Episode 19: Acceptance

A/N: So so sorry this took so long. I had the worst writer's block, but now my inspiration is back and I have spring break next week, so I'm going to be writing like crazy! I hope this episode is worth the wait. I think it's one of my best ever XD

Anyways, without further ado, I give you episode 19 of Power Rangers Element Storm. Enjoy!

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Dan, Peg, Sean, Beth, and Tiz looked at each other and at Will incredulously as they stood around their table in the café. They could hardly believe what he had just told them, and they didn't know what to say right now. At last, Dan spoke.

"So, we're just supposed to trust them that they're really good now?" He folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes at his leader.

"Yeah, how do we know they're not going to turn on us or something, Will?" Peg asked.

Sean nodded. "After everything they've done to us, you expect us to pretend like nothing happened and trust them?"

"Especially Rufus," Tiz put in. "He was never good in the first place."

Beth stood silently next to Del, biting her lower lip thoughtfully. Will sighed, letting his team say their piece. After a moment, Beth spoke up, her voice soft and tinny, as if she was unsure of what she was saying.

"Maybe we should give them a chance, guys," she said. "Wouldn't it be better to fight with them than against them? And we can use all the help we can get against Pyric, right?" With these words, she fell silent again and let her eyes drop to the floor. Her cheeks blushed bright red as she felt her friend's eyes on her.

Will looked at the others hopefully, wondering if they would listen to Beth's logic. After a moment, Sean opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, an explosion was heard outside the closed café. Will cringed a little, cursing the bad timing, and the six Rangers ran outside to see what had happened. Not surprisingly, a monster was standing there. He was deep brown in color and he had black streaks across his body. In his hand was a long morning star mace. As the Rangers approached, he swung his mace at a car and destroyed it.

Sighing a little, Will turned back to the others. "Ready, guys?"

"Ready!" they answered.

"Element, Fire!"

"Element, Water!"

"Element, Wind!"

"Element, Earth!"

"Element, Thunder!"

"Element, Light Fire!"

With that, the Rangers morphed and began to fight. Suddenly, a large number of Crodus appeared as well, surrounding the monster protectively. The creature grinned at them, its black eyes gleaming in the sunlight.

"My name is Venorn," he said, his voice sounding dark and cruel. "Come and see if you can withstand the might of my mace, Rangers!"

He ran towards them, swinging his mace at them with all his strength. The Rangers quickly dove out of the way of the thick, spiked metal ball as it flew at them with incredible speed. Jumping up again, they called upon their weapons. Automatically, Dan, Tiz, and Will went for Venorn and the others began to fight the Crodus. The three Rangers slashed their sword-type weapons at Venorn intensely, striking his thick hide and making sparks fly from him. They dodged his mace as he tried desperately to hit them with it. However, with all their efforts, their attacks did not seem to be fazing him. At last, he shoved them away with his powerful arm. Each of them flew off in different directions at the strength of his blow.

Peg whipped her trident all around her, hitting the surrounding Crodus. Sparks flew from their black bodies as they fell to the power of her weapon. But, they got up again soon after and attacked continuously. Peg kicked one away from her and it crashed into another behind it. Then, she swung the broad side of her trident into the face of yet another on her other side. Focusing hard, the Blue Ranger put her trident out in front of her and sent a stream of Water flowing out of it. She then spun herself around in circles, shooting her water out at her enemies. They went flying away from her and dissipated.

Next to her, Sean was swiftly shooting arrows at a line of Crodus in front of him. While he was engrossed in this, he didn't notice a Crodu sneak up behind him. It was about to attack when a blast of Water shot it out of the way. Sean turned and saw Peg running over to him. He smiled from under his helmet and nodded his thanks. The two of them faced off the remaining Crodus near them and began to attack with their weapons.

Beth was surrounded by a small number of Crodus. She gripped her daggers tightly in her fists as they neared her. Suddenly, without warning, she was kicked from behind and she stumbled forward. This gave the others a chance to move in. They began all attacking her at once, and she couldn't seem to get them off of her. She slashed frantically with her daggers and tried to kick them away, but they continued to attack relentlessly. The Green Ranger cried out for help, unable to do anything. Peg and Sean turned to see what was going on, but before they could go and help their partner, a new bunch of Crodus that seemed to appear out of nowhere blocked their path. They began to fight these, trying to get through to help Beth.

