A/N: Wow, that was quick. Yay for inspiration returning! This episode was fun to write, and I hope you all like it!

Anyways, without further ado, I give you episode 17 of Power Rangers Element Storm. Enjoy!

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Episode 17: Of Earth and Dark Water

Dan and Peg sat on a bench in the park far down the path and away from the playground. The boy let his legs dangle over the side while the girl was half sitting, half lying in the bench, her head resting on her boyfriend's shoulder. He had his arm around her and he was gently rubbing her side, his head leaning over on hers. The two were completely content and happy, enjoying the peacefulness of the bright day. The sun shone down on them, casting its warmth upon their bodies. The only clouds in the sky were white, puffy, cotton-like clouds drifting lazily in the light breeze. Leaves rustled gently in the wind, making a calming and enjoyable sound.

Everything felt so perfect at this moment. All thoughts of their horrible defeat by the Trienith Rangers were far away in the back of their minds. Right now, they were only thinking of each other and the pure joy they were feeling. Peg suddenly sat up and faced Dan, a loving smile on her face. She leaned over and kissed him on the lips, savoring the warmth of his touch flow through her. He kissed her back and wrapped both arms around her, holding her close to him. Her arms flew around his neck as their kisses became deeper and more passionate. They were in perfect bliss right now, and they didn't care if anyone saw their vivid expressions of love.

Stephen sighed, obviously troubled with thought. The Trienith Rangers were standing behind him at attention, each wondering what could be going on in their master's head. Rufus was sitting in one corner of the main room, reading his book in silence. Erica stood gazing out one of the windows, her expression firm and hard. Stephen went over to look through the telescope. He saw through its thick glass lenses the Red and Blue Rangers at the park, close to the area his Rangers had last attacked them. That had been a week ago, and he had not sent them down since.

Both teams had gotten much training done in this time, and both felt more confident that they would win their next battle. But something about this didn't seem right to Stephen. Will's team had one more Ranger than his did, and that meant that one of his Rangers had to fight two opponents. It just didn't seem right.

Stepping away from the telescope, he turned to the Trienith Rangers and cleared his throat loudly. The younger two members of the Chaos Three snapped to attention as well, looking at him. His stern eyes landed on Erica, and he nodded to her, beckoning her to come over to him. She complied immediately, not changing her expression. Rufus stood up and went near him as well, wondering what was up.

"I've been thinking," Stephen began, looking around at the faces of the others in turn. "The Element Storm Rangers outnumber us by one. It's not fair that one of our Rangers has to fight two enemies. So, we're going to do things a little differently this time." He looked back at Erica. "I'm sending you down as well to fight."

Erica just stared at him, hardly believing what he was saying. At last, she spoke nervously. "But Stephen, they have Ranger powers. I don't."

His face did not change. "You have the power of Dark Water, do you not?"

"Well, yes, of course, but I…" She was cut off as he continued.

"Then you can fight. Go for their weakest Ranger. You should be able to take her."

Erica sighed, seeing no way out of this. Deep inside, her heart was pumping with excitement. She was glad to actually be able to get some action for once. "And which is the weakest?" she asked her leader."

Stephen's face broke out into a grin. "The Green Ranger," he said. "You will be fighting the Green Ranger."

Not too far away from where Dan and Peg were, the other Rangers were walking along the path. Del was with them as well, and they were all talking and laughing happily. The peace and quiet of this week had done much to raise their spirits, although it was an ominous silence. They tried hard to focus not on whatever impending attack there may be but on the current relapse from their Ranger duties. Sure, they had done a lot of training, but training was much better than fighting their enemies. Each Ranger felt more prepared to fight the Trienith Rangers again, and their hopes were high that they would defeat them soon.

There was a short but content silence between the walking Rangers as they approached the bench where Dan and Peg had gone back to just sitting next to each other. After a moment, Del spoke.

"Man, you guys are lucky," he said. "I wish I had been chosen to be a Ranger."

Tiz laughed. "No, you don't, dude," he argued. "It's a lot harder than it looks, and it's quite a draining job. Plus, it's seriously cutting down on my video game time." This made the others burst into laughter. They knew it was true, and it was so typical of Tiz to say something like that.

"You know, after this week, I feel a million times stronger than before," Dan said, grinning slyly. "Just let those Trienith Rangers try to destroy us! I bet we could beat them right here and right now."

