Chapter 17: Pre-Teen Bonding – Part 6

The ground shook under the weight of her power as she tore pass tree after tree. Her white hair flowed wildly behind her, streaked with pink lines throughout, making her now torn blue dress stand out even more against her pale skin.

But that meant nothing to her as her ears perked up, listening to her surroundings for her prey. The air was silent, but her nose was hot on the scent, following it as the direction changed to her right. Her mouth was open in a flash and was consumed in pink light as an Ectoblast formed before being violently ejected like a missile.

"Oh, come on!" Sam shouted, narrowly dodging the blast. The ball of energy whizzed past her and rocketed through the sky before blowing up about halfway between her and where she could see Danny trying to fight the dragon. Turning back, she turned visible as she stared down at the growling Ellie. "I guess's there's no point wasting energy trying to be invisible if she can clearly still see me."

The girl in question reared back, looking as though she were preparing to leap through the air at her, and the sudden idea of her being airborne terrified Sam.

"Don't even think about it, Danielle Madeline Fenton!" Sam said, summoning her whip. The vine began to glow before vanishing in a flourish of energy that charged into the handle and down to the rose pummel. Turning it over, Sam brought the glowing purple orb toward her mouth and spoke into it like a microphone. "Sprout: Lavender!"

The ground underneath shook vigorously as well as glowed purple around her. The animal Ranger growled in fright as an explosion of purple flowers bloomed around her, filling the air with the rich scent of lavender. The scent changed into trails of purple around her, distracting and overpowering her senses.

As the glow from her weapon ceased, Sam watched, hoping that maybe the lavender would at the very least calm her. The flowers gave a bright glow, and Danielle howled as she shook her head rapidly, wanting nothing more than to be rid of the irritation. The scent was blinding to her, not only because of the intensity, but the color was maddening enough on its own.

"SAM!" The Purple Ranger turned behind her to see a green streak of fire shooting across the ground before jumping into the air and landing between her and Danielle. The fire vanished with a "WHOOSH", replaced by Jake in his Ranger form, posing with his knees bent and right knuckle on the ground. Taking a deep breath, he looked over his shoulder and asked, "You ok?"

"Pretty banged up I'd say, but I'll survive," she said, clutching at her right thigh that had a deep scratch on it. "I didn't have much time to try to heal and-"

A roar ripped through the sky, and the two looked at Danielle as she held her head upward. A shockwave of wind swirled from around her, blinding the two as white sparkles infested the air. A loud hiss could be heard from under her as the flowers around the areas began to disintegrate.

"So, that's probably not good," Jake said, summoning his power putty in one hand while using the other to block his face. Pour his energy into it, the putty mended and twisted, changing into a chain.

"You're telling me. I thought the Lavender would help to calm her down," Sam said landing next to him, also shielding her face with her free hand. Channeling the energy back from her pommel, Sam gave the hilt a swift thrust out to her side, a new vine growing in a flash of light as it cracked. As she got into battle position, she was startled by the disbelieving look Jake was giving her. "What?"

"You tried to pacify an enraged Danielle, with lavender?!" Jake asked, facepalming before adding, "She HATES lavender!"

"And how was I supposed to know?" Sam replied, keeping her eyes on girl at the center of the windstorm still blowing.

"I figured it was pretty obvious given it's because she doesn't like Lily," Jake said, before a frightening thought hit him. "Oh crap! Lily was with her!"

"Chill out, Loverboy. I saw her run back toward the building," Sam replied with an eye roll, mumbling, "Clueless…" under her breath.

"You mean the one that's currently being attacked by a dragon ghost?" He shot back just as said dragon could be heard in the distance.

"Yes, that very one which I need to go back Danny up at," she said. Turning on her heel, she asked, "You got this?"

"Ha, of course. I'm me, right?" he replied as he turned forward, and though his words were cocky, there was next to no confidence in his voice.

