A family of three exited a restaurant and began walking home for the evening. As they walked, the son began glancing around.
"Is something wrong?" the father asked.
"It feels like something is-" Suddenly, the son, along with his parents, stopped. Despite being terrified, he slowly turned around.
Behind them was a shadowy figure with glowing yellow eyes. "Ah, new additions for the collection." Before any of the humans could react, he lunged with a growl.
It was a new day, and the werewolves were having breakfast. As they ate, Selene leaned in next to Lupe, "Do you think Stephanie and Denzel have gotten a little close?"
The yellow werewolf glanced at the pair in question. They were sitting side by side, something they'd been doing for the past several days. "Seems like it."
"I bet they're becoming more than just friends," Rodrigo whispered.
Stephanie and Denzel gave their teammates a blank stare, "We can hear you."
"Sorry," the three wolves lowered their heads sheepishly.
"Just keep eating," Stephanie sighed. After a few seconds, she heard snickering from the three. She glared at them, only to see that they were looking a bit to her left. She glanced that way too to see that she was leaning slightly against Denzel's side. She quickly scooted away, hoping her red fur would cover up her blush.
Her teammates all smiled at her and went back to eating when she growled at them.
Clawthon entered the dining room, "I hope you enjoyed your breakfast, Rangers, because there is a new threat on the loose."
That sucked the humor out of the room. "What is it?" Stephanie asked.
"A new enemy is abducting humans," Clawthon reported, "And I dread to guess what they're doing with them."
"Is there any trace of them?" Rodrigo asked. The bearded wolf shook his head, making him frown.
Selene finished the last of her bacon and stood up, "Come on, everyone. Let's go find this kidnapper."
Stephanie rolled her eyes as she followed her green teammate, "Do you even know where to start looking?"
As the rest of the team got up to leave, Lupe noticed Rodrigo was still sitting and seemed lost in thought."Is something wrong?"
"No, I'm fine," the blue werewolf said as he joined them.
Lupe frowned, "I'm starting to think Stephanie isn't the only one here with baggage." The two of them went outside to join the rest of the team, finding that things were already getting interesting.
"Selene, wait!" Stephanie called out. But the green werewolf ran off anyway, making Stephanie facepalm. "Alright, here's what we're going to do."
Stephanie watched from her perch on a rooftop, already morphed, "Is everyone in position?"
"Are you sure this will work?" Selene asked through her morpher.
"We went over all the places where this abductor has been taking people," Stephanie pointed out. "He lies in wait in areas where people occasionally pass through."
Denzel chimed in next, "That makes sense and all, but what if he targets a different area then the ones we're covering?"
The Red Ranger groaned, "I'm doing the best I can with what I have. Yellow, Blue, are you in position?"
"I'm in position," Lupe reported. "No word from Rodrigo."
Stephanie raised an eyebrow, "I think we all have an idea of what that means. Everyone, converge on Blue's location."
Rodrigo grunted as he got the kidnapper in a clinch. His opponent resembled an albino house cat, with snow white fur and red eyes. "Run!" the Ranger called out, prompting the young couple he'd saved to run away.
"They would have been valuable pieces," the cat growled.
Rather than respond, Rodrigo grunted and threw the cat through the wall of a restaurant. Hearing the sound of screams inside, he realized he'd just given the cat more victims. He peered through the hole in the wall and aimed his morpher to fire-
"Cheetahs, attack!" the white cat called out.
Next thing Rodrigo knew, he was being swarmed by a dozen of Ragnafur's goons. As he fought them off, he caught a glimpse of the albino cat.
The cat fired a beam from his palm, hitting a man and transforming him into a doll version of himself.
The Blue Ranger's eyes widened at the effect. He snapped back to reality, though, when his teammates finally showed up to help. With his backup having arrived, Rodrigo leapt through the hole in the wall and lunged at the albino cat. The cat dodged him and fired another beam, but the blue werewolf summoned his gauntlet and punched the beam, dispersing it. What he didn't expect was for the cat to throw the doll at him. He caught it, but this gave the cat the chance to move in and kick him in the face.
Having distracted the Ranger with a hit, the cat used his beam to carve something into the ground before leaping up through the roof.
Hearing the noise inside, the other Rangers entered the restaurant but found nothing except for the doll and what seemed to be a calling card burned into the ground.
"Salvador Dolly," Denzel read. Thinking back on everything they'd seen up until now, he looked back at the doll, "I really hope that's just a regular toy."
