A/N: And here we go! It was a bit hard to write but I did it! Enjoy!
"She's gone... She's gone... She's gone..." Noah kept muttering as he paced back and forth. Everyone was getting patched up in the HQ main room.
"Noah, calm down." Liam said.
"How can I? Who knows what that freak could be doing to Sonia?!"
"Stay rational." Asher said.
"We'll get her back." Alicia added as she finished wrapping Jared's left arm.
Claire walked up to Lydia who was furiously typing at the keyboard. "Any luck?"
Lydia shook her head. "No, I'm not getting a lock on her signal."
"Tobias?" Jared asked, hopeful.
"No go here, either."
"Thanks." Jared nodded, patting Tobias' shoulder. He turned to Sonia's mother, who was off in the corner deep in thought. Unsure of himself, he slowly approached her. "Mrs. Ford, if you don't mind me asking, why is Sonia so bitter toward her father?"
Melody sat down and said, "It's a simple story actually... Please sit down."
~ Cue Theme ~
~ Black Castle ~
Sonia stood tied to a black marble pillar. Twilight Yellow glared at her.
"If I could, I'd destroy you right now." She told her counterpart.
Legend Yellow glared right back. "Bite me." She shot back.
"Now, now." Blaine told Twilight Yellow. "It's almost time for the ceremony."
~HQ~
"Where do I start..." Melody wondered. "Well..."
Kira sat down next to her mother and whispered, "Let me."
Receiving a nod, Kira blatantly said, "Because my Dad worked for the FBI, he was there for half the country, but never for Sonia. I guess that's where it stems from..."
~ Sonia Flashback, 7 years ago ~
A nine year old Sonia waited in the kitchen with Kira. Sonia was excited on that particular night because it was opening night for her school play, Wizard of Oz.
"Mommy, is Daddy coming to my play?"
Melody shook her head. "No sweetie, he has work. Maybe he'll make the next one."
A dejected Sonia turned away from her Mom. "You said that about the last one he missed too..."
Kira looked at her little sister with sad eyes...
~Present~
Asher immediately understood. "Because he could never be there, she developed a strained relationship?"
"Basically." Kira nodded.
"I see..." Asher muttered letting memories flow through his head for the first time in a long time. As he willed the memories away, he found himself glaring at Jared, who didn't seem to notice.
Melody said, "But the biggest incident that put a strain on their relationship happened about four years ago."
~ Black Castle ~
Reed was tied to an opposite pole and tried to get his daughter's attention.
"Please, Sonia. Bucket..."
Sonia wouldn't meet the eyes of her Father. She couldn't stand his attempts at being one anymore.
~ Sonia Flashback, 8 Years Ago ~
Sonia, age 8, sat on the Softball bench cheering for an 8 year old Alicia as she hit the softball down the third base line.
Now, it was Sonia's turn to bat, but there weren't any helmets around.
"Coach Leah, there are no helmets left!"
"We'll find something." Coach Leah said patting Sonia's back.
"How about that?" Sonia asked pointing to a helmet that lay next to the dugout.
"I don't think that would work." Leah laughed as she swept her brown hair out of her eyes.
Seeing the determined look in Sonia's eyes, Leah decided to humor her. "Ok, go for it!"
After that game, Reed Ford started to call Sonia "Bucket," which stuck on.
~ Sonia Flashback, 4 Years Ago ~
"But why?!" Sonia demanded as she stormed out of the house.
Reed followed her. "You hurt yourself last game! Look at your twisted ankle."
"I'm fine! You weren't even there! You can't do this to me just because you're back!"
"Sonia Marie Ford, I am your father!"
"Really? I didn't even notice!"
"Get inside! You're not going!"
"My friends need me!"
"No!"
"Why don't you understand?!" Sonia shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran away.
"Sonia, wait!" Reed called.
Sonia ended up not making it to the game in time. Because of her absence, her team had lost 7-2. She felt like it was all her fault and her father who wouldn't let her go...
~ End Flashback ~
~ HQ ~
Alicia shook her head. "We never blamed Sonia for us losing that game."
"Well, it still haunts her." Kira said, shrugging her shoulders.
Before anything else could be said, the ground started to shake.
"I got something!" Lydia informed them.
