DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS

AN: This chapter's a bit short I know, but I sorta needed a couple of 'filler' episodes before the next storyline starts ;) Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 11: Muddled Up

"I wonder why Osirico didn't do the whole 'make my monster grow' thing with that last freak?" Adam pondered out loud.

"'Cause he saw how awesome our Megazord was last time?", Xander offered helpfully. "Hey...", the questioning had suddenly sparked a thought somewhere in Xander's brain; "Has anyone tried to use their power-ups yet?"

"What?", the idea hadn't even occurred to Adam.

"Seriously...have you?"

"Well, no...seeing that the Sentinel Knight told us that we'd have to re-earn our powered up modes..."

"What?"

"Xander, did you actually listen to anything the Sentinel Knight said?", Tori asked bluntly.

"Sure I did, some of the time".

"Well, apparently we need to re-earn them as a sort of compromise for getting our powers back in the first place".

"What a load of-..."

"Anyway!", Tori said loudly, covering up the end of Xander's sentence; "I'm sure we'll know when we get them...well...when you get them anyway – I haven't got one".

"You're right, they'll come when we need them".

"What's with the random conversation guys?", Tommy asked as he sat back down at one of the consoles.

"Bored", Xander shrugged; "Can't Osirico just give us a level 1 monster – something fun".

"Fun?" Tommy raised a quizzical eyebrow and looked around the group; "You're mental", he concluded.

"Xander?", Hayley wheeled around in her chair to face him; "Next time, be careful what you wish for".

"What do you mean?", the Green Ranger followed Hayley's outstretched finger to the surveillance screen; "Oh".

"We've got a giant lump of mud attacking the city", she pointed out.

The Rangers watched on, each with a bemused expression on their faces; "Okay, when I said 'fun', I didn't mean it like that..."

"Come on". Tori yanked him by the arm and virtually dragged him out of the lair behind the rest of the team.

"That is..." Adam began as the Rangers bikes slowed to a halt.

"Disgusting?" Xander offered as he touched down next to the others.

"Yeah, something like that", Adam casually brushed down his suit as the team approached the mud monster. "So what do they call you then?" he shouted, instantly grabbing the creature's attention.

"What do they call me?", the mud-glob repeated; "Where I come from, names are not needed...we go by reputation". The almost liquid-like face contorted into a lop-sided smirk; "But you...the Power Rangers...i've heard a lot about you. Let's see how much of it is true!"

"Oh that's not good!" the Rangers looked between each other as the creature seemed to 'slump' into a more streamlined form, his dark brown, liquid body flowing like water towards the group in a continuous river.

The spandex-clad heroes looked ridiculous as they ran to avoid the fast approaching creature. To make matters worse, the thing had now sprouted 'tendrils' of sorts and the muddy liquid branched out into four so it could take on each Ranger simultaneously.

"Great", Kira muttered to herself as she backed sharply against an innocently parked car. Quickly ducking out of sight, she just managed to avoid the creature as it snaked towards her, yet she found herself once again pressed against the hood of another car. Sighing, the Yellow Ranger flipped onto the roof...safely out of the way until they thought of some way to defeat this bizarre monster...or safe so she thought.

A loud cackle came from her right and Kira looked to see the creature 'climbing' its way up the window, as an instinctive reaction she hurriedly leapt back down to ground level but the monster was a step ahead of her as it shot out a long twisted tendrils of viscous muddy liquid and wrapped it firmly around Kira's ankle.

The Yellow Ranger crashed into the concrete floor as a result and was too late to react when the snaking liquid crawled up around her suit. Attempting to right herself however proved futile as Kira found herself pinned to the floor by the mud, unable to move.

"Kira!" Xander ran to the Yellow Ranger's aid, but failed to see the river that had surrounded him before it was too late. Only inches from Kira, he struggled with all his might as the muddy liquid snaked up his legs, around his waist and all the way up to the top of his shoulders, clamping him in place.

"Hang on Xander!", Tori had already unsheathed her Ninja Sword, although what she was going to do with it she wasn't sure as she darted over the river of mud that had been chasing her and headed towards the struggling Rangers, her pursuer still not giving up the chase. Holding up the sword, she figured it was worth the try as she slashed at the liquid binds that held Xander in place, yet to no effect, the blade was simply absorbed by the mud.

