There was no time to waste. The longer Ally let her parents wait, no doubt the more suspicious they would get. So here she was, about to tell a lie, or at least a half-truth, to her lawyer of a mother. "He, what?" Her dad nearly shouted, and Ally cringed.
He never raised his voice.
"We had a tracer on his morpher," she explained once more, "But just last night, it went offline." Carter walked in to rescue ops, and when he spotted her, he smiled sadly. She'd told all of her friends that she'd be calling her parents today, and each of them had given her encouragement in their own ways. Whether that was Joel saving her a plate from breakfast before he left to visit his friend, Chad sympathizing with her about "too-strict-Asian-parents", Kelsey and Dana doing face masks with her the night before, or Carter being here right now… Ally appreciated this team more than she could express.
On the screen, her mother shook her head. "It was that easy…" Carter stepped into frame, nodded to her parents.
"Hi, Mr and Miss Sakamichi," he greeted, and Ally saw the way her parents immediately sobered up, any sign of their weakness gone. "I'm Carter." Her dad smiled warmly.
"We know who you are, kid. Thanks for keeping our daughter safe." Carter glanced at her, and she shrugged.
"Oh, she's got that part covered. I'm more or less her impulse control." Her parents laughed. "But about the other Ranger's morpher going offline," Carter paused, and she knew he was being extremely extremely cautious about what to say, "we don't know whether that means he's simply taken it off, or that he's…" Geez. She'd been debating on whether or not to make that excuse, that Ryan was- she didn't even want to think about it- dead, but Carter had gone no holds barred.
She liked that about him.
Ally's dad didn't move, but her mom nodded slowly. "I understand. Thank you for letting us know. And Alyssa?" She glanced up at the screen. "We trust that you tried your best. You've always tried your best in every single thing you've ever done. This doesn't change the fact that we're not proud of you."
She hadn't tried, though. Instead, she'd befriended the man who'd killed their son and her brother.
The man who'd needed to do so to save the lives of all those at the art gallery that fateful night.
"I love you guys," Ally murmured, voice nearly a whisper. "I'll see you both later, alright?"
"Alright," her dad agreed, "Shoots, then, kids."
When the Red Ranger didn't reply, Ally and her parents laughed. "My dad means bye," she explained quietly, and he nodded.
"Oh. That makes sense," he murmured back, then turned to the screen again, "It was nice to meet you both."
"And the same to you," Ally's mom replied, "Bye, sweetie!" She groaned, wishing she could hide.
"Bye, mom." With that, her parents hung up, and Carter chuckled.
"You're just a baby, huh?"
"I hate you."
Ally and Carter were the first to make it to the lab upon Mrs. Fairweather's request, and the scientist glanced up at them. "How was it?" Damn. Word traveled fast, she realized.
"Better than I expected," Ally admitted. "They were… understanding. I think. And weirdly affectionate." Her mentor's eyes darted between her and Carter, and as a smirk grew on her lips, Ally knew what she was going to say. "Mrs. F-"
"I didn't realize you two were already at the 'meeting-their-parents' stage-"
"It's because we're not," Carter interrupted, and although his voice was smooth, unbothered, Ally noted a blush on his cheeks. (Cute.) The others filed into the weapons lab, each crowding around Ally, and she smiled.
"It went well." Everyone deflated in relief like old balloons. "Now, what's the sitch, Mrs. F?" The scientist held Carter's battle booster up, admiring it like it was the finest piece of art, which Ally figured it was to her.
"I've developed this simple modification so that from now on your battle boosters will be able to operate Max Solar Zord by remote." She handed it to him, and Ally peered over at the device. Simple was right, she didn't even know what Mrs. Fairweather had changed about it. "You'll need it to activate the Omega Megazord."
Ooh. "Omega Megazord?" Dana asked, and Mrs. Fairweather stood up, letting them lean in closer to the computer she'd been sitting in front of.
"It's the very latest in Zord technology."
"This is incredible," Chad breathed, and Ally nodded, resting her hand on his shoulder as she watched the on-screen footage. "Oh, by the way. Anyone seen Joel?" They all shook their heads.
"Pretty sure he went to go visit his friend," Ally informed, and when she glanced up from the screen, she spotted the cowboy there, as if summoned. "Damn. He must've heard us," she joked in a whispered voice.
"All jokes aside," Carter murmured, stepping over to the door, "This is incredible, Mrs. Fairweather!" Joel spun, as if surprised to see them, and Ally raised an eyebrow. A jumpy Joel could only mean one thing: he was trying once more to flirt.
