ranger's arm.

"I'm not going to just sit here while that freak is loose," Shane said.

"Me neither," Andi agreed as they all began to stand up on unsteady feet.

"Alright, at least let me adjust your morphers to give you a temporary increase in energy," Cam stipulated.

The Rangers nodded, watching as the genius quickly typed into his keyboard, and then hit the big red button in the middle.

"But it won't last."

Their morphers all glowed, and they quickly morphed, heading to the warehouse where Madtropolis was trying to destroy their powers.

Shane ninja streaked in, quickly stealing the orb.

"Sorry, but we're here to snuff out your plan!" the Red Ranger said.

"Hey, that's mine! I stole from you fair and square!" he shot at them with a powerful blast, scattering the Rangers.

Madtropolis mostly fixated on Shane, as he had the orb with their powers in it. But then he disappeared, and sent the Rangers into a pocket dimension.

Seeing Madtropolis ahead of her, Andi charged, calling on her sword as she went. She got in two quick strikes, only for the image of Madtropolis to fade, and Tori to come into view.

"Tori, I'm sorry!" Andi exclaimed. "I thought you were Madtropolis!"

"I thought you were Madtropolis!" Tori responded, putting her hand on Andi's shoulder.

"Man, I hate pocket dimensions!" Andi exclaimed in annoyance. "Look!"

The two looked up, to see Madtropolis.

"Together?" Andi asked, glancing at Tori.

"Together."

Madtropolis, ended up being Dustin. And when the three of them saw him again, there was actually three of them.

Each ranger took on one of them, absolutely sure that one of them was Madtropolis.

None of them were.

"Andi, come on, it's me!" Hunter exclaimed, holding his sword up in an attempt to hold her off of him.

"You're not fooling me, Madtropolis!" Andi exclaimed, believing her attacker to be the monster.

"Andi!" Hunter exclaimed again, "Come on, you know it's me! I'm Hunter, not Madtropolis!" He refused to strike her, merely defending himself against her hits and trying not to allow her to injure him.

"Hunter?" She paused for a moment, and suddenly the Madtropolis in front of her disappeared, replaced with a morphed Hunter. She had her sword against his, dangerously close to his neck. "Oh my God!" Andi quickly stepped back, dropping her sword and bringing her hands up to cover where her mouth should be. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright," Hunter stepped forward and put a warm hand on her shoulder. "You didn't hurt me."

"I almost did," Andi said, looking up at him through her visor.

"But you didn't," Hunter repeated. Right then, Blake and Shane managed to get Tori and Dustin off of them, throwing the two to the ground.

"Dustin!" Tori exclaimed, just as the forms of Madtropolis covering their friends faded away.

"You saw that, right?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know what I just saw!" Tori admitted.

"What's the matter? Can't tell what's real and what's not?" Madtropolis laughed. He delighted in confusing the Rangers, but they still had the orb, and he really needed that back.

"I've had enough of your mind games!" Shane exclaimed, taking a step forward with his sword in hand.

"Awe, you're no fun! I'm just getting started!" with that, the monster disappeared, leaving the Rangers alone. They all looked around nervously, swords up, as they tried to figure out what was going on.

And then, in front of their eyes, all of their teammates turned into Madtropolis. But none of them could tell who was really Madtropolis, and who was their fellow Ranger. Which resulted in them all fighting each other.

In the end, Shane figured out which one was the real Madtropolis, and shot at him, throwing them out of the pocket dimension and landing them back in the warehouse.

"Awe, that was too weird!" Dustin said once they all met up again. All of them were panting for breath, holding various parts of their bodies, and all of them in pain.

"Tell me about it," Shane agreed.

"I can't take much more!" Tori exclaimed. The power boost from Cam was wearing off; they could all feel it.

"The power boost is wearing off!"

Andi suddenly cried out in pain, dropping to her knees as her legs gave out. "Shane, we can't do this for much longer," she said, pain lacing her voice.

"Andi," Hunter came up to her and placed a hand on her back, only for Shane to be the next one to go down. Dustin was next, following by Tori and Blake, and then Hunter, collapsing half on top of Andi.

