A/N: Wow it didn't take me a literal year to update...who am I?
Disclaimer: All OCs are mine.
Chapter 25: Light Source pt. 1 & 2
-Blue Bay-
-Cliff-
Aria was tired. She felt like no matter how much sleep she got she never felt completely rested. It wasn't the running back and forth between Blue Bay, Reefside, and Briarwood. No, it was mental. She didn't know how much longer she could keep it in. Every day she has to look in the eyes of all her friends, her family, and act as though nothing is wrong. Of course, as much as she hates to admit it, this isn't new territory for her. She used to keep herself closed off from everyone, but that was then, and this is now. Her friends were busy with classes, so she took the opportunity to have some alone time. The cool salty breeze was comforting, the gentle sound of the waves below her soothed her thoughts for a bit.
Until her morpher rang. Groaning in frustration she answered the call. To her surprise it was Daggeron asking to meet at Rootcore. Not to train, not for a fight, but to talk.
She agreed and with one last look to the open air she turned and streaked back to Briarwood.
-Briarwood-
-Rootcore-
Aria walked in on Jenji feeding Fireheart and a pacing Daggeron. Surprisingly, the others weren't there.
"I'm here," Aria announced, "where are the others?"
Daggeron looked up, a little startled she was able to arrive so quickly "I didn't want to worry them" he admitted
"Is something wrong?"
"I can't help but think the worst." He continued his pacing "We've had no contact from Udonna or Claire in days."
From the corner Jenji spoke up "Well, no news is good news, right?"
Aria spun the ring on her finger. Daggeron was right, they haven't heard from them in a while. She hoped Jenji was right and that her mother and cousin were ok.
Not a moment after the crystal ball sounded. The three of them rushed to check.
It was Claire, she looked frantic, but she had new air of determination and courage to her. "Daggeron, Aria, Udonna's been captured by a fat blue frog."
"Claire, come back to Rootcore" Daggeron ordered
"No! I have to save her!"
"Let us help!" Aria tried but she had already disappeared from view. She stepped back, realization dawning on her face. Her mother was taken. Her fists clenched and her eyes darkened.
"Aria!" Daggeron boomed "Now is not the time. We will find them. Let the others know whats happened and tell them to prepare themselves."
She took a couple deep breaths and nodded before heading out the door.
-Rock Porium-
She burst through the door of the Rock Porium and saw her friends at the back of the store huddled in the corner. As she got closer, she noticed a cowering Lee-Lee in the shadows. When was finally able to hear what her friends were saying she could understand Lee-Lee's somber expression.
"Just because she looks cute and harmless doesn't mean she is." Nick ranted; Aria was a little shocked by her brother's ignorance. "She's evil, we can't trust her." he finished
"What are we talking about here?" Aria interrupted; arms crossed in front of her chest. They broke up the huddle to see a disappointed and semi-annoyed Aria. She thought they had learned their lesson already. Before they could explain Aria cut them off, "We need to go, Udonna's been captured," the morphers rang "And apparently there's a new Terror in town. Let's move."
They all ran past her, rushing towards the exit. Nick was about to rush past her too, but she grabbed a hold of his shirt before he could do so, "You and I need to have talk after." She let him go and with a huff he left. Before she followed Aria glanced to the side where Lee-Lee had hidden and in a softer voice she said, "I hope you and I can talk too…" and then she was out the door.
-City-
Hekatoid, a giant, blue, toad – looking creature appeared from a dark purple cloud. The seven of them wasted no time; Daggeron and the others formed their Megazords while Aria went Titan beside them.
"It's my turn to bring destruction to this land!" Hekatoid cried as threw his arms up into the air release a strange liquid into the sky "Soon, my poisonous tadpoles will rain down and rule the surface world!"
Distracted from his monologuing, Hekatoid was caught in the hot steam from Daggeron's Megazord. "Interrupting, am I?" Daggeron mocked
"Don't even try it!"
"Hey frog brain!" Aria called as she flew down with her giant black wings and swung her staff down his chest. The Five followed her and they took turns hailing attacks on him. Soon, Aria's Reaper form ended up behind him, staff pressed to his neck as the others pointed their sword to his chest.