The Green Ranger could feel her consciousness slipping away from her as she tried desperately to protect herself. Then, just as she felt she could take no more of this, a large amount of water burst through at her, forcing the Crodus away. Beth sighed with relief, figuring that Peg had come to help. But, when she looked up at her rescuer, she saw to her surprise that it was Jorge. He was morphed and standing above her, reaching down to help her up. Beth put her hand out gratefully to accept it when Peg and Sean rushed over to them.

"Back off, Jorge," Peg said, pointing her weapon at the Trienith Blue Ranger. He obeyed, putting his hands up a little and backing up a bit.

"But, I…" he began. Peg interrupted him by thrusting her weapon closer to him. Behind her, Sean gently helped Beth stand. The Green Ranger immediately stepped forward and put her hand on Peg's trident, pushing it downwards.

"No, it's okay," she said, looking at her friends. "Jorge was helping me. He got rid of those Crodus that were attacking."

"I don't care," Peg said, forcing her trident back up. "I don't trust him." Beth tried to protest, but Sean interrupted.

"Guys, we still have to finish off these Crodus." His voice was urgent as he tugged a little at Peg's arm. The Blue Ranger groaned a little, but she went with him and started to fight the Crodus again.

Back where the others were fighting with Venorn, another confrontation was going on. The other three Trienith Rangers and Rufus were trying to help Will, Dan, and Tiz. They all stopped what they were doing as the latter two Rangers glared at the Trienith Rangers from under their helmets.

"Get out of here," Dan growled. "We can handle this on our own."

Jud scoffed. "Yes, I can see that. You're sure taking it to this monster, aren't ya?"

"Guys, we just want to help," Angela interjected, holding her hands up in front of you.

"Yeah, and we're just supposed to trust you as if you were never our enemies?" Tiz asked, stepping forward angrily. Will put a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Stop fighting, you two," he said pleadingly. "They're not the enemies now. He is." He gestured back at Venorn, who swung his mace at them swiftly. They ducked just in time so that it wouldn't hit them.

Dan sighed and turned to the Trienith Red Ranger. "Look, Will, I know you trust them, but you can't expect us to so soon. You knew them before they were evil. We didn't. It's hard to just trust people so easily who tried to destroy us."

Before anyone could say anything else, Venorn's deep, throaty voice flowed over to them.

"Fine, you guys argue amongst yourselves for now," he said. "I'll be back later." Throwing a hand into the air, he teleported himself and the remaining Crodus away, making all of them disappear in a flash of dark purple light.

Stephen grinned as Venorn appeared in the tower before him. The monster bowed to his master and then he stood at attention, waiting for further orders. The leader of the Chaos Three laughed softly to himself.

"This couldn't work out better if I planned it," he said, a darkly happy tone to his voice. "The Earth Rangers refuse to trust the Trienith Rangers. If they keep this up, we will still only have one team to defeat." He paused, his smile fading. "But, I must be prepared in case they do somehow learn to trust each other. So, it's back to the books for me now." He turned and started to walk back to his room. Suddenly, he whipped around to face Venorn.

"You, my good creature, are to wait here until I'm ready to send you down again." His voice was firm and powerful.

"Yes, my master," Venorn replied, bowing again. Satisfied with this answer, Stephen made his way into his room and closed his door.

In her own room, Erica sat on the edge of her bed, tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't believe it. The Trienith Rangers had turned good. A part of her had expected that that would happen. But, she never would have thought that Rufus would follow them and abandon her.

Now she was all alone with Stephen, and she was scared. Pyric had never particularly liked her, and he thought that her Elemental power was useless. He would now only use her for her ability to create monsters. And as angry as he used to get when her monsters failed, she couldn't bear to think of how he would react when that happened now…

Will stood outside with his former team mates. The Earth Rangers were back inside the café, refusing to have anything to do with their past enemies. Only Beth now stood by Will's side as he faced the Trienith Rangers.

"Guys, I'm sorry," Will said softly. "I can't force the others to trust you."

