Episode 6

"Green With Envy"

A mysterious person has popped up lately seemingly holding the same values. When the Skyrangers investigate, it turns out that it's the old rival Lightning Dust. She looks quite bitter since their last encounter, but she assures them that she has changed.

When Jet gets injured in a "training accident", Lighting is pulled in to replace him until he is recovered. When Megatron unleashes his next minion to attack the rangers, something unsettling is revealed about Lightning.

Jet must pull himself together and fight his injuries to assure his placement among the team, or else be replaced by someone who is not worthy of the position.

[Beginning of Episode]

"Starscream!" Megatron yelled at the top of his vocal chords.

"Y-yes master," Starscream nervously responded.

"Do you really think you can get away with that?" Megatron asked, furious that his right hand man went off on his own without his orders. "Getting an army to do my work?"

"I-I was your only option, sir," Starscream explained.

"That doesn't excuse you from doing things without my input," Megatron said. "You do things as I tell them, remember? And now that more of my cronies have arrived, I no longer want you on the battlefield." Grumbling, he looks away from Starscream. "This is why we have trust issues when it comes to you."

Starscream heard Megatron's grumblings and so responded. "But I'm-" he began before he was cut off again.

"No buts!" Megatron shouted back. "Now stand here and wait until I come back with my next minion, Supercell!" He got off his throne and headed off to another room, leaving Starscream alone in the throne room. "And while you're waiting, don't bother taking up my throne. Understand?"

Starscream watched as Megatron went away. He glances at the throne, tempted to pretend that he is the leader of the Decepticons. But he fears that his colleagues will not take it very well. So he refrains from doing it, just as Megatron said.

Noon shines brightly over at Sapphire Shores, and Jet is once again having a blast at the skatepark. This time, the rest of the team came along and watch his skills shine, along with the organization's founders.

Jet leaps off of a ramp, turning around a couple of times before landing and rolling off. He then goes for a rail and grinds on it, keeping his balance as he goes. He then gets back on the ground and rolls off, heading towards a different ramp.

"Wow!" Soarin said, amazed at Jet's stunts. "Look at him go!"

"He must've really honed his skills since the Columbia Games!" Wave added.

"Yeah, they might not be those fancy hoverboards used in those events," Spitfire remarked, "but this works just as well."

Jet continued to make his way around the skatepark, performing jumps, flips, and tricks. These performances has gotten the spectators excited, especially Firefly and Chuck who is really excited.

"Woo!" Chuck cheered. "Go, Jet!"

"Jet, you rock!" Firefly cheered. "Maybe not as much as my daughter, but you rock otherwise."

Jet approaches his friends on his skateboard, slowing down to a comfortable speed before kicking the tail up so that he can grab it. He walks up to his friends while holding his skateboard.

"Thanks for the support, my friends," Jet said. "Can't wait to get into the professional league, where my skills will truly shine." Suddenly, he felt someone rush past him. "Huh?" He turns around to look behind him.

The others didn't quite catch that. They were to busy admiring Jet to notice that someone else is right besides them. When someone points it out, however, that's when the picture gets clear.

"Whoa! Who is that?" one of the skaters asked.

That's when Jet turns around and looks who's performing behind him.

The skater has orange hair trailing out the back of their head. The skater is probably a girl, judging by the length of the hair. Her face is concealed with a helmet that's probably better for a motorcycle than a skateboard. She performs some of the same tricks that Jet did, except cranked up even more. She turns around off a jump more times than Jet, perform tricks that require more skill, and generally a lot more showy than Jet.

Jet was stunned by the tricks that this girl shows off...along with everyone else alongside him. "No way..." he muttered. "She's just as good as I am."

"Whoa, look at that!" a spectator pointed out. "That's stylish!"

The girl leaped off of a ramp and turns, only to combine that with a backflip.

"Wicked cool!" another cheered.

The lands on the ground and speeded off towards somewhere. That somewhere happened to be where the Sky Rangers are hanging at. Why she'd did this is beyond any of them.

Jet was outraged that he was outshined by this girl who he doesn't know. "Alright, girly," he said, confronting the girl who outperformed him. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

The girl looked at Jet as if she remembered seeing him from before. "You're Jet, aren't you?" she asked. "Because I'm still bitter about what you did to me in those games."

The voice sounded very familiar, and based on what she said Jet only knew who it was. "No..." he said, not believing what he's hearing. "You're...you're Lightning Dust!"

The girl then takes off her helmet, revealing her green skin and orange eyes. "You're right," Lightning confirmed.

The two mentors were wondering what a girl like Lightning Dust is doing here in Sapphire Shores. It's clearly in the middle of the school year, so why is she here? the two mentors stand up and confront the girl. "Lightning Dust...what are you doing here?" Firefly asked.