"Then I'll leave you to it. Remember, just trust your instincts," she encouraged before taking off into the air toward the dance hall.

Jake swallowed the nerves he could feel as the wind finally began to die down. The flowers Sam had produced were now gone thanks to the white dust floating around her. Danielle growled, her eyes locking with his as she hunched up to stand on her two feet. Slowly her breathing steadied, her body seeming to calm down before she lifted her head to face him head on.

"Ellie," Jake said, voice cracking for a moment as he took in her appearance. This was his fault; he hadn't been there to help and now she was going on some kind of a rampage. "I've gotta fix this somehow." Her pink eyes watched him, but Jake could see nothing of his friend behind the glassy cat-eye slits. Guess that meant he was gonna have to do this the hard way.

And that was the last thing he wanted to do. As strong as they all were, it was obvious that Ellie held the advantage in every physical category, and the thought of going against her one-on-one kind of terrified him if he was being honest.

No. Stop thinking like that. You gotta get in the zone… Jake thought with a shake of his head. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. "Ellie, I know you're in there. Just give me a sign."

"I can't always give you a sign, Jake," Danielle's voice echoed in his head. "Not that it matters. You never stick to the plan anyway."

"That's…a…lie!" he huffed, out of breath as they stood in the basement. His green T-shirt had been drenched half an hour ago, so it was surprising to the boy that he had any sweat left at this point, evident only by the ever-present steam trails coming off his body. As the steam evaporated into little vanishing green embers, Jake looked up to the smirking White Ranger and added," I always stick to the plan."

"Only when you wanna do something flashy," she replied, hands on her hips. Her hair had been pulled all the way back, including her bangs, as today was speed test day. Much like him, her shirt was also drenched, however, she still had more steam in the tank as she didn't seem nearly as exhausted as he was. Holding out her hand to him, she said, "You heard what my brother said. If we wanna not have them breathing down our necks every time a ghost shows up, we gotta coordinate better. They're just gonna keep treating us like kids if we don't get our act together and prove them wrong. We're supposed to be partners."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just…" Jake grumbled, taking her hand to stand up before looking away and saying, "well, our powers are just different."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, your powers are always on. It's like you're just in the zone 24/7 while I'm barely waking up. Hell, even Sam's started to get the hang of her powers better than I am. My spirit gave me that whole spiel about only being limited by my imagination, but I don't know how to get that spark going faster."

"Oh, what, you get beat by a girl a few times and suddenly the "Great Youngblood" can't get in the zone?" she taunted, taking their interlaced hands, and gripping his tighter. Jake grimaced in discomfort at her crushing his hand, and turned to yell at her, only to realize he was suddenly airborne.

Sam, Danny, and Tucker watched, humored as the Green Ranger was sent flying, then crashing into the lab table near them, the frail structure crumpling around him. Jake groaned, though the landing barely hurt him, before he popped his head out from the rumble. His eyes were burning green with radiant energy as he focused and glared at Danielle, cocky smirk remaining on her face.

"Uh oh, someone's mad," Danielle teased, but Jake simply grit his teeth and shoved all of the table pieces off of him to jump to his feet and stomp forward. More wisps of smoke began to sprout over his body, followed by dozens of more ember flecks. "You finally in the zone there, hot head?"

"I bet you thought that was really funny, huh, Fenton?" Jake said, clutching both of his fists. His ring gave a glow, releasing a flash as his arm was cast in green fire up to his elbow. "I'm gonna kick your ass so hard and leave a burn so bad, your bones are gonna have 3rd degree charring."

"Oh, I did. And that's some big talk coming from a matchstick like you! Maybe now I'll get some real competition!"

Jake took another deep breath, green wisps coming from him again. He could feel his body temperature rising with each breath, his adrenaline pumping through his blood.

"I'm definitely gonna die tonight," he mumbled, opening his eyes, both irises flashing white. Danielle's pink eyes grew wide at the sight, causing her to take a step back. "But if that's what it takes to save my best friend, then I'd better get to it! Power Putty, Ball and Chain!"

