Zoey and Roxy exchanged blows in the abandoned warehouse, each one hoping to find the opening that would let them finish the other off.
Zoey staggered backwards as she took a knee to the midriff. She was starting to realise how much of a tall order taking on Roxy really was. Not only was her morphed form easily as strong as hers, possibly even more so, she had also figured out that Roxy appeared to have the same additional ability as her, being able to match her any time she tried to take to the air. She fell to one knee as she tried to catch her breath.
"Aw, are you done already?" Roxy teased her. "I thought I taught you better than that."
Zoey had taken some Martial Arts lessons, but like other things in her life, she couldn't dedicate the time and the effort to it in order to excel. As much as it was better than nothing, one lesson a week at her local community youth centre was no substitute for proper training under a real sensei. Like the other areas she was falling behind the others in during her tenure on the Ranger program, she had been working hard to catch up, and Roxy had kind of taken her under her wing. The same Roxy she was now trying to defeat. Zoey was about to try and get back up, only to receive a hard kick to the side of her face, at which she skidded along the floor.
Roxy was starting to approach her, at which Zoey kept one shoulder dipped, and reached across her chest. Instead of clutching her ribs though, she summoned a blaster into her hand.
"Aw, did the little rabbit fall down?" Roxy asked her. "Wow, they really did just pick anyone they could get when Blaze and I split didn't they?"
Roxy placed a foot under Zoey's chin, turning her to face her, before kicking her back down. She just laughed at her as she sprawled across the floor.
"You weren't even second-best…you were the sympathy vote. I only wasted my time with you because I like charity cases." Roxy continued to berate her. "You can't fight like me; you couldn't study without me…what makes you think you're anything like a match for me?"
"I'm sneakier!" Zoey replied, rolling over and firing her blaster into Roxy's chest point-blank. Roxy was propelled backwards, hitting the floor and sliding away from her. Both Roxy and Zoey got back to their feet and ran around each other, firing shots back and forth. Their suits sparked as their blasts scored hits on each other. They were both smoking from numerous scorch marks as they finally took cover.
Roxy put down one of her blasters and grasped her stomach, feeling intense pain.
"That wasn't very nice little rabbit." She told her. "That was fighting dirty."
"It worked, didn't it?" Zoey asked her, breaking cover to fire some shots, forcing Roxy to keep her head down. The avatar looked around the edge of the barrel, before taking a pot-shot that sailed past Zoey. The Yellow Ranger paused for a moment.
"You missed!" Zoey pointed out.
"Did I?" Roxy asked her. Zoey turned to see one of the X-Bikes with its motor sparking. Roxy hadn't been aiming for her, she had been aiming for the X-bike…the X-bike which had a vial of Morph-X inside it! She ran over to it, smashing the motor with her blaster to break it free of the frame, before throwing it back in Roxy's direction. Roxy watched it sail right over her head and laughed.
"You missed!" She shot back. Zoey just smirked.
"Did I?" Zoey asked. Roxy suddenly snapped around, seeing that the motor had landed by the Morph-X barrel. She ran towards it to try and throw it away, but it exploded before she could get to it. Roxy was flipped through the air, tumbling, before hitting the ground. She started glitching in and out more frequently. She'd obviously taken some serious damage. Zoey started to make her way towards her, shuffling and stumbling a little as she went, the blaster feeling heavy in her hand. Her suit was giving her warnings that it was at critical power levels, the protection having been tested to its limits. A few more seconds, that was all she'd need. Unfortunately, she didn't get it. The suit started to glow.
She re-routed what little power she had to her blaster so she could keep it. She needed this, she needed to bring her friend back. She was almost on top of Roxy when her feet were kicked out from under her. Roxy rolled on top of her as Zoey tried to bring her blaster back around, grabbing it and wrenching it from her hand, before throwing it across the room. She took one of her own blasters, ramming the bayonet attachment into Zoey's shoulder, causing her to scream out in agony.
"Nice try roomie." Roxy congratulated her as her suit disappeared. "For a moment, I almost thought I was in trouble."
She twisted the blaster, forcing Zoey to cry out in pain.
"Any last words before…?" She started to say, before glitching a little. She shook her head, and had a confused look on her face, before looking on Zoey's battered and bloody form before her. She looked horrified at what she saw.
"Zoey?" She asked. "Zoey! What…what have I done?"
She detached the bayonet from her blaster, leaving it in the wound, dropping the blaster to her side and started to press down around the wound, putting pressure on it to stem the bleeding. Zoey looked up to her.
