In Eric (and AJ) we trust
Inspired by one of IG’s rangerfanshow’s latest posts. No, the episode wasn’t like this, but it’s my story. :D
Summary: AJ deal’s with the controlled Q-Rex with a little help, the Time Force rangers are late to the party, and Mr. Collins gets an earful.
“Man, this thing’s tough.” AJ winced as the Q-Rex whacked her shark zord again. The only reason she’d been able to summon a zord at all was due to hearing about it from her father that it was possible for animal spirits to get that big. So she’d done what anyone else would do-she simply asked her animal spirit, and got what she needed.
The problem was that it was too strong, and heaven knew where the rangers were. So AJ bit her teeth and mentally called for help-once again, with the help of her animal spirit.
/Um...Dad? RJ?
/AJ?/ Both their voices answered as one in mutual disbelief.
/What’s wrong?
/Are you hurt?
/Well yes but that’s beside the point-
/What?/
/Look there’s a giant t-rex rampaging in Silver Hills and it’s kicking my ass. I don’t know where the rangers are. The rest of the guardians have evacuated the area, but I need to stop this thing. Can you like, sync your spirits with mine or something and maybe help me convince this thing to stop? I kind of feel like even if it’s being controlled, it has a will of its own.
/Are you even in sync with your spirit yet?
/I can summon it just fine, his name is Jaws, and I can breathe underwater. Is that good enough?
/Fair enough. Concentrate now.
She could feel both their energies then. Her shark zord glowed, and a blast of light hit and surrounded the Q-Rex. It stopped then, and suddenly retreated.
About that time, the rangers showed up in their own zord.
“What the-” Trip asked.
“Who is that?” Jen finished.
“You guys are too slow!” AJ called to them. “I have this handled!” Once she was certain everything was safe, she jumped down, and dismissed the shark zord. Before she broke the mental connection with her brother and father, however, she had one more thing to ask.
/RJ, I need you to do me a favor-
/What’s that?
/Here’s what I need you to do-
Shortly after, Wes and Eric stopped fighting long enough to see the Q-Rex retreating from a shark, of all things.
“A shark?” Wes asked.
“AJ,” Eric murmured to himself. Seconds later, the controls for the Q-Rex appeared in his hand, and he was able to dismiss it for good. “I told you I could handle the Q-Rex.”
“You didn’t handle the Q-Rex, someone else did,” Wes retorted.
Eric didn’t get a chance to reply, because at that moment, Mr. Collins called both him and Wes back to his office. Eric groaned and took off with Wes following behind him.
They had just arrived when AJ burst in looking rather disheveled. Behind her were all the Guardians. “Great job, Eric,” she said. “Your plan worked.”
“His plan?” Mr Collins quirked an eyebrow at Eric.
“Sure,” AJ replied. “My job was to distract the Q-Rex while Eric got the controls back. Wes offered to help, but Eric had it handled. Oh, by the way, this is for you.” She handed a sheet of paper to Mr. Collins.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Mr. Collins scanned the paper and read it.
Eric and Wes meanwhile, were trying to figure out just what was going on. Eric wasn’t about to argue with AJ though, as she was arguing in his favor.
“That, Mr. Collins, is an offer from the Ocean Bluff Guardians to extend their business to Silver Hills and hire every able bodied man and woman in the city at twice the rate you’re paying them, with holiday pay. It’s signed by every member of the Guardians, including myself. And before you say you can just hire more, it’s already on the news.”
Mr. Collins turned on the news and, indeed, found AJ’s words confirmed. He grimaced, and looked back at the paper, and then at AJ. “It says here you’ll all stay under the condition that Eric is made commander of the Silver Guardians.”
“Correct,” AJ replied. “It might be the concussion talking, but I think you’d sell this city out to the mutants for money.”
“I beg your pardon?” Mr Collins asked. “Do you have any idea-”
“Hey!” Wes interjected. “That’s my dad you’re-”
“Oh please, why do you think he charges people money to be helped?” AJ retorted. “I only signed up because we’re still doing some good. But I busted my ass twice this week-once just now fighting a giant t- rex, and once earlier in the week doing a water rescue. And everyone else has too! Especially Eric! We’ve all learned a lot from him.”
Eric blinked in surprise. He wasn’t used to people standing up for him. Wes had in the past, but given who Wes was he’d always doubted just how genuine his former classmate had been. Before he could think about it any more, however, AJ continued.
