Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. Only my OCs.
Chapter 10: Return of Thunder: Part 3
Previously:
Crash landing on a deserted beach hurt. Liz sat up, grunting in pain, "Ow!"
"Tell me about it." Dee groaned from her left, "I landed on a rock."
"My head." Lexi crawled to her hands and knees, head touching the sand, "The pain."
"We've never hurt this bad on a relanding before." Kura clutch her newly sprained wrist, "What do you think happened?"
Liz reached into the side pocket of her belt and pulled a portable scanner, "According to this, we're in the middle of the ocean. There shouldn't be an island here."
"Great." Dee groaned, "How long do we have to stay stranded here before we disappear again?" She held up her left wrist and after flipping the top of a metal wrist unit, stared in shock at the readings. "Guys! We're… stabilized."
"What?!" The other three flipped open their own devices and smiled and excitement.
"So, we're cured?" Lexi asked, standing up, "No more disappearing or reappearing?"
"I guess not." Liz looked around, "Which means, we've caught up to our time. Where we're supposed to be."
"And if the initial blast that started all of this ended up bringing the others here," Dee smirked, "then we're exactly where we're supposed to be."
The girls gathered around, energized with a new purpose.
Liz nodded, "Let's go find our family."
1-2-3-4-5
The Rangers walked along the beach by the sea as the waves got rougher and rougher by the hour. Dustin shivered, and rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm up.
"Is it me, or is it starting to get seriously cold?" he asked as the others shivered as well.
"Most of the time I'd say it was just you, but it is definitely getting colder here," Shane admitted, rubbing his hands together.
"I'd really like to know why we can morph, but we can't reach Ninja Ops," Tori grumbled, choosing to take her mind off the cold.
"Yeah, well," Shane agreed, "I'd settle for knowing where we are."
"Portico Island." Blake answered.
The Winds all stopped and stared at him, as he turned around.
"What?"
"Anything else you'd like to share with the group?" Shane asked.
"Nah, you don't wanna know." Blake assured. "Trust me."
"Trust us, we do." Tori said.
"I heard Lothor talking with his pals before he sent Hunter and me back to Earth." Blake explained.
"And?" Shane inquired, knowing there was more.
"This place doesn't exist on any map." Blake explained, making his friends look around. "And it rises from the sea like, once every 200 years or something."
"And then what?" Dustin asked, curiously.
"Well, that's the part that's kinda harsh." Blake said.
Tori gasped, realizing what he meant. "You're telling us that this whole place is sinking back into the ocean?!"
"I told you you didn't wanna know."
"If that was our sisters," Dustin sighed, "then we need to find them and fast."
"Agree. We better hurry. We find them first and then we need to find some higher ground. Shane said. "Come on."
1-2-3-4-5
When the Rangers made their way to the top of a hill, Dustin stopped. "Anyone else worried that we haven't seen Hunter for a couple of hours?" He asked, holding a long stick to poke holes in the ground.
"Not me," Shane shook his head as Dustin sat down, "I could use the break from getting my butt whupped." Blake turned to the Red Ranger with a frown. "Hey, no offense, but your bro isn't exactly playing nice with others these days." He said, folding his arms defensively.
"Look, Hunter's a great Ranger." Blake told them, "One day, you're all going to be glad he's got those powers."
"Sure. The day he stops using them on us," Shane muttered.
"How did you get them anyway?" Tori asked curiously as she took a seat beside Dustin as he poked the ground with his stick.
"What?" Blake frowned.
"Your powers. You never told us how any of that happened."
"It's a long story. Do you really want to hear it?" Blake asked slowly.
"It's either that, or watch Dustin play in the dirt," Shane smirked at the Yellow Ranger as he continued to draw in the dirt with his stick.
"Sensei Omino was the one who taught our parents the way of the Thunder Ninja," Blake started, looking sad. "After they passed away, he brought us to the Thunder Academy. Helped us get through everything. We felt like we belonged again. We all did really well in our training. Sensei Omino was grooming us for something, but we didn't know what," he explained with a small smile as he thought about it.
"So that's when Lothor showed up," Dustin realized. Blake nodded as his frown returned.
"Yeah. Our school was attacked. Kelzacks and aliens were everywhere. Sensei gave us our morphers," Blake continued on his expression darkening. "He told us we'd know what to do. Only at that moment, he got captured by Lothor."
