A.N.: A weird thing happened the other day. When I was planning the locations for the art gallery where Ryan kills Leon, I found one I thought was interesting, which is the one I mentioned in the earlier chapter, the Park West gallery. It's in a part of the city I never go into, so I figured I'd never actually see it in person. The other night, I was exploring the city with some friends, and when we sat down to eat dessert, it was right in front of me. Kinda freaked me out.

Also, I'm reading the comics now, and I cannot believe what I've been missing out on. (TRINI TURNING INTO THE RED RANGER? A FEMALE POC AS THE RED RANGER- 3 also Kang the Conqueror who? JK JK JK- marvel really is the template ig JK JK JK J KJ K) Anyway, enjoy :)


It was already nine am, so Ally checked her watch as she, Kelsey, and Dana stood outside the guys' quarters. Normally, the three stooges would all go to breakfast together at some ungodly early hour, then each head their separate ways unless work called them in, but according to the cooks, they hadn't even been to the galley yet. "What did you do to them last week, Al?" Kelsey hissed, and Ally glared at the brunette.

"Nothing!" That was a lie. She'd made her feelings for Carter undeniably clear, and even though she did have the excuse that she'd been more or less high on pain meds… "Besides refusing to drink that green juice shit that Joel-" She slammed her mouth shut as footsteps sounded in the room, close to the door. Dana held a finger up to her mouth, and they leaned closer to the wall in unison.

The walls were thick, though, and Ally could only catch bits and pieces of conversation. Words like dude, and coward, and I'm starving, can you just man up, were said, and then the door slid open.

Joel was the first unfortunate victim, and Ally leaped at him, holding her water gun as steady as possible as she shot him with the ice cold substance. For a second, he just stood there, his green shirt growing more soaked by the moment, and when the water gun had emptied out, he crossed his arms. "Oh, it's on." She shrugged, taking a step back.

"Only if you can catch me, cowboy!" Before he, Chad, or Carter (who were similarly, hilariously soaked) could give chase, though, the alarms started to blare, and both boys turned to face Carter. He smiled sheepishly.

"I didn't even get to eat breakfast," Chad muttered as they turned and raced to rescue ops.


It'd been a week since she'd fully recovered from her head injury, but all the same: Carter Grayson drove like a madman. Ally clung for dear life to the side of the jeep, her head pounding as they screeched to a halt in the courtyard in the park. Not a moment later, a blue storm cloud materialized in the sky, casting the area in shade. And in that cloud was a face. Ryan had warned them about this. Not that she ever thought it would come true, but hey. In the span of less than a year, she'd gotten magical powers to morph into a superhero, abilities of persuasion thanks to those magical powers, and most crazy of all: best friends. Nothing was impossible at this point.

"Hello, Rangers." Okay, maybe except a talking cloud. They stepped back, almost completely in unison, but Ryan only stepped forward. That was another thing that'd happened in the past week: he'd almost entirely ignored her, except for when they'd see each other in passing.

Ally wasn't sure if she still hated him or not, so she assumed that spending time away from the older Mitchell sibling was much needed, but all the same. She hadn't forgotten about the task that was posed to her by her family. He was the one who had killed Leon, and whether any of them liked it or not, he had to answer for that.

"I thought she was destroyed," Ryan muttered, and Ally glanced over at him.

"You know that thing?" Kelsey asked, and Ryan nodded.

"Unfortunately, yes. That's Queen Bansheera. She's worse than ten Diabolicos." Exhaustion swamped over Ally all at once. According to the others, Diabolico had been an utter pain in the ass to defeat, as they'd all expected him to be. Multiply that by ten, and they no doubt had something much, much worse than a simple pain in the ass.

"Diabolico proved himself unworthy," the cloud, Queen Bansheera, said, "but I assure you my son will not."

"Her son?" Carter asked.

"Impus."