As everyone gathered around, Lydia zoomed in on a cloud formation over the city.
"Right there! She's there!"
"And that's where we'll go." Jared stated.
Claire said, "You'll get there faster by Zords."
"Right." The Rangers said.
"I will go too." Faron informed.
Nodding, Claire stated, "Be careful. The ceremony to extract the Key has started."
"Ok... Ready?"
"Ready."
"Spirit Legend, Awaken!"
~ In the Air ~
As the Zords rode the skies, a barrage of fire rained from the cloud.
"We can't let those attacks hit the city!" Jared spoke into the com link.
Noah pressed a few buttons in his cockpit. "Aqua Cannons, fire!" The cannons on his Wolf Zord fired volleys of pressurized water and canceled out the attacks.
The Rangers did their best to take out all of the attacks, but they kept coming. All the while, a yellow pillar of light rose from the castle. The flashing beams nearly blinded the Rangers as their zords weaved, intercepted and shielded the attacks.
"Sonia!" Liam shouted.
In the temple, Sonia was chained to a pillar. She felt like the pain was going to rip her limb from limb. Hearing her friend's voice, she shouted back, "In here!" Using thunder to amplify the sound, she got her message to her friends.
"Let's go!" Jared declared, speeding his Lion Zord up.
Faron raised his hands and created a sky blue energy shield over the city.
"Go on! I will protect the innocents!"
Eventually, the Rangers managed to get by the defenses and up to the temple. The sky above them was swimming with glowing fire soldiers. As the six stormed the front runway desperately trying to get to the large flight of stairs, they were intercepted once more.
Noah whipped his arms forward and fired off whips of water, destroying numerous creatures. Liam jumped into the air and landed in front of his friends. As his feet hit the ground, he sent a shockwave through the stones and vaporized more attackers.
Running along, Alicia whiplashed airborne enemies with her wind while Asher sniped them down with concentrated beams of light from his pointer fingers.
"Launch yourselves!" Jared commanded as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Sending a burst of Power From Within out from the soles of their feet, the Rangers rocketed upwards and crashed into the temple.
"Sonia!" Alicia called out only to meet silence.
When the smoke and debris cleared, Sonia was sinking into a dark portal. Blaine stared the Rangers down and gave them a drawn out slow clap.
"Impressive that you've made it this far in such a short time. However, you're too late. Sonia will sink into the depths of darkness and I will rule all worlds with my newfound power."
"We'll stop you!" Noah threatened.
"That's what you think." Without warning, Blaine punched the air, sending crimson fire from his fists and knocked the five Rangers off their feet.
Trying to fight off the now powerful Demi-God, the Rangers couldn't get close to Sonia who was just about to disappear.
Noah, seeing this, got an idea. He blasted the floor with Power from Within and sent he and his friends one level below them.
"We have to run!" He said as they got up. Nodding, the Rangers picked a random path and followed it.
"Why are we running, again?" Alicia asked.
"I have a plan." Noah informed. "Sonia's about to disappear, so one of us should go after her. The rest will keep Blaine and his army busy."
"Sounds like a risk." Liam commented.
Jared said, stopping with the others, "It's settled then. Noah will go after Sonia and we'll give Blaine something to do. Alicia, open a portal?"
"All over it." Alicia focused and chanted, "Nepo, Emases!" The same glowing portal appeared in front of them just as they were found by the soldiers.
Noah jumped through the portal and his friends went to work on Blaine's minions.
The next thing Noah felt was dirt in his face. It smelt like freshly mown grass at the park.
"This is too weird..." Noah muttered, pulling himself up. The sky was a disturbingly dark shade of maroon while the trees around him were dyed velvet.
Regaining composure, Noah started to search for Sonia.
~Black Castle~
The Rangers managed to bring the fight back around into the main Temple room. Blaine idly watched as his seemingly endless forces were swatted down by the remaining Rangers.
"Hmmm... Let's take my new powers for a spin." Blaine snapped his fingers and made crimson tendrils bind the Rangers.
Crying out in pain, they demorphed and fell to the ground. The tendrils, now glowing respective Ranger colors transformed into copies of the Legend Rangers.
"Finally, a chance to stretch." Pink said.
"What?!" Alicia asked.
