Disclaimer: Power Rangers does not belong to me.
Chapter 8: In Your Eyes
Leelee was definitely enjoying herself as Nick and Chip pushed and shoved each other to try to be the one closest to her. As she made her way to the mall, both boys had continued to up the ante as to what they would buy for her on her shopping trip. Boyfriends and presents – Ms. Chief's love spell was going better than Leelee could have even imagined.
"Being evil definitely has its advantages," Leelee thought to herself when she felt each of her arms yanked in opposite directions.
"Leelee wants to hold my hand!" yelled Nick angrily as he grabbed at the girl's left arm.
"No, Leelee wants to be on my arm!" retorted the redhead loudly as he grabbed Leelee's left hand.
"Stopppppp ittttttttt," whined Leelee as she yanked her arms loose. "I think I am going to go use the little girl's room while you two figure this out."
As Leelee pranced off toward a nearby public restroom, Nick and Chip glared at each other angrily in the middle of the empty plaza.
"Now look what you've done," said Chip hotly to Nick. "You've gone and upset the woman I love."
"You love Leelee!" shot back Nick. "I love Leelee more!"
"No, I love Leelee more!" shouted Chip defiantly.
"No, I do!" yelled Nick.
"No, I do!"
"No, I do!"
"NO, I DO!"
"That's it!" screamed Nick as he reached for his Mystic Morpher. "Let's settle this once and for all."
"I'm ready to destroy you to defend my lady's honor!" declared Chip, slipping into his superhero alter ego.
"Magical Source, Mystic Force!" both boys called together.
Changing into ranger form, Nick and Chip both reached for their Magi Staffs and began to battle. Nick shifted his staff to sword mode and took a swipe at Chip's head. The yellow ranger expertly dodged the attack and countered with a shift kick to Nick's stomach. After releasing a cry of pain, Nick charged at Chip and wrestled the boy to the ground.
Leelee returned from the restroom to the sight of the Nick sitting on top of Chip and using the yellow ranger's helmet as a punching bag. Stomping and pouting, Leelee was upset that the boys had stopped fighting for her attention and were now just fighting each other. At the same time, she did not want to go over there and break up the battle between the two. Not only would she risk revealing her position with the dark forces, but all that action might mess up her hair. Then, Leelee perked up.
"Well if they won't spend every second of their time being my boyfriends, I suppose them destroying each other would be just as good," thought Leelee to herself, seeing the bright side. "Two rangers destroying each other would make Mom happy. Maybe then she'll stop turning me into a cockroach so often."
Her mind set on her next move, Leelee snapped her fingers to summon Ms. Chief.
"Why now?" whined the mistress monster. "I was in the middle of getting a perm for my plume."
"Like anything you do could actually fix those split-end feathers," retorted Leelee meanly. "Now, I'm going to the mall to get a manicure. You stay here and make sure those two rangers finish each other off."
With a loud "hmph," Lee flipped her curls over her shoulder in her trademark style and set off toward the shopping center. Ms. Chief meanwhile stayed behind the tree and hoped that the boys would take of each other's destruction so she wouldn't have to step in and risk possibly breaking a claw. Yet at that moment, Ms. Chief looked up to see a motorcycle barreling toward where the boys were battling.
Madison swerved on the cycle as she sped rapidly toward where she saw her fellow rangers fighting up ahead. This was worse than she imagined. Not only where the boys both bewitched and in love with Leelee, but now the best friends were actually beating each other up over the fiendish female.
Plus, Madison knew, that when Nick did return to normal, he would absolutely have her head if she damaged his precious motorcycle – the thing he truly loved most in the world. Madison felt guilty for getting on his bike without asking, but she knew she needed to present Nick with the object of his highest affection in order to break the effects of the Love Potion #9. Because also once the spell was broken, Madison still had hope that maybe she could get up the courage to bring Nick under her spell instead.
As she skidded to a stop on the bike and hit the parking brake, Madison say Chip fly through the air after a particularly brutal hit. The redhead rolled across the plaza and struggled to get up as Nick made his way menacingly toward his friend with his sword stretched outward. Knowing she was short on time to break the spell, Madison didn't waste a second before producing from the back of the bike the thing Chip truly loved most in the world.
"Chip, look!" cried Madison loudly as she tossed the item at her friend. "It's your superhero cape! Remember who you really are!"
"That's right," said Chip slowly, recognition dawned in his eyes as he held the cape. "I am Chip the Magnificent!"
"More like Chip the Moronic!" taunted Nick, having never taken his eyes off his opponent.
Meanwhile, Chip had demorphed and had swung the cape proudly over his shoulders before striking a Superman-like pose. Madison saw with relief a pink, heart-shaped cloud protrude from Chip's chest and proceed to evaporate in the air over his head. She saw Chip look at Nick in ranger form walking toward him in attack mode and then look toward herself with panicked confusion.
"Maddie, I just had the strangest dream that I was in love with Leelee and that Nick and I morphed to fight for her affection," Chip called to her from across the plaza. "Apparently, I'm still dreaming though, so can you come over here at wake me up now?"
