~Dark Void~
"I don't understand." Medusa commented as she and the rest of her comrades watched Alicia torture the Warlock to death.
"Don't you see this opportune moment?" Slade began, "The Pink Ranger is so powerful now, we can use her strength to our advantage. The anger and destruction coming off of her and the future beings she kills will only fill the Void Key. Also... we can make her perform a ritual."
"A ritual?" Roxas asked. "Will this one fail like the ones with the Hunter and Maia?"
"No, it won't. We're not summoning anything in particular... we're just bringing about the fusion of our worlds."
~Cue Theme~
~HQ~
"Why can't we find her?" Liam demanded as he hit a table with his fist. Asher and Chris were scrying for the girl while Lydia scanned the computer screens. Tobias was next to her checking his Ipad while Sonia consoled Noah in the corner.
"We're doing our best." Asher reminded them with a bit of annoyance. He sighed, not having a worry in the world. He knew for sure Alicia wasn't lost.
Then, something disturbing took place. The scrying crystal Asher was using hit the map he was looking at. Startled, he took a closer look; Alicia was right where they were. Before he could say anything, the HQ doors were blasted to bits and Dark Alicia walked through.
"Knock knock." Alicia stated dementedly.
"Alicia... what do you want?" Chris asked, taking a semi-defensive stance.
"What happened to the worry? I thought you'd be happy to see me."
"This isn't you." Noah reminded raising his hands as a sign of peace.
"Noah, this is me; I promise."
"Please... just think about what you're doing."
"Hmm... Ok." Alicia smiled and closed her eyes for a second. Opening them, she informed, "Done." She waved her hands all over the place and threw her friends in all directions.
"Now to get what I came for." Strolling ever so calmly past her friends, Alicia approached the Destiny Book perched on its post. As she grabbed it, she grinned in success. A bolt of lightning hit her in the back with little to no damage.
"Why do you need that?" Sonia demanded rising to her feet, more electricity coursing through her palms.
"I have my reasons."
~Flashback~
Before Alicia attacked, she was visited by Slade who asked for her assistance.
"Why should I help you?" She demanded. The two were in the Underworld; Alicia decided to go on a vanquishing-spree.
"This world needs to be purged and you have the power to do so."
"Answer my question. Why should I help you?"
"Because of this." Slade snapped his fingers and a portal opened on the ground. Evan Morgan, Alicia's brother came out of it. He was tied up and scared to death, his eyes darting everywhere.
"You may be under your power's control, but you still care for your brother."
~Reality, Later On~
"We have to tell Jared." Asher proposed to the others. Alicia had long gone and they couldn't track her.
"Asher's right." Chris agreed, crossing his arms. "We need help."
"Alright." Noah sighed. "I'll find Jared, you guys look out for Alicia."
~Dark Void~
"What're you planning, Slade? You never told us anything." Roxas confronted stepping around a corner.
"Can't you sense it, Roxas? I intend on using her confusion to our advantage; nothing more, nothing less."
Without facing his comrade, Slade turned away. "Twilight Red, Twilight Pink. I need your assistance."
~The Hospital, A little Later~
Noah had already checked in and was talking to a bedridden Jared who was extremely worried. Little did they know, Alicia was outside.
"I still don't like Hospitals." She muttered, her body swimming with power. Slade's words echoed in her head. Now you need a powerful source of energy.
Truthfully, she didn't know why she trusted Slade. She knew in her heart he was evil but she couldn't stop herself. Stepping forward, she was going to enter the Hospital when a green energy disc stopped her.
Liam, Sonia, Asher and Chris were behind her, weapons drawn.
"Can you really hurt me with those?" She asked with a smirk.
"Don't make us." Liam pleaded, keeping his axe ready.
Laughing, Alicia shook her head. "As if you could!" With a simple tilt of the head, she blasted her friends away with an energy wave.
Chris jumped into the air and whipped his fan, sending dark slashes at her. However, the attack was easily blocked by an invisible barrier.