"Behold my heir," Queen Bansheera announced, as if this was all some royal crowning ceremony or whatever they called it. The clouds parted, and a giant cocoon floated down from the sky. "And your destruction."

"Okay," Ally began, eyes transfixed on the thing, "I really thought I'd seen everything by now."


"Rangers." There was something about Vypra that pushed Ally's buttons. Maybe it was the fact that she wished she could revoke the villainess' Asian card, if monsters could be Asian. Maybe it was the fact that she was just so goddamn persistent. Or maybe it was both.

"Don't worry about them. Fire!" Carter had a point in his order. The cocoon was floating just above them, and they had a clear shot, but it seemed… too easy.

"Wait, this feels-"

"We can't." Again, he was all business. Since last week, Ally had tried to spend as much time as possible with her friends as she recovered, but ever since she'd done what she did… things were different with Carter. He was tense, as if he walked on eggshells around her. She hated it, but as things turned out, it was her fault anyway. As Dana and Ally both hesitated, the others drew their blasters, and when their lasers hit the cocoon, it exploded in a shower of flames.

When the smoke cleared and Ally managed to get to her feet, she saw the damage that the explosion had created: there was now a hole in the ground that still billowed smoke into the air.

"Did we do it?" Flame spiraled up at them, and Ally instinctively tugged her friends back from the edge of the crater. Then, with an evil cackle, an unfamiliar creature rose from the depths.

"Who's he?"

"Is it really that little runt Impus?" One of the monsters asked, as incredulous as they were, but the creature didn't skip a beat.

"I am Olympius, son of Queen Bansheera. Bow down before me now, or you will feel my power." Ally sneered. As if.

"I'll never bow to you!"

"Carter-" There was no stopping the Red Ranger once he had his mind set on something, though, and he leaped into the air, tackling Olympius to the ground. But just like that, the creature disappeared, only to reappear, planting his foot onto Carter's chest.

"Ally, we didn't train for nothing!" Mrs. Fairweather recalled, and Ally nodded. As always, the scientist was right.

"Olympius, stop." The thing didn't even flinch.

"Oh? Are you the one the others told me about?" Ally let her chest puff out in the best imitation of Joel that she could manage.

"That's right. And if you don't let him go right now, I'll force you to." The monster cackled.

"Not that it worked the first time, Purple Ranger." There was the click of a V-Lancer's safety going off, and Chad stepped to her side.

"But this will." With that, he blasted at Olympius, only for the lasers to get knocked away like they were nothing. Clapping his hands together, their foe shot a blast of fire at them, and Ally barely had time to react, shoving Chad down so they wouldn't take the blow head on. The fire licked at her back, and she gritted her teeth. She figured back injuries would kinda stop after the tattoo, but no such luck. The ground was cool against her midsection, so for a moment, she just lay there, catching her breath. But when Olympius snatched Carter's blaster away from him, tossing him right into its path, she got to her feet in moments.

"Drop your weapon!" The blaster lowered, and Ally shuddered as she fought to maintain control. Olympius' mind, despite the fact that he was just born (reborn?) today was as strong as anything. "Put your weapon on the-" He fired, and when Carter dropped, clutching at his shoulder, Ally dove forward, standing in front of him.

"Oh, what's this?" Olympius sneered, and Ally's jaw dropped. "Friends willing to die for each other?" She shut her eyes, willing herself not to scream. "Well, no matter-"

"You talk a big game," Carter growled as he stood, stepping over to stand next to Ally, "But I don't know how tough you really are." With that, he ran forward, and she had no choice but to go after him. He drew his arm back to punch Olympius, so she went low, sweeping out a leg, but the monster stomped on her foot. Something cracked, and Ally screamed through her gritted teeth. She dragged herself up, but something was most definitely sprained, since the instant she tried to put weight on the foot, pain shot up her leg. Olympius raised an arm, his eyes glowing green as he prepared to attack, and Ally braced herself-

Carter shoved her out of the way, and Ally rolled over a bunch of crates, fear pulsing through her as the lasers landed on the Red Ranger instead. For a second, she lay there breathless, her foot throbbing in agony, and her teammate came flying over the crates a second later. "Now to complete my collection," Olympius purred, and Ally narrowed her eyes in confusion. The hell was he talking about? "All I need is you two Rangers, and-" The monster let out a screech, fell to his knees as he grasped his head, and in a flash, their enemies were gone.

