//------------------------------// // When Lightning Strikes Thrice // Story: Power Rangers Shadow Force // by Layton13 //------------------------------// The door of her apartment slammed shut behind her with an unnerving bang as she sunk to her knees, leaning against the wall. Every breath was a battle in and of itself, her chest rising up and down as if she had just run in a marathon, casting shadows on the walls of the well light hallway. Well, she had dragged herself through half of the city, after all, all while still suffering from her humiliating defeat. “Damn them! Damn them all to Tartarus!” she hissed, clenching her hand into a fist as she stared daggers against the wall. “How could they defeat Bench Presser or me for the matter? He was the strongest! Someone like him shouldn’t have any problems with brats like these; he is perfect!” “Don’t mistake your love-clouded thoughts for the truth, Long Shoot,” she was suddenly ripped out of her little tirade by another voice, a voice that let a shiver run down her spine. It was only now that she realized that the light in the apartment was lit, something she cursed herself for not noticing sooner. “Lord Pharynx?” She managed to stutter as the head of security stepped out from her living room, his muscular body casting a shadow that let him appear even more threatening than he already was. “A pathetic waste of space like you doesn’t deserve calling me by my name; only those inside the Hive are allowed to do that. And especially not those who disobeyed orders and went off on their own! Any last pathetic attempts to justify your actions to me, or do you accept your mistakes like one should?” He continued, his voice getting progressively growlier as he went on, taking step for step forward, all while Long Shoot was crawling back against the door, staring in terror at the royal Changeling. “I’m… I’m sorry! Please, for the love of the Queen, forgive me for my misguided actions! Give me another chance; I swear I will bring you the heads of these Rangers and their Shadow Coins on a silver platter. Please, just forgive me for what I have done!” Long Shoot almost jumped onto her knees, groveling before Pharynx. “I learned my lesson; this won’t happen again!” Even if she couldn’t see it herself, she felt the stare that was directed at her with fiery intensity, like a hot iron being driven right through her skin, together with the low growls of him. Just mere moments later, she felt the cold leather of Pharynx boot slam against her jaw as she was thrown to the side and slammed right into the wall. “Sorry!? Didn’t I already tell you how worthless this is! And all this, ‘better next time’-crap can you can as well! Mistakes are eternal! They can’t be fixed, no matter how much you try to make up for them!” He shouted at her before suddenly a sound echoed through the hallway and the entire apartment, the turning of a key. Both Long Shoot and Pharynx froze dead in their tracks the moment the sounds the key forcing itself into the look could be heard, and their heads darted towards the door as the look clicked open and the handle of the door slowly started to turn. As the door slowly opened with an uncomfortable creak, a green hand was the first thing one could spot as the mysterious newcomer forced himself into the room. Pharynx was almost ready to jump at the guy, pull him in and silence him together with Long Shoot for good, but managed to suppress it long enough to recognize the face with its orange hair. Thorax! His anger quickly shifted to a condensed hatred, and he quickly considered continuing with his plan, but in the end, he just huffed. “What do you want?” Was the growly response he gave to the welcoming face of his brother. With a sad sigh, he got in return: “I’m here to deliver the will of the Queen.” That was all the Changeling said as he pulled out a phone, pushed a few times on the screen of the device, and held it towards Pharynx, who could only read the name ‘Mother’ on the screen. “My son, what do I hear about you being incapable of keeping your subordinates under control?” The sugar-sweet voice from the other side wasted no time, and the moment the screen had been flipped towards him had started speaking. “Mo… Mother, I was about to deal with the traitor just now. I won’t allow any disobedience under my command!” With that, he bent forward, about to grab ahold of Long Shoot’s neck with his fingers as the dreaded voice flared up once again. “Oh, you don’t? But you reward it with a giving them a second chance at the rangers after they already failed once?” Chrysella was just as sweet as last time, but now he could hear the underlying coldness even more. A cold sweet ran across his entire body; his eyes darting across the room for any kind of response. “You don’t have to hide it; I saw the news. You don’t expect that you can hide a giant monster from me, can you?” She cut through his thoughts before even a single one could form, carrying with it a cold determination that had always frightened him, even when it had been directed at someone else than him. “I… No, I didn’t intend to do that. I thought I could use her anger against the Rangers for ourselves and decided not to waste