Chapter 12 - In a Flash

Danny was in the Blue Lab. It was Alpha 5's lab where he'd kept Beta Z. He and Billie had taken it over and now some people had taken to calling it the Blue Lab recently. This was because there were several areas now in use.

There was the Medi-Lab in which they'd installed Medi-beds and updated them. Billie was working on modifying the technology into something more portable for field dressing in emergencies.

Another lab had been converted into Billy's domain. He'd declared it was much better than sleeping on a tiny space craft. It was also where he liked to tinker and think and get away.

Beta Z had moved out of the Blue Lab. They installed her recharging tube in a smaller room that she was decorating herself without much worry about complements and contrasts. She put in what she liked. There was also a terminal in there that only she could access. When her android body couldn't be found anywhere else, she would be there.

Then, there was the Zord Lab. Well, that's what they called it. Holly had taken it over and it was covered with blue prints and schematics for Zords and vehicles as well as various parts, tools and wielding equipment. Danny seriously doubted anyone at school knew just how smart she was. She was gorgeous and brilliant. Double whammy.

He was sketching an idea when he heard the door whoosh open. He figured it was Billie but the gait wasn't right. He glanced up at Holly as she mosied in. "Do you have a spanner wrench?" she asked. "I think Dad borrowed mine and never gave it back," she said with a bemused smile.

"The question might be do I have one big enough," Danny said with a grin and sat his sketch aside. He went to his tool area which was organized chaos. To anyone else, it looked like a mess but he knew exactly where everything was. As he dug through a few things. "Do you have a five-thou kj capacitor?" he asked her.

"For this?" she asked, looking at the schematic he'd been detailing. "I can probably get one for you."

"Yeah. I think instead of combining weapons I can convert energy directly from the Grid and channel it through the capacitor and increase the potency of our attack ten-fold," he answered and pulled a series of tools out of a box and laid them out for her inspection. "Take ya pick," he said.

Holly nodded. "That's amazing. First Beta Z and now this. You and Billie make quite a team," she said and picked out a spanner in the right caliber. "Are you together?" she asked.

His mind still on his designs, he'd been reaching for his pencil to make a note when she casually dropped that bomb. "Who? What?" he asked, freezing. "You mean, like, a couple? Me and Billie?"

Holly felt foolish she'd asked because he was now looking at her like she had two heads. "Yeah, I guess so. I think most people assume you are. You're always together," she said lamely.

Danny laughed. "Nah. It'd be like dating myself with boobs. I think Billie feels the same way. I never thought people would think we were together like that," he said with a frown. "'Sides, unless we're workin' on somethin' Wood or Nath's usually around too," he added. "Why do you ask?" he asked.

Holly sighed. "Because, I was wondering why you haven't asked me out yet," she answered bluntly.

"Oh. That's easy; fear of rejection," Danny answered.

Holly nodded. "Well, now nothing's stopping you. Thanks for the spanner," she said and wandered out of the lab.

Danny stood rooted to one spot for a minute then he was at the door. "'Ey? When and where?" he called out to her retreating figure.

She turned and walked backwards. "We can meet at the Youth Center Saturday at seven and we'll go to a movie. Learn how to use an iron by then," she said and disappeared into her lab.

Grinning like a mad-man, Danny put away his tools and went back to his design with renewed fervor.

-x-

Angel Grove park was quiet and peaceful in the twilight hours. The lighting was great for the new lense Chloe's finally-good-for-something brother had rigged up for her. Thanks to him, and probably Billie, she had a camera that Canon and Nikon would kill to copy. It was her pride and joy. She'd spent her sweet sixteen birthday money on a brand spanking new dslr. It was great. One of the best of it's class but anytime she complained about this or that, minor offenses most photographers could live with, her camera would disappear for a few days then reappear with that problem fixed.

She'd never admit it, ever, but she admired Danny his ingenuity. The latest thing she'd mentioned was the need for a flash or lighting system this time of day. She had a new lense the next day made from who knew what but seemed to work perfectly with her camera model.

Mindless of snagging her artfully torn black leggings, scuffing her cute sling boots, or getting grass-stains on her oversized cashmere sweater, she stretched out on the ground and brought into focus a night blooming flower just beginning to open. The petals were dripping from a recent watering. The moisture was seeping through her clothes. She needed to get the picture quickly but, "Ey, move your gigantor foot outta my frame," she snapped to whoever was standing in her shot without looking up from her view finder.

