A/N: Spoilers for "Sensei Switcheroo" in this chapter.
"…and this is how I came to be stuck in the form you see before you now," the guinea pig finished his account twenty minutes later. Molly's celadon eyes had darkened to the shade of emerald green. Her hands were curled into fists in her lap.
"I really didn't like this Lothor guy before, but now…" she hissed through her teeth, but her eyes were sorrowful when she looked at him. "So how do you plan on, you know, getting back to normal?"
"I am hoping the situation will get rectified when we have managed to capture Lothor," Sensei said, but even to her own ears this plan did not sound very hopeful.
The guinea pig sighed. "Until then I have no choice but to, as my students say, go with the flow."
A suddenly impatient Dustin now turned to Molly. "Ah, in the meantime, can we talk about this Earth ninja thing you did back there? I mean…I figured you had some ground-breaking talents, with you being psychic and all, but I didn't think it was literal."
"Yeah, well, it's not something I like to advertise," Molly said quietly, almost demure.
"What about water?" Tori suddenly asked and Molly looked up at her. The Water ninja's eyes were narrowed as if she was already pretty sure of the answer. Molly hesitated for a heartbeat, cast a quick glance at Sensei, then, in lieu of an answer, cupped her palms into a ball. When she slowly moved them apart, a blue water sphere the size of a baseball floated suspended between her hands.
Molly was profusely aware of six humans and one guinea pig staring at her as she moved the sphere over the empty water glass, then let it pop, filling the glass precisely to the top.
"I've never heard of any ninja who could control all three elements," Dustin said into the ensuing silence of the cave, his voice hushed with awe, whereas Shane just peered at her, a new respect in his eyes.
But it was Sensei who replied. "There aren't any. Molly is presently the only one." The tiny teacher glanced at Molly. "I see you've been practicing."
The girl nodded, and when she finally looked up to face the rest of the astonished team, she looked downright embarrassed. "I didn't tell you because I know it's against the rules of the Wind ninja academy to control more than one element."
"As I have told you during our last meditation session before the school was attacked, this rule is not written in stone, Molly," Sensei said.
"No, it's written on the Scroll of Law hanging in the main hall at the Wind Academy," she countered, but Sensei graciously ignored the sarcasm.
"I'm referring to the fact that this rule exists merely to protect the mental capacities of the Wind ninja students." Sensei looked around, making sure he had the complete attention of his entire group. "When the academy was first established, many ninjas aimed to control more than one elemental power, but in most cases, the elements proved to be too demanding on those who strove to master them. Most students could not contain them in harmony within their bodies and minds, thus creating elemental conflicts within themselves that often met with undesirable ends."
"Ah, what kind of ends are we talking about, Sensei?" Shane wanted to know.
"In many instances, the element, or elements, started to control the student. The results were…insanity, self-destruction. That's why more than one element should not be controlled by one who is not mentally up to the task." Sensei turned to Molly. "But this is not the case with you."
"Uhm, what about Thunder powers?" Hunter interjected, and Molly shook her head. "Haven't tried my hands on those yet. Only Wind Academy elements."
Hunter nodded solemnly, but not before Molly caught the complacent expression that came over his face for the briefest of moments.
"Still, I think it's pretty awesome what you can do," Dustin said enthusiastically. He put his hands together, mimicking her earlier water sphere gesture. "I wish I could do that," he said with a wistful expression – until Tori punched him lightly in the shoulder.
"Please, you can barely do your own thing," the Water ninja quipped with a grin. "How many times have we had to pull you out of the ground when you got stuck practicing your Earth move?"
"Hey," the brunet pouted, "it's not like I haven't had to pull you out of the pond a few dozen times…"
The volume of their sudden bicker session rose a few notches when Blake and Hunter joined in with a few anecdotes of their own. Shane was about to add his two-cents-worth when his gaze fell on Molly. She was sitting with her hands in her lap, a solemn expression on her face, clearly not hearing any of this. He touched her shoulder lightly.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"I…I was just thinking…" She began to twist her hands in her lap. "My psychic powers, my elemental powers…what good are they all? None of them have helped with locating the students, and now it may be too late!"
Shane's chest rose and fell in a resolute sigh, his forehead creasing into a thoughtful frown. "You still think they're dead?"