that chance and granted her the chance of a second fight,” he shakily returned, looking desperately at the phone, as if his expression could somehow be transmitted through it. “In other words, you failed to put a stop to this before she could be defeated,” she returned rather matter of factly. “So you failed me once again, first in Mount Aris, then you failed to retrieve the Shadow Coins from these girls with Filling Cabinet, then with Bench Presser, revealed your existence to a Kamen Rider and now you failed to keep your subordinates in line as well as the failure of Long Shoot, which in turn falls back on you. You know, I’m not angry, just very disappointed with you! I had expected so much more from you, and here you are, letting yourself humiliated by teenagers.” With every word, she spoke Pharynx just flinched, like someone had slammed a stick at his back, and with every time that happened, his eyes lowered themselves more and more towards the floor. “At this point, I’m not convinced that you are capable of handling in my name. It seems you need to be reminded how one handles his subordinates,” the voice continued. “And to do that, I will put you under the supervision of your brother; he has shown me how reliable he is in the last few months, something I hope rubs off on you. Maybe you can even learn a bit about tactics while you are under him.” “Mother! You can’t be-“ He burst out, only to be interrupted by a voice lacking any bit of the kindness she had shown before. “I have spoken! You will do as you are told and listen to your queen! Is that clear, my son!” Pharynx just stared at the phone, unable to even give out a single word; all while sweat was dripping down his forehead. In the end, he resigned himself to a simple nod his mother could impossibly pick up on from the other side while Thorax just nervously looked at his brother. To both their surprise, she continued immediately after the nod. “Now, thorax, I leave the rest up to you. Proceed how you want,” she continued, back in the pleasant voice she had used before, almost like she never stopped. As the sound of the phone call ended finally echoed through the apartment, it was as if a heavy cloud had been lifted off them, Pharynx body suddenly relaxing. “Well, that went differently than expected,” Thorax finally broke the silence, garnering a glare from his brother. “I’m sure this will over before you know it, and maybe you will even enjoy it.” That got him a disgusted huff, Thorax just sighing. “But before we can start that, we have to finish our dealings here, right?” With that, all the attention in the room once again shifted towards Long Shoot. “Let me take care of this; I need something to vent!” Pharynx growled, already about to jump the defenseless woman right here and now. “No, leave her be!” Thorax stepped between his brother and his would-to-be victim. “What do you mean ‘no’? She went against orders! She is not to be trusted! What stops her from running to the MRG or the Rangers the next chance she has?” He snapped back at his brother, a fire glaring in his eyes. “The knowledge of what would happen if she did, to her and her beloved Bench Presser,” Thorax returned, Long Shoot’s terrified look quickly switching one marked by the one someone made when he realized a nearing catastrophe one could do nothing to stop. “She knows our reach and how easy it would be to make you both disappear if she did something wrong. So, I think a demotion and a slap on the wrist will do enough. I will let a few rumors sicker through, and no one should dare to act on their own again, right?” Thorax smiled at the frightened woman who frantically nodded a yes. “You are far too soft,” came it from a disgruntled Pharynx. “No, I just know how to silence someone without causing too much trouble. And we never know if she ever could be useful to us again, right?” He just got a spiteful ‘tsk’ back in return. “On another hand, I have a plan concerning the Rangers. I just have to make a call first. I would love for you to accompany during this brother,” he smiled, picking the name ‘Thunder Struck’ from his phone and putting in a call, all while Pharynx just glared at him. >--------------< The days had pretty much flown by after the girls had dealt with the Centipede Changeling, and best of all, no sign of any further ones until now. That gave Indigo finally some time to focus back on sports, well besides the self-defense training with Cadance at least. She still had a new burse from that every day. But besides that, it was just good just to be back running across the track, letting her hair fly in the wind as she speed past everyone else, it was liberating and almost let her forget all the little bruises all over her body, almost. Still, there was just something missing. She had felt that way for a long time now, so long that she had forgotten since when, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been better once, she just couldn’t put her finger on it. Every time she got to a certain speed, she expected something to happen, but it just never did. It just kept bouncing around in her head until she lost her concen- With a loud yelp, she felt her legs crossing and refusing to