Fox jumped at the sudden voice. "Where the crap did you come from?" he asked, now spotting her laying on the ground with a camera. He backed up a few paces. "Better?" he asked. He hadn't meant to get in her shot, he'd just stopped for a second to fish a piece of gum out of his pocket.

"Yep, thanks," she said and snapped the shot once it was in focus. She got to her feet and grimaced at the state of her sweater. Luckily she was wearing it over a black tank but still. "Ma's gonna kill me," she said and dusted some leaves and grass off of her clothes.

Fox popped the gum in his mouth. "Happens when you wallow around on the wet ground," he pointed out around a cheeky grin.

"I wasn't wallowing. I was getting an A+ shot," she said.

Fox looked doubtfully at the sky which was getting darker by the second. "In this light? Doubtful," he said. True, he didn't know that much about photography but he knew you had to have light to get a decent picture.

Chloe smirked at him. She switched the camera to viewing mode and showed him the screen with the picture on it. It was a crisp, clear shot. The lighting was obviously dark but the flower stood out proudly, each water droplet was defined.

Fox almost swallowed his gum. "Yeah, A+ shot," he agreed dumbly.

She powered off the camera and covered the lense. "Glad you decided to agree. You only just got that cast off, I'd hate for you have to get another one so soon," she said with a grin.

Fox gave her a wary glance. "No problem. Won't ever be stupid enough to insult your photography," he said.

"You're smarter than you look," she said.

"I'll have you know, I'm quite intelligent," he retorted and stuck his chest out importantly. "Okay, so I don't have a garage full of half finished...." he struggled to find the right word, "things," he finally settled, "and I might not carry a laptop around like a security blanket but your brother and his friend are abnormal," he said. He didn't mean it as an insult either.

Chloe burst out laughing. "'Ey, you nailed it," she agreed. "I handed out report cards last term, remember? The only thing you have above a C in is English and Spanish," she said. She, Fox and Tori had the same last period class and she or Tori was often asked to help with things like that.

"Common sense has little to do with grades," he said vaguely and gave a shrug.

Chloe snorted. "Yeah, whatevs. Anyway, I better book. Gotta find my abnormal brother and drag him home for dinner," she said and walked to where she left her bag and began digging for her camera case.

Fox was about to bid her farewell and head to the Youth Center. It was his day off and he'd spent most of the day helping with the clean-up of the University's language building. The words died in on his tongue as he noticed the gray figures headed toward them. "Chloe. Don't be alarmed, but those gray things are headed this way," he said.

Chloe frowned and looked up at him only to see that those gray things were Putties. She pushed her camera in his hands. "Get out of here," she said and pushed him out of the way as the Putties reached them. She whirled around and kicked one in the chest. She used her momentum to push off and turn a flip.

Fox wasn't a fighter and Chloe was a champion but it wasn't in him to leave a girl alone in this situation. "What about you?"

"I'm right behind you! Go!" she shouted and turned to see a Putty coming up behind him. She wasn't fast enough. It pushed him back. Her camera went flying through the air. Putties converged on it before she could react. One of them caught it. "'Ey! Give it back!" she said and ran at the Putty. He tossed the camera over her head before she get it. She smashed his Z in retaliation.

Fox had landed bottom first and he watched the strange game of keep-away for a moment. He ran to her and grabbed her arm. "Leave it!" he said and pulled her away from the Putties.

Chloe, aware that she couldn't reveal herself just then, allowed herself to be taken just as Power Rangers began to appear. "See, they have it covered," Fox said.

With a mental sigh, she ran off behind him. She'd seen that Danny had been dispatched to deal with them. She hoped he'd get her camera back for her. "Thanks for save," she said as hey stopped to catch their breath.

Fox was all but failing P.E. He was doubled over and huffing, unable to come back with a glib response as he struggled to catch his breath. Chloe tried not not to laugh at him. He did try and save her after all. Not used to being on this side of the action she waited for him to catch his breath then walked with him the Youth Center. By the time he got there, he could speak again.

"Hey, thanks," she said with a smile. "I better go find Danny," she added.

"Wait for him here. Call him or something. I don't want you going out there right now alone," he said.

He reminded her of Win just then. She raised her hands in surrender. Dirty and purse-less, she went to the counter. Autumn was there as Win had been sent to the Putty attack. "Can I borrow your phone to call Danny?" she asked and gave a meaningful glance toward the grim-faced Fox.

"Just a sec," Autumn agreed and started to pull a cell phone out of her apron when Win came down from upstairs and Danny walked in the front doors. "Guess it's okay, now," she said, watching Danny move toward Chloe.