Lightning observed the two adults that stand before her. "You two must be the parents of those two rangers," she said. "Yeah, you know who they are, do you?"

Chuck and Firefly stared at each other for a moment. Then they look back at Lightning. "That's not what I meant," Firefly replied. "What I mean to say is, what are you doing here?"

Lightning turned her back on the mentors and everyone else, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She eyed on Jet. "Remember Crystal Prep Academy?" she asked the team. "Over the summer after the most recent games, my school went under a major reform. Principal Cinch was fired by the superintendent for allowing unfair play as well as insulting the defenders of the country. Come on...fired for insulting someone famous? They're petty!"

"You call that petty?" Chuck barked, baffled by what Lightning said.

Firefly is getting frustrated over Lightning. "Listen, Lightning," she said, putting on her tougher face. "We are a highly respected member of society. As defenders of this country and the parents of the next generation of defenders, we have proved ourselves to be worthy of the title."

"And even though we are past our prime, that doesn't stop up from continuing to help defend this country," Chuck added.

"Like forming this squadron of teenage pilots," Spitfire added.

Lightning raised an eyebrow as she stared at Spitfire.

"So," Firefly said, railing the conversation back to the original topic. "Lightning Dust, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in school? Don't question them, because they're going to say that the disruptions caused by the constant attacks will be getting in the way of their learning."

Lightning turned away from the rangers, taking a few steps forward before revealing it to everyone. "I...got expelled," she revealed, which had everyone gasping. "I'm not going to tell you how. I do know that my friend Sunny was expelled for being associated with someone who did bad things." She then turns around to face the team, smiling and giving a shrug. "But...hey. What can I say? Your squadron looks promising. Mind if I join?"

This has the mentors muttering for a moment. They turned to Spitfire and asked her to talk to Lightning for approval to join the Skyrangers. Spitfire agrees and approaches Lightning Dust.

"Lightning Dust..." Spitfire began. "You will join under the promise that you will not harm your teammates. Got it?"

Lightning Dust gave a salute to Spitfire. "Understood, ma'am," she replied. Spitfire looked at Lightning with a disapproving look. "Oh, sorry," Lightning apologizes. She tries again. "Understand, lady."

Spitfire groans as she slumps down.

The following day, the Skyrangers are getting ready for their first aerial stunt show that's starting in a few days, the next time the weekend comes along. They're in the hanger which contains standard stunt jets, built more to put on a show than to fight. There are seven of them, one for each of the young rookie pilots. They stand near the jets in which they'll be piloting.

"There's going to be a long time between battles," Chuck announced as he walked around the floor in front of the pilots. "So to pass the time and to promote the other part of this team, you'll be performing flight stunts for all to see. You'll be performing several maneuvers that showcase your skills as pilots. You may be young, but you've learned a lot. I hope all those hours spent on those flight simulators helped. This is coming from parents who subjected their children to fight simulators for hours on end. Sorry Sonic..."

Firefly announces the stunts the rookies will be going. "With seven planes, and seven rookies, we can go into a even V formation, with three planes trailing behind on both sides of the lead plane," she announced. "While in the sky, I want you to perform the following maneuvers: Barrel Roll, Aileron Roll, Inside Loop, and Outside Loop. These are pretty basic maneuvers, so show us your skills!"

Chuck walked up to Spitfire after expressing regret of wasting hours on piloting virtual planes. They lock eyes. "As the leader of the Skyrangers, Spitfire will be at the front for now," he said. "Got that?"

"Affirmative," Spitfire responded.

Lightning checked her position on the plane formation, and discovered that she's at the back of the formation on the port side. "Hey, why do I have to be in the back?" she complained.

"You're a newbie, Lightning," Wave answered. "You need to watch and learn." She then looked at Lightning. "And before you go out of your way and do whatever because we got our backs to you, we are watching you. Got that?"

Lightning nodded as the canopies opened. "Understood," she replied.

The rookies then climbed on board their planes, getting ready for take off. The hangar doors open, and the jets rolled out into the runway. They maintained the formation throughout the entire launch sequence.

Firefly watches as the formation of planes flies through the sky. She speaks through her communicator. "All systems set," she announced. "Ready, Skyrangers?"

"Ready!" everyone replied.

"Performing flight stunt drills right now!" Firefly announced.

The planes fly around as they practiced the listed maneuvers.

"Do an Aileron Roll!" Chuck told them.

While maintaining the direction they're pointing in, the planes spin around with the body serving as the axle of rotation.

Storm finds himself slamming into the side of the canopy window as he performs the Aileron Roll. He sits up straight feeling dazed. "Ahh! These rapid movements are making me dizzy," he said.

The next maneuver is the one that gets a lot of novice fliers confused. "Do a Barrel Roll!" Chuck ordered.

