"You know," Kelsey began, "Whatever you told Carter the other day really snapped him out of his funk." Ally would've replied, if she wasn't trying her hardest not to fall right off of her longboard. It'd been a few days since she'd started riding, and as much as she hated to admit it, she still didn't quite have the hang of it. "Al?"
"Yeah, sorry," Ally replied, keeping her eyes glued on the ground in front of her as she cruised next to her roommate. "I mean, the dude was moping. Even if it was just a coincidence that we were there at the same time, I felt bad." Kelsey nodded slowly. "He reminds me of-"
She stopped, listened. Her hearing admittedly wasn't the best, especially not with the ambient noise of the city around her, but Ally swore she could hear… "Someone's screaming," Kelsey confirmed, and Ally craned her neck over the parked cars, searching for the source.
Finally, she spotted a tiny dog, a Pomeranian, by the looks of it, seated right smack in the middle of the road, it's owner standing on the sidewalk, shouting to it. "There, Kels!" Ally watched as the brunette glanced from the road, to the dog's owner, then back to the road.
"Yeah, yeah, I see it." Then, before Ally could stop her, Kelsey took a running- or skating- start and leaped into the air. Her jaw dropped, but thanks to her training, her shock didn't overtake her common sense. Instead, she searched around the scene, evaluating any way she could help. There was a crosswalk not far down the road, and the sidewalk on the other side of the street was much closer to Kelsey and the dog in case anything were to go wrong. So she took a running start and leaped onto her board, zooming across the crosswalk as soon as the Walk signal lit up. (Admittedly it was a little before, but the cars were already stopped so…)
Ally made it to Kelsey's side just in time to steady her friend, and as soon as she made sure she was safe, she smacked her over the head. "Never do that again."
The Yellow Ranger grimaced, rubbed at the sore spot. "Is that what you did to Carter?"
Ally rolled her eyes.
She scratched out the idea she'd had for her script treatment, having gotten stuck on the very last sentence, and was this close to slamming her head down onto the table when something on the news report caught her attention. "This mission will be flown by first time pilot Nancy Cooper."
Ally wasn't stupid. When she'd finally made friends back home that stuck around after all the drama surrounding her, she noticed quite easily when a boy (or girl) had caught their eyes. It was the same with Kelsey and Nancy. She glanced up at the television screen, then over to her roommate who'd just walked in. "Isn't that?"
"It is! That's Nancy!" Ally put down her pencil and plopped herself down next to Dana, reaching over and grabbing the bowl of pretzels.
"Who?"
"That's the girl we told you about!" Kelsey said as if Dana was dense, "With the puppy!" The door slid open, and Joel snatched up the pretzels, popping one into his mouth. Ally glared at him, chagrined when all he did was smile, displaying the crumbs stuck in his teeth.
"You guys ready to go?"
"Not yet," she replied evenly, gesturing to her notebook. "I'm trying to think of a good idea for my screenwriting project, but it's not going as well as I'd thought-" Ally's voice trailed off as she tuned in to the countdown on the screen, and suddenly, an idea came to her. She rushed over to her notebook, jotted it down as fast as possible so she wouldn't miss a second of the liftoff, but before she could return to the others, her flip phone rang. "Hey, mom." Everyone's gaze swept up to her for a split second before flying back to the television screen, and Ally shushed them with a finger.
"How is Mariner Bay, sweetheart? Found a roommate? How are you getting around? Is there a grocery store-"
"Mom, everything's great. I'm, uh…" If Ally dared to say that she practically lived with three dudes, she'd never ever hear the end of it. "Yeah. Doing great."
"Hi mom!" Chad shouted, and Ally flinched, desperately trying to cover up the phone as if that would help to muffle his antics. She could almost see her lawyer mother's confused, and slightly anxious, facial expression.
"Alyssa, who was that?"
"O-oh. That was my roommate's boyfriend, he's over visiting." Chad scrunched up his face as the others laughed as quietly as possible, but they quickly shut up as the shuttle made liftoff. "Mom, they're launching a space shuttle, I'm watching it on tv. I'll call you back?" Her mom sighed.
"Fine. Stay out of trouble, alright?" Not that she'd ever gotten in trouble, at least not for fights that she started, considering she'd never started any. Only found herself dragged into them.
"Okay. Bye mom."