Bringing the chain over his head, Jake began swinging it as fast as he could. The end instantly caught fire, green flames blooming from the end and forming into a spiked ball.

Danielle dropped low, a feral hiss coming from her as she launched herself backward, clearing more than a hundred feet back and skidding to a slide. The ground shook as Jake's flaming ball, which couldn't have been larger than a bowling bowl, left a burning crater where she'd been. The dust that had surrounded her flowed away from the flames in irritation before being drawn back to her in a swirling gust.

Danielle hissed again, clutching her head in pain. Jake watched her, eyes focused as she seemed to grow more angered and feral by the second. The dust grew brighter and brighter before, one by one, each speck burst like a tiny firecracker, changing from white to pink.

Jake watched, shocked as the white dust changed to reflect the same shade of color as in her eyes, and the sounds of the wind grew sharper and harsher. Jake cringed at the irritating noise coming from the specks as it grew louder and decided to change his weapon. Looks like he was gonna need something faster to keep up.

Danielle's eyes twitched up at the glow, and a roar came before she slashed at him, sending a wave of noisy dust at him. Jake dove to his right, narrowly missing the attack that came at him with bullet like speed. The noisy dust had formed into a massive claw, leaving an imprint on the ground only a few feet from him. Jake gulped, his eyes darting over the claw in amazing detail that he'd never knew he could see. Each speck, as small as it was, moved about, buzzing and zipping around freely while emitting pink energy.

"It's like a swarm…" Jake said, tracing the claw back to Danielle via the pink trail that was attached to her right arm. Her hand was held in the same claw position; however, her eyes were solely focused on him and not where he had been. "So, the dust is made up of her Ectoenergy but acts like a bunch of bugs. Since when can she do-"

"-AKE-"

Jake gasped, his vision fading in and out for a moment, Danielle's form vanishing for a moment, replaced by something white. The Green Ranger grabbed his head, closing one eye as he winced from the pain, and bringing the other, his left hand, up to guard. His Power Putty flashed, changing into a shield to brace against the forced of her head on pounce.

"I barely had time to see that coming," he thought as he struggled to hold the shield in place and prevent her from tearing into him. "My head is splitting! What the hell's happening?"

Danielle roared in his face as she dug her claws into the shield, the wood-like exterior beginning to crack under her force. Jake grunted as he tried to focus, but the headache he was feeling had undoubtedly gotten worse once she kicked him.

"JAKE!"

"Ell-ie?" he grunted, startled at the sound of her voice. "Ar-are you in my hea-"

Jake was cut off as she delivered a powerful kick to his stomach, destroying his shield and sending him crashing into the trees. Jake didn't know how many trees he hit before he came to a stop, but the splinters in his back hurt like hell and that was more the enough for him.

"Ugh. Ok…" he said, looking up as Danielle crouched on the ground, the Bug Dust surrounding her. "So, you are still in there." Standing up, Jake recalled the broken parts of his weapon and turned intangible, hopping out of the forest in a single leap. Landing in the clearing and turning tangible, he watched as, like a skittish animal, she backed up. "Ellie? Can you hear me?"

The girl before him roared in reply, but as Jake squinted, his vision started to fade in and out again.

"JAKE!" he heard; this time much louder.

"Ellie?" he called, voice echoing as he blinked. The world faded to black around them, leaving the two standing alone. As his vision steadied, Jake watched as the animalistic Ellie began to vanish, the white object from before glowing into existing in a wisp of swirling energy. "A door?"

Jake blinked, finding himself back in reality just in time to quickly dodge as she fired an ectoblast at him. Danielle growled, leaning forward, and getting in position for another attack.

"That door…" Jake said in realization. Summoning his Power Putty back in its original form, he mumbled, "She's behind that door. I can feel it. Which means I'm gonna have to literally throw myself to the lion."