"Roxy?" She asked. Roxy got up, starting to back away from Zoey. "Roxy?"
She clutched at her head, and started glitching out again, before disappearing. Zoey lay back as she got onto her communicator.
"Jax…I need…"
"Zoey, are you alright?" Jax asked as Zoey tailed off, barely having time to activate the distress signal in her communicator before she passed out. "Zoey? ZOEY!"
Elsewhere in the city, Ravi and Devon were both taking on the latest giant robot sent by Scrozzle. It was stronger than the last one he had sent, and this time it seemed to be armed with the same kind of needle the Needletron had been armed with.
They had managed, so far, to keep it away from the Morph-X tower, but they were still struggling to keep it under control.
"Cruise, how's the damage report looking?" Devon asked as he was trying to get the Megazord back to its feet.
"Structural integrity is at eighty-five percent. Power level is currently ninety percent." Cruise told him. "Left stabilisers are currently down, suggest a full-reboot."
"Ravi, can you keep him busy while I handle that?" Devon asked him. Ravi's Wheeler Zord was currently swinging its fists wildly as he tried to keep the Needledrone occupied.
"I'll try." He told him. Just then, he came at the Needledrone with a double-handed overhead strike, but it slipped the attack, dodging aside. It grabbed him from behind, before shoving its weapon into his zord's back.
"Cruise, how's that reboot looking?" Devon asked.
"Ten percent complete." Cruise told him. Devon shook his head.
"Ravi, what's going on?" Devon asked him.
"This thing is draining my Morph-X!" Ravi screamed at him.
"Damn, that was sneaky." Devon commented. "Ravi, how bad is it?"
"It's draining fast!" Smash replied. "It's already down to half tank!"
"Shit, that is fast." Devon grumbled. "Cruise, how's that reboot looking?"
"Reboot is twenty five percent complete." Cruise answered. Devon just shook his head.
"It's going to have to wait. I'll just have to compensate." Devon replied, punching a few commands. "Ravi doesn't have that long before he's dead in the water."
"Cancelling the reboot means the left stabilisers will still be inactive." Cruise reminded him.
"I'll handle it!" Devon yelled.
"Reboot cancelled." Cruise assured him. Devon started to make his way towards Ravi and the Needledrone, finding his Zord listing to the left. He seized the controls tightly, correcting for the lack of mechanical support. Devon punched in some commands.
"Summoning Sabre." He called out. "Ravi, try and turn that thing this way, I've got an idea."
"It's still draining…"
"It can't drain you if it doesn't have a needle!" Devon reminded him. Ravi gulped as he watched Devon raising up the sword and starting to charge. "Trust me!"
Ravi knew that Devon was struggling with his controls, but he didn't have much of a choice. He used his zord's strength to pull it around so they were standing side-on to the Cheetah Zord. Devon's blade came down, smashing the needle from the Needletron's weapon, before body-checking it away.
"OK, we've got that clear." Devon stated. "How are you for power?"
"Down to thirty five percent of the tank." Ravi told him. "That should be enough."
"It's going to have to be." Devon told him as Needletron forced him to fall back with some blasts. "Ravi, you've got the armour and the strength, see if you can't hold that thing steady!"
"On it!" Ravi responded. "Just give me an approach."
"You know it!" Devon assured him, using his blade to deflect blasts as he ran towards the Needletron. He threw himself out to the side as Ravi lunged forward. He'd used his own Zord to obscure Needletron's view of him so he could close in. Ravi grabbed it and switched around behind it, holding it in a full nelson.
"I've got it!" Ravi told him. "How long do you need?"
"Not much longer." Devon answered, summoning the Cheetah Beast Blaster. "Alright Ravi, when I tell you, toss it this way! NOW!"
Ravi spun around, before arching his Zord backwards, flipping the Needletron overhead, slamming it headfirst into the ground. It rolled, coming back to its feet just in time for Devon to launch into the air. His sabre glowed brightly as it scythed down through the Needletron, splitting it in half from head to crotch. It exploded devastatingly, completely obliterating it. Devon and Ravi both came together.
"Virus eliminated!" Devon declared, posing in his Zord. He looked over to Ravi, seeing his Zord face-palming. He just laughed. "Dude, you have got to start enjoying this a little more!"
"Devon? Ravi?" Jax called through the communicators. "You guys have to get over here. Zoey's in a bad way!"
"We're on our way." Devon responded as his Zord broke into a run, before leaping into the air and transforming into racer mode. Ravi followed suit in his Wheeler Zord. The Emergency Services would have to take care of the scene. They, on the other hand, had more pressing matters to worry about.