The six lateral planes rolled around in the air, forming a barrel with their trails. The front plane stayed where it is throughout the maneuver possibly due to positioning issues. Spitfire is a bit tempted to do a Aileron Roll. She might add that to the maneuvers list.

"Rolling, rolling, rolling," Soarin sang. "Gotta make a barrel!" He then questioned what he is doing for a moment. "Wait, am I doing this right or..."

"Soarin! You're going off course!" Firefly yelled. "Regroup with your flight squad!"

Soarin looked outside and finds that he has separated from the group due to his distractions. "Oh! Sorry!" He maneuvers his plane to rejoin the group, still maintaining the formation.

"I'm surprised that you pulled it off correctly," Chuck said. "Not many people know the difference between an Aileron Roll and a Barrel Roll."

"Mostly, these people have those two maneuvers mixed up," Spitfire replied. "Seriously, did they not do their research? At least we did so before doing this."

Here comes the third item on their list of maneuvers. "Now, do an Inside Loop!" Chuck said.

The planes then climbed up, forming a circle in the air.

Spitfire looks above her and sees the ground below. "Hmm. This doesn't seem so bad," she said. "This is kind of fun to do as a side activity. I like this." She gets to her communicator. "Hey, can we try out more maneuvers? What about-"

Suddenly, Firefly notices that something is wrong. "Jet! You're going off course!" she shouted.

Spitfire doesn't get what's going wrong with Jet. That is until she looks behind her and sees that a plane is plummeting towards the sea.

Jet pulls back hard on his control wheel, trying to correct his plane. "It's not my fault!" he yelled. "This machine is busted, somehow!"

"What?" Chuck gasped. "But inspection said that we're clear to go! D-did we miss something?"

"Pull up! Pull up!" Jet continued to scream. "Gah! Work for me, for-ahhh!"

Everyone watches as Jet fell towards the sea. "Jet! Get out of that dive!" Firefly ordered.

"It's no use!" Spitfire shouted. "He's stuck in that position!"

Jet looks ahead and sees that he's about to crash at the waters. He started to panic. "Ahh! Emergency!" he screamed as he pulled the emergency ejection lever. "Eject! Eject!"

Jet escape the plummeting plane just before it crashes at the water, only to splash down hard.

"Jet!" Spitfire cried as she witnessed the crash.

Firefly used a telescope to look at Jet. He is seen floating near his seat, appearing to be unconscious. She lowers the telescope. "Oh no...Jet!" she cried as she reached for her communicator. "Are you okay, Jet?" she asked. There is no response from him. She switches it to communicate with the rest of the rangers. "Get him to shores, rangers. He is still alive, but clinging on a thread. Hurry!"

The planes make an emergency landing to rescue a pilot.

How long have I been out, Jet asked himself. There's a warm feeling on his body on both his chest and his back. Was he in his bed? There seems to be a bunch of talking going on, but he can't quite make out what they are saying. Someone appears to be shaking him, which made his awake.

"Ugg...my body..." Jet groaned. "What happened?" He opened his eyes to blurry images.

"Jet, are you alright?" he heard Soarin asked, continuing to feel his body being shaken.

"I think he's responding," Spitfire said. "You can stop now."

"Jet? Jet!" Wave yelled. "Jet, wake up!"

Jet fully regains consciousness and lifts himself up from his bed. He still feels dizzy. "Ow..." he muttered, still feeling pain in his body. He looks around his room and notices that this teammates and the mentors are here. "Guys…what are you all doing in my room?" he asked. "What happened? What am I doing in this room?"

"You splashed down into the water along with your plane," Fleetfoot answered. "I had to swim all the way there and pull you out of the wreckage."

"Who knew water is a bad place to land in," Storm said. "I always thought that it'll just move out of the way, like what I usually see. But it appears that there is a speed where this is no longer the case."

"That impact was hard," Firefly remarked. "Good news: Your bones don't seem to be broken."

Jet lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness," he said as he moves off his bed. "I was getting worried that-" Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his torso, stopping him and forcing him to scream.

"Bad news: It'll hurt to move," Firefly added.

Jet holds on to his belly as the pain continues. "Ahh! It hurts!" he wailed. "It hurts so hard!"

Firefly frowned at the poor actions Jet had taken. "Told you," he said.

Spitfire notices that they are now down one member. "Well, this is bad," she said. "Jet is one of the Skyrangers, and he pilots the Green Hawk. What if our enemy grows into a giant size?"

"No need to worry," Chuck assured the rangers. "The Sky Machines are self-piloting, so it's not a stretch to say that it can self assemble into the Sky Icarus. Though, I doubt that it'll do as well in battle with one missing ranger..."

"What?" the rangers gasped.

"You see, another source of the Megazord's power is the rangers piloting it," Chuck told them. "They provide a combat strength, giving it the decisive edge that it needs."