Sonia dashed in and repeatedly swiped forward with her daggers only to miss each time. The two girls entered a fast fight, both moving like blurs while clashing sounds erupted from them.
Asher raised his right hand and focused his power into his index finger.
"Now!" He shouted as he fired a massive beam of light from his fingertip. Sonia broke away from Alicia at the right moment and back flipped over the attack.
The light ray hit Alicia full on and caused an explosion. The energy expanded and was about to envelope the Rangers, but Liam made a barrier to protect them.
Hearing the sound, Jared darted up from his bed only to collapse, but Noah caught him.
Outside, Alicia rose into the air without a scratch on her.
"Thanks for playing." She grinned creating energy spheres in the air around her.
"Alicia, stop!" Jared called as he limped out of the Hospital. His face was ridden with struggle and his legs shook wildly. Noah's arms were wrapped around him for support. The rest of the Rangers were lying on the ground demorphed.
"Just in time, Jared. I need a favor from you." Before Alicia could do anything else, a glowing white gem the size of a beach ball roared through the air and hit Alicia, causing her to fall to the ground. Black and Red shadows formed a net pattern and tied her down.
Claire and Dr. Bly appeared in the air, standing on it like it was a solid surface.
"Sorry we let this happen." Dr. Bly said, nodding his head. "We were looking for something important."
"But apparently," Claire continued, "This takes priority." Muttering an incantation, Claire shot six blue energy poles from her hands. The poles landed in a circle around Alicia.
Dr. Bly raised a wooden wand topped with a minotaur shaped crystal. He was casting his own incantation and when he had finished, he threw his wand down, causing green and black shadow-like material to grow numerous dark orbs. Snapping his fingers, the orbs exploded into immense green flames, engulfing Alicia. The explosion was contained by the blue poles Claire had casted.
"Alicia!" Sonia shouted, getting to her hands and knees.
Suddenly, the smoke cleared by a powerful force of wind. Alicia flew from the ground at a high speed and grabbed Claire and Dr. Bly by their throats.
"A powerful source of energy..." She whispered, gripping tighter. Green energy flowed from Dr. Bly and into Alicia's right hand while Claire's purple energy flowed into her left.
Afterwards, she dropped the two onto the ground next to the Rangers.
In seconds, the girl felt more power course through her veins as her sense skyrocketed.
"I feel it... so much of this world... there's so much emotion and power... so much..." Alicia cringed from an unseen force. "So much pain... and sadness... It needs to be... destroyed."
With that, she disappeared into thin air.
~HQ~
"What does she want?" Jared asked Claire and Dr. Bly.
"She absorbed our energies. The magic amplified her Psychic abilities and now feels everything in the world." Claire began.
Dr. Bly continued, "We have a feeling she's gonna use her powers to perform a powerful ritual."
"Another ritual?" Noah asked, gripping his hands together.
"Many rituals were created and many were lost," Claire replied, "This ritual, the one she's after, is one of the forbidden lost ones."
"What does it do? And how could she know about this?" Chris pressed.
Dr. Bly said, "When Alicia absorbed the dark book contents, all its forbidden magic flowed inside of her. No doubt, someone told her about the lost ritual."
"Who?" Liam questioned standing up.
"Slade." Claire replied plainly. "He knew and now he's using Alicia's emotions against her. She has no idea she's playing into his hands."
"Then we stop her." Jared stated. "We're not gonna let her do this. Where's she headed now?"
"Slow down, Jared." Dr. Bly said. "We do have plans in place. All you need to do is trust us."
~Mountains~
Alicia approached the very mountain plateau where she failed to save Bobby. The memories echoed through her mind. Shaking her head, she said, "I'm different now. This ritual will help me save the world... and my brother from Slade." She hovered exactly where she was when she performed the cure ritual on Bobby.
Closing her eyes, she raised a pillar for her to stand on. A circle of energy surrounded the pillar and rose up like electricity.
"This is it..." She said feeling all the emotions come down on her like a ton of bricks. "I can feel everything..."