"All right, where's Udonna?" Aria demanded.
"Don't try and stop me or you'll never see her again!" He broke from Aria's hold and pushed the Five's sword away from him. They swung down again but he shrank down to normal size with a taunting laugh. They quickly undone their Titan forms and met Hekatoid on the ground.
"That's far enough!" Daggeron said, blocking Hekatoid from his path
"You can't stop my plan!" he replied mockingly, "Wait till my babies rain down from the heavens!"
The rangers looked up to see a normal cloudy sky, "What are you talking about?" Nick demanded
"Look closer…"
Aria squinted her eyes past behind her helmet,in the clouds above there were clumps of black…things swimming together. She looked back at the frog-like creature behind her and gagged a little "Tadpoles?" she asked with a shudder. 'This thing reproduced?' she thought to herself
"Frog babies!" Xander pointed out
Hekatoid corrected them, "Poisonous frog babies! It's brilliant!"
"Frogs?" Maddie shuddered and shook her head "Why did it have to be frogs?!"
With a roar Hekatoid attacked. Chip and Xander got to him first before Nick and Daggeron had a go. From there the girls attacked together flipping and kicking him as they went. Despite his…round…physique Hekatoid was a lot faster and stronger than they had anticipated. He was able to keep up with the seven of them with his hammer. Soon enough each one of them ended up in a circle around the toad. Before they could even react Hekatoid blew through the end of his hammer and the rangers disappeared in a bright, teal light.
"Rangers!" "Guys!" Daggeron and Aria called out to them, they were able to avoid capture.
"Now they're in my dimension!" Hekatoid mocked
Aria fired her magic at him, but it was too late, he too disappeared. "No!" she cried in frustration "Fuck!"
"Aria!" Daggeron called, snapping her back to reality, "Now is not the time. We need to get the Rangers back if we want to find your mother."
She took a few calming breaths, her fists clenching at her sides. After a few beats of silence, she looked up at her teacher, "What do we do."
"We head back to Rootcore, we'll figure out our plan of attack there."
She nodded in agreement and the duo left the city to head back to the tree.
-Rootcore-
Unmorphed and hunched over the table, Daggeron, Aria, and Jenji peered into the crystal ball. They were unable to find the rangers, but they had an even bigger problem. The tadpoles Hekatoid planted were growing rapidly and they needed to figure out ow to get rid of them.
"We have to stop those tadpoles from becoming poisonous frogs" Aria said with a look of disgust. These things were getting uglier by the second.
"But shouldn't we be looking for Udonna? And the others?" Jenji asked nervously, he was worried about his friends.
"The rangers can handle themselves, and we can't help Udonna with those things around."
"She's right let's move" Daggeron ushered "Ready?"
"Ready"
"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"
"Galwit Mysto Ranger!"
-City-
The three of them returned to the city, once again Aria was in her Titan Reaper form with Jenji and Daggeron in the Solar Streak Megazord leading the way.
"Furnace Blast!" Daggeron commanded as a solid stream of Sun magic blasted towards the tadpoles.
Aria stood beside her mentor and with a combination of black lightning and dark magic aimed for the tadpoles as well.
They continued this for a while, Aria could feel herself losing energy after the continuous stream of magic she was producing. Her head fell as she willed to keep going. They had to get rid of these things. Looking down she saw her friends and…her friends?
'Again, with the clone thing?' she sighed. They might need her help.
"Daggeron look! They're back!"
Solaris looked over at the black ranger and followed her line of sight, below them ten brightly coloured suits faced off with a sneering Hekatoid watching from above.
"Go! We'll handle these!"
Aria nodded and shrank back down to size. However, when she got down there, she was helpless as she watched Nick, Vida, and Xander get turned into dice. Aria leapt over them shooting her black lightning to try and conserve her magic energy.
"Ria! Thank God!" Maddie sighed as she reached down to pick up the dice.
"What's the deal here?"