"'Ey, we need to get home. The heck happened to you?" he asked, eying her appearance.

"She was wallowing on the ground at the Park. Then those gray things attacked us," Fox said.

"You a'ight?" he asked his sister.

"Sure am. Fox rescued me," she said and tried not let her amusement show.

Danny's eyebrows shot up. He looked at Fox. "We owe ya one," he said.

Fox shrugged. "Anyone would do it," he said. "It's still my day off. And I'm a hero, tell one of the curlies to bring me a burger and fries," he said to Autumn.

Spring poked her head out of the kitchen. "You wish. Hero or not, we aren't your maids," she said and disappeared as quickly as she appeared.

"Save a girl's life and still get no respect," he complained.

Autumn chuckled. "I'll bring you a plate," she said.

Chloe snickered. "Thanks again, Fox. We're gone," she said.

"Yeah, thanks," Danny agreed. Fox gave them a finger wave as he headed toward the back and upstairs to his room.

Chloe and Danny bid farewell to Autumn and a slightly confused Win and walked out. "Where's my bag and camera?" she demanded.

"Tori got your bag and took it to the Command Center but there was no sign of your camera," he answered. Chloe frowned. "Tai wants you explain what happened," he said.

"I figured," she said. As soon as they were far enough out of sight of the Youth Center, they teleported.

-x-

Palace on thee Moon

"The Putties found something interesting on their latest Patrol," Roki mused to his wife and held up Chloe's camera. "They spotted the Black Ranger girl alone with a civilian. They managed to take this from her before reinforcements arrived," he explained

"That thing looks like it weighs more than she does," she remarked. "Why on Luna did they take it?" she asked. Sometimes those brainless blobs baffled her.

"Who knows? But I think I can use it. What do you think?" he asked.

She took the camera and studied it. "This lense has an interesting filter. It captures very well. Maybe it could capture even better," she said and began to smile.

"My dear, we do make an excellent pair. Let's get to work," he said. Widow nodded and they went to Finster's lab and began work on their latest masterpiece.

-x-

Lammy sat at the counter of the Juice Bar looking through the papers she'd been given earlier that day. Inside were papers establishing her identity as Edlam Goldsmith. Birth certificate, Social Security card, ID, there were even school transcripts. Billie had actually made her take her a test to establish her likely performance. She was vaguely insulted the girl would imply the human school system would be a challenge for her. When she commented something to that effect, she'd gotten a sour look.

"You're intending to start at AGU next semester, right? Part of the whole Earthling experience? Shut up and take the test," Billie said.

Instead of being annoyed by her behavior, she actually found it refreshing. Being groused at by Billie seemed to make her feel like part of the team. "I wonder why I didn't get a driver's license?" she said as she looked at the ID she'd been given.

Taran looked at her. "Can you drive?" he asked. He was helping her acclimate to her new life as best he could.

"How hard can it be?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"That's probably why you didn't get a driver's license," Win answered as he wandered over to top off her coffee. Like Taran, she quickly became addicted to the stuff. She gave him a smile and picked up her mug, she only just remembered to sip at it rather than taking a hearty drink. She put all her papers back in the brown envelope they'd been stored in. "So, all this stuff makes me human?" she asked.

"It makes you American," Taran answered.

"Oh," she said. "Well, the next to step is find a place to live," she said.

"Good luck with that," Taran said and rubbed his neck. He'd been searching for a place for himself and get off of Tori and Dawn Feather's couch.

"What's wrong with the guest room?" Win asked.

Lammy shook her head. "It's not that. I just need my own space for now. I've shared living space all my life. I need a change," she said with a shrug.

"How, er, would you pay?" Win asked.

"That's the easy part! I have sorts of things I can sell that are worth a lot of money. Gold and jewels are valuable everywhere in any dimension," she answered.

Win nodded sagely. At least that would be taken care of. "You know you still haven't told us what your end game is," he said.

Lammy gave both of them smiles. "I know," she said and downed the last of her coffee. "I have a few places to see today," she said and waved at them as she left the Youth Center. She skirted past Sora with a smile.

Sora wandered over to them. "Where is she off to?" he asked.

"She appears to be apartment hunting," Win answered.

"Oh? There's a space in my building that recently became vacated. I don't know who it was but Manny and her grandmother live across the hall," he explained. It'd been a pleasant surprise when he found out they lived in the same building. "Though I don't know if she'd like it. Most weekends that entire floor smells like tamales and there's no elevator," he said.

