Virgo: Something in the Air

Something in the Air is the second episode of the Virgo arc, and the seventeenth of Power Rangers: Neo Zeo.

Synopsis
The movie people stick around, and Lidian grows more and more edgy as the bad guys stay quiet.

Plot
"Guys, guess what?"

Casey looked eagerly at her teammates, sitting around the library table with books scattered around. She, her sister and Lidian were making up the study date they'd forgotten about. Lidian had been unusually subdued in accepting their apologies, even by his own standards.

With a sideways glance at the nearby librarian, Lidian lowered his book. "What?"

"No, you have to guess."

"No, you said guess what. I guessed what."

Casey frowned a little, confused by the response, but went on anyway. "The movie people are going to film here! In Angel Grove!"

"I thought it wasn't safe here."

Violet shrugged. "There haven't been any monster attacks in ages, plus they're not going to film the whole movie here."

"There haven't been any attacks in ages?" Lidian repeated. "Doesn't that usually mean we're due for one any day now?"

Violet raised her eyebrows. "Why? You think they've got some kind of monthly requirement for attacks? Besides, they're not shooting in the warehouse district, they can use anything for that. I heard that they've been sprucing up that old Youth Center, since it's an 'authentic location.'"

"I'm just saying, it doesn't make sense for these guys to give us a real break. They've probably been building up their forces since we defeated Emperor Leo, and we have to be on the alert."

"By 'on the alert' you mean 'not doing anything but train,' right?" Violet asked dryly.

"No, of course not. It's just that all of this movie stuff . . . well, it's like you two have started eating, breathing and sleeping the thing. It doesn't seem like a good idea to be so fixated on something this minor."

"Minor? Hey, if the monsters want to give us a break, I'll take it," Violet replied. "Train if you want, but don't try to spoil our fun for no reason."

Lidian threw up his hands. "What's gotten into you lately? I thought you were the responsible one!"

Violet sat back, holding up her book before her face again. "Maybe I'm not as one-note as you thought."

Casey cleared her throat, looking very uncomfortable. "So, guys, do you think they'll ever make a movie about us? Who would play me?"

"A Chihuahua," Violet replied flatly.

Casey's eyes went big. "I never thought of that! That would be so cute! Plus maybe I could do my own voice or something!"

Violet just shook her head, and Lidian sighed. Awkwardness descended again. Looking pensive, Casey turned back to her books, but only for about a minute and a half. An idea struck her, and she looked up.

"Lidian, if you're feeling left out I bet they'll need help now that they're actually doing camera stuff."

"Why would they want a kid like me?"

"You're a good photographer. What's the point of building up that portfolio of yours if you're never going to use it?"

"Somehow I doubt that," Lidian said.

Casey's face fell. "I'm just trying to help, Captain Killjoy."

Lidian sighed again. "Okay, okay. Sorry. You're right. If you want you can talk to them, but I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"Fine, but I'm not going to let them turn you down without a really good reason," Casey said, beaming. "I'll hide in Brett's trailer and whisper in his ear while he's asleep if I have to!"

"You mean while you're whispering 'date Casey, even though she's like ten years younger than you' in his ear?" Violet teased.

"He is not that old!"

"He's twenty-three. That's too old for you."

"We can wait until I'm not a minor, it wouldn't be weird then!"

The girls were getting loud, and earned a chorus of shhh's from the other people scattered around the library. Lidian sighed and focused on his books as they continued to bicker in whispers.

oZo

Emperor Taurus slammed a fist into the Windjammer's gut, and the unlucky monster flew back, landing on the floor with a thud. The three remaining monsters circled, keeping well out of reach, as the minotaur turned towards them. He was breathing hard, and sweat dripped from his hairy hide as he moved. However, he'd already taken down four monsters; they'd been carted off to the infirmary. Their companions watched from the sidelines, occasionally shouting advice or support. As Taurus had continued to win, they'd quieted down somewhat.

