Cat: Hey all! I have officially gotten 50 reviews! I'm the happiest person alive right now! As thanks, you all get a chapter that it doubly long!
Disclaimer: Yo no tango los Rangers de Power. Do lawyers understand Spanish?
"You mean to tell us, that there is a psyco freak trying to murder five innocent kids?" Tori asked.
"Unfortunately that's exactly what I mean."
"That's sick." Dustin said.
"It's profoundly bad is what it is." Cam said.
"Why is that?"
"Because four of them are in one place, I'm not sure about the fifth. She's probably with the Astro Rangers too."
"We have to warn them." Shane said and the others nodded.
"All right, but we have got to be careful. Trent's monitoring all communications." Cam reminded them as he contacted the AstroMegaship.
"This is Cam. Come in." He said.
"Hey Cam." Cole's voice sounded.
"Listen, you have got to get into space and stay there." He said urgently.
"What?" Cole asked loudly.
"You know why I can't explain, just trust me. You are in serious danger."
"Uh Cam," Conner said, "In case you haven't noticed, everyone's in serious danger." Cam heard Trent's contented chuckle and had to fight off the urge to throw up. That would definitely not impress Tori.
"Just, stay in space where it's safe." Cam urged.
"That might not be an option." Cole sounded faint. Then, a voice that Cam didn't recognize rang out. "DECA, ready the lasers. Maximum power."
"Hey Hey!" TJ said loudly. "I'll handle this, Greg. DECA, ready the lasers. Maximum power." He ordered and Cam was cut off.
"What was that?" Tori asked after a pause.
"Apparently Trent just learned how to fly." Shane said.
"There's too many of them!" Taylor said.
"I think most of us noticed that, thanks for the info." Conner grumbled. Taylor glared.
"He didn't get enough sleep." Ethan covered for his teammate quickly. "Please don't kill us." He flinched.
"Oh," Taylor looked for a moment like she wanted to hit him, but decided not to. "You're not worth it." She turned to survey the damage. A couple hundred Velocifighters surrounded them and were firing in all directions. It seemed like every time they took one down another two took its place.
TJ was so frazzled by his attempts to run the ship on his own that he either hadn't noticed the Greg was helping or he was actually grateful for the assistance. Either way the boy looked very proud to be included, so much that he didn't seem to really mind the situation all that much. And the situation was bad. Really really bad.
They were way outnumbered, and the Megaship, while comfortable, was not maneuverable.
"TJ," Cole said. "We've gotta get out of here." TJ nodded.
"DECA, divert all power to the engines." He commanded and pivoted to another panel on the bridge.
"Maximum speed, online." The lights dimmed as their power was sapped. "Hold on tight." He advised and everyone was instantly pinned against the wall as the ship speed off. They shot through the velocifighters and emerged on the other side without slowing down. If they did, they'd be caught for sure.
Knowing this did not make withstanding the G forces any easier and Ethan tried desperately not to throw up his lunch. Instead he decided to think, because thinking always made any hardship easier. At least, in Ethan's world it did. What they needed was a way to throw them off the chase. While he lacked the information about the Megaship that was required to fully formulate a plan, TJ didn't. The solution hit the Rangers like he was in a Subway commercial.
"DECA, adjust course to pass point," TJ then inserted a long stream of numbers and DECA beeped a comply. TJ turned to the others, who had managed to regain their feet as the ship slowed slightly.
"Okay, here's the deal. I'm dropping you off on the moon. Stay there until it's safe. I'm going to try to fight these goons. That should give you some time."
"We're not ditching you." Kira said immediately.
"It makes no sense if all of us get killed. With fewer people the ship's lighter anyways. Besides, you have to make sure that the kids are safe." There were a few grumbles but TJ hurried them out With a shout at Greg to direct them off via the telemorphers.
They entered the cafeteria again, Leo carrying Beth and Kerri, Shayla holding Sam and Kira leading Hannah by the hand. Once there, they all looked around stupidly. Greg was rummaging around in several colored lockers on one wall. He emerged with five Astroblasters.
"Here." He tossed one to the three powerless Dino Rangers who looked at them apprehensively. The next one went to Shayla who, having never used a gun in her life, looked utterly appalled. The last Greg pocketed and then he proceeded to the tubes on the wall. "This is going to be easy, when we get the go-ahead, just slide down the tubes one at a time. Shayla, I think you and Sam can go together because he's small. Hannah'll have to go by herself, and Leo, sir, I'm sorry but it would be too dangerous to carry both of them at the same time."
