A/N: Sorry this one took a bit longer. With the holidays and all...yeah, you understand lol. This is one of my better chapters, if I do say so myself hehe
I realized that I keep forgetting to put a disclaimer, so here it goes:
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything you recognize. I only own the name, the suits, the basic idea of Light and Dark Elements, the Chaos Three, and the Chaos Ranger, since I made those up. The characters are based on real people who own themselves.
And now, without further ado, I give you Power Rangers Element Storm Chapter 13. Enjoy!
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Episode 13: Another Day, Another Loss
Rufus awoke that morning feeling tired and stiff, but, in a strange way, refreshed as well. He guessed that even though his body was exhausted from yesterdays sparring matches with Erica and Stephen, his spirit and his will was replenished. He now had faith and no doubts about his abilities, and he knew that he would easily battle the other Rangers again. All thoughts of his horrific nightmare and losing control vanished from his mind and were replaced with thoughts of his potential victory against the Rangers.
Stretching out his tired, sore limbs, he climbed out of bed and went into the main room, well aware of how early it still was. Not as early as he had woken up yesterday, but still earlier than usual at 7:00am. Not surprisingly, the door to Erica's room was still closed and she was nowhere to be seen, signifying that she must still be asleep. And why shouldn't she be? She had had quite a day yesterday as well sparring against him. Stephen, on the other hand, was already awake and standing in front of a window, gazing out of it with a thoughtful expression on his face. He wore a grin that was all too familiar to Rufus; a grin that showed that he was thinking about or plotting something wicked. Wisely, Rufus decided not to bother him, and he went over to the telescope silently.
Looking down upon the world below through the tiny lens, Rufus saw who he immediately recognized as Will. He was sitting up in his bed in the back room of the Overclocked Café, his face as thoughtful as Rufus' superior. The boy could easily imagine what he must be thinking about. He smiled grimly at the possibility that the two wielders of opposite Fire could be thinking about the same thing, or at least something similar.
Although he would never admit it to anyone, Rufus had noticed, especially lately, many similarities between Will and Stephen. Sure, in Elemental powers and in "sides" as they were the two were polar opposites. But, they shared similar personality traits, similar fighting styles, and a similar will and passion for what they were doing. The Trienith Red Ranger had every reason to hate Stephen the way he did, especially considering the fate of his team at his hands. And the leader of the Chaos Three had equal reasons to hate Will, as it was his fault they had been forced into hiding for all those years and why they had ended up having to leave their planet.
For whatever reason, Rufus couldn't feel the same hatred for Will that his leader felt. Of course, he didn't like him by any meaning of the word, but he felt a strong sense of pity for the man who had lost everything on Trienith: his powers (for a time), his team, and his love…
Rufus' thoughts were interrupted on that last word by a hand resting gently on his shoulder. He tore himself away from the telescope and turned to see Erica standing next to him and smiling at him. He returned the smile and stared for a moment into his companion's eyes. They were full of emotion; past stress, worry, and hurt still haunted them, and the girl they belonged to, he knew. Erica had not and could not forget their past life on Trienith, nor the many painful defeats by the Trienith Rangers they had suffered there. As he put his arm around her shoulder and held her, he decided that she would be his reason to fight. He desired so much for her to have the life they had always dreamed of. That was why he had to defeat the Power Rangers and fulfill the plan Stephen had for them. He wanted to give Erica the world, and if that was the only way he could do it, then so be it. It would be done for Erica.
Jud sat at the kitchen table in Sean's house, watching as his friend got ready for school. Marie was seated next to him, eating a bowl of cereal, fully dressed and ready. When Sean was finished, Jud would have to leave, but for now, the two of them could talk. It was nice, since it had been so long since they had had a chance to really talk like this. But, right now, there was a bit of a lull in the conversation, and a semi-awkward silence passed between them. At last, Jud spoke again, giving his friend a sly look.
"So," he began. "What's the deal with you and Beth?"
Sean started at the question and turned to stare at Jud incredulously. "What do you mean?" he answered after a moment, continuing what he was doing before and looking away from his questioner.
"Well, you obviously have feelings for her." Jud grinned as he waited for him to respond. The White Ranger stopped making his sister's lunch and wheeled around and stared at his friend again, blinking silently at him, his cheeks slowly turning a bright pink under the eyes of Jud and Marie.