"Look out!" Both Xander and Kira yelled out as the creature mentioned grew rapidly back into its vaguely humanoid form behind Tori.

The Blue Ranger deftly swapped the Ninja Sword for the Sonic Fin and aimed quickly, firing off a pulsating ball of energy towards the monster. Unfortunately, the blast passed through a conveniently-made hole in the towering wall of mud and the creature cackled; "You're next!" and Tori could do no more as the wall came crashing down, enshrouding her in a muddy prison.

"I guess it's up to me then..." Adam muttered as he still danced around the car park, careful not to get himself cornered or forced against any of the various cars and concrete pillars.

Rolling sideways, the click stream of muck narrowly missed his feet; "You can run...but you can't hide!" the creature gurgled as it surged towards him.

"Ah...Tommy, a little help?" the Black Ranger called hopefully into his morpher as he barreled down the ramp that led to the ground floor., hotly pursued by the mud monster.

"Sorry man, I don't know what we can do..." Tommy thought as hard as he could under the circumstances and conferred with Hayley who was sat beside him.

Adam finally broke free of the car park and ran out into the street where the sun was shining merrily down upon him.

"Wait...this thing's fully liquid, right?"

"Yeah..." Adam replied slowly as he ducked out of sight just as the creature surged out of the car park; "So?"

"Well.. couldn't you trap it or something? Y'know in a box, anything watertight?"

"I guess so...aw crap!" Adam flung his body left just in time to avoid entrapment, he glanced at the creature and noticed the drain it slithered past, where a small part of the muddy monster dropped down the grate.

Grinning to himself in satisfaction, Adam pulled out his Power Axe; "I've got a better idea!" Leaping high into the air, the Black Ranger was headed right for the center of the monster's flowing mass, but that wasn't what he was aiming for as he he brought the axe crashing down.

As predicted, the creature parted it's liquid body slightly to avoid the hit, but the hard ground beneath it wasn't so lucky as several meters of concrete cracked wide open, the chasm beneath beckoning. As realization dawned, the monster attempted to squirm away from its doom, but it was helpless as its muddy body flowed freely down into the opening; "No! You...how dare you?! Help me!"

"'Fraid not". Adam stood back as the last drop fell but was then faced with a new problem of the huge, gaping chasm he had left in the middle of the street.

"Finishio!"

Adam turned at the sound of the voice to see Xander stood there, Mystic Morpher outstretched and dripping mud onto the ground from every part of his body yet his classic smile was ever present.

"Problem solved!" the Green Ranger grinned as he shook the filth from his hair, hi-fiving Adam in the process and just as Tori and Kira appeared also, both in pretty much the same state as Xander. Tori's usually vivid blonde hair was now closer to chocolate brown and Kira looked like she now had a funny kind of dreadlocks. Adam couldn't help but snort with laughter as he demorphed as if to point out even more that he was the only one of the group that was actually clean.

Walking back through the heart of the town's park, the Rangers received more than their fair share of glances, ranging from disapproving to outright amused as they trudged home.

"Look at the state of me, I so need a shower-...Ahhh!" Tori grumbled out loud and then, before she knew it, she found herself crashing down into the water that was part of the large fountain in the center of the park.

Spluttering the water out of her mouth, Tori wasted no time in turning her accusing glare to Xander, who in turn quickly pointed straight at Adam.

"Hey, don't look at me", the Black Ranger in question held up his hands defensively.

Xander stifled a small laugh as the Blue Ranger's eyebrow quirked in his direction; "What? You did say you needed a shower..." he gestured to the water surrounding her that was now turning a delightful shade of brown. "Oh no...no you don't...", Xander backed away slowly as Tori's hand shot towards him, but no sooner had he said it, he had been forced to join her in the fountain.

"In that case, we'll leave you guys to it", Adam and Kira walked away, both laughing, to leave the Blue and Green Rangers clambering out of the fountain, both dripping wet through.

"When I said 'a shower', I didn't mean that kind", Tori grinned lightheartedly at her friend as she pointed out her bedraggled state.

Xander merely smiled his trademark smile and winked; "Still cute though".