Over in the Cyber Dimension, Roxy arrived back after her battle, finding Blaze and Scrozzle waiting for her. Blaze had a little smirk on his face as she got back.
"Wipe that shit-eating grin off your face, will you?" She said, rolling her eyes as she came into the room.
"Well, that was entertaining." He commented, pointing to the screen. He and Scrozzle were watching the playback of her battle with Zoey on a loop. "I think I particularly liked the part where she blew you up. That was kind of fun."
"I had her right where I wanted her." Roxy commented, leaning against one of the work benches and picking up a device, playing with it, which irritated Scrozzle to no end. "I could have finished her any time I wanted to. Besides, unless we all forget, my plan secured us far more Morph-X than yours did."
"Hey, careful with that!" Scrozzle said, snatching the device from her, putting it back on the bench tenderly.
"Jeez, learn to share Scrozzie." She laughed. Blaze just got up and stood before her.
"I'm not so sure Evox is going to see this as quite the same success you do." He threatened her. "Especially when you insist you could have taken her out and didn't. It just makes me wonder why you didn't."
"Oh Blaze, always so quick and talented with your fists, not so much with your brains. Your daddy really did waste all that money on those fancy schools he sent you to didn't he?" She asked him, causing Blaze to tense up, clenching his jaw impatiently. "I learned something today…more like confirmed a theory, and let's just say that's a lot more valuable than one dead Ranger."
She started to walk away, before turning and winking to him.
"Watch and learn." She concluded as she disappeared.
Back at Grid Battleforce headquarters, Zoey was starting to come around. She started to move, reaching for her oxygen mask when a hand took hers softly. She looked aside, seeing Nate by her bedside.
"No, don't, you should keep that on for now." He told her. His hand felt so soft and warm against hers, that she couldn't help caressing his in turn. He pulled away as he started to stammer, looking at some tests. "I've introduced some nutrients intravenously and I've stitched up your injury. It's already starting to heal but it should be a couple of days before you're a hundred percent."
"Where is she?" Devon asked as he came in with Ravi. They both came to Zoey's side. "Zoey, Zoey, are you alright?"
"This is all my fault." Ravi started to say. "This should be me; I should never have left you alone with Roxy…"
Zoey tried to move, but Devon and Ravi both gestured to her to stay still.
"Whoa, you should not be moving!" Ravi said to her. "I can't…I can't believe Roxy did this to you…how could I be so wrong about…?"
"Zoey, keep the mask on." Nate instructed her, but she pulled it off anyway.
"The…the animals?" She asked. They all breathed a bit of a sigh of relief.
"Well, at least we know being impaled, blown up and beaten to within an inch of your life doesn't change you." Devon chuckled as he looked to her.
"They're in the spare hangar." Nate assured her. "We brought back as many as we could before the Zord battle."
"That's not enough." Zoey said as she tried to get up. "We need to get back out there. We need…"
"You are going absolutely nowhere." Ravi told her.
"But…"
"No buts!" Devon stated. "You've got a bigger fight. You have to try and convince my dad about those X-bikes."
"You leave the critters to us." Ravi assured her. "Jax can handle the laundry. Smash and Cruise will help us. You just get better."
"Thanks Ravi." Zoey answered. He took her hand, holding it gently.
"You tried to bring her home." Ravi reminded her. "I owe you for that."
With that, he and Devon headed out. Nate finished taking some of her test results.
"OK, I've got some more to do, but I'll check on you in a little while." He told her.
"Wait, you're leaving me alone?" She asked him.
"Don't worry, you won't be alone." He assured her, before leaving. As he left, he pressed a button, opening up screens on the other side of the infirmary. Ben and Betty were sitting in their beds, covered in bandages, but were smiling brightly and waving enthusiastically.
"Hey, Zoey!" Betty called out. "How's it going Roomie?"
"You got stitches too?" Ben asked her. Zoey just turned over and picked up her tablet.
"You alright?" Ben asked her.
"I've just…got to figure out a pitch for the mayor." She sighed. "After all this, I'm going to need a miracle if he's going to back the X-bikes."
"Want a hand?" Betty asked her, struggling to get out of her bed and come over. Ben rolled out of his bed and grabbed a chair, scurrying over.
"Yeah, we can help you write it." Ben rushed out. Zoey just smiled and gestured them in.
"Thanks guys." She replied, holding the tablet so they could see it. "I have a feeling I'm going to need all the help I can get."
