Baldwin Estate, Sector 14
Metro City, Canada
April 7th, 2015
1:43 AM

"Rachel Parker"

I was having a sleepover at my best friend, Chloe Baldwin's mansion. She's rich and lives with her Grandma and family butler in a mansion in Sector 14. The top part of this sector was for the more wealthy families. Except Silver, who specifically chose to build his mansion in Sector 0.

Am I too old to have a sleepover with a friend at 17 and a half? Probably. But do I care? Not really. I've been sleeping over at Riley's for years. Although my friendship with him is quite different than my friendship with Chloe, but that's a story for another time.

My Digitizer started beeping and I groggily woke up.

"Rachel?" yawned Chloe, sitting up her bed, "What's up?"

"I um... I have to get going." I said, standing up and stretching.

"It's after midnight." said Chloe, suspiciously.

"I've started a new exercise regiment," I said, "It requires me to wake up early and go for a jog."

"And then go back to sleep afterwards?" she asked.

"Yeah I know, I thought it was weird too," I said, "If I don't start seeing results, I'm going to give it up and find a different one."

I as fumbling with my pants in the dark and tripped over the sleeping bag Chloe provided me.

"What's going on with you lately?" asked Chloe, "We haven't seen each other for a week, you ask if we could have a sleepover and now you're leaving in the middle of the night?"

"Things are complicated now."

"Since when?"

"Chloe, I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain right now." I said.

"Are you getting bored of me as a friend?" she asked, "Is this about me?"

"No, nothing like that. It's about me. Something's happened to me that I can't explain," I sighed, "I'll see you later, okay?"

I reached behind my back and pulled open to the door to Chloe's room. While still looking at her, I crept backwards and stepped into the hallway before closing the door.

"Silver?" I yawned, "What's up?"

"I wish I didn't have to wake you," came his voice from my Digitizer, "But I'm picking up virus activity in Sector 16, the others are waiting for there."

"Alright," I whispered, "I'm on my way."

I teleported up through the ceiling of Chloe's mansion and into the pitch blackness of the sky. There weren't even any stars visible. It must be cloudy.

I used to love being a ranger. Now I hate it. To be fair, I kind of hate everything that interferes with my sleep. It's a simple rule. Don't wake me up before my alarm does and we'll get along fine.

"Come on, Rach!" called Riley, as I touched down on the ground, "You snooze, you lose!"

No you don't. In fact, if you don't snooze, you lose. By not sleeping, I'm losing precious hours of rest. That's losing.

"Give me a break!" I whined, "I wish I was still snoozing."

"The sooner we find this virus, the sooner you can go back to bed." said Marcus.

It didn't help that I had no idea where we were. Sector 16 was, for the most part, our agricultural district. Old Town has been in Canada for years and years. Once Metro City was built around it, they decided to simply incorporate Old Town into Sector 16 because it suited its overall purpose.

Until now, I had never been here before. I really hoped Riley and the others knew where they were going, because I sure as hell didn't. I've just been following them, which is why I'm so cranky. They don't need me this time around, but yet I can't just go back to sleep.

"Do any of you even know where you're going?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Oz, "That way."

I rolled my eyes at him. He's really starting to grow on me. I can sort of see what Riley saw in him by now. Although, he's not sharpest knife in the drawer, he's still a great asset to the team.

"The virus must be right around this corner," said Riley, "My Digitizer is going crazy."

Am I still sleeping or something? Why did I not notice that my Digitizer had been beeping erratically too?

"Oz, take Rachel through that alley and cut him off on the right," said Riley, "Marcus and I will cut him off on the left."

"I'll race you," said Oz, pulling me by my hand, "Come on, Sleeping Beauty, it's party time!"

He better not have said that because he's lusting for me. If he said it because I was tired, that's fine, but I have no interest in dating a jock. Oz might be growing on me, but only as a teammate and friend. Let me put it this way; I'd sooner go out with Trojan before I went out with Oz. Or Marcus for that matter.

After being led through the alley, we met up with the virus. Riley's plan worked, because it couldn't see us. We waited apprehensively for the others to arrive, praying that it wouldn't notice us and turn around.

Not a moment too soon, Riley and Marcus jumped out from their corner. Peering around the virus, they checked to make sure we were there. Once we made eye contact, Riley took charge.

"Ready!?" he called.

"Ready!" we replied.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" screamed the four of us together.

Now fully morphed, we waited for the virus to attack, but it didn't. It just stood there.

"It looks like its sleeping." I said.