"Alicia, no!" Jared screamed as he and his friends ran toward her. Refusing more interruption, Alicia created stone giants to protect her. Her friends morphed and fought back with all their might. Using the elements as well as their weapons, the Rangers couldn't strike down enough golems to get to their friend. With every minion that was struck down, three more would appear and replace it.
"Get to her!" Noah yelled to Jared.
"How?!" Jared replied, kicking a Golem away from him. He himself was in emotional turmoil. Alicia was in danger... she was putting the world in danger... his heart was breaking over her.
"You can get through to her, Jared!" Sonia encouraged as she ran up to him. "Only you can."
"Right." Jared nodded. The time for thinking was done; he had to act. Blasting fire from his feet, Jared flew at Alicia. He bypassed the circle and grabbed the girl around her waist. The two fell about thirty feet to the ground. Upon landing, Jared rolled away from her and demorphed.
"Alicia... you can stop this." Jared pleaded pointing to the pillar, which was still absorbing the energy.
"No... I won't... you... you can't make me!" Alicia swiped her left arm at Jared and caused a tear in Jared's shirt, a shallow bloody slash forming on his chest. With more swipes, Jared was cut by Alicia leaving small and thin tears across his arms and legs. One final swipe hit Jared's cheek.
"I'm not giving up on you." Jared stated as he slowly trudged forward.
"Please... stop, Jared!" Alicia thrust her hands forward and fired a huge amount of electricity at him. However, the bursts didn't send Jared away;they barely made a mark on him.
"Jared... go away!" Alicia tried to telekinetically push him away, but couldn't find the strength to do it.
"I care... so much about you..." Jared whispered as he finally reached Alicia and pulled her into a hug.
At that moment, Alicia broke down into tears. The black in her eyes faded into normal colors while her hair became its usual brown shade. The rock golems fell to pieces around the other Rangers. The normal Alicia cried harder into Jared's chest as the two fell to their knees; the girl wrapped her arms around Jared and willed herself to calm down.
"This... it's... I..."
Letting tears escape his eyes, Jared pulled Alicia in closer.
"How'd he do it?" Sonia asked. "I knew he could, but how?"
Chris replied, "It was a part of Dr. Bly and Claire's plan. Their magic was absorbed by Alicia. The energy taken away tapped into the humanity left inside of her, causing it to grow."
"How touching." Came Slade's voice. Looking up, Slade appeared on the pillar Alicia had raised. Evan was on his side, crying. Traces of Alicia's magic unknowingly sunk into him.
"Thank you for starting the ritual, Alicia. Now, it's time for me to finish it. Not only was your brother an incentive for you to steal the book, I also have him here to use him as my medium."
"Medium?" Jared asked.
"Yes, because of his familial relations, he will be perfect!"
Slade raised his arms and began to absorb all the energy. Twilights Red and Pink appeared around him, guarding the figure. However, unbeknownst to all of them, Alicia's residual energy awakened something inside of Evan. He felt something he'd never felt before... Looking down at his hands, he noticed small blue sparks circulating through them. On instinct, the boy pushed his palms towards Slade and zapped him with a blast of bright blue electricity. The force drove him off the pillar making him fall towards the ground only for Noah to save him with a cushion of water. He then proceeded to move Evan to safety.
"You used me... you used my emotions... threatened my brother... you monster!" Alicia said, wiping the tears away. She stepped forward and summoned her morpher as a Pink Transformation circle appeared under her.
"I'm stronger than you Slade." The Spirit of Wind rose as an incarnation behind Alicia, her glow brightening with Alicia's feelings.
"Spirit Legend, Awaken!" The Spirit of Wind fused with Alicia in a swirl of pink lights.
"Spirit of Wind: Pink Legend Ranger!" Rising into the air, Alicia sped forward and clashed with Slade and Twilight Pink. Twilight Red decided to take on Jared who quickly met the enemy with all his force. As the Rangers watched, the sky exploded with clashing energy blasts from Alicia and her enemies. From below the two looked like glowing lights. They clashed over and over causing the atmosphere to shake with immense collisions. After a small while, Alicia started to get the upper hand.