Ophiuchus, now out of bed and bandage-free, was leaning against the wall and watching the fight eagerly. Neither side acknowledged him. In fact, once Taurus had even noticed his arrival he'd given the snake monster one glare, and then pointedly avoided looking at him again. Ophiuchus didn't even care; he'd missed most of Leo's battle, he wasn't going to miss seeing another Zodiac Emperor in combat.

"He's weaker than I thought," a female voice rang out beside Ophiuchus, and he looked around to see Virgo standing beside him. She'd changed from her billowing black robes to a fitted black top and pants, as if she intended to fight herself. Without her robes Ophiuchus could see that she had muscle—he looked away before it could turn into staring.

"What—Taurus? But he's winning."

"In the old days, he could do battle for the better part of a day without even looking tired."

"I thought that was just a myth," Ophiuchus said, awe creeping into his voice.

"Oh no, it was very real, though if he was out of alignment he was less strong, of course. I suppose it's the atrophy of thousands of years of stasis setting in. We're old." She half-smiled, almost sadly.

"Not that old. Look how well you're doing against the Rangers," Ophiuchus said. Then he paused, realizing that might be taken the wrong way. "I-I mean, single-handed Leo almost obliterated them."

"Almost." Virgo shook her head slowly. "We're fighting as if we were young again, but we've grown old and lost our power, and our tactics should reflect that."

"Is that why you're . . . actually I don't know what you're doing," Ophiuchus said.

"Watch and learn, young one."

With a roar Taurus hauled his final opponent over his head, then body-slammed him to the floor. The monsters burst into reluctant applause as Taurus staggered out of the ring. Before the clapping had even died down, Virgo turned to Ophiuchus.

"Would you go a few rounds with me?"

"Pardon?"

"I know you've only just healed, but I'm guessing you have a better combat education than most of the other monsters in here. I'd like to see what you can do."

Ophiuchus wasn't sure what to say. "Uh—sure, if you really want to, I would love to spar with you."

She flashed a flawless smile at him. "Then choose your weapon."

Crossing the room, Ophiuchus took up a pair of kusarigama, gave them a test twirl or two, and nodded. The monsters began to murmur as Virgo followed and selected another pair for herself. Heart pounding already, Ophiuchus entered the ring, and tried to remember what he knew about Virgo. Going by all those dozens of reports he'd read, Virgo hardly ever fought herself—she preferred to get others to do the work for her.

The two faced each other, bowed, and took their basic stances. Ophiuchus had one kusarigama up and behind, the other just before his chest, ready to strike. Virgo, on the other hand, stood in a relaxed stance, both weapons close to her hips. The snakelike monster was the first to move, charging and swinging the nearer kusarigama outwards, towards Virgo's face. She brought both kusarigama up to block it, but the impact sent her stumbling back a step. Alarm flashed across her face, just long enough for Ophiuchus to register it.

Shoving him away, Virgo circled, her stance much tenser and weapons up near her face. She jabbed out at Ophiuchus, who easily deflected the blow and followed it up with a kick. Caught in the stomach, Virgo let out a grunt and slammed both kusarigama hilts down on his ankle. The move was clumsy but hard enough to make him drop his leg and back up.

Ophiuchus looked at his opponent with a mix of bewilderment, excitement and worry. Shaking her long hair out of her face, she raised the kusarigama and returned to her starting stance. Maybe Virgo had had a point about losing power—but was it really this bad? She was in alignment, with her constellation as close as it would come to Earth's Sun, she should have been at her most powerful by now.

He charged, slashing both blades at her throat, but more cautiously now, as if he expected to hurt her. She smacked the blades away, but couldn't deflect his leg hooking her ankle and flipping her. With a thud, she hit the ground, kusarigama falling from her grasp. Ophiuchus held one blade to her throat. The monsters, who'd been watching with even more confusion, murmured among themselves. Scattered clapping rose from the audience.