Leo looked about to refuse to release his children but Kerri piped, "Cole!" And reached for the Ranger. Cole looked very apprehensive as he took the child from her glaring father, but accepted. Kira knelt down to talk to Hannah.
"Hannah, you're going to have to be a big girl and go by yourself, okay?" Hannah sniffed.
"I want Mommy." She said and Taylor leaned over and lifted her up.
"You'll see your mommy again soon." She assured her.
"Promise?"
"I promise." Taylor said and put Hannah back down. Ethan leaned over.
"Do you really think that?" Taylor decided not to validate his statement with a response.
Above them a green light came on and Greg said, "All right, go!" And, one by one, they slide down the brightly colored tubes.
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"Now what?" Kira asked once they had all assembled on the moon's surface and watched the Megaship zoom away.
"Now we find the MegaWinger." Greg said and set off.
"Wait, didn't TJ tell us to stay here?" Alyssa asked.
"Yeah," Greg replied easily, not stopping his quest. He was so far ahead now that they others trotted to catch up with him.
"But, don't you think we should listen?" Alyssa persisted. Greg stopped and looked at her.
"I don't know about you, but I am not staying on this stupid God-forsaken rock while some idiot tries to murder my parents." He said loudly and then continued walking. Alyssa couldn't find anything wrong with this, and found instead that she agreed whole-heartedly with him so she was silent.
After a long pause she said, "Doesn't the MegaWinger belong to the Silver Ranger?"
"Uncle Zhane died when he tried to help the Phantom Ranger and the Blue Centurion." Greg answered matter of factly and Alyssa felt awful at having mentioned it. She decided then to just shut up.
"Hey Greg! Get over here!" Kira called and Greg sighed, muttered something, and left Alyssa leading the search.
"What?" He asked irritably.
"We're getting the Rangers together." She announced. Greg glanced at her, then at Max, Ethan, Shayla, Sam, and Hannah.
"How?" he asked finally.
"We're sending them a message. Something only they would be able to figure out." She answered. "That's what we need you for. You have to help us devise some sort of riddle that only your Dad would be able to find the clues in." It would be hard. Very hard, if not impossible to come up with something like that. Not only that, but they would have to hope that Andros would be able to decode it in time. Despite, or perhaps because of these facts, Greg took an instant liking to the idea.
Between Shayla and the King of Codes, a.k.a. Ethan, they came up with a message for Cam. It used the Mayan number system and then the numbers had to be replaced with the corresponding letter in the alphabet. For example 'stick stone stone' was seven. Since E was one, 'stick stone stone' was equivalent to 'k'. It was long a tedious, but Cam enjoyed long and tedious things. And he was good at them. He would have it figured out in ten minutes tops while it would take Trent a half hour at least, assuming that he knew the Mayan numbers at all.
"He won't." Conner assured them the instant this fear was voiced. "He skipped so much school there's no way he'd ever figure it out."
"You'd know." Kira teased.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Just that Trent was smart enough not to skip on the first day of school." Ethan agreed.
"And that every time he skipped afterwards you were with him." Added Kira pointedly.
Greg and Max came up with their puzzle with a shocking amount of help from Hannah. As opposed to a code it was a pair of sentences that held subtle clues that Greg was certain that only his father could find, let alone interpret. They tried it out on Alyssa and Cole just to be sure. Both Rangers looked at the threesome like they were insane. They had done their work well.
And as a nice bonus Alyssa had found the MegaWinger.
All was well.
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"Okay, one problem." Kira realized once they had delivered their messages and were all standing in the (admittedly cramped) MegaWinger.
"What's that?" Leo wondered.
"None of us know how to fly this." She pointed out. There was a pause.
"Never fear! Ethan is here!" He stepped forward and sat in the cockpit. "I've watched enough Star Trek for all of us. No worries, I'll have this off the ground in five seconds flat." He said and began examining buttons.
"One Mississippi." Taylor began. Ethan glanced rapidly over the various keys, buttons, and levers. "Two Mississippi." He searched faster, hoping for labels or initials or possibly even an instruction manual. "Three Mississippi." He'd never seen a ship like the MegaWinger in his life, no matter how many sci-fi movies he'd watched. "Four Mississippi." He gulped. "Five Mississippi." Taylor looked around teasingly. "Oh yeah, I'd say we're off the ground."
"Very funny." Ethan said but when he looked back at the controls they could tell he was way over his head. They weren't going anywhere for a while.
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"Meet us at Gabriel. Don't forget where Tropicanna comes from." Carter repeated.
"It's a riddle. Or a code." Cassie said, partly excited and partly nervous. What if they wouldn't decipher it in time? What if it was bad news?