Blaine laughed. "These are your darker selves in the form of your Ranger Powers! Enjoy!"
Twilight Yellow shook her head. "Tch, these phonies are nothing compared to us." She muttered in irritation.
Seeing this, Jared opened up the com link on his morpher.
"Claire, we have a problem."
Her voice was shaky, but understandable. "I can see the spike in energy levels be careful!"
"Alright guys, let's go. Bio-"
"No! Don't morph!" Claire warned.
"Why?" Liam asked.
"These aren't your run-of-the-mill copies. They have a direct connection to your piece of the Morphing Grid! If you morph, the surge would destroy your powers and you!"
Jared sighed and cracked his knuckles. "Then we take them down the old fashioned way."
~ Dark Depths ~
"For 'Depths of Darkness' this isn't so gloomy." Noah commented as he continued his wild goose hunt for Sonia.
Then, he saw it. Shining above him, was a golden sphere about the size of an SUV. The Blue Ranger could barely see who was inside: Sonia.
"There she is!" Noah focused and burst, jumping high to get to the bubble, only for it to knock him several feet back to the ground when he touched it.
"Sonia!" Noah shouted. However, Sonia couldn't hear him.
~ Black Castle ~
Jared jumped and kicked his darker half into a pillar. Dark Jared laughed and got up to charge when he screamed out in pain. His form started to become distorted and started to shimmer like a flickering lightbulb. Seconds later, he exploded and a red orb re-entered the real Jared.
"What just happened?" Jared asked, staring at the empty space. Shaking himself back to the situation, he quickly morphed and jumped forward to fight Blaine.
Liam raised a barrier to protect himself from all of his other half's axe assaults.
"Come on, Willy. Fight!" Dark Liam taunted.
Liam kicked forward and sent a boulder flying from the ground, but he missed.
"Man, you're pathetic!" The two counterparts entered a fast paced close combat battle. Liam grabbed his other half's wrists and twisted the axe out of his hand. He then kicked Dark Liam into the air.
Alicia, as if in a mad arm frenzy, launched projectile after projectile with her telekinesis, keeping her darker half at bay.
"Alicia, you should stop relying on that magical stuff. You may be addicted."
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Alicia shouted as she launched a gigantic wave of psychic energy at her darker half.
Asher's copy was having a ball with him.
"So many secrets hidden away." Dark Asher stated as he easily dodged Asher's telekinetic projectiles.
"And I know what you're thinking. 'It's time to begin my real mission.' You're really not gonna say a word?"
"Shut up!" Asher shouted as he sent a swirl of blue orbs around his other half. He ran forward and kicked him in the forehead, sending the copy into a wall.
~ Darkness ~
Now, Noah was badgered and beat up. He had a few bruises on his face, his hair was messed up and his clothes were in tatters. He used his Power From Within to hover in front of the sphere and resorted to punching it.
Creating boxing gloves made of ice, Noah rapidly smashed the same spot trying to free Sonia who was wrapped in a fetal position.
"Sonia!" He yelled in despair. "Answer me!"
"It's hopeless..." She kept muttering to herself. "Hopeless."
"No, it's not! Damn it! My Morpher's not working!" Noah cursed hitting the barrier with one last punch before being sent back down to the ground.
"I'm getting her out of here... I am!" Noah jumped up once more and forced everything into his focus, causing his Morpher to finally react.
"Spirit Legend, Awaken!"
The blue morphing circle appeared in Noah's path and he transformed as he passed through it. He then surrounded himself with water, spun at a rapid pace like a top, then froze into a rotating human icicle. He drilled into the outer wall, creating a high-pitched grinding noise.
"I'm getting her out of here!"
Sonia, upon hearing him, looked up. "Noah..."
~ Flashback, 7 years ago ~
"I'm getting you out of here." A young Sonia told a young Noah.
Sonia had found Noah crying in a park. A bully broke his camera.
"Why are you so nice?" A sniveling Noah asked.
"Because..."
~End Flashback~
Noah, also remembering the day they met, finished Sonia's reply.
"Because it's what I have to do!" He finally broke the sphere and caught Sonia as the two dropped.
Huffing and puffing, Noah demorphed.
"Noah, you're hurt." Sonia noticed his cuts and bruises.