"You had something for me, Joel?" Ally snickered as he panicked, then as his morpher beeped, he held his hand up to his mouth. The hand that held a bouquet of daisies. He instantly grabbed it in his other hand, and she rolled her eyes despite the smile on her face.
Before everything was revealed to her, Ally liked the quiet. It gave her time to relax, to calm her mind that usually raced with thoughts of her next exam, of training, and occasionally of a certain Red Ranger.
Now, the silence freaked her out. Allowed her mind to wander to thoughts of Leon, to how in the world he could have possibly been the art thief all along.
To how he could be willing to hurt all those people to get away with it. She opened her eyes, letting out a sigh as she flopped onto her back on the training mat. She was at Seapoint Lookout, thinking some time alone would clear her thoughts. She'd thought wrong. "How could you?" She whispered to the wind. "I trusted you, Leon. I depended on you. And now you're…"
"Slacking?" Her darkening thoughts brightened up at the sound of Carter's voice.
"In your dreams, Grayson," she shot back, and when she closed her eyes, she could hear the rustle of grass as he sat next to her. "Sorry for stealing your spot."
"Nah. It's ours now." The two sat in silence for a few moments, and Ally rested her hands behind her head as she gazed up into the clear blue sky. "You wanna know something?" She glanced over at the brunette.
"Depends on what it is. If it's gross, then I'm just gonna-"
Carter chuckled. "It's not gross. I just think that…" He paused, formulating his words, "That no one's ever fully good or fully bad. I mean, look at Ryan. He'd done a terrible thing, but he did it for the right reasons." Ally nodded slowly, knowing he had heard her talking to herself. (Which was mortally embarrassing, but it was whatever at this point.) "And I'm sure Leon was the best big brother you could've had."
It felt like Carter had reached into her chest and ripped out her heart. A tear trailed down the side of her face, and Ally sat up, supporting herself with her hands to her sides on the grass. "He was. He taught me an appreciation for art through his love for it. When my mom and dad would work late, he'd order pizzas and we'd watch movies." Carter smiled.
"That's why you wanted to be a filmmaker?" Ally nodded.
"One of the reasons." She glanced over at him, finding that he'd glanced at her at the same time, too. A small smile bloomed on her face. "Stick around long enough, and you just might find out the others." Carter laughed, and Ally could have sworn the sun shone a little brighter.
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere." Ally only realized then how close they had been sitting, their shoulders brushing, their faces close enough that if she were to lean up… "I'm playing the long game." Ally felt faint.
"Is that so?" She felt a shiver run down her spine as Carter smirked.
"Mhm." He reached up, tucked a strand of her ginger hair behind her ear. "So I guess you're stuck with me." Ally smiled.
"I'm not complaining." With that, she slowly, slowly leaned forward, and she thought she could feel the brush of his lips against hers-
The alarm blaring through Aqua Base jolted her out of sleep, and for a second, she stopped to collect her thoughts. "What're you waiting for?" Kelsey called over to her as she dashed out of the bathroom, hair only half up in its ponytail, "We gotta go!" The Yellow Ranger rushed out of the door, and Ally wanted to throw up. She'd had a dream about… about…
Ugh. She could dwell on this later. Instead, she stood up, tossed her own hair up into a ponytail as she ran after her friend, only to run smack into Carter emerging from the guys' quarters. "O-oh," he muttered, and Ally tried her absolute best not to think about his hand in her hair, his lips against hers. "Sorry." With that, he was running off, and she was following close behind.
"Carter!" Ally glanced up from her controls as she heard Mrs. Fairweather over comms. "You've got to stop Olympius!" She muttered a curse under her breath, spotting the demon standing just in front of their Solar Zord.
"On it, Mrs. F," she replied, getting up from her seat and rushing to the Eclipse Gunner. But before she could even bother to aim the turret towards Olympius, they were surrounded by some sort of purple bubble. "Uh…"
"I second that," Carter muttered, "What's happening?" The flashing of lights on her dashboard caught Ally's attention, and she glanced down. "Al, what's it looking like over there?" She shook her head as she sat down, tapped the buttons that would pull up the power charts.
"Not good, Car. The Eclipse Gunner's energy just drained."
"Same here," Kelsey reported, and Ally gritted her teeth. "Levels are dropping!"
"We're losing all power," Dana added.
"That purple thing must be blocking the sunlight," Chad inferred, and Ally nodded.