Kimber sighed. "Yeah, I know. Maybe we could prove somehow that we have changed…"

Jud shook his head sadly. "Maybe we should leave and let you guys do this on your own."

"You might be right, Jud," Jorge agreed. "How can we work as a team if they're not willing to trust us?"

"No, you can't go," Beth said softly. "We need you…"

"You got along just fine before we showed up," Angela pointed out. "And I'm sure you can defeat Pyric just as well without us."

"I can't blame them for not trusting me," Rufus said quietly, seeming to speak more to himself than the others. "I've always been evil." He sighed and paused, looking at the Trienith Rangers and smiling a little. "But I'd never known what friendship is really like until I met you guys. You were actually nice to me and you treated me like one of your own. I had already decided that I would follow you guys if you turned good, and when you asked me to, I felt a warmth in my heart that I've never felt before. I have friends now, and I could never go back to Pyric."

"Neither could we," Angela agreed. She hugged Rufus warmly and smiled at him. "I'm glad you came with us."

"So am I," Jorge smiled. His face then turned serious again. "But nothing will change the fact that the other Rangers refuse to trust us."

Jud nodded. "Yeah, and we don't want to cause a rift amongst your new team, Adus. You guys will be fine without us."

"But it would be so much easier if we could all work together," Will argued. "And, you're my friends. I…I don't want to lose you again…" He hung his head sadly, knowing that nothing he could say would convince them to stay. "Please, don't leave."

"Adus, we can't work together if your team won't work with us." Kimber walked over to Will and hugged him. "Good luck against Pyric. You guys will be able to defeat him soon enough. I believe in you." She released her hug and nodded to her team mates. They all said their goodbyes and walked away slowly and sadly.

Beth gave Will a helpless look, not knowing what to do. The Trienith Red Ranger didn't return her gaze as he watched his friends' retreat. After a moment, he sighed and turned towards the café. Outside of one of the huge windows, Dan, Peg, Sean, and Tiz were watching them as well.

While Beth and Will had been talking with the Trienith Rangers, the other Element Storm Rangers had had their own conversation. They were sitting at their booth-like table and Del stood at one side, his arms folded across the back of the seat as he rested his head in them. Dan was the first to speak.

"You know, I trust Will as our leader, but he's asking too much with this," he stated. "And I can't understand how he doesn't see our side of this situation. How can they expect us to trust them like nothing after what they did? For all we know, they're only pretending to have turned good and they really intend to betray us again. I don't think it's worth the risk that that's what they're planning."

"Well, yes, that's what I was thinking too, Dan," Tiz agreed. "But, what baffles me even more is that he's so willing to trust Rufus now as well. The Trienith Rangers were once good, but Rufus has always been evil, both on Trienith and here on Earth. Why would he just randomly turn good? I just can't believe it would happen so easily."

Peg sighed and looked out the window for a second before speaking up as well. "I agree. It seems like it did happen too easily. My heart wants to believe that they're good now and that they just want to help, but my head is telling me that there's something not right about this. I don't know which to follow."

Sean nodded, reaching across the table to put his hand on Peg's. "I understand what you mean. Normally, I'd say we should follow our hearts, but when it comes to whether we defeat Stephen or fail, it's too hard a decision to make." He drew his hand out and looked through the window himself, his eyes falling on Beth as she stood next to Will.

A silence filled the still closed café as the Rangers immersed themselves in their thoughts. Soon, though, the silence was broken by Del.

"Well, I'm not a Ranger or anything," he began slowly. "So I guess I don't really have a vote in this. But, if I was a Ranger, I'd probably be out there with Beth right now rather than in here. Sure, it seems likely that the Trienith Rangers might betray you guys again, but couldn't you use all the help you can get? I know it's hard to trust them, but all I'm saying is you guys should give them a chance." He paused, grabbing a loose chair and pulling it up to the table, sitting on it backwards. "Of course, as I said before, I don't have a vote, but I thought I'd give my take anyways. I guess I'll just shut up now."

Del gazed out of the window, ignoring the looks he was getting from the Rangers. He silently smirked at the effect his words apparently had on his friends as he watched Beth and Will walking towards the entrance to the café.

