A/N: This is a pretty long chapter, because there is so much happening now. Enjoy!
In the clearing near the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas, the two huge battle machines were facing each other, unmoving. Shane was staring out of the Plexiglas pane of his cockpit, an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine and into the back of his head. What was Lothor waiting for?
The feeling of unease increased. The whole encounter just didn't feel right. Not that any confrontation with Lothor and his minions ever felt right, but this time…
It hit him a moment later. It was too quiet! Normally, every encounter with Lothor or any of his monsters or generals was always accompanied by a slur of taunts, threats or completely 'blown-out-of-proportion' boasting on the aliens' parts.
Not this time. Lothor hadn't said as much as 'hello' when the five Ranger Zords arrived. Nor had he offered any condescending comments during the Megazord formation sequence. Shane concluded therefore that this time it was up to them to make the opening taunt as he reached for the loudspeaker switch.
"Hey, Lothor, that's one big Zord you have there," the Red Ranger said. "I wonder what you're trying to compensate for."
The Megazord reverberated with the laughter of the four other Rangers.
At Ninja Ops, Molly chuckled, and even Cam's mouth quirked.
That finally broke the evil space ninja's silence. "The only thing I'm trying to compensate for is six too many Power Rangers," Lothor hissed and flew into a sudden flurry of pushing buttons and pulling levers, making his giant sword crash down onto the Megazord's chest. The Rangers blocked a second slash while bringing up their own blade, and for a few long moments, the two huge machines exchanged parries, punches and kicks.
At Ninja Ops, a vision suddenly burst before Molly's mental eyes. The scene was quick but intense – the perception of smoke, screeching metal and fear filled her mind, making her gasp. But it was over too fast to make any coherent sense out of it. She couldn't even tell which Zord would be hit.
"Cam…" she said faintly, but didn't get any further as on the screen before them, the Lothorzord's fist slammed into the Megazord's shoulder, causing the Rangers' battle machine to stumble. Lothor seized his opportunity and aimed his shoulder lasers, blasting the Rangers with twin beams of purple energy. One of them went awry over the Megazord's shoulder. The other one hit its mark dead on – right into the Crimson Ranger's cockpit. The Plexiglas pane instantly disintegrated into a million pieces as sparks and smoke engulfed the cabin. The crackle of small explosions was loud – but Hunter's scream was even louder.
"NO!" Cam yelled, halfway out of his seat. And as shocked as Molly was by the sight of the damage the laser had caused, she involuntarily took a step back from the nearly overpowering vibes of fear she perceived from Cam. The technician was ready to freak out, but Molly was perplexed at the sheer amount of anxiety pouring from him. True, Hunter was part of the team, but…
"Hunter!" Cam shouted over the intercom, "Can you hear me? Come in!"
This time the vibes were strong and clear, and Molly's eyes narrowed as understanding suddenly dawned on her. She shot Cam a surreptitious glance.
Sensei Watanabe's son and the Thunder ninja! Talk about bridging cultural differences.
If the situation hadn't been so grim, she would have smiled to herself.
Instead, Molly let her mind expand, her senses penetrating the dust and debris of the Crimson Ranger's cockpit, until her mind brushed his. The mental connection lasted only a moment, but it told her what she needed to know. She clasped Cam's shoulder firmly to get his attention. "Cam, he's all right; don't worry," she said and the conviction in her voice made Cam stop his frantic typing to look up at her.
They locked eyes for a moment, and with a start Cam realized that she knew. Cam wasn't sure how to feel about that. So far he and Hunter hadn't told anyone but Blake about their feelings for each other, but of course with her powers Molly had probably sensed their affection right from the start.
The intercom crackled, and Cam closed his eyes at the sound of Hunter's shaky voice.
"I'm okay," the Crimson Ranger coughed. "Guess I ducked fast enough." There was a short pause before an awkward "Aw man, what a mess!" came through the intercom and Molly wasn't sure whether Hunter was talking about the state of his cockpit or the potential state of his suit pants. She had no doubt that the Thunder ninja was a brave warrior, but this had been a direct hit, after all.
Cam had resumed his speed-typing again. "Looks like you're out of commission, Hunter. I'm re-routing your remaining controls to Blake. Just sit back and for crying out loud, don't try to mess with anything!" Then he grumbled to himself, "Great. There goes another day of Zord-fixing. Again!"
