Melody swept the curtains of her dorm room open, glancing out at the thick fog that had rolled in during the night, "Man," she announced, "I haven't seen fog this thick since that family reunion in San Francisco."
Sara nodded, peering over her roommate's shoulder, "Some birthday, huh?" she asked shaking her head. Before taking the curtain from her friend and letting it drop over the window again. Melody looked at Sara in surprise.
"How come you never mentioned that it's your birthday?" the blue ranger demanded, giving the pink ranger a look.
Sara shrugged, "Who cares, it's not like I'm going to get anything for my birthday anyway."
"If I had known I would have got you something," Melody argued.
"It's no big deal," Sara insisted, turning around to the door, "Let's go find the others."
Melody followed after her with a roll of her eyes, "Sometimes I just don't get her," she muttered as she followed out the door.
…
Melody found Mark and Mason in the Cafeteria, chatting away with Frank, who scooted over so that Melody could sit next to her.
"Did you know that today's Sara's birthday?" Melody asked, glancing at Mark and Mason, if any of their teammates knew about this it would be her boyfriend and best friend.
Mason looked guilty as he squirmed a little, "Maybe, a little, she told me she didn't want a huge fuss, it's her first birthday without her grandfather you know."
Frank, however, leaned forward, "When are your birthdays anyway?" he asked.
"I'm already Fifteen," Mark explained, "My Birthday's in October."
"Mine's in May," Melody added.
"I'm an August baby," Frank admitted, "And J.T's in June," He turned to Mason, "And yours?"
"Tomorrow," Mason grimaced, "I really didn't want to make a big deal out of it."
"Wait," a new voice called out as J.T. appeared, "You and Sara have birthdays right on top of each other, you never knew your mother, and she never knew her father, and the two of you are like siblings, do you know what this means?"
"It's just a coincidence," Mason claimed, "Sara actually does know who her father is, and it wasn't my dad."
"Still it would be awesome if it turned out that you were related." J.T. said, shoving Melody down the bench as he sat down, "So what are we going to do with two birthdays to celebrate?"
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough," J.T. insisted as their communicator went off.
...The Encampment…
Sara slumped down in her pink chair, scowling at Ms. Johnson and Uncle Tommy as she and the others had started to call their science teacher, "This better not be a birthday surprise," she grumbled, glaring at Mason.
Mason threw his hands up, "Hey, I only told the others that I had known about it after they found out about it."
"Your birthday is on your school records," Tommy explained, "And your mother will know that which means that..."
"Morgana knows when her birthday is," Mason finished, "So, what's she going to do?"
"It won't be the first time that a monster is sent specifically to attack the birthday ranger," Tommy insisted, "I seem to remember your mother telling me about a time when Zack was attacked by a monster right before his birthday party."
"This here is why I don't celebrate birthdays," Sara grunted, standing up, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a test to study for."
"You know what," Mark said, watching her go, "Sometimes she scares me when she just shrugs something like this off."
"Yeah," Tommy agreed, "I'll have to admit, this is nothing like what her mother was like, she would have planned a party months in advance and I would have been given a list of five presents of which to pick from."
"I can go talk to her if you want," Mason offered, "Or do you want to do it, Mark?"
…
Sara kicked at a rock on the sidewalk, glaring at the fog as she sulked around the campus, "Great, just great, Grandpa always forgot my birthday, and now the only birthday present I'm going to get is a monster attack, lovely just lovely."
There was a noise behind her causing her to whirl around, "Mason, Mark?" she called out, "Is that you?"
Silence, "J.T.," Sara called out, "this isn't funny, cut it out."
Nothing.
"Okay, whoever you are, show yourself."
Something was breathing down her neck causing her to turn around to see a human-like figure standing in the fog, "Hello," she called out, "Who are you?"
The figure moved until suddenly it was screaming in Sara's face, still as fuzzy and hazy as it had been when it had been further away. Sara coughed at the acrid smell that came from the monster before everything went black.
...The Enchanted Forest…
"Well, well, well, one down, seven to go, and no one the wiser," Morgana said, "That fog was exactly what I needed, they can't fight a monster that they can't see," her face suddenly twisted into a concerned look, "Can they?" she asked concerned.
"I've got to do something about this body," Morgana scowled, "For someone who's been in a coma for ten years, she's fighting hard now," she collapsed onto the ground, pulling up clumps of grass before regaining control of her face, which twisted into an angry expression again, "Now get the others before they figure out what's wrong."
...Knight Academy Campus…
Mark peered through the thick fog trying to find Sara, which was hard because the fog was so thick that he could barely see his own two feet, all there were some strange shapes that he couldn't tell what they were. At this rate, the only way he was going to find Sara was to run into her.
He rose his wrist to his mouth, "Any luck?" he asked, hoping that one of the others had found Sara in one of the buildings.
"She's not in the dorms," Melody announced.
"She's not in the Activity Center," J.T. announced.
"Security footage saw her leaving the dorms," Tommy announced, "But the fog is so thick that we don't have any footage outside at the moment."
"She could be right in front of me and I wouldn't know," Mark muttered.
"She's not answering her communicator or her phone," Mason added, "something had to have happened."
"But what?" Frank asked.
Mark didn't answer, "Hold on, I think I see someone, I can't tell who, it's too foggy."
The hair on the back of his neck prickled as he walked towards the figure in the fog, "Sara!" he called out, "Is that you?"
The figure turned, Mark could feel it looking at him, but the figure hadn't called out, odd, if it was Sara or another student they would have responded to his question, "Who's there?" he asked.