Mashing the putty in his hand, Jake brought it into both hands, calling out, "Power Putty: Fire Fists!", igniting his hands up to his forearms. Flexing his arms back, Jake got into a boxer's stance, showing off the green fire covered gauntlets he created.

The gauntlets were a near exact replica of Danielle's Beast Bracelets, though with the obvious change in color, as well as a few customizations. Made of the same white metal for his hands, instead of fur on top, Jake's gauntlets were adorned with green fire, reminiscent of a torch. The cuffs that were normally adorned with animal symbols had been replaced by slanted green vents that gave a small spin as the weapon transformation completed.

"Ok. Simple plan. I just punch my way past all that Bug Dust, and then I just gotta get close enough to mentally open that white, ghostly door. Yeah. Easy, right?" he asked himself, activating the cuff wheels. The small vents came to life, spinning at an incredibly fast rate that caused the sides to turn green from the friction. The heat travelled through the gauntlets, and the fire on each grew large, enveloping his fists to look like mini fireballs.

The two otherworldly children stared each other down, one in anger, the other in concentration. Jake took a deep breath before in sync, the two charged at each other. The force of their power shook the ground as they met in the middle, and the world moved in slow motion as both swung at the other with all their might.

An explosion of power formed as Jake's fiery right fist made contact with the unstable buzzing force around Daniellie's, nearly sending both flying back, but they amazingly stood their ground. Wasting no time, Jake turned and brought his left fist around, once again colliding with hers. Back and forth, blow for blow, their fists collided, creating more and more bursts of green embers that burst around them like fireworks in a mix of buzzing pink particles.

"More, I need more fire!" He shouted in his head as he pushed himself, sweat dropping from his forehead and turning into embers as well. "You have to do better! If you don't, you'll never get her back! Is that what you want!?"

Jake could feel his heart pounding away in his chest as his eyes started to change, the bright green glow becoming a spectacular white. The intensity grew, the glow overtaking his irises as the light spilled out from his eyes, followed by a low screech that started to play in his head.

"No! This ain't what you want!" Jake could hear in his mind as he threw another punch, however, as this one connected, the resulting fire burst in a large plume of white instead of green. "This ain't what you want!" he heard once more as his mind began to process the sound. It was a sound he was all too familiar with, one that he could recognize by feeling alone even without his hearing.

It was a guitar.

"This ain't what you want," he heard, echoing in his head, throwing heavier and heavier swings as his body temperature seemed to increase, his strength along with it. "This ain't what you want…" the chant continued.

The buzzing Bug Dust was getting more and more erratic as Danielle's footing was pushed back, now almost completely on guard. She could feel herself losing control of the battle, something that only made her panic more as she was forced to dodge some of the swings. Ducking low, she swung up, attempting to slash up at him, only to stop as he gripped her right wrist tightly. The dust around her sizzled as it was burned away, and she let out a cat-like shriek as the pain travelled through to her arm.

The wild child Ranger tried to pull herself free, but Jake's new iron grip seemed to hold steady as she couldn't wrench her arm away, forcing her to swing at him with her free hand. Jake was quick to grab that one as well, causing her to scream more as the burning pain increased. Jake held her wrists tight before yanking her forward and staring straight into her eyes, yelling her name in his head as loud as he could.

"ELLIE!" his voice echoed, drowning out and silencing the guitar music in his head as her pink eyes exploded with white light, her irises engulfed like his, and the world around them was swallowed up in the dark once more. Jake blinked, seeing that he was no longer holding onto Danielle, her form having vanished, as had his ranger form. Now back in his human form, Jake brought his hand up to touch just under his eye and could feel the white glow still present. "So, that's how I get into this world."

Jake looked around, feeling a weird vibe of both familiarity and nescience as he unbuttoned his ruined dress shirt. As he rolled up his sleeves, Jake started taking in his surroundings though there didn't seem to be a point to that as the world was pitch black, and yet, he could see the door he was looking for clearly, it being the only object in there.