"We've been recording data on your battles in the Sky Icarus," Firefly said, "and we've found that our enemies are just as strong as us, and that's if all six rangers are present in the cockpit. Of course, the number varies depending on the needs of the Megazords, but in general, the more rangers there are, the stronger it'll get, in addition to any additional parts."

Wave thought about the idea of being down one ranger. This team has six rangers, one more than most ranger teams. For most ranger teams, that sixth ranger can be used as a backup. "So, if we're missing one ranger..." she asked, thinking about the effects of not having breathing room for major mistakes.

Firefly nodded, confirming their fears about missing out on one member. "Yes. It would end badly," she said.

Spitfire looked at Jet once again, slightly feeling the pain that he's experiencing. "Well, we need someone to cover for Jet while he's recovering," she said. "Unlike most ranger teams, we need six rangers active to have a chance at fighting back. If we continue on like this, eventually, we're going to be toast."

Storm could feel his stomach rumbling upon the mention of food. "Mmm. Toast," he said. "It'll taste like..." He paused for a moment as he thought about the team's downfall. "Us. Our burnt bodies for when the Sky Icarus explodes with us in it." Now he no longer feels hungry.

Spitfire gets worried about having to work with only five rangers. "So, who's going to replace him as the Green Hawk Ranger?" she asked the mentors.

"I'll do it," a girl answered.

They turned around at the doorway, finding Lightning Dust there leaning on the door. She enters Jet's room, going up to the mentors.

"What? Lightning Dust?" Spitfire gasped. "You're going to be the one who takes Jet's place?"

Storm thought about the decision for a moment. "Oh course!" he concluded. "She's as much of a rival to Rainbow Dash as does Jet is a rival to Sonic! It all makes sense!" He gets disapproving looks from the mentors, which sends him crouching in fear. "Sorry!"

"I'm a pretty talented flyer," Lightning said. "Been working on my piloting skills for a while."

That summary of her current piloting skills sounds a bit suspicious. Where did Lightning Dust get her pilot training? Firefly responded with a conflicted sounding response. "Okay then," she said.

Jet coughed, continuing to feel the pain. "Well, if you're going to step up to my position, then take this," he said, pointing to his Sky Morpher on his bedside. "It's yours for now."

Lightning grabs the morpher and places it at her right wrist, just like the entire team. "Thanks, Jet," she said. "Have a nice recovery!"

Suddenly, the alarm bells began to go off.

Firefly picks up her communicator. "Guys, what's the emergency?" she asked, then she waited for a response. "A...storm?"

"What?" everyone gasped.

Soarin rushes over to the window to try to find the storm that was detected.

"What's the severity of the storm?" Firefly asked again. Her eyes widen as she receives the response. "What? It's powerful? Unnaturally powerful?" She gets from advise from the one behind the communicator. "Okay, I'll send the rangers there to both investigate and calm the storm. They're be on their way." She sets aside her communicator.

Spitfire stared at Firefly with a baffled look. "You're going to send us to the middle of a raging storm?" she asked. "You're crazy! A plane shouldn't fly into a storm! That's dangerous!"

"...For normal planes," Chuck added. "You see, the Sky Machines draw some of their power from the Morphing Grid. The Morphing Grid will provide protection against the extreme conditions, allowing you partial control over your Sky Machines while in that storm."

"Does that explain how these things could fly?" Wave asked, letting out the question that was bothering her.

Chuck thought about it for a moment. He recalls his memories of seeing the Sky Machines under construction, and he remembered seeing the engineers incorporating multi-dimensional powers into the machines. "Uh...kind of, I suppose," he said.

"You suppose?" Wave asked again. "So if that extra-dimensional grid promotes seemingly impossible thing-"

"Though, the technology is a bit too unstable for our likings for it to be useable in everyday life," Chuck said. "A one ten-thousandth chance of failure might be too high for everyday use."

Wave stared at the mentors for a moment after hearing the explanation for why the Morphing Grid can't be used as a power source. "Well, that explains why it's so rare," she remarked.

There's a faint rumbling off in the distance.

"We'd better hurry," Firefly said. "We can't let that storm get to us and Sapphire Shores. Let's go!"

The entire team then leaves Jet's room and off towards the hangar for the Sky Machines.

Just before leaving, Wave turns around and sets down her laptop case next to Jet's bed in the base. "If you're ever bored, you can always count on my laptop," she told Jet. "I have plenty of games to occupy your time. I hope you recover fast." She then patted on Jet's head before leaving to catch up with the rest of the team.

"...Thanks," Jet replied as he saw Wave leave.

Spitfire runs up to the upper end of the slide leading into the cockpit of the Red Eagle. She stops in front of it as she presses on the button at the bottom of the Sky Morpher, transforming into her ranger form. The doors then open up.

"Let's do this, guys!" she shouted as she jumps into the slide. The others also transformed and slid down into the cockpits of their respective Sky Machines.

