Curse of the Cobra

Back at the Aquabase, Alia and Captain Mitchell were showing Ryan around and all the Lightspeed Ranger technology. Although Ryan knew a great deal of this through his bond with Alia and had snuck around the base once before, it was still amazing to see the entire base for himself.

"Remind me again who designed all this?" asked Ryan.

"The Lightspeed Megazords, Rescue Morphers, Blasters, Utilasers, the Rescue Bird, and the Rescue Rover are all designed by Ms. Fairweather's team with the help of Alia," said Captain Mitchell.

"I didn't do much. I just tweaked it a little, that's all," said Alia.

Captain Mitchell chuckled. "Ryan, I know you were trained by the demons, but Carter's going to stop by and take you to the training facility, show you around and such. Later, you'll get to use it with the others."

"Never hurts to stay in shape and top form," said Ryan. "It's still a lot to learn, though. Even with the bond Alia and I share."

"Don't worry, you already have what it takes to be a Ranger, the rest is just technicalities," said Captain Mitchell.

They stopped outside Ryan and Alia's quarters.

Captain Mitchell smiled. "Ryan, I can't tell you how glad I am to have you back or that you found someone who makes you so happy."

Ryan smiled. "Thanks, Dad." He took Alia's hand as she smiled. "So am I."

Captain Mitchell nodded and then went back to his duties.

Ryan and Alia's smiles faded when they entered their quarters. Then he took off his shirt and examined his back in the closet door mirror. The scars no longer looked faded, but half-fresh and close to reopening. They already felt sore.

He didn't like to think about the pain he'd have to endure when they started to burn or reopen. He glanced up and saw that Alia had taken off her shirt and jacket and there was a hint of fear in her eyes.

Ryan sighed. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Did you really expect anything different from Diabolico?" asked Alia, as she put her black shirt and black jacket back on.

"No," he admitted. He put his shirt back on.

"Do you think we should tell the Captain?"

"You know how he'd react and anyhow, I'm more worried about you, than I am about myself, Lia."

Alia sighed and kissed his cheek. "You're sweet, but it's you that we should worry about. Your wounds…"

"Will wait until later," he interrupted. "We'll figure something out, I promise."

Neither of them noticed that the door was open just a crack. Carter had come to take Ryan to the training facility. Despite not being able to hear what they were saying, thanks to Alia's spell, he had seen their backs through the crack and was now quite worried about them.

They then bumped into Carter just as the door fully opened.

"Oh, hey, Carter," said Ryan, putting on a fake smile to not reveal his upset mood. "What's up?"

"I-I t-thought I'd give you a tour of the training facility," said Carter, stammering a little.

"Great, let's go," said Ryan.

But they hadn't gone far when Carter and Ryan's Morphers then beeped, signaling trouble.

"Sometimes the best training's on the job," said Carter, as they raced to the control room and saw that Demonite, Thunderon and Falkar were attacking the city again.

"Those three, again?" said Alia.

"Are you ready for this?" asked Captain Mitchell.

"Absolutely," said Ryan.

"Let's show them what six Rangers and a sorceress/demon can do," said Captain Mitchell.

They all saluted and then grabbed their Lightspeed jackets before hopping into the Lightspeed Rover.

Alia, please tell me you have something planned for your magic! said Ryan. You said you wouldn't use it!

Calm down. I have a plan. I have some objects I prepared months ago that are already loaded with spells. I just have to throw them at those three and they'll react. That way, I won't activate the curse and everyone will think I used magic.

Good, said Ryan, relieved.

When they arrived in the city, they were met by the three demons.

"The Rangers and the traitors, right on time!" said Falkar.

"Guess you didn't learn the last time we fought!" said Ryan.

"Ready?" said Carter.

"Ready!"

"LIGHTSPEED RESCUE!"

"TITANIUM POWER!"

The Rangers morphed and Alia grabbed her enchanted objects as they began fighting. Chad and Kelsey paired off fighting Thunderon, Dana and Joel fought Falkar with their Thermo Blasters; and Carter, Ryan and Alia fought Demonite.

Ryan let up into the air and on the ledge of a building as he pulled out his Titanium Laser.

"What do you have there, Ranger?" he sneered.

"This!" and then he fired and had to fight the pain that flooded him as his scars began to hurt as Demonite laughed and he dropped his laser and fell to the ground.

"Ryan!" shouted Carter.

"He's mine, now!" said Demonite.

"That's what you think!" Alia swooped into action and flung several enchanted plastic balls at him that exploded as Carter fired his Thermo Blaster at Demonite and helped Ryan to stand.