"Take me to your land lord," Taran said. He didn't mind the smell of tamales and he knew Sora's building, while not the newest or shiniest, was in a quiet neighborhood and near campus. It was also probably pretty affordable. He already kew it would be perfect.

"I just got here. I haven't even had my tea yet," Sora tried to object.

Taran shook his head. "Nope. We're going now before she finds it. I plan to be off that couch by the end of the week," he said and ushered Sora back out of the Youth Center who continued to try and object the whole way.

Win watched them go in bemusement.

"What was that all about?" Autumn asked as she came in for her shift.

"Apartments," Win answered and gave a shrug. Autumn looked at him curiously but decided to clean up instead of asking questions. She paused, mildly surprised when a marine walked into the Youth Center. The base was clear across the city and almost out in the middle of nowhere. Military personnel weren't exactly their target demographic.

He looked around at the decorations. "I'd heard that this place was back and better than ever but this is amazing," he said. He looked at the Baker siblings as they watched him. He was in his mid-twenties with dark hair and eyes. "Talking to myself again? Bad habit," he said apologetically.

"No better conversationalist is what Gran used to say," Fox said as he bussed a table near the man. "Of course, Gran was bat guano crazy," he added and shrugged. Autumn sent him an exasperated look.

Rocky DeSantos chuckled. "I'm supposed to be meeting two people here. Runty Asian guy, pretty black girl around my age," he said.

"Who are you calling runty?" Adam asked from behind him.

"At least I got a pretty," Aisha said.

Rocky turned and greeted his long-time friends.

"Another one shows up. What's the opposite of a mass exodus?" Autumn murmured, realizing the tall Latino was another former Ranger.

Win shrugged and went back to work as the older trio got reacquainted. They'd eventually find out which one he was. He paused when his communicator went off. "I got this," he said and ducked into the back.

-x-

Chloe was hunting for her camera around the area the Putties attacked her. No one else seemed to care that her most prized possession had been stolen. Danny was off tinkering with things and couldn't be bothered to help her look. She sighed. Okay, so he was working on a powerful new weapon that would help them. She supposed he had an excuse. And she wasn't really there alone. Tori, Wood, Nathan and Rex were helping her look. She had a right to be cranky though, and resentful. Right?

"There's no sign of it anywhere. They must have taken it," Rex said as the little group checked in with each other.

"Why would Putties take a camera?" Nathan asked.

"We don't even know what they were doing last night," Rex said, shaking his head. He knew Tai was worried about it. They all were in a way.

Chloe opened her mouth to say something but Tori cut her off. "Sweetie, you know they weren't here just to steal your camera," she said. Chloe made a face but knew she was right.

"Recon, maybe? Who knows what they're going to do now that they don't have the Reavers' powers anymore," Wood said.

Their communicators went off. Rex twisted his wrists. "Yeah, Rex, here, go," he said.

"There is a monster not far from you location. Be careful. He seems to be able to turn people into photographs," Beez warned them.

"We got it, Beez," Rex said. "Chloe, I think I know where you're camera is," he said.

Chloe felt airless. "What did they do to my camera?" she groaned. Then she straightened up. "Let's go get my camera back," she said and twisted her wrists. "It's Morphin' Time!"

-x-

Photobomb was a shiny black, one-eyed monster. He didn't have an actual eye; instead a telescopic camera lens was his eye. flash bulbs on antennae protruded from his head and every time they flashed, a person he had in his frame would disappear only to be spit out of his mouth as a photograph. If he managed to get more than one person in his sights, each of them was spit out a separate photo.

"That doesn't even make sense! My camera was a dslr not an instant!" female Black declared.

Photobomb whirled toward him as the Black Team, Pink Team, male Red, female Blue, male Yellow, male Green and Electrum appeared. "Oooh, I'd love to add a few Rangers to my collage," he said and used his hands to frame them up experimentally.

"Don't get caught in his flash!" Electrum said and they all dove for cover. In bright winks of light, male Black, Yellow and male Pink disappeared. They weren't quite quick enough to get out of the frame. Photobomb spit the photographs out. Electrum ran forward to pick them up. Photobomb shot a bright energy blast in front of her, making her fly back.

"Hahaha, even the almighty Power Rangers cannot escape me," he crowed.

Electrum stood up, she showed them the three photographs. "They're safe for now," she said.

"Then let's do something about this," Blue said and summoned her weapons. "Let's see if you can capture me if you can't see me," she said and shimmered until she disappeared.