The rangers landed on their seats in the cockpit. "Sky Machines! Ready!" give of the rangers shouted.

Lightning Dust looked around the cockpit, admiring the details built into it. She then grabs the control wheel, smirking with confidence. "Let's get this started!" she said.

The Sky Machines roll out of the hangar and into the runway, where they take off in a formation. They then turn to face the incoming storm in the distance, heading towards it.

Jet rests on his bed as he tried to recover from his injuries, but someone was stupid enough to leave the window blinds up, letting light in and disrupting his sleep. He sits on his bed with his back on a pillow. As the minutes passed, the chains of boredom got up to him. He looked around, trying to find something to do, but the nearest bookshelf is beyond his reach. He rests his back against the wall, sighing.

"Man, it sucks to be left behind with nothing to do," Jet said. "I sure hope that Lightning Dust has changed since our last encounter back in the Columbia Games. I'm getting bored." He then looked down and noticed Wave's laptop case. He remembered that, before she left, Wave allowed him to borrow her laptop in case he got bored. She said that she has a few games installed that will keep him company. He picks it up, opens it, then turns it on. "She told me that I could play games, but I'm not interested in that. Lightning Dust...I have a feeling that she still bothers me. Might be my actions, though." He then opens up a communications website. If there is a place that everyone uses to chat online, this is the place to go. He ponders about what he could put into the search bar. "Let's see, who are her friends?"

After remembering the names of some of the students of Crystal Academy, he decides to go there.

As they head towards the approaching storm, one of the rangers is tired of having his name mentioned.

"Guys, I'm getting tried of hearing my own name," Storm told everyone. "Why don't we call this...weather phenomenon by a different and less confusing name?"

"Calling this a storm doesn't do that thing justice!" Soarin remarked. "How about...no, we're not in the plains...maelstrom?"

"Maelstrom?" Firefly gasped.

"Yeah, let's go with that," Spitfire agreed. "Maelstrom, here we go!"

The Sky Machines then head off towards the eye of the maelstrom. Dark clouds surround their vision with only the bright blue sky composing a sliver of what they can see outside.

Spitfire squints to get a better look at the eye. She sees something moving in a circle. "What do you see off in the distance, Spitfire?" Chuck asked.

Spitfire flew her plane close to the eye. "I see..." she said as the details become a lot clearer. The figure going in circles is a plane. "A plane! A plane going around in circles generating a powerful maelstrom."

"A plane?!" Chuck gasped. "How can a plane generate a powerful s-maelstrom?"

They could hear Firefly bumping Chuck, presumably telling him to cool off. Then they hear her shout at them. "Quick! Catch that thing's attention!" she shouted. "Then, it'll chase after you guys, causing the storm to dissipate over time."

Storm slams his head into the control wheel. "I thought we agreed to call this a maelstrom!"

"Really, Firefly?" Chuck asked.

"Sorry," Firefly apologized. "My instincts kicked in."

Meanwhile, Supercell realize that he has company. "Gah! Ranger alert!" he yelped. "How did they managed to get in here? The winds should've blown them off! Well, time for me to deal with them."

While still moving around in a circle, Supercell moves outward and fires off electric bolts that shoot far out. His predictable movement means that the rangers are able to avoid his attacks, much to his dismay.

The Cyan Swan collects water in preparation for its attacks. "These waterspouts will be great for my water attacks," Fleetfoot said. "Have a load of this!" She then flies her plane over Supercell, dumping the water onto him.

Supercell grunted in frustration. "Great..." he mutters. "As if I wasn't wet enough..."

Wave comes in with a fully charged bolt of lightning ready to launch. "How do you like a pulse of electricity?" she asked as she lets the Purple Swallow fire off the bolt, striking poor Supercell because of his predictable movements.

"How are they hitting me?" Supercell asked. "Was it my movement patterns? Did they use it against me?"

Spitfire flew in, shooting Supercell. She lands most of her hits simply by following him. "Looks like someone needs some dogfighting lessons."

Supercell grumbles over being hit. "Well, this is getting annoying," he said. "Time to change things up!" He then broke away from the pattern of constantly going in circles and went out of his way to shoot down the rangers. He heads towards the Yellow Albatross, shooting at it while also intending to ram into it.

Storm notices that the cockpit is shaking from hits. He looks outside towards the starboard side and sees an enemy plane that's heading towards him. "Whoa!" he yelped as he yanked the control wheel to one side, narrowing avoiding the enemy plane.

"Dang!" Supercell shouted. "I didn't even brush his stabilizer! I was so close..."

As they continues to fly around, Spitfire scanned the skies trying to keep an eye on Supercell. As she looked, she spotted her friends flying around frantically trying to get a hit on the enemy plane while trying to dodge his attacks. During the scan, however, she noticed that one of the planes is missing from the action.

