Chapter 7: Stranger within PT1
Chelbell2016:
I quickly had my other story updated so now I can work on this chapter. I hope you like and please review and tell me what you think. Now when certain ex team mates come back please remember they do not yet know she's a ranger again.
*Keeper of the powers*
Courtney's POV:
I am just helping to close up the shop with Xander, Bowen and Vida. I put the close sign on the door and I am just about to close it when LeeLee steps in.
"Hey," she says stopping me from closing the door and stepping inside.
"Sorry LeeLee we're closing," I tell her.
"Perfect," she says to me and then glances round. When she spots Bowen her smile grows even wider. "That means you got no excuses Bowen for taking me to see this great new DJ tonight!"
I roll my eyes and glance at the others.
"No can do," I tell her walking back towards the others. We were due at Rootcore any minute. "Already have plans with Bowen!!"
"Please," she pleads with Bowen who gives her an apologetic look.
"Don't waste your time throwing yourself at him LeeLee," Xander says walking in from the office. "Throw yourself at me."
She looks a little hesitant but then agrees.
"Okay you can come with me," she says in defeat.
"Cool," He says smiling at Bowen but I decide to end this.
"No he's not available either," I tell LeeLee. "He's also apart of the plans with Bowen and I."
Xander looks like he's about to protest as Vida turns to look at the flyer that LeeLee had in her hand of the DJ.
"DJ Fly!" She says glancing at LeeLee who turned as she took the flyer. "Never heard of him. Any good?"
LeeLee scoffs before answering Vida's question.
"He's just like the hottest new DJ around," she explains to the pink ranger. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of him."
"I've gotta check this guy out," Vida says.
I know where this is going so I begin to make my way over there.
"Great," LeeLee says cheerfully. "You can go with me."
I put my hands on her shoulders.
"Vida has plans too," I tell her and I begin to lead her to the door.
Vida's eyes widen and I can see she is not happy with me right now but I don't want her to shun her responsibilities.
"But there's new talent in town!" She says. "Our plans can wait till tomorrow."
I glance back at her as I begin to get LeeLee out of the door so we can lock up and go to Rootcore.
"No it can't," I tell her annoyance clear in my voice as she is not keeping her priorities in check and she should do. "You gave your word that you'd help 'V'!"
"Courtney's right Vida," Bowen tells her as he steps to her side.
"Thanks for popping by LeeLee," I say as the blonde girl takes off.
"We have half the Fireheart scroll to figure out," I tell all three. " Chip and Maddison are waiting at Rootcore remember? And on top of that I have to figure out what to tell my dad and Leanne when they visit as to why I am barely at college."
My dad and Leanne were visiting tomorrow and I didn't have a clue what to tell them.
I grab my jacket and prepare to leave.
"Since when did you become Courtney the good witch of briarwood?" Xander asks as he moves to follow me so we could hurry up and get to Rootcore.
"You coming 'V'?" Bowen asks as he also walks to where I am.
"Be there in a few," she tells us. "I've got some paperwork to catch up on."
*Keeper of the powers*
The next day I am meeting up with my family. I am also worried about Vida who never turned up at Rootcore last night. I have a feeling she went out with LeeLee but I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. I arrived to the university and handed in my course work.
I then went to the café to meet my dad and Leanne. I seen them and decided to yell for them.
"Dad!! Leanne!!" Both turned when they heard my voice and big smiles spread across their faces.
As I got to them we hugged.
"God I've missed you kid," dad says and I smile wider.
"How are you two?" I ask the two of them.
Dad goes on to explain how for now he is still working at reefside high and enjoying the quite life. Leanne is starting her senior year and dating Conner.
"You and Conner," I say raising an eyebrow. "Who knew?"
Leanne blushed and so did dad for some reason.
"Don't ask?" Leanne says embarrassed.
"What?" I ask a little confused.
Dad sighs.
"I didn't know," he tells me and I have a feeling that this story has a funny ending. "Until I walked in on her and Conner kissing in her bedroom!"
I bit my lip and tried so hard not to laugh. In the end I couldn't help it I burst into laughter and they both gave me dagger looks.
"Well there's your lesson for today kids," I say like I'm a teacher, but I am still laughing. "Never try and hide anything from your dad. He'll find out in the worst way possible."