"Are you okay?" Noah asked, disregarding Sonia's comment.
"A little weak... but I'm fine."
Suddenly, a ten foot tall Shadowlite appeared from the ground.
"Of course..." Noah muttered standing up.
"Noah, no! You're hurt! I'm not letting you go!"
"Sonia, this is important."
"No! It's not! Think about this!"
"Sonia, why don't you understand?!" Noah yelled.
Sonia's eyes widened in realization, her mind flashing back to the moment she had said the exact same thing to her Father. Freezing from this epiphany, Noah morphed and attacked the Shadowlite with everything he had.
"Everyone's come so far... for me..." Sonia whispered as Noah weaved and dodged all assaults.
"It's okay for me not to be alone." Sonia looked down at her left wrist and saw her Morpher glow a yellow aura. As this happened, Noah stuck his X-Sword into the Shadowlite's neck and destroyed it.
~ Black Castle ~
The other Rangers were growing tiresome. Eventually, Blaine and his copies were gaining the upper hand.
"I know what you're doing." Dark Alicia taunted. "And I think Blaine should know."
"Good luck with that!" Alicia shot back sending a high kick. Dark Alicia blocked the attack and threw her counterpart away. She then backflipped through the air toward Blaine as the full god punched Jared into a wall. Whispering the information in to his ear, Dark Alicia giggled.
Blaine only nodded and said, "I know of their plans. It is an obvious one that won't work."
Eventually, the Rangers were tossed together in exhaustion. Liam raised a barrier of stones for cover.
"These copies are tough..." Liam whispered.
"It can't be that bad." Asher commented, sarcastically. He then dryly quipped, "I bet I can beat yours in seconds."
A moment passed between them. An idea occurred to the four.
Alicia grinned. "Then we'll swap copies."
Looking over the barrier, Blaine was willing his blood red fire dance in the air.
Jared nodded. "I'm gonna keep Pyromaniac busy." With that, Jared rocketed into Blaine sending him through a wall.
Alicia jumped into the air and flew. Her copy came right at her, but Liam grabbed the copy's foot and threw her into the floor.
Asher kicked Dark Liam in the head and sent him flying.
Alicia dived down and crashed into Dark Asher.
Liam easily blocked all of Dark Alicia's attacks and crushed her with a boulder.
Asher pierced Dark Liam with a metallic pole launched by Telekinesis.
Alicia hoisted Dark Asher into the air. "You should watch out for him!" Dark Asher taunted as he was finally pulled apart into nothingness leaving Alicia confused.
Regrouping to face Blaine, the Rangers morphed up and readied their weapons. However, the castle started to shake.
"What's going on?!" Alicia asked.
Claire's voice said, "Noah's got Sonia. Without Sonia as the prisoner, the castle's falling apart!"
Before they could get out, the castle vanished, sending everyone down to the Earth.
~ Below ~
Faron had given the citizens of the business district of town to evacuate. Now, it was empty.
Sonia's eyes shifted and she slowly regained consciousness. She saw her father, mother and Kira running towards her.
"Bucket..." Reed whispered to her as he cradled her.
"Dad... I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry. You're right. It's ok to hate me for neglecting you."
Sonia pulled her Father into a hug and kissed his cheek.
Blaine's voice roared. "You brats ruined my castle!" From a black inferno, Blaine grew to a monster size. He no longer looked human; he was a red wing demon with black and red horns.
"You can still join me, Sonia." He said almost delicately.
Jared and the others used their Legend Gliders to charge him, but Blaine just swatted them away like flies. They landed in front of Sonia and de-morphed. Faron blasted Blaine with a gigantic bolt of lightning, but he too was smacked to the ground.
"Don't listen to him, Sonia!" Kira urged.
"I've seen your heart." Blaine announced. "Your loneliness can go away. I can relieve you of that loneliness. I can protect you. I can raise you and teach you. I can be your Father.""Sonia..." Melody trailed off.
"Dream on." Sonia stated.
"What?"
"I'm not lonely." Sonia raised her Morpher to the sky. "I'm not the only Power Ranger. There're others. My friends... my sister. And me? Well... I'm one ticked off Goddess." With that, her eyes began to glow with a bright gold.