Spitfire frantically looked around, trying to find the missing plane. "Hey, where did the Green Hawk go?" she asked. "I swear, I must've lost track of it..."

Suddenly, everyone is wondering where the Green Hawk went. "I swear, it was in my sights when we arrive at the eye of the...maelstrom," Wave mentioned. She looked around, trying to find the Green Hawk. "Where did Lightning Dust go?"

While they are busy dodging attacks, Soarin spotted something flying away from them in the distance. He squinted to get a better look. "Wait a second...is that...?" he asked himself. That's when he realized that something is wrong with their replacement ally. "Lightning Dust!" he called. "Where are you going? Lightning Dust?"

Lightning Dust is lounging around inside the cockpit of the Green Hawk, blissfully ignoring her duties. She then gets several voice messages from the other team members. "Huh? What?" she responded.

"Lighting Dust!" Firefly shouted from the communicator. "You're leaving your allies behind!"

"What are you talking about?" Lightning asked. "They can handle this!"

"Not without you!" Spitfire responded.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "With six rangers, I'm sure that there is someone who is unnecessarily," she said.

"That's for most ranger teams," Chuck reminded. "But we're not those normal ranger teams. We need six rangers! Lightning, are you listening to me?"

Lightning made a lot of noise, ignoring the voices from her comrades. "What?" she asked, not paying attention.

Everyone started to panic once it was made clear that Lightning Dust won't change her mind.

"It's no use!" Blackbird concluded. "She's slacking off!"

"What are we going to do?" Chuck asked. "The Green Hawk is the only one that can generate powerful gales, meaning that it can counter the maelstrom and make it disappear! If its pilot is slacking, it can't do it! How are they supposed to fight the maelstrom?"

Firefly thought about it for a moment, feeling a bit suspicious that the plane accident that injured Jet isn't an accident after all. "Maybe...Jet is the only proper pilot for the job," she concluded. She gazed towards Chuck. "We need to get him back."

"But how?" Chuck responded. "He's so injured that he can't do anything!"

"I have to say otherwise," Jet responded as he entered the command room.

Everyone stared at Jet, amazed and stunned over what he is doing. He stood there trembling from his injuries, carrying a laptop under his arm.

"What? Jet?" Chuck gasped. "What are you doing? You're injured!"

"I got bored just resting at my bed for the last couple of hours," Jet explained. "So I decided to investigate our newest recruit, Lightning Dust, by looking at the social media posts made by her friends, as well as archived chatrooms. And this is the truth that I've found. She hasn't changed a bit!"

"What?" everyone gasped.

Jet set the laptop on a table and opened it up. After going through security checks, Jet showed everyone a part of an archived chat that reveals what's going on with Lightning Dust. The chatroom has several people, presumably Crystal Academy students, expressing shame over Lightning Dust as well as discussing why she would let herself be kicked out.

"I found out that she was expelled for disruptive behavior and for not caring about what happens," Jet told them. "Not even the expulsion of Crystal Academy's old principal can change her mind. Sunny Flare must've meant a lot to her, and she wanted to spend time with her friend."

There was a moment of silence as everyone tried to process what they were hearing.

"H-How did you think it went?" Blackbird asked.

"Based on the fact that she was lonely when she met us, it didn't work," Jet concluded. "But she does not care." He then walked toward the window and stared outside at the looming maelstrom, as well as his friends that are in danger. He spotted one of the planes going away from the eye. Jet clutched his hands as he thinks about what he should do. "I must warn the others and take back control over my Green Hawk Sky Machine."

Firefly, expressing concern, walks up to Jet. "But Jet, your back..." she reminded him. "You're not suitable for piloting a plane. You need to heal now!"

Jet lets his hand drop from the window. "Rangers are known for fighting against the odds, right?" he asked. "You know that. You're both a defender and parents of your successors. Surely, you must know how you defined the odds in the Columbian War, do you?" Firefly and Chuck are stunned to hear this. Jet then walked towards the door leading up to the hangars. "I'm taking the Tornado," he told them. "Open the gate for me, will you?"

With a gulp, Firefly makes her decision. "You may go, Jet," she said.

With the clear to go into action despite the injury, Jet exited the command room and entered the hangar room.

Blackbird pressed a button to open the hangar doors up. "Sending out the SR-01 Tornado," he announced.

Jet approached the slide that leads into the Tornado. He gripped the handle. "The Green Hawk is my Sky Machine," he spoke to himself. "No one should be allowed to pilot it. Only me." He then slid down and entered the Tornado.

"Lightning Dust!" Spitfire shouted through her communicator. "Come back! You're leaving us alone to fight this plane!" She looked outside and yanked her control wheel as she narrowly dodges Supercell. "Wa!"

Soarin looked outside and noticed that Sapphire Shores is looking close. "Man, this maelstrom is getting tough!" he remarked. "Sooner or later, Sapphire Shores is going to experience a lot of rain, a downpour!"