Leanne shoved me gently and our food finally came.
"So how is the search coming?" Leanne asked.
I sighed.
"I haven't really started yet," I explain and they both look a little confused. "Coursework!"
"Oh well that makes sense," Dad agrees.
I look at my watch and see that I should be at Rootcore again soon so I quickly finished my dinner and then looked up at both of them.
"I got to go," I tell them nicely and they both nod. "Study group. I told them I would meet them in a few minutes."
They nod again and I hug them both.
"We still on for dinner for tomorrow?" I ask.
"Yeah we're spending the night in a hotel," I nodded and kissed dad on the cheek.
"Ok I'll see you tomorrow," I say and then look to Leanne. "See you tomorrow sis!"
I go to a toilet stall and then flame out to Rootcore.
*Keeper of the powers*
I returned to Rootcore and Azantys sat at my side as we looked through everything we could find to try and find a way to solve the map to the Fireheart. A few hours later and we have gotten nowhere and Vida still hasn't come in. I was definitely annoyed. All of us except for Vida are gathered around the crystal ball and we are looking around at all of the books scattered in front of us.
"I give up," Xander says finally having had enough of the constant research. "Maybe we're not meant to find the secret of the Fireheart."
I sigh and glance at Bowen. Even though he can be a bit of a bookworm he also looks researched out.
"Come on," I say to him glancing around at the other two rangers as well "Don't give up! Never give up!"
I pass them all another book each.
"Wow!" Maddie says to me. "Courtney that's inspiring."
"Yeah!" I say and Bowen smiles.
"That's what she thought when mum shouted it at the two of us this morning when I was ready to quit," he says smirking
I mock glare at him.
"By the way Bowen," I said to the young sorceress. "Where is Udonna?"
"Last time I saw Udonna," Maddie says before Bowen can answer. "She was teaching Clare another invisibility spell."
"Which could be the problem right there!" Chip says.
We all laugh.
Suddenly the doors open and finally Vida walks in.
"Yo crew," she says to all of us. "Sorry I'm late."
I raise an eyebrow at her from where I am standing.
"'Late'?" I repeat in question. "We haven't seen you since yesterday. That's... that's beyond late that's ridiculously late. So much for giving us your word."
She frowns at my tone of voice.
"Relax you're not my dad," she says sitting down and acting like its no big deal. "So I missed a night of saving the world. Good news is the worlds still here."
Azantys contacted me from where he sat watching Vida.
"I don't know the pink ranger that well so I could be wrong but she isn't usually like this is she?"
"No she isn't!"
"Uh 'V',' Xander says to her. "It's not that you missed last night. You missed all day too, It's night time again."
"I was worried about you," Maddison tells her sister.
"Look," Vida says getting back to her feet. "I'm sorry. I gave my word and I blew it. It won't happen again!"
I glanced at her suspicious but the others didn't say anything.
"Hey no problem 'V'," Chip tells her. "We all make mistakes."
I feel a sharp pain in my head and then I hear Koraggs voice.
"Hear me red ranger! Or all of Briarwood will be sorry!!"
My friends all look at me worried.
"We've got to go," I say to them. "Azantys stay here I will call if I need you!"
The snow leopard did as I tell him.
We race off into the woods to face Koragg as this is where he told us to meet him. When we get to the area it is close to sunrise. We hear growling and then we all fall into fighting stances when we see a lot of hidiacs appear.
"Let's ranger up!!" I tell my team going for my morpher.
Everyone except for Vida follows suit. Vida steps forward and we all stop to see what she is doing.
"Why bother," she asks me and I wonder what does she think she is doing.
She then shocks us all as she takes off and begins to fight all of the hidiacs on her own. She runs through them knocking them all aside.
I am shocked and a little worried at the new acquired strength that she now possesses. This cannot be good.
"Man look at V go," I say even though I am worried.
"This catching up on your sleep thing seems to be paying off for her," Xander says shocked.
We watch as she finishes them off all on her own without any assistance from me or the others.
"Go sis," Maddie cheers her on. "I've never seen her like this before."
"Neither have I," Chip agrees. "That was just weird."
After Vida finishes with her tornado power we all run over to her.