Hands glowing with bright yellow electricity, Sonia continued. "I was protected by my friends." Sonia launched a big bolt of electricity from her hands and struck Blaine's chest and left a charred scar.
"I was raised by my Melody and Reed Ford."
Twlight Yellow tried to stop her by charging, but Sonia knocked her to the ground with a thunderclap.
"I was taught by Kira Ford." Sonia stated sending both fire and lightning into the sky, destroying all fire soldiers.
"They are my family. Not you! And I'm gonna protect them!" A yellow transformation circle appeared under her.
"Dad..." Sonia spoke in an almost whisper.
"Yes...?"
"I don't hate you... I'm actually glad things turned out this way... I can see... I can... I..." Sonia turned back to her parents, her eyes still glowing with divine energy. She shook her head and faced front, raising her Morpher.
"Spirit Legend, Awaken!"
Haokah appeared behind Sonia and fused with her.
"Spirit of Lightning: Yellow Legend Ranger!"
With a battle cry, Sonia summoned her Daggers and dashed forward.
"You won't get far!" Twlight Yellow shouted as she got up.
In one clean swipe, Sonia struck Yellow in the abdomen and made her explode.
Sonia then jumped into the air and charged up her powers. She then let loose millions of volts of lightning at Blaine, who met the blast with his own two attacks were equal in intensity, neither one giving way.
Jared analyzed, "Her Ranger Powers... are stronger because of her Goddess side!"
Digging deeper than she had ever had before, Sonia yelled at the top of her lungs. Her attack intensified and struck Blaine, causing him to scream in agony. Dropping to the ground, Blaine disappeared in millions of yellow lights.
As she landed, Sonia demorphed and collapsed into Noah's arms.
However, celebration wasn't in order yet.
The sky was still dark, and a black mass was coming straight at them.
Blaine's castle had appeared once more and it was hurtling for Bayview. Out of the castle came millions of fire soldiers aiming to avenge their fallen master.
"Jared... my True Soul." Sonia half whispered.
Nodding, Jared opened Sonia's Soul Gate.
~ Sonia's Soul ~
Jared entered past her memories and experiences.
Sonia's Heart Song was a harmonic chorus of angel voices, pianos, violins, and trumpets. It was perfect harmony.
Stepping to the center of the inner dome, Jared looked down and the floor lit up. For Sonia, the stained glass painting was of a musical note detailing the very center. It had hearts around it and along the edges were her family's faces.
Jared touched the center orb.
~ Reality ~
Jared pulled out his crystalized arm and raised it into the air. The substance dissolved and revealed a golden hand harp. Handing it to Sonia, she smiled in content.
"Another instrument... imagine that..." Sonia whispered as she turned.
As she struck the strings, golden beams of light started to come through the clouds. The rays then swirled around the falling castle like heavenly ghosts. It became a battle of flying red creatures and waves of light.
The beams swirled and spun, crushing the fire creatures with iron grip.
"I'm perfectly fine with where I am now..." Sonia thought to herself. "I have people who love and care for me. I owe them everything..."
Within minutes, Sonia had vaporized all the remaining soldiers. With the remaining notes of her song, she made the castle disappear in golden lights.
The sky instantly cleared and the sun could be seen rising at the horizon.
Exhausted, Sonia fell backwards once more, her True Soul re-entering her chest.
~ Later ~
Sonia sat in the park with everyone else as they watched Faron teleport back home.
"Goodbye, my new friends." He hugged Sonia and said, "That spark inside you... the one that makes your more divine than before... Nurture it. With time, it'll be a flame."
"I will," Sonia nodded, "Come back anytime!"
Faron nodded in gratitude and raised Stomrbreaker into the sky. Suddenly, a beam of rainbow energy rocketed down from the sky and beamed him away. As the group dispersed, Sonia hugged Noah.
"Thank you."
"Don't worry about it."
In the distance, the Fords and the other Rangers watched.
The two remained hugging for a little bit when Sonia finally worked up the courage from within. She leaned up and pressed her lips against Noah's. Eyes widening, Noah almost pulled away. But... he didn't; he felt something as the two made contact and he closed his eyes in content.
The two stayed there for a bit just feeling each other's lips and nothing more. The moment in time seemed to have lasted forever...