"Blue, it's a virus," said Green, "I don't think they sleep."

"Okay, then why isn't moving?"

"Maybe its batteries are dead?"

"Or maybe, I was waiting to do this!" snarled the virus, snapping its fingers.

There was a blinding flash of light that lingered in the sky.

"Sorry! I must have left my flash on!" it cackled.

We all took out our weapons and raised them. This one was asking for it. Thank goodness we couldn't feel tired when morphed.

I cartwheeled forwards, and tried to go toe-to-toe with the virus. Yellow came from behind and smashed the virus in the back with his hammer. It was a direct hit, but in retaliation the virus backhanded me across the chest. I went flying, but stopped when Green caught me.

"Don't even think about making a baseball joke," I said, "I've heard them all before anyway."

I nudged Green in the back, essentially tapping myself out, like in tag-team wrestling. He ran forwards and called out to Yellow for a boost. I watched as Yellow crouched down with his back toward Green. The minute Green's foot touched Yellow's back, he shot up into a standing position, giving Green some decent altitude.

"I believe I can fly…" he began.

He raised his spear, poised to drive it into the virus, but in another flash, he crashed to the ground.

"Who is this guy, Flash Gordon?" asked Red.

"Maybe," I said, "But we won't stand a chance until we stop it from blinding us."

"I'd say we use the VR, but then we wouldn't have any power to summon the Zords if the virus grows."

"Regroup guys! Fall in!" called Red.

"There's some sort of cooldown period for its flash thingy," said Green, "We need to wait until it tries to blind us again before we attack."

"If we do that, we'll get hit by the light and miss our chance to attack." said Yellow.

"Unless one of us takes the full blast," said Red, "That would leave the other three unaffected."

"Then it should be easy for us to get it." said Green.

"I'll do it," I said, "I'll take the full blast. I don't care if you're the leader Red, I want to take one for the team. Besides, your weapons are stronger than mine, so you'll stand a chance at crippling its flash."

"She has a point." said Green.

"Silver," said Red, "Any info on where to strike if we want to damage it's flash?"

"I'm still working on it," he said, "Hold it off for a little bit longer and I should have something."

"We can't even land any attacks because it keeps hitting us with that light." I said.

"You know, the way you're all standing right now would make a great picture." taunted the virus.

"Finally!" said Silver, "It's virus #1C6A0M2E, or in other words, the Camera Virus."

"So, if we break that thing on its forehead, it should stop it from flashing us," said Red, "Blue, go for it, we'll hit it hard once it has to recharge."

"Alright, I've always thought of myself as the photogenic type." I said.

I can't believe Red didn't realize that I was doing this so he wouldn't have to. If you ask me, he needs to take "Interpreting Signals from the Opposite Sex 101" or something, because at this point, I could probably strip naked in front of him and he still wouldn't pick up on what I was trying to tell him. Men are such idiots sometimes…

I put my weapons away and started walking towards the Camera Virus slowly. It needed to be caught off guard for this to work properly, I think. So, as I got closer to it, I put my hands up to show I wasn't planning on attacking it.

"Hey there, sweetie," it said, "I don't suppose you've come up here because you want to model for me?"

"Um… Sure?" I said.

"Well then smile for me!" said the Virus, "Any chance you could take your mask off?"

"No."

"Give me a nice pose, then," it said, "Here it comes!"

There was a subtle click, but no flash. Crap! He called my bluff!

"That's not what it was supposed to do…" sighed Red.

"So long, cyber turds!" squealed the Camera Virus.

Now it flashed us. I stayed on the ground in a daze, waiting for the others to come and help me to my feet.

"Does anybody see the virus?" asked Green.

"No," said Yellow, "It must have escaped."

"Are you okay, Blue?" called Red.

"I'm fine!" I called back.

"Blue?"

"I said I'm fine!"

"Where is she? She was right there a second ago." asked Red.

"Guys! I haven't gone anywhere!" I screamed, now genuinely afraid.

"Blue? Blue!? Where did you go? We can't see you!"

Now everyone was doing it. Either this was their idea of a sick joke, or they legitimately couldn't see or hear me. I heard footsteps as Rangers Yellow and Red walked over to where I was. How could they not see me? They took a few more steps and were all of a sudden standing inside me. Red's foot was in my stomach and Yellow's foot was in my head. I didn't feel anything. Their feet just went right through me, like I wasn't even there.

"Stop standing in me, you dweebs!" I sobbed.

"Power down." said the others.