follow the simple walking motion her brain wanted them to make; instead, she quickly saw how the ground got closer and closer until- With a pained grunt, she landed right on her stomach. Her fist quickly met the ground as well, but not because it was lagging behind, no, it was because of her frustration. This had been the third time this month; this had happened. Before something like this happening was just unthought-of, but now it was something almost regular. With a frustrated huff, she pushed herself off the ground and stopped over to where she had put her bottle. Maybe a little break would do wonders for her? With a resounding sigh, she let herself slump down on the side of the track. While taking a sip from her bottle, however, something caught her attention, someone was looking at the track team run from behind a corner, something no one would notice during the running, but now that she wasn’t it was obvious, she just couldn’t make out who it was. “Huh? Who’s that? Not like our training is something secret,” she muttered to herself as she put the bottle down and pushed herself to her feet. Whoever it was, the person defiantly didn’t want to be seen, that was certain, even she knew that. So she decided to come closer by walking along the wall as to not alert the person beforehand. The closer she got, the more she could make out the person before her, it was defiantly a girl, even if it was a bit hard to make out with the baggy dark blue hoody she was wearing. She had pulled the hood as deep down as humanly possible, hiding the color of her hair, and a large piolet sunglass covered nearly the rest of her face, so only a hint of the light blue skin underneath could be seen. “So, interested in joining, or just want to watch,” she asked just before she walked around the corner, letting the girl yelp out in surprise and fall backward and onto her butt, the glasses and hoody both falling off. The moment she laid eyes on the actual face of the girl, everything just clicked into place: “Lightning Dust?! I haven’t seen you in ages! Where have you been? I missed my rival! Whenever I would get too comfortable, you’d show up right behind me and give me a kick in the butt to be faster,” she burst out, her face brimming with excitement. Lightning, however, was not as happy as her former teammate; she actually looked at her with a mixture of anger and… was that panic? “Lightning? Why are you looking at me like this? It’s me, Indigo Zap! You know, your eternal rival? Come, I’m sure the rest of the team would love to see you as well,” she continued, holding her hand out for the girl, but instead just received a slap to the former as Lightning pushed herself off the ground on her own. “Oh, don’t play this buddy-buddy shit with me! You just want to get me back there so you can make fun of me together, right? I know how it goes! I’m used to it, so I won’t fall for your traps!” She growled back, a look of pure vitriol in her eyes. “What do you mean? You were always a valued part of the team, and as you came back after your injury, everyone welcomed you with open arms, so why should they make fun of you? And you know I wouldn’t do that after what happened at the Friendship Games!” She continued, her smile not wavering even for a little bit. Lightning just huffed: “Oh, sure, pretend like you don’t know. That’s the go-to strategy, isn’t it? But if you really forgot, no one wants to be around a former monster! Especially not one that attacked that darling hero, Alchemy!” Indigo just stared at her for a moment before it came back to her, the reason why she had dropped off the training and everything. She had come into the possession of a magical artifact that had turned her into a monster, not too far off from Twilight at the Friendship Games. She hadn’t really hurt anyone before Alchemy could stop her, but that was when she suddenly dropped off the track team. “Ok, either you are a great actor, or you really forgot that, didn’t you?” Before Lightning could storm off, Indigo grabbed her by the shoulder and returned with a far more somber voice: “Ok, listen Lightning, sorry that I forgot, but everything was just so chaotic around here, and that was ages ago. I’m sure they have forgotten about it, just like I did. Not like I have a spotless record either. You remember the Friendship Games? I was one of the few that pressured Twilight into releasing the magic and nearly tearing the whole world apart only to win. And they forgave me for this, didn’t they?” Lightning just let out a dismissive “Tsk,” before returning: “Oh, sure, they did, but you didn’t turn into a raging monster that tried to kill people, did you?” Indigo opened her mouth to say something in return, but she just continued, getting louder as she went along. “And do you see Twilight here anywhere? No! She had to jump schools because she never could have lived this down here! She went to a place that was as far away from here as possible! I have seen how this school acts; I have seen their glares, their judging stares! You can’t convince me that they would ever forget!” Indigo took a step back, staring in surprise at the mixture of frustration and regret that was like a stab to her gut. Lightning