Chip's grip on his MagiStaff tightened "He's been making us play his game to get to Udonna"
"Well then game on"
With a cry Chip and Aria lunged forward, taking on the clones of Vida, Nick, Xander, and Chip. Maddie was left fighting her own evil double. However, Maddie's double soon got the upper hand. The blue ranger gritted her teeth and called on her Legendary Warrior mode. Chip followed his friend's lead and summoned his Crossbow Staff.
"Two for one?" he asked Aria with a grin
Her signature smirk appeared behind her helmet "All in"
The duo combined their lightning powers and destroyed the clones once and for all.
"We should really do this more often" she grinned as she patted his shoulder
"Nice work you guys!" Maddie cheered as she ran to her friends.
The trio ran back to Hekatoid, still floating in the air watching from another dimension with a worried look on his face.
"We played your game! Now take us to Udonna!" Maddie demanded.
"As you wish!" he laughed, soon all three were surrounded by a misty teal light and whisked away.
-Inner Sanctum-
Finally arriving where Udonna was being held Aria collapsed to her knees. She demorphed out of her suit and held her head in her hands. The dice fell out of Maddie's hands and their friends back to normal.
"Aria?" Nick asked shocked "What are you doing here?"
"What did you do to her?" Maddie demanded
"Now I can add you all tomy collection!"
"Give us Udonna already!" Vida said standing by her sister. The others joined the girls, but Nick stayed by Aria's side.
"You want to see her?"
"Now!"
Above them was their beloved mentor, trapped in a cage of vines. While the others demanded for Udonna's safe return Nick's attention was drawn to his sister. Aria was too focused to look, it was that all too familiar gnawing feeling. Something, or someone, trying to tear through from inside her. She grabbed Nick's arm.
"Hit me" she croaked out, sweat starting to bead down her face, her voice distorting once again
"What? No!"
"Nick, we don't have time for this, I can't fight it for long" She looked up at him. A mix of determination and desperation written across her face. They both knew in this state she would only weigh them down. Rescuing Udonna was the priority.
Suddenly, Nick a faint, quiet voice in his head 'Save Udonna, I'll be fine…' It was Aria, but she was right in front of him, her mouth wasn't moving save for the deep, shaky breaths she was taking.
Aria heard the same thing. A soft voice, Nick's voice, spoke 'I'm sorry…'
And with that Nick fired his own magic, not too powerful, but just enough to stun her into submission. The flash of light caused the others to turn
"What did you do?!" Vida demanded as she went to check on the unconscious girl.
"She made me! It was the only thing I could do to help her!" he defended. He felt incredibly guilty, and also confused about the voice in his head. Sure, he's heard Koragg's, but never Aria's.
"The Master…" Maddie whispered just loud enough for the others to hear. "We're on his turf…"
Finally, they understood. Aria was never one to be so easily affected by new surroundings unless it had to do with the Master and the Underworld.
"The Child of Darkness will make an excellent addition to my collection!" he boasted, his evil laugh shook the sanctum
"Not if we can help it!" Nick fired back
"CODE FIVE : MANTICORE MEGAZORD !"
The rangers made sure to secure their fallen friend into the cockpit as they began battle with Hekatoid. This was going to be tough; it would be their first battle without the help of Daggeron and Aria, but it's what had to be done. They prayed Daggeron would find them soon. Either to get Aria out of there or help them defeat another Terror. Either one would be appreciated. Surprisingly however, the battle seemed to lean in their favor. The rangers got the upper hand in a matter of minutes. Hekatoid ended up buried in a pile of debris as the rangers reached for the caged sorceress. They gently picked up their teacher with a sigh of relief.
Until a slimy tongue shot out and snatched her from right under their nose.
"Too slow!" the toad mocked. He turned and it was almost like he just cut through the air and opened a portal to another dimension. "Try again next time!" he jumped through the portal as the rangers raced to catch him. They tried their hardest to pull open the portal, but it seemed impossible.
-Human Realm: Beach-
Finally, they were able to rip open the portal enough for them to slip through. The five of them surveyed the scene around them while sneaking glances to Aria in the corner. She had started to stir in her unconscious state, so they were confident she was going to wake up soon.
"Where'd he go?" Chip wondered aloud.
