"You Rangers are pathetic!" Ally hated that word: pathetic. Something else she hated? (Or rather, someone?) Her documentary professor for keeping them twenty minutes past the time class was supposed to end. She'd waited for the bus another ten minutes, and only got to the fight a whole forty five minutes after the code red had been issued.
(The professor hadn't been talking about much of anything pertaining to documentary, and instead was rambling on about some film festival or another that'd turned out to be a sham. Ally could've left then and there, but she hadn't. She just wanted- no, needed- a break. It'd been an understandable sacrifice up until she'd arrived here.)
"Hey, lightning rod!" It wasn't her best insult, but it succeeded in forcing the monster to switch its focus to her for a moment. Ally just had to buy the others some time. "I'm the only one who gets to call my friends names!" She raised her morpher. "Lightspeed Rescue!"
The monster only cackled in glee as Ally paced around it, keeping her guard up. "You're just another Ranger for me to fry! Lightning spikes, away!" The black spike that resembled something like a thorn was obvious, but the only problem was, its user had thrown it way too quickly for her to dodge. Lightning struck down onto the spike and onto Ally, and the pain exploded through her veins as she collapsed, muscles twitching.
"Ally!" She thought she heard Kelsey scream.
"You stay away from her!" Came Chad's muffled voice.
"Aw, look at the soft spot the poor Rangers have-" As the stars in her vision cleared away, Ally thought she saw the laser of a blaster zip past her face. The angle and trajectory were all off, though, so it couldn't have come from her team…
"Good timing," Chad muttered as he helped her up, and Ally gladly accepted his arm to hold onto as she stood. "Bad reflexes. What're you, sleeping?"
"Nearly, thanks to the class-" Robotic whirring sounded from the direction the blast had come from, and Ally stopped talking, peering through the smoke.
"It can't be!" She'd never thought she'd agree with a monster, but for once, it was right: in front of them… was them.
—-
"Hey, those were some impressive moves," Chad gushed, still making sure to keep an arm around Ally as he did so. In any other situation, she'd probably smack him away, which would result in an argument, but she'd literally just been electrocuted, so it wasn't like there was much choice in the matter. Their doppelgangers didn't reply, though, and marched away, the creak of their robotic limbs following after them. "Where're you going? Hold on-" She shook her head as an armored car pulled up, and a man carrying some kind of controller stepped out. Something told her Chad wasn't about to get a response.
"Hello," the man drawled, and Ally raised an eyebrow. This guy looked the part of either the mad scientist in a sci-fi flick, or the annoying opposing lawyer in a drama. Neither of them were good.
"Uh, hello," Carter replied, clearly having caught onto this as well, "Who are they?"
The man smiled a nearly creepy grin, and Ally frowned, letting go of Chad's arm. She wasn't about to look weak in front of a newcomer, let alone this weird dude. "They," he paused, "Are the cyborg Rangers."
"You mean to tell us they're robots?"
"They are." The man pressed a button on his controls, and the not-Rangers lifted their heads in perfect unison. "Return to base." Ally watched, dumbfounded, as they obeyed the order seamlessly.
"Wait. What's going on?" Instead of answering, though, the man turned around, smiling that infuriatingly pretentious grin at Carter.
"Excuse me." He turned around. "We have to go." They piled back into their car, and as soon as the doors closed, Ally let out an irritated huff.
"That was amazing," Carter murmured, and she shook her head.
"Guess they knew that, too."
—-
When she got home, there was already a growing list of things for her to do: brief Captain Mitchell on what had happened, then eat something (she hadn't had time to eat lunch between classes today). Then, she had to make the final finishing touches on her screenplay, and finally- "Ally!" She jumped, glancing over at Kelsey, who she was pretty sure had called her name. "My god, I thought you were sleeping with your eyes open or something."
"Uh… no?" Ally replied, jumping out of the Rescue Rover. "Just planning the rest of my day."
Carter glanced around at them as they walked into the main room. "You guys don't plan your day as soon as you get up in the morning?" Dana shrugged.
"I do." Joel rested a hand on her shoulder as he stepped past her to face the Captain.
"That's because you're you, D." She glared at him, and the pilot tipped his hat to her. Ally couldn't help but laugh.
"Captain," Carter began, and Ally could tell he was struggling to keep from laughing, "They were incredible." Joel nodded fervently, his eyes glowing with an excitement she only saw when he talked about flying. He'd given up his Sky Cowboy title to be a Power Ranger, and while he hadn't talked about it much, Ally knew it bothered him from time to time.
She hoped she wouldn't find herself in the same predicament.
"Yeah, with them on the team, Diabolico doesn't stand a chance."
"The cyborgs aren't here to join you," an unfamiliar voice corrected, and Ally glanced over to spot an older man marching towards them. General McKnight. "They're here to replace you."