“You know, you and Eric have a love of money in common,” she went on. “But the only reason Eric cares about money is people like you care about money. You’d think that working to build a company from the ground up would maybe teach you something about hard work and how there are other people that work hard too, but you still can’t see past the end of your nose!”
Wes couldn’t help it-he snorted. When his father glared at him, he coughed to cover it up. Beside him, Eric gave him a look of surprise.
“The fact is that too many people care about money because the people with money have the rest of us thinking that’s what we need to be somebody. And then we forget that we don’t have to justify ourselves to people who don’t appreciate us.
Now that was something that gave Eric something to think about. She wasn’t wrong, though he wasn’t about to admit it.
“Not only that, but you’re a lousy dad.”
“Hey!” Wes said. “My father is just a very busy-”
“Please, the only time he ever spends with you is trying to get you to go to a business meeting,” AJ interrupted. “My dad’s been pretty lousy in the past too, but you know what? Just recently, he was there when I needed him, and that’s all that matters. Eric might think he doesn’t have people who care about him, but that’s not true. He’s got a group of people behind me that are willing to walk away from whatever this is on his behalf.”
There was silence, and then AJ continued again. “Now if you’ll all excuse me, I think I’ve ranted long enough for the concussion I have not to kill me if I faint, so I’m going to faint outside.
That caught Eric’s attention. “Oh no you’re not-I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“We’re taking her to the hospital,” Wes insisted.
“I’m taking her to the hospital.” A grumpy Master Finn pushed his way through the group and took AJ’s arm.
“Who are you?” Mr Collins sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was going to be a long day.
“I’m AJ’s father,” Master Finn replied. “Just what kind of operation are you running here, anyway?” He glanced back at Eric and Wes. “You two can come along if you stop arguing.
“I’d listen to him, he’s the one that taught me about summoning giant sharks,” AJ said blearily.
Eric and Wes took one look at each other and fell silent, then followed them out.
In the end, Mr. Collins did make Eric the leader of the guardians. The whole thing had been a bluff on AJ’s part, but she figured that if it hadn’t worked, RJ would have come up with something. He was clever like that.
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Queen’s cuddle buddy written by @voltsparrow for this illustration!
Finn couldn’t believe just how lucky they were today. He and Junko were making their way down to the bridge to pass out on the couch. The boys were practically shambling there with how sore their bodies were.
“I tell you Junko, it’s like I’m cursed! It always happens right when I want it to happen the least!”
“Aw Finn, you’re being silly. There’s no way that your skimmer getting cut in half is a sign you're cursed.”
“But it only happens to me!” The blonde was getting paranoid. It was the 16th time in a row in just the last 2 months that he’d had his ride bisected mid-combat.
As they walked into the main bridge they could see stork piloting like always. But they noticed something strange about their other teammates. Aerrow and Piper were standing in front of the couch and silently staring down at it. Aerrow had his arms crossed with a smile on his face. Piper was silently giggling and was holding her face in her hands. A dreamy look on her face.
Finn was thoroughly confused.
“Uhh…” he was immediately met with shushing from his friends before he could say anything. He raised his hands in mock surrender. Piper waved him over but signaled him to stay quiet.
He walked over to the back of the couch and leaned over to see what they were looking at. Junk strolled over to the armrest side to get a look as well. What they saw stunned them.
It was the dark queen herself, Master Cyclonis…cuddling Aerrow’s fuzzy co-pilot. Finn couldn’t have imagined a more unexpected image if he tried.
She was clearly more exhausted from the last mission than even they were. She certainly had the bandages to prove it. Cyclonis was snoring softly into the scruff Radarr’s neck. Her arms loosely cradling the small blue creature. He was passed out cold with a dumb yet adorable smile on his face.
Across from Finn, he could see just how enamored Piper was by the duo napping on the couch. She was just gushing over her girlfriend like always. Stars in her eyes. He just enjoyed seeing the goth not be terrifying for once. In fact, he should probably commemorate this moment…
He waved his hand in front of Piper’s face to get her attention. She struggled to tear her eyes away from the cutest thing she had probably ever seen. But she managed. Thankfully, Finn had gotten a lot better at charades since the first time Cyclonis came on board.
Piper had gotten really good at picking up on his antics so she knew what he wanted her to do and vanished in a flash of light. A second later she reappeared holding a camera.
Finn gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up and she hopped off her feet and began hovering over the couch, camera in hand. She drifted around a bit until she found the perfect angle and….Click!
She captured something that she would treasure for the rest of her life. Unless Cyclonis found it.
Commissions open on kofi!
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