Strength of the Sun

The following day in the Skull Cavern, Queen Bansheera was even angrier with Diabolico than before as not only did she know about his last failure, but she also knew of what he'd done to Alia.

"Diabolico, you have disappointed me greatly and I am not happy with what you did to Alia," said Queen Bansheera.

"My Queen, forgive me, but I felt the curse was necessary. She did betray us and defect to the Rangers' side, after all," said Diabolico.

"Regardless of where her allegiance lies, if the girl cannot fulfill the prophecy—"

"She will," he interrupted. "Whether she chooses to or not, the prophecy will be fulfilled even if she is destroyed, I swear to you."

"Fail me again or if the girl cannot fulfill the prophecy, and I will give your Star Power to Impus, understand me?"

"I won't fail you."

"You had best not," she warned, before disappearing.

Diabolico felt furious as he turned to face Impus, who slept comfortably on the stone table.

"You spoiled little brat, if you weren't the Queen's child, you'd be nothing!" he growled. "You'll never have my powers, I'll destroy you first!"

He reached out as if to harm the little demon, but pulled back when Jinxer entered the room.

"Diabolico, what're you doing?" asked Jinxer.

"I-I've just been adoringlittle Impus as he sleeps, so innocent and vulnerable," lied Diabolico.

"What's your next plan, Master?" asked Vypra, as she and Loki came in.

"Let me make a monster this time, I never—" Loki was interrupted.

"Silence," said Diabolico. "We don't need another monster. Falkar and Thunderon have not yet completed their quest."

Right on cue, the two demons entered the room and bowed.

"We are at your beck and call, Master," said Falkar.

"What can we do for you?" asked Thunderon.

"Enough of your babbling," snapped Diabolico. "Destroy the Rangers and the girl before Queen Bansheera returns. Finish them! You understand?"

"Yes, Master," said Thunderon.

"Personally, I will miss having them around to play with," said Falkar. "But destroy them, we will! The Power Rangers and the girl will be no more!"

XXX

At the Aquabase, Ms. Fairweather was showing Captain Mitchell the brand-new Max Solarzord.

"When will it be ready to come online?" asked Captain Mitchell.

"It's ready now; the only problem is Ryan and Alia. Without the Titanium Ranger, the Max Solarzord is useless. It has a sophisticated weapons system that I designed specifically to be operated by the Titanium Ranger and Alia."

"You know as well as I, we can't risk Ryan and Alia going out into battle unless it's one hundred percent necessary," said Captain Mitchell. "Let's just hope we can manage without it until we can end the curses on them."

Unknown to either of them, Ryan and Alia were listening, watching as the operating disk was placed in a case, and they hated themselves for not being of more help to the Rangers.

Disheartened, they headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"I've never felt so useless in my life," said Ryan, as they walked down the hall.

"You're not useless," said Alia. "You and I are just…broken until we can be fixed."

Ryan chuckled. "That's one way of putting it." He sighed. "I don't know. Part of me wishes we hadn't told them."

"I didn't want to tell them either, but if we hadn't, they'd have found out some other way and we'd be in huge trouble," said Alia. "Besides, you know your father's just worried and wants us safe."

"I know, I know, you're right."

But they never got to the cafeteria as the base's alarms went off. Falkar and Thunderon were in the western district of the city. Ryan and Alia were prepared to join them, but one look on the Captain's face told them not to.

"Dad, we should be out there with them," said Ryan.

"Sir, what if they need us?" said Alia. "I can still use my premade stuff."

"Ryan, Alia, I'm sorry, but no. I'd feel better if neither of you went into battle right now," said Captain Mitchell. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Please."

Ryan looked as if he wanted to argue, but didn't. Instead he just nodded. "Alright, fine. You win."

"We'll stay," said Alia. "Come on, Ryan."

They went to the control room and watched the battle on the monitors. Despite the Rangers luring the demons into a warehouse, Thunderon was pounding Carter and Joel and Falkar was moving so quickly that he was beating Chad, Dana and Kelsey to a pulp.

The Rangers' Thermo Blasters were having no effect whatsoever, so the Rangers split up to try and get them caught in a trap. Dana and Kelsey managed to destroy Falkar by trapping him in another section of the warehouse and causing it to collapse on him—or so they thought. Falkar survived.

Taking out Thunderon was harder as he managed to blast them badly before they could fire their V-Lancers, then they had to play dead to get him close enough to fire their Thermo Blasters and then they hit him with the V-Lancers, which then destroyed him.

But the battle was far from over. Diabolico not only restored Thunderon and made him grow, but he also stuck a card in between Falkar's shoulder blades that made him grow as well, forcing the Rangers to fight them both. Just a few blows from Falkar caused the Megazord to lose its power.

Frustrated beyond belief, and despite knowing they were taking a huge risk, Alia and Ryan couldn't bear to just sit back and watch any longer.

"That's it," said Ryan. He left the control room with Alia. "We have to help them."

"I was wondering when you'd decide to go," said Alia. "If we're going to go down, we'll go down fighting together.

"I agree," said Ryan. "Let's get the disk."

"This one?" asked Alia, holding up the operating disk. "I swiped it when no one was looking."

Ryan grinned. "Lia, I love you."