"Whoa sis," Maddie cheers.
"Yeah!!" Xander praises her.
"Way to go 'V'," I say as to not raise suspicion.
"Very impressive," Koraggs voice says and he steps out of the darkness looking at all of us as we drip into fighting stances. "Now how about a real challenge?"
He jumps into the air and goes through a spell seal.
We all pull out our morphers.
"MAGICAL SOURCE MYSTIC FORCE!!"
"GALWIT MYSTO PRIFIOR!!"
We all go to titan mode.
"Welcome to your last fight!" Koragg says as he pulls out his sword.
"That's what you think!" I say to him as me and my team prepare to fight.
"WOLF ATTACK!!" He yells and fires at us.
We dodge it and both me and Chip go flying through the flames and go to attack Koragg. He blocks chip with his shield and stops my sword with his own. He then turns and strikes Chip. He strikes me and then we clash swords He sends me away with a blow to the chest and then Maddie takes him on. As he knocks her down Xander steps forward.
"You want some of this?!" Xander asks challengingly.
He goes to strike Koragg with his axe who is forced to raise his shield in defence. As Xander is a lot taller then him he struggles against the power of the axe.
Koragg finally manages to push the axe back and then he strikes Xander.
I manage to jump back into the fight with my sword and Koragg turns his attention back to me. He struck me twice.
"Could use some help 'V'!" Chip says to the pink ranger.
"INCOMING!!" We hear and then we see 'V' come flying out of nowhere.
She flies to chip who catches her.
"Gotcha!!" He say as his power of lightning powers her up. "A little game of catch Koragg!"
He throws her and she hits Koragg who goes stumbling back from the impact. He puts his sword back into the shield.
"I'm not done yet!!" He tells us all.
"MAJOR DETESTROS!!"
He calls for Cotastros who comes through a spell seal and in zord mode.
"SAMBA GUNITOS EQUESTRAS!!"
"CENTAURUS WOLD MEGAZORD!!"
He stands facing us in zord mode.
"Now you'll feel my real power!"
"Talk is cheap," I tell him wondering wether I should call Azantys. "You don't scare us!"
"Let's show him," Chip says.
"Let's do it!" Maddie agrees.
"Let's go!" Vida tells us.
"Right!" Xander calls.
"MYSTIC TITANS DRAGON FORMATION!!"
At that moment the sun comes over the horizon. Vida begins to cry out.
"AHH!" She screams. "The suns so bright!! I feel all..."
We all begin to worry as she stumbles.
"'V'!" Xander says as she falls off of his shoulder and hits the ground. "What's the matter?"
She doesn't answer but suddenly turns back to her human size and de-morphs as she hits the ground.
We all look down to see what happened.
"Are you ok sis?" Maddie asks.
"'V'!" Chip calls to her as she finally looks up.
"What happened?" She asks confused.
We hear a voice behind us.
"You loose one and you all quit," We turn in time to see Koragg force Xander to his knees as he strikes him. "Look at your pitiful selves. You are defenceless. I waste my time!"
He disappears.
"Guys," Chip says and he motions to Vida. "We have to help her!"
We convert back to human and run to check on Vida.
"Sis!" Maddie calls as we get closer.
"Vida!" Xander says as he and Maddison bend down next to the pink ranger.
We all kneel down hoping to figure out what happened.
*Keeper of the powers*
We are at the rock porium and we are speaking to LeeLee.
"What happened to Vida the other night at the club?" I asked her as nicely as I could.
"'V''s been acting a little strange since then," Chip informs her.
Everyone is around LeeLee except for Maddison and Vida who were both on their way as far as we knew.
"She was acting kind of strange at the club," she tells us mainly looking at Bowen. "She was like nice to me, even talking to me."
I sighed. This isn't getting us anywhere.
"LeeLee this is important," Xander says trying to get the blonde to be serious.
"Oh right," she says looking a lot more serious. "I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. But I couldn't stay. My mom called and I had to leave. Vida was fine when I left...."
She paused for a second and we all turned to see Vida walking in with Maddie looking as pale as a ghost.
"....And had a better tan," LeeLee finished as she looked at the pink ranger.
Vida was wearing a hoodie and had sunglasses on. She didn't look good.