She wasn't sure who this general thought he was, but something told her he was in league with the scientist they'd seen after the fight. They both carried that "shut-the-fuck-up-I'm-better-than-you" air about them.
"Replace us?"
"Sir, this is a mistake," Captain Mitchell insisted.
"I don't think so, Captain," General McKnight replied, "You saw so yourself. They saved these…" he turned a disapproving glance onto them, a disapproving glance that was all-too familiar to Ally. "Kids. What were you thinking, Bill? They could never defeat Diabolico and his army."
A kid. To some people, including this old man, that was all she would ever be, despite her many accomplishments. "Meaning what, General McKnow-it-all?" Ally flinched. Maybe it wasn't the best to talk back to someone who ranked even higher than Captain Mitchell himself.
"Wanna see how tough we really are?" Kelsey added, and Ally grabbed her friend's arm, holding her back.
"Quiet." In the moment of silence that followed, the cyborg Rangers stepped out into the hallway, commanded by the same doctor from before. General McKnight smiled.
"You are relieved of your duties." With a wave of his baton, his soldiers stepped forward, holding the case that Ally knew was meant to hold their morphers. The first soldier reached for Chad's arm, but before he could take his morpher, he grabbed the soldier's wrist. The air whooshed out of her as she tensed, ready to move, but Captain Mitchell stepped forward, shook his head.
They were truly done.
She watched as each of her friends took off their morphers, placed them gently into the briefcase.
But when it was her turn, no matter how much she tugged and twisted at the wriststrap, it wouldn't budge. "It's not coming off."
"Ma'am," the soldier began, clearly losing his patience, "Stop playing games with us." Carter leveled a warning glance at her, but Ally met it with a confused look. She truly didn't know what was happening, why her morpher was stuck. Joel swore under his breath, then reached for her morpher.
When he gave it a tug, it didn't move an inch. "She's not kidding." The soldier stepped forward, reaching into his coat for what Ally assumed was a concealed weapon, and Joel immediately stepped forward, shielding her.
Even without his own powers, he would protect her.
"Fine. If there appears to be some technical difficulties, then I'm sure you can remain here in Aqua Base while we figure it out," General McKnight snapped. "The rest of you are dismissed."
—
Ally had never been more bored in her life. Thanks to her having to "await instructions" (or more like subject herself to being jailed in her own house), she'd finished all her assignments, and then a book that she'd picked up the other day. Needless to say, she missed her roommates and friends. Her head drooped down as she sat on the sofa, about to doze off, when the door slid open.
"Ugh. I was finally able to get those weird soldiers off my back," Mrs. Fairweather complained, marching in, and Ally jolted awake.
"Are you-"
"Supposed to be talking to you?" Ally was shocked, to say the very least. She'd never expected the strict, rule-abiding Mrs. Fairweather to be breaking her out of jail. "No," she replied, waving a hand in front of the door to keep it from closing. "Now, get out of here before I push you out myself."
—-
She found the others on the bridge overlooking the park. Kelsey and Dana looked as if they'd collapse in relief, while the guys simply shrugged. "Guess you used your get out of jail free card," Joel remarked, and Ally smiled.
"More like Mrs. Fairweather actually broke the rules." At this, they all turned to her, stunned.
"Did I hear that correctly?" Kelsey asked, and Ally nodded.
"Mhm. Loud and clear." Silence fell around the group after that, and Ally sighed, leaned back against the railing. The wind lifted her hair gently, and she took a deep breath of the fresh air. "What are we gonna do now?"
"Not sure," Chad admitted, "Carter? What do you think? Are the cyborgs better than us?" Ally didn't like that implication: that after all their training, after everything they'd all sacrificed… that someone would just come along out of the blue and be better than them.
"I don't know. I just don't know." They were quiet once more. For once, Ally realized, no one had a sassy comment or a sarcastic retort. It made sense, though. They'd all just lost the one thread between each of them. She wasn't sure whether they would ever get it back- An explosion blasted through the air a few blocks from where they stood, and she spun around.
"Even if we're not Rangers still, don't you think…" Ally stared at the smoke rising from what would no doubt be a collapsed building.
"We should check it out." She glanced down at her morpher. The one morpher that they still had, and of course it had to belong to her: the one who hadn't even wanted to be a Ranger in the first place, who still questioned if she wanted to be one from time to time. Dana, Carter, and Chad started to walk away, but Joel gripped Carter's arm.
"Hey. It's not our problem anymore."
"Yeah," Kelsey added, "We were fired. Let the cyborgs handle it."
"Besides," Ally reminded quietly, "You guys don't have your suits anymore. They won't be able to take the damage for you. It's safer here."