Suddenly, as if because of what Dan said, a loud "whooshing" sound was heard behind them. Turning to look, they saw to their surprise and annoyance the Trienith Rangers appearing in flashes of their respective colors. Rufus was with them as well, and they were morphed and ready to fight. But, someone else was with them that they did not expect to see. Peg jumped up from the bench and glared.

"Erica," she said through clenched teeth. The Chaos Three member just grinned at her as she came towards them.

"Nice to see you again, Peggy," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. "But, unfortunately, I'm not fighting with you today." She turned to Beth, smiling at her with the same sarcastic and evil expression.

Beth stared at her wide eyed. "But, you're not a Power Ranger," she said.

"No," she said. "I'm sure I can take you with my Dark Water though, Green Ranger. That is, unless you're going to morph and make it an unfair fight."

Beth bit her lip and looked over at Will helplessly. He just shrugged at her and turned back to the Trienith Rangers.

"You won't defeat us so easily this time, Oscuro," he said, looking specifically at the Chaos Ranger. Then, Dan took a step forward.

"Ready, guys?" he called to his team mates. All except Beth shouted "Ready!" back to him, and they prepared to morph.

"Element, Fire!"

"Element, Water!"

"Element, Wind!"

"Element, Thunder!"

"Element, Light Fire!"

With that, the five Rangers morphed and stood facing the people they would soon be fighting. Del stood behind them, wishing that he could help somehow. After a moment of silence, the Element Storm Rangers and Will ran forward to fight. The Trienith Red Ranger went to fight Rufus, Sean went after Jud, Peg with Angela, Dan with Jorge, and Tiz with Kimber. Nearest to the trees, Beth and Erica prepared to fight, the Green Ranger unmorphed.

Will charged at Rufus first, setting his sword on fire as he began to slash viciously at his enemy. He hit him many times, sparks flying from Rufus' suit with each connection. The Chaos Ranger cried out in pain each time the sword hit him, the Light Fire burning him through his suit, although the suit itself was undamaged. At last, after several unsuccessful tries to block his blows with his lance, Rufus shot out a beam of Dark Water at Will, dousing his sword and sending him flying backwards. Will landed on his feet, but it took him a moment to steady himself. Before he got a chance, Rufus ran forward and jabbed him in the chest with the lance, causing his enemy to keel over in pain. The evil Ranger took this opening to beat the broad side of his lance across Will's back, making him fall forward onto his stomach.

Sean grinned from under his helmet. Last time, he had lost to Jud, but this time it would be different. He felt more confident with his powers and with fighting in general, and he wasn't going to lose again. Calling out his bow, he started shooting arrows at Jud. Much to his surprise, Jud blocked each arrow by hitting them away with his daggers. He was somehow able to block everything Sean was shooting at him. After a while, the White Ranger stopped. He saw that he wasn't the only one who had been training. He decided to attack head on, running towards Jud to kick him. As he was running though, Jud suddenly picked up a huge chunk of earth with his mind and threw it towards Sean. The White Ranger quickly put his hands out and caused a strong wind, trying to blow away the earth. Jud pushed it towards him stronger, and he pushed his wind with all his might. Sean found that he couldn't hold it back anymore, so he stopped his flow of wind and tried to dive out of the way of the earth. It still hit him partially, causing him to fall over.

Angela wasted no time in attacking Peg, shooting energy arrows at her quickly. She was still ticked about losing to her last time, and she promised herself she would win this time. Peg mentally grinned. She had trained enough with Sean to be more prepared for this. Holding her trident out in front of her, the tip facing upwards, she began to spin it in her hands. As the arrows came towards her, they were reflected away from the speed at which the trident was moving. They fell to the ground and disappeared as they hit her spinning trident. Seeing this, Angela stopped, hardly believing that her enemy was able to do that. Growling in frustration, she threw her bow to the ground and charged at Peg, causing a strong wind to come with her. When she got near, she used the wind to power up a kick into Peg's stomach. The force of the connection along with the Light Wind sent the Blue Ranger flying backwards several feet. She landed hard with a thud on the green grass that was still blowing in the wind.