"Ally! Carter!" She tried to stand, but her ankle screamed in protest, and she staggered. Ryan steadied her, went to loop an arm around her shoulders, and what followed was the strangest thing she'd probably ever seen (besides the cocoon that'd birthed a literal monster a few hours ago). Carter shoved Ryan away from her, gave her a quick once-over.

"Can you walk?" Ally tried to put her weight down again, then immediately took it off, shaking her head. "Here." He looped an arm around her shoulders, allowing her to take the weight off of her injured foot, and together, the three started the trek back towards the Rescue Rover.


"I don't remember much about Olympius," Ryan muttered. "I was so young." Thanks to her suit, the sprain had only been minor, so with a few remedies from Mrs. Fairweather, all Ally needed to do now was ice her ankle. She shrugged as Ryan paced around.

"Wasn't Impus always there, though? It wasn't that long ago you were trying to kill us." Ryan leveled a glare at her, but it wasn't spiteful like how it used to be. Instead, it was like she was teasing someone like Chad, Joel, or Carter. Playful, almost. This side of him was odd, but it was welcome.

"Haha. Very funny, Lee." Captain Mitchell couldn't wipe the smile off his face fast enough, and Ally caught a glimpse of him trying his best to contain his laughter.

"Well, in any case, you've got to try." Carter stood from where he was monitoring the locators as they waited on word from the others, and he didn't dare glance over at Ally.

"Still no sign of the others," he reported, and she sighed. After Olympius and Vypra had disappeared, so had the others, and since they'd gotten back to Aqua Base, they hadn't reported back. It worried Ally to the point her stomach actually hurt.

"All I know," Ryan said slowly, "Is that Queen Bansheera gave Diabolico the Star Power. Her son, Impus, was next in line to receive it. It transformed him into Olympius." Ally raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like the Plan B didn't work." Both Ryan and Carter glanced over at her.

"It did, though? If you mean that Impus was the Plan B…" Ryan's voice trailed off as he realized the joke, and soon, the two were laughing like teenagers. "Didn't think you had it in you, kid." Ally shrugged.

"All jokes aside," Carter interrupted, "He has as much power as Diabolico had." Ryan nodded.

"He's young, but once he learns how to use the Star Power, he'll have even more." Ally hummed in acknowledgement. Either way, they were screwed, which meant they needed to get the others back as soon as possible- A quiet alarm went off somewhere in the control room, and one of the officers rushed over to them.

"Sir, we picked up a signal." The man glanced over to Carter, then to Ally. "It's Chad." Relief swept over Ally as she stood, testing her weight on her bad ankle. Instead of pain racing through her entire body at the simple action, now it was nothing but an ache. Carter turned to her, glanced down at her ankle.

"Stay-"

Ally grinned, hopped up and down a few times just to fuck with him. "I'd love to, but my best friend is out there. Let's go, Car."


Carter was really trying his best. He really was. Well, he argued, he tried his best in whatever he did. Unless he was lazy. (But then, he would try his best at being lazy. So, there.) But now, he was attempting to shove all memories of the events of last week out of his mind. Including the fact that, loopy on pain meds or not, the beautiful girl sitting next to him, his best friend, had… had…

Ally threw her hands into the air, and Carter glanced over at her. "Dude, c'mon. You missed the turn!"

"Not my fault!" He retorted, swinging the Rover around the next U-turn he spotted. Ally glared over at him.