"Just imagine the damages that would be caused by flooding," Fleetfoot said, shaking in her seat.

Jet continued to fly the Tornado towards the escaping Green Hawk. He turned up the engines to full throttle so that he can catch up.

"Jet, are you doing fine?" Firefly asked.

Jet grinded his teeth and clutched the control wheel as he felt the pain coming back. "My conditions is okay, thanks," he replied. "Though, the accelerating part is what really hurts me. Hard turns also hurt as well. I shouldn't subject myself to extreme G-forces, but I'm going to try."

Lightning Dust grew confident that those Rangers she left behind are going to struggle. Without the help of the Green Hawk, they are unable to finish the job. She grew so confident that she decided to relax in the cockpit as she leaves the rest of the team to fail their mission. Just then, however, a shadow is casted on her, but she didn't budge. What did make her snap, however, is the sound of the cockpit canopy opening.

"Huh?" Lightning gasped, looking around. "Why did the-?" She then looked up.

Jet leaped from the Tornado into the Green Hawk. "Ha!" he grunted as he landed in the cockpit of the Green Hawk.

The Tornado flies off to return to the base. The canopy of the Green Hawk then closes.

Lightning Dust was surprised to see Jet in the cockpit with her. "What the-?" she gasped. "What are you doing inside the cockpit!"

Jet growled at Lightning for not only stealing his spot, but also abandoning his friends. He reached for the seatbelt buckle. "Give me that!" he shouted. "That's mine!"

Lightning grabbed Jet's hands, pulling it away from her. "Hey! Chill out!"

Jet presses the seatbelt ejection button and shoves Lightning off. "You're not getting away with leaving my friends behind!" he shouted. "Come here!" He then wrestled with Lightning for a moment. He then grabbed a rope from the emergency box and tied Lightning's hands together. After that, he sat on the seat, put on the seatbelt, then assumed control.

"Guys!" Jet announced. "I'm back!"

Everyone was surprised to hear Jet's voice. "What? Jet?: they gasped.

"Where are you?" Wave asked. "I thought-"

"I'm in the Green Hawk!" Jet shouted. "I've usurped Lightning Dust and took back my rightful position. I'll explain later. Hang in there, guys. I'm coming!" Making a turn, the Green Hawk heads back towards the maelstrom.

Back at the base, the eye of the maelstrom is getting close to the coast of Sapphire Shores. Everyone at the base can see that half of the sky is covered in storm clouds.

"Rangers!" Chuck alerted. "The maelstrom is getting close! You must hurry!"

Inside the Green Hawk, Lightning spins around and growled at Jet. "This is my spot!" she claimed.

"While I was injured, by the way," Jet added. "But now that I've made a partial recovery I should be able to control this. Just as long as I don't push myself too far."

As the Green Hawk approaches, Supercell notices that the end of this plan is near. "What?" he gasped. "But, that splash! It-"

"I have a feeling that you're on to something," Jet said, "especially with that ally that turned out to be a traitor." He then turned on his communicator. "Guys! I'm coming in to counter the maelstrom with my wind abilities. Hang tight! And keep that plane occupied!"

Supercell watched as the Green Hawk went around the eye of the maelstrom, going in the opposite direction of the wind.

"Oh no you don't!" Supercell declared as he rushed towards the Green Hawk.

"Try to get past us!" Soarin said as he flew past Supercell.

Aggravated, Supercell goes after the Blue Falcon, while also dealing with pellets fired from the Red Eagle.

The wind speed gets slower as Jet reverses the work of Supercell and lowered the power level of the maelstrom, to the point where the winds are weak enough to not deal damage.

"It's working!" Firefly announced as everyone cheered. "The maelstrom is disappearing!"

Supercell watched as all of his effort disappeared. "NO! My storm!" he cried. "You ruined everything, Jet! Curse you!"

"Good luck recovering from that!" Jet responded. "Now it's time to finish you off."

The Sky Machines combine together to form the Sky Icarus once again, pulling out their sword.

"Sky Icarus!" everyone announced. "Sky Strike!"

The Sky Icarus Sword glowed as it charges up its attack.

"Uh oh!" Supercell realized. "Better make my escape!" He then tried to fly away from the Sky Icarus.

The Sky Icarus performed a slash that rippled through the air, plowing straight through Supercell. The enemy plane is split into two, and fell down towards the ocean in a blaze.

It's victory for the Sky Rangers yet again. Though they ran into trouble when the required plane for the job is being occupied by someone who don't care for them, in the end, Jet gets through his injuries and pulls it off, completing the mission. Still, Jet has to recover from that injury, but it is likely that he'll be fine by the time the next mission strikes.