Rodrigo hopped from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of Salvador Dolly. "Get back here, dammit!" he called out as he fired from his morpher. Unfortunately, just when it seemed like he'd like he'd lined up a shot, his foot slipped up, causing him to tumble off the rooftop.
The Blue Ranger quickly leapt back up to the roof, only to find that his foe had gotten away. He let out a feral growl and hopped down to the ground. Once there, he began hitting anything he could find, such as trash cans or the wall.
The other Rangers arrived, though they didn't know what to make of the sight of their teammate throwing a fit. "Maybe we should give him a minute," Lupe suggested.
Over the next several days, Salvador Dolly would turn more people into, well, dollies. The Wolf's Pride Rangers would show up to stop him, only for him to give him the slip
While this naturally frustrated all the Rangers, it was especially evident with Rodrigo. The blue werewolf would spend hours both day and night trying to figuratively and literally sniff out any trace of the albino cat. He was so single-minded in his search that his teammates sometimes had to intervene so he wouldn't expose their existence to the public.
"Okay, I'm asking, what's wrong with you?" Stephanie scolded.
"Just working through something, same as you," Rodrigo replied. "Fortunately, I think I know what to do about it." He grabbed a backpack and started walking out of the building. "When I get back, I'll be ready to crush that cat."
"What if we crush him while you're gone?" Denzel pointed out.
Rodrigo shrugged, "Then I'll be ready for whatever villain comes next."
As he walked out the main entrance, Selene asked, "Should we just let him walk out like that?"
"He isn't leaving forever," Clawthon pointed out as he and Wolfgang entered the scene. "Besides, a team does not make its members stay by force."
Selene looked at them, then back to the entrance, "I guess so."
Rodrigo looked at his phone to make sure he was following the directions right. By the next night, he reached the next town over where he found what he was looking for: a boxing ring. He checked his phone again, sending the text "Are you here?"
The text prompted two blonde men to meet him by the entrance. One had freckles while the other had glasses. The three stared each other down before engaging in a group hug.
"Will, James, good to see you again," Rodrigo greeted.
"The feeling is mutual," the freckled man, James responded. "Now, what was so important you asked us to travel all the way to Norway?"
"It's a bit of a long story," Rodrigo told them.
The two men shrugged. "We've got time," Will pointed out.
And so, Rodrigo told them about how he'd become a Power Ranger, donning his Ranger suit as proof.
"Well, that's certainly something," James said, wide-eyed. "But if that's true, then what do you need us for?"
"I need to get stronger. I think I need to learn my sister's moves," Rodrigo said, a dead-serious look on his face.
His friends glanced at each other. "So, you're finally getting serious?" James asked.
"I am," the blue werewolf nodded.
Somewhere in Russia.
A ring announcer held a microphone up to his mouth. "Presenting the fan favorite: Sasha Clawzter!"
Leaping into the ring was a female werewolf with powder-blue fur. Even with the boxing gloves she was wearing, everyone in the building could tell how dangerous she was.
A younger Rodrigo, about in his mid-teens, cheered for the pale wolf girl as the match began. To his lack of surprise, the match was over in less than a minute.
Rodrigo lost his smile as the next day came, meaning it was his turn for a fight. Even though he was being pitted against a literal lightweight, he ended up struggling and ultimately lost the match, if only by points.
Sasha frowned from the ring corner while Will and James looked concerned from their spots in the audience.
Will chuckled, "A pair of werewolf siblings making ends meet in an illegal boxing ring. You can't make that kind of stuff up."
"Sasha, please," Rodrigo begged.
"There's nothing I can do about it," Sasha shook her head as she finished packing her duffle bag. "I can't stay after that stunt my opponent pulled. And either way, you need to stop depending on me so much." Seeing her brother sulk, she went on, "Don't feel so bad. I at least talked to some friends about looking after you."
She gestured to the door where Will and James entered through. "These two agreed to help you out while I'm gone." Before Rodrigo could say anything, she preempted him, "But, you need to get stronger. It's one thing to have some help, but you can't let other people carry you through life. Can you do that for me?"
As much as he wanted to object, the teen wolf trusted his older sister's words and nodded.
Sasha smiled, "That's my little brother." She briefly scratched his ears, making him smile before she left the building.
"For the most part, I've done like she said. I can take care of myself," Rodrigo said.
"And you want to 'finalize' it by learning Sasha's best moves, is that it?" James guessed.
The blue werewolf nodded, "So will you help me?"
"You know we will," said Will.
"Lupe, give me a boost," Selene ordered.
The Yellow Ranger complied, but as he was cranking her up, he asked, "Do we really have to do this by ourselves?"