"Uh, yeah, it kinda is. You're the one driving." He'd dug himself into a hole, Carter realized as they finally drove into the alley where Chad's morpher had let off a signal. Admittedly, he'd never been the absolute best with girls when he was younger, or with women as he got older. So of course he'd fuck things up with Ally.

Carter didn't dwell on it. Instead, he pulled to a stop, parked the Rover, and was about to jump out when Ally frowned at him. "What?"

"You look flushed. You're not sick, are you?" She reached the back of her hand up towards his forehead.

Carter panicked. "I'm fine," he snapped, opening the door and stepping out of the Rover. "It's just hot." Ally was quiet for a second before he heard the sound of the passenger side door opening.

"Geez, Car. I was just asking-"

"Go check that warehouse over there." He didn't dare look at her, instead heading over to scout out the warehouse right next to them, and his teammate didn't protest. Instead, he heard her footsteps going over the asphalt until the clang of something falling interrupted them.


"Chad!" Her best friend looked to be in the worst shape of his life, Ally observed. He was ever so slightly pale, although that might've just been because of the dust and dirt his jacket was coated in. Other than that, though, he was unscathed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "You okay, man? What happened? Where were you?" He shook his head, clutching at his injuries. In any other circumstance, Ally would be calm, but after she'd spent so much time alone, then her friends had gone missing… she couldn't deny that she was worried.

She couldn't lose them.

"It all happened so fast," he paused, trying to steady his breathing, and Ally rubbed his back gently. "That monster…" The look Chad gave her could only be described as strange. Maybe he'd just hit his head, but he didn't look worried at all. Instead he looked… relieved? "Olympius."

"We know," Carter replied, stepping over to Chad's other side. "What about the others?" Now, worry furrowed his brow.

"Aren't they with you?" Ally shook her head as she helped Chad to stand.

"No," she replied softly, not wanting to let her concern and panic show.

"We need to get back to the Aqua Base."


"Hey," Ally began, snapping her fingers, "Remember that dessert place you told me about the other day? Was it on MBU campus?" No one replied to her question, and she frowned, smacking Chad over the head lightly. "Hey, I'm talking to you, you-"

"Huh? Oh, me? Oh," he paused, laughed that childish laugh he never seemed to have outgrown, "I-I actually don't remember. I'm sure it'll come back to me soon. Or you could go check yourself the next time you go to class." That was an option, but Ally was lazy. The Rescue Rover rode all the way up into the docking bay, and Carter stretched his arms.

"Chad, why don't you get cleaned up and meet us in rescue ops? We'll start scanning for the others." Ally slid out of the Rover, taking a sip from her water bottle, and frowned. Where was Chad going? "Chad?" It took him way too long to turn back around. "Our quarters are that way."

"I guess that monster must've hit me harder than I thought." With that, he walked away, and Ally blinked a few times. Chad Lee had his awkward moments, but never around them. That was plain weird. Oh well. He'd be back to normal soon.


"I want you to send out the search parties," Captain Mitchell started, "Two groups to the south, two to the west. We'll call for reinforcements if we need it." Ally nodded.

"Copy." Her ankle ached in protest, and she glared down at it, wiggling it around, as if mentally scolding it would make it stop hurting.

"You're making it worse," Carter muttered, "You should be staying off of it until it's fully healed."

Ally knew he was right, which only served to increase her irritation tenfold.

"Which I won't be able to do until we get the others back safely-"

"Hey!" Ally would know that outgoing, excited voice anywhere. She spun, jaw dropping as Kelsey bounded around the corner.

"Kels!" Ryan exclaimed.

"You made it back!" She nodded.

"Dana and Joel, too! Safe and sound." Ally let herself deflate, almost pretending to be like one of those car dealership human balloons, and choosing to ignore the playfully judgmental look on Ryan's face.

"That's a relief," Carter breathed, and Kelsey shrugged.

"So, uh, I guess you can call off that search party now, huh?" Huh was right. How had she heard that?