"Ugh, I'm crashing!" the Crimson Ranger said. He pulled Andi into his chest the best he could, both of them in deep amounts of pain.

All of them were pain, feeling their power ebb away from them again.

"Me too!" Blake exclaimed, hand on his chest.

"This is worse than an ice cream headache!" Dustin added.

"Thanks, now I'm hungry on top of everything else!" Tori tried to joke, but no one laughed. They were in too much pain for that.

An electrical shock from above them sent all of them sprawling onto their stomachs and backs, leaving them completely defenseless.

"Now! Give it back!" Madtropolis demanded. Shane still had the orb, and he clutched it to him.

"Let me get this straight," the Red Ranger said, pushing himself back up to his feet. His fellow Rangers slowly followed his lead. "I'm just supposed to hand this over? With all our powers in it? That's never gonna happen." Bringing his hand up, he curled his fingers into a fist. "Come on, guys!"

They quickly put their weapons together, creating their powerful cannon.

"Thunderstorm Cannon!" Pointing it at Madtropolis, they got ready to shoot.

"But which one of me is real?!"

Madtropolis suddenly multiplied, sending copies of himself all over the warehouse.

"Only one way to find out," Shane said, "Fire!"

The blast from their cannon hit all of them, dissolving the fakes and hitting the real one. The Thunderstorm Cannon broke apart, and the Rangers watched as Madtropolis exploded.

But before they could celebrate, a Scroll of Empowerment appeared, and Madtropolis reappeared, big as a skyscraper.

"Hey, I'm scraping the skies!" he exclaimed. "End of the road, Rangers!" He swiped at them, but they all ducked.

"Ready, Shane?" Dustin asked.

"Let's do it!" Shane responded. He handed the orb to Dustin, and then hit it with his sword.

"Woah!" Dustin exclaimed.

"I can't open it!" Shane said, sounding confused.

"We don't have time to figure it out!" Hunter exclaimed. "We gotta stop him!"

As if proving their point, Madtropolis shot a blast of energy at them. They dodged just in time.

"Cam! We need the Megazords!" Shane exclaimed into his morpher.

"You'll never last through a Megazord fight!" Cam protested.

"Look, we don't have a choice!" Shane argued.

"Fine, do what you have to. But you gotta get that sphere back to Ninja Ops!"

"Okay," Shane agreed.

"I've been working on a new teleportation system; I hope it's ready."

Suddenly, the ball in Dustin's hands disappeared in a flash of light. Then, their Zords appeared.

They jumped into their Zords, getting comfy in their cockpits as their Zords created the Thunder and Storm Megazords.

"Hey hey, two Megazords!" Madtropolis laughed. "Just make my day!"

He quickly shot some lightening at the two, sending sparks flying through everyone's cockpits.

"Rangers, I got the sphere!" Cam's voice suddenly came through. "Now I'm sending you some protection. It's not much, but it's all you can handle right now."

"We'll take any help we can get," Shane declared, picking up the power disk as it appeared in front of him. "Locked, and dropped." The orb from their Megazord opened, and a scarf appeared.

Wait, what?

"A scarf?!" Shane demanded. "You sent us a scarf?!"

"Just go with it!" Cam ordered.

"If you say so," Shane said. He sounded very unsure about it, but he did as he was told and used the scarf to hold off the next several shots. Then both Megazords hid behind it, and seemingly disappeared.

"It's gonna take more than a giant hankie to fool me!" Madtropolis shot at them again, forcing them to reappear, but they were unharmed.

Unfortunately, the ground around them was on fire, and the heat was just too much.

"The heat! I can't fight it!" Shane exclaimed.

"I don't even have enough strength to cool us down!" Andi exclaimed. She'd tried, and she'd managed to drop the temperature of her own cockpit, but cooling down both Megazords was just too much, and she slumped over her controls, weakly holding herself up.

Finally, they were all thrown from their cockpits, landing in a circle on the grass, and their morphs dropped. They all groaned in pain, bodies aching.

"Now, say goodbye Rangers!" Madtropolis said, just as they were beginning to sit up. Just as they managed to get back to their feet, Madtropolis made like he was going to slap them.

Only for everything to freeze.