was almost about to turn around once again and storm off when Indigo’s expression suddenly shifted once again, from shook to one far more sure and confident. “Yes I can, because I still want you around, and I’m sure they will as well! Trust me; you are an invaluable part of the team, like all of them! I missed you, I’m sure they will as well. If people can forgive Twilight and me I’m sure they can forgive you! You are just worrying too much, I’m sure this will be totally awesome when they see you! Come, you can’t just hide forever, am I right?” And before Lightning could even answer, Indigo had grabbed ahold of her hand and pulled the surprised girl after her, right around the corner and towards the track. “Hey, guys! Look who I found!” She screamed towards her teammates, Lightning just behind her. As the heads turned she wasn’t greeted with looks of happiness, and joy; no, they were fearful, nervous and not entirely sure of what to make of the situation. It didn’t take long until the whispering started, getting louder and louder until one could make out a few sentences. Sentences like: ‘what’s she doing here,’, ‘who invited her,’ or ‘do you think she could hurt us,’ were all clearly audible, each one only letting Lightning clench her fist even more than before. After what had felt like ages to both her and Indigo, she finally pulled herself free from the grasp of her former teammate and stormed off, or at least attempted. Indigo wasn’t one to surrender just like this and dashed after her reaching the girl just as she was about to open the door to the school and slammed it shut once again. “Lightning, I’m so so-“ “Oh, sorry, are you now?!” She barked back at her, the anger burning inside her eyes. “Listen up, she is sorry! And what can I buy for that? Nothing but laughter and ridicule, like always! You are not better than the rest, forgetting about me until it becomes convenient for you! This entire school can suck it for all I care! And you in particular!” She pointed at Indigo who was just staring at her with her mouth open. “You claim to have changed, that you do better, but you just stay on the sidelines and decide to ignore that what doesn’t fit into your ‘healed new’ worldview. All the uncomfortable bits are just blocked out, leaving nothing but you and the parts of the world that are perfect!” “Lightning…” Indigo muttered in return, all the color having been drained from her face. “I… I honestly wanted to help you…” “And look what your help brought me! I should have known from the get-go that there is no hope for people like me. We will always be the outcasts because of one little mistake we made, no matter what you do. That one mistake will haunt you to the very day you die, and after that, it will always be remembered as well! The idea that this school would have suddenly changed only because we saw one of the mistakes we made? Bullshit, nothing but a laughable dream! People don’t change, schools don’t change, and most importantly, the world doesn’t change! And anyone who thinks that is a fool!” She finished with one last glaring look at Indigo, who was just standing there, her expression stuck in a desperate grasp for a rebuttal that refused to come. “Bravo! Bravo!” A voice, accompanied by clapping, echoed the crowd as the heads turned around. Facing the students was a lean golden bug with what looked to be black tiger stripes running across her, which seemed to be a female body. Two long horns extended from his bug head and reached back down to where they had started, hanging limply in a sort of arc. “I couldn’t have put it better myself, well, minus one thing actually. There is a way to change the world, but not in its current state. It all comes down to those who have the power to steer the world, the mighty. No idealistic hero could ever do that, only those with the power to force it can. And I will help to create this new world, this world ruled by order and a strong hand to guide it that rewards those who work for it!” She waved around with her slim arms like she was an actor who was currently busy hamming it up a bit too much. Just as she was in the process of finishing her speech, everyone’s thoughts caught up with their body’s and the group of runners realized what was standing in front of them and started to flee in any direction that wasn’t towards the monster. Indigo had meanwhile already slipped away, and out of sight, and with one last look around she inserted her Coin into the Morpher. “Light up!” [Ye-Ye-Yellow!] [Shine Wild! Yellow!] While the rest of the students had already dashed away like a flock of wild birds, Indigo was still standing right in front of the monster, unable to move a single muscle. “I really think you would have it in you to be one of us. You have the right outlook and that longing to do something to this rotten world. I like you,” the clicking female voice said as the Changeling stepped closer towards her, a hand stretched out towards her. “But right now I sadly can’t make that offer to you; you are far more valuable as a hostage. If I get you that pesky Yellow Ranger will have no choice but to surrender.” With that, she picked up the pace, running towards Lightning, who, in