A/N: FINALLY an update! I know I've been MIA for a while but i haven't had much inspiration lately and I am SO sorry about that! Hopefully i can update soon. Sorry again guys
Chapter 9: Fire Heart
-Rootcore-
Aria was doing some of her research at the round table in the middle of the room, her nose buried deep into the old book when the crystal ball alerted trouble.
She quickly rung up her friends
"Guys," she began "there's dark magic in your area, go check it out"
"We can't all split on Toby" she heard Nick say "V and I will go check it out"
"You better hurry" Aria warned and disconnected from the rangers. Peering into the ball she watched as the rangers arrived to the scene, only to see a taxi sitting there.
Nick and Vida had puzzled looks on their faces but Aria knew, from experience, that not everything is at it seems. Suddenly the taxi transformed into a hideous creature and the Red and Pink Mystics did not hesitate to leap into action. Aria watched with pride, their fighting skills have improved a lot since visiting the Academy. Eventually, the two rangers morphed to battle the monster. They were doing pretty well too, until Necrolai appeared.
Aria immediately sent an alert to the remaining three rangers who showed up right away. As the three came onto the scene Necrolai sent the taxi off. The Five tried to follow but were stopped by Necrolai; she blasted them to the ground before taking off herself.
Aria groaned in frustration until something caught her eye. Up on the wall of the lot the rangers were on was a camera. Aria cursed out loud, causing Udonna to come into the room
"What is it Aria?" she asked with worry
"The camera" she ground out. In her Ninja Storm days they were always careful about their identities and morphing in public. Maybe it was because of their ninja training or something but they were never caught. She made a reminder in her head to give the rangers a crash course on stealth.
-Later-
When the rangers came back into Rootcore Aria called up Cam to help guide her into hacking into the security feed that caught the rangers. Yeah she was good with computers but Cam had eyes literally everywhere.
"You guys need to be careful about morphing in public you guys" Aria chided
"She's right," Udonna agreed "This tape could put us all in danger"
Aria was about to erase the tape when Maddie stopped her, "Wait what is that?"
Aria zoomed into he shot to show Necrolai holding up an old looking map, "It's a map" she informed
Udonna stepped forward, her face etched with worry "Yes, but there's more to it than that" her eyes squinted as she tried to read it "It's a map written by the Ancients"
"Let's take a closer look" she said as she pointed her wand to the screen, the screen shimmered in black before a copy of the map appeared on the desk before her. Udonna picked it up and studied it
"Oh my, I thought this was lost" Udonna breathed "It's a map to the Fire Heart"
"The Fire Heart?" Aria repeated, she had only heard stories from Udonna
"No way!" Chip exclaimed excitedly before his face frowned in confusion "What's the Fire Heart?"
"The Ancients believed it to be the source of tremendous power" Udonna said, still staring down at the map
"Which means we need to find it," Vida concluded "before Necrolai gets her scaly little hands on it"
"That won't be easy V" Aria said as got up to stand by Udonna to look at the map "It says that you have to go through the Cimmerian Forest"
"That's all right," Xander smirked "We like forests, don't we guys"
Aria looked at the green ranger "Imagine your worst nightmare then multiply that by like…200"
"That's easy," Chip grinned "My mom puts my cellphone in the dryer, and the next time we morph, my uniform really tiny" The Five burst out laughing but Udonna and Aria's faces were serious and kinda frustrated at the rangers
"Guys, I've read about the forest numerous times. It's not something to joke about"
"You are about to begin your most dangerous journey you have ever undertaken. Your path will be filled with unimaginable danger, evil creatures, and ravenous demons."
"I'll go with them Udonna" Aria said as she stepped away from her teacher and towards the Five
She nodded in understanding; they were still new to all this and they'd need as much help as they could get. "Remember, returning with the Fire Heart will not be your success. Your success will be to return at all."
After handing the map to Aria the six rangers walked out of Rootcore and towards the Cimmerian Forest.
-Cimmerian Forest-
"This isn't so bad" Chip tried as they neared the Forest
"I'm not looking forward to this" Maddie admitted
"Me neither" Nick agreed
Aria was nervous as hell but she tried to keep it together for her team "We have a map, we should be fine if we follow what it says." She turned to look back at them "And we have each other's backs, we stick together and we'll be good"
"I'll take the lead on this one" Xander said cockily "I know how to read maps pretty well."