"Absolutely," Captain Mitchell agreed, "Now we can focus on Olympius." He glanced over at Ally. "And you can rest your leg." She sighed. There would be no catching a break with anyone here.

"I'll rest in rescue ops. Get one of those chairs with tiny wheels on the legs so I can just roll myself around, y'know." He chuckled, and he and Ryan walked away, but Carter hesitated. "Carter?"

He didn't reply, instead turned to face Kelsey who was in the middle of walking away from them. "Hey Kels. How did you know about the search party?" She shrugged.

"Well, I just assumed you'd send one out to find us. Right?" Ally frowned. She wasn't wrong, but at the same time…

"Right."

"Well," Kelsey continued, "Gotta go!" With that, she dashed around the corner to who knows where, and Ally stared after her, confused. Usually she'd tag along wherever Ally went and vice versa, unless she already had places to be, but now?

"Is it just me, or…" Ally shook her head.

"Dunno why she's acting so weird," she replied, nodding towards the general area of rescue ops, "But I'm not gonna pry."


Whereas Dana was the doting Mitchell sibling, Ryan was more of the "I'll do this thing for you, but I'll do it in a chill, casual way, since this doesn't mean I'm showing affection". Case in point: when Ally'd stepped into rescue ops after refilling her water bottle with green tea in the galley (because caffeine was her best friend these days), he pulled a rolly chair and pointed to it, a silent command to sit. So she did, because even though they were wildly different, you did not want to cross the Mitchell siblings.

Something beeped above them, and Ryan craned his neck back as he stepped away from her. "Huh," he muttered. "The entry gate's opening." Ally spotted Carter standing next to a control panel, and she wheeled herself over to him. "It's being opened from transport." He adjusted the angle of the camera at the entrance, and the sight on the monitor made Ally's heart sink.

"Mrs. Fairweather," Carter started, and Ally shoved the microphone closer to him, nearly whacking him in the face with it, "Close the entry gate!" The three of them stood, staring at the control panel, waiting to see the gate finally shut. It took much, much longer than it should have. Unless someone was forcing it to stay open.

Ally stood, gestured out the door. "Let's go."


She wasn't quite sure what the hell was happening in transport. Actually, scratch that: she wasn't sure at all what was happening. For one, Joel was there, standing right next to the control panel that would open up the entry gate. Then, Mrs. Fairweather was on the ground, and Ally rushed to help her up, giving her a quick once-over to check for injuries. Thankfully, there was none, so she gestured for Mrs. Fairweather to stand on the side.

"Hey, Carter. Ally. Pals. How's it going?" Fear trickled down Ally's spine. Whoever that was, that most definitely wasn't Joel. "Can I have my pass key back?"

"You're not my pal," Carter started, "In fact, I don't know who you are. But you're not Joel. Now get away from that console."

Ally glanced over at Mrs. Fairweather, who gave a quick nod. She'd never once done this before, let alone thought about doing it, so she wasn't sure how well it would go over, but for Joel's sake, she had to try. "Let go of him." Joel, or whoever it was, froze, and she took a deep breath. "Give Joel back-" Not-Joel was fast. Unusually fast, even for the quick-witted pilot.

The cowboy spun, grabbed Mrs. Fairweather, and swept out a leg, kicking Ally's bad ankle out from under her before she could react. She hit the ground, and as fast as she could manage, scrambled away from Not-Joel. Carter helped her up with a steady hand on the small of her back. "Okay, just- just take it easy."

Before their eyes, Not-Joel's physical form melted away, revealing none other than Olympius, and Ally swore under her breath. How could they have been so stupid? "Now, one last time. Give me the pass card!" The Ally from a few months ago would've summoned her blaster, waited until she'd had a clear shot, but the Ally now knew much, much better. There were too many people in the crossfire, even if she did have a shot at Olympius that wouldn't also hit Mrs. Fairweather. (Not to mention, if she even accidentally hit a piece of equipment, that same scientist wouldn't let her hear the end of it, and a big chunk would most likely be taken from her paycheck.)