With some effort, he spoke again. "Is it really that obvious?" he asked. The two at the table looked at each other, then back at him. They nodded, serious expressions on their faces, although their eyes were brimming with laughter. Sean groaned slightly and sighed, continuing to make Marie's lunch and saying nothing else. There was a moment's silence before Jud spoke again.
"Dude, if you love her, just tell her."
Sean winced, a certain memory flooding his mind. He was glad that he had his back to the others and they couldn't see his face. "I...can't." he said softly, trying to hide the hurt in his voice.
Jud shook his head at him. "Sure you can," he replied with an encouraging tone.
The White Ranger finished what he was doing and came over to the table to sit next to his friend an his sister. "No, I can't," he repeated. "What if she doesn't feel the same way?"
Much to his surprise, Jud laughed at that. "It's obvious that she does, man," he said, patting Sean on the back. Sean looked at him questioningly as his sister nodded.
"Yes, it is," Marie said, laughing a little as well. She went over to the sink to put her bowl in it.
Sean was a bit taken aback. He didn't know what to say to that. Luckily, he didn't have to say anything, because, as Marie reminded him, it was time for them to leave. He sighed with relief as the three of them went out of the house, Sean and his sister to his car, and Jud to his.
"See you after school," the White Ranger called after his friend. Jud nodded, and the three of them went their separate ways.
Stephen came away from the window he had been looking out of and turned to Rufus, grinning. "Are you ready to go against the Power Rangers again today?" he asked, feeling certain of what the answer would be.
The Chaos Ranger nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'm itching for another battle and another chance to defeat them."
"Good." Stephen laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "Because I have a plan. We always attack them in the same place, in front of the café. But, today, we're going to do things a little differently. You shall attack their school, and bring some Crodus with you. That will make things more difficult for them, I should say."
The two younger ones looked at each other and smiled.
"Excellent, Stephen," Rufus said. Erica nodded her agreement, but said nothing, secretly wishing that she could go as well and help. She didn't dare ask to do that, though, for fear of how their leader would respond to such a request.
The older boy nodded. "Go ahead and get ready," he ordered. "I'll let you know when the time is right."
Nodding as well, Rufus left and went to his room, followed by Erica. There wasn't much to do to "get ready", so he just sat on his bed to wait. Erica sat next to him and rested her hand on top of his. He smiled at her warmly and brushed a hair out of her eyes with his other hand. Silence filled the room, but it was a content silence and not an uncomfortable one. After a while, though, Erica spoke.
"I wish I could go with you and fight by your side, Rufus," she said, looking away. He nodded.
"So do I," he said. "But, this is something I have to do on my own. Plus, Stephen would never allow it."
"I know," she agreed. "I still wish I could though."
"Yeah." He said nothing more for a few moments, then spoke again. "It won't be much longer, Erica. I feel that soon, I will defeat the Rangers, and we'll be able to fulfill our plan. Then, we can finally have the life we've dreamed of."
Erica nodded silently, but her thoughts told her differently. It wasn't their plan. It was Stephen's. And the result of the plan was not entirely the life she had dreamed of. She wanted to be back home on Trienith, where they belonged, and where she wished to spend the rest of her days with Rufus. But, she knew that that wasn't possible, and that the life they would have if and when the plan succeeded would be infinitely better than the life they had now.
It was lunch time at last, and Peg was relieved. The first four classes of the day had been a bear, and she felt she needed lunch especially today in order to get through her last two classes. Lunch was always so relaxing for her.
As she neared the table where her friends always sat, she suddenly felt a strong blast of Dark Water hit her from behind, causing her to fall forward on her face. She rolled over to see Rufus towering over her, smirking. Taking a few steps back, he prepared to morph as the other students at the school fled quickly, running for the safety of the nearby buildings and classrooms.
"Element, Dark!" he cried, morphing. He prepared to attack Peg again, but before he got a chance, he was hit by Dan's Fire as he and the other Rangers came running up. The Red Ranger helped Peg to her feet gently.
"Are you okay, Peggy?" he asked, concern in his voice. She nodded weakly and glared at the menacing form of the Chaos Ranger.
Tiz glared as well. "Attacking from behind, are we, Rufus?" he asked in a sarcastic voice. "That's very brave of you."
The Chaos Ranger simply laughed at him, the sound dark and evil. "Do you think I care about your opinions of my actions?" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters now except that we fight. Come on, Rangers," he added, sneering at them. "Morph, and we will begin."
The five of them looked around to make sure that no students were watching them. There were no others in the outdoor quad type area, but they knew that many eyes were probably watching them through the tinted windows of the surrounded buildings. Luckily, they were far enough away from them that the onlookers would not be able to see who they were.