Ophiuchus set one kusarigama down and held out a hand to Virgo. She was breathing hard, but she grinned and took his arm. However, as she got her feet underneath herself, she gave an abrupt push. Ophiuchus stumbled, off-balance. In that brief second Virgo had snatched up his discarded kusarigama and swung it at him. He only just deflected the blow, but didn't have time to recover. The blade swung low and nicked his ribs, exposed by his wide stance. A second later the hilt of the weapon struck his extended knee, making him stumble. With an uppercut to the jaw, Virgo threw Ophiuchus back at a stumble. The same pleasant grin covered her face, but there was a hard, intent glint in her eye.

Whirling she kept up the attack, delivering delicate nicks and jabs which could have been killing blows if she hadn't held back. Gradually Ophiuchus was forced to retreat all the way across the ring until his back was pressed against the ropes. At last her ankle hooked around his, flipping him onto his back. Twirling her weapon, she brought it down towards his head. He caught it on the handle of its mate, but with a peculiar twist of the wrist, she flicked it out of his hands and onto the mat.

The applause this time was much louder. Virgo tossed the kusarigama aside, and extended a hand to the downed Ophiuchus. Feeling very sheepish, he took it, though he still tried to get up on his own power.

"Thank you. Believe it or not, you're a very good fighter. You telegraph your moves, though; less drama, more force," she said.

"And don't underestimate my opponents, right?" Ophiuchus asked, wincing.

"Never underestimate your opponents. Physical strength is a tool, not a requirement. Would you like to continue training? I don't want you to overexert yourself so soon after—"

Instead of replying, Ophiuchus picked up the discarded kusarigama, and faced Virgo again. She cut herself off, smiled, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Good. Let's continue."

As Virgo retrieved her own weapons, Ophiuchus remembered and called out, "I'm not distracting you from your fight, am I? I know some of the other Emperors get irritated at that kind of thing."

"Oh no." Virgo's smile became smaller, more secretive, and she seemed to drift off, as if she was looking at something far in the distance. "I've been monitoring it this entire time."

Snapping out of it, she turned back towards Ophiuchus. "Everything is going beautifully, but thank you for being considerate. Now, let's work on those stances of yours."

oZo

"We're still working on setting up the equipment, so you take a couple of production stills while we have the cast here," the director said to Lidian, gesturing towards the Juice Bar's main counter. The five actors cast as Power Rangers were scattered around, most seated at the counter, but Brett was off to the side, surrounded by extras—all female. Most of them were pretty quiet, but the one talking now was loud enough for the entire crew to hear in spite of all the equipment being moved around.

"And then he opened the door, and the whole shelf fell off! All of the buckets and chemicals came down right on his head!" Casey illustrated with splooshing sound effects and dramatic gestures. Brett and a couple of the others burst out laughing. Casey went on, "And he just stood there, for, like, five whole minutes, with that gloop dripping off him. Then he just kind of went like this."

She ran both hands down her face and shook them at her sides, making exaggerated faces. Brett had to catch himself on the counter; he was laughing almost hard enough to fall off his bar stool.

"And the whole time everyone was just kind of staring at him, like, 'should we laugh?' Then he just shook his head, and went," she put on a deeper voice, "'Everyone shut up,' even though everyone was being quiet, and they just exploded laughing. I got detention for like a week because his jacket was stained pink and stuff, but nobody ever bullied me again, so score!"

"I wish I'd thought of that when I was a kid," Brett said, actually wiping his eyes. "Would have saved me a lot of time."

At once the audience was full of sympathy. Casey's smile faded. "You got picked on? Why?"

Brett shrugged, looking awkward. "I used to have a really bad stutter when I was a kid. People thought it was funny."

"Joke's on them now, huh?" Casey said, grinning.

He laughed. "Yeah, I think getting to play the Red Ranger makes up for that."

"Yeah." Casey fell silent, just staring at Brett.

She was startled back into reality by a camera flash. The other extras jumped too, and Brett rubbed an eye, giving Lidian a startled look.

"Give a guy a little warning," he said irritably.

"Sorry." Lidian took a couple more photos, face hidden behind the camera, and then moved away to photograph the other stars.

"There's something weird about that guy. He keeps glaring at me when he thinks I'm not looking," Brett commented, turning back to the girls.