"Ryan, what happened up there? Are you alright?" asked Carter.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'm fine," he lied. But then the pain spiked up again as the scars burned. Alia ran up to Ryan and placed her hand on Ryan's back, healing him and causing the cobra to move up her back and the glow to be visible through her clothes.

"What in the world is that?" Carter demanded.

"It's nothing." Ryan lied.

The other Rangers came to them just as Demonite laughed, "Revenge is sweet!" He tossed the mirror onto the ground. "I brought something to double our fun!" The mirror then glowed and what emerged from it was an exact copy of Demonite.

"The Mirror of Replication," murmured Alia. "Diabolico must be desperate to give them that."

"Now you'll have to work twice as hard now!" said Demonite, as blasts were fired, causing the Rangers to be knocked off their feet before they continued the fight which quickly grew to be a bad one.

"Guys, can you hear me? Focus on the original, Demonite!" said Alia, as she and Ryan fought the copy. "Whatever happens to the original happens to the copy!"

"We hear you, Alia!" said Carter. "V-Lancers, lock on!"

But the minute they fired, a shield came up—not one of Alia's creation—that caused the blast to rebound on the Rangers. But they weren't down yet as Carter had a plan. The Rangers lured the demons into a trap that had Carter pinning Demonite to one of the ship crates with two powerful weapons.

Despite knowing he might go with Demonite, Carter fired the weapons and destroyed both the original and the copy just as the copy was about to end Ryan and Alia forever as the two of them had both been badly injured. The Mirror shattered and then a miracle happened—Carter had taken a big hit, but he was alive, much to everyone's joy, especially Dana's.

After a battle with the Megazords and a magically enlarged and twice-powerful Demonite—in which the Rangers were the winners, Ryan was on the ground in pain as his wounds were burning again, breathing hard and unable to move.

"Ryan!" cried Alia. She placed her hands on his back and the pains from Ryan's wounds faded, but then Alia nearly collapsed as the cobra moved up her back. Ryan cradled her in his arms.

"Lia," he said. "You okay?

"I am now," she said. "Let's go home."

He nodded and they all went back to the Aquabase for food, rest and medical treatment.

XXX

Back in their quarters, Ryan was examining Alia's back. She had already examined Ryan's back. The situation wasn't good. While they were partly healed from the battle, Ryan's scars were not fully healed and the cobra was higher on Alia's back.

"Alright, out with it," said Alia, when Ryan was quiet. "You can't hide from me, so talk. What is it?"

He sighed. "Lia, it's not that I'm not grateful, but I wish you hadn't done what you did earlier," said Ryan. "I can't lose you."

"I can't lose you either or live with myself knowing you're in pain when I can help you," said Alia. She placed her hand on his cheek and he covered her hand with his own. "It's my choice, beloved."

Ryan sighed and smiled a little. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"Because you're stubborn," she reminded him.

There was a knock on the door and they quickly put their shirts back on, covering themselves.

"Come in," said Ryan.

Carter came in. "Hey, I just came by to see how you two were doing."

"We're fine. Why do you ask?" asked Alia.

Carter sighed.

"Guys, I have to level with you, this morning when I came to talk to you, the door was partly open and I couldn't hear anything, but I saw the marks and the tattoo on your backs."

"Oh. Those," said Ryan. He changed his tone, trying to lighten the mood. "The scars are old wounds. I ticked off Vypra a few years ago, that's all."

"And the tattoo's nothing, just a going-away present from Diabolico," said Alia.

"But today during the fight, it was like the scars were burning and the tattoo was alive," protested Carter.

Ryan and Alia exchanged uneasy looks and spoke telepathically.

We can't tell him the truth. What if he tells my dad? asked Ryan. Then we might not be able to fulfill our promises to do some good. This is our only chance.

You don't know that for sure. If the curse prevented you from morphing without getting you killed, then the Captain would object and not permit us to be doing field-work again. But the situation is different. He might not object.

You know how protective my dad is!

And I also know that I don't like this anymore than you do, but if we don't explain ourselves to Carter, he'll get your father and we'll be exposed anyway, said Alia. We might as well confess—to everyone. And another thing, what if they can help us? We're not alone anymore, beloved.

Ryan sighed, knowing his wife was right. He turned to Carter. "Carter, if we tell you about this, you have to promise not to go ballistic on us. And not just that, we have to tell my dad and the others."

Carter didn't look reassured by this information, but did as he was told and a few moments later, a meeting was called and all the Rangers, Captain Mitchell and Ms. Fairweather were there.

Ryan and Alia stood up.

"We asked you here because there's something we need to tell you, something we thought would be best kept secret, but given the circumstances, that's changed," said Ryan. "During our years with the demons, they were sometimes cruel in the way of discipline. One event is up for talk now."