A while later, over in the woods, Devon and Ravi were packing up as many animals as they could get. They only had one truck, but since they were still using Grid Battleforce resources for Zoey's pet project, they didn't want to risk exhausting Commander Shaw's good graces.
"Hey, check this out. A Praying Mantis!" Devon said with a smile as he showed the container to Ravi.
"You into bugs?" He asked. Devon just shook his head.
"I've played almost every fighting game ever released. Trust me, I know what a Praying Mantis is." Devon chuckled as Ravi went back to what he was doing. Ravi went to collect another crate when he paused, thinking about the day's events. He took a deep breath.
"We were together." Ravi announced, before looking to Devon. "Roxy and me. I mean…we were…before."
"I kind of figured." Devon replied sympathetically. "I didn't want to pry, you made it clear that you didn't want to push things."
"Yeah, but after what happened to Zoey, I just, I really feel like I'm responsible." Ravi admitted. "She stayed and fought Roxy because she knew I…"
"Hey man, I get it." Devon said as they both took a seat together. "It's been a while, but I've dated before. I wouldn't have wanted to fight any of my exes."
"This was exactly the kind of thing the rules were put in place to prevent. I let Zoey take on Roxy because it was tough for me and I didn't want to face her. If I had just done what I was meant to…"
"Dude, if there's one thing I've learned about Zoey since all this started, it's that precisely no one can make her do something she doesn't want to do." Devon assured him. "She was Roxy's friend too. She wouldn't have taken on that fight if she didn't think it was the right thing to do."
He got up and gestured to Ravi to do the same.
"Come on, we should be able to get a few more into the truck." Devon told him. "And thanks…thanks for telling me."
"It was keeping it to myself that caused this." Ravi reminded him. "And if I'm honest, it feels nice to have someone I could talk to about it. There aren't many at Grid Battleforce I can." Devon just smiled.
"So, tell me, what was she like?" Devon asked him as they grabbed another couple of crates.
"Oh, how long have you got?" Ravi asked him as they returned to work.
The following day, Zoey got out of bed, completely against any kind of protests from Nate or anyone else. Although it was not quite the end of the week, she'd heard that Mayor Daniels was holding a press conference at the woods. The fact he was holding it in the woods made her worried that he had indeed made up his mind to go ahead with the road. The attack on the bikes had to have people worried about them, and although she still had a couple of days left on their deal, she did worry there simply wasn't the interest any more.
Ravi pulled up the truck as the press started to assemble. Zoey moved rather gingerly to say the least. Ravi helped her down.
"You don't have to do this…"
"I'll heal." She told him. "The wood might not have that kind of time."
She ran over to where Devon was talking to her mom.
"Mom, where's the mayor? I want to show him these cool new plans for X-bikes." Zoey told her.
"I don't know, I guess he's running late sweetie." Muriel answered. Devon just sighed.
"Look, we tried our best, but my dad's stubborn." Devon told her. "My dad's not going to change his mind just because you coolified the X-bikes."
"But I still have…"
"You did your best." Nate sighed, coming to her side as he looked to her sympathetically. "No one could have done more. But sometimes…some fights just can't be won."
"No, it…it can't end like this. I can't let it." Zoey replied. Muriel looked around as they heard the sound of an X-bike engine coming their way. They were just in time to see Mayor Daniels and his Personal Aide arriving on the bikes. They skidded to a halt near them as the other press started to close in, realising he had arrived.
"Dad. Where's your limo?" Devon asked him. Mayor Daniels just smiled at him.
"Why would I need a limo? This is much more fun!" He said as he took off his helmet. "Just keeping with the trend. Didn't you see the news last night?"
"News?" They all asked, looking to each other, all except for Muriel who had queued up her footage on a tablet and slipped it in between them to show them. It was the footage she had shown of the X-bike chase through the city. Zoey turned to her mom.
"Mom, did you do this?" She asked. Muriel just raised her eyebrows.
"I guess it went viral." She said with a knowing little smirk. The Rangers were the biggest thing to hit Coral Harbour and so it went without saying that anything the Rangers were seen endorsing would get a massive boost in attention.
"It sure did. My phone hasn't stopped ringing with people asking where they can get those bikes." Mayor Daniels told her. "Every stand is empty. Every single one has been checked out."
"They have?" Ravi asked him. He just nodded. Mayor Daniels gestured to the rest of the reporters assembled.
"I hereby declare this road project permanently cancelled, and am announcing that the city will be ordering 10,000 new X-bikes for loan. And that's just for starters."
Zoey let out a massive shriek and jumped with excitement, grabbing Nate and squeezing him tight, before backing away from him. She looked to Mayor Daniels and the other reporters as she realised, she was on camera.