"Denzel said he wanted to do something special with Stephanie, so I gave them the day off," Selene answered before running off to engage Salvador Dolly. She had to be careful, though. At close range, she was more vulnerable to his beam attack.
Not wanting to stand around and do nothing, Lupe stayed in mid-range, intending to snipe Salvador Dolly with his morpher. Unfortunately, right when he saw the chance, some cheetah soldiers arrived on the scene, distracting both Rangers. "That feels like a decision that-" Lupe paused and whacked a cheetah with his tire iron, "-that Stephanie would've criticized!"
"I would and I am!"
The two Rangers paused to see Stephanie and Denzel join the fight and take on some of the cheetahs.
"That was fast," Lupe commented.
Denzel slashed another cheetah, "Stephanie's idea of 'something special' was just having a talk, so we didn't take too long."
Selene tilted her head, "Um, okay. With you guys here, maybe we can finally kill Salvador Dolly!"
"…I know that's our enemy's name, but that still sounded wrong," Denzel stated blankly.
"Fair point," Selene conceded. She took to the air using her skateboard and started shooting at Salvador Dolly, who fired back with his doll beam.
Selene dodged the first several beams, but the next one hit her, transforming her into a doll.
The other three Rangers gasped as the green wolf doll that was their leader fell to the ground for Salvador Dolly to pick up.
Denzel facepalmed, "Oh, great." He quickly regained focus, "Lupe, throw your weapon, I've got an idea!"
The Yellow Ranger nodded and threw his tire iron while Denzel threw his saber. The two weapons flew around like boomerangs and took out the remaining cheetah soldiers before returning to their respective owners.
"That worked out perfectly," Denzel smiled under his helmet, "Now, to take Sal-Wait, where'd he go?"
The team looked all around to see that their latest enemy had slipped away. Denzel facepalmed, "Oh, for the love of-"
Will and James observed their blue friend as he meditated on the floor. Curious as they were, they chose not to ask him anything, lest they ruin his focus.
Rodrigo pictured himself in Russia, back in the arena where he and his sister had fought so many matches. He let the good and bad times play through his mind, making peace with both of them. Soon enough, Rodrigo opened his eyes and got to his feet, with James asking, "Do you think you're ready?"
"There's only one way to find out," Rodrigo said as he walked over to a punching bag. He squared his and raised his guard, waiting for his friends' signal.
"Annnnnd, Claw Bombard, go!" Will ordered as he and James took cover behind a couch.
Rodrigo thrust his claws into the punching bag. He smiled when the bag exploded in a burst of blue flame.
The two humans cheered. "That was fantastic!" James shouted excitedly, "Try the Claw Spiral next."
Will set up another punching bag and stood back.
Rodrigo got on all fours like a regular wolf before lunging with his claws extended. As he moved forward, he spun like a drill and utterly shredded the bag. Landing on his feet, he said, "Set up another bag. I need to test out the Claw Jab Thrust."
The two Brits set up a third bag and waited with bated breath.
Taking a deep breath, Rodrigo kept his distance from the bag and swiped with his claws. Nothing happened. "Okay, let's try that again," he muttered to himself. He swiped again and this time, there were results. A blue burst of wind in the shape of his clawed hand sprang forward and punctured the bag.
"You did it," Will whispered. "You did it!"
Rodrigo sighed in relief, "I think I'm finally ready."
"I should say you are," James agreed. "Excuse me while I get something." The freckled man left the building for a minute before returning with a backpack. He reached into said backpack and pulled out a pair of cyan boxing gloves.
"Are those-" the navy werewolf started.
"Sasha's gloves? They are," James nodded.
"We're not sure why, but she asked us to keep them after she left," Will explained. "But after what you've accomplished, I think she would want you to have them."
Rodrigo was speechless, but he reached to grab the gloves. As soon as he touched them, they glowed and projected an image of Sasha several feet away.
"Hello, Rodrigo," the hologram said.
"Sasha?" the three men all blinked.
"I wouldn't ask me any questions if I were you. This is just a recording," the fake Sasha informed them all. "Rod, if you're seeing this, then I assume that means you learned my best moves. And if you've learned to take care of yourself like I'd hoped, then let me say that I couldn't be prouder of you."
Even if it wasn't quite his sister, hearing her say those words to him brought tears to Rodrigo's eyes.
The Sasha hologram gave one last smile, "Keep fighting Rodrigo. I love you, and just know that we'll meet again soon." With that, the hologram fizzled out of existence.
