PRL 13: "Bank Shot" (LitClub Excl version)

[J. T./Jessica]

Power Rangers Literati
"Bank Shot"
By J.T. Magnus, "Turbo"

----

The sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' playing in the room were drowned out by J.T.'s horrified cry.

"Oh, NO!"

"What can I say?" Amanda said, resting her cue against the pool table, "Maybe you should switch to darts."

J.T. slumped down against the table leg, leaving his own cue resting on the table, "Three games was average, five games was a bad day, but losing seven games in a row? I must be out of practice, that's all there is to it..."

"Just means an easier championship for me," Amanda shot back.

"Over my dead and decaying corpse," came back the just-as-fast retort.

Amanda winced, "Could we not mention corpses?"

"Sorry, forgot," J.T. apologized, knowing that Amanda was still taking her own case of the Kruger Syndrome hard, even months later, "New game?"

"Can't, driving test is in a few days. Daniel's been teaching me and we have another lesson in the morning."

"Far cry from the genetic material doing so, I take it?"

"Oh, ye-e-es," Amanda answered, an almost feral grin on her face.

Jessica's head peeked out from behind the wall, "Is it safe from flying balls?"

"Yeah, come on down," J.T. waved, "Besides, it IS your house, remember?"

"I remember," Jessica answered, "But with all the time you spend here, I sometimes think you don't. Anyway, Mom wants to know if you guys are staying for dinner, she's making tacos."

"Pepper Jack?" J.T. named his favorite kind of cheese hopefully.

Jessica laughed, "There's some just for you, Johnnie, as well as some jalapenos - Mom knows you never pass up her southwestern fare. What about you, Amanda?"

"...Sorry. I have... plans..." Amanda answered, breaking down her cue and putting it in its case, "...Maybe some other time..."

Sometimes, Amanda hated the way J.T. and Jessica played 'Happy Family' without even realizing it. Hell, even the Parkers liked their daughter's boyfriend. Because of the emotional abuse she had endured growing up, even with Daniel in her life, seeing those two together could depress her to no end...

Which was the real reason she couldn't stay. It was either leave or have a breakdown, and she'd rather leave.

---

Shooting Pool against J.T. was different from when her father had taught her, she had to admit. For one thing, J.T. never tried to tell her what shots to make. Sure, there were times when he'd mutter under his breath about it not being the shot he would have taken, but her let her shoot how she wanted to shoot.

Walking down the sidewalk, Amanda wondered out-loud, "Why did I even go there tonight?"

A moment passed, then she answered herself, "Right, the pool tournament tomorrow. Five hundred dollar prize, a chance to show off, and most importantly, a chance to show J.T. up."

A voice chuckled in the shadows, "I thought showing that moron up was supposed to be MY job, Amanda."

Amanda's cue case and purse dropped to the ground beside her as she went into a ready stance.

"What do YOU want, Jon?"

The unmorphed Dark Ranger shrugged as he stepped under a streetlight, "A little song, a little dance... maybe even Magnus' head on a lance, just for laughs."

"How about a nice ass-kicking?"

"How about a kiss instead?"

"I'd rather kiss J.T. first,"Amanda answered, "And I'd rather die before doing that."

"The past can't be escaped that easily, you know," Jon replied before disappearing in a shimmer of purple light.

"Bullshit..." Amanda whispered, not sure if she really believed what she was saying.

---

Six all-too-familar notes shattered the spell of peaceful sleep surrounding the Black Ranger. J.T. sat up on the couch he slept on and first scrambled around on the end table for his glasses before grabbing his communicator and glancing at the watch that was built-in to help disguise it, along with the other communicators.

"Too late for this, gonna kill something for waking me up," he muttered as he strapped it on and reached to press the teleport button, then he stopped...

"Right, clothes, nearly forgot. Dress first, kill later..."

---

"Mr. Z? What are you doing here?"

Zack tensed up slightly, unable to say that it was habit, so he came up with a different excuse, "I thought you guys might need some help."

Although one of the other Rangers caught it, J.T. didn't notice the tension and nodded, "Good idea. While you're at it, see if you can't figure out what some of these computer things do, we don't have a clue about most of them..."

Zack restrained himself from rolling his eyes as he wondered, 'Was it like this for Tommy with the Dino Rangers?'

"Is it just me," Daniel asked out loud, "Or have they not even been trying lately?"

"Oh?" Jessica raised an eyebrow, "What have we got this time? 'Teddyzilla'? 'Salad Shooter'? Or have they sent out the dread 'Pirate Plank'?"