Not far away from them, Tiz and Kimber were preparing to fight. IThis will be interesting/I Tiz thought. ITime to see which is stronger: Thunder or Light Thunder/I. With this thought in mind, he ran at Kimber with his sai held up over his shoulder next to his ear. The bright yellow weapon sparked and crackled as he charged it with Thunder. As he came near her, she pulled out her own sai, preparing to block his attack, figuring that he intended to slash his charged weapon at her. Instead, at the last second, he flipped over her and stabbed backwards, sending a pulse of electricity through his sai into her back. The Thunder surged through her body and she screamed in pain, squeezing her eyes shut. After a moment though, her eyes shot open again and she turned slowly to face Tiz, her face still cringing painfully. Drawing her hands upward at her sides, the palms facing the sky, her body began to suddenly glow with even more electricity. It was lighter in color and it was surrounded by a white aura. Suddenly, she thrust her hands forward, releasing all her Light Thunder out through then and straight into a shocked Tiz. He didn't move as the electricity coursed through his veins, his scream of pain echoing through the park.

Dan and Jorge were well into their fight already. The Trienith Blue Ranger pointed his trident at Dan and sent a stream of Light Water flowing through it. The Red Ranger dove out of the way, getting up again quickly and clutched his sword tightly in his hand. He set his sword on fire and charged at Jorge, slashing him with his flaming weapon. Jorge could do nothing to avoid the attacks, though he continued to try to block them with his trident. At last, seeing that this wouldn't work, he thrust his hands out above him and sent a rain of water from them. The water flowed down and landed on both of them. It extinguished Dan's sword and succeeded in weakening him. Jorge took this chance to slash the tip of his trident across Dan's chest hard, causing sparks to fly off of his suit.

Erica and Beth were facing off, preparing to fight. The latter had determined yet almost nervous expression on her face. The former looked confident as she smirked at her adversary. She was the first to make a move, running towards Beth and kicking at her. The Green Ranger blocked it with her arm and did her own spinning kick at Erica, hitting her in the chest. Erica growled as she punched at Beth's head. Again, the girl blocked, catching her fist in her hand. She pushed it away and made her enemy stumble back a few steps. Erica tried to punch her again, but Beth spun around and fell forward on the ground, causing her enemy to miss. She then kicked Erica's legs, tripping her. Beth then leapt to her feet again and waited for the older girl to get up before doing anything else. From her position on her ground on her back, Erica shot Dark Water out of her hands towards the ground at strong pressure, forcing herself to a standing position. Now that she was up again, Beth felt it was okay to attack. Focusing her energy hard, she caused a strong earthquake to build up inside of her. Soon, her whole body was shaking violently. She brought her hands up and then threw them down, sending the quake into the ground. With the control she had gained from her training this week, she had learned to make her earthquakes happen in only a certain area. Right now, the only place that was shaking was the small area where she and Erica were standing. The earthquake caused Erica to fall over in pain, as she was unable to handle the intense quaking of the ground beneath her.

Sean looked over from where he was fighting Jud for a moment. Since he was close to where their battle was taking place, he could feel softly the effects of Beth's attack. He smiled, happy that Beth had finally gotten good control over her powers. Then, he turned his attention back to his own battle. While he was fighting, the White Ranger had gotten a good idea of how to defeat Jud. Thrusting his hands out in front of him, he created a powerful but small tornado. Sending it to where his enemy was standing, he picked him up in the whirlwind. Then, he lifted it a few feet above the ground, the Trienith Green Ranger trapped inside. Calling out his bow again, he began to shoot energy arrows at the tornado, each one hitting the Ranger inside, as now he had no way to block it. Jud's cries of pain could hardly be heard over the intensity of the wind. After a while of this, Sean released the tornado and Jud fell to the ground, demorphing, lying there unconscious.

Recovering from the attack of Light Thunder by Kimber, Tiz stopped for a moment. He remembered when Peg had fought Erica that one time. It seemed ages ago now, but the way they had settled it would probably work now, if Kimber would agree to it. Tiz held out a hand, motioning for her to stop.

"I have an idea," he said. "Why don't we see once and for all which of our Elements is more powerful?"

Kimber sounded intrigued at this. "Oh? And how will we go about doing that?"

"Easy," Tiz replied. "We each shoot out electricity at each other as strong as we can and see which one wins. Sound good to you?"

"Fine," Kimber laughed. "But let me warn you, I won't lose!"