Seeing tears form in their friend's eyes, James asked, "Are you okay?"
To the two humans' surprise, Rodrigo began glowing a deep blue. The glow became so bright that they had to shield their eyes for a moment, and when it was over, they saw that he'd changed slightly: he was now sporting a short beard. "What just happened?" James asked
Rodrigo smiled and looked back at them, "I think I finally grew up."
"But weren't you already-" James was cut off by Will lightly elbowing him. "Oh, you mean spiritually."
The navy werewolf nodded, "I know what I'm going to do now. I'm going to head back to my team, defeat that new cat, and I'm going to be more confident around the guy I like."
"You like someone?" James smiled. "Let us know if you win him over."
Rodrigo nodded and walked out the door.
"This should not be as hard is!" Denzel complained as he slashed with his saber.
Salvador Dolly dodged his slashes and with a backwards handspring. Lupe tried to hit him from behind with his tire iron, but he just backflipped over it. The Yellow and Pink Rangers fired shots at him with their morphers, but the cat countered those with his beam attacks. Once he landed, Rodrigo's voice called out to him.
"You!"
All fighters looked around and saw nothing. "Um, where is he?" Stephanie asked.
"Wait, I see him. He's up on that rooftop," Lupe pointed out.
Not giving anyone time to process his appearance, Rodrigo leaped down, already morphed. Landing in front of Salvador Dolly, he immediately started swarming him with punches.
"I say we join him," Denzel suggested, twirling his saber.
Suddenly, Salvador Dolly leapt back to get some distance and pulled out the doll of Selene, "One more move and I'm crushing your friend!"
That made all the Rangers freeze in place. The only move anyone made was Rodrigo extending the claws on his suit's finger. "If you even try that, I'll slash you," the Blue Ranger threatened.
The other Rangers looked on in confusion while Salvador Dolly just laughed, "Slash me? From all the way over there? You must be joking."
To demonstrate, Rodrigo swiped with his claws, sending an air slash at Salvador Dolly. The slash hit the cat's arm, making him drop Selene.
Lupe dashed forward, grabbed the Green Ranger doll, and rolled out of the way for Rodrigo's follow-up.
The Blue Ranger got on all four and jumped at Salvador Dolly while spinning like a drill. He hit the cat dead-on, making him explode, and landed on his feet before regrouping with his friends.
The doll of Selene glowed and returned to normal. "You're back!" Lupe yelled and he and Rodrigo helped her up.
Salvador Dolly resurrected in giant form, prompting Selene to take action, "Wolfgang, send in the Zords. It's time for payback."
"Roger that," Wolfgang replied.
The Wolf Zords came charging onto the scene, and the Rangers hopped onboard.
"This guy is good at dodging. I say we stay separated and attack from different angles," Stephanie ordered.
"Right," Denzel nodded. He made the first move and had his Zord bite at Salvador Dolly's ankles, forcing him to give ground.
This distracted the cat enough for Lupe's Zord to hit him with a beam. He flinched in pain but fired back with a beam of his own. To his shock, and everyone else's relief, the beam simply damaged the Zord like an ordinary laser.
Selene and Stephanie had their Zords go high and low respectively, latching onto Salvador Dolly's right leg and left arm. As he struggled to get them off of him, he left himself open to fire from the other three Zords.
As Salvador Dolly stumbled back from the damage, the Zords regrouped. "Everyone, one last push! All at once!" Selene shouted.
"Right!" the others shouted. The five Wolf Zords gathered energy in their mouths and fired all their beams together. The multi-colored barrage hit Salvador Dolly in the chest, making him explode.
With the battle over, the team exited their Zords, which is when Selene asked, "I wasn't conscious while I was a doll. When did you get back, Rodrigo?"
"And when did you grow a beard? You were only gone five days," Denzel asked as they all unmorphed.
"I'll explain on the way back to the tower, but anyway, it's good to see you all again," Rodrigo said. As they began walking, he leaned over to Lupe and whispered, "Especially you."
The yellow werewolf almost stopped in place upon hearing that.
"I guess that was to be expected. He wasn't even much of a fighter," the grey cat shrugged. "So, who wants to go next?"
"So casual, sir," the Smilodon commented. "I love it."
Clawthon smiled as he watched the Rangers finish their battle through a monitor. He walked off and tapped a spot on the wall, opening up a passageway. Entering through it, he found a small room with a table in it.
Sitting at the table was a powder blue werewolf woman sipping a cup of tea.
"Sasha, I have good news about your brother," Clawthon informed.
That alone made Sasha smile.