her panic, tried to push the door open, pushing desperately against the pull mechanism. When this didn’t work she spun around, looking for a way to still run away, but the only thing she saw was the buggy face of her assailant and then a yellow bolt of light that hit her square in the face. With a pained grunt, however, the Changeling was thrown off course, and fell on her side, rolling on the ground before coming to a stop right in front of the wall of the school. From around the corner, the Yellow Ranger ran forward, her gun pointed at the Changeling before firing once again. The monster could just look up once again before the bolts of energy once again hit, letting sparks fly from her. “Get moving! I’ll deal with her here!” “Tsk, don’t waste your breath. No one would care if I disappeared,” she got in return. “Don’t give me this now! That isn’t true! There is always one who cares!” She snapped back, turning her head away from the Changeling for just one second, but that was all she had needed. Rising to her feet, the Tiger-Beetle Changeling shouted one word: “Drones!” Right on command, six of the black Changeling warriors pulled the door to the school open and grabbed ahold of Lightning in one fell swoop, pulling her inside. “Lightning!” Was all Indigo could shout before aiming her gun at the monsters only to suddenly be knocked to her side by what felt like a bike ramming straight into her. As her head stopped spinning, the door had already closed again, and her friend was no longer to be seen. “What do you want from her? You have beef with me!” She barked while standing back up, looking around to find the Changeling. “I’m sorry, but as long as the world is the way it is now, we have to work within it to change it,” the Changeling returned from right behind her. Her hearth almost skipping a beat Indigo jumped around, but only saw the faintest of blurs where she thought the opponent had been. Mere moments later she felt a foot slam directly into her side, sending her rolling across the grass like a ragdoll. Over her heavy breathing, the only thing the Ranger could hear was the movement all around her, shifting from side to side with incredible speed. Gritting her teeth she slammed her fist on the ground and started to push herself back up again and saw for the first time what was going on around her. A golden and black blur rushed past her time and time again. The moment she realized where she was going the Changeling had already shifted directions once again. Her finger trembled on the trigger like during an earthquake, but every time she thought she could hit her target, it diverted from its path once again. “Screw it!” With that outburst, she finally pulled the trigger, a bolt of energy shooting out of the cylinder and right towards where the Changeling was heading. It was as if time itself was slowing down to a crawl as the projectile arced across the field, every heartbeat sounding like a drum. Just a few more moments and it hi- Just mere centimeters before she would have run headfirst into her attack, the Changeling stopped dead in her tracks, letting the blast just fly by her without even leaving a scratch. The Changeling turned her head once again towards her, cocked it a bit, and disappeared from her sight. What followed was another kick that sent her flying and spinning through the air, but instead of just taking it like before, this time, she had something else in mind. As fast as she could she pulled out another Coin and pushed it into the slot on her weapon. [Li-Li-Lightning!] It echoed through the air before a barrage of lightning bolts burst out from the weapon, arcing across the ground and down towards the Changeling. However as much as she was sure this would work she had just missed the mark, the blast radius only reaching the Changeling on its outskirts, the monster easily sidestepping the attack and already pulling back to deliver another blow the moment she would land back on the ground and no matter how fast she pulled the gun around the Tiger-Beetle Changeling was just far too fast for her and simply dodged out of the way. She was getting dangerously close to the ground as suddenly something cut through the heavy silence. [Sp-Sp-Speed!] A red blur dashed forward to match the golden one, both clashing against each other right before Indigo could hit the ground again. With a pained grunt, she landed back on the dirt as she heard a few footsteps appear. Without any prior warning she was lifted off the ground and now face to face with the remaining three Rangers. “You’re ok?” It came from Sunny. “I had worse,” she returned. “But she got Lightning!” This let everyone but Lemon and the Changeling fall silent. These two were currently looked in a battle any average mortal couldn’t even begin to comprehend, both dashing past and at each other, slamming their blades against the chitin of the other. It was starting to look like Lemon was gaining the upper hand, but then it happened. Instead of committing to her punch, the Tiger-Beetle Changeling instead ducked under the swing of the Ranger and delivered a devastating kick to her side, letting the girl sail through the air. With a loud grunt, Red landed right