"Guess we have to take care of it, then," Carter observed, and as she listened to him, Ally spotted Olympius teleport right in front of them. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was the one generating the forcefield, blocking out the sunlight from reaching their Zord. "Olympius. Let's get him."
"You're out of tricks, Rangers." That was one thing about these monsters, Ally thought. So overly cocky.
"Not quite," Carter retorted, and a rush of adrenaline surged through her. She hadn't been able to use the Battle Booster yet, seeing as she was out of commission the first time they'd used it, but now… "555, Battle Boosters, activate!" Just as was explained to her during training, Ally held up her wrist, feeling the skin beneath the device pulse with warmth. She wasn't worried about the thing overheating, though, since it exuded power instead of electricity. "Ready, fire!" The blast of energy that leapt out from their Boosters nearly made Ally stumble back, but still, Olympius stood.
"You'll never make me retreat!" He snarled, and she gulped. Well…
"Rangers! The asteroid is bigger and moving much faster than we thought!" It was times like these that Ally wished Mrs. F was interrupting them with good news instead of more bad news.
"What?" Carter asked. "Does that mean…"
"Correct. Your Solar Zord can't bring it down."
"You have met your defeat, it seems," Olympius snarled, and for once, Ally didn't have a comeback. What could they do if even the Solar Zord couldn't handle the task?
"What do we do now?" Chad echoed her questions, and Ally shook her head, keeping her gaze focused on Olympius.
In the corner of her peripheral vision, Ally saw Dana shake her head as well, but she doubted it was for the same reason. "There's got to be a way to stop that asteroid," she exclaimed. "Mrs. Fairweather, any ideas?" For the briefest, scariest moment, Ally thought the brilliant scientist would say no.
"Rangers," she said finally, and Ally relaxed, "Return to the Aqua Base. It's time to initiate the Omega Project."
The buzz of energy in the Aqua Base was enough to keep Ally from being utterly terrified as Mrs. Fairweather initiated the launch. While she'd more or less gotten over her fear of heights, especially as she'd been taking more and more casual flights with Joel… things like this still scared her. Speaking of the Sky Cowboy… seeing him with his friend Simon only made her think of her brother, Ash.
Of how he'd asked her to bring the man who'd taken Leon from them to justice.
How would she tell him, her sweet, albeit pesky, little brother that their oldest, most dependable sibling was… was… Ally's thoughts drifted away as their Zords broke through the atmosphere and exited out into the black expanse of space.
This, she decided, wasn't scary. Instead, it was beautiful. The distant stars and planets twinkled with each of their individual colors, and she couldn't keep her eyes from widening in wonder.
"Eyes up, folks," Carter instructed, and she peered further out the window, only to spot the upcoming asteroid belt. "Approaching the asteroid belt. Let's try not to damage the Zords."
"Please," Mrs. F replied, nearly begging, and Ally cringed as a piece of floating rock bumped into them. "Never mind."
"Sorry, Mrs. Fairweather," Carter replied. "I think it's time to give the Omega Megazord a try." Ally engaged the controls, ready for her Rescue Zord to split up from the others. "Omega Megazords, engage!" A year ago, if someone had told her that she'd literally be riding a futuristic motorcycle through space, Ally would have laughed so hard she'd cry.
Now, she was just amazed that it was even happening. "Omega Crawler!"
"Activate!" Ally sat back as their Zords reformed, just as they usually did, but instead of transforming into the normal Megazords, they changed into something new. Her Street Rescue dispersed itself, becoming the wheels of their crawler, and thanks to their new vantage point…
"This is sick and all, I'm not seeing anywhere for us to land," she reported.
"Not yet, you're not," Chad replied, and Ally raised an eyebrow. "Weapons firing!" The lasers the Blue Ranger activated burst apart the piles of rock in front of them, clearing an effective space for a landing zone, and Ally grinned.
"Show off."
"Hey, play nice," Carter joked, and she made a face.
"But Chad makes it so easy!"
"While I agree with that wholeheartedly," Joel added on, "That landing was smooth." Ally couldn't help but agree. She hadn't even felt their wheels hit the ground.
Carter clasped his hands together, and Ally glanced over, spotting him looking over his controls. "Evil scientist looking clown," she muttered, much to the laughter of her teammates, and the Red Ranger shook his head.
"That title's Mrs. F's, without the clown part, of course," he replied, and they only laughed louder. "On a serious note, let's see what this bad boy can do."