Stephen looked out through the telescope, watching with interest as the Trienith Rangers, along with Rufus, walked away from the two others. He figured that this was not a good sign for his enemies but an excellent sign for him. Turning around sharply, he faced Venorn and smirked at him.

"Now is the perfect time to attack again, my monster," he said. "Take some Crodus with you and attack the café again. I have a feeling it won't be long now before the Element Storm Rangers are destroyed, and the equilibrium of the Elements on this planet is destroyed as well. Then, it will be all too easy to take over and rule Earth. Perhaps if I gain enough power, I can still go back to Trienith and take it also…" He paused, pondering this with a thoughtful grin on his face. Suddenly, he snapped back to attention and glared at Venorn. "Well? Go, now! And this time don't come back until you've destroyed them!"

"Yes, master," the creature replied. Thrusting a hand into the air, he disappeared once more in a flash of deep purple. Stephen turned his attention back to the telescope, watching intently with the hopes of seeing his dream of destroying the Rangers finally come true.

As the five Rangers disappeared from view, Beth and Will had almost reached the door of the café. Suddenly, a beam of energy hit them in the backs and they flew forward, landing on their faces. The two of them quickly turned around to see that Venorn was back with a fresh band of Crodus. Will cursed his ill luck and forced himself to his feet. The other Rangers ran outside as well. Sean helped Beth up and the six Rangers stood facing Venorn.

"Ready for more?" the monster asked, grinning at them evilly.

"Always a pleasure to destroy one of Stephen's creeps," Peg retorted, smirking at their enemy. He simply laughed and prepared to fight.

"Ready guys?" Will cried.

"Ready!"

"Element, Fire!"

"Element, Water!"

"Element, Wind!"

"Element, Earth!"

"Element, Thunder!"

"Element, Light Fire!"

Morphing into their respective colors, the Rangers sprang into action, calling on their weapons and rushing forward to their enemies. Beth and Peg immediately went for the footsoldiers while the boys started in with Venorn. Using their weapons, they slashed away at the Crodus, causing sparks to fly everywhere around them. But, it seemed that no matter how many times they hit them, they came right back. Their attacks weren't fazing them somehow. Suddenly, Peg had an idea.

"Beth, why don't you shake things up a bit?" she suggested, laughing a little. Her friend nodded.

"Good idea." Focusing hard, she formed her hands into fists and started shaking violently. Then, she thrust her hands downward, stooping down until she was half kneeling on the paved parking lot ground. She spread out her hands onto the street and forcing the shaking deep into the earth. The quake spread across the parking lot, causing the Crodus to lose their balance and fall. Peg jumped out of the way just in time as a large crack formed, sucking the Crodus inside of it. Beth tried desperately to keep her focus as she closed the crack, trapping her enemies under the earth. At last, she succeeded, and the earthquake stopped.

The girl stumbled to her feet, wavering slightly as she struggled to keep consciousness. Her powers drained so much energy when she used them, and now she could hardly keep herself from passing out from the exhaustion. Because she had lost so much energy, she demorphed, standing there fatigued and unprotected. She was so out of it that she didn't notice the thick black mace of Venorn flying towards her. Just before it hit, Peg sprang forward, pushing Beth onto the ground and out of the way. The Green Ranger glanced up at her friend, a terrified expression on her face as she thought of what had almost happened.

"Oh, my," she breathed, hearing her heart pounding in her chest. "That was a close one. Thanks, Peggy." She smiled at her, and the Blue Ranger nodded.

"Of course," she replied. "I think you need to go rest, Beth. We'll take care of Venorn." She helped Beth stand and then she ran over to help her team mates. The demorphed Ranger stumbled back towards the café where Del was watching the battle.

Now the five Rangers surrounded Venorn, each with their weapons drawn. He did little else besides swing at them with his mace. They were able to dodge it every time, but they were hard pressed to get close enough to attack him. Every time any of them drew near enough, Venorn would immediately whip his mace at them. This seemed hopeless and they didn't know what to do.

Suddenly, Venorn threw his mace at Dan with more speed than usual. The Red Ranger knew he wouldn't be able to dodge it this time. He closed his eyes, feeling that this would be the end of him. Then, much to the surprise of Dan and the others, a streak of green light seemed to fly into the Red Ranger, pushing him out of the way just as the mace crashed to the ground where he had been standing. Dan looked in shock at his rescuer. He had expected to see Beth, but instead, it was the Trienith Green Ranger. Jud leapt up and helped Dan to his feet as well. The Earth Ranger hardly knew what to say.

