A/N: Thank you to each of my reviewers
Disclaimer: Creators own Rangers
"Hey guys, I've got dinner!" Charley shouted, walking through the portal into the Command Center. Two bags of take-out food dangled in one hand and her car keys in the other.
"Thanks," Nathalie said panting. She ducked down avoiding Kennedi's right hook. The two stood on a large blue sparring mat, while Jet and Bryce sat watching. The two male rangers quickly jumped to their feet at the aroma of fried chicken.
"Yummy chicken, my favorite!" Bryce cheered, grabbing the large bucket out of the bag and setting it down on the table for everyone.
"You guys want some?" Charley asked towards to two other female Rangers, still in deep concentration. The Yellow Ranger reached up into the cabinet to grab a stack of paper plates.
"One second," Kennedi said, as she did a backhand spring away from Nathalie. "I have to show our leader how it's done Orange Ranger style," Bryce and Jet both watched the fight, their eyes never leaving as they ate their food. Springing up, the Orange Ranger threw two more punches before the third one came in contact with Nathalie's stomach.
"Ok, you win," Nathalie said exhausted, gasping for air. Kennedi helped the Red Ranger up before the two joined the others at the center table.
"Wants some Lew?" Charley asked, getting ready to prepare another plate for the Blue Ranger.
"Um one second," Lew paused, not taking his eyes off of the computer. Quickly, he typed in a few more numbers before spinning around in his chair. "Sure."
"Here, I got it," Charley offered, carrying a plate of food in her hands. Lew accepted it with a nod before turning back to his work. Phoebe sat next to him, busily working. She handed him the small device that the two had been working on, an upgrade for their Olympian Strike Cannon. "Want some too Phoebe?"
"No thank you," Phoebe declined, without looking up. She reached across Lew for the scanner. "I prefer not to eat your human food."
"You don't know what you're missing," Jet said, with a mouth full of food. He reached over to steal a fry off of Nathalie's plate, only to get a swat to the hand.
"Try to steal my food again and there will be consequences," Nathalie threatened, glaring at Jet. She took a bite out of the fry he tried to steal, before sticking her tongue out at the Black Ranger.
"Gross!" He cried, closing his eyes. "Shut that thing."
"Hey can someone give me a ride home?" Bryce asked, without looking up from his phone. "My mom just texted me, and she can't pick me up. My car is still broken."
"Yeah, I have to go by that way anyways," Charley offered, finally sitting down. She peeked into the chicken bucket, only one piece left. Jet reached in and took that piece.
"Oh, did you want this?" He asked, holding it out to her.
"It's ok, I already ate," She lied. A small grumble came from her stomach, only loud enough for her to hear. "Hey Nat, I was wondering if it wouldn't be too much trouble if you could substitute for our pianist in the school play. Hey broke his hand, and the play is this Friday. It's too late to find anyone else. Please," Charley begged, dragging her last word out.
"Yeah Nat, please!" Bryce mimicked. Charley playfully hit up upside the back of his head. He groaned, pretending it hurt. "I'm hurt that you would do such a thing to your favorite Green Ranger," He faked being offended, before giving her his famous crooked smile.
"Oh come on that didn't hurt," Jet said, taking a bite of his chicken. "Charley is too nice to actually hit you hard. I bet she couldn't even kill a fly."
"I could to kill a fly!" Charley defended. Jet glared at her.
"Yesterday there somehow was a fly in here, and when I went to kill it you stopped me," He countered.
"Yeah, I was there," Bryce added. Charley turned and tried to give him a death glare, but ended up laughing.
"My point!" Jet laughed, pointing at her.
"Ah, leave the poor girl alone guys," Kennedi demanded. The loud alarm system though beat her to her last word, echoing through the Command Center. The five Rangers shot up, leaving their trash and food where it was.
"What do we have?" Nathalie asked, shrugging her black jacket over her shoulder. She took the seat next to Lew. Typing in a few Commands, Nathalie blew up the picture on Lew's screen onto the big screen for everyone to see. "Do you recognize him?" Nathalie asked their mentor.
"No, I don't think so at least," Phoebe said unsure. "I've never seen a Daemon like him before. Yet again, there are possibly thousands of Daemons I could have never seen." Up on the screen was a human size Daemon. His right arm was made of normal human skin, but his left was made of pure metal. Both hands were dressed with a black fingerless leather glove. On the left side of his face was also made of metal, while the other half of human skin. Finishing him off was a black bow dangling at his side. One lone arrow sat in his right hand, bow in the left.
"Let's go!" Nathalie commanded, standing up from her chair. Lew followed suit.
"Olympian Force, Protectors of Earth!" Each Ranger shouted. Once morphed, they disappeared in a flash of six colors.
"Ah! Home again, home again, jiggety-jig!" The metal Daemon chanted, as he walked through town. He pulled the string back on his bow, but made no effort to attack the screaming citizens of Olympia Heights. Fall had passed through the California coastline city, and the first slight snowfall of the year had arrived.
"Stop right there Mother Goose!" Jet cat called. "Nobody enjoys a loose goose!"
"Ah, Rangers. How good it is too see all of you. How was your trip? I heard you got to repeat summer," He provoked, still fingering his bow. He never actually looked up at the Rangers.
"You know, same old, same old," Bryce said, shrugging. "Prepare to be defeated Daemon!" The Green Olympian shouted, drawing his scimitar.
"You know, I do have a name?" He replied, running his fingers along the edge of the arrow. "Nereus is my name, and taking out Rangers is my game!"