"Bye, Ally's-" Ally hung up before her mom could hear Joel's voice, and she flipped him off as she sat next to Dana once more. For a second, she stared at the screen, enthralled by the information the newscaster rattled off. She and Kelsey must've had some crazy sort of luck to run into the very woman piloting this whole damn mission. That was the sort of luck she could use on exams, considering she'd nearly flunked the last one. Her wonder was rudely interrupted by their morphers going off in unison, and Joel was the first to reply.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've got trouble." They each sighed, reluctant to tear their gazes away from the television, and Joel glanced around at them.
"Can it wait, sir? We're watching-"
"Joel." Ally got to her feet.
"I mean, we'll be right there, sir."
This was one of the many reasons why Ally was immensely grateful she'd lived in Hawaii: no. Freaking. Tornadoes. She stumbled along, vision obscured by the dust particles swirling around, along with the occasional bit of trash. (Ugh, she thought, and so close to the ocean, too.) "This is crazy," Carter remarked, and Ally nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. While she'd wanted to eventually see a tornado in person, this wasn't the way she wanted to go about that. "Everyone get inside!"
As Ally staggered around, going from person to person and assisting them into shelter, she couldn't help but think. If she'd turned away from the life of a Ranger, hell, if she'd just stayed inside the cafe on that day a few weeks ago, she wouldn't be here right now. In fact, she'd probably be in her apartment, curled under her favorite fluffy blanket without a care in the world besides her upcoming classes.
No such luck. Of course she had to let her curiosity get the better of her, which led her to run into Chad, which led, well… here, right in the middle of a tornado. Ally really wished she had better luck.
Like it or not, though, she was here now, and had no choice but to help these people. And as much as she still struggled with the concept of not having chosen this path as much as it had chosen her… she was on it. As soon as all the people were cleared into safety, the wind stopped howling, and instead, a face appeared in the sky like some kind of weird apparition. (Ally hoped she wasn't seeing things now, too.)
"What's that?" Carter questioned, but she shook her head silently. Who the hell knew?
"I am Diabolico." Oh. Oh, shit, she thought.
"What do you want from us?"
"I have come to destroy your precious city, and restore Queen Bansheera's magnificent palace." With that, the face of their sworn enemy dissipated, and Ally stepped forward instinctively, even though there was no enemy to follow. What there was, though, was the reappearance of the tornado, and she grit her teeth.
"Come on! We've got to stop him!"
Of course Diabolico was in the tornado, Ally thought begrudgingly. Where else would the freakish Devil be? She shielded her eyes from the dust as Carter blasted at the funnel of air, but the thing that dropped out of it wasn't what they'd seen in the apparition. In fact, Ally was fairly certain that this one was weirder looking. "Don't you realize you can't stop me?" A shiver ran down her spine, but she braced herself anyway.
"Save your breath," Carter shot back, "My friends and I will stop you, and that's a promise!"
It was almost like the monster grinned sarcastically at them, or maybe that was just the way it looked all the time. "So it's friends you want, is it? Well, meet some of mine!" Black puddles of darkness materialized in the asphalt, and from them, Battlings appeared. (She'd had no desire to find out where, exactly, they came from, and now that she knew, she wished to forget.)
"He's got a lot of friends," Chad muttered, and Ally scoffed.
"More like minions."
"Well, we've got each other."
"Battlings! Destroy them!" Great, Ally thought, now they had swords?
"Rescue Blasters!" Carter called out, and she remembered suddenly that they had their own, "Baton mode!" Even with self-defense classes all her life, Ally wasn't the best at sword fighting, but she made up for it in agility. She ducked under the Battlings' flailing limbs, only jabbing at them with her baton when she absolutely needed to, and while the strategy worked, it took a little longer to bring down all her opponents.
"Carter's down!" Chad shouted over to her, and she frowned, slamming the butt of her baton down onto the last Battling's head and rushing over to join the others.
"You okay?" Dana asked worriedly, and only after repeatedly questioning him were they satisfied.
"Let's take this guy down-" Ally's words were cut off as the monster unleashed its own attack, throwing them onto the ground, but they wouldn't be stopped that easily. She pulled out her blaster at Carter's command, and the lasers struck their foe head on.
But as much as they were persistent, so was the monster. "I'll be back." When the creature redeveloped into its tornado form, Ally knew there was no time to waste.
"Rescue Bird, separate!" They'd each been told that they had specific weapons and tools that would be granted to them once they'd separated the Rescue Bird, and now, Ally handed over her staff to fit into the Uni-Laser formation.
"Ready!" She called out.
"Aim!" The guys added.