Molly tried not to grin at the technician's attempt to look and sound annoyed, for she could clearly sense just how relieved he was that Hunter was okay.
Back in his own Zord, encouraged by the lucky shot he got off, Lothor cackled loudly. "All right, you puppies, enough with the fun and games. Time to get serious." He inserted the rainbow-colored CD into the hard drive of his cockpit's computer and punched in several commands. Once more he cackled in gleeful anticipation, then commanded his machine to advance on the Megazord.
Half of Shane's mind was still on the situation in the Crimson Ranger's cockpit and on his teammate's welfare, otherwise he would have reacted to Lothor's charge much sooner. As it was, though, he suddenly found himself face to face with his archenemy's Zord, which was now way too close for comfort. Shane flinched and a strangled 'whoah' escaped his throat while he struggled to get the Megazord's sword up in defense. But Lothor was faster. The alien Zord's arm shot out, steel fingers encircling the metal throat of the Rangers' Zord with vice-like strength. The Rangers' frantic attempts to dislocate the alien limb had no effect; the two machines were almost chest to chest with no room between them to maneuver.
"Now, you pathetic little fools," the evil ninja roared triumphantly, "the end of your Power Ranger era begins!" And with that, he hit a large, purple button in the control console before him.
Almost instantly, a humming sound ensued and the Lothorzord's arm began to vibrate. The humming seemed to travel down the length of the arm, into the metallic fingers – and from there on straight into the Megazord. The subsequent reaction stunned the Rangers, and, back at Ninja Ops, shot a spike of fear into Cam's heart.
It began as a wild spectacle of blinking lights on every console of every Rangers' respective Zord.
"Whoah, what's going on?" Dustin exclaimed. "Cam?"
"Hey, my controls aren't responding anymore," came Blake's alarmed voice at the same time as Tori's "Guys, what's happening?"
Cam was typing and hitting command buttons at the same time, his brows deeply creased. "Already on it, hold on."
A small part of the supercomputer's huge screen now ran what appeared to be continuous lines of code and as Cam stared at the seemingly random letters that ran rapidly down the screen he suddenly gasped. "Jeez!"
"Cam, what is it?" Molly's heart began to pound in response to the perception of shock she received from Cam, but the Asian man had already turned to his keyboard again, his typing speed increasing as he hit keys in such rapid succession that Molly was getting dizzy just watching. At the same time he spoke into the intercom, his voice now laced with urgency. "Guys, shut down all systems immediately! Lothor is…"
The Megazord went dark. Cam's face fell. "Oh god, no."
On the screen, the Megazord was now stock-still. The Rangers inside were still pushing buttons and punching commands in their now lightless cabins, gesticulating, but no sounds came over the intercom. Cam switched the communications to direct contact with their helmets. This made their voices sound thinner, but at least Molly and Cam could still hear them.
"Cam, what's happening?"
"The controls are dead, dude. Now nothing's working here anymore!"
"I don't get it! What's going on?"
"The entire system's off-line. Cam!"
Cam was punching buttons like a man possessed and Molly felt a pang of helplessness. All she could do was watch while Cam was trying to salvage the situation.
"I don't believe it. Lothor has corrupted the Megazord's systems." The technician pulled up yet another separate screen of code, but to Molly the lines of symbols, numbers and letters looked unlike anything she had ever seen.
"What? How?" came several shocked cries from the Megazord. An instant later, Lothor finally released his hold on the Rangers' machine's neck, backing off two steps as if to inspect his work. Nauseating laughter suddenly sounded from the intercom.
"Ha! And now the real fun begins, Rangers!"
One mighty swing with the Lothorzord's sword was all it took. The Megazord went down in a heap of screeching metal and the reverberations of its impact with the ground shook the entire surrounding area. The cries of the five Rangers inside seemed to be bouncing off the walls of Ninja Ops as they filtered through Cam's intercom system. It sliced right into Molly's heart and she pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle the agonized moan swelling in the back of her throat.
Cam was more in control of his exclamations, but he looked equally stricken as he hit the big red button on his keyboard. "Guys! Are you all right?"