"Charley, Bryce!" Nathalie shouted. "Go help the children and citizens escape. We've got this creep!" The two nodded, before running off. Bryce lagged behind. Sad he didn't end up using his scimitar. He slid it back into his utility belt before chasing after Charley. Charley had already grabbed two children who were hiding under a table.
"Come with me," She instructed, grabbing the smaller three year old girl. The older boy gripped Charley's black glove.
"You're looking a tad green today," Kennedi admitted, just as a thick vine shot up through the pavement and wrapped around Nereus' waist. "You know that never gets old." She laughed, as Nereus' crashed into the side of the building. The vine retreated back into the ground.
"And neither does this!" Nathalie added, sprinting to a nearby tree. Quickly climbing it with monkey like agility, she reached the top. Pulling the string back to her own bow, she released an arrow towards Nereus.
Where Lew was on the ground, he tracked the arrow's path. Seeing its course was going to be a tad too high, he teleported to the Daemon's side. Using all of his strength, he lifted the Daemon slightly up, just enough to where the arrow nicked Nereus' neck. Lew dropped Nereus to the ground. Before Nereus could hit the ground, he swung around, kicking Lew's feet out from under him. The Blue Ranger fell onto his back, with Nereus towering over him.
"Tisk, tisk. Pesky little Ranger are you?" Nereus grinned. His right fist plunged down towards the Blue Rangers. But, before it could come in contact with Lew's stomach, Lew kicked upward with all of his strength left. Nereus flew back a few feet into Jet's arms. Jet jumped as high as he could before slamming Nereus into the pavement. Nathalie jumped out of the tree with a kangaroos' gracefulness and joined Lew's side. Nathalie helped the Blue Ranger up with a groan.
"I'm not that heavy," He snapped, getting up to his feet. Nereus stood up and Kennedi raced to his side, desperate to show off her new moves. She roundhouse kicked him in the gut before back flipping away. Nereus jumped up, punching towards Kennedi's nose. She quickly ducked down, avoiding the blow. While down, Kennedi sweeped Nereus' feet out from under him. She threw one more punch in on his stomach causing him to groan and fall backwards. Throwing in one last punch, her right hook hit Nereus in the nose. The human half of his nose started to bleed.
Tired and weak, Nereus stood up one last time, this time with his bow and arrow in his hands. Scanning the area he spotted the Yellow Ranger with her back to him. Pulling the string back he released the arrow, flying towards the Ranger. The arrow hit her in the back causing her to fall forward onto her knees, demorphing for everyone to see her identity.
"Charley!" Kennedi cried, running towards the fallen Ranger. Her eyes scanned the crowd of people who saw the now demorphed Ranger. Whispers fell among the crowd. Focusing all her energy on their minds, an orange glow surrounded both her and the crowd. As the glow subsided, the crowd appeared confused, not knowing what just happened. As the people turned and left, Kennedi demorphed, exhausted from the over use of her power. Her body glowed orange, before she collapsed next to the Yellow Ranger.
"Bye, bye Rangers. Have fun with your Yellow Ranger," Nereus said, disappearing with a flash. The four still morphed Rangers demorphed and rushed towards their fallen teammates. Charley was unconscious and the black arrow disappeared. Kennedi was awake, but she didn't have the energy to move.
"Let's get them back to base before anyone else sees them," Nathalie commanded, and nodded to Lew. Lew teleported them all back to base in a blue flash.
"I'm fine, honestly!" Kennedi reassured Nathalie, pushing the Red Ranger's red glowing hand away from Kennedi's head. Kennedi was seated on one of the six medical beds in the Med Bay. Charley was still asleep on the other. Bryce said in a chair next to Charley's bed, while Jet stood in the corner arms crossed. Lew had left to do some research with Phoebe a few hours ago.
"Sit!" Nathalie commanded sternly. Kennedi sat back down. Carefully, Nathalie reapplied both of her hands back onto the Orange Ranger's head. They started glowing red right away.
"When do you think she'll wake up?" Bryce asked, nodding towards the sleeping Ranger.
"I don't know. I'm not a doctor," Nathalie defended, releasing her hold on Kennedi's head. "Looks all good, but I would recommend not trying to erase or enhance anyone's memory any time soon," Kennedi nodded, and slid her white hoodie on overtop of her orange tank top.
"Great," Jet sighed. "We are placing the lives of two of our Rangers into the hands of someone who doesn't know what she's doing." Nathalie glared at him, before moving over to Charley. The Yellow Ranger had started to stir. Her eyes slowly opened up, adjusting to the bright lights. Nathalie reached over to heal some of Charley's injuries.
"Get your slimy hands off me freak!" Charley shouted, roughly pushing Nathalie away. Kennedi sat there with her mouth open. "What are you starring at girly?"
"Hey! What's going on?" Bryce asked, putting his hands onto Charley.
"Don't touch me! Get away from me green bean!" Charley screamed. She grabbed a hold of his hands and twisted them around, snapping his right hand. She stormed over to the coat rack and grabbed her jacket. Jet walked over and tried to stop her. "Stay away from me loser!" She shoved his aside, and stormed into the Command Center.
"How you feeling Charley?" Lew asked, turning around from the computer monitor.
"I don't associate with losers like you guys. I'm out of this dump!" She said, walking through the portal.
"What's going on?" Lew asked, confused towards the normally sweet Yellow Rangers attitude.
"I don't know," Kennedi whispered, her eyes not leaving the portal.
"She called me a green bean," Bryce said shocked, looking at the other Rangers.
Trivia: Nathalie's line when Jet tries to steal her food comes from what my brother says when someone tries to steal his food. Also, Nereus' first line "Home again, Home again…" comes from the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. The title for this chapter 'Fifty Shades of Yellow' came from the book Fifty Shades of Gray, although I have never read it.