"Well, let's pick it apart." Joel encouraged.
"Gabriel." Carlos said.
"Anyone know any Gabriels?" There was a murmur of dissent and Carlos shrugged. "That's all I got. Anyone else?"
"Maybe it's a statue. Of the Biblical Angel Gabriel I mean." Dana suggested.
"But there's got to be hundreds of statues." Kelsey argued.
"We'll skip that part and come back to it. Maybe there's some clue in the next line." Andros suggested.
"Don't forget where Tropicanna comes from." Carter repeated the line aloud. "So, anyone know where Tropicanna comes from?"
"Florida?" Andros offered.
"I know!" Joel said proudly. "It's as close to the grove as you can get!" He repeated the popular motto of the company.
"And where's the grove Joel?" Kelsey teased. Joel deflated.
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"Was that supposed to mean anything?" Tori asked. Cam was scanning the text on his screen and he began typing happily.
"Don't tell me you actually understood that!" Shane said in amazement.
"Of course, it's the Mayan numerical system."
"Hate to burst your bubble, but 'stone' doesn't sound much like a number to me." Dustin said.
"They used stones to represent one. It's brilliantly simple." He said, continuing to work out the long list of numbers. Shane wasn't sure if he'd have classified the code as "simple" but that they'd managed to find one that Cam knew so easily, but that everyone else thought was gibberish was certainly "brilliant." As he watched Cam typing furiously, he shrugged and decided that it really wasn't worth it to mention the lack of simplicity to Cam. If he thought it was simple, all the better for them.
Cam finished; his sense of accomplishment bolstered by the news. Something big was gong down. He read the last bit aloud.
"Pass it on." He muttered, and then turned to the others. "Tori, we need to get a message to Blake. Shane, Dustin, same thing goes for Hunter." He announced.
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"We've been thinking about the same thing for the last half an hour." Cassie said. The others weren't sure if it was a complaint or a comment regarding how incompetent they all were.
"Yeah," Kelsey agreed. "So far all we've got is an angel and a grove." She stopped suddenly. Everyone was staring at her, and she was amazed at what she had just said.
"Angel Grove. Brilliantly simple." Andros said.
"How can we be sure it isn't just a coincidence?" Carter asked.
"Gabriel." Andros answered. Now that it had been spelled out he saw that it had been staring him in the face the whole time. They looked at him quizzically. "Dana had it right, Gabriel the angel. Angel is my private nickname for Ashley."
"And Ashley was headed to Angel Grove to meet with Justin." Cassie said. Andros nodded. There was another moment where they were still.
"Carter?" Joel asked finally breaking the silence. "You driving?"
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Beth and Kerri were asleep against their dad, who was asleep against the wall. Alyssa was asleep against Shayla while Kira was snoozing on her other shoulder. Conner and Ethan were having a staring contest tournament with Max, Danny, Cole and Taylor, who had Hannah's sleeping head in her lap. Maya and Kimberly had both fallen asleep against Damon, who seemed rather uncomfortable to have two girls laying on him. None of them knew exactly how long it had been since any of them had last slept—none of the Rangers were smart enough to wear a watch or had enough free time to really care. Ethan and Greg had been trying to deduce what button did what for at least an hour, but they weren't making much progress.
"It's either this one, this one, or this one." Greg said finally, indicating three buttons right next to each other.
"All right Greg. I'm gonna try something." Ethan informed him then holding one hand over the buttons he chanted, "Eniee meeniee minee moe. Catch a tiger by the toe (no offense Alyssa). If he hollers let him go. Eniee meaniee miniee please-let-this-be-the-right-button moe." He punched the button down, jamming his finger painfully in the process and the engines kicked into life.
"All right!" He said happily. Alyssa and Leo started awake and seemed slightly ashamed that they had fallen asleep at all. Alyssa was apologizing quietly so as not to disturb anyone else and Shayla waved it off just as Ethan said, "Let's get this party started!"
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"To get to where're you're going travel from here to here to here to here" Blake repeated the message he had been given quietly to himself. His fingers traced the given points on the map. He just didn't get it! He had plotted the points, and even traced the lines between, but why on earth had Tori told him to stop at these particular points? Half of them were in the water for goodness's sakes!
"Where am I going?" He asked himself. That wasn't really a question and he knew it. He was trying to go to where the other Rangers were. He'd seen on the news that monsters were attacking all over, and had felt very left out when all Cam would tell him was that Trent was watching their conversations. He didn't know where anyone else was, or even who was in trouble. And Cam wouldn't tell him anything about why Trent was behind it. Blake'd gotten the impression that Cam himself didn't know.