"Uh…sorry." She responded.
"That's alright. You did a brilliant job Zoey. You should be proud." Mayor Daniels told her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the office. I'm expecting a LOT of calls!"
As he rode off, Zoey turned back to her friends, hugging them all excitedly.
"Thank you, guys, I owe you all so much!" She told them.
"Hey, its fine. It was important to you." Devon answered. Zoey looked to her mom, who looked delighted to see her so happy. She went to her and hugged her.
"Mom, thank you!"
"I just shot the footage. It was the Rangers that made your bikes look so fantastic." She said to her daughter.
"Uh…yeah…the Rangers." Zoey said a little uneasily. "Thank you, Rangers,…whoever you are."
"Wait, didn't you write that hit-piece on the Rangers?" Ravi asked. Zoey just rather unsubtly kicked Ravi in the shin.
"I might have my reservations, but I know they're the most popular thing in the city right now." Muriel told him, before looking back to her daughter, stroking her hair gently. "The city has a hero with a face."
"Mom, you're embarrassing me." Zoey said, beginning to glow bright red. Muriel just kissed her on the cheek.
"I'd love to meet you for lunch some time." She said to her, before looking around at the others. "All of you! I'd love to hear about your new friends. But I imagine you've all got work to do right now."
"Thanks again mom." Zoey called as she started to leave. "I'll call you!"
With that, Devon just sighed.
"So, I guess that means we have to bring all those animals back now." He commented. "Come on, the sooner we get started, the sooner we'll finish."
"But ONLY after we get Zoey back to her dorm!" Nate replied.
"Nate…"
"You shouldn't even be out of the infirmary!" Nate reminded her. "We can handle this, you just…"
"Come on." Devon said with a smile. "I'll take you. I'll meet the rest of you at the hangar."
A while later, Devon and Zoey got back to Grid Battleforce on Cruise, at which he transformed back into his robot form and helped Devon guide her to her room.
"Guys, seriously, I can walk." Zoey said in an exasperated tone. Devon just looked at her.
"Yeah, but we just want to make sure you don't lose your way." He reminded her. They got to her dorm, at which she let them inside. She headed to the couch.
"So, I'm here." She sighed. "Are you going to tuck me in too?"
"If you think that's necessary." Devon replied, looking around. "So, you were Roxy's roomie?"
"Yeah, I was." Zoey muttered. "She was the best…except for her housekeeping habits."
"Really? You're blaming the person that can't defend themselves for the fact this place is a pigsty?" He chuckled. She just picked up a t-shirt and threw it at him.
"OK, maybe not ALL the mess is hers, but most of it is." Zoey told him. "She used to leave her laundry lying around all the time. Drove me absolutely nuts. And do not get me started on the pop tarts…"
"Zoey, is this Roxy's?" He asked, looking to the T-shirt. It had a logo on it. She just nodded.
"Yeah, it is." Zoey replied. "It's from her aunt's company. Collins' Industries. They used to send her promotional stuff all the time. Came in quite handy. I've never run out of pens since I moved in with Roxy…"
"Cruise!" Devon called out, before running out of the dorm room.
"Devon, where are you going?" Zoey yelled. "DEVON?"
As they disappeared though, she just shrugged and headed to the couch, turning on the television.
Devon roared through the streets on Cruise, returning to the warehouse from before. He skidded to a halt outside, heading to the crime scene tape and ducked underneath it.
"Devon, the others will be waiting for you." Cruise told him. "Devon, what are you doing here?"
"I'm just checking something." Devon said, heading into the warehouse. He looked around, seeing the site of their battle the day before. The walls and the floor carried scorch marks from the blaster fire and explosions. Cruise came to Devon's side.
"Devon, we should get to the others." Cruise reminded him. Devon looked up and saw a sign, pointing at it. "What?"
"Collins Industries." He said aloud as he looked to Cruise.
"Devon…"
"Yeah, we'll get back to the others." Devon interrupted Cruise as they started to leave. "We've got a lot of animals to get home."
As Cruise turned back into his motorcycle form and Devon pulled on his helmet, he couldn't help pondering what he had found out. There were a lot of warehouses in the district that weren't in use at any one time. The whole point of a warehouse was that it was empty so that they could be used for storage whenever the owner needed to store stock. When they were full, they weren't much use to anyone.
However, out of all the available units, Roxy had picked this one. One that was owned by her family. It was of course possible it was a complete coincidence, but he had his doubts. The only thing he wasn't sure about was what it all meant.