Molly's frustration was evident. "I don't know, Shane. I don't know what to think. I mean, how can we be sure they're not?"
They were interrupted by a strange sound which was obviously familiar to Shane for he turned to Sensei right away. And Molly realized that it had been their teacher clearing his throat. The guinea pig was looking at them thoughtfully.
"There might be a way to reassure ourselves of their wellbeing, but I would need your help with this task, Molly." His eyes traveled to Shane. "And yours, too, most likely."
"Sure, Sensei," the Air ninja replied. "Whatever you need."
Sensei gave him a grateful nod and continued, "Since the attack, I've tried several times to establish a mental connection with any of the missing Wind teachers – as well as head teacher Omino. Needless to say, I have not been successful. I do not know whether this is because their present locations are simply too far for my mind to reach them, or whether I am hampered by my guinea pig form. But I'm starting to believe that it is a combination of both." He fixed Shane and Molly with a steady gaze. "And that's where you two come in."
Ninja Ops had gone quiet as the rest of the team inched closer to listen.
"I believe that, to make the strongest mental connection, Human physiology would be most advantageous for me," Sensei went on. "I conclude this because I have felt a definite increase in my mental powers during our chain of, ah, interexchange issues a few weeks ago."
Molly's eyebrows drew together in puzzlement, but apparently Shane knew what their teacher was talking about, for he only nodded. "Sensei, does it matter which body?"
"I do not think so, Shane."
Shane only hesitated for a brief moment. "Well, if that's the case, then I'm willing to trade, Sensei."
"Are you sure about that?" the guinea pig inquired.
Shane gave a seemingly casual shrug. "Hey, we've done this before, so I already know what to expect. Plus, it's only for a little while, right?"
By now officially and completely lost, Molly followed the strange conversation between teacher and student with her eyes. And judging from the unperturbed demeanor of the others, the rest of the ninjas also seemed to know exactly what Shane and Sensei were referring to. Molly caught Tori's eye, and the Water ninja leaned towards her.
"We had a little issue a few weeks ago when Cam believed he might have found a way to transform Sensei back into his human form…" Tori went on to relay the events of that failed experiment, and Molly's eyes went wide once more.
"Hold up, you mean Sensei and Shane really switched bodies?" she exclaimed and threw Shane an unbelieving look. Shane half-shrugged, half-nodded in affirmation. "Actually, it was me and Dustin."
"And I've had to hide the guinea pig food from Dustin ever since," Cam remarked dryly, ignoring the face the Earth ninja promptly made at him.
Molly looked simply stunned. "This day is getting weirder by the minute," she mumbled.
Meanwhile, Sensei turned to Cam, speaking in a low voice. Cam nodded and typed a few commands into his computer console that caused a section of the wall to the left of the supercomputer to retract, revealing a rather large machine with an adjoining pedestal.
While Shane took up position on the pedestal, Sensei addressed Molly. "I believe that together we might be able to increase the output of our mental energies sufficiently to reach one of the Wind teachers on Lothor's ship."
Molly nodded in agreement, and if Sensei's request surprised her in any way, she didn't show it. "If there's even a slight possibility of success, I'll give it my best try, Sensei," she said determinedly.
The guinea pig was apparently pleased with this answer, for he gave her a smile. "Then we will try in a few moments."
He hopped onto the surface of Cam's machine, and a hushed silence descended over the room as Cam connected his samurai amulet with the machine's energy enhancer. A hollow humming ensued, and suddenly, pale green light encircled Shane on his pedestal. It joined with Sensei's guinea pig form, and for several more moments the humming continued until, abruptly, the entire process simply…stopped.
Molly wasn't sure what she had expected, but she was pretty sure it would have been a little more spectacular than that. Her astonishment returned full force, however, when Shane stepped off the pedestal. His demeanor had changed; he stood straighter and when he turned to her, the expression on his face was almost regal. But his voice was the final confirmation.
"Well, then, I believe that concludes the preparations for our imminent task." There was no mistake that Sensei Watanabe was speaking to her from within Shane's body, and Molly's eyes flickered to the subdued-looking guinea pig who was just leaping from Cam's machine and onto the miniature pagoda.