Ryan then removed his shirt, exposing the dozens of whip-made scars. They looked raw and painful. Everyone except for Carter and Alia gasped in horror at the sight of them.

"Ryan," gasped Dana. "What happened to you? How did you get like this? When did this happen?"

"It was my fault," said Alia, looking ashamed.

"For the last time, Lia, it was not your fault!" said Ryan, annoyed. He turned back to the others. "Four years ago, I was helping Alia carry some of her things and one of her packages fell and rolled into Vypra's room. We went in and we found Vypra's Fire Crystal. Alia was showing it to me when it slipped from her hands and broke. As you can imagine, Vypra was mad and I was worried she might hurt Alia, so I took the blame before Alia could tell her otherwise. She decided to punish me because I'd disobeyed her orders not to touch her things and because I was human."

"Vypra punished him before I could stop her," said Alia. "She used one of the Forbidden Spells on the whip she used on Ryan. Before you ask, the Forbidden Spells are ancient demonic magic that is always effective, but cruel and cannot be undone without a heavy price. When Vypra started to punish Ryan, I got scared and ran for Diabolico. He punished her severely for disobeying him and using one of the Forbidden Spells on Ryan. I mended Ryan's back with a poultice, but I couldn't fully undo what had been done."

"What kind of a price did the spell call for?" asked Chad.

"It said, 'the destruction of the Master of the Demons,' which is Diabolico," said Ryan. "From then on, the scars would reopen or burn every full moon and Alia would reseal them and take away the pain. I learned to cope with it. We weren't that worried about it, until the night we came back to Lightspeed."

"Why? What happened then?" asked Kelsey.

"Diabolico and the others weren't happy with our defection," said Alia. "I left the wards down and they got into our minds the other night. Being a traitor in the demon worse is punishable by death or curse and they chose both." She took a deep breath and showed them the cobra on her back.

"Holy cow," said Joel, whistling. "That's one nasty snake."

"It gets worse. This cobra is alive," explained Alia. "Every time I use my magic, it'll move up my body until it reaches my neck and destroys me."

"Oh, gall," said Kelsey, looking horrified.

"Now you see the problem. This isn't going to stop us from fighting or anything, but something worse," said Ryan. "Without Alia's magic, if my wounds reopen or burn and it becomes too much for my body to handle, I'll be destroyed too."

Everyone looked shocked and Captain Mitchell seemed to have aged several years as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Guys, this is crazy," said Carter. "Why didn't you us before?"

"Because we didn't know how to," said Ryan. "When we were growing up with the demons, we were always taught that pain, tears—anything that made you human—was something weak, to be ashamed of. We spent fifteen years hiding and only confiding in each other because we were alone. When we came here, it took us a while to realize we aren't alone anymore."

Captain Mitchell squeezed their shoulders. "And you aren't alone," he said. "You have people who love you here."

"We know, Dad," said Ryan.

"What're we going to do?" asked Dana.

"We have no idea. If I use my magic, I'll be destroyed, but if I don't, Ryan will eventually be destroyed," said Alia. And I'll go with him, I can't be without him, she silently added.

"Alia, what about the poultice you used before?" asked Captain Mitchell. "Could it help at all now?"

"It'd take away the pain and heal a bit, but it's nowhere near as efficient or good as the spells now," said Alia. "It'd be like putting a tiny finger bandage over a broken leg wound."

"Wait a second, didn't you use magic today when we were fighting?" asked Joel.

Alia shook her head. "Only on Ryan's back."

"The things she used against the demons were objects she enchanted months ago," said Ryan. "That's all."

"Well, if we destroy Diabolico, won't that solve the problem?" asked Chad.

"I don't know if we can destroy Diabolico," said Ryan. "And even if we did, it'd only solve half the problem. Alia still wouldn't be able to risk using her magic and we can't do that to her as her magic is a part of her. Magic's like breathing to her."

"Well, until we can come up with a solution, Ryan I'll still allow you to morph but please keep your involvement to an absolute minimum. I don't want to lose you again and certainly not on the battlefield," said Captain Mitchell.

"Yes, Dad," said Ryan.

"Alia, I don't know what to say about your magic, but—" he was cut off by Alia.

"Then let me say it for you," she said. "Unless Ryan's wounds reopen or burn or if something else happens, I can't use my magic."

"That's a huge risk," said Ms. Fairweather.

"It's one we're just going to have to take until we can figure out how to destroy Diabolico and remove the cobra tattoo," said Ryan.

"And one I'm willing to take for Ryan's sake," said Alia. "

"Alright," said Captain Mitchell. There was worry and fear in his face and voice, but there was little to be done about it. "We'll talk again tomorrow. Dismissed."