"Hey 'V'," Xander says as she approaches us all.
"Hey," she replies.
"Feeling any better?" Xander asks
"I guess so," she says glancing at me and my mouth drops at how pale she is. "I'm just a little sensitive to sunlight."
We all glance at Maddie as her sister walks away. Before I can say anything my phone rings.
The caller I.D says it's dad.
"Hey dad I'm sorry I'm la-" I suddenly cut off when I can hear my dad sounding like he had been crying. "Dad are you ok?"
"Courtney you need to come to the hotel right away," he tells me. "Leanne is missing."
I am shocked at his words.
"I'll be there in a second!" I tell him. I close the phone and turn to my friends. "Guys I've gotta go. If you need me just call!"
I run outside and flame to around the corner from the hotel.
I race inside and ask which floor is room 302. They tell me and I race to the elevator.
As I get there I find not just my dad but Conner and Trent there.
"Dad!" I exclaim running over and giving him a hug. "Whats happened?"
He led me over to a couch and we took a seat as well as Conner and Trent who both looked worried.
"Leanne asked can she go to a club last night," dad tells me. "She was supposed to meet both Conner and Trent but when they got there she was no where to be seen. They phoned me and I hadn't seen her either. We have waited and waited."
"What club?" I ask.
"There's a new DJ there," Trent says.
"DJ fly?" I ask hoping I was wrong.
"Yes!" Conner says suspicious. "How did you know that?"
"We need to go to that club," I said sighing.
*Keeper of the powers*
We arrive at the club and I wonder wether it's a good idea to bring all three. None of them know I'm a ranger again. I pass out earplugs as I can sense something is wrong with the music.
"Ok guys," I say as we all have our earphones but haven't put them in. "We need to find Leanne and then get out of there ok!"
They nodded and we put them in. We walk in to see a male DJ at the podium.
We walk forwards and then I am shocked to see both Chip and Vida here as well. I walk forwards and they spot me. Vida mouths one word that makes me stare at her in shock.
'Vampire' she mouthed. If Vida was a vampire and so were all these other teenagers. Then Leanne....
"Guys I think we need to leave," I tell them.
"What?" Dad says shocked. "No we need to find Leanne."
I can sense evil.
"There's evil magic all around here," I tell them.
They all pause and then I realise what I just said.
"Excuse me," dad says. "Did you just say magic?"
"Uh....," Before I can answer I spot Necrolai heading towards Chip and some hidiacs heading this way.
Dad, Conner and Trent all drop into fighting stances and so do I.
We run forwards and begin to fight the hidiacs. I punch two and kick a third. I am holding my own and so are the others.
"Guys!" I call to them and all three men turn to me. "Can you handle these Hidiacs?"
"Yeah go," my dad said.
But before I can go any further I see thick looking things coming from the podium I am forced to raise a shield around me my dad and friends. I look up and see that the DJ has turned into a monster. Necrolai turns.
"What? The red ranger!" She growls and my dad and friends eyes widen.
As I cannot drop my shield right now she turns to Chip and smirks my way.
"Welcome to the dark side ranger!" she tells him.
Chip suddenly comes out of the trance and whacks her hand away.
"Chip!!" I yell and he spots me and glances at Vida.
"Nice try fang face," he then says turning to Necrolai. I drop the shield and run over to Chip with my dad and two friends. "But you'll have to get up mighty early in the night to pull one over on me!"
He and I pulled our earphones out to show we tricked her.
"I could sense the evil music from outside," I taunted her. "Earplugs!"
Necrolai growls.
"No matter!" she says.
She then runs forward and me and Chip begin to fight her and my dad, Trent and Conner continue to fight the hidiacs behind us. We block all of her punches and kicks. The only problem is with so many people around us we cannot move far away enough to be able to hit her. Chip runs behind Vida and I continue to fight Necrolai. Unfourtanetly she sends me flying into Chip.
"Where's my sister you hag?" I demand.
"Right here!" She laughs as she places my little sister right in front of her as she knows I will not fight her.
My dad and the other two ex-rangers all looked shocked.
We jump back to our feet and I manage to flame Leanne to the back of the room and we begin to fight again.
"Take a seat!" Chip tells the bat as he pushes a chair her way.