Dan prepared to morph. "Ready, guys?"
"Element, Fire!"
"Element, Water!"
"Element, Wind!"
"Element, Earth!"
"Element, Thunder!"
Now morphed, the Rangers wasted no time as they ran in to attack. Beth and Peg came up on either side of the Chaos Ranger, each aiming a strong kick at him. Rufus could not block both of them, but he could stop one, and he chose Peg, pushing her away before she could hit him. Beth however succeeded in kicking him, which caused him to stumble to the side a bit. It didn't take long for him to recover, and when he did he sent a blast of Dark Fire at the Green Ranger, sending her flying backwards, screaming in pain.
"Beth!" Sean cried, running over to his friend. "Are you okay?" he asked as he helped her stand shakily. She simply nodded in answer, although her helmet hid an expression of pain that showed on her face.
Dan and Tiz ran up to Rufus, kicking his chest in unison. He flew backwards a few feet but did not fall. Glaring at them from under his helmet, he threw his hands forward and shot Dark Thunder at them. Leaping to the side, they dodged the electricity easily as Rufus growled in frustration.
"Two can play at this game," Dan said, smirking at his enemy from under his helmet. With that, he let out a blast of Fire, hitting the Chaos Ranger head on. Rufus fell backwards, struggling to catch his breath after the attack. He stumbled to his feet and shot his own fire at the Red Ranger, hitting him as well. Dan cried out in pain and fell to his knees, wincing.
As Tiz ran over and helped his friend up, Sean turned to face Rufus. "It's my turn now!" he shouted. Putting his hands out in front of him, he formed a somewhat large whirlwind. Sending it over towards the Chaos Ranger, he caught him in the swirling tornado and lifted it high above the ground. After letting him dangle there for a moment, he released him, making him fall towards the dark green grass of the quad area. Rufus screamed fearfully as he plummeted towards the earth. He hit the ground hard and lay there unmoving.
The Power Rangers stopped in their tracks, watching their enemy with anticipation, wondering what he would do next. After a few moments, Rufus stood up painfully, his struggle evident by the shakiness of his motions. He turned towards Sean, his gloved fingers tingling with electricity.
"I must admit that was a good one, White Ranger," he said, pain mixed with anger in his voice. "But it will take more than that to defeat me!" In a sudden movement, he shot out a beam of Dark Thunder, hitting Sean as well as Beth, who was now standing next to him. The two of them let out cries of pain as they flew several feet backwards into the gate that surrounded the nearby swimming pool, electricity still pulsing through their bodies. They collapsed to the ground and demorphed, the pain having been too much for them.
Peg stared wide eyed from her position behind the Chaos Ranger as her friends were hurt. Anger built up in her heart at the boy in front of her, and she glared viciously at him. Calling out her weapon, she ran up to him and slashed him with it across the back several times, not giving him a chance to do anything but scream in agony. At last, she stabbed it directly into the middle of his back, making him fall forward onto his knees.
"No one messes with my friends!" she cried. She was about to swipe her trident across his side when he turned around suddenly and sent a blast of Dark Water at her. She flew backwards and demorphed as well, her trident disappearing from her hands as she lay still.
Rufus stood up and smiled, glad for any amount of revenge he could still get on the Blue Ranger. "Three down," he said, an evil quality in his voice that even he was surprised at. He turned towards Dan and Tiz, who were standing there watching the motionless forms of their friends. "Two to go." With that, he called upon his own weapon and ran over to his somewhat dazed adversaries, jabbing his lance into them sharply.
Quickly recovering from their stunned state, the Red and Yellow Rangers prepared to fight again. They were only momentarily hurt by the lance, and they called upon their own weapons.
"Red Fire Sword!"
"Yellow Thunder Sai!"
Tiz was the first to strike as he slashed Rufus with his sai. He was about to slash again but the Chaos Ranger blocked it with his lance. Dan took the opportunity to slice his sword across Rufus' side, causing him to cry out sharply and almost drop his weapon. The Red Ranger turned to his companion.
"Now, Tiz!" he yelled. The Yellow Ranger nodded, and the two put their weapons away and prepared to attack with their powers. Dan shot out a large burst of Fire towards Rufus and Tiz surrounded it with his Thunder. The two combined Elements hit the Chaos Ranger hard, sending him flying high up and away from them. But, this time, he had an idea. He teleported himself to the ground safely, not allowing himself to take a fall like that again.