Venorn growled angrily. He had thought that he finally had the Red Ranger and he would be able to destroy him with that blow. Not missing a beat, he yanked his mace back up and swung it at Tiz with the same speed and force. Before it could hit, however, a purple streak pushed the Yellow Ranger out of the way. This time, Tiz was scarcely surprised to see that Rufus was the one who had saved him. He speechlessly allowed his rescuer to help him up. He tried to say something, but he didn't get a chance as Rufus ran forth towards Venorn, jabbing at him with his lance. He was able to hit him in the side, but he couldn't do anything else as the mace dashed at him.

Will smiled from under his helmet as he watched his friends. A part of him knew that they wouldn't abandon them and that they would come to help.

"Guys! Fall back a bit so we can regroup!" he cried to the Power Rangers who were present there. They obeyed and ran quickly out of the reach of Venorn's mace. "We need to find a way to hit him while still avoiding that weapon of his. Any ideas?"

Angela raised her hand, feeling a bit odd doing it. "I have an idea," she cried. "Some of us will keep doing what you guys were doing to distract him while the others can sneak up from behind and try to get some hits in. While you guys are doing that, Sean and I can use our bows to do some damage to him. If we can hit his hand enough, maybe we can get him to drop his mace so he won't be able to use it anymore." She paused, turning to the White Ranger. "That is, if you're willing to work with me, Sean."

He hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded firmly. "Anything to get rid of this guy," he said. "Let's go!"

Will sighed with relief. "Great idea, Alassea," he said. "Now let's do this!" The others nodded and ran out to do this.

Angela and Sean stayed where they were, preparing their bows. Jud, Peg, Tiz, and Kimber surrounded Venorn while Dan, Jorge, Rufus, and Will moved in behind the creature. Venorn immediately started in with his mace again, swinging it swiftly at the surrounding Power Rangers. Each time, they were able to dodge it. From their position out of harm's way, Angela and Sean began bombarding the monster with energy arrows. Venorn stopped what he was doing and cried out in pain, looking around frantically for the source of the arrows. Once he found them and was facing them, they aimed their bows at his hand and shot a rain of arrows at it, each hitting the target perfectly. While they were doing this, the Rangers who were behind Venorn ran in and began viciously attacking him with their weapons. Now that he was distracted from the front and the back, the surrounding Rangers moved in as well and also attacked him. This eventually caused him to drop his mace.

Jud, who was closest to the ball of the mace, picked it up and dragged it out of Venorn's reach. It was heavy, though, and he could hardly move it. Angela and Sean ran over to help, and the three of them pulled it far away from the battle while the other Rangers continued to attack Venorn.

"Alright, guys!" Will cried over the nose of the battle. "Let's do this together. All at once now!" With that, the Rangers all hit the monster with their weapons at once. Then, they backed away from him quickly. Venorn stumbled a bit, swaying back and forth, before finally falling forward and exploding intensely.

From inside the Overclocked Café, Beth and Del watched this and they hugged each other tightly, so happy that the Power Rangers had all worked together. Hopefully this meant that the Element Storm Rangers would trust the Trienith Rangers now.

Stephen howled in anger as he watched what had happened through the telescope. The Trienith Rangers and the Earth Rangers had worked together to destroy Venorn. This might mean that they would continue working as a team and trust each other. The very thought of it made Stephen sick. And if all 11 Rangers teamed up against him, how in the world could he defeat all of them?

Turning around, he saw Erica standing and gazing out one of the windows. As his eyes fell on her, she could practically feel his stare. She looked over at him, a fearful expression on her face.

"Erica," Stephen said coldly. "Your monster was defeated. You failed me!"

"But Stephen," the younger girl stammered, her voice shaking with fear. "There are so many of them against one of him..."

"That is not an excuse!" Stephen's glare intensified as his eyes seemed to glow with Dark Fire. He formed a fireball in his hand and stepped towards her slowly. "You will pay for failing me, Raine…"

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