"When you go in one of those ball things, what's it feel like" Dustin interrupted curiously, earning several stares. "Is it like going off a freestyle ramp?"
"Not really the point dude," Shane interrupted as Blake looked away, his arms folded.
"Oh yeah, no, sorry, continue," he looked up at the Navy Ranger apologetically.
"Once we got on Lothor's ship, he was really tweaked that the Ranger powers were passed onto us. That's when he told us the lie about our parents," Blake finished.
"That's when you went medieval on us, huh?" Shane asked, and Blake nodded.
"Let's not go there again." Tori looked up at him with a frown.
"You gotta understand," Blake pleaded with them. "Hunter is a good person. But if he believes someone has wronged him, he won't stop until he makes it right," he explained.
"Ok, we get that," Dustin nodded. "But why is he taking it out on us?" he asked.
"Choobo used some kind of mind erase to make us think you were our enemies," Blake explained softly.
"Then how come you snapped out of it?" Shane asked, frowning at the Ranger suspiciously. "And why didn't Lexi believe any of the stuff Lothor was telling you?"
"I guess I just had more help remembering who my friends are," Blake shrugged, and Tori smiled up at him, "As for Lexi, she has a really good BS meter. She tried to tell us not to believe him. We didn't listen to her. It put a strain on us. She didn't believe Choobo and told us we were stupid for trusting him. She was right again."
"Well, then old Hunter needs the same reminder you got." Tori stated, standing up, "Come on, we better go find him. And hopefully the sisters as well."
"Do we have too?" Dustin sighed, turning slightly.
Shane grabbed him, "Our sisters?" He scowled, dragging him along.
"I know, I know."
1-2-3-4-5
Coughing as they walked over a rocky part of the beach, the Rangers found themselves beginning to choke on the gas that was rising from the island, now even more powerful than before.
"This island reeks!" Dustin groaned in disgust.
A distant yell broke through the sounds of the ocean. They looked over to see Hunter rolling down the side of the sand dune. "You guys, check it out!" Blake yelled, pointing to his brother. "Come on!"
They ran down as Hunter stood up, yelling for Blake. An explosion knocked them off their feet, before they could reach him. Super Toxipod reappeared with a laugh, walking towards them.
"You guys better bail!" he warned. "Cause I'm one bad snail!" he declared.
"If you're a snail, how come you look more like a crab?" Dustin taunted, laughing as the Snail growled.
"Crab, snail, whatever!" he dismissed it, and blasted at them. They flipped backwards, landing lightly.
"Time to plug this slug!" Dustin called as they stood together.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
"Ninja STORM!"
"THUNDER STORM!"
"Ranger FORM, HA!"
"Power of Earth!"
"Water!"
"Air!"
"Power of Thunder!"
They morphed and drew their weapons, ready to fight.
"I can take you all on!" Super Toxipod roared.
"Dream on, Snail Trail!" Blake mocked. "Ninja Shadow Battle!" they each attacked the snail monster, overpowering him. "Where's Hunter?" Blake caught him with his Navy Antlers. The monster cried out in pain as he struggled to break free.
"What do you care?" he grunted as Blake swung him around. "You'll never get off this island!" he told the Navy Ranger, who tossed him aside.
"Put them together! Storm Striker!" The three Wind Ninjas combined their weapons and aimed it at Super Toxipod.
"Fire!"
The attack shot at the monster, slamming into him.
"That's not in the script!" he collapsed and exploded. Lowering their visors, they ran over to Blake.
"Everyone ok?" Shane asked as he looked to each of them. They nodded, and Blake looked around.
"Where's Hunter?" he wondered.
"There you are! Traitor!" They looked around, visors falling as they heard Hunter's roar. The Crimson Ranger ignored the others as they tried to stop him, and he attacked Blake, who cried out. He ignored Blake's words, continuing to attack his brother.
"Hunter, stop!" They looked over to see four female Rangers rush onto the scene. The one in gold ran over to the brothers, "I don't know what's wrong with you," she called, swinging her staff out knock them away from each other, "but I've never had a problem putting you in your place. There's nothing stopping me from doing it again."
"Hunter, snap out of it?" Blake begged, having to ignore how happy he was to see his sister, "Lothor's done something to you!"
"Liar!" Hunter growled, moving Blake slightly.