Behind them Hekatoid flew out from the ocean and struck them with his hammer knocking them down. He stood over the fallen Manticore Megazord and taunted them, waving the trapped Udonna in their faces. The jolt from the Megazord's fall seemed to shake Aria awake and she opened her eyes. Her body was sore, and her head was spinning.
"Ari!" Nick cried in relief
"You couldn't have picked a lighter spell?" she asked, rubbing her temples
"I'm sorry, I didn't know what to-"
"It's ok," she smiled lightly "thank you. Now let me out so we can get rid of this overgrown toad once and for all."
"Ri, is this a good idea?" Maddie asked, concern laced through her voice
"I'll sleep when I'm dead" she laughed as she leapt out of the Megazord and transformed into her own Titan form.
"You're next Black Ranger! The Master will be pleased to have both the White Sorceress and the Child of Darkness in his possession!"
"Not a chance" she muttered as the battle resumed
Adrenaline pumped through the rangers, they rained down on Hekatoid one right after the other. Wrestling to get a hold of Udonna. Eventually, the Manticore Megazord had pinned Hekatoid to ground as Aria gripped his arm to try and loosen his hold on Udonna.
"I'll never let go! She is my prize!"
"Come on!" she cried in frustration as she put more pressure on him.
Finally, he let go and Udonna soared through the air. The rangers tried to reach for it, but they were too slow. Hekatoid spat out a slimy black goo that was able to reach Udonna before them. It encased her cage and she disappeared out of thin air, leaving the rangers to fall flat on their faces.
Hekatoid jumped around laughing maniacally "I've got her back! And I'll also take something else!" With that he leapt into the air and cast a seal around them.
They woke up, demorphed, and in the middle of the woods. The got to their feet gasping for air, Aria was still a little dazed from Nick's spell. He helped his sister up as he sighed, "I can't believe we let him get away with her."
"As long as we're still breathing, we're not stopping" Vida reassured the twins.
Chip spoke "Even if I stop breathing, I'm not stopping"
"Thanks guys" the twins said in unison
"Not a problem"
"Alright," Xander sighed "Let's ranger up."
"Ready?"
"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"
Nothing happened.
"You're kidding me, right?" Aria spat as she angrily shut her morpher. The others looked at her with concern. "He stole our fucking powers…"
"Not again" Vida sighed as she threw her arms up in the air
"We're not power rangers anymore" Nick breathed. He began pacing. "I can't help mom."
-Briarwood-
The rangers made their way out of the woods. With no ranger powers they figured they could regroup and plan their next move. The split up, Vida, Maddie, and Chip went around town to try and find Lee-Lee while Nick, Aria, and Xander headed to the Rock Porium. Normally she'd offer to stay behind and to work on the morphers but there was no physical damage to them. And only the spell used to remove their ranger powers could restore them.
Nick led them to the front door, "We gotta find Lee-Lee and force her to help us."
"I'm sure she will." Aria said defensively, she hadn't forgotten how her friends treated her earlier.
To their surprise it was closed with a note saying from Toby saying how all employees were gone. Nick unlocked the door and searched the store. Lee-Lee was nowhere to be found.
"She isn't here" Nick sighed "I can't believe this. This is all my fault." He began ranting "If I just stayed on my bike and blew through this town, none of this would've happened!"
"Now's not the time dude." Aria sighed at her brother's dramatics.
"Don't beat yourself up about the past." Xander tried calmly. "We're in this together."
"You don't get it." Nick was red in the face "Nobody gets it! I never knew my real parents or where I came from. Now that I find out, it's all taken from me. I'm alone again."
Xander opened his mouth to say something but Aria beat him to it. "Aye, hothead. The hell you think happened to me. Huh? Get your head out of your ass Nick and focus on finding mom instead of whining about your issues." She turned to head out the door
"Easy for you to say" he scoffed
Aria paused in her tracks and turned. "What was that?"
"You seemed to find your place pretty easily. Blue Bay? Reefside?"