Dan sighed in frustration and shook his head. Tiz laid a hand on his shoulder and nodded at him. The two of them ran forward to where Rufus was standing on the other side of the quad. They were about to attack again when the Chaos Ranger thrust both hands out in front of him. He shot Dark Fire out of one hand at Dan and Dark Thunder from the other hand at Tiz, concentrating all of his energy on the attacks.
The two Rangers stopped suddenly as the blasts hit each of them respectively, causing them to fall over and demorph like the others. They lay still next to each other as Rufus watched them eagerly, hoping they would not stand up again. Lifting his hands up to his face, he stared at them, hardly believing the power they had just released.
"I…I did it," he said softly, his voice shaking with disbelief and exhaustion. "I defeated them, at least for today. Another victory for the Chaos Ranger." He smiled at this, knowing that Stephen would be pleased.
Suddenly, he heard an all too familiar voice calling to him from off to the side. Turning to see who it was, he saw Will running up, unmorphed, holding his hands out in front of him.
"That's enough, Oscuro," he said. "You've done enough damage for one day. Go now." His voice was demanding, yet calm, and somehow, Rufus felt inclined to obey. He was ready to go home for the day anyways. But, he couldn't leave with out some sort of remark.
"No problem," he said, with all the sarcasm he could muster. "I'm done for now anyways, since I have once, yet again. This is the second time I've defeated your Rangers, Adus. This team is no stronger than your last one, and I'm sure they'll be destroyed just as easily in the end!" With that, he teleported away back to the tower, leaving the Trienith Red Ranger to stare at the spot where he had been standing.
Rufus appeared back in the main room of the tower, demorphed and panting, his exhaustion now hitting him full on. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest and trying to catch his breath. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Stephen smiling down at him, a look of, it seemed, pride in his face. Was that even possible? Was Stephen proud of him?
"Well done," the leader of the Chaos Three said, helping his companion to his feet. "You've defeated them for a second time today. It won't be long now. Soon, they will be completely destroyed, and then our plans will be fulfilled." His lips curled up in an almost sadistic smirk as he looked away, his thoughts obviously drifting.
After a moment he spoke again, turning back to Rufus. "You must be tired," he said. The younger boy mentally raised his eyebrows, thinking of how much of an understatement that was. "Go and rest. You have certainly earned the right to do that." Patting him on the shoulder, Stephen turned and went out of the room and into his own, shutting the door behind him.
Turning to watch him go, Rufus noticed Erica standing not too far from him, smiling at him. She walked over and hugged him gently, secretly relishing his touch. Wordlessly, she helped him to his bedroom and into his bed. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Erica sat at the foot of his bed, her hand resting on his, watching him as he slept. She could hardly believe the power he had shown today, and how badly he had defeated the Rangers. Then again, she knew that he must be thinking the same thing. Smiling, she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his temple, squeezing his hand gently. Then, she stood up and left the room, closing the door, leaving the Chaos Ranger to sleep after the day's battle.
Will sighed as he looked at his team, his friends, who were now seated at their table in the Overclocked Café, trying to recover from their previous battle. He had taken them home after Rufus left, knowing that there was no way they could have gone to their other classes that day. That was an hour ago, and they had woken up at least. That was a good sign, but he knew that their bodies and their spirits were still severely damaged, the latter showing especially in the dejected looks on their faces.
He racked his brain, trying to think of something, anything he could say to bring their morale and their hope back up. But, he knew that that would be a fruitless endeavor. After a defeat like that, only time could heal the negative effect on the heart, as he knew and had experienced so many times back on Trienith. Still, he felt that he had to say something.
"You did well today," he said at last, his voice both firm and soothing. The five teens looked up at him incredulously. "Don't look at me like that," he told them, answering to their disbelieving faces. "It's true. Sure, you suffered a defeat, but you used your powers to the best of your ability and you fought hard. Next time, you will," he paused for a moment thoughtfully, "we will defeat him. Don't let this dampen your spirits."
They each muttered a response before going back to their own thoughts and turning away from him. Will sighed, hoping that what he had said had at least sunk in a little, and at least enough to give them a bit of hope.
A little while later, it became evident that school was out as teenagers began flocking into the café. Sighing, Sean stood up from the table.
"I guess I need to go get Marie," he said tiredly. Beth stood up as well.
"Want me to come with you, Sean?" she asked, trying to conceal the hope in her voice. To her joy, he nodded in agreement, and the two of them set off to Marie's school. Once they had collected her, Sean headed over to Kim's house. As he drove, an idea suddenly came to him.