in the middle of her friends and right on top of Indigo, who simply let out a resigned sigh. “So, I think I have to leave now. Too crowded for my liking,” she added with a sweet and innocent tone. “But before I go, I should tell you one thing. Meet me at six P.M. later today, not a minute later, if you want to see your friend ever again,” she smirked and was about to turn around when she added one last bit. “Oh, and come alone will you, ok?” With that the Changeling dashed away from them and quickly disappeared in the distance, leaving a stunned group of Rangers behind. “Fuck!” That was the first word that broke the silence. Indigo deactivated her transformation and shoved Lemon of her, the rest of her friends doing the same thing. “This can’t be for real, right? Totally uncool!” “Oh, it’s real,” Sugar matter-of-factly returned, garnering herself an angry glare from Indigo. “And what are we gonna do now? If we go together, she is gonna hurt Lightning, and if I go alone she is gonna take the Coin. Damn, we are fucked,” Indigo growled, slamming her fist on the floor. “Maybe Cadance has an idea?” Lemon shrugged and immediately pulled out her phone. It rung a few times before a rather agitated voice answered them: “Yes? I hope it’s important, I’m right now in the middle of a teachers conference and don’t have a lot of time.” “Yeah, uhm, Cadance, we have a small problem,” Lemon returned awkwardly. “You wouldn’t know a way to fight a really fast Changeling, preferably one we can all use and not just one. We might have lost one of our classmates.” The only answer the girl received for several seconds was silence, one could only imagine what kind of expression Cadance was making on the other side of the line, but at last, the long-awaited response came: “Ok, girls, I might have an idea. Say, how good are you with bikes?” >--------------< In the blink of an eye, several hours had already past, and the clock was moving rapidly towards six P.M., and the Changeling was getting restless, just like his victim, who refused to stop squirming in her bonds. Just now she was trying her damn hardest to slip out of the rope that was tied around her arms but to her frustration and the Changelings amusement that proved to be a rather fruitless endeavor. “Give it up already,” she finally let out a chuckle as she looked down on the girl who showed no sign of slowing down. “What would even be the point if you get lose? Look around,” she swung her arms, showing the girl the empty warehouse they were standing in the middle of. “You know I’m way faster than you, so I would just capture you again, so why not give up and wait for the ranger to show up?” “To spite you!” Lightning huffed back, stopping her struggle for just one moment to add a vicious glare to the whole thing. The Tiger-Beetle Changeling gave her one look before bursting out laughing: “You know, I really like you, kid! You get how the world works, you’ve got fighting spirit, and you have humor. You know, when this is all I might have an intern-posit for you. I can see you getting far as one of us,” she smirked. Lightning just glared at her with a disgust as if someone had just offered to grill a puppy. “Yeah, I pass. Played the part of the monster once, sucked major ass. Not interested in repeating that.” The Changeling just sighed, letting her head hang low. “Shame, I really liked your style, kid. But we’ll see how you gonna talk when the Rangers come here. It’s about time, isn’t it?” Like on cue footsteps echoed through the empty warehouse, both Lightning and the Changeling immediately turning their heads towards it. “She… She actually came… for me?” Lightning stammered as the Yellow Ranger walked towards them, visor fixated on the monster. “Look who showed up! Nice to see you, really! Now, if you would be so friendly, your Shadow Coins for the girl,” she said, pulling Lightning of the ground and pushing her forward a bit, the girl almost falling over. “Why did you come? No one misses me anyway! Just save yourself the trouble, you’ve got people to save damn it!” Lightning barked back, her struggling once again flaring up. “I’m doing exactly that, saving someone in dire need of that,” the Ranger returned before pulling her hand over the Morpher, grabbing ahold of one of the two Coins inserted into it and pulled… The Yellow Ranger disappeared in a puff of black smoke, letting the Changeling dash forward, completely leaving her hostage open. “Where did she go? She was just there! What kind of trick was that?!” [B-B-Bike!] “A neat little one called ‘Double’, a friend of mine lent it to me!” A scream echoed through the hall as two bright bursts of energy shoot at the Changeling and knocked her off her feet. As Lightning dared to look where the attack had come from, she saw Yellow racing towards her on a yellow bike with what appeared to be the Shadow Force symbol on its front. While she couldn’t see it from this angle two additional symbols covered the sides of the machine. Letting her engine reeve once again, the bike speed up, right past her, and hitting the Changeling, who was just about to stand back up. The bug-monster could only stare as it slammed against the front of the bike, a bit of her