"I don't get it, guys," said Riley, "Rachel was right there and now she's gone."

"What if the virus took her?" asked Marcus.

"She would've fought back."

"Not without this, she wouldn't." said Marcus.

He had picked up my Digitizer from the ground. It must have been laying where my arm used to be until it became all ghostified or whatever. Great, now I'm invisible, transparent, powerless, and, none of my friends can hear me.

"Her Digitizer…" said Riley, "I don't like where this is going."

"Well, whatever happened to her, she isn't here," said Oz, "I vote we return to Headquarters and see what Silver suggests."

I stood up on my own and my body still went right through them. I wished desperately that I could teleport and take the shortcut to Sector 0, but, without my Digitizer, I couldn't follow them.

A thought had just occurred to me. Am I invisible to everyone? Or just to my friends? I needed to find more people. But, at this hour, that would be unreasonable. I guess now would be as good as any to get some sleep. I can start trying to figure out what happened to me later. Not exactly the way I wanted to get back to sleep, but, I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

"So, you say that Rachel just disappeared?" I asked.

"She volunteered to take a full blast from the Camera Virus, but instead of flashing her, it took her picture," said Riley, "Then it flashed us one last time before escaping and when the light subsided, Rachel was gone."

"Well, I can tell you right now that she hasn't gone anywhere," I said, "But finding her will not be easy."

"I don't get it," said Heath, "If she's still here then why didn't she bring her Digitizer?"

"More importantly, why couldn't we see her?" asked Marcus.

I headed over to the console and pulled up the Camera Virus' statistical file again. As I examined it carefully, I realized what our mistake was and slammed my fist down in frustration.

"Riley, your sister is a photographer, correct?" I said.

"Yeah, why?"

"Does she have a dark room?" I asked.

"Well, of course she has a-"

He understood now too. Rachel hadn't gone anywhere. The virus was probably based on an older camera, the photos from which needed to develop before they could be seen. We had been so concerned with figuring out a way to destroy its flash bulb that we didn't notice. Rachel's ranger powers must have acted as a scapegoat for most of the attack, which resulted in her being affected by only a small percent of it. Rather than completely vanishing into the Camera Virus' film, Rachel transformed into an incorporeal form. Therefore, nobody will be able to see or hear her until she develops in a dark room.

"Long story short," I said for the rest of the room, "The Camera Virus has made it so that nobody can see or hear Rachel."

"So, it's up to me to figure out a way to communicate her," said Riley, "Once I do that, I'm going to tell her to go to my sister's dark room."

"And that will undo whatever happened to her?" asked Marcus.

"It has to," I said, "Because it's the only plan we've got."

"Alright…" said Heath, "Then I guess that leaves me and Marcus to track down the virus."

"Rachel Parker"

I woke up several hours later. As I got to my feet, I noticed that I seemed to be lighter than was before. Maybe I'm even more of a ghost now than I was earlier? Maybe the further you progress into being a ghost, the less you exist physically? That would explain why the others were standing in me. All I knew was that I needed to find a way to regress before my mind ceases to exist like my body already did.

Although I could be Casper's sister, I didn't have any of the other features of ghosts. I couldn't fly or walk through walls, but I could walk through people. It was kind of fun, actually. Every time I walked through someone they shivered as if I dropped an ice cube down their back.

Eventually I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't a ghost. If I was a ghost, my stomach would be dead, like me and therefore not growl. That made me feel a bit better, I guess. Now I knew I was just invisible and intangible. I didn't bother trying to talk to anyone though, because even if they heard me, they'd think my voice came from someone they could see or touch, not an invisible stranger.

On the bright side, I could sneak onto transport shuttles without paying. It made it pretty easy to get around the city. I knew I probably shouldn't be moving, but I was so bored that I didn't really care. The others would be looking for me in the wrong place now that I was wandering around aimlessly, but, then again, they might be going after the virus first.

It was at least noon by the time I stepped off the shuttle into Sector 13. I slept for about six hours which meant I had been on the move for roughly four hours. My perception of time was probably not the most reliable right now though. These calculations came from what I've seen of the sun, so, I could be totally wrong.

"Riley Bishop"

Since I knew Rachel best, it made more sense for me to be the one to go out looking for her. Marcus moved here about a year or so before we started junior high school, so he never knew Rachel when she was younger. I don't actually know yet whether or not Oz has always lived in Metro City. But Rachel and I have lived in the same houses we do now for our entire lives. There were quite a few places that I could think that she might go to. The problem was that because she's invisible, even if I do find her, I won't know that I've found her, because I won't be able to see her.