"Listen to him!" Lexi begged, grabbing his shoulder.
"No more lies!" Hunter growled, jerking away from her. He pull his staff back and tried to slash at Blake again, but missed as he ducked and Lexi kicked him back.
"They need us!" Shane called, looking over at his sister, "Talk later."
The group nodded as they all ran forward to help Blake, but Choobo got in front of them all.
"Not so fast. I wanna play." Choobo said.
"Who's the giant green booger?" The new Pink Ranger asked, holding up her staff.
"Booger? I don't know who you are, you little brat, but I'm going to teach you some manners." Choobo yelled before charging forward, taking on the six Rangers.
"Hunter, you've gotta trust us!" Blake begged as they blocked Hunter's staff again.
"Why should I?!" he growled, kicking her away. He kicked Blake's out from under him and pinned him to the ground.
"Hunter… please?" Lexi said, grabbing Hunter's shoulders, trying to pull him off.
"You betrayed me, and now you will pay for that betrayal!" Hunter swore, as Blake tried to push him off.
"It was Choobo and Lothor! They betrayed us." Blake explained, "Think, Hunter, think!"
Hunter glared for a moment, but started to shake his head in confusion. "AH!"
"Come on, bro!" Lexi begged, straining, "You're under some kind of spell! Wake up!"
"You're confusing me! No more Ninja tricks!" He threw Lexi off him so hard, she landed against a rock and de-morphed.
"Lexi!" Blake yelled as Hunter tried to stab him with his staff. A blast shot out and hit the weapon, making him drop it. Blake shoved him off and rushed over to check on his sister.
"Get back here!" Hunter yelled, struggling in the arms of the two Rangers who grabbed him, "Let me go!"
"Sorry, Hunter!" Liz tightened her grip, "You're not in your right mind!" She looked back at the others still fight Choobo, "Kura! We need your assistance!"
"Coming!" The Pink Ranger rushed over and studied the struggling Thunder Ranger, "Hey, Navy Boy! Get over here and hold him down!"
"Lexi is hurt!"
"He's the priority. I'll take care of her after." He nodded and, running back over, grabbed his legs to hold him down more. "Hurry!"
She waved her arms around in a circle, creating an orb of irridescent light, and sent at to Hunter. The orb surrounded his helmet, cutting off the yelling he was still doing. She then blew a blast rainbow colored smoke out, the orb absorbing it inside to coat the helmet. She did a few hand gestures and sent a sutra out to land on the orb, making it burst. Once the smoke was cleared, Hunter stopped struggling and put his hand on his head in pain.
"It's coming back!" Hunter moaned. "Ow!" They all back away as he sat up, crawling away a few feet.
"Hunter?" Blake asked as the Pink Ranger ran over to Lexi. "Bro?"
Hunter looked back and de-morphed, "I… remember." He fell onto his forearms in exhaustion, and then collapsed.
"Hunter!" Blake cried, once his visor retracted. He and Liz rushed over to check on him, while Dee went to Lexi. Blake grabbed Hunter by his collar and pulled him up. "No! Come on, bro! Stay with me!"
Hunter regained consciousness, and Liz smiled down at the brothers. "He's waking up."
"Dude..." Hunter groaned. "I kinda need to breathe at some point," he gasped, and Blake let out a laugh of relief, releasing his brother.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Choobo yelled.
"Oh, yes, he does!" Shane called, and the Wind Rangers leapt through the air, swinging their swords. Shane then called on the full strength of his sword and slashed Choobo over and over again, forcing him to back off.
"I'll be back Rangers!" Choobo warned, turning and running off before they could stop him. He disappeared, and they demorphed, coming over to Liz, Hunter, and Blake.
"Guess Choobo didn't feel like sticking around for an encore," Tori grinned.
"Yeah, and that crab is toast," Shane nodded.
"Man, why have I got this sudden craving for seafood?" Dustin wondered, earning several disgusted looks.
"Look!" They raced over as all the girls, now demorphed, circled around the brothers.
"He's back to being Hunter," Tori commented as he looked up at them curiously.
"Good Hunter, or bad Hunter?" Dustin grinned.
"Do you know who we are?" Shane asked.
"Yeah, my friends," Hunter nodded up at them, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up and smiled, "Lexi." He stood up and pulled his twin toward him, "What happened to you?"
"It a long story."