Assorted groans and moans were the only answers at first, but then one by one all the Rangers affirmed their well-being. A few feet away the Lothorzord was leaning casually onto the hilt of its sword; Lothor was undoubtedly feeling at the height of his game right now, watching the spectacle before him with evil glee. Cam cursed him inwardly while his fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to keep up with his mind which was going at a thousand miles an hour, composing and discarding algorithm after algorithm to contain this virus. Nothing was working. The virus' origin was completely alien to him. He called up a screen that showed the schematics of the Megazord, and his forehead broke out into perspiration as he watched in morbid fascination how Lothor's virus program quickly mutated, attacking the Rangers' Zords' vital systems and rendering them useless with sickening speed. His eyes went back to the other screen where the mighty Megazord was on its back, helpless as a dead roach.
"Need more time…" Cam growled, frustration coalescing with worry in his voice.
But there was no more time. Lothor's Zord was only a few steps away from its prey, it was only a matter of seconds…
"Guys, get out! Now!" Cam yelled into the intercom. "Do you hear me? Eject! Immediately!"
"But Cam…." the Rangers yelled back, almost in unison.
"Rangers, you must retreat at once!" Sensei agreed. "Regroup at Ninja Ops. We will take things from there."
"But the Megazord…" Shane cried. He was cut off by Cam's brusque tone.
"The Megazord is lost, Shane," he barked into the intercom. "Now get out!"
"Isn't there any way to fix it, Cam?" Molly suddenly spoke up.
The technician turned to her, despondency lining his face. "The virus has completely corrupted the system. The only way to get the Zords running again is to wipe out the entire memory bank and re-install everything from my back-up. But there's no time." He took one of his hands off the keyboard only long enough to rake his fingers through his hair, then resumed his typing.
"How long?" Molly snapped and without looking up, Cam gave a curt shrug.
"Too long. Even if I typed like a madman and get just the vital systems going again it'll still be at least ten, maybe fifteen minutes." He shook his head as if to emphasize the futility of even considering attempting to try this plan.
Molly stared at the screen with narrowed eyes where the Lothorzord simply stood idly; inside, Lothor was obviously savoring every moment of his imminent victory over the Power Rangers' most valuable weapon. And that gave her an idea.
Ten minutes…
Sensei Watanabe was standing off to the side of Cam's keyboard, pondering the team's next step when Molly suddenly turned to him. The blonde Air ninja's face had taken on a determined expression. "Sensei, I think I have a plan that might work."
Sensei instinctively shook his furry head. "I cannot let you endanger yourself," her teacher replied automatically. "Lothor's Zord cannot be defeated without the Ranger's Zords…"
"I'm not planning on defeating Lothor's Zord, Sensei. But with the others' help I think we can distract it until Cam can get the Megazord back up and running." Molly wished she could elaborate on her plan, since Sensei was looking distinctly dubious, but they were swiftly running out of time, so she settled for pleading instead. "Sensei, please!"
Painfully aware that there was no time for lengthy deliberations, Sensei sighed and made an instantaneous decision. "All right." He turned toward the computer screen. "Rangers, you will regroup at the entrance of the Cave of Souls and meet Molly there. She will explain plan B to you."
Molly discarded her street clothes for her training uniform in one swift motion, gave her teacher a grateful nod and sprinted towards the exit.
From the speaker system came Shane's chagrined voice. "WHAT? But Sensei…"
Molly heard neither his protest nor Sensei's answer; she had already streaked out the door.
Sensei looked after her. "I hope it's a good one," he mumbled.
A good plan…?When she arrived at the foot of the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas a few seconds later, Molly was unprepared for the sheer amount of evil vibes permeating the entire area. She involuntarily staggered back a few steps, her hands at her temples, straining to clear her head of the psychic emanations. Then she looked up.
Lothor's Zord was huge, alien and thoroughly malignant. A wave of fear suddenly washed over her, and she immediately despised herself for her weakness. Weak and afraid she was no help to the trapped Wind and Thunder ninjas, Carmen, the teachers – not to mention the Rangers still inside their Zord. Shane.
The thought of him poured new resolve into her, and the guttural sound of anger that rose from her throat pushed aside her fear. With a deep breath she surveyed the battlefield through calculating eyes. They should be here any moment now…
At that exact moment, five multi-colored streams of light shot from the downed Megazord, and an instant later, the Power Rangers team came to a halt directly in front of her. Shane's visor opened and his brown eyes bore into her. "What are you doing? You shouldn't even be here, this is way too dangerous!"