"Fire!"
Even with the monster defeated, though, their job wasn't done. (Was it ever? Ally wondered.) "The space shuttle is in trouble." At the captain's words, her stomach sank down to her knees. "The tornado hit the shuttle pretty hard. There's lots of damage. We don't think she'll be able to land on her own."
"Al, Nancy's in there!" Kelsey reminded, and she nodded.
"That's why we're gonna help them out. Joel, got any ideas?" The Green Ranger nodded, placing a reassuring hand on their shoulders.
"Right as usual. Captain Mitchell, I can help out with Aero Rescue 3!"
"You can't do it alone, Joel. You won't be able to land safely. You'll both crash." He lowered his morpher, and Ally thought she heard him swear under his breath.
"Well, we have to do something-"
"Wait a minute!" Everyone turned to Kelsey, "I think I've got an idea of what to do."
Carter stepped forward. "Great, let's hear it."
Kelsey lowered her gaze. That was one thing about her friend, Ally realized: extremely uncomfortable with the spotlight. "I would tell you, but you'd think I was crazy. For now…" She spun around, raising her morpher. "Rescue Zords, mobilize!"
Seated on the back of her Rail Rescue, Ally felt like she could do anything. Even if that meant bringing a whole space shuttle back down to Earth safely. "You call the shots, Kelsey!" Carter passed over the torch, and Ally readied herself to receive orders.
"Alright. Joel, locate the shuttle."
"You got it, Kelsey." Ally craned her neck back, watching the pilot lift off from the carrier. She'd never be quite sure how he did what he did, nor how the impulsive guy got his pilots' license in the first place.
"Dana, Ally, follow me."
"You got it," Dana replied, and Ally revved her motorcycle's engine, checking for its telltale purr.
"Right behind you, Kels." Usually, this sort of thing was against her better judgment. Ally may have been spontaneous, but that didn't mean she'd leap into a fight without a plan, especially if it was a fight to protect her siblings. (She'd been in one too many of those.) But with Kelsey, she knew she'd follow her until the end. That was just the kind of person the Yellow Ranger had proven herself to be. Ally zipped through the streets, trailing just behind her friends' own Rail Rescue.
She listened to Kelsey issue a few more commands up to Joel, and she held her breath as she waited to see if they would work out. "Carter, my readings are showing that the shuttle is leveling off!" Ally breathed a sigh of relief at Chad's announcement.
"That's great. But they still won't be able to land at that speed!"
"Dana, Ally, clear the freeway. It's about to become a landing strip," Kelsey ordered, and Ally nodded.
"On it."
"Same here." While there was no way she was going to be able to fit between the jammed up cars, there was a ramp that would put her right on top of the Medic Rescue. With no time to waste, she flew up the ramp, lowered herself down to her motorcycle, and made the jump onto Dana's Rail Rescue. Ally thought she heard Joel whistle in astonishment through her comms, but she didn't pay it any mind as she dug through her pack for… there. She grabbed out her megaphone, raised it up. "This is an emergency, we need the freeway cleared! Everyone, drive into the back of our Med Rescue vehicle!" The civilians wasted no time, and Ally patted the front of the Med Rescue. "Think you can give me a ride, Dana?"
"Of course, 'Lys. Freeway's all yours, Kelsey!" Once she'd gotten her own Rescue safely clamped down onto the roof of the Med Rescue, Ally turned around, spotting the Yellow Rescue Vehicle approaching down the freeway.
"Uh… Kelsey?"
"Don't worry, Al. I got this idea from you and your longboard, after all." The urge to smack her forehead with a hand was intense. "Joel, put the shuttle on my roof!" Apparently, Ally realized, the same was true for the Green Ranger.
"What- on top of your Zord?"
"While you're moving?" Nancy piped in, incredulous, and despite herself, a smirk appeared on Ally's face. While Kelsey wasn't prone to distraction… "You must be crazy!" For a bit, there was no response.
"Crazy's my middle name!" She rolled her eyes.
"Your middle name… hey Kelsey, is that you?"
"The one and only!"
"Okay okay, I'm starting to feel like the third wheel here," Ally joked. "We'll get you down safely, Nancy."
"Well… if you two think this'll work, I think so too. Let's go."
"That's the spirit!" Kelsey cheered.
"Alyssa, you're getting a phone call. I'll patch it through?" At Captain Mitchell's request, Ally flinched, knowing who it was.
"Uh… yes sir. Patch it through, please."