Necrolai jumps over it. I jump at her and I notice that Leanne has made her way over here and is next to Vida. She sends us both spinning to the ground again and then glances at Vida, Leanne and the guys.
"Goodbye rangers!!" She says.
Chip holds up a piece of garlic. I don't even want to know where he got it from.
It seems to effect the Vamp at first but then she chuckles and knocks it out of his hand.
"Just kidding!!" She says and Chip looks shocked. "Your little vampire tricks wont work on me ranger!!"
Chip goes to move but Necrolai grabs him and I try to get her to release her hold.
"No you don't!!" She says and she flips both of us over and we land on our backs hard.
We get up and I pull out my morpher. Chip glances at me and then at my dad and I nod to show it's fine.
"All right!" He says as he reaches for his own morpher. "Let's try a big trick!"
"MAGICAL SOURCE MYSTIC FORCE!!"
We morph and I hear the shocked gasp from behind me.
"Games over Necrolai!!" I tell her pointing.
"FLYTRAP!!" She yells to the monster behind her at he DJ podium.
Flytrap sends tentacles out that wrap themselves around me and Chip. They squeeze until it feels like my ribs are gonna break.
"Wrong!" Necrolai tells me. "The games are just beginning!"
"Courtney!!" Dad yells in fear.
Necrolai turns to see my dad, sister, Conner, Trent and Vida all very close together.
"Flytrap destroy them!!" She tells the monster who shoots.
"NOOO!" I yell and I run over and raise a shield unfourtanetly it goes straight through and I drop to the floor and de-morph.
Chip runs over and de-morphs to check on me as I try to find the strength to heal.
"Ouch!!" Necrolai mocked me. "That had to hurt!!"
She then turned to the teens including my sister.
"Go my servants!" she tells them. "Go into the night and destroy the city!"
She says something else but I don't hear her.
She laughs and then disappears. Flytrap also disappears.
Both Vida and Leanne gasp and spot me on the floor with the guys around me.
"Courtney," Leanne says. "Oh no!!"
Vida helps me to sit up.
"Courtney next time don't save us," Vida tells me after I am more aware. "Sometimes you have to sacrifice the few in order to save everyone else. You could have stopped her. I'm sure your friends will agree."
They all nod.
"Well I'm not just your friend Vida," I tell her. "I'm your leader. It's my job to make the tough decisions sometimes."
I manage to heal myself and get back to my feet.
I turn to my dad and my ex-team.
"I'm sending you guys back to the hotel," I tell them. "Keep Leanne inside. She's a vampire."
They nodded even though they are shocked.
"And we will talk later," Dad says and I nod and concentrate sending them all back to the hotel.
"Now let's stop this monster!"
*Keeper of the powers*
"Hold it right there flytrap!!" Chip says as we finally catch up with the monster in the middle of the city. All three of us are morphed and ready to fight.
Maddie and Xander arrive.
"'V' you all okay?" Maddie asks.
"Never better," Vida says doing a new pose that she showed the others while I was out looking for my own sister.
"Now let's swat this fly," I tell my team.
We all spin.
"STRONG AS A TREE! GREEN MYSTIC RANGER!!"
"EVER CHANGING AS THE WIND! PINK MYSTIC RANGER!!"
"FLUID AS THE SEA!! BLUE MYSTIC RANGER!!"
"FAST AS LIGHTNING!! YELLOW MYSTIC RANGER!!"
"FORCEFUL AS FIRE!! RED MYSTIC RANGER!!"
"Courage is our magic," Chip says.
"And your downfall!!" Vida informs the monster.
"No problem!!" The monster says.
He wraps us all in his tentacles and we cannot move. We struggle to get loose but they are really tight.
"Let me try some magic!" Vida says.
She casts a spell that turns her into a butterfly therefore releasing her from the tentacles.
She flies away and calls for her magi staff. She strikes the tentacles holding us and we are also released.
"NO!!" The monster cries as we are freed.
"MAGI STAFF!! CROSSBOW MODE!!" Chip turned his staff to his weapon.
He then fires at the monster who cries out as he is hit.
"Nice one chip!" Vida praises.
We all then jump and land in a circle all around the monster.