Daniel did roll his eyes, he hoped to Sephiroth that they never had to fight anything that lame. This monster was bad enough as it was.

"J.T.'s a bad influence on you," He gestured at the Viewing Globe, "Take a look for yourself."

Jessica looked... and blinked... and looked again before speaking, "Does anyone have the number for Minnesota Fats?"

"Or at least Slim McCoy?" J.T. quipped, his sleep-deprivation-induced glare subsiding in favor of an amused smirk.

"Better avoid anyone named Jim for this," Justin added, continuing the joke.

"Would you guys CAN IT? I want to BEAT this damn thing so I can GO BACK TO BED!" Amanda snarled out.

"Yes, Mandi-chan," Daniel answered obediently as the Rangers crossed their arms over their chests, "Unleash that within... Demon Spirit!"

"Magic Spirit!"

"Dragon Spirit!"

"Phoenix Spirit!"

"Siren Spirit!"

"Warrior Spirit!"

Throwing their arms to the sides, the Literati Rangers were covered in a light of their own color that solidifed into their uniforms and armor. As one, they reached for their communicators and teleported out of the Command Center. Remaining behind, Zack shook his head.

"God help us if Trini and Amanda meet. One was bad enough, the two of them seperately is dangerous... If they get together..." He shook his head again, "May the Power protect us..."

And as an accompanying thought crossed his mind, he chased it away...

He did NOT want to know what would happen if Jessica met one of her idols, he was just glad the Green Ranger hadn't connect her boss's old friend from high school Kim with Gold Medal Gymnast Kimberly Hart, even after he had show the Literati Rangers that picture...

Peace as they knew it would be over.

And it'd be even worse, if it were possible, if...

No...

That was just too scary for the original Black Ranger to think of.

[J. T./Jessica]

"Screwball," Justin raised an eyebrow inside his helmet, "You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"

"It's CUEBALL! And I know exactly who I'm dealing with - a bunch of kids who haven't even been Rangers more than a few months!"

"Twenty-year-olds AREN'T kids," Yolanda informed it.

"Correct this, Ms. Picky," Cueball shot back, launching a barrage of pool balls at the Rangers.

"Ow!"

"Ugh!"

"Umph!"

"AH!" J.T. winced and dropped to his knees from an extremely well-targeted shot, thanking all the deities that the different Rangers believed in for his uniform's protection, "That's... it... Dragon Spirit - A Force of Nature!"

A black shell surrounded J.T. before breaking as his Spirit Armor's wings unfurled, the dragon claws on his arms opened and closed, and flames seemed to be reflected in the visor of his helmet. Rising to his feet, J.T. opened the blades of his Dragon Claws into a pair of short staff-like weapons.

"I'll put up with a lot of things, but that's going too far!"

J.T. launched himself at the Cueball monster, aiming for a chest blow with the lower part of one of his claw-staves. Unfortunately, as the blade came in contact with the monster, the pool balls it was made out of let the weapon pass through it without harm.

"Wha-!"

Spinning around, the Battlized Black Ranger's next attempt as a stab, with the same results. Strike after strike from not only J.T., but all of the Rangers' proved futile.

"This is not good," Justin said, slightly panicked as the 'arm' his had just cut off with his Ragnarok simply rolled right back to the rest of the monster and reformed.

"Nice deduction, Holmes," J.T. snorted, flying into the air to avoid another ball barrage, "How about solving the mystery of how to beat this thing?"

"How about trying the Spirit Shot?"

"Worth a 'Shot'," Jessica remarked.

Daniel groaned, not just from the ball he took in the stomach, either, "Seriously, he's a BAD influence on you."

Almost as one, the Ranger closed in on each other and drew their weapons. Daniel dropped to one knee and raised the Demon Blaster up to meet the Phoenix Bow that Jessica held. Jessica stood on one side of the forming weapon while Yolanda placed her Siren Daggers on the underside of the Phoenix Bow either side of the Demon Blaster. Justin stood next to Yolanda as he placed the Ragnarok beside the left Siren Dagger. Beside Jessica, Amanda placed the Spell Edge in the same position as the Ragnarok on the right side. Finally, J.T. stepped up and placed the Dragon Sword on top of the weapon and stepped between Yolanda and Jessica. Energy of its color flowed from each weapon to form into a ball in front of the barrel.

"Spirit Shot, FIRE!"