"Can you guys please make this fast?" Shane said, scratching his now furry head with one paw while with the other he took a half-hearted swing at Blake who was teasing him with a stick of guinea pig food.
Molly gave him a compassionate look while she let Sensei lead her towards the middle of the room.
"Hey, Sensei, do you still have that mini skate ramp somewhere?" Shane called from the pagoda mobile and Sensei smiled benignly. "I'm sorry, Shane, but after my first few disastrous attempts on the real ramp, I realized that skate-boarding is not for me, whether in human or guinea pig form."
Barely suppressed chuckles could be heard from the assembled Wind and Thunder ninjas in the background, and Molly turned to her now-human teacher. "You went skate-boarding, Sensei?" she smirked, and Sensei Watanabe's temporary dark face managed to hold on to a dignified look. "I'm sure that you'll hear about that story sooner than later, but for now let's focus on the task at hand."
The mood in the room quickly turned serious again as Molly and Sensei settled themselves on the floor of Ninja Ops in the meditative positions of the Wind Academy. They were facing each other, knees touching, and as soon as Sensei took her hands into his, she felt his all-too familiar presence wash over her. The calming effect he had always had on her took over once again and she felt herself relax, her mind focusing almost out of its own accord. But then she looked down at their clasped hands and suddenly wondered how it would be to actually hold Shane's hands. True, they were his, but it was really Sensei she was holding on to. She threw a surreptitious glance at Shane's temporary guinea pig form watching them from the miniature pagoda. Hopefully, when all this is over…
Sensei's voice snapped her back into reality. "Are you ready to begin?"
Molly blinked and willed her head to clear of everything but the impending melding of their minds. Sensei's grip on her hands tightened, and she closed her eyes. Sight was no longer necessary from this point on.
"Remember our meditation sessions," she heard her teacher's soft voice. "Open your mind to mine; let our energies combine. Visualize the Wind Academy, your teachers, your kata sessions, your Air element lessons, anything familiar. Let the soothing routines fill your mind. And just…breathe."
Both teacher and student sat immobile, concentrating on centering themselves and focusing their energies - and suddenly, as if someone had flipped a switch, she was afloat, her mind surging upwards on a powerful mental current, higher and higher, all the while joining with the unseen yet familiar force of Sensei's energy. Together they continued to rise upwards, supporting each other, their minds expanding outward, searching, calling to anyone sensitive enough to pick up their psychic vibrations. Molly wasn't sure how long they were adrift; it could have been seconds or minutes.
And then they touched a mind.
It was a weak contact at best, surrounded by what can only be described as turbulence, but it was definitely a familiar mind they had grazed – or at least it was familiar to Sensei Watanabe. She felt his exhilaration and re-doubled her efforts to maintain contact with the presence while he called out with his mind.
'Sensei Omino, is that you, old friend?'
It took a moment, but then the responding vibes hit them both simultaneously.
'Kanoi? Kanoi Watanabe?'
'Yes, my friend. Focus your mind, we might not be able to maintain contact for long.'
Almost immediately, the connection strengthened, but only minimally. 'Where are you? Have you escaped capture?'
Sensei's mental voice was strong and calm. 'I am all right. I and four Wind ninjas as well as my son have all escaped the attack. And Blake and Hunter are with us, too. They are unhurt and safe.'
A surge of joy came from Sensei Omino before he spoke. 'That is a great relief to hear! I am in your debt for looking after them, old friend.'
A sudden surge of mental turbulence crashed between them, and Molly and Sensei struggled to re-establish their link with the Thunder teacher. When they felt the mind touch again, Sensei asked, 'Is there anything you can tell me about your situation that might facilitate your rescue?'
'I'm afraid I cannot.' A note of frustration became evident in Omino's mental voice. 'I know little more than what our abductor had boasted about to us when we first arrived on his ship. A most disingenuous individual, this Lothor.'
'Fear not, old friend, for we will find a way of bringing you back, I promise,' Sensei assured him. 'Are your teachers and students all right? What of the Wind ninjas?'
'As far as I know, everyone is well. We….re being….held in…..idual bubbles of….ome sort. Commu...tricky at…est.'