Smiling adoringly at her friend, Madison started to make her way toward Chips. Yet suddenly sparks flew off the ground, stopping her in her tracks. Realizing that the fire did not come from Nick, she looked up and saw in horror a bird-like monster emerge from behind a tree. Realizing that this must have been the Ms. Chief monster Xander had mentioned to her on the phone, Madison stomach knotted further when she saw the villain yank an unmorphed Chip up by his red hair and toss him across the plaza. Seeing Chip on the ground and yelping in pain, Madison immediately began to run to her friend's aid.
"No!" yelled Chip, before Madison could reach him. "I'm not sure what's going on here, but you need to save Nick. I'll be fineeee…. YOWWWWWW!"
Chip shouted out again in pain as Ms. Chief once more shook him by his locks. Now, Madison had double motivation to break Nick out of the love spell as soon as possible. She wasn't sure how long Chip could hold out by himself, and she knew they would all need the help of their leader to help defeat Ms. Chief. Running up behind Nick and grabbing his shoulders, Madison tried to steer him away from Chip and instead toward the thing she knew he truly adored most in hopes of breaking the Leelee love spell.
"Nick, look!" pleaded Madison as she finally forced him to face his bike. "It's your motorcycle. Remember how much you love it!"
Not turning around to face her, Madison breathed easier when she saw Nick stop and stare for a long while at his bike. But her eyes suddenly widened with horror when she did not see the pink, heart-shape cloud of the love spell emerge from his chest and explode overhead. The next second, her suspicions that the love spell hadn't yet been broken were confirmed when she saw with utter horror Nick raise his Magi Staff and fire a bolt of fire at his bike.
Seeing the handle bar of his bike hit the ground in smoldering shards, Madison felt panic race through her veins. She knew Nick loved that bike. He spent practically every second her wasn't working at Rock Porium or rangering on the roads riding the motorcycle or performing maintenance on it. Madison couldn't for the life of her fathom what Nick could possible truly love more than his motorcycle. And if she couldn't figure that out, Nick would be lost to Love Potion #9 forever. Just the thought made Madison choke up with tears of despair.
"Chip is the enemy," Madison heard Nick, still not facing her, suddenly say. "I will destroy him. He is trying to keep me from being with my true love, Leelee."
"Chip is your best friend, Nick, and Leelee isn't your true love," said Madison bitterly, thinking things couldn't get possibly get any worse… until she heard what Nick said next.
"Chip is trying to keep me from being with my true love, Leelee," repeated Nick. "And anyone who tries to help the enemy Chip will be destroyed as well," he added.
Madison's eyes widened in shock as Nick spun around and raised his sword high in the air to strike her. Thoughts of her own safety fled her mind as Madison lunged at Nick and grabbed both of his arms desperately. All Madison could focus on was saving the man she truly loved.
"Nick, stop please!" she shouted, looking up at him desperately.
At that moment, the black of Nick's visor faded. Madison's heart leapt as she saw Nick's eyes through his red ranger helmet staring with intense focus deeply into her own. Realizing he held his sword raised at Madison, Nick immediately dropped his arm and stumbled backward in horror when he recognized what he had almost done. Weary from both mental and physical exhaustion, Nick fell to his knees in the middle of the plaza.
"Nick!" Madison shouted worriedly, running to his side and helping him to stand. "Are you OK?"
"Maddie," gasped Nick weakly as he held onto her arm for strength. "Have I ever told you how much I love your eyes?"
At that moment, a pink, heart-shaped cloud emerged from Nick's chest and popped in the air in front of him as he gazed up at Madison sweetly. She felt a huge smile spread across her face as she held Nick in her arms. Nick grinned up at her, appearing equally as happy, as he brushed a strand of her dark hair out of her eyes. Madison's skin tingled at Nick's warm touch.
"Maddie, I've been meaning to tell you…" began Nick softly, causing her heart to race in excited anticipation.
Yet Nick and Madison's moment was soon broken by up a hand on each other their shoulders. They looked up to see Xander and Vida grinning at them knowingly.
"Well, well, well," smirked Vida. "What do we have here?"
"Good job, Maddie!" said Xander happily as he saw Nick conscious. "You broke the love spell."
Disappointment overtook Madison when Nick immediately removed himself from her arms. Yet she didn't have time to linger back on what Nick had mentioned moments earlier that he "had been meaning to tell her." For at that moment, the four friends heard a sharp scream of pain. They looked up to see Ms. Chief repeatedly whacking Chip on the head hard with one of her wings.
"A little help here guys!" hollered Chip beseechingly to his best friends.
"Let's do this guys!" Madison heard Nick say as he got back to his usual, leader mode. "Xander, double-team block!"
Madison saw Nick and Xander run at Ms. Chief. Both proceeded to first punch her stomach with their left arms, then block her wings with their right ones. Madison certainly wasn't about to let the boys have all the fun.
"Vida, let's go!" said Madison firmly.
"Right!" agreed Vida eagerly as they ran toward Ms. Chief.
"Magical Sisters!" they shouted together as they scissor-kicked through the air and slashed Ms. Chief across the shoulders.
"YOWWWWWWW!" yelped Ms. Chief.
"There's tough love for you!" taunted Vida as she pointed at the monster menacingly.
"Good job, guys!" said Chip as he made his way over to his friend.
"Alright, let's ranger up and finish this birdbrain," said Nick to the group.
"Ok!" agreed rest of the team.
"Magical Source, Mystic Force!"
Next Chapter (9): Plan Xida
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