Molly stepped close to him, meeting his glare with fierce determination. "There's no time for macho behavior, Shane." She grasped his gloved hands firmly. "I have an idea to distract Lothor until Cam can get your Zord functioning again, but I need the ninjas for it, not the Power Rangers." Shane's frown turned to puzzlement. But she just kept looking into his face and the expression on her features said Do you trust me?
The fire in her eyes was contagious and Shane felt his momentary anger evaporate; whatever plan she had, she needed their help. His gaze traveled over his team, then to the disabled Megazord before it settled back on her. At least she had a plan; that was more than he and the rest of the Rangers had.
At the edge of the clearing, the Lothorzord delivered a fierce kick to the Megazord's side which elicited not the slightest reaction from the Ranger's battle machine.
That did it! Shane growled with helpless rage; Lothor's guffaw burned into him like a dose of salt rubbed onto an open wound. The Red Ranger raised his wrist. "All right, everyone. Power down!"
They demorphed, and instantly Molly felt five expectant pairs of eyes on her even before Shane said, "So what's your plan?"
But before Molly could elaborate on any details, the ground shook as Lothor's Zord kicked the unresponsive Megazord for the second time and raised its sword in the process.
Molly groaned inwardly. No more time for even an abbreviated explanation; action had to speak now, so she simply grabbed Dustin's hand and dragged the startled boy forward. "We need to unbalance this thing somehow," she called over her shoulder, hoping Dustin would catch the essence of the first portion of her plan. He didn't ask any questions and that she took as a good sign.
A few feet farther ahead, Molly pulled him down, kneeling on the ground with one knee, one hand on the mossy grass of the forest floor, the other one still firmly wrapped around Dustin's fingers. The Earth ninja mirrored her position.
"Clear your mind," Molly began. "You have to focus on nothing else but your powers. I'll be your booster, and together we'll be able to magnify our energies. And once we have enough force, we'll send this bastard back to where he came from."
Dustin looked a little too anxious for her liking. "But how will I know when I have enough power?" he asked.
"I'm not exactly sure." Molly cast a worried glance at the Lothorzord. "This is kind of my first time doing it like that, you know."
"Mine, too," Dustin said, and his boyish handsome face split into a mischievous grin. "But I'm glad my first experience is with you," he mumbled, speaking low enough for Shane not to overhear the remark. Molly grinned back at him before she let her eyes roam around the area once more. They were very close to the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas, and a disconcerting thought suddenly came to her mind. She squeezed Dustin's hand to get his attention.
"We need to get the magnitude just right; too much will freak out the entire wildlife on this mountain and might even cause a rock avalanche." She cast another look at the looming mountain in emphasis.
The brunet Earth ninja nodded, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
A few yards ahead of them the Lothorzord moved. Apparently Lothor had had enough gloating and decided to finally move in for the finishing touch. The alien Zord came inexorable closer towards the fallen Megazord, raising its sword triumphantly over its head for the death blow. Molly's eyes flickered nervously between Dustin and the two huge machines. Come on, Dustin!
Dustin had his eyes tightly shut, and through their clasped hands Molly could feel the power of his element building up inside him. Timing was essential, but she dared not rush him. They only had one shot; he needed to be centered.
Suddenly, the Earth ninja's eyes flew open. His elemental energy spiked. Molly moved in synchrony with him, their fists hitting the ground simultaneously as they shouted,
"POWER OF EARTH!"
The disturbed earth emitted a noise not unlike a groan. The ground shifted under them and with a mighty shudder the earth ruptured. The crack in the ground traveled fast, covering the few yards towards the Lothorzord in mere seconds. A heartbeat later, a chasm opened right between the alien machine's legs, growing wider with incredible speed. Lothor's Zord had no opportunity to move before the gap was wide enough for the huge battle machine to fit into. And for a moment the Zord wobbled unsteadily; but then it managed to steady itself, one of its enormous arms reaching out to grab hold of a nearby pine tree.
Molly winced and jumped up, unceremoniously grabbed Shane's hand and pulled him along, another few feet closer towards the Zord.