Since the days of the first Power Rangers, most monsters have frozen up at the sight of combined Power Weapons and such, and thus get cut down by them easily. Unfortunately for the Literati Rangers, they got to experience first-hand one of the rare instances when the monster doesn't freeze up...

"Oh uh!" Cueball shouted as the energy blast headed towards him, "I'm outta here!"

With that, Cueball teleported away moments before the Spirit Shot's blast hit him. Without its target, the energy kept going until it finally hit something...

"Hey, Amanda, isn't that your dad's car?"

---

"Man," J.T. complained to Amanda the next morning, standing inside the Scenic City Convention Center, "Between that monster fight and being nervous about today, I didn't sleep worth a flip last night."

"At least you GOT to sleep," His friend and soon-to-be-opponent replied.

"I think I'd have rather not," J.T. looked around, "There's a lot of people here..."

"Don't tell me you're chickening-out, J.T."

"Chickening-out? Nein... Wondering if we're really ready for this, yes."

"Hey, we're Literati, we never back down from a challenge, right?"

"...Right... I think."

Amanda rolled her eyes and hit J.T. with her cue case, "RIGHT?"

"...Right... ow..."

---

As the day wore on, the two Literati Rangers advanced through the tournament by sweat, perseverance, and occasionally pain until it was the final match of the quarter-final round. J.T. took a deep breath as he stepped up to the table. He only had one chance, his opponent had gotten to the eight-ball and missed the shot, if the Literati Dragon Ranger was to have any chance of staying in the tournament, he had to sink every solid on the table without missing any or scratching...

"Odds are against me, situation's grim," J.T. muttered under his breath, "Par for the course..."

With focus usually seen only when practicing, writing or painting, J.T. tuned out the rest of the world. Ball after ball found their way into the pockets, finally leaving only two balls seperating him from the eight ball. Two balls that were literally touching each other and the cue ball, forming a three-ball triangle. Closing his eyes for a moment, J.T. walked around the table and set up his shot...

"Fire in the hole," he whispered as he made his shot...

The cue ball sent the two solids rolling off towards the corners. With a slight smile developing, J.T. watched...

As the balls missed the pockets and banked off the rails back onto the felt, causing the victorious smile to become stillborn. J.T. was stunned as he stepped back away from the table, left speechless by his failure and upcoming defeat. Closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see his opponent make the shot that would take away his dream of victory, he leaned back against the wall. He couldn't help but wince as he heard the crack of the cue ball hitting the eight and the eight dropping into the pocket...

'Wait,' he frowned, 'That sounded like TWO balls...'

"Winner, by his opponent scratching on the eight, J.T. Magnus of Scenic City."

J.T.'s eyes shot open, "What?"

Watching the match nearby, one of the other competitors nodded silently.

---

"That was close," Amanda commented during the break between the quarter- and semi-finals.

"Close? Shaving, sleeping, and driving can be close, Shuichi. THAT was by incisor epidermis."

"I hate to break it to you, but your teeth don't HAVE skin."

"By the enamel, then."

"Whatever. I'm going to grab a bite, you coming?"

J.T. shook his head, "Nah, I think I'll stay and get a little extra practice in."

---

He had lost count of the number of times he had set up the same shot as the one he had missed, each time with the same result.

"DAMMIT!"

"There's a trick to that," A voice commented from behind J.T.

The Literati Ranger whirled around, "Who are you?"

"Another one of the competitors. I was watching your match earlier. Like I said, there's a trick to making that shot," a dark-haired man that looked to be about the same age as J.T., maybe a few years older, with a goatee said.

"I don't believe it."

The other shooter re-racked the balls like J.T. had them, "Watch."

J.T. did and was surprised to see both balls bounce off the rails, then off each other and into the pockets.

"Ho-how'd you do that?"

"Easy. Want me to show you?"

An eyebrow was raised in suspicion, "Why would you want to help a possible opponent?"

The other person shrugged, "Consider it a habit. I made a few mistakes over the years and I try to make up for them by helping people."

"Sure...why not?"

---

Over the next hour, J.T. was shown how to make the shot over and over until he was making it on his own with no problem. He probably would have continued practicing if it wasn't for the sound of his communicator going off.

"Did you know your watch is beeping?"

"Uh, yeah," J.T. nodded, "Alarm reminding me to go grab something to eat. Listen, I'll, uh, I'll see you when the semi-finals start."

"See ya."