After landing at the runway, the rangers decided to drag Lightning Dust up to the admiral's office. They tied her up with even more rope and dragged her up there. As they did so, Lightning Dust yelled and struggled, trying to free herself from the ropes.

"Ah! Let me go!" Lightning Dust yelled for the tenth time. "You're rude! How could you?"

"You stay put!" Wave shouted back, berating the delinquent recruit. "You're going to have some choice words with our mentor...s."

"You thought you had us fooled right there," Jet told Lightning. "But you were too quick. You betrayed us before you gained our full trust."

Lightning growled at Jet. Spitfire responded by clamping her mouth shut.

The Sky Rangers entered the room of Firefly, and she and Chuck are there expecting them to come back as always.

"So, Jet," Firefly said, twiddling her fingers at the sight of the delinquent recruit. "What did you find?"

Jet reveals the surprise he got reading through blog posts by Lightning's former classmates. "Well someone should've kept their mouth shut because I have a feeling that she might be working for Dr. Eggman," he answered.

The mentors were not surprised that Dr. Eggman, that fiendish foe, has hired someone to work for him. But that's not enough. They needed more.

More of the rangers stepped up to add to the evidence against Lightning Dust.

"We believed that someone, either Eggman or someone working for him, must've tampered with one of the stunt planes," Spitfire said. Then her eyes focuses at Jet. "And the pilot happens to be Jet."

"He must've hoped that one of us will be permanently out so that Lightning here can take their place and hamper our abilities," Wave added.

"Just one problem," Soarin added. "She did it a bit too quickly."

Lightning growled at the rangers. "I thought I had you guys fooled for once," she grumbled.

"Hey," Fleetfoot reminded the fallen recruit. "You turned your backs on us within a single day of your hiring. Of course we would be suspicious."

"I thought I had you fooled," Lightning growled. "With the rate of things happening, I thought you'll be fooled in the first hours of my recruitment."

"First few hours?" Spitfire asked, surprised at the response. "Well, let me have a word with you." Clearing her throat, she assumes the role of a drill sergeant who's training recruits in the harshest way possible. She went up to Lightning's face and shouted, "Well, guess what? Full trust isn't gained in just a few hours. It'll take a lot more than that for us to trust you! You hear me? This is not how trust works!"

The others were surprised that Spitfire said that in a intimidating way. They didn't expect someone like Spitfire to switch into her harshest voice she can reach.

With that, Firefly makes her decision. "Umm...yeah…" she reacted. "Security...kick Lightning Dust out."

Security guards went up to Lightning Dust, eyeing down on her. Lightning notices that she has officials next to her who is not happy at her behavior, even for a recruit. The security guards then grabs her by the arms and dragged her out towards the door.

"You'll pay for this Jet!" Lightning screams. "This won't be our last encounter! I promise!" Then the doors shut in front of her.

"I highly doubt it," Jet replied as he smiled at Lightning's expulsion. While he is looking away, the others look at Spitfire with a confused look.

"Spitfire," Soarin asked as he eyed towards her after she acted, "since when did you assume the role of a drill sergeant?"

Spitfire nudges Soarin, smiling while crossing her arms. "I've been practicing," she answers in her normal tone.

The entrance doors to the base opens up. The security guards then shoves Lightning outside before kicking her on the back, knocking her down to the ground.

"Let this be a lesson to you!" one of the security guards said. He points his finger at Lightning. "Never cross our paths again!"

Lightning then gets up, feeling a pain on her back. She stands on her feet and took once glance at the base. She was almost there, being a full replacement for Jet after he got himself injured. Not only did she blew the operation, they quickly figured out what went wrong and came to the conclusion that the plane crash was no accident. It was fabricated. In the end, Lightning had herself to blame for ruining her chances, but she decides not to take responsibility.

With a growing anger inside her, Lightning left the grounds of the Sapphire Shores Air Base. In her mind, she promises that she'll be back with a vengeance.

[End of Episode]

From the Author:

Here comes Lightning Dust once again, and she is not happy. Apparently, that interaction with Jet at the Columbia Games has not left her, and she seeks revenge against Jet for that.

Again, Lightning Dust showed that she is arrogant, but this time not to herself. She's pretty confident that her team is able to handle with the robot of the day, since they are once member higher than the norm. Unfortunately for her, the Sky Rangers do not operate like most ranger teams, requiring six members as opposed to five. This also doesn't help that the powers needed to stop the maelstrom happened to be with the plane that she stole from Jet. So that means that she does not care about her team, thinks that they can do without her, and almost doomed a city to an unnatural disaster.

Not bad for a first time recruit. To bad she did all of that within the first days of her recruitment. She didn't even give them a chance to put trust in her.

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony and Transformers characters property of Hasbro

Series inspired by Super Sentai/Power Rangers by Toei Company/Saban Brands

Spiritual successor of Jetman (Super Sentai Season 15)