✔ | 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 ⸺ 𝖬𝗒𝗌𝗍𝗂𝖼 𝖥𝗈𝗋𝖼𝖾 ¹

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Hunter.

A/N: Hello, readers! I changed this book to Xander x OC instead of Madison x OC. Since they basically are dating in the rest of the series, might as well make them love interests in the first book. Enjoy the chapter!

EDITED ON MAY 27TH, 2019 @ 2:22PM

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - THE HUNTER

𝓣𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙴𝚁

WE WERE ALL AT THE Rock Porium. Xander was playing the guitar as I was on his lap while Nick was carrying boxes as he set them down. "Need any help there, Chief?" Xander asked. "Not anymore. Thanks for asking." Nick replied. "Just doing my part." Xander said.

Vida came out of Toby's office. "Uh, hey, Nick, Toby wants to see you in his office. He seems really mad. His eye was doing that twitchy thing again." Vida informed. Nick sighed. "Oh, man." He muttered. I got up off of Xander's lap as he got up as well and set the guitar down. All of us crowded Toby's office.

"The winner of the first ever Rockployee award goes to Mr. Nick Russell!" Toby announced as we all cheered. "I can't see! I can't see!" Leelee shouted, trying to get through Vida and Chip. Nick shook his hand. "Thank you, Toby. Thank you, guys. Wow. I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends and co-workers. Recent hires excluded." Nick said. Leelee looked away.

"Thanks again, Toby." Nick said as he shook his hand and we cheered and applauded once more. Leelee was lifting boxes as we all looked at her. She put down the box. "Hi." Leelee greeted. "Can the Hi's. Why'd you decide to work here?" Vida asked.

"Are you going after Toby?" Madison asked. "No." Leelee replied. "Maybe she's trying to infiltrate the team and take us down one by one." Chip accused. Nick nodded in agreement. "No, I'm not. I just want to be like everyone else." Leelee started off. Vida scoffed. "I want to be your friend. Is that so hard to believe?" Leelee asked. "Yes." We all answered. That's when our morphers beeped.

"Probably your mom now." Nick said. "If you want to be like everyone else, do some work. Help that customer." Vida told her.  "But I—" Leelee started to say. "And could you finish cleaning the kitchen?" Madison asked as she handed her a towel.

"I already started—" Leelee replied. "The trash is ready for the dumpster." Chip said, handing her the trash bag. "Floor needs to be cleaned." I added, handing her a broom. "Yeah, I—" Leelee tried again. "Sorry, Leelee. I won't be able to supervise you." Xander finished as he followed me out.

We all raced to the location to see Oculous. "Stop right there!" Nick ordered. "I am Oculous the Hunter, and you are my quarry. But I'll make a deal with you." Oculous said. "A deal?" Madison questioned. "What kind of a deal?" Xander asked. "I only want the Red Ranger. If he surrenders to me now, the rest of you will be spared. Interested?" Oculous asked.

"He's the Hunter, and we're the prey?" Chip questioned. "That's right, and I'm the best. Just surrender, Red Ranger, and spare me the trouble." Oculous said. "Forget it!" Nick said. "Yeah!" Vida agreed. "We don't go down without a fight!" Chip exclaimed.

"Okay. I'll demolecularize your friends one by one with my lasers. If I don't have all five by sundown, I'll surrender. That's the game." Oculous said. "Well, then game on!" Nick exclaimed. That's when we all got attacked by him. He then disappeared.

"Something tells me he'll be back." Chip said. Xander grabbed onto my shoulder as I was between him and Madison. "Rangers, the hunt is on. I can be anywhere. I suggest you start running!" Oculous's voice said. Chip blocked an attack. "He's up in the window!" Chip exclaimed. "He's not so smart after all." Nick said.

"Magic Staffs!" We all shouted as we blocked his attack. Nick ended up getting hit in the leg. "That blast came from the other direction. How?" Madison asked. All of us blocked attacks while trying to protect Nick in the process. "We got to get Nick out of here. Come on!" Xander said as Xander, Chip, and I helped Nick up. We were helping Nick walk. Nick fell to the ground.

"Nick!" Xander said. "My leg!" Nick exclaimed. That's when Xander got attacked. "Xander, no!" I shouted as I watched my best friend disappear. "Xander!" Nick shouted. "This guy is going down!" Vida said as her and Madison were blocking attacks. I was helping Chip with helping Nick walk.

We fell to the ground and got back up. "We got to keep moving." Madison informed. "Finishio!" We shouted as we raised our staffs in the air as we disappeared. We were in the forest. "We should make a break for Root Core." Vida said as her and Chip were helping Nick.

"I don't want to jeopardize the base. This guy can follow us anywhere." Nick told her. "I'm running out of suggestions. If this was a role-playing game, I'd give myself a time-out." Chip said as him and Vida set Nick down and we surrounded him. "At least we have some cover from the trees." Madison stated. That's when a tree disappeared.

"You were saying?" I asked. "Guess I spoke too soon." Madison replied as more trees started to disappear. We were now in sight. "We're in trouble!" Vida exclaimed. Vida then got attacked as she disappeared. "Sis!" Madison exclaimed. "Hey, Maddy, you okay?" Chip asked. "No!" Madison replied. "Vida!" Nick shouted.

"Come on. We got to find cover." Chip said as I helped him with Nick. "Wait! Wait! Stop for a second." Nick said as he sat down. "Nick, we can't stop." Madison informed. "I'm gonna surrender." Nick said. "What?" Chip said. "You can't. We're a team." Madison told him.

"It's me they're after. If I give up, it will save Xander and Vida." Nick said. "If it's you they're after, it's you we have to protect." I informed. "Watch out!" Madison shouted. She stepped in front of Nick as she got attacked. "Maddy!" Nick shouted.

"Oh, no!" Chip said. Madison then disappeared. Chip, Nick and I were demorphed as we were hiding behind a tree. "You know he's gonna find us." Nick said. "I've been thinking. He's probably in another dimension, which allows him to follow us wherever we go. If we could make—" Chip started to say. "Stop. I'm gonna give myself up." Nick stated. "What?" I asked.

"I'm not gonna lose all my friends. There's something I can do to stop it." Nick said. "But if you surrender, you'll destroy everything that we stand for. We're Power Rangers." Chip started to say. "Do you really think that's what Xander, Vida, and Madison would want you to do?" I asked him. Chip and I got then got attacked and disappeared.

All of us appeared when Nick destroyed Oculous. "Hey, look — there he is!" Chip exclaimed. We were all back at the Rock Porium. Leelee was sweeping. "So, what do you think?" Leelee asked. "It's, uh, clean." Nick replied.

"It seems that in your absence, Leelee has earned the right to the Rockployee of the month award. Congratulations." Toby said as he handed Leelee the trophy. "I think we can all learn from her commitment to excellence." Toby said as he disappeared. "Looks like I'm here to stay." Leelee said.

"How lucky of us..." I think to myself.

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A/N: So like I said, Xander is Tanner's love interest since they date throughout my series. But they won't be together until the end of the second book. (which I already finished) Hope you enjoyed!

Word Count: 1290 words.