"If you say so," Tiz said with a laugh. "We'll go on the count of three."

"Alright."

With that, she prepared to do as planned, putting her hands out in front of her. Tiz did the same, and he began to charge up all his Thunder, focusing as hard as he could. When they were both ready, they began to count down together. "1…2…3!" As they said the last number, they each released their electricity, the Thunder and Light Thunder shooting out from them in beams of bright yellow. At first, Kimber seemed to be winning. Her Light Thunder was forcing its way towards Tiz, almost drowning out his own Element. Closing his eyes tightly as he focused, Tiz forced his Thunder out stronger, using all his might and everything he had. Before long, the Yellow Ranger's Element was obviously winning as it burst through Kimber's easily. It hit her with all its force and power. She screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground, demorphed and unconscious. Tiz panted heavily, at last demorphing himself. Although he had won, it took a lot of energy to do that.

Meanwhile, Dan was having no luck against Jorge. The Trienith Blue Ranger was relentlessly shooting his Light Water at him, and it was weakening his Fire significantly. The Red Ranger was desperately trying to think of a way to stop him from shooting water at him. At last, he was able to dodge Jorge's attacks long enough to shoot his own Element at him. The Fire hit him hard, making him fly back a few feet. Dan took the opportunity to charge up his fire, focusing all his attention and energy on it. At last, he thrust his hands forward, sending out a strong blast of Fire at his opponent. Jorge fell down on his back and demorphed.

Angela was still fiercely attacking Peggy with her wind. Peg could hardly get near her, as every time she did, she was blown away by the force of the Light Wind. Since she couldn't get near, she couldn't really attack her back. Each time she tried to shoot Water at her enemy, she was hit by a strong wind that forced her to stop. Peg mentally growled in frustration, not knowing what to do. After a moment, she had an idea. Taking her trident in her hands, she tossed it upwards tip first. Before Angela could stop it with her wind, it came down on her hard, the tip landing right on her chest and making sparks fly off of her. Peg then ran forward, grabbing her weapon back and starting to slash wildly at Angela with it. Finally, she shot out her most powerful stream of water at the Trienith White Ranger. This caused her to fly backwards into a tree. She bounced off of the thick bark and landed on the ground demorphed.

Rufus was currently getting the best of Will. He was alternating between using Dark Fire, Dark Water, and Dark Thunder through his lance. Will fought back with all his strength, using his sword to try and block the attacks. This proved difficult, as the Chaos Ranger seemed to be especially fast today. The Trienith Red Ranger didn't know how much more of this he could take, as each attack seemed to get increasingly more powerful, and Will was tiring. After what seemed like forever of this, Will finally was able to stop his attacks by shooting Light Fire directly at him as he held his lance at bay with his sword. Rufus stumbled backwards, but he soon prepared to strike again in the same way. Before he could, Will shot a small ball of fire at his hand, forcing him to drop his weapon painfully. He ran forward and kicked him, making him fall on his back. Then, he picked up the lance and threw it aside where Rufus would not easily be able to get it. Finally, using what was left of his strength, Will released a powerful blast of Light Fire, hitting Rufus directly and forcing him to demorph.

Will stood there a few feet away from him, gasping for breath, completely spent. He purposely demorphed and walked painfully over to Rufus.

"There, Oscuro," he said, his voice sounding ragged through his gasps. "We've defeated you this time. Now go back to your master where you belong."

Rufus smirked as he stumbled to his feet, clutching his right arm. "We can't leave yet," he said. "Erica hasn't finished destroying your Green Ranger." He nodded towards the other side of the park where Beth and Erica were still going at it. Will gasped, just now realizing that they were still fighting.

The other Earth Rangers were already watching the girl's battle, hoping desperately that Beth would win. Rufus went to each of the Trienith Rangers in turn, saying their names softly and teleporting them back to the tower. Then, he came over to watch the battle as well. He had a strong feeling that Erica would win this, no matter what.