When she whirled around to face him, urgency was etched into her features.
"We need a boost to topple it," she cried, already lacing her fingers through his as he had seen her do with Dustin. "Center yourself, focus only on your powers. You need to be calm in order to build up the kind of force we need for this."
Shane nodded; he had a pretty good idea what Molly intended to do and, clasping her hand firmly in return, he centered himself, concentrating on the Air energy within him. And since he had more meditative experience than Dustin, it only took a few moments until he felt the power of his element coursing through him. He knew he had to be careful, though; too little momentum wouldn't have much effect on that huge machine, whereas too much force could catapult the Zord straight over the chasm and onto solid ground on the other side. It was a precarious balance, but Shane couldn't do much more than concentrate on his own output of energy and have faith in Molly to do the same.
They yelled out in perfect unison, "POWER OF AIR!" at the same time as they hurled two powerful gusts of wind towards their enemy. The two gusts combined, growing both in size and in intensity, and when it reached Lothor's Zord, it had the force of a small tornado. Hit squarely in the chest, the alien battle machine lost its grip on the tree branch, staggering backwards and Molly could have sworn she heard Lothor's enraged cry before his Zord tumbled down into the chasm with him in the cockpit. It did not disappear altogether, however. The crevice, being funnel-shaped by nature, turned out to be just a bit too narrow. It gave the Lothorzord enough leverage to hold onto the sides of each rim, and the robotic machine was already straining to hoist itself back out of the crack.
Molly's spirits plunged. It didn't work!
"Looks like we need to flush this piece of junk farther down into its hole." Molly's head snapped up at the sudden sound of Tori's voice next to her. The Water ninja had her fixed with an intense gaze, and Molly sensed her intentions right away. A small glimmer of hope re-ignited in her. It might just work…
Tori offered her hand. Clasping it tightly, Molly could at once feel the strength of the blonde girl's water power. That was good, for they would need a pretty big wave if this was going to work.
The remaining four ninjas watched anxiously as the two girls went through the by now familiar process of focusing and gathering their elemental energies. A moment later, the air all around them grew distinctly more humid until it was at a point where the moisture was almost tangible.
In the chasm, the Lothorzord was now bringing up one massive leg, ready to swing it over the edge, when suddenly the two girls raised their hands, palms facing the giant battle machine.
"POWER OF WATER!"
And all of a sudden, the moisture in the air was not only palpable, but very visible, rapidly forming into a towering wall of water that would have had every professional surfer salivating over it. The churning mass of liquid shot towards the Lothorzord, washing over the alien machine with the speed and power of a freight train and finally sending it tumbling down into the rift.
"All right!" Tori cheered. Around her, four more voices joined in the exultation. Molly, however, was quiet as she stared at the crevice, not yet entirely convinced of their success. Her feeling proved correct when only a moment later a metallic hand re-appeared from within the chasm, followed by another. And with laborious effort the Lothorzord pulled itself back up, metal fingers digging into the ground, raking up large chunks of earth in the process.
Behind Molly, the Rangers' cheers turned into chagrined exclamations.
"Stay down, you…" she hissed through clenched teeth as if through the power of her voice alone the huge machine would plummet back down the hole, getting sucked into the ground itself, sinking deeper and deeper, all the way down to hell where Satan would then claim it as his new favorite toy.
But at the edge of the chasm, the Lothorzord did not adhere to her whispered demand; instead it continued to climb, slowly but relentlessly. A cold sweat broke out over Molly's skin as she watched the battle machine ascend. The dark vibes resumed, so strong Molly could almost smell the psychic scent of evil.
The Lothorzord was not finished; not even close. On the contrary – the Zord, or the villain inside – was most likely more determined than ever now, not to mention royally pissed off.
"Here, let us take care of the rest."
Like the ninjas they were, the Bradley brothers had quietly appeared at her side. Hunter had spoken without breaking eye contact with his enemy's battle machine, but the determination in his blue eyes did little to boost Molly's confidence.
She looked up at him. "But I won't be able to help you, I don't know anything about Thunder powers."