"He's not usually like this," Casey said. "Just lately he's gotten all—all—HEY, VI!" She yelled across the set to where her sister was. "WHAT WAS THAT FANCY WORD THAT MEANS YOU'RE ALL BLEH?"

"APATHY?"

"THANKS! He's gotten all apathetic about the movie thing. I don't know why."

"Hmmm." Brett watched Lidian, who'd finished taking pictures and had retreated behind the film cameras. "He doesn't strike you as jealous, does he?"

"Jealous of what?"

"Well, you said you and Violet were his friends. Maybe he misses spending time with you now that you're busy with the film," Brett suggested.

Casey shrugged. "Then he's being too clingy . . . but I guess that makes sense for him. He used to be a real loner, barely left his house. We've only known him since this spring, and he only has like one other friend." She gazed contemplatively at him, then perked up. "Oh well, guess he needs to learn sometime that our lives can't revolve around him."

On the far side of the room, Lidian set his camera aside. The room was already heating up from all the people and lights; he was starting to sweat. Muttering something about getting a little air, he stepped outside. It was cloudy, and threatened rain. Heaving a sigh he slumped against the wall, raising his communicator watch.

"Alpha, are you sure you haven't detected any monster activity? Anywhere?"

"Positive." The robot sounded pretty near exasperated. "I've been running regular scans, and I'm not picking up anything but residual energy."

"Lidian?"

Recognizing the female voice, he looked up to see Sabrina coming towards him. She was dressed up, as if for a work interview, with her hair up in a bun. Rather than smiling, she gave him a nod of acknowledgment.

"How's your training going?" She asked. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to help lately."

"Fine, fine. What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying out for a job in stunt work. Figured I might as well put my combat skills to use."

Lidian groaned, letting his head thunk back against the wall. "Is everyone working on that movie now?"

Sabrina gave him a hard look. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Liar. Try again."

Lidian looked down at his shoes, rather than meet her gaze. Abruptly, her hand shot out and caught him by the collar, jerking him up onto his toes. He let out a startled yelp and looked at her in bewilderment. Her expression was hard.

"I said try again."

Lidian gulped. "It's the girls. They're all gaga over this movie thing—they're neglecting their Ranger work."

"What work? Training? I've seen Violet practicing, and if she is then Casey almost certainly is as well. But there's more to this, isn't there? If they were really just neglecting their duties, the rest of us could sort them out." Sabrina leaned in, almost nose-to-nose with Lidian. "What are you hiding?"

". . . Can you put me down now?"

"Can you tell me the whole truth now?"

Lidian hesitated, looking suddenly nervous. His gaze flicked towards the window, through which Casey was visible talking to Brett. He said something that made her laugh, loud enough to be heard outside. Following his gaze, Sabrina narrowed her eyes, and faced him again, releasing his collar.

"If you're attracted to the Yellow Ranger, why haven't you said anything? Acting jealous and possessive will only drive her away."

Lidian's shoulders slumped, and he lowered his head, turning away slightly as he fixed his shirt. "What if she says no?"

"Then she says no. You can move on."

"It wouldn't be that easy. Besides, it'll make things awkward for the team."

Sabrina spoke with an edge of scorn. "If you're that much of a coward—" Lidian's head snapped up "—then you should be rejected. You don't care enough to take that small risk."

"Small? Have you ever tried—"

She headed inside before Lidian could finish protesting. The door swung shut behind her. After a moment, Lidian glimpsed her through the window, talking to one of the crew. Casey called, and after a few more words she turned. Brett grinned at her, and the same excited look the other groupies wore filled Sabrina's face. She hurried over.

"This can't be right," Lidian muttered, glaring darkly. Then, slowly, a thought began to creep into his mind. "No, this can't be right. She's been offworld for the last few years, the star power might work on Vi and Casey, but not her."

He began to back away, raising his communicator watch again. "Alpha, I'm coming to the Power Chamber. I just thought of something we might have missed."

Allies

 * Alpha 5
 * Brett Slater

Villains

 * Earth Empress Virgo
 * Ophiuchus
 * Earth Emperor Taurus