The lights on his stalks turned colors, and flared to life in a reddish hue, then began cycling colors until Blue was no longer invisible.

"Billie, watch out!" Red said and ran, drawing his blade on the fly. He jumped and slashed. One of the stalks went flying through the air. Without both lights, Blue vanished again. Sai flew through the air and he only just managed to not get in the lense. Black rushed forward, tucked and rolled, using the Power Axe to cut his legs out from under him.

Pink, rather miffed that her partner had been turned into a  photograph, jumped and twisted, hitting the monster with both Fans. Electrum summoned her VelociRapier and slashed him.

Sparking, hurt and one eyed the monster stumbled back. "This isn't over, Rangers!" he said and disappeared.

Red muttered something under his breath. "Let's get these people somewhere safe. I'd hate to think of them being thrown in the trash or something," he said, indicating to the photographs littering the ground.

Black nodded. "Me, too," she said glumly.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Pink assured her.

Black shrugged but helped with the pick-up.

-x-

Billy rubbed his eyes and looked at the Rangers. "They appear to be perfectly preserved. If you can destroy his lense then the effect should be reversed.

"That's great news," Tai said in relief. His best friend was a photograph. It was a state he wanted to remedy as quickly as possible.

"He didn't seem that tough," Win said quietly.

"I think that was only because Billie distracted him when she went invisible. It took time for him to filter through the right lighting to pick her up. I doubt he'd make that mistake twice," Tai said shaking his head.

"Unless he doesn't have a choice," Billie said and went to a console. "If I can insert a command into th Morph code..." she trailed off, completely forgetting she was talking, her concentration now on what she was doing. She had a frown of determination on her face.

"That's brilliant," Billy declared.

"Any idea what that is all about?" Lani asked Danny.

Danny shrugged. "She's probably going to rig our Morphs to temporarily fluctuate through different light spectrums making it harder for him to capture us with his lense," he answered. "This won't last too long, though. It'll drain a huge amount of energy. I'd better get back to work," he said, his mind already on finishing his project.

"Yeah, you do that," Tai agreed. "That's all we can do for now," he told the others. They began teleporting out of the Command Center.

"Come on, you two. Super sundaes on me," Autumn invited the depressed looking Chloe and Tori.

"Ice cream doesn't heal all the world's hurts," Chloe said. She wavered. "But it sounds good about now," she agreed.

"Yeah," Tori agreed. Autumn smiled and she and the other two teleported.

Eventually only Tai, Lani and the Blues were left. Tai stared the photos of the three Rangers. Billy left him to his thoughts. Lani did not. "You're not helping anything by standing around brooding," she said. "And people call Nathan emo," she muttered.

Tai glanced at her. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I know, I can't help it," he said with a sigh. "And I am not emo," he added with a smile flirting at the corner of his mouth.

"Could you please go flirt somewhere else?" Billie grumbled at them. "And I need caffeine," she added. She was a little more snippy than usual. Nathan usually kept her in supply of caffeine.

"Don't worry, Billie, we won't let your tank get low," Lani assured her. "In fact, we'll go on a caffeine run right now," she added.

"We will?" Tai asked.

"Yes, so come one. We can grab some food while we're out. She needs to eat and so do we," she said. She took his hand and looked up at him, giving her best smile. Tai nodded dumbly. Triumphant, Lani teleported them both out leaving Billie to her work.

-x-

Chloe felt depressed. She was laying on a blanket in the park waiting for the monster to show up while staring at the sky. It was cold on the ground. It suited her mood. Someone walked over to her and stood there. "Go away," she said and waved her hand in a shoo-ing motion.

Lammy shook her head and instead plopped down beside her. She looked up at the sky. It was a dreary, over cast sort of day. There wasn't much to see. "What are you looking at?" she asked.

"The moon supposedly but it isn't up yet," Chloe answered.

"It's not so great. It's gray and there's no sky, just dark and stars and the Earth. Gets old after awhile. I much prefer it here," Lammy said.

Chloe snorted. "Didn't want to move there. Just waitin' for my camera to come back so we can kick it's tail," she said. "Thanks for saving Rex, Wood and Nath," she said.

"I'm wearing the suit, may as well own it," Lammy said with a bemused expression.

"What are you after anyway?" Chloe asked, knowing she hadn't answered that question yet and doubted she would now.