Of course, that conversation had been early this morning, at around one a.m. He'd heard nothing until Tori had called him recently, and by now it was getting dark. "I'm Cassidy Cornel, Reefside Reporter." An annoyingly perky, yet vaguely familiar, voice said. Blake jumped to his feet. "Can you give us in interview?"
"Where did you come from?" Blake asked, getting over his fright. He had to admit to himself, being left in the dark had left him edgy, and he had often jumped at his own shadow.
"That's not important. What I want to know is what inspired you to become a motocrosser-person." She stumbled at the end but Blake allowed for that.
"Well I—"
"What's an evorg legna?" Devin asked.
"huh?"
"Your map, it says evorg lenga." Devin explained. Blake looked down. From this distance, it did almost look like the line spelled words. Except it wasn't evorg lenga, it was…Angel Grove!
Blake started. It was brilliantly simple! "Devin you're a genius!" He said loudly, scooping up the map. In the process it got turned to face him.
"Oh it says Angel Grove! That makes more sense."
"Look, uh, Cassidy, I can't do an interview right now. But I promise you can have one as soon as I get back." He said and dashed off.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Cassidy called after him but got no answer.
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"Ashley!" Andros hissed. His wife wheeled around. She, Kat, and Justin were hiding down an ally, trying to catch their breath. They had effectively defeated a large portion of the attacking force, at the cost of several teammates. After that they had made a run for it. Ashley didn't even know if they were the only three to survive. She had lost sight of everyone else not long into the battle, and no one was sure just how many had escaped to safety. At any rate, she was surprised enough to hear another voice in their hiding spot, let alone someone who had been several cities away.
Andros and the other Lightspeed Rescue Rangers moved into view. "What are you doing here?" Kat asked bluntly.
"We received a message that told us to come to Angel Grove." Andros explained.
"Why?" Ashley wondered.
"As near as we can figure," Kelsey said, "They're trying to land the Megaship." Ashley blinked.
"Are you serious? Why would they do that?"
"We don't know." Carter admitted.
"If they are coming here," Kat said, "We should meet them. Where would they be trying to land?"
"The park." Justin said immediately. "There's plenty of space."
"Cam, come on, we've got to get going." Shane said.
"Just one more minute." Cam was staring fixedly at a small diamond shaped band.
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"What is that thing anyway?" Dustin wondered.
"It's metal." Cam answered, sparing a moment to glance at the yellow Ranger as though he'd just misspelled his name. "I'm hoping that if we can charge it with energy, then that energy could be infused in the Dino gems."
"Letting that Rangers morph again." Tori said, smiling.
"One of them, yes. If it works."
"What if it doesn't?" Shane asked darkly.
"Then we're going to be late for nothing."
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"What's with all the people?" Kelsey asked at the park. "It's late. And dark."
"Bulk and Skull are sponsoring a midnight pie eating contest." Andros answered.
"How'd you know that?" Kat inquired.
"Over there." Andros pointed at a large sign stuck in the ground at the head of four long picnic tables. There were pies covering every square inch of the tables, and people packed tightly on the benches. The sign in question read 'Bulk and Skull's Midnight Pie Eating Contest'. Kat made an 'ooh' motion.
"We should keep moving. They can't land a huge ship in this crowd." Ashley advised.
"But the crowd will provide good cover, just in case Trent shows up." Justin argued.
"He's got a point." Dana said. "We're close enough to see where the ship lands, but nine Rangers walking around could attract attention that we don't want."
"Attention from who?" A voice asked. They turned around; hearts hammering, only to see that the speaker was Jason. With him was Trini. "Relax guys." He said holding up his hands in an 'I come in peace' gesture.
"Jason." Ashley breathed. "It's you."
"In the flesh," Jason said, "Now, what's been going on?"
"You mean you don't know?" Andros said in surprise. Jason glanced at Trini, who answered.
"No one's told us anything for days." The other Rangers looked at each other. Finally Andros took a deep breath.
"You remember Trent, right?"
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"Why can't I figure this out?" Trent roared in frustration. "I've got so many clues! But 'stick?' What on Earth is that supposed to mean?" He upended a table that he had been working at. Dracozord squealed as his master's anger startled him.
Trent offered no apology.
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"I knew there was something I didn't like about that guy." Jason said.
"Billy?" Trini asked.
"We're really, really sorry." Ashley said, grabbing Trini's hands comfortingly. Trini looked like she might cry but a surprised shout brought them all crashing back to the present moment.
"Look! Up there!" The woman pointed vaguely at the sky and at once at least fifty heads followed her gaze. Ashley and Andros recognized the shape at once.