"Tornado time!!" Vida says and we all spin around in circles hitting the monster lots of times. He spins into the air and then lands on the ground again a few feet from us.
"MYSTIC FORCE!!" We all yell.
"Shut your trap!!" Flytrap orders us.
Electricity surrounds him and he grows to a ginormous size.
"Let's even this out!!" Chip says and we all nod.
"Yeah!!" Vida agrees.
"Let's go for it!!" I also agree.
"GALWIT MYSTO PRIFIOR!!"
We go to titan mode and form the megazord.
"Let's get him," Maddie says. "You all right sis?"
"Never been better," Vida promises her sister.
"Liking the new pose 'V'!" Chip tells her.
"TITAN SABRE!!"
The sabre powers up as we pull it out.
"Try and stop these!!" Flytrap challenges shooting his tentacles at us.
We cast a spell that sends multiple copies of the sabre and it destroys the tentacles and then hit the monster.
The sun begins to rise and we know we need to hurry.
"We have to break the spell fast!!" Chip states.
"ANCIENT POWER MYSTIC SPELL SEAL!!"
"ATTACK!!" The monster yells moving forwards.
We strike and destroy the monster.
We are on a balcony looking at all the teens.
"Chip and Courtney saved the day me and Courtney got our sisters back," Maddie says after I finish explaining about my dad and friends. "And Briarwood teenagers are back to normal."
Later on I am at Rock porium with the other rangers, Bowen, my dad, Leanne, Conner and Trent. Vida, Leanne and LeeLee were dancing in the middle of the room.
My dad walks over to me.
"So," he says ad then pauses. "Again?"
I shrug.
"Yeah again," I tell him.
"You definitely are my daughter," he says smiling.
Then Chip walks over.
"Hey, so, Courtney," he says a little nervous around my dad a ranger legend. "Now that you know vampires exist, how about joining the C.O.U.N.T.V. club."
Chip had explained how he had figured out Vida was a vampire and how the other rangers and Bowen hadn't believed him.
"Not interested," I tell him as my dad rolls his eyes.
"Wait," he says and I roll my eyes. "Before you make a hasty decision, let me show you what your 200 bucks gets you!"
My eyes widen.
"200 BUCKS!!" I yell shocked.
He ignores me and begins to tell me what comes in it.
"Three cloves of garlic, 'How to spot a vampire' handbook, mirror, vampire chalk and a vi-" I stop him hearing what he said.
"Wait, wait, wait 'vampire chalk'?" I ask him.
"No vampire hunter worth his wooden stake goes anywhere without it," Chip says defensively and I roll my eyes again. "Just draw a circle around the vampire and they cannot cross the line."
He walks over to where Vida, Leanne and LeeLee are dancing and dad, Conner and Trent walk over to watch what he is doing.
"I hope that dude isn't trying to chat up my girlfriend," Conner says in a threatening voice.
"No he's just showing me something," I tell him and then smirk. "By the way we share the colour red. Green is not your colour."
Dad and Trent laugh at him.
I notice LeeLee has moved away from the chalk but Vida and Leanne haven't.
"What is he doing?" Maddie asks approaching and staring at Chip. Bowen also walks over.
"Showing how vampire chalk works," I tell them.
"So if Vida and Leanne were vampires," I say to Chip as he approaches us having finished the circle around Maddie's sister and my sister. "They couldn't cross that line right?"
"Hey 'V'," Xander calls out to the pink ranger from the phone. "We got any Coltrane on CD?"
"Let me check," Vida replies.
Both she and Leanne go to step out of the circle but a blue light enfulges them and electrocutes them both. My eyes widen and all of us who know what that stuff is stare in worry.
Both Vida and Leanne cry out.
They try again with the same result.
"V and Leanne?" Chip says having been given introductions earlier. "Are you two alright?"
They both look up and they have red eyes and pointed teeth.
This can only mean one thing.
My sister and Vida were still vampires.
*Keeper of the powers*
Chelbell2016:
Ok so someone requested I bring some old teammates back so I did. What do you think. How do you think Courtney will handle having to fight her sister. Should I have Tommy, Trent and Conner become rangers again for part two and can someone please say wether Leanne should stay and become an apprentice and then find out Daggeron is her daughter. You guys tell me what you want to see. Please review.