Lammy surprised her by laughing. "A library. Not an ordinary library, but just a library. But it's heavily warded against evil and it'll need to be opened by someone with powerful Good magic. That's where Taran comes in. From what I've learned, there used to be a custodian, the Librarian, who guarded the knowledge within, a powerful magician in her own right. She sealed it and hid the entrance and either a powerful Good wizard or the next Librarian are the only ones who can open it," she explained.

"Huh. So you're actually a nerd," Chloe said. "That's unexpected. Why not just tell everyone?" she asked and sat up to look at her.

Lammy shrugged. "It's too much fun watching them squirm," she answered, making Chloe laugh for the first time since she lost her camera.

People screaming in the distance caught Lammy's attention. "Looks like you're getting your wish," she said and got to her feet.

Chloe hopped up, too. Their communicators began chiming. She twisted her wrists and answered. "We're on it," she said and looked at Lammy, who had a serious expression on her face. "Let's do this," she said. "It's Morphin' Time! Mastodon!"

"Velociraptor!"

-x-

Photobomb was back and badder than ever. His flashes were fixed and he was confident that he was unstoppable. He arrived in Angel Grove in a flash of glory. "Say cheese!" he called out to a group of unsuspecting middle school girls. They screeched and tried to run way but they were caught in his frame. He spit them out gleefully.

He stumbled back when black and purple laser blasts hit him in roughly his chest. "Ugh, what?" he demanded looking around. Electrum and female Black Ranger were first to arrive.

"I really hope Billie managed to finish what she was doing," Black said. Electrum agreed. They jumped out of the way as Photobomb fired laser blasts at them through his flashes.

"Pretty, pretty Power Rangers. Hold still! You're both so photogenic," he cajoled them. Black and Electrum ducked behind cars to avoid his flashes as he tried to capture them.

"What about us? Are we pretty enough for you?" The rest of the Rangers arrived, flanking him.

"Oh, yes! Just hold still," he said and his lense adjusted with a whirring sound trying to focus on all of them.

"Billie, now!" Red shouted.

Female Blue nodded. She tapped her helmet and made her computer appear. There was a program already loaded. She just pressed the enter button to execute it.

Photobomb stumbled back in confusion when the Rangers began to flicker. They're suits and helmets shifting colors at a random rate. He couldn't focus on any of them. "What have you done?" he demanded. Instead of trying to capture them, he began trying to blast them.

He was still formidable and had everyone scrambling away. "We don't have much longer with the filter," female Blue warned them.

"Can we form the Mega Cannon without Rex, Wood and Nath?" female Red called out.

"No time, we'll distract him. Billie, get him right in the eye," male Red said and drew his Tyranno Sword. All around him other began summoning their weapons. They ran forward, some had to dodge, others got in close enough for glancing blows and some weren't fast enough to avoid being hit.

Female Blue took a deep breath. "Power Sai!" she summoned her weapons. She turned invisible. Even her flickering powersuit could be seen but being completely invisible would help her more now. She moved forward quickly. As Gold and Silver each got off a couple of blows, she had the opportunity. She tossed her first Sai.

"Eh?" Photobomb's lense adjusted to see what was coming toward him. He didn't have a chance, his lense shattered and he staggered back. Enraged and unable to see he released a volley of laser flashes that had the Rangers scrambling for cover even as their filtering program ended.

"That was either really brilliant or really dumb. I haven't figured out which one yet," female Black commented.

"Both," Silver declared.

Three points of blaster fire hit Photobomb as the male Black, Pink and Yellow Rangers arrived.

"Miss us?" male Black asked.

Snarling, Photobomb turned toward his voice.

"Get down!" female Black shouted just as the monster unleashed a volley of blasts that ha the three scrambling for cover now.

"I was wondering why everyone was hiding," male Pink said.

"Wonder no more," male Yellow said.

"Cannon time but we have to be fast. Are we ready?" male Red asked. He got an affirmative consensus. "Mega Power Cannon!" Twelve Rangers came in close. They combined their weapons, all of them, to form a rather large, multi-barreled cannon.
The male Red Ranger aimed the Cannon. "Fire!" the male Red pulled the trigger.

"Alpha Legend Cannon!" Silver, Gold and Electrum fit their weapons together to make a cannon with a long nose and a trigger. "Fire!" The nose began to glow, pulsing gold and white, gaining intensity before finally blasting to join th six points of energy fired from the Mega Power Cannon.

Both blasts hit the monster. He was knocked off his feet. He lay there for a moment, smoking and sizzling but he eventually got back to his feet, dusting himself off. "That stung. Stupid Rangers!" he said and began firing at the general vicinity of where the blasts came from. The Rangers scrambled for cover again.