Aria frowned "And I was trained how to read maps and ancient scrolls since I was eleven. There's a difference between thinking you know how read to read maps and being taught how to read a map"
"Well, my magic is trees and we are going into a forest." Xander argued "Also like Toby said, I'm a born leader"
Aria quirked an eyebrow before surrendering the map to him "Alright 'Born Leader' lead the way"
Xander grabbed the map and began walking ahead. Aria leaned over to Nick "I'm so gonna regret that…"
They continued through the forest when they found the skeleton of some creature rotting away on the ground. "This is my kinda place" Chip announce
"It sure isn't mine" Maddie countered
Somewhere above them a branch snapped "What was that?" Maddie asked
"Just keep moving" Nick said
"I knew I should've called Dustin and my brothers before coming here" Aria said to herself, following behind Xander
Suddenly Xander just stopped out of nowhere "Whoa" he said as we all crashed into him
Vida was telling him off when suddenly they heard a sound in the wind.
"Did you hear that?" Aria asked, already falling into her fighting stance
"I've had a feeling something's been following us since we started. But I didn't want to say anything, cause I always think something's following us."
All of a sudden Phineas appeared in front of them, hanging upside down from a low hanging branch
"Sorry Phineas," Xander began "we're on a mission, don't have time for a visit."
Phineas flipped off the branch, over the rangers, and landed behind them.
"Tell you what," he began "seeing you asked so nicely, I'll take you through the forest"
"Maybe we should let Phineas lead" Nick tried
Aria added on "He does sound like he knows the place"
"I like them," Phineas announced "They know what they're talking about. I know this place like the back of my—oh, new wart"
Xander shook his head "Look, don't need any help. I know exactly where I'm going."
He started forward before Aria stopped him and said "As my Sensei once said, 'the best quality of a leader is to understand when to be a follower'. I'm going with Phineas" she announced as she stood by the Troblin.
She looked at the rangers expectedly and waited for them to join her. However she could see the hesitation in their eyes. On one hand they wanted to go with Phineas while on the other, they wanted to go with their friend. Eventually the Five decided to stick together and headed off deep into the woods leaving Aria with Phineas.
She watched her friends walk away before glancing back at the Troblin. He gave a grin and a little wave. She gave her own little wave in return, still staring back at her friends. "I feel bad for leaving them" she admitted
"Well technically they left you" Phineas pointed out
She gave him a look that clearly stated 'Are you kidding me?' "Can we please follow them?"
"Okay, this way!" he said cheerfully.
Aria took a deep breath and followed the Troblin. They trekked through the forest a little before they heard the voices of the Five. Phineas had his goofy grin on his face before climbing up on a branch. Aria stood back, arms crossed over her chest and waited for her friends; when they were in sight Phineas revealed himself, hanging upside down from the branch. "I wouldn't go that way" he warned before flipping off. "Only took me a couple of years to realize that landing on my feet was easier than landing on my face"
Aria chuckled at him before taking a good look at her friends. They were caked in mud from head to toe, "What happened to you guys?"
They all sent a little glare to Xander, who was still looking at the fork in the road with a look of frustration.
"Maybe now is a good time to ask Phineas for help" Maddie suggested
"We don't need anything" Xander insisted "We are fine"
"Yeah, clearly by the looks of things you don't need any help" Aria pushed, stepping closer to the other Mystics
"You're right. You don't need anything" Phineas added "Because very soon you're about to be eaten by a boar beast. But hey, once again, have a nice day"
Phineas took a step back while Aria waited for someone to follow them
"They're just tryna scare us. Come on guys" Xander tried
"He's tryna help Xander!" a frustrated Aria said "God you worse than Shane and Hunter! Just let Phineas take the lead; we'll get through it faster"
"I'm going with them" Nick said shaking his head at the green ranger
"Me too" Vida added "Guys?"
Chip and Maddie looked at Xander then at Phineas and with a shrug followed Nick and Vida's lead
"Guys?" Xander whined "I know where I'm going" Maddie and Chip gave him a look and continued to walk over to the others when Xander decided to make a deal "Okay, then okay. I'll cover your shifts for two weekends at the Rock Porium if you stick with me"
Maddie looked to her twin for help; in response Vida quickly shook her head no. Maddie however didn't listen "Make it three" she sighed
"Deal, Chip?"