"Alyssa, what's all this I'm hearing about that tornado in Mariner Bay? Are you okay? Are you… what's that noise?" Ally wasn't quite sure where to begin, and honestly, there were many noises: the roar of Aero Rescue 3, the rumble of both Dana and Kelsey's Rescues…
"I'm fine, mom. Look, now isn't really a good time-"
"You better get your sorry butt inside, young woman! Or do I need to push my flight up earlier?" Ally cringed again. She'd forgotten about that.
"Okay, okay, I'll go inside as soon as, uh, I finish with this project." She figured that wasn't really a lie so much as it was a stretch of the actual events occuring. "I'm, uh, watching the shuttle they launched land back at the space center." Her mom heaved a sigh.
"I'll see you in a few weeks, Alyssa."
"Yeah, bye mom!" The call disconnected, and for a moment, nobody said anything. Then, she realized something utterly terrifying. "Captain, was that on a private channel?"
"I'm… I'm afraid not, Alyssa."
"You're a really bad liar, Ally," Chad remarked, and she stuck out her tongue, even knowing he couldn't see her.
"I hate you."
"While that was the funniest thing I've heard in a while," Kelsey started, "I'm all set here. Joel, bring her down!"
"I got a visual!" Nancy reported. "Easy… easy…"
"I'm all over it. This reminds me of my air show days!" Ally watched, every muscle in her body tensed up, as Joel dropped the shuttle right over the roof of Kelsey's Zord.
"Yes, it's almost over!" She cheered, and Ally turned the other way, glancing at the end of the freeway that was fast approaching. "Al, can you ride alongside me, get me an approximation of the distance I've got left?"
"Of course. D?" A ramp deployed out from the end of the Medic Rescue, and Ally grinned. "Thanks for the lift." With that, she leaped onto her motorcycle and sped back down onto the freeway, throwing up dust in her wake as she made a screeching turn around next to Kelsey's Zord.
"How are we looking, Carter, Ally?"
"Ease it down," Carter reported, and Ally nodded, gazing ahead at the end of the freeway. "You're running out of road!"
The GPS on her bike's dash blinked on, "You've got a little less than three miles, Kels!" The distance shortened in a matter of minutes, and soon, Ally was forced to come to a stop, lest she go flying off the end of the road.
"You've got to stop!"
"I'm trying!" The tension in her muscles was back in full force, and Ally was almost afraid to look as Kelsey's Zord as it barreled closer and closer… "Alright, here we go. Full reverse!" Even though she was far enough away to be safe, the smoke from the wheels still forced Ally to instinctively shield her eyes, and when she removed her hand, she spotted Kelsey safely stopped at the edge of the freeway. (She wasn't sure if it was safe, when she thought about it.)
"We did it. We did it!"
They hadn't done it, at least not fully, since before Ally could hop off of her Rail Rescue, the tornado monster reformed, just larger this time. And fittingly, the wind it gave off was ten times as worse, even with her safe in the Megazord. "Hang tight, guys," Carter muttered, and Ally clung to the sides of her seat.
"What do you think I was doing?"
"Whatever, kid." He was surely sounding more and more like her brother as the days went on. "Now, it's our turn. Lightspeed ladder arms, power thrust!" Their attacks threw sparks into the air and elicited groans of pain from their giant foe. "Let's give this guy a lift!"
Usually, that would've been enough for their ordinary opponents, but through the dust it's landing had thrown into the air, Ally spotted the creature getting to its feet. "Heads up, folks."
"Geez, this dude doesn't know when to give up. Lightspeed Megazord saber, ignite!" No matter how cool their weapon was, Ally would argue that it still made them look like a gundam toy. "Full power!"
"Kelsey! Ally!" The two rushed over to Nancy, and Ally could finally breathe easy as they embraced. The pilot was unharmed, and for the most part, they were, too. A win-win situation. "I should've known you guys would turn out to be Power Rangers. What's it like being a part of Lightspeed Rescue?"
Ally wasn't sure what to say, and for a moment, she wondered what it would've been like to be an older Power Ranger, one that had to hide their identities. She wondered what it would've been like if she wasn't a Ranger at all.
"I love it. But it's funny, I've always dreamed of flying a space shuttle." She was grateful that Kelsey spoke first.
"Same here. You were incredible up there, Nancy."
She shook her head. "Well, after seeing the kinds of rescues you guys have to do, I think I should keep my job and you two should keep yours."
Ally couldn't help but agree.