Blake stepped into her line of vision, a mysterious little smile on his face. "That's ok, I don't think we'd need it anyways." He looked between her and his brother. "We've trained together all our lives and are pretty attuned to each other. We're also pretty damn strong together." He cast a glance over his shoulder towards the still struggling Lothorzord. "Besides, the Zord is wet and from the amount of water you girls have thrown at it, there's bound to be quite a bit at the bottom of that crack and that's gonna work for us, too. Right, bro?"
"Right," Hunter affirmed.
Molly's gaze flickered between the two Thunder ninjas and the sense of dogged resolution she perceived from both of them lifted her spirits somewhat. "Well, he owes you for wrecking your cockpit…" She felt her mouth form into a crooked grin. "Do unto him as he did unto you," she said to Hunter as the blond continued to glare up at the Lothorzord.
"Payback time," he hissed, then turned to Blake, blue eyes blazing with resolve. "Let's do this, bro."
The younger Bradley nodded, punched his fist into his palm once, then flexed his fingers before they laced their hands together.A moment later they were breathing in perfect synchrony, allof their concentration focused on each other and the gathering of their elemental powers. Molly could feel the harmony flowing between them and dared to let her hopes rise a bit higher.
Electricity crackled over the Thunders' joined hands, running over the exposed digits and into the leather of their fingerless gloves. The crackle and hum of electrical energy was rapidly building up around them all until it was so bone-marrow deep that Molly could feel the vibrations all the way into her teeth.
At Ninja Ops, Cam ceased his unrelenting typing for a brief moment to watch the spectacle on the screen where so far the Rangers - no, the ninjas - were doing an incredible job at keeping Lothor at bay.
Now, as the first bolts of lightening zipped across the azure sky, Cam smiled. "This is going to be a weather phenomenon that meteorologists will be puzzling over for years to come," he mused before his attention went back to his keyboard.
'Just a little bit longer, guys…'
Final Showdown…
There was none of the usual features that normally accompanied an imminent thunderstorm - no darkening of the sky, no distinct ozone scent in the air – nothing apart from one sudden, sharp clap of thunder that promptly made Molly and the rest of the team jump.
Sudden lightening backlit the few fluffy white clouds and a moment later the blue afternoon sky was repeatedly adorned with jagged beams of light. Those particular bolts did not strike the alien Zord, however; instead they seemed to be concentrated on hitting the bottom of the chasm itself. What did hit Lothor's machine were the twin flashes of crimson and navy lightening that the Thunder ninjas now shot from their fists with cries of "POWER OF THUNDER!"
The water on the bottom of the crevice as well as the moisture that still clung to the robot was the perfect conductor, and as Blake and Hunter continued to discharge bolt after bolt of lightening, the electricity traveled over the battle machine's armored body, throwing off sparks in ever increasing intensity. The Lothorzord started to jerk and spasm and if it had been a living entity Molly would have sworn it was in pain.
Steam hissed from the outer hull, soon accompanied by acrid plumes of smoke as the Zord's electrical systems first overloaded, then fried altogether. Six pairs of eyes were riveted to the scene before them while Lothor's machine continued to convulse a few more times… – until, abruptly, all movement ceased.
For one long heartbeat, everything in the clearing was utterly silent. So silent that Molly could hear the blood rushing in her ears. Until Dustin let out an earsplitting bellow. "WOOHOO, ALL RIGHT!"
That broke the others' momentary paralysis and suddenly everyone erupted into bouts of cheering.
"Awesome!"
"We did it! YESSSS!"
"Dudes, that was wicked!"
Molly cheered right along with them.
Shane's morpher chirped in the middle off all the hoopla and he had to bring it up to his ear in order to hear Cam's voice.
"Excellent work, guys. And I've just finished getting the Megazord's primary systems back online. You're back in the game!"
Shane pumped his fist and gestured to his team. "Sweet! Now we can finish this sucker."
He turned to Molly, his dark eyes sparkling with joy, excitement – and something else. "Stay here, ok?" he said, squeezing her shoulder tenderly while his mouth curved into a warm smile.
The team quickly morphed and sped off towards their Megazord. Leaning against the trunk of an ancient oak, Molly watched as the Rangers brought their battle robot back onto its feet. The Megazord went straight for Lothor's machine, which was still wedged halfway inside the crevice, as immobile as the Megazord had been just a few moments ago. With a mighty heave, the Ranger's Zord pulled Lothor's contraption out of the hole, dumping it onto the ground unceremoniously. Faint sputtering and furious ranting sounded from the cockpit, indicating that its occupant was still very much alive and kicking. Probably his computer console.