"Deal" the yellow ranger smiled "I always wanted to see a boar beast anyway"
And with that they were gone. Nick and Vida rolled their eyes while Aria's widened with worry. She's read about this forest and the creatures that lurked around here; one of them being a giant spider. She shuddered at the thought and followed Phineas.
Not 10 minutes later they were out of the dreaded Cimmerian Forest.
"There you go. Congratulations!" Phineas cheered "You've officially made it out of the Cimmerian Forest. Now if you excuse me, I've got things to do" he gave a little laugh and ran back into the forest
"Let's hope one of those things is a bath" Vida quipped when he left
A couple steps forward and they saw they were actually on a cliff looking over a quarry
"It's always a quarry" Aria muttered "Why is it always a fuckin quarry"
"It's a long way down" Vida commented
"Come on, let's find the Fire Heart and get outta here"
"Grab on" Aria said. Nick and Vida gave her a strange look "Grab on tight and don't let go" she repeated, holding her arms out.
The two shrugged and did as they were told. As soon as they gripped onto her tight Aria streak down in a flash of black. "Ninja streak?" Nick questioned. Aria nodded with a grin before a green-faced Vida said "Never again"
"It's not for everyone" Aria shrugged
The three of them looked around at the quarry, trying to find something. Walking around a little bit Nick spotted a pile of glowing rocks. "Over there!"
They quickly rushed over to inspect it "You think that's it?"
"Probably, I don't see any other pile of glowing rocks. Do you?" Aria said sarcastically
"Let's see if we got our powers back" Vida offered. Aria was about to summon her magic but Vida beat her to it, grabbing her morpher and using her Tornado Power. The rocks blew apart revealing a scroll embedded into the rock.
"That works" Aria muttered, impressed by Vida's magic
Vida tried to pry it out but couldn't pull it out, "I'll take it from here" Nick said, pulling his own morpher out. His magic easily melted the rock away, allowing Vida the snatch it up. She popped the lid of the scroll and grinned like the Cheshire Cat
"The secret of the Fire Heart" she said. The three started laughing in relief that they finally found it when all of a sudden they were blasted to the ground. Now, when you spent most of your day hiking through a dangerous forest, with a rambling Troblin, under the hot sun you are bound to get a little cranky. Add the fact that when you finally find what you were looking for you end up getting shot at; you'll probably get super pissed. Well that's exactly where Aria was now. Her hands balled into fists and her eyes turned black again. The scroll flew up into the air and landed in Necrolai's open hand.
"Fire Heart is mine!" she announced "Hidiacs!"
"I'm sick of this bitch" Aria spat in her distorted voice and shakily stood up as the henchmen appeared. She gave a battle cry before taking off, her feet barely skimming the ground as she fired balls of her magic at the Hidiacs. She was soon joined by Nick and Vida, the three of them easily taking them down.
"They don't stand a chance" they heard Necrolai laugh. Their heads snapped to the bat looking she-devil only to be blasted again. Aria stood up immediately and fired her own blast, a mix of electricity and magic, at her. It hits its target but didn't do as much damage as she had hoped. Necrolai straightened up, clutching her stomach in pain and summoned the taxi-monster "Home, James" she sneered, when he appeared she grinned "Right on time"
'James? Really? That's what this guy's name is?' Aria couldn't help but think, allowing her to distract herself and calm down a little
"You think we would've learned this by now" Vida said in between pants
"Let's ranger up"
The three of them quickly morphed, not bothering with using their morphing call and leapt back into battle. Vida and Aria busied themselves with double-teaming Necrolai while Nick followed the demonic taxi, James on his bike. Using his MagiStaff Nick was able to force James out of his taxi disguise. The battle with Necrolai was a lot harder, even with the two of them. Their attacks were sloppy as they were exhausted from their venture through the forest, allowing Necrolai to toss them aside.
"V! Aria!" Nick called, helping the two girls up from the ground
They were soon joined by Maddie, Chip, and Xander; already morphed and ready to go.