Out of the corner of her eye, Ally spotted a flash of black creeping up behind Olympius: Ryan. She didn't dare to keep her eyes on him for more than a few seconds though, lest she give away the element of surprise. "Carter," she murmured. "Give it to him. "

"Alright." Slowly, carefully, he reached out his arm.

"That's it," Olympius encouraged, "Hand it over slowly." The creature snatched the card away, and an evil laugh escaped him. "The Aqua Base is about to have a little company." Ryan didn't waste another second. Instead, he leaped forward, bringing both of his fists down onto Olympius, knocking him away from Mrs. Fairweather. Ally caught her before she could hit the ground, pushed her to safety next to the other lab techs as Carter tackled Olympius, forcing him to drop the pass key. As soon as it hit the floor, Ally grabbed it up, tossed it to Mrs. Fairweather who pocketed it safely in her lab coat.

But the scientist's gaze wasn't on Ally for long. Instead, Ally followed it to where Olympius had Carter backed up nearly to the edge of the ocean access tunnel, and before she could react, they fell right in.

Instinct took over then, and she started drawing in deep breaths as she ran, which grew quicker and shallower as she forced herself to hyperventilate, to retain more oxygen in her bloodstream. Then, as lightning started flashing over the water, she took one final breath and dove in.


As much as Ally loved the ocean, what she didn't love was how the salt water made her eyes burn. They did just that as she opened them, only to find Carter next to her, chest heaving as he drew in breath after breath, and she let out a groan as she got to her feet. Her clothes stuck to her uncomfortably, and she thanked the heavens that she'd decided to wear a dark purple shirt today instead of her white top with lavender flowers. "You look like shit," she muttered, and Carter glared at her.

"Aw, thanks. I appreciate that so-" His voice trailed off, and Ally turned, unsure if she was hallucinating at first… nope, that was a big bright light coming from the star on Olympius' chest. Then, the light expanded, and her four best friends tumbled out of each of the beams. "Guys!"

Ally rushed over to them, all but tackling Kelsey and Joel in a hug, and they clapped her on the back. "A rare sighting of affectionate Ally," Joel joked, "Take it in, people. It won't last long-" She smacked him on the head. "Ow!"

"No, it can't be!" Olympius wailed, making her realize that he'd literally been a baby not three days ago. The whirr of someone transporting in sounded, and Ally turned, spotting the rest of Queen Bansheera's monsters form out of thin air. They discussed something amongst themselves, then Vypra turned to the crab looking monster behind them.

"Thunderclaw, finish them off!" Thunderclaw sounded like an old school rock band that Leon would listen to. Ally wasn't sad when she thought that if he was here, he'd laugh right in the monster's face. Instead, she was determined to get rid of the creature even more so than she usually would be.

"It's all over now, Rangers!" She scoffed.

"As if. Ready?" Carter nodded.

"Ready. Lightspeed, Rescue!"


Being back in the Megazord had never felt so good, especially now that Ally had her new Eclipse Gunner at her disposal. "Ryan?" Carter asked, and she craned her neck to look out the window. (She'd never give him this high of a compliment, but Ryan's Zord was majorly cool.)

"On it." He leaped into the air, smacked Thunderclaw around a bit before landing back safely onto the ground, and Ally grinned.

"You're a badass, Mitchell. We get it."

"Oh, you wanna see badass?" Ally raised an eyebrow. Carter had swore. He never swore. (It was kind of hot.) "Initiate Lightspeed Solar Zord!" It only took a few moments for the Max Solar Zord to break apart and combine back onto their Megazord, and Ally gaped as she saw the outer specs of the machine.

"This is what I missed?" She gasped. "No fair!"

The others laughed, all except for Carter, and Ally figured it was because he was focused on powering up the weapons for their final attack. She watched as the power levels on her controls went all the way up to one-hundred, and with that, they fired.