He could tell that the figure had heard him, he could see it turn around to look at him, or in the direction of his voice at least, but the figure didn't say anything. Mark carefully summoned his shield and ax, creeping forward.
"It's me, Mark Williams," he called out, "Have you seen Sara Hart?"
With that the figure moved with lightning speed, if it wasn't for the fact that Mark already had his shield and ax out, he probably wouldn't have had time to morph before the monster was upon him.
"Guys," he called out, using his helmet's mike to connect with the communicators, "Remember how Uncle Tommy said that there might be a monster attack because it's Sara's birthday?"
"Yes, Morgana will assume that we will be distracted, making it the perfect time to attack," Tommy said, "Why?"
"Because I think I found the monster," Mark explained, "But it's hard to see in this fog, in fact, I think it might be part of this fog."
"That explains why this fog is so thick," Mason grunted, "What do we do? We still haven't found Sara."
"Everyone find Mark," Frank stated, "That might be easier said than done though."
…
Frank had been right, it had been hard to regroup in the fog, so Mark suggested that they all tried to meet outside of the main building with all of the classrooms. The outdoor lights cut through some of the fog, making it easier to see, and after six months at the school, most of them knew their way to the building in their sleep.
Even with them having an agreed-upon meeting place they were tensed and each one of them had nearly been attacked by each other before they could properly identify each other.
"So what do we do now?" Frank asked, turning to the purple and silver rangers.
The purple ranger turned to the silver ranger as well, "You have more experience with monsters than I do," she insisted.
Tommy laughed, "That I do, but I've never dealt with a monster like this, at least with the Cloud Shrieker, we could see the monster before it attacked."
"Is there a way to lift this fog?" Mason asked, "I mean it's so thick you can cut it with a knife."
"Maybe not with a knife, but maybe with a spotlight," Tommy said slowly, "At least I think, I'm a Paleontologist, not a meteorologist, so I might be wrong."
"And where are we going to get a giant spotlight?" Tammy asked, looking at her fellow teacher.
"We can borrow Batman's," J.T. suggested, causing everyone to look at the black ranger, who shrugged, "It was just a suggestion," he exclaimed.
"I think I remember seeing some floodlights in the storage shed on our first day here," Melody suggested, "And I know for a fact they use floodlights on the horse tracks for night rides."
"But we still haven't found Sara," Mark pointed out, "She could be anywhere."
"There's a chance that the monster captured her," Tommy explained, "If that happens we need to defeat the monster to free her."
"I'll head back to the Encampment," Mason offered, "And try to up the brightness on the zords, it might come in handy."
…
Tommy was glad that he always stayed in top condition, there was no way he could have handled the Smug Strike monster that they were fighting if he hadn't. The monster was quick and almost impossible to see through the fog it was hiding in.
He grimaced as he whirled around to fight the creature only for it to disappear before he could land a kick, "How're the floodlights coming?" he asked, hopefully.
Mark smiled, not that anyone could see it through his helmet, and flipped the lights on. The fog around them seemed to light up, thinning drastically to the point that they could finally see each other and make out the different colors of their uniforms, "It's working," he gasped, "But how are we going to light up the whole campus?"
Before Tommy could reply, however, the monster, which, while still fuzzy and only a shadowy figure despite the thinning fog, reached up into the air and grabbed something.
"It has a growth potion," Tommy announced, "Summon the zords."
…
Mason had just finished adjusting the brightness of the lights on the zords and adding a few more, just in case when the others summoned them.
The fight only lasted about five minutes with the Smug Strike managing to gunk up their windows so that they couldn't see out within the first few seconds. They stumbled backward for a few steps and then struggled to strike at the monster until Mason flipped on the lights. The Gunk steamed and evaporated at first contact with the light as Smug Strike cried out and stumbled backward.
Frank quickly summoned the zord's sword and swiped at the monster, which quickly exploded.
…
Mason smirked as he spotted Sara slowly sitting up across the lawn. Now that the monster was gone the fog was lifting and he could see her clearly, "Hey Mark," he called out, "I need you to distract Sara for about an hour, I'll contact you when I'm ready."
Mark nodded, rushing over to Sara and helping her up.
"What did I miss?" she asked quietly, blinking slightly.
"A monster attack," Mark said casually, "but hey it's over with now."
"Great where are the others?"
"Oh, you know, doing their own things," Mark insisted with a shrug, "Do you want to go..." he paused what could they do together, they didn't dare leave campus, not after the Amber Mutant attack, "to the activity center?" he finished lamely.
"Actually," Sara said, "I think it's around lunchtime, why don't we get our lunch to go and eat it over by the football fields, no one should be able to bother us there."
"Sounds great," Mark agreed.
…
Mark stood up gathering the wrappers from their picnic and throwing them away in the nearest garbage bin right as his communicator went off, "Hey, I need you and Sara back at the Encampment," Mason insisted.
"Sara," Mark called out, "There's trouble, we're needed at the Encampment."
…
Sara couldn't believe what she was seeing when she entered the Encampment, pink streamers hung from the trees, and a large banner reading "Happy Birthday Sara," hung over the round table which was decked out with every type of snack food you could imagine with a cake in the center.
"There's more food here than the eight of us can ever eat in one night," Sara exclaimed.
"Well," Mason said with a shrug, "We can just use the leftovers for my birthday tomorrow, although," he frowned, "I do have that math test in the morning," he smiled at Sara, "You're lucky that your birthday was on a weekend this year."
A/N: Well, Happy Birthday to me I guess, anyway, next time on LMPR: When someone or something vandalizes the school the teens reflect on how far they have come in the months since they met.