"What the--" male Red couldn't even formulate the words.

"We are so screwed," male Pink said.

"Na. We got this," male Blue said. "Tai, summon the Magnum Power Cannon," he shouted. He hadn't quite finished it and asked Holly to put the finishing touches on it. He just hoped she'd finished.

Red nodded. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stood. Silver and Gold ran forward to cover him, using their oversized weapons to deflect energy blasts from the monster.

"Magnum Power Cannon!" male Red summoned. A large red and blue thing appeared. It stood on a tripod and was at least six foot long. It was vaguely wing shaped and swooped outward with one huge barrel in the middle and six small barrels on each side of it. A triggering mechanism jutted toward him, allowing him to aim and fire. When he touched it, his Power Coin began to glow. They all did. Each barrel began to glow, staring from the outer most and going inwards until the large barrel began to glow as well. "Magnum Blast!" he pulled the trigger. The individual points of energy converged as they blasted through the monster, all but vaporizing him as he exploded.

"Wow," was all Red could say. "Danny, if we were paying you, you'd get a raise," he said.

The monster regrouped and grew into a enormous proportions. He gave a laugh. "This is even better!" He said and began taking pictures of the city and each time a building was converted to a giant photograph.

"Ah, man," male Blue complained. "I ain't got no fancy tricks for that," he said.

"That's okay, Danny. I do," Holly's voice said into his helmet. All their helmets. "Magnum Alpha Megazord," she prompted.

"Let's try it then," male Red said. "TyrannoZord!"

"TriceraZord!"

"MastoZord"

"PteroZord!"

"SmiloZord!"

"StygiZord!"

"StegoZord!"

"VelociZord!"

"CeratoZord!"

From various place around the city, Zords began appearing and converged on their location teleporting their pilots aboard. Male Red was inside the TyrannoZord. He found a new button on his console. "Activating Magnum Alpha Megazord Configuration!" he said and pressed the button. The Zords began assembling together. The SmiloZord and the MastoZord formed legs and feet. The TyrannoZord formed a torso while the PteroZord and TriceraZord formed arms. A helmeted head turned out of the TyrannoZord. The StygiZord broke apart to form gauntlets, a chest shield and a helmet. The StegoZord, CeratoZord and VelociZord configured themselves in a shoulder mounted dino head cannon system that attached to the back of the shield with a tail. The pilots teleported into an enormous combined cockpit.

"Ohh, ohh, can I get a pic of that?" Photobomb asked and turned toward him. His flashes began charging.

"Nope. This time, you say cheese," male red said and turned toward the monster. "Magnum Dino Blast!" he lined a target on the screen and depressed buttons on the arms of his yoke.

The dinosaur heads opened their mouths and fired just as his flashes went off. It was too late. He exploded with the power of all nine zords hit him in in the lense. The lense shattered a split second before the rest of him exploded.

On the ground, the female Black ran forward when a small dark object fell to the ground. She picked up what was left of her camera. It was totaled. "I am totally sending a bill to the moon for this," she declared. She managed to open it and take her memory card out. "Maybe I can at least get that A+," she muttered with a sigh.

-x-

Back at the Command Center, Tori was scolding Wood after the debriefing. "I was so worried. I wish I could you not to do anything like that again, but I guess it comes with the job," she said, loosing momentum before it could even build. She sighed and threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said.

Wood grinned. "Takes more than an over grown camera to put me down," he said and hugged her back.

Tori nodded then she stood on her tip-toes and kissed him quickly. "Incentive," she told him and slipped away, leaving him staring after her with a gobsmacked expression.

Nathan laughed. "Close your mouth, your letting flies in," he said with a laugh.

Wood blushed and clenched his jaw shut.

"What I wanna know is where my incentive is to stay outta trouble," Rex said.

"How about this; stay out of trouble or I'll kick your can," Chloe told him.

Rex chuckled. "That'll work," he said and she gave him a smirk.

"That goes for you, too," Billie said, pointing at Nathan.

He gave her a salute and grinned.

Tai shook his head. "Okay, okay. I think we're done for the day," he said. There was nothing else to say. They'd scraped through a victory today thanks to Danny, Billie and Holly.

"Oh, yeah. What time is it?" Danny asked and looked down at himself.

"You don't have time to get mom to iron you anything, but come on, let’s go see how we can shine you up to be good enough to go out with Holly," Chloe said to her brother. The two siblings teleported.