"Where are your adoptive parents Nick? Hm?" she said slowly as she began walking back to Nick. "They doing well? You talk to them recently? You think I always had friends like Tori, Dustin, and all them? You clearly don't know shit. You don't know about the years I spent by myself because everyone else was so scared of me. You don't know all the times I watched my teachers praise my brothers while they couldn't even look me in the eye. So, don't tell me I don't know the feeling of being alone." Aria and Nick stared each other down, the same fierceness in their eyes. Xander stepped between them and put his hands on their shoulders.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down you too. Look everyone here has felt alone at some point in their lives. Including me." He admitted. Aria looked up at him, she wouldn't have expected it from him. He looked at Nick "You're not alone."
Nick scoffed again as he shrugged Xander's hand off of him. "You know how I feel? Come on. You're Mr. Personality. You're always surrounded by people." he challenged. Aria tapped him on the shoulder, a frown on her face.
"Not always…" Xander admitted "When I came to this country, I didn't know anyone. No one wanted to know me. I was the new guy with the silly accent, picked last on the school teams. I was teased mercilessly. Takes time to find your place. I understand loneliness. I understand leaving your friends behind. But you're not alone Nick. You got us. We're your friends. We're your mates. We're your family."
Nick sighed and looked at the floor. "Yeah, I'm sorry. You're right."
"Of course, I am" the two chuckled. Nick looked at his sister leaning on the counter with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I'm sorry Aria…"
She rolled her eyes "Yeah, yeah whatever" she grumbled, but he knew from the small grin on her face that he was forgiven. Rescuing Udonna was the priority, being upset with her brother was not.
Xander looked at the twins and reassured them, "We're gonna get Udonna back. No matter what it takes."
"But how?"
-Later-
Vida, Maddie, and Chip came rushing in. "No Lee-Lee" Vida sighed.
"So, what's plan B?" Nick asked
Before anyone could answer Toby walked in. "Oh, you're here. I was beginning to wonder if you worked here or not."
"I don't" Aria said under her breath. Vida nudged her.
"Boy, this diet and exercise—it sure makes a world of difference. I feel fantastic!" he ranted as he jogged past the teenagers
Nick rolled his eyes, "Glad you're feeling better, Toby"
He turned and came back to them, "Well, why the long faces? You want some water? Maybe some fruit?"
"No, we just-"
"No, no, I know something's wrong. You come; you go. You come back. You go away again. You might as well tell me. It'll make you feel better"
Aria looked at her friends as if a warning to say, 'keep your mouths shut.'
Clearly, they ignored her because Nick hopped off the counter he was sitting on and just blurted out that they were the power rangers. Aria just face palmed and screamed internally.
"Uh you tried that one on me before. Now what's the real truth?"
"That is the real truth!" the five blurted out
"Y'all really don't know how to keep a secret…" Aria said, her face still in her hands.
"Okay uh, well, why don't you prove it to me? Lemme see you uh….morph"
"We can't, we had our powers stolen by an overweight, sloppy frog." Chip explained
For once, Aria was grateful to have her powers stolen.
"Convenient. But the real powers rangers would figure out a way to get their powers back. See, the fate of the world rests in their hands."
"Yeah we know…" Maddie sighed
"The real power rangers would realize that the frog was overweight and use their agility." Aria's head perked up. Dude was right. "They're in such great shape. If he goes left, they'd tumble right. If he came forward, they'd flip over top."
The others slowly straightened up as they took in what Toby was saying. They thanked him for his advice and ran out the door. When they were a good distance away Aria spoke up, "Shit! I think I forgot something!"
"What?" Chip asked, panting a little.
She walked to each of them and smacked them up the heads. "What part of 'Don't tell anyone you're a ranger' do you not get?"
They all grumbled and rubbed the back of their heads and continued their race to find Hekatoid.
-Downtown-
They found him just in time. He was about to let his poisonous frogs rain down when the six of them called out to stop him.
Hekatoid laughed at the six powerless rangers "You can't do anything about it! I have your powers!" he taunted as he waved the jar with their ranger powers.
Unphased, the rangers rushed forward. Hekatoid fired his black slime at them but the six flipped in all different directions. Each of them took Toby's advice. He fired straight at Xander who rolled away. When he fired at Maddie's right she flipped left. Aria had never been so grateful for her ninja training as she was able to easily streak out of his aim.