"I love you too," said Alia.

They kissed again, and then Ryan inserted the disk into the computer, activating the power cells. They then entered the elevator. Ryan morphed into the Titanium Ranger as Alia readied her bag of tricks and other spells.

Ryan piloted the ship while Alia made contact with the Aquabase. "This is Alia and the Titanium Ranger to Ms. Fairweather, we're going to need a little help."

"Ryan? Alia?" said Ms. Fairweather, shocked.

"Ryan, Alia, get back here. That's an order!" said Captain Mitchell.

"But Dad, they need our help!" said Ryan. "We're needed, one hundred percent."

"Okay, guys, position wings for take-off," said Ms. Fairweather.

"Wings in position," said Ryan.

The ship took off and headed for the other Rangers' position. The ship fired at the demons, saving the life of the Rangers. Ryan and Alia's appearance shocked the Rangers and angered Diabolico.

"Ryan, Alia, you've got to energize the Solar Panels, change course, head towards the sun," said Ms. Fairweather.

"Copy that," said Ryan. "Beginning ascent." He flew up towards the sun. "Coordinating energizing positions." When the ship was fully charged, he flew it back to the battle. "Fully energized." The ship then bonded with the Megazord, forming the Max Solarzord.

"What's going on?" asked Carter.

"This is the Max Solarzord. It was designed to be used by the Titanium Ranger and Alia," said Ms. Fairweather.

"But guys, that's a huge risk!" protested Carter.

"One we're willing to take," said Ryan.

"But are you two okay?" asked Dana.

"We're fine, Dana," said Alia. "Now, let's take care of business."

Falkar leapt at them, but Ryan was able to pilot the Solarzord to hit him first, then deliver several spinning kicks that knocked him down and then Ryan fired several blasts that destroyed him.

"Ryan, nine o'clock!" yelled Alia.

"What? Oh no."

Thunderon was coming at them and hit them before they could react. But Alia had a card to play as the Solarzord was meant for her as well as Ryan.

"You just made a huge mistake, Thunderon," said Alia. "Panoko jeka kiea."

A shield was activated around the Solarzard and then surges of electricity and fire blasted out of the Solarzord and hit Thunderon. Ryan and Alia were in pain from their curses, but they forced themselves to ignore it for the sake of the mission.

Imagine their relief when they saw that Thunderon was destroyed from their attack.

"Wow, that was an incredible job, guys!" said Carter.

"Yeah, good one!" said Kelsey.

But then they noticed there was no response.

"Ryan? Alia, are you there? Ryan, can you hear me?" asked Carter. "Alia, please respond."

But Ryan and Alia didn't respond as they were out cold. Ryan from the pain of his back wounds that had burned and reopened, and Alia from activating the cobra curse by healing Ryan and the other spell she'd used in battle.

XXX

After some difficulty, Ryan and Alia were retrieved and taken to the medical bay and treated for their injuries. They were allowed to share a bed as long as they kept still and relaxed.

"Ms. Fairweather?" said Ryan. "The Max Solarzord is totally awesome."

"Brilliant is more like it," said Alia.

Ms. Fairweather smiled. "Never mind about that. Just get some rest. Quite a crazy stunt you two pulled."

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. He looked up at his sister. "Dana, how mad do you think Dad's going to be with us?"

"He can be pretty strict, but he might not be mad. You did only come out when it was one hundred percent necessary," said Dana, softly. "But I can't say for certain."

Just then, the Captain came into the medical bay, causing Dana to leave.

"Ryan, Alia," he began.

"Dad, before you yell at us for what we did today—" But Ryan was interrupted.

"I'm not going to yell. Just the opposite," said Captain Mitchell. "I'm proud of you, both of you."

"You are?" asked Ryan.

"Very," said Captain Mitchell. "I would've done the same thing myself."

"Thanks, Dad," said Ryan, smiling. "That means a lot."

Captain Mitchell nodded and turned to his daughter-in-law. "Alia, I know that I can never replace your real father, but if you—"

"I'd love to," she interrupted. She smiled as tears glistened in her eyes. "Dad."

Captain Mitchell smiled. "I'm glad you two have each other. Now, both of you get some rest and get your strength back up."

Ryan and Alia nodded.

"Ryan, Alia, I need you both to roll over onto your stomach so that I can check your breathing," said Ms. Fairweather. "I'll be very gentle, I promise."

They nodded and obeyed. Ms. Fairweather gently examined their backs by rolling their shirts up and Captain Mitchell's eyes widened in horror as he gazed at the sights before him.

The cobra was merely inches away from Alia's neck and the whip marks on Ryan's back looked worse than before—some looked freshly burned, others were raw or slightly bleeding. After a few minutes, the two were left alone to get some sleep. Ryan stayed on his side with his arms around Alia as they sleep.

Once Ms. Fairweather and Captain Mitchell were out of the med bay and out of ear shot, Ms. Fairweather said to the Captain, "I'm afraid that last fight made the curses progress very rapidly. The next time Alia uses her magic or if Ryan's wounds become too much for his body to handle, it could destroy them both."

Captain Mitchell was silent. Without any prior warning, he could lose his son again and the woman he considered a second daughter. What on earth were they going to do?