"Well, come on then, girl. Let’s go get you ready for the big date," Manny said to Holly. She and Lani latched on to their protesting friend and they teleported.

Autumn snickered. "Hey, wanna tour the new Casa de Goldsmith?" Taran asked her.

"Oh, you got the place?" she asked. It would be nice to spend some time alone with him without her family interrupting anything.

"Yep. I hope you like tamales. Manny's Abby gave me a bunch," he said. She laughed and the two of them teleported.

Lammy pouted. So unfair. Her apartment hunt so far was a miserable failure so far.

"Come on, I'll treat you to a extra large coffee of your choice," Win invited.

She smiled at him. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed.

And soon the Command Center was empty, all but Beez and Billy, who had work of their own.

-x-

Palace on the Moon

Widow as agitated. Roki watched her pace around the throne room. "That should have been a victory. What happened?" she demanded.

"They found a way to counter the lense filter," Roki said, rubbing his forehead.

Widow whirled around to snap at him that she knew that, but stopped short. "They didn't. She did. The Blue girl," she murmured. "Zita!" she shouted. Roki raised an eyebrow wondering what devious plans were forming in her wonderfully conniving mind.

Zita appeared presently. "You bellowed?" she asked.

Moriko and Griff peaked into the throne room, trying to be unobtrusive.

"That Blue girl. The first thing you did when you arrived her was target her. Why?" she asked.

"She's brilliant. I thought if anyone could hack into the Nordroz Corp. mainframe, she could. She did but covered her tracks so that no one else could follow her," she said, making a face as she remembered that.

Widow nodded. "Imagine that mind working for our side," she said.

Roki shook his head. "The last time we tried that, we nearly rotted his brain," he reminded her.

Zita bit her lip. "There is an option we haven't considered," she said. Both of them looked at her. "It's extremely dangerous. It requires re-forging the Sword of Darkness," she said.

Moriko's mouth dropped open. She knew was going be a little erratic until she came to grips with being alone but now she was just talking crazy. "Zita's right. The Sword of Darkness is an extremely dangerous thing," she said, deciding to try and talk sense into these people.

Widow ignored her. "What do you think?" she asked Roki.

Roki considered it. "We can give it a try," he said. Zita nodded.

Widow grinned. "Then we have some work to do," she said.

-x-

Beez was in the Medi-Lab as results from blood-tests they'd recently done on the Rangers came back. They'd taken the samples to establish how the genetic abilities had changed them. "Billy, could you come here, please?" she said into the comm system.

Within moments Billy was by her side. "What is it?" he asked.

"It was as you suspected. The substance in Winter's bloody stream you couldn't identify was not related to his treatments with Widow's experiments. It is present in every human Ranger. And see here," she showed him a graph of their DNA, "They each have a slight mutation," she explained, highlighting a portion.

Billy nodded. "The mutation is genetic. That means it is likely to be passed along to the next generation," he posited.

Beez nodded. "However, there were two anomalies," she said. A holographic image of a double helix appeared, yet it was slightly different. There was a variance that Billy recognized instantly. He gaped, his eyes going wide. "Somewhere in his lineage, Rex has an Eltarin ancestor," she explained.

"He doesn't have the mutation," Billy said.

Beez shook her head. She deactivated that hologram and a new one took it's place. If Billy was surprised by the variance in Rex's DNA, he was astounded by the new image. It was a triple helix. "Beez?" he asked.

"It is Sora's DNA," she explained.

"This explains so much. Why he has such a powerful weapon, and why he can only manefest two additional clones. How far back does this go?" he asked.

"One generation. His father was Triforian," Beez answered.

"Fascinating," Billy mused. He frowned suddenly. "I don't think he knows," he said. "Is it our place to tell him?" he wondered out loud.

"He should know," a new voice intruded. Jason was standing at the door. He'd been there for awhile. Billy obviously had no idea, but the smile Beez sent him told him she'd known. "I can tell him," he said. "Rex needs to know too, but now isn't the right time," he said.

"What do you know that we don't?" Billy asked him.

"Things that are way above my pay grade," Jason answered. Billy didn't know how to answer that. Jason just smiled. "I'll go pay Sora a visit," he said and sauntered off.

Billy looked at Beez for answers but she was unreadable, her face serene as she cataloged the blood test results. "Shall be begin analzing the unknown substance?" she asked him.

Realizing no answers would be forthcoming, Billy nodded. "Yes, let's," he agreed. She smiled and nodded.

-xEnd Chapter 12x-           

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