"Hey, maybe we could invite Kimber to come over to the café with us," he suggested, using the name his sister's babysitter preferred to be called. From her car seat in the back, Marie squealed with excitement, showing her approval vividly. Beth laughed and agreed as well.
"I bet she'd like to get out every once in a while," she said with a smile. "Plus, I'd love to meet her." Sean nodded as they pulled up to her house.
"You two stay here," he said, climbing out of the driver's seat. "I'll be right back." Beth and Marie watched out of their respective windows as Sean went to the door and knocked. They couldn't hear what they were saying, but they could tell by the excited expression on her face that she would be coming with them. Sean and Kimber walked back to the car and the latter sat in the back next to Marie.
"Hello again," she said, smiling at the girl, who returned the greeting enthusiastically. From the front passenger seat, Beth turned around to face Kimber, smiling at her.
"Hello," she said warmly. "My name is Beth." She put a hand out towards her. The girl shook her hand and smiled back at her, introducing herself as well.
"It's nice to meet you," she said. The four of them talked as they headed over to the café. Beth and Sean weren't as talkative as the other two, but they tried their best. It was somewhat hard as they were still upset over their loss that day.
Once they got to the café, they headed inside and over to their table. When they got there, they saw that Angela, Jorge, and Jud were there as well, meaning that they now had a large group. The others looked a bit happier now that their friends were here. It was hard to be sad when Angela was around, as they all knew.
As Sean introduced Kimber to the others, Beth noticed the same strange thing she had thought she had seen the other day. For a split second, she could have sworn that she saw Angela's eyes glow white, Jorge's blue, Jud's green, and now Kimber's yellow. She tried to shake the feeling, knowing that she must just be seeing things. It wasn't possible, was it?
Will smiled as he watched his team, glad that they were happier now with their friends. Hopefully, their spirits weren't permanently damaged from the battle today, and hopefully spending some time with friends would help them get over their loss a bit easier.
Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks as Beth, Sean, and Marie entered with Kimber. His eyes fell on the latter as he felt his heart skip a beat. He leaned over behind the counter and clutched at his chest. No. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. Fate really was out to torture him. But, this was just too much.
"Anaia," he breathed, his voice barely audible even to him. Del, who was standing at the counter, looked at him awkwardly.
"Will?" he asked, concern in his voice. "Are you okay?" The Trienith Red Ranger broke out of his thoughts with a start, staring at the boy. His face showed that he was internally writhing in agony as he shook his head at Del's question, closing his eyes and turning away.
"No," he said painfully. "I don't think I am." He looked back up at his employee, giving him an almost pleading glance. "Del, do you think you could take over for a little while?" he asked, the words sounding painful and forced. "Perhaps Beth can help or something. But I need to go lie down…" His voice trailed off as Del nodded.
"Sure, I can do that," he said gently. He didn't know what was wrong with his boss and friend, but it was obvious that he was in no condition to work right now.
Whispering his thanks, Will made his way into the back room, collapsing onto his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, his face scrunched up in pain.
"Anaia," he whispered. "That girl…she looks just like her. But it can't be. I watched her die in that last attack by Stephen. I watched her disappear as she was destroyed. How could that be her?" He closed his eyes and tried to control his emotions. "It's not. It's not her. She just looks like her. Fate is focusing all its efforts on torturing me. It's my fault that the others are gone, and now fate wants me to suffer because of that." His hand went to his head as he tried to focus himself, telling himself that it was just a coincidence.
"But no," he said aloud, talking to nothing but the shadows in the corners. "It can't be a coincidence, can it? All four of my former team mates are now out in the café, or at least people who look exactly like them in every way. But how is that possible? Even if they were somehow alive, surely they would have aged as well. They should be as old as I am, right?" Tears began to well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks, his pain intensifying with each one, it seemed.
"Anaia…" he breathed yet again. "She looks just like you. But you are gone forever, I know. The world is playing tricks on me. It's paying me back for allowing you to die. I should have saved you. I should have stopped Stephen. I should have been the one to die in his attack, not you or the others. Especially not you, Anaia, my love."
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A/N: Well, apparently I can't do review responses in my chapters anymore, which bites majorly. Oh, well. I hope it won't discourage you guys from reviewing! If you have any questions or anything I'll send you a private message or whatever back, but otherwise I probably won't.
I hope you liked it! Leave a review!