"It's about time..." Liam joked to Alicia who in return, hit his arm.
Jared chuckled to himself and looked at Alicia. She in turn stared into his eyes and the two turned away from each other, blushing.
"All's well that ends well, I guess." Kira commented.
The Fords walked in one direction, Alicia and Liam in another, and Jared, Asher and Noah in the last.
All were looking forward to a good rest.
~ The Next Night, Haley's Cyber Cafe-Bayview Branch ~
This cafe looked a lot like the one back in Reefside, but it was a bit bigger due to recent renovations.
Sonia stood on stage wearing a yellow shirt under a black jazz vest. She also wore black jeans, brown boots and black fedora with a yellow stripe around it.
Jared, the other Rangers, and Tobias and Lydia had a great view of her.
Kira smiled as she looked around. "Getting a total nostalgia trip." She said to herself.
"Where's Noah?" Jared asked.
"I dunno." Alicia answered.
Looking around, Sonia spotted both her parents watching from the back. They gave her encouraging waves and smiles.
Sonia spoke. "I want to dedicate this song to a special someone." After the chorus of "Awwws" from the rather large audience, Sonia continued. "This song is also for everyone who's in love, whether they are in a relationship or not." She looked at Alicia and Jared and smiled. Of course they didn't notice.
"And for this song, the special boy this song is for is up here with me."
Noah walked next to Sonia. He too wore a fedora, but his stripe was blue. He also wore a dark blue long sleeved dress shirt under a jazz vest, black jeans and black dress shoes.
The two exchanged a quick kiss and Sonia's band started to play.
Sonia: Take my hand, I'll teach you to dance.
I'll spin you around, won't let you fall down.
Would you let me lead? You can step on my feet.
Give it a try, it'll be alright
Both: The room's hush hush and now's our moment.
Take it in, feel it all and hold it
Eyes on you, eyes on me.
We're doing this right.
'Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love
Spotlight's shining. It's all about us
It's oh, oh, all
About uh, uh, us
And every heart in the room will melt
This is a feeling I've never felt
But it's all about us
Noah: Suddenly I'm feeling brave
Don't know what's got into me
Why I feel this way
Can we dance real slow?
Can I hold you real close?
Both: The room's hush hush and now's our moment
Take it in, feel it all and hold it
Eyes on you, eyes on me
We're doing this right
Both: 'Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love
Spotlight's shining. It's all about us
It's oh, oh, all
About uh, uh, us
And every heart in the room will melt
This is a feeling I've never felt
But it's all about us
Sonia: Do you hear that love? They're playing our song
Noah: Do you think we're ready? Oh, I'm really feeling it
Sonia: Do you hear that love? Do you hear that love?
Noah: Do you hear that love? They're playing our song
Sonia: Do you think we're ready yet? Oh, I'm really feeling it
Both: Do you hear that love? Do you hear that love?
Sonia: Do you hear that love? They're playing our song
Do you think we're ready yet? Oh, I'm really feeling it
Both: Do you hear that love? Do you hear that love?
Sonia: Lovers dance when they're feeling in love
Spotlight's shining. It's all about us
It's oh, oh, all
Every heart in the room will melt
This is a feeling I've never felt
But it's all about us
Both: 'Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love
Spotlight's shining. It's all about us
It's oh, oh, all
Hey, hey, hey
(And every heart in the room will melt)
This is a feeling I've never felt
But it's all about us
The entire cafe shook with applause as Noah and Sonia took a bow. The two hugged as their friends smiled on, save for Asher who, like always, was thinking about something else; something dark, important, and dangerous.
"I have to start..." He whispered.
~ Off somewhere in the city ~
Devon stood on a rooftop and watched over the crowds of people. A purple and black compass like device was glowing.
He spotted Chris making his way home on his bike. As he passed under, the compass started to glow.
"Jules... is he the one?"
The compass glowed brighter.
"All right."
A/N: Another Arc is down! A few episodes till the next Arc! Both of Sonia's song links are on my profile so be sure to check them out!
What is Asher planning?
Who is Chris?
Stay tuned!
As always, Review and Late Days!
Songs used in this Arc:
Thunder by Boys Like Girls
All About Us by He is We
Kiss the Rain by Yiruma