"Very long." The other three echoed, laughing in unison.
1-2-3-4-5
As they all stood on the beach, the Rangers wondered just how they were going to get off the island, when suddenly Shane's morpher beeped. They all gathered around quickly, curious.
"Is that you Cam?" Shane asked hopefully.
"No, it's the phone company. We're calling to find out if you're happy with your long-distance service," Cam replied sarcastically, making them laugh.
"Haven't had long distance in years." Dee frowned, "Is it worth it?"
Everyone laughed as they stared at her, "What?" She asked, "I was mostly serious."
"Are they always this uh… funny?" Hunter asked with a grin.
Shane smirked, "Not always. We're great Cam, thanks for asking," Shane spoke into his morpher, nudging his sister with his shoulder.
"Are the Thunder and Spectre Rangers with you?" Sensei asked curiously.
"Right here Sensei," Shane nodded, "Plus one more. Unsure about her."
"Excellent. I must speak to them upon your return," Sensei told them.
"Which brings up our next problem," Cam spoke up next. "You're on an island that's sinking fast. You've got to find a way off," he told them.
"How about the gliders?" Dustin suggested.
"The atmospheric pressure is too unstable right now, it wouldn't be safe."
"What about the Zords?" Blake wondered aloud.
"Good idea Blake," Sensei voiced his approval of the idea.
"They're on their way!" Cam called. "I just have to check their structural integrity to make certain they can stand the water pressure," he told them.
"We're ready," Shane told him, and ended the communication. "Let's do it," he said, but as they fell into formation, Hunter spoke up.
"Wait!" they all looked around at him, and he looked uncomfortable. "I just wanted to say that it means a lot. The way you stood up for me," Hunter told them.
"Hey, that's what friends do." Shane nodded, "So, before this turns into a group hug, we better go," Shane clapped Dustin and Blake on the shoulders and walked off.
"Whose Zord am I hitching a ride in?" The girl in pink asked.
Before anyone could answer, a Scroll of Empower appeared, regenerating Super Toxipod, "Ah! Go big or go home!"
"You guys ready for this?" Shane looked to Dustin, Tori, Liz and Dee.
"Ready," They nodded, and Shane looked to Hunter, Blake, Lexi and the new girl.
"Ready," Hunter nodded as well and Shane grinned.
"Ninja STORM!"
"FIRE STORM!"
"THUNDER STORM!"
"SPECTRE STORM!"
"Ranger FORM, HA!"
"Ninja Ranger Power!"
"Hey Cam, how about those Zords?" Shane called as they looked up at Toxipod.
"On their way," Cam responded quickly, sending them their Zords. They leapt up into the Zords as they arrived on the steadily sinking island, forming the two Megazords. The other girls landed into theirs, with the Pink Ranger sharing Dee's Crane Zord.
"Hey Rangers!" Toxipod laughed. "You're gonna be sorry you ever crossed my snail trail!" he called to them, holding a weapon that had shells as blades. He breathed fire at them, hitting all three.
"Dude, it's hot! Like, Africa hot!" Dustin cried as their Zords heated up.
"Where's the A.C on this thing?" Tori looked around hopefully.
"Whoa! Yo, you guys ok?" Shane looked to the other Zords.
"Yeah, don't worry about it!" Hunter called back.
"We can take the heat!" Blake nodded in agreement.
"Five by five in the Crane Zord."
Lexi laughed, "Dragonfly here! All systems go!"
"This Owl is flying sky high!"
"Alright, then!" Shane chuckled, "Let's go for a little spin!" As the Megazords starting spinning in place, the three aerial Zords flew around them in the same direction, putting out the flames.
"What?!" Toxipod cried out in horror, before the Thunder Rangers called on their Spin Blade, and the Wind Megazord went into lightning mode. The fliers laser beams shot out,Toxipod away from them.
The Wind Megazord finished off the battle, and the snail collapsed, falling. The Rangers cheered and moved through the sea as the island sank back into the sea.
1-2-3-4-5
"Hey Kel..." while cleaning up what appeared to have been a massive sale, Kelly looked around at Dustin, Dee and Liz. Hunter and Blake stood behind them, looking just as guilty as the Yellow and Gold Rangers.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in," the red-haired woman frowned as she packed up a box and pushed it out of the way.
"Look, Kelly, we are so sorry," Dee told her.