Metro City uses numbers for all the street names, but the avenues are all named after important Canadian figures. Such as former mayors, prime ministers or government officials. I had already looked in her house, so my next stop was Macdonald Avenue, which was where the playground we always went to as kids was located. Throughout the years, it had been added to several times, but the one thing that had never changed was the sand box. Rachel and I would spend hours as kids in the sand box, she would build sand houses instead of sand castles and then I would bring toys and we would use them to play house. But I didn't see anything, which meant either Rachel was there but I couldn't see her or she wasn't there.

I felt as though if she was there she would be doing something to try and communicate with me, assuming she could. All I know is that we can't see or hear her, but maybe there's more wrong with her than just that? What if she can't see or hear us either? If that's true, then I might never see her again. I refuse to believe that. She's my best friend, and I'm not going to stop looking until I find her. My third stop was the park three blocks away. This is another place where we used to play a lot, there was a bigger playground designed for older kids, but there was also lots of open space for barbecues, picnics or makeshift sports games. There was still no sign of her, so I went on to the next stop.

"Rachel Parker"

I hitched a ride on a bus until I reached Riley's street. Even though I lived next door to him, I remembered back to when I was little and felt so safe in his house. Thinking about that brought tears to my eyes. If I never got to see Riley again, I'd never get to tell him how I feel about him or hear him admit that he's been in love with me for so long. I'd never get to groan and roll my eyes at Marcus' terrible jokes or punch Oz when he hit on me. It was being a ranger that brought us all together and made our bond even stronger. How could it have been that hours ago I was complaining about losing sleep because of these stupid viruses?

I stopped on the porch and raised my hand to knock. I held it aloft for a minute until I remembered that it would be pointless to try. I ran my hand through the doorknob angrily as if I was swatting a fly.

"Maybe if I concentrate, I can grab the door." I said aloud to myself.

Is it really aloud if only you can hear it? I think that would make it part of your inner monologue. Anyways, I tried to clear my mind of all the fear and panic that had been building up until now and slowly moved my hand into place. Still concentrating on the doorknob and nothing else, I closed my fingers and almost leapt back in shock. I was holding it! I quietly pulled the door open and crept inside. I could hear Amanda talking to someone. After closing the door I crept over to where her voice was coming from. I peered around the corner and saw Riley's sister sitting on the couch, talking on the phone with a confused look on her face.

"No, Mr. Parker, Rachel isn't here," she said, "I think Riley knows she's missing though, because he hasn't been home in a while either."

"Don't say that, Richard, I can guarantee that Riley will find her."

My father is actually pretty great. When Riley's parents passed away, my Mom got sick a few years later. Dad saw it as a sign and quit drinking cold turkey, but Mom died a few months later. She'd had a bad liver from birth and died from it even though she hardly ever drank. It made no sense, but Dad never started up again. He even helped a lot of the women he dated afterwards clean up their acts too. But, if I had to guess, it sounds like the stress of not knowing where I am is making him feel like relapsing.

Now I was downright sobbing. I turned on my heels and dashed up the stairs. The door to Riley's room was thankfully open. I flopped down on his bed and cried into his pillow.

I don't know how long I stayed there. I cried until it started to hurt and then just kept lying there.

"Where were you?" asked Amanda from downstairs, "Ranger stuff?"

"Not exactly," said a voice, "I can't find Rachel."

If I didn't know any better, I would say it sounded like Riley…

"Don't tell me you've given up?"

"No," said the voice again, "There's still one place I haven't looked."

I heard footsteps. They were getting louder. Someone was coming up the stairs. I saw them when they reached the landing; it was Riley. He came into the room and collapsed on his bed, once again his body went right through me.

"Where are you Rachel!?" he sighed.

Something fell from the ceiling. It landed on Riley's head. So he picked it up. It was picture of us together. It was taken when we were 10, I remember that day, it was just before his parent's funeral. Amanda wanted a picture of us together. I guess she was trying to lighten the mood by acting like it was a birthday party or something. My parents made me wear a pretty dress just like how Amanda made Riley wear a tux. Later that day, Riley said to me that if we ever got married he wanted to name our kids after his parents; Michael and Emily.

"It had to be you that turned invisible, didn't it?" he sighed again, "The one person I can always turn to when I'm out of ideas."

This was torture. He was lying in me and had no idea. I guess I would have to do something. I sat up and walked over to his desk. Using the same technique as earlier, I managed to pick up a pen and write "I'm here, you nimrod" on a piece of paper. When I finished, I deliberately threw the pen at his head.