The door was craved beautifully, covered in detailed pictures of animals from top to bottom. A large Phantom Ranger logo rested into the center, the same vibrate pink as her power. There was no doubt in his mind that the door belonged to Danielle, and Jake made a hasty dash toward it.

A lump grew in throat as he feared that the door would disappear, as it and the world had before, but thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case as he reached it, silently thanking the universe that it was real. Jake ran his hands over the designs, easily depicting some of her favorite animals like dogs, lions and dinosaurs (something only he really knew about), before gently resting his left hand on the pink insignia.

The doorknob glowed a brilliant green that responded energetically to Jake's glowing ring hand, prompting him to grasp it. The second he made contact with it, Jake's eyes grew wide at the surge of power that flooded and enveloped him. The Green Ranger closed his eyes, touching his ear to the Pink Phantom logo.

The thumping of her heartbeat was like a drum to his ears, resonating in the dark world around him like music. Jake could feel a smile coming to his face; he had no idea what was going on, but what he knew was….

"Ellie," he said, looking back at the door with a determined grin on his face before grasping the knob. Gripping it and giving a swift turn, Jake yanked it open, yelling, "I'm coming!" before diving headfirst into the entrance, the door closing behind him.

"I'm coming!" Sam yelled, slipping past the hovering dragon's foot toward the crowd that had gathered. Spinning, she shot the whip toward the dragon's mouth where her vine proceeded to wrap aggressively around its maw, preventing any more fire from coming out. "Now!"

"Data Disk: Blueprint!" Tucker yelled as he threw a disk under the dragon as Sam tried to yank it toward the ground. The disk beeped as it zipped faster, generating a forcefield of electricity around the dragon's torso and lower body. The dragon roared as it struggled to move, only to be zapped as it did so. The ground shook as the beast fell to its knees, and the nearby crowd gasped and cheered at the site.

A police barricade had been set up as soon as the emergency services had arrived at the banquet hall, though they were beyond shocked to see a massive dragon coming out of the forest nearby. By either luck or good timing, one of the Rangers, the Black one, showed up in a puff of smoke and seemed to force the dragon away from the building as the occupants exited.

He was soon joined by the Blue and Purple, much to the delight of the crowd who cheered their newfound heroes on. In the sky, Danny raised his scythe, a large windsweeping through the crowd and upward around his scythe. The smoke in the air mixed with it, though it was immediately changed into shards of ice crystals that danced around his weapon.

Pointing to the large hanging necklace, Tucker called out to his leader, "Hurry, dude! That electric cage isn't gonna last long!"

The blade exploded in an impressive display of blue ectoenergy as Danny's attack finished fully charging. Eyes set, Danny shot forward in a flash faster than any of the humans could ever hope to perceive, though that made little difference as the dragon was surrounded by bursts of frost and light. Sam and Tucker, both on the ground nearby, watched as the dragon's body formed icy cracks across it before exploding as Danny's voice could be heard echoing, "Spirit Squall: Scythe Strike!"

Two small objects plummeted from sky where the dragon had been, one shining gold in the light, the other, previously engulfed, changed into the girl they had been chasing before she transformed, her skin and hair back to normal. The two Rangers flew up to catch their prizes, Tucker encasing necklace in a construct box while Sam cradled the unconscious girl in her arms.

"Dragon ghost defeated, artifact collected, and one kid rescued," Tucker said as they landed before the cheering crowd, some of which were taking their pictures as well. Danny dropped from the sky, landing next to them in a crouch and a gust of icy wind. As he began to stand and his weapon vanished, the crowd began to cheer even louder, startling the boy who blushed in appreciation.

"Well, well, look who gets the big hero moment," Sam teased as she elbowed him before walking up to the paramedics and holding out the girl in her arms. "Please, can you look over her and make sure her family is contacted?"