The Rangers did not give Lothor a chance to recuperate. The Megazord retrieved its blade from where it had fallen on the ground and rammed it into the alien machine's chest with such a powerful thrust that it sliced through the armor like butter. Then it stepped back and simply watched.
Molly only dimly registered the purple streak of light that shot from the Lothorzord a split second before the huge machine exploded in a massive fireball of orange, red and yellow. A cry of exhilaration escaped her throat as she watched the bonfire of twisted, smelting metal. A moment later, however, her exclamation turned to a cry of alarm when Lothor suddenly stepped into her line of vision from behind the trunk of a large pine tree a mere few feet from her.
Eyes blazing, leather coat flapping in the breeze, he came towards her with long, determined strides, pointing a finger at her. "You! This is all your doing," the evil ninja barked. "And you will pay for this!"
Heart pounding in her ears, Molly couldn't wrench her gaze away from the furious villain.
Fight? Yeah, right. Streak? No. Lothor was a ninja, so surely he would know how to streak as well. Molly backed up, her wide-eyed gaze still fixed on Lothor's leather-wrapped face – until she tripped over a rock. With a yelp she fell onto her butt. Lothor moved swiftly, intending to seize the moment to snatch her up, when out of nowhere a huge steel blade suddenly sliced through the air, wedging itself between him and the blonde air ninja. Both Molly's and Lothor's astonished gazes went upwards where the Megazord now stood only a few yards away, looming over the evil space ninja.
"Yo, Lothor," Dustin yelled. "Don't you remember the rules? You touch the ground, you lose the round!"
Shane's voice was eerily calm as it joined Dustin's from the Megazord. "Let me refresh your memory on the game, Lothor. This is the part where you run away."
The evil space ninja tilted his masked face upwards some more to cast a silent, hateful glance at the Megazord before he turned his gaze back to Molly. His eyes were gleaming, his teeth bared, but he made no more move towards her. Instead he pointed a gloved finger at her and snarled, "You despicable kids might have won this round, but make no mistake, brat. I will find you, no matter where you are trying to hide from now on."
His eyes, glowing with contempt, sent a cold shiver down Molly's spine. He suddenly raised his arm, teleporting away in a bright flash of light.
Molly let out a ragged breath, struggling to regain her composure before she even made the attempt to get back up. She turned her head sharply at the sudden flash of red from the Megazord, but when Shane's arms came around her shoulders an instant later, she gratefully leaned into him. He didn't say anything, didn't patronize her with questions such as 'are you all right?' for he was obviously aware of how shaken up she was. He simply held her, and she was thankful for his regard.
"I'm fine," she finally said after a while, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice.
"Are you gonna be okay streaking to Ops? We have to take the Megazord back," he said.
Molly's eyes traveled over the still smoldering remains of the Lothorzord, then fixed on torn earth next to it. "Go ahead, I'll meet you there, but there's something I have to do first." She gave him an encouraging smile and through his open visor Shane looked at her with such affection that for a moment Molly thought the Red Ranger would lean towards her and…
"Come on, Shane, we've got to get this bucket back to the shop," Blake's voice droned over the Megazord's intercom. "Cam's getting impatient."
Shane blinked – and the moment was gone. A sheepish smile crossed his features as he gently squeezed her hand before he streaked back into his battle machine. Molly sighed and turned her attention to the matter at hand.
The gap in the ground was long and deep. She knelt on the ground close to the rim, already working on focusing her Earth energy once again. She was going to need a lot of it to patch this rift back together.
Suddenly, out of the periphery of her vision, she saw a flash of yellow light; an instant later Dustin was kneeling on the opposite side of the crevice, grinning at her. "Figured you could use a hand with the clean-up job here."
She gave him a smile of thanks but tilted her head into the direction of the retreating Megazord. Dustin waved his hand dismissively, thus answering her implied question.
"They don't need me to take the Megazord back to base," he said casually, already running his hand along the edge of the chasm. "So let's get to work on fixing what we broke, shall we?"
And while they worked, the sun turned into a fireball of blazing red, slowly sinking behind the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas.
TBC…