The psychic disturbances around Molly and Sensei were getting distinctly more forceful now, and when another powerful turbulence separated their connection once again, it was for good. Sensei's mind touched hers and she sensed his intention to withdraw. She was about to protest, but her teacher was adamant. 'We have achieved what we have set out to do, but now it is not safe around here anymore. We must retreat.'
And with that he pulled her back, away from the link and the psychic turmoil that was building up all around them; back to the sanctuary of their own bodies.
At Ninja Ops, the six Rangers weren't even trying to make idle conversation; they simply sat, or in Cam's case, paced around the room, throwing occasional glances at the two kneeling ninjas on the floor. Molly and Sensei could have been statues; at one point, Cam actually approached them, visually checking for any signs of respiration. He was relieved to see them breathing, albeit shallowly. All they could do was wait as long as it took and hope for some positive results.
The feeling of change came into the air without warning, and instinctively they all looked towards the two motionless figures. Sensei stirred, and a small tremor running between his shoulder blades was his only movement, whereas across from him Molly suddenly jerked. Her eyes flew open and she took in a long breath of air not unlike a drowning man at the same time as she tumbled forward. Sensei caught her and held on to her, pulling her halfway into his lap until she had regained her poise.
For a moment Molly luxuriated in the feeling of Shane's strong arms around her until she remembered with a start that it was actually really Sensei who was holding her. Grinning somewhat abashed, she pushed herself back into a sitting position and ran a shaky hand through her hair. "Wow, what a ride!"
Across from her, Sensei/Shane smiled at her. The next moment they were surrounded by five human and one pet ninja, all talking at once, eager to hear about their venture.
Meanwhile…
At the same time, Mara and Kapri were huddled together in the hallway outside the bridge of their uncle's space ship, listening to the dead silence that came from behind the closed doors.
The pink-haired girl turned to her sister. "Do you think it's a good or a bad sign that it is so quiet?"
Mara shrugged. "Well, he stopped yelling about ten minutes ago, so by now he is either asleep or well into disassembling Zurgane."
"I hope not," Kapri said. "That robot still owes me twenty bucks."
The two girls looked at each other one more time, then curiosity got the better of them and they walked forward, crossing the threshold between the opening doors carefully.
Lothor was slouched on his throne, his chin in his hand, staring out at nothing. Mara and Kapri knew this look only too well – it meant that the gears inside their uncle's head were turning, churning out another evil plan.
General Zurgane was nowhere to be seen. The girls inched forward, putting on two silly grins when Lothor's frowning gaze settled on them.
"Hi, Uncle."
"We, ah, just wanted to check on you. You know, make sure you are all right and stuff..."
Lothor just snorted. "Yeah, right. If you two are looking for Zurgane, he's not here. He'll be busy for the next few days."
"Uhm, doing what, Uncle?" Mara dared to ask.
Lothor shifted his weight in his seat, popping his chin onto this other hand. He seemed eerily calm. "He's doing extra duty as punishment for his latest failure. Right about now he should be floating outside the space ship, cleaning its entire outer hull – with a toothbrush."
Mara leaned towards Kapri and whispered, "I hope you're not in a hurry to get your twenty bucks back."
Lothor let out an exasperated sigh. "In the meantime, I've decided it's time to go back to my roots, girls."
"But Uncle, I didn't even know that that wasn't your real hair color!" Kapri exclaimed, staring at her relative's long, black tresses sticking out from the back of his leather mask. "Are you gonna dye it?"
Lothor rolled his eyes and just shook his head. "My roots as in my original plan! World domination, universal chaos and the spread of global evil! And let's not forget - to destroy the Power Rangers, you pea-brains!"
"Ohhhh, that!" came the dual reply.
"Yes, that! And since everyone's incompetence yields me nothing but migraines, I am going to initiate my latest plan myself." Lothor gripped the armrests of his chair, ready to get up.
Mara and Kapri first stared at each other wide-eyed, then at their uncle. "You're gonna do it yourself? Personally? Alone? Just you?"
"With the help of this here. Been working on it for months now," the evil space ninja said, pulling a small rainbow-colored CD from out of his leather coat. Twirling it between his fingers, he stood at last and slowly descended the few steps leading to his throne. The two girls were around him in an instant.
"Oh, pretty."
"What's it do?"
Lothor smiled like a shark. "You'll see for yourselves really soon, my dears."
TBC…