"Kel, we can explain. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere-"
"It wasn't their fault," Hunter spoke up from behind Dustin. "They were helping us out," Kelly just rolled her eyes.
"That doesn't surprise me," she hauled a bunch of clothes into her arms. "You couldn't have called? Sent an email?" she demanded as both looked really guilty.
"You gotta trust me, if there was any way, we'd have been here!" Dustin insisted.
"They're telling the truth. As for my brother and me, we know we let you down a bunch of times," Blake spoke up, and Hunter nodded quickly. "We're through with that. We want to start over," Kelly kept working, but was looking thoughtful.
"We'll make it up to you, we promise," Hunter added, and Kelly dumped the boxes in her hands.
"Well, I'm still kind of shorthanded. I could do with a couple of stock boys," the two frowned as the other three started to smile. "You know, someone to open boxes, clean the floors, that kinda stuff," Kelly listed, and as Hunter protested, Blake accepted, ignoring his brother. "Well, you can start by helping me clean up this mess."
"We've just got one thing that we have to take care of," Dustin told her quickly, and Kelly frowned again. "We'll be back in like, half an hour. I promise," Dustin insisted, and Kelly sighed as they rushed back out of Storm Chargers.
1-2-3-4-5
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Shane exclaimed as Hunter and Blake told them what they were planning. "Let me get this straight. After all we went through, you guys just want to walk away from being Rangers?" he demanded.
"We have to," Hunter told him as they stared at the two.
"Lothor isn't gonna let us rest until he destroys us," Blake pointed out.
"Join the club dude," Dustin gestured to the rest of them.
"We can't risk anything happening to you because of us. You're the only thing standing between Lothor and millions of innocent people," Hunter shook his head.
"But you've been given a gift." Tori said. "Isn't it your responsibility to use that gift?"
"Tori is correct." Sensei said, getting their attention. "Sensei Onimo knew the Thunder Ranger powers were meant for you. But I cannot force you to live up to your responsibility."
Lexi shook her head, "They're a couple of boneheads." She shrugged at the look they sent her, "I'm in. After everything the four of us have been through, I'm not turning my back on this now. Now way."
Shane stepped forward, "Are you going to explain that? Also, can we get a proper introduction to our new Pink Ranger?"
"She does look familiar." Sensei frowned, "But it's vague. Young lady?"
Kura bowed, "I apologize. I didn't think you wouldn't remember me. But," she shrugged, "then again, I have seen you since the funeral."
Sensei stared in shock as Cam walk over, studying her, "Sakura?"
"Hey, cuz."
"Whoa! Wait," Dustin looked at them, "she's a Watanabe?"
"No, Dustin." Sensei smiled sadly, "She's a Nakamura. The daughter of my late wife's sister, Hana Nakamura."
"What happened?" Cam asked, hugging his cousin, "How did you get here?"
"It's a very long story. How about a condensed version?" She gestured to the room, "I was captured with the rest of the Academy. It was Lexi who accidently freed me."
"When we separated on the ship, I found the room with all the kidnapped Ninjas, just hanging in the pods. Before I could do anything, I was attacked by Kelzacks. I landed on the console and something released her pod from the ceiling." Lexi smirked, "Giving me a new best friend in the process."
"No doubt." Kura sighed, "As for the rest, it's really complicated."
"Complicated?" Shane asked, "Blake said he saw the four of you on the cliff during the Zord battle. You were still there when the blast his that sent us to Portico Island."
"We were." Liz chuckled, "But we didn't go from the cliff to Portico Island."
"We landed on an island alright." Lexi chuckled, "Really glad we weren't there long."
"Can you imagine facing our worst fears and disappearing like that?" Kura asked, staring at the girls, "I mean, wow."
"Worse fears?" Sensei asked, look at his niece, "Disappear? Did you end up on the Island of Illusion?"
Cam looked shocked, "That's a myth!"
"So was Portico Island." Liz countered, "Besides the point. We were on the island. Just not in this time zone."
"I'm confused."
"We were somehow sent to 1993."
The girls laughed at the faces of awe in the room around them.
"Oh, have we got a story to tell."
Dee held up her hand, "In pieces, please. To them, it was hours. For us, it was years." She said, making them gasp shock, "I know. Unbelievable."
"I've got a better word for it." Lexi smirked and chorused with the other three.
"Morphenominal."
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