Dana stepped back, obviously shocked. Hurt glimmered in her eyes, and she immediately regretted her words. "Safe? Our job has never been safe," the blonde woman argued. "That doesn't change just because we can't morph. Our duty is still to protect those who can't protect themselves." She straightened up, glanced once more towards the rising smoke. "I'm going, with or without you three." Carter glanced apologetically at Joel, Kelsey, and Ally, then towards Dana.
Ally thought she spotted longing in his eyes, and she cleared her throat, a grin threatening to break over her face. (She was a better wingwoman than that, though.)
"She needs backup. I'm going too." Chad sighed.
"Strength in numbers." Ally frowned, weighing her options. She still had her morpher, and while it may be malfunctioning, there was a large chance that it would still work. So shouldn't she just try? What would there be to lose?
Hadn't they already lost everything else?
—-
Ally formed up between Joel and Dana as Carter grabbed the scientist away from the cyborg Rangers. "We'll take it from here." Ally lowered her stance a bit more when the cyborg got back up seconds after being kicked down by its human counterpart. They were built for stamina, that was for sure.
"You are no match for the cyborg Rangers," it snarled in a voice that sent chills down her spine. "You will all be terminated."
"He's right." The urge to spin around and smack the scientist in the face was strong, but Ally knew a little better than that. "Nothing can stop them." Carter shrugged.
"Well, we better hope you're wrong. Ally, ready?"
"Yeah." She stepped forward, raised her morpher, but stopped as the familiar roar of the Rescue Rover's engine sounded from down the street. Was that… her jaw dropped.
"Carter!" Ally watched as the Red Ranger leaped up, caught his morpher, and attached to his wrist. The others followed suit, and soon they were all wearing their morphers once more. As much as she'd pondered this… she was a good fit for the team, as long as the team always looked like this: a bunch of "kids" just trying to do the right thing. When the cyborg Rangers rushed to face them, Ally wasn't afraid.
"Time for some human power."
—-
For each move she dealt, it was like fighting a mirror. Every one of her kicks was blocked, all her punches were sidestepped. As much as she hated to admit it, Ally was getting her ass absolutely kicked.
But the third time she stumbled back, tasting blood somewhere in her mouth as she nearly ran right into Joel, she realized something. Her cyborg counterpart only knew her moves. So, with a running start, Ally leaped up and onto the building's gate, balancing there for a second as she pulled out her blaster and fired down at the purple cyborg. Sparks flew into the air as the lasers made contact, and she waited as the robot finally fell.
"Nice moves," Joel shouted over to her as she leaped down and joined the others. "Totally didn't get them from me."
"Oh, shut up."
"Well, plagiarism aside-"
"Hey!"
"That's the end of that."
"Aren't you forgetting something, you little Power pests?" Ally groaned as they turned to face the lightning monster. They really couldn't catch a break, could they?
"The only pest around here is you," Carter retorted, "and we're gonna stomp you out."
"We'll see about that. Lightning spikes, away!" Damn. Diabolico's monsters really needed to learn from their mistakes. As the spikes dug into the ground in front of them, Ally launched herself up the stack of crates next to her, waited for the spike to explode, then jumped down. "What?"
"We're onto your tricks. Try one of ours." Carter extended his blaster into its baton form, and the others followed his lead. "Let's do it!"
—-
Even with the Rescue Bird's Uni-Laser form, the monster wasn't done yet. It rushed at the Megazord, fists outstretched, and Ally shook her head, powering up the jets on their arms to give them extra strength as they matched its punches blow for blow. But when they stumbled back, their giant form too unwieldy to maneuver well in the crowded streets, the monster unleashed its lightning spikes again. Ally cursed.
"We've gotta do something about those spikes before the lightning hits us," Chad called out.
"I've got an idea. Ladder arms!" If she was correct about what Carter was planning…
"Deactivating jets," she replied, "Do your thing, Carter!" As the lightning started to crackle above them, Ally sat back and watched as they lifted their opponent into the air. Then, as the bolt of energy struck down onto them, the metal in their arms sparked onto the creature, knocking it over.
"Alright. Lightspeed Megazord saber, ignite!"
—-
"At ease." Ally glanced around and, not seeing any of her friends relax, she chose to remain standing. "I underestimated your… capabilities." She cringed inwardly. Somehow, General McKnight still made his compliments sound like insults. (She was used to it, but still.) "And your heart. I, uh…" he cleared his throat, "Apologize." The general spoke the word like it was poison in his mouth, and Ally just wished for him to leave the base already. He stepped forward, and Ally raised her chin ever so slightly. "Captain Mitchell made a wise choice. Six wise choices." She lifted her arm in a salute, trying her hardest not to grin.
"Thank you, sir." They let their arms drop.
"Captain, I won't interfere again." Ally wanted to cheer and jump up and down. "Carry on." As soon as the general and his entourage stepped out of the base, the room exploded into cheers, and looking around, she realized that maybe her morpher had been right in choosing her. Maybe she was meant to be here after all.