With that, they pressed forward, the large feet-like bottoms of the crawler tromping forward. "Holding steady," Carter reported, but Ally still kept a close eye on the readings in front of her. Any little mistake could wreak havoc on the entire Zord. Finally, they pulled to a slow stop. "Alright. You can bury the first explosive, Dana."
"Deploying drill arms," she announced, and with a push of a button, the tool extended out. "Begin drilling." Ally held her breath as she watched through the window of the Zord, simultaneously keeping an eye on the readings of the earth beneath them. Thanks to their new Megazord's insane tech, their scanners could get them somewhat of an idea of what they were drilling into. (Just in case they hit an angry creature or a lava tube, or at least that was what Mrs. Fairweather had explained.)
"Readings look normal," she added. "Kels?"
The Yellow Ranger nodded. "Inserting explosive number one."
"I know you said we're clear," Joel muttered, and Ally glanced over at him, surprised. Maybe it was the fact that Simon was watching him, that someone who depended on him to get this done was watching him. "But please be careful with that thing, Kelsey."
"Don't tell me twice," she shot back, and Ally was almost afraid to look as she controlled their extended arm. Then, with a final push of a button, she let the explosive drop into the hole that their drill had created, lifting the arm up and away. Everything seemed to be undisturbed underground, and Ally smiled.
"All good to go."
"On to the next one, then!" Dana encouraged, and Chad scoffed.
"Thank God. I want out of here."
"Can you just, like, never speak again?" Ally asked Chad as the tendrils of earth snaked up from the ground, wrapping around their legs at Queen Bansheera's beckoning. The Blue Ranger shook his head, but she was pretty sure he was making a face at her. Instead of completing their lift-off from the asteroid, the earth literally dragged them back. Sparks flew into her eyes as they crashed down, and Ally gritted her teeth.
"Rangers, get out of there!" It was a miracle that communications were still working.
"We can't!" Carter shot back, "The asteroid's alive!"
"No crap!" Kelsey argued, "It's got us stuck here!"
"There's not enough power to break out of the asteroid, either," Dana reported, and Ally frowned.
Not enough power? "What if we detonate the explosives?" She asked, watching as each of her friends turned to face her. "That'll destroy the asteroid, right?"
"You have a good point, Ally," Carter agreed, "If the asteroid's the thing that's keeping us on it…" he reached up, activating comms. "We need to detonate the explosives manually."
"No, Carter!" Captain Mitchell shouted, "It's too dangerous!" The Red Ranger cringed.
"It was Ally's idea."
"Hey!"
"But it was a good one. Initiate Omega Megazord!" The extra boost of energy that their transformation gave off let them break free of the asteroid's restricting tendrils, and soon they had their Omega Missile in hand.
"Transformation complete," Chad announced. "We look sick."
"Agreed," Carter replied, "Activating Omega Missile."
"This better work," Joel muttered, and Ally narrowed her eyes at him.
"Don't jinx it, Joel." With that, they rammed the projectile right into the surface of the asteroid, setting off the explosives one by one.
It was just like that first day they'd walked into Aqua Base, welcomed by the cheers and applause of the other Lightspeed employees. The attention was foreign then, but now, Ally soaked it in as much as she could. Getting this reaction meant they'd not only done their job and survived, but had done it well.
With how much of a failure she'd been feeling recently, this actually felt… nice. Or at least, the congratulations from the other Lightspeed workers didn't make her want to hide behind one of her taller teammates. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Simon and Mrs. Fairweather approaching them, and she gave a small wave to the pair.
"Excellent job, Alyssa," the scientist said, and Ally smiled back.
"We couldn't have done it without you, Mrs. F. And you too, Simon." The boy beamed up at her, and Ally's heart wrenched in her chest, memories of Ash's face coming to mind. "Hey," she began, turning around to where Joel had been. "Joel, there's someone who wants to see you!" The cowboy glanced at her, and she nodded towards Simon, watching as her friend's face lit up while he nudged Simon gently.
"Great job, Mrs. F."
"Not only me," she replied, bending down to be eye level with Simon. "I couldn't have done it without Simon." With that, the scientist took Ally's hand in a rare show of physical affection, and dragged her back to the others. "I think this calls for a party. What do you say?"
Ally exchanged glances with each of her teammates. "Mrs. Fairweather," Dana began slowly, "Partying?" Just like they'd had on the Omega Megazord, they laughed and snickered at their superior's expense, not worrying about the scolding that was sure to follow.