"Ow! What the…?" he said, sitting up.

He saw it. I knew right away. His whole mood changed instantly.

"Why do you think I came here last?" he said.

"Who are you trying to kid?" I said, "You were so scared that you couldn't think straight and had to come back here."

I forgot that he couldn't hear me.

"Follow me," he said, "Silver and I have an idea."

He went downstairs and into the living room. I followed him obediently.

"Sis, can you set up the dark room for me?"

"Like, right now?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I suppose."

The three of us went into a small, inconspicuous room that was hidden in their cellar.

"I assume this has something to do with Rachel?" asked Amanda.

"You'll see soon enough." he said.

Amanda fumbled around in the darkness for a while until she found a string. She pulled it and a red light bulb flickered on. Then she asked Riley bring her a few things, which he did rather quickly. I had no idea what she was doing, but Riley seemed pretty determined. After about half an hour, Amanda indicated that the room was ready by pointing at it.

"It should be good to go." she said.

"Thanks," said Riley, "Go tell Mr. Parker that Rachel is okay."

"Where is she?"

"Around here somewhere," he said, "You'll see her once she develops."

"What?"

"Ranger stuff." He said.

"I see," she said, "I'll be upstairs, spreading the good news."

Riley waited for her to leave before he announced to the room at large.

"Rachel, you'll have to take off your clothes," he said, "If you don't, the parts of your body that are covered might stay invisible."

He had a point. I mean, we have seen each other naked before, but we were too young to notice or care. Besides, he wouldn't see anything until I became visible again anyways.

Luckily, I didn't have to concentrate in order to strip down.

"Alright," said Riley, "If you're ready, I'm going to close the door."

I don't know how he expected me to answer him, but it didn't matter because I was ready. Hell, I had been ready since the moment I became invisible. He slowly closed the door. Since I didn't really know what else to do, I paced around the room randomly. I kept having to remind myself not to instinctively cover my you know, lady parts with my hands. If they didn't become visible again there wouldn't be much point in having them.

I still had no way of knowing what time it was or how long I had been in there. I counted to a thousand several times, mississippis and all. I couldn't even look at myself to see if I was becoming more solid because I had always seen myself the same way.

I jumped and shrieked when I noticed that door was opening. Now, I covered myself again, horrified that Riley might see me naked in present day. Because, frankly this is not how I wanted it to happen.

"Holy fuck, Riley! Don't you knock!?" I exploded.

"Relax, sweetie, it's me," said Amanda, "He said you'd need clothes before he could come get you."

Of course. How silly of me. Riley had always been a perfect gentlemen. Except for the obvious flaws.

I lowered my hands. It's nothing she hasn't seen before. We change into swimsuits together all the time.

"Wait a minute," I said, "You can see me?"

"Of course."

"And you're talking to me? That means you can hear me too!"

I was so happy that I ran over for a big hug, completely forgetting the fact that I was in my birthday suit.

After several apologies for hugging her while naked, Amanda gave me some of her old clothes which fit me like a glove.

I made my way back upstairs and hugged everyone in the room. My Dad was there, along with Silver and Marcus. I even hugged Oz, but slapped him across the face when he pinched my left butt cheek.

"Good to have you back, Rachel." said Silver, after my Dad and Amanda were out of earshot.

"Let's celebrate later," I said, "We've still got the Camera Virus to take care of."

"No we don't." said Marcus.

"It turns out that the Camera Virus was disposable," said Oz, "There's no trace of it anywhere in the city."

"I believe Trojan gave it a limited lifespan so that it would delete itself automatically after taking a picture," said Silver, "He probably thought that we would never figure out how to reverse its spell."

"Well then he's an idiot," I said, getting teary despite my best efforts, "With friends like you guys, nothing is impossible."

"By the way," said Silver, "I thought you might want this back."

He handed me my Digitizer and I securely fastened it on my wrist, back where it belonged. Once it recognized me, the codec let out a burst of blue light again. Everything was back to the way it should be.

"I'm surprised neither of you tried to spy on me while I was in the dark room." I said, directly to Marcus and Oz.

"Why would we do that?" asked Marcus.

"We wouldn't have seen you anyways." said Oz.

"If you knew that I was naked in there," I said, "That wouldn't have stopped you."

Their eyes went wide as Riley and I cracked up laughing.

"What's the matter guys? You look like you've seen a ghost." I said.