carapace cracking from the force. “Like it? Called the ‘Shadow Sprinter’.” “Damn you! Drones!” She growled back before dashing off. Several of the black warriors appeared from where Indigo had emerged from, aiming their lances directly at her. But before any of them could even think about firing, several explosions went off around them, letting the weak Changelings stumble around a bit before each one of them was thrown back by something else. Out of the fire and dust emerged four similar machines as the one of Yellow, just in the corresponding color of each Ranger. All of them came to a halt just before Lightning, three of them immediately spinning around, facing the enemy while Red stopped next to her. “Need a ride?” She chuckled before ripping open the rope and helping her on the back of the bike. The four bikes roared to life simultaneously and Lightning could only watch from behind as the Rangers dealt with the Drones. Green and Pink were both staring to circle four of the monsters, getting closer and closer each time until the moment they had huddled together enough for them, both girls dashing off in one direction, kicking the breaks of their bikes and spinning it back around. With a thunderous roar, both bikes raced forward, directly at each other, Changelings in the middle. Before the drones could even comprehend what was happening both of the Rangers already had hit the brakes again, now driving on their front wheels and with a bit of movement on their parts slammed both rear wheels together, crushing the Changelings in a green explosion. The remaining four had been left to Blue, who was currently under fire from their lances, gracefully dodging their blasts. Just as she leaned back from one of their attacks she pulled the trigger on her handle, two blasts of blue energy bursting out from the front of the Shadow Sprinter and hitting one of the Drones, blowing it to kingdom come. This process repeated with the other two, leaving only the last one alive. He actually managed to dodge the attack, but in the long run, that didn’t really improve his situation in any meaningful way. Instead, Blue let her bike speed up, even more, pulling all her weight on the rear wheel before slamming the front one down on the Drone, killing it just like the rest. While the four other Rangers were busy dealing with the cannon fodder, Indigo was meanwhile busy with the big one. Now that she knew that she had to go up against a bike the Changeling was speeding across the warehouse floor like a madwoman, but that didn’t bother Indigo who was hot on her trail, always managing to get the Changeling in her crosshair and fire at least close to her, often even managing a grazing hit. With ever hit the Changeling grew more and more desperate, pushing her to even greater heights, slowly but surely managing to avoid the attacks of the Ranger. “Ha! You see, I’m just too fast for you!” “Yeah, you are too fast for me, I admit this, but I know a thing or two about running, you need perfect concentration for it and the faster you get, the harder it is! Just one misstep, and it's over!” And with that, she slammed a Coin into a slot on the handle of the bike. [Li-Li-Lightning!] A barrage of electricity burst forth from the machine, right in front of the Changeling, who desperately tried to course correct. Not like she hadn’t seen this com- That was when it happened. She could feel it, her legs touching as she felt herself stumble over them and losing balance, tumbling right into the attack she had already thought she had escaped. Electricity sparked through her body as she fell more and more into the cone of lightning only to finally be hit by the bike and thrown to the side, her entire body arcing like Tartarus. “Let’s finish this, girls!” She burst out, having stopped a few meters away from the Changeling, the other four Rangers gathering around her and nodding before all inserting a new coin into their bikes. [Fi-Fi-Final! Red!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Blue!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Yellow!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Pink!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Green!] Once again, the black cloud enveloped the monster as it tried to stand back up. Clutching her side, the thought of simply running crossed her mind, but that was all she managed to do before a cone of red energy rushed into her, knocking her into a blue, green, and pink one before the yellow cone appeared right in front of her. The visor of the Yellow Ranger glaring at her for just a second before she was hit by the last bike, letting her explode in a green explosion. Just as she was about to fall unconsciousness she was hit by a beam of energy, just like the Changelings before, starting to grow in size. The Rangers just shared a silent look before all pulling out their own coins. [He-He-Hellhound!] [Le-Le-Leviathan!] [Ro-Ro-Roc!] [Wy-Wy-Wyvern!] [Ma-Ma-Manticore!] The five mechanical creatures appeared, and both the Changeling and they were warped to the strange shadow realm that once again appeared above the city. “Ok, how about we do this the easy way?” Lemon shouted over the com and was greeted