"Take this!" Alicia yelled sending forth a massive wave of wind at Twilight Pink. The winds wrapped around her forming a cyclone ball and destroyed the Twilight.
"How?!" Slade demanded as Alicia struck his chest with her Legend Staff.
"You may have more power, Slade, but I something you'll never have!" She struck him in the stomach with a solid punch. "This world is cruel and hard to live in... but no one is ever alone! Everyone has pain and sadness, but it'll disappear when met with love and friendship!" To finish him off, Alicia formed a baseball sized pink cyclone ball in her right palm.
Rushing down, she forced the ball into Slade's chest and pushed him, making him spiral towards the ground. The ball expanded into a bigger cyclone and the winds inside struck the man like sharp blades. He hit the ground in a solid explosion, only to be saved by Alviss. Of course, it was unnoticed as the boy orbed back to the Dark Void.
Seeing the plan had failed, Twilight Red retreated.
Gathering around the pillar, the Rangers couldn't stop it. Now, the stone turned into gold colored metal and was growing taller and taller.
"Jared... my True Soul."
"Here we go." Jared nodded in preparation.
~Alicia's Heart~
Jared flew through Alicia's soul feeling everything she's felt over the last two years. He felt the excitement and wonder as he met himself through her eyes, the power from morphing for the first time, and the pain of all the losses they had suffered.
(Alicia's Heart Melody is on my Profile)
Stepping into the center, Jared looked down. The glass painting of Alicia's heart was represented by a very detailed picture of herself wearing a full white dress. The scenery behind her was the sun rising behind her. Clouds were spread below her reflecting the orange glowing light. Around her neck was a pink locket. Clasped between her hands were four roses. Three, the smallest, were colored yellow, blue and green. The biggest one was red. Staring in awe, Jared reached forward and grabbed Alicia's True Soul for the second time: Lover's Bandages. Something was different this time around; before, the Bandages were silver strips with pink crystals in the middle of each segment. At that point, the Bandages were completely pink with purple crystals.
~Reality~
Alicia felt her True Soul vibrate around her hands as she stepped forward. She raised it in the air and let the bandages wrap around the pillar and absorb its loose energy. After a minute of soothing feelings, the pillar collapsed into the ground; never to be summoned again.
Sighing in relief, Alicia knew it was over.
~Magic School~
Having figured it out, Alicia returned to Anya.
"Here you go." Anya smiled, sensing the change in Alicia's spirit.
~Vision Quest~
Alicia stepped through the empty manor once more. The Demon from all those other quests dropped from above and landed on her. However, she did nothing to resist it and as a result, the attacker passed through her and disappeared. Another Demon rushed from the nearby sun room and jumped at her, only to fade away when Alicia didn't react to it. Smiling, the girl opened the door.
Anya's voice echoed, "Your powers are balanced. Now, they can grow free of your emotions. Your Foresight, Empathy, your psychic abilities will now become much more than what you knew."
When her vision became normal, Alicia found herself standing in Jared's house.
Sighing in content, she walked into the kitchen and looked out the back window. Evan and Arum were tossing a frisbee around.
"Weird, isn't it? Evan being a Witch too?" Came Noah's voice. He walked up next to Alicia and studied his brother. Arum threw the frisbee into the air and froze it with a bust of ice. Evan laughed and blasted the disc with electricity.
"If we fail, it'll be their battle. I can't let that happen."
Nodding, Noah agreed. "More importantly..." He grinned at Alicia and asked, "What about Jared?"
Shaking her head, she said, "I just don't know yet... I need to sort this out."
"Of course." Noah said, patting her shoulder. "Come on, they're waiting."
Alicia nodded and put on a small smile; she was relieved to have her friends waiting in the other room.
A/N: Another Arc down! Many many more questions will be answered next time! I made Alicia's Arc shorter because she really didn't need a three-parter like the others. At this point in time, she's had the most character development out of her friends.
Later Days!