"Yes, of course, Miss…?" the paramedic teetered off, realizing he didn't know how to address her.

"Please, call me Gaia. And these are Reaper and Quipu," she replied, handing the girl over to the man who nodded his gratefully. The two boys looked at her in surprise, but said nothing about the names.

"Miss Gaia. Well let me be the first to formally thank you all for what you do."

"We'll be in touch in case there's anything strange that could come from her wearing this artifact, but her vitals appear to be stable," Quipu said as he scanned over her body, his voice having a digital hum underneath it. As her readings came across his screen he informed them, "Her records state that she has no known allergies or prior medical conditions, so if there are any strange affects you notice while treating her, please document it and we'll look into it."

"Wait, did you just say you have access to her medical records? How did you-"

"Please, you have to move, I need to talk to them!" A voice cried out in the crowd, drawing their attention as Lily shoved her way to the front. "Please! You have to help me!"

"Easy," Reaper said, his voice low and deep, though very cool as the words left his mouth. Kneeling in front of her, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Two of my classmates were in there and one was acting strange. She was shaking and sweating, so I took her outside to get fresh air," Lily said, her hair down and messy as she pulled at it with her shaking hands, "I laid her down by a tree and went back to go find the other one because I saw him run into the hallway, but then the fire alarm went off because the hall was on fire! When I sent back to the tree, she was gone!"

"It's alright," Gaia said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Lilly looked at her, a sense of comfort coming from the Purple Ranger as she said, "Our other teammates are out behind the building near the lake and forest so if you're classmate is there, they'll find out and bring her back safe."

The ground suddenly shook, causing everyone to scream before an explosion could be heard and a white beam of energy shot into the sky.

"Everyone, clear the area, immediately!" An officer commanded with his bullhorn as more police began to wrangle the civilians toward the main street where the paramedics and fire fighters were stationed. Turning to another officer, the man, who's badge said chief, commanded, "Get a list of all the attendants and workers so we can take a tally of who's missing. And take that girl with you to see if you can get more information on those kids."

The officer nodded, asking Lily to follow her while the Chief made his way past a few of the firefighters who were working on putting out the fires near the broken window where the fight had commenced from. Lily gave the Rangers a fleeting glance before allowing herself to be pulled away by the female officer while the three otherworldly teenagers turned their focus toward the light.

"Uh, is that a good thing, or a bad one?" Danny asked as he turned to Tucker, whose visor was going mad with data readings before flashing an exclamation point inside of a triangle. "Uh, what does that mean?"

"It means…it's undecided," Tucker said, a drop of sweat running down the side of his face as the three of them took to the skies and flew toward the light that radiated just past the lake. Coming to a stop outside of it, the trio could see their youngest members in the center of the beam, surrounded by white energy that continued to shoot upward.

"What do you mean by 'undecided'?" Sam asked as Danny reached a hand out to touch the light.

A large white lion's head sprouted from the light in front of their faces, roaring ferociously at the three Rangers. Its pupils were different colored, the right one pink and the left green, and its mane was made of flowing white fire.

Danny and Sam jumped back in surprise as Tucker leaned back to explain, "It looks like Jake was able to figure out how establish the link between them."

"Guarantee it wasn't because of your notes," Sam said, righting herself as her heart settled a bit. "Ok, so what happens now? Because fur face there doesn't seem too likely to let us just pass through."

"Now, we just wait. Either Jake's gonna get her under control, or he fail's. And if that happens...I don't know."

"So, we're just meant to sit here on the sideline and wait," Danny said, a worried look on his face and antsy tone in his voice that Sam recognized immediately.

"Easy, Danny," she said, gripping his shoulder. Turning to Ellie and Jake, she declared, "We need to stop treating them like kids. They're Rangers like us, which means we'll have to put our faith in both Jake and Ellie."

Danny was silent as he looked from her to the kids, and silently prayed that the two of them were gonna be ok.

To be continued…