with unanimous mumbling. “Great! Time to combine!” The Zords each once again started to shift and move, forming into the humanoid combination. “Shadow Star Megazord!” While the Megazord was forming, the Changeling was shifting into a running position, and just as the last bit had formed dashed forward with insane speed, the street under him being ripped apart as easy as walking through sand, windows shattered and buildings were blown away. The Rangers barely managed to pull the hands of the Zord up before a devastating punch sent them flying backward and crashing right into a group of buildings that were crushed underneath them like wet paper. “Guys, how about we try matching her in speed? There is a slot in the terminal, why not slot something in?” Indigo screamed over to Lemon. “Gotcha! Let’s try to beat her at her own game!” With that, Lemon slammed the Speed Coin into the slot. [Sp-Sp-Speed!] A bright red glow washed over the Megazord, and a large version of the Coin appeared on the chest of the mecha. In the blink of an eye, the huge metal colossus moved as fast as a speeding bullet across the streets, just as quickly as his opponent, each one circling the other, dashing forward, trying to hit each other, but only missed their opponent. “Were getting nowhere with this! We have to catch her!” Lemon shouted. “Gotcha! I think I have an idea! Follow my lead!” With that, Indigo assumed control of the Zord and threw their sword like a javelin, the weapon rushing past the monster who stared after it, watching as it impaled itself in the countryside for just a moment. That was all the time they needed, though, speeding towards it, the other blade in hand, and delivering a clean cut through the monster. The Megazord came to a screeching halt right behind the Changeling, and in front of the sword they had thrown, picking it up, its back turned to the Changeling. The moment they took back their weapon the monster exploded, effectively being cut in half. Once again the dimension the fight had taken place in fading. >--------------< “Why am I even listening to you? I still remember what happened last time,” Lightning grunted, trotting after Indigo, both already in their sports equipment. “Because I want you here! I’m so sorry for not standing in for you yesterday, or for not inviting you back myself. You were right, I still have ways to go before I’m a better person, but I’m gonna put in the legwork, by putting in the legwork with you,” she returned with a bride smile. “If they try pulling something like this again, I’m gonna stand by your side. You’re my friend, and as long as I want you here, you are staying, got it?” Lightning looked at her with a bit of a worried frown for a moment before the old her returned, the confident, cocky one: “Ok, if you really want to be beaten so much, I can’t help it, am I right?” “Hey, who said anything about you beating me? You can forget that as soon as you thought of that!” With that, both of them pushed the double-door leading to the track field open simultaneously and stepping out into the sunlight and right into the middle of the track team who was doing their warmup. The chatter that filled the air quickly ceased, and it was starting to feel like a repeat of yesterday. “What are you all so quiet? Lightning’s back on the team, that’s something to be happy about, not like this!” Indigo burst out, a broad smile on her lips. “Indigo, you remember what she did, right? Are you sure this is such a good idea?” One of the girls stepped forward and whispered, but still loud enough that Lightning could hear it. The confident grin slowly fading from the girl's face. “Of course, I think it is! So she made a mistake, big deal. Twilight did the same, and she is fine and has friends, why can’t she? I thought Crystal Prep decided to change? So, where is that change? One mistake doesn’t make a person bad. If our whole school deserves a second chance she sure as Tartarus does as well! Or was that whole thing about change just hot air? Either way, I want her here, so you better get used to it!” Indigo finished, putting her arm on Lightning and pulled her closer. One could hear a needle fall so quiet was it after Indigo’s little speech, every member of the team just looking down at their feet or anywhere else. The girl that had whispered to her turned around, looked around for a bit before returning: “I… We are sorry, Lightning. Sorry for treating you like a monster. Indigo is right, we never gave you a second chance. Can you forgive us?” With that, she stretched out her hand towards Lightning. The girl just shook her head; Indigo could swear she saw a light blush fading from her cheeks as she took the hand. “Eh, can’t want you guys to give me a second shot if I don’t do the same. So, who cares, as long as we can run together again I don’t care.” Both girls smiled as they shook hands, burring the hatched. “But don’t complain when this demon leaves you in the dust!” She pointed at herself, garnering a good amount of laughter from the rest of the girls. “Oh, we’ll see about this! I have dips for the first race, you demon!” Indigo intercepted, giving her a challenging smirk. “Oh, I’m up for it, Zap! You’ll regret it!”