Beth was starting to believe this as well. She was losing badly now, having used a lot of energy on the earthquake she created earlier. At this moment, they were fighting more with karate than with their powers. Erica kicked Beth in the chest and made her fall back a bit. She soon recovered and kicked Erica as well. Before she could do anything else, she punched her in the arm hard and then kicked her legs so that she would trip again. The Earth Rangers who were watching cheered at this, feeling that Beth would most likely win. Erica got up quickly, but Beth moved in just as quick to attack again. This time, however, the Chaos Three member wasn't going to let that happen. She shot a bit of Dark Water at Beth, stopping her in her tracks. Then, Erica focused as hard as she could, honing in all her energy. Her eyes closed automatically as she concentrated all her thought on what she was going to do. Finally, her eyes shot open and she let out a thick, pressurized stream of Dark Water through her outstretched hands. It hit Beth in the chest and she flew backwards, crashing into the park bench that Dan and Peg had been sitting on not too long ago. The bench broke off its legs and collapsed backwards, leaving Beth sprawled out on the soaking wood, unconscious.

Erica looked down at her hands, hardly believing she had summoned such power. She didn't have long to think about it as Rufus came up to her and hugged her in his strong arms.

"You did it, Erica!" he cried happily. She hugged him back, but she looked over his shoulder at the motionless form of the girl she had just beaten. She sighed, feeling a bit guilty for what she had done. IOh well/I she thought. IIt's battle. It should be expected./I She still found it difficult to shake her guilt as the Rangers huddled around their fallen comrade. Biting her bottom lip, she smiled at Rufus.

"Let's go home," she said.

He grinned at her. "Alright, Erica." With that, the two of them teleported away in a flash of yellow and blue.

When they got back to the tower, it was obvious that Stephen was not happy. The Trienith Rangers were no where to be seen, as Rufus had teleported each of them to their beds on their floor. Stephen sighed as Erica and Rufus appeared.

"Well, my Rangers lost," he said, sounding annoyed. "But, I'm sure they'll get them next time." He turned to Erica, and his frown seemed to melt into a smirk. "You, however, did amazing today. You totally owned the Green Ranger." He walked over to the girl and put his hand on her shoulder. "I knew you could do it, Erica," he said, smiling at her. She could sense the pride in his voice, and it made her happier than she had been in a while. Before she could reflect on this for long, though, Stephen continued. "You two go and get some rest. It was a hard battle today." Nodding to them, he went off to his room and closed the door behind them.

Rufus looked at Erica's beaming face for a moment, touching it gently. Then, the two of them followed Stephen's example, going into their respective rooms and collapsing on their beds happily.

Back at the park, Sean was now holding Beth in his arms as he sat beside the broken bench. She wasn't moving, and tears rolled down the White Ranger's cheeks. He looked up at Will sadly.

"She's going to be okay, isn't she?" he asked, his voice shaky with his soft sobs.

Will sighed. "I think so," he said. "But I don't know for sure. Let's get her back to the café."

Sean nodded and he stood up, carefully scooping Beth into his arms and carrying her as the five Rangers walked back to their cars, which were on the other side of the park. Del, who had been watching from a safe distance, followed them unhappily, wishing there was something he could do to help.

Once back at the café, they took Beth to the back room. Sean gently laid her down on the bed, sitting on the end of it. The others left the room sadly, not knowing what else to do. Will stopped at the doorway and looked back at Sean.

"Don't worry, Sean," he said softly. "I'm sure she'll be fine once she gets some rest." The White Ranger nodded, hoping that he was right. Then, Will went out into the main room with the others.

They were already sitting around their table as usual. Del was with them, sitting backwards on a chair at the end of the table.

Will smiled as he came over. "Well, we won today," he said cheerfully. "That was an amazing battle for all of us."

Dan grinned. "Yes, it was," he agreed. "I totally kicked Jorge's butt!"

"And I sure showed that Yellow Ranger that Thunder beats Light Thunder any day," Tiz exclaimed proudly.

"Yeah, and even though it sucks having to fight my sister, it was still pretty cool beating her," Peg smiled.

Del laughed. "And what about Sean?" he asked. "That was an awesome trick with the tornado and his arrows." The others nodded in agreement. Excitement hung thickly in the air as they continued to chat about their victory.

In the back room, Sean sadly brushed a hair out of Beth's face with his hand. Leaning over her unmoving body, he kissed her forehead lightly. He took her hands in his and watched her, his eyes full of sadness.

"Beth, you have to be okay," he said. "I haven't gotten a chance yet to tell you my feelings." His voice dropped to a dejected whisper. "I haven't told you yet how much I love you."

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A/N: I hope you liked it! Leave a review!