"Let's show this overgrown bat what we're made of!" Vida said
Aria went first, drawing her Mystic Daggers as she did. She slashed at the monster, ducking from his attacks before lodging her daggers into him. A snap of her fingers and he crumbled to his knees from the electricity from the daggers, she withdrew them from his armor and stepped aside. Nick was next; he came running in with his Mystic Striker and attacked with no hesitation.
Meanwhile, Maddie, Vida, Chip, and Xander had their hands full with Necrolai. Each taking turns to strike at her.
James managed to kick Nick off of him but Aria quickly followed and struck him from behind. She then leaped over James to stand in front of Nick and used her black magic to send a ball of energy his way, causing him to spark and smoke from her attack. Nick was able to get up during this and leapt high into the air "FIRE POWER!" he called before landing the final strike on James.
But of course, seconds later James emerged 30 stories tall and ready for more.
"This is seriously getting old" Aria complained
"Time to go Titan" Xander announced
"You got this guys!" Aria cheered as her friends transformed into their giant titan forms.
Aria watched with pride as her friends took on their opponent. However her eyes were torn from the battle when Necrolai blasted her again. She wasn't thrown to the ground again but she did stumble a bit
"Hope you didn't forget about me Black Ranger" she mocked
"I wish I could" Aria sneered
With her daggers drawn she and Necrolai battled it out; neither one willing to back down. Aria noticed the scroll still in her hand and reached for it but Necrolai kicked her back. Aria shot a blast at her and flew backwards, the scroll was thrown up in the air and Aria leapt forward to catch it. When her hand closed around to old scroll she quickly scrambled to her feet and stared at it, as if to make sure it was fine. But of course Necrolai had to come flying after her, clawing for the scroll in Aria's possession. It became a game of tug-o-war between the two. By this time the other rangers had defeated James and were back to their normal selves.
"Let go!" Necrolai snapped and yanked up, tearing the scroll in half. Aria looked down at her hands to see the scroll torn in half "FUCK!" she cursed out loud as the others surrounded her.
"Look what you've done!" Necrolai growled and took off
"At least we have half of it" Maddie tried but they could all feel the anger coming off of Aria. She shoved the scroll in Vida's hands and stomped away from them.
"All of that, only to get it ripped in half" Aria ranted "Fuck! It's all my fault! I should've run with it while I had the chance" she blasted a rock nearby, causing it to explode
Nick approached to fuming ranger, grabbed her by the shoulders and said "Aria, calm down. It wasn't your fault. It was the bat-bitch" he tried
But Aria just shrugged his hands off of her and streaked off.
-Later-
Aria spent the next few hours walking around the woods, meditating, target practice, ninja training, anything to get her mind off losing half of the Secret to the Fire Heart. She had never lost something so precious before and it was taking a toll on her. she also felt bad for walking away from her team so she decided to head to Rock Porium to apologize.
-Rock Porium-
she walked into the store to see her friends all grouped together. She walked up to them and greeted them. "Hey guys," she began "Look I'm really sorry for snapping earlier. I guess I was just frustrated from losing half of the scroll after all the shit we had to go through in the forest" she said in hushed tones to prevent anyone else from hearing her
"Hey no worries Ari" Maddie reassured
"Yeah, it wasn't your fault" Vida added
"Yeah, well, it's gonna be a pain to try and figure out the Secret of the Fire Heart without half of the scroll."
"We'll manage" Nick smiled
Aria smiled at her friends in thanks
Suddenly a new voice was heard "Sorry mates, my tour bus broke down, so I thought I'd kill some time in here while it's getting fixed"
The Five looked at each other in awe while Aria was confused as to who this guy was. Or at least until her eyes landed on the cardboard cutout next to Xander. That was when she realized that this guy was probably some British rocker
"Hey, handsome lad ain't he?" he laughed, copying the pose of the cutout
"Jake" Vida laughed "You have got to meet our boss. He is your biggest fan!"
"Toby!" Nick called "Guess who's here!" Toby stumbled out of his office "Jake Bonebreaker"
"I'm not falling for that again" Toby shook his head "I've got work to do" he said before walking back into his office.
"Can anyone explain what just happened?" Aria asked prompting the other to giggle amongst themselves
A/N: So that's that. I hope you enjoyed, I'll try to update soon. Please chek out my other story Lady Red and check my profile for a poll. I really need your help so go vote! R&R! XOXOX