However, unlike Aria, the others didn't have almost ten years of ninja training, so they were starting to tire out.
"I'm getting tired" Hekatoid whined
Aria ended up in the same corner as Vida, both with flushed cheeks and a sheen of sweat on their faces. "How long can we keep this up?" Vida asked between breaths
"Till we get that jar" Aria sighed as she tried to even her breathing. Across the courtyard Aria locked eyes with Nick, she glanced back at the toad to try and tell him something, he seemed to understand what she was trying to say because with a nod of his head Aria took off running straight towards Hekatoid. She gracefully leapt into the air and kicked the jar out his hands. It flew in the air as Nick dove to catch it. He opened it without hesitation as the rangers felt a surge of energy within them. They got their powers back.
"It doesn't matter!" Hekatoid roared as he motioned to the sky, above them the poisonous frogs began to fall. "Fall, my children!"
Suddenly, a sheet of ice appeared, freezing all of the frogs. "They…they froze…" Aria breathed; a weight seemed to come off her chest.
"That's right" a familiar voice announced. Up on a balcony stood the White Mystic Ranger, Udonna. "I thought you could use some snow power."
The six of them raced up to meet her. "Udonna! You're back!" Nick greeted excitedly.
"I am, let's do this!" she encouraged as the six rangers lined up to morph.
"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"
"LEGENDARY SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"
With their powers regained and their mentor rescued the rangers had another level of energy running through them.
"You won't stop me! I'm a Terror!" Hekatoid tried
Udonna called to combine their powers. They instantly fell into formation as they fired a combination of light, dark, and snow magic at the Terror. This deadly combination finally sealed his fate and Hekatoid was finally destroyed.
-Rootcore-
The rangers had surrounded Udonna in a group hug. When they broke apart Nick and Aria stepped forward. He took his mother's hands in his. "I never thought I'd see you again."
"Everything happens for a reason Nick." She said softly
"We just don't always know what that reason is." Aria finished. Nick gave his sister a side eye. "What? Sensei taught us the same thing."
Udonna laughed at her children as she enveloped both of them in a hug. When they broke up Nick caught a glimpse of Lee-Lee in the back by Phineas. "What's she doing here?" he demanded
"Nick." Aria scolded as she moved to stand between her and the other rangers.
"She's with me" Phineas said boldly as she also stepped forward to shield Lee-Lee. Claire joined them, "Me too"
Udonna stepped up to her son and wrapped her arms around him, "She's trustworthy now Nick. It's because of her I was rescued." The other rangers faces softened upon hearing this. Nick however, kept a scowl on his face.
"Don't worry," Lee-Lee said softly as she fiddled with the strap of the bag "I understand."
Suddenly, Nick's face softened as well and welcomed her into a group hug. They all danced around in celebration of Udonna's rescue before being called in by said matriarch to continue the festivities. They all raced inside, allowing for Lee-Lee to pull Aria aside.
"Can I ask you something? About earlier"
"Shoot."
"You defended me, before finding out I helped find Udonna…why?" she asked softly.
Aria smiled "Because I was in a similar situation. I've done things I'm not proud of. But I found people who helped me find my way out the dark." She looked inside Rootcore to see her friends laughing. "And now it seems you've found yours."
Lee-Lee smiled and the ground, but Aria could see in her eyes that there was still some guilt. She saw that similar look in Cam and Sensei's eyes when it was revealed they were related to Lothor. "Hey," Lee-Lee's eyes met Aria's. "Family doesn't define you. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. Also, I think I know some people who know exactly what you're going through." She laughed
"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot" Lee-Lee had happy tears welling. She felt like she had finally found her place.
The two girls hugged and made their way to the others. Aria was about to step into the dragon head when suddenly a chill rushed over her. goosebumps popped up on her skin and she felt a presence. She turned to survey the scene behind her. It was empty. Just empty woods. She scanned the area one last time before turning around to enter Rootcore. She didn't know what happened, but she knew something was coming. Something big.
A/N: Almost done! Only a few more chapters. Thanks everyone who has been here since the beginning i appreciate you all! REVIEW AND FOLLOW!