Ally watched with a raised eyebrow as Chad tossed a Goldfish cracker at Joel, and when the cowboy caught it in his mouth, he punched at the air in celebration. She'd missed this, she realized. And she'd taken them all for granted, forgotten that even in these silly moments, they were together, and that's what mattered. "Hey," Dana asked as she looped an arm around Ally's. "Has anyone seen Carter?"

They exchanged glances, each expecting the other to have an answer, but the silence let them know that no one did. "Oh!" Joel finally exclaimed, mouth full of Goldfish since he'd grabbed a handful from the bag that Chad held, much to the other man's protest, "He said he was going to be in weapons fixing his cycle." Ally exchanged a look with the cowboy, and they both cringed.

"We should probably go check on him before he makes anything worse," she suggested, and when Joel nodded, they turned the corner to head into weapons. Chad pocketed his food, careful to make sure none of the lab techs (especially Mrs. Fairweather) saw him about to bring his snack into a strictly no-snack zone. Then, together, they stepped into the space. Just as Joel had remembered, Carter was there, doing some adjustments to his bike, and Ally kept a watchful eye on his motions as they approached. "Hey."

He glanced up at her, then at the others, a smile on his face. "Hey. What's up?"

"Carter, Ally." She frowned, glanced up at Chad. Why'd he lumped her into their shit? And why did he sound so serious?

Panic flashed through her, and she begged for this not to be one of those "feelings" talks. She'd had one too many of those from her parents- "There's something we need to talk about." Ally didn't dare glance over at Carter to see his reaction, since she knew that by doing that, it'd only make their suspicions worse.

"Y-yeah?" Carter asked as he stood, and Ally scrambled up, crossing her arms as Joel stalked up to them.

"What's up with you letting Olympius right into the Aqua Base?" The cowboy asked, and Ally's jaw dropped. What was he talking about?

"Yeah," Dana continued, "I can't believe the both of you could have done something so… dumb! I mean, Carter, I understand, but you, Al?" She wasn't joking, or at least, it didn't sound like she was, no matter her wording. But it didn't matter, since now, the four of them were inching towards them.

"Uh… guys? It wasn't like we did it on purpose," Ally spoke slowly, as if she was talking to a kid.

"Yeah," Carter continued, "He looked just like you!" Kelsey narrowed her eyes up at him, and Ally cringed.

"Are you saying you couldn't tell me from a huge, ugly monster?" She asked, and Ally's mouth opened and closed as she tried her best to think of anything to save their asses.

"Yes! I mean, no, wait. It's just that-"

"Carter, shut up," Ally pleaded, "What he meant to say is…" She wished she had an argument. How did they fail to realize that there was a monster pretending to be their best friends? Guilt swept through her, like the kind she'd felt when she'd been a kid getting scolded by her parents. "Is, uh… we, uh…" Her shoe caught on the edge of something, and before she could right her balance, she went flailing over the edge of the ocean access tunnel. Instinctively, she reached out for anything to grab hold of, and of course, the closest thing, or person, was Carter.

Unfortunately, he'd lost his balance, too, and she'd only made it worse, so instead of pulling her back to safety, they both went tumbling into the ocean. Again. Dana, Kelsey, Chad, and Joel burst into laughter, and Ally stuck her tongue out at them as she treaded water. "Very funny, guys," Carter muttered.

"Yeah," she continued, "We're both laughing so hard." Kelsey bent down, her trademark mischievous smirk on her face.

"Looks like they've learned their lesson." Ally sighed, exchanging a glance with Carter, who for the first time since last week didn't immediately look away.

"We're never living this down, are we?" He asked, and she shook her head. But regardless, she did have an idea, and it seemed like he had the same one, too.

"No," she started, "But that doesn't mean we can't do this!" With that, they shoved their hands forward, sending water splashing onto the others. And as Ally laughed, reaching out a hand to Carter for a hi-five, she realized just how grateful she was for this team.