"The Astro Megaship." Ashley breathed but then her voice caught. There were dozens of tiny shapes around it, and as she watched lasers were fired.
"Fighters." Andros said coldly. Two of the fighters were caught by the Megalasers, but the rest evaded and formed a shape that every good pilot new meant extreme danger. The Megaship was circled.
Ashley wasn't sure if the ship's pilot knew what had happened or not, but she hoped that everyone on board came out of it okay. To be entirely honest, she didn't know who all was on the ship, apart from Kira, and the kids. And her kid. Greg.
And then the fighters fired.
Every last one of them hit their target. For one hart stopping moment nothing happened, and then it was over.
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"You missed!" Taylor shouted, but she was the only one to say anything. They were terrified that the Velocifighters would turn their attention from TJ. Also, another, more present, threat existed.
Greg and Ethan were doing their very best to land the Megawinger. They had successfully gotten through the atmosphere, but now they were skimming about six feet off the ground. They had been planning on landing in the park, lots of empty space and few people; however they hadn't managed to actually halt the ship and were now cruising in the direction of the food court.
Thankfully it was pretty late and the few people that had been there had quickly fled. However, the threat of property damage combined with the fear that they were all going to die in a fiery explosion had them just a little bit nervous.
"Okay, I've got it covered." Ethan said reassuringly. "Kira, open the door."
"We're jumping!" Taylor asked in alarm, even as Kira moved to complete the task he had given her.
"No, I just don't want it to get jammed shut." He griped the controls tighter. "Everyone, hold on."
"Wait, what are you going to—" Greg began but was silenced as the craft tipped violently. Ethan turned the ship in a tight spiral that ended with the Megawinger's side scraping the grass. The ship slowed to a bumpy halt, completely on its side.
"Ethan?" Greg asked.
"Yeah?"
"Don't do that again."
"For once I agree with him." Kira chimed.
"Hey, at least we're all in one piece." Ethan defended.
"Can't say the same about the ship though." Conner said. They filed through the door in the back of the aircraft, Greg with Sam and Kira holding Hannah's hand.
Once outside Kira's eyes widened. "Oh no."
"What?" Hannah asked at her side.
"Conner, Ethan, I just had a really bad thought."
"What?" They asked together. The other Rangers were listening as well and Kira knew it, it was just easier to address her teammates.
"Trent morphed."
"You're kidding right?" Ethan asked. Conner made an exaggerated sign of frustration.
"And I thought this day couldn't possibly get any worse."
"I thought that the power of your Dinogems was depleted in your battle against Mesogog." Shayla said.
"I guess Trent was holding out on us." Conner said coldly.
"Come on guys, there's no use worrying about it now." Leo said.
"Leo's right." Cole agreed. "What comes, comes. Now let's do what we came here to do." The party struck off.
"Besides, if anything does happen," Taylor said draping an arm over Kira's shoulders, "we'll be here to protect you."
"Oh, and that's supposed to be comforting?" Kira teased and Taylor's mouth dropped open in exaggerated surprise as Max laughed and made faces at her behind Kira's back.
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"Okay, we're here, now what?" Shane asked.
"I don't know." Tori admitted, scanning the horizon. A welcome shape came running up. "Blake!" She called.
"Hey Tori. Listen guys, there's a huge crowd over that way. If they're anywhere, they're there."
"Hey, whose 'they' anyway?" Dustin wondered.
"I'm not entirely sure." Cam admitted. "Cole, the Red Wildforce Ranger, sent the message, so I'm guessing that they were forced off of their island for some reason."
"But why would they call us, and why would they tell us to tell others?" Shane asked. "You don't think that they're trying to assemble all the Rangers do you?"
"No way. No one's ever tried to get all of the Rangers together. I'm not even sure it's possible. Whatever's happening, it can't be that bad."
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"Alyssa?" Cole asked.
"Yeah?"
"Can I talk to you for a second?" He motioned her a slight ways away from the others.
"What's wrong Cole?" She had noticed that he seemed more then a little nervous.
"Well, we've been going out for a while now, right?" Alyssa nodded, suddenly afraid. Was he breaking up with her? Now, of all times? Alyssa wasn't sure that she could handle that. "I was waiting for a different time, but…I was afraid that there won't be another time."
"Cole, of course there will! We're all together now and—"
"I know, I just…I wanted to be sure I asked you." He bent down on one knee. "Will you marry me?"
Cat: Yup, that's one of my favorite pairings right there, so I'll bet you can all guess the answer! Now, please R and R as the Rangers prepare for battle.