Gathering up his cue and case, J.T. ran out of the building to his car, stashing his stuff in the trunk before running into the bushes surrounding the building.

J.T. crossed his arms, "Unleash that within... Dragon Spirit!"

As the light died away to leave J.T. in his uniform and chest armor, he raised his communicator.

"It's J.T. What's up?"

Yolanda's voice answered, "Roly-Poly's back, J.T., and it's huge! We're down by the waterfront with the Spiritzords, get here as quick as you can."

"I'm on my way," the Black Ranger nodded, putting his hand to the coin in his armor, "I need Dragon Spiritzord power! And fast, partner!"

With a roar, the Dragon Spiritzord shot out of the Command Center's hanger, reaching its partner within seconds, just in time to catch J.T. as he did a Power-boosted jump into the air. As the Black Ranger settled in the cockpit, the Dragon looped up and around, silhouetting itself against the sun before turning towards the waterfront and diving into the battle. Inside the cockpit, a light came on as J.T. raised the cover for the switch that would transform the Spiritzord to Battle Mode.

"Ready, partner?"

The light winked off.

"What the?" J.T. closed and re-opened the cover and the light stayed off, "We're gonna need Battle Mode, Dragon, come on!"

In reply, the Dragon snorted and a different light came on.

"Whatever you're wanting to try, partner, I hope it works..."

J.T. opened the cover and flipped the switch inside...

Rearing up on its legs they straightened and the lower half of the Dragon rotated one hundred-eighty degrees, with the clawed feet used by the other two modes folding into the legs and other, simpler feet folding out. Instead of shifting to the side to form the left arm, the dragon head and neck dropped into the torso, rotating to form the chest. At the same time, hatches opened on both sides of the torso and humanoid arms extended as the dragon mode arms folded back over the shoulders. The tail moved up between the folded wings to form a sheath that the Dragon pulled a sword reminesent of the Black Ranger's own out of it. Landing in a kneel on one of the piers, it rose to its feet as a ninja-like head rose in the place of the usual Battle Mode head.

On a screen, the name of this new mode scrolled past as J.T. read it, "Dragon Spiritzord, Striker Mode, online."

"Why do you get all the toys?" Amanda grumbled over the communications link.

"You're way too overpowered, J.T.," Daniel added.

"Eh, you're just jealous," the Dragon Ranger retorted.

"Not to break up the taunt-fest," Jessica interrupted, "But I'm beginning to understand why pilots hate anti-air guns here!"

"On it, Love," J.T. answered with a nod, "Dragon... uh... special attack?"

The screen again prompted the pilot, "Sword of Fury!"

Time seemed to slow as the Striker Mode Dragon launched itself off the pier, flipping in mid air to ricochet off a nearby building and towards Cueball. Twisting in midair, the Dragon's sword struck from the right side, the Spiritzord continuing the spin to strike again towards the upper-right part of Cueball. Landing hard in front of the monster, sword clutched at its hip, the Spiritzord struck again, this time from the left side, followed quickly by an upward-slash from the lower-right, then another from the lower-left before raising the blade for a downward-slash from the upper-left. Drawing the sword back, the Dragon launched the final part of the attack, stabbing it deep into the monster before ripping it upwards and out by leaping into the air again. Flipping and landing behind the monster, facing away, the Dragon re-sheathed its sword and raised it's left hand, snapping it's fingers as the monster collapsed to the ground in an explosion.

"And now what are we supposed to do, huh?" Amanda complained, "Why do you always have to show off?"

J.T. laughed, "You know how the Trick Pony song goes, 'It's just what I do...'"

"Ring FIRST!" Jessica informed him, recalling the rest of the line.

---

"Laugh all you want to, Rangers," Mars said, stepping out of the shadows, "But the comedy now ends and the tragedy begins!"

With a cruel sneer, Mars touched his medallion, causing his hand to glow before stretching it out towards the fallen Cueball, "Rise, my monster, rise and become stronger!"

---

"Not again!" Daniel exclaimed as the monster not only rose again, but grew in size even larger.

"Only a fool would try to fight us twice in one day..." Justin began.

"Ha, ha! Look at me, puny Rangers, I'm HUGE!" Cueball shouted, "Best two out of three!"

Six Spiritzords turned to look at each other as their pilots spoke in unison, "A fool."

The Striker Mode Dragon took a step forward as J.T. spoke, "Literati?"

"Unless you have ANOTHER Megazord stuck away somewhere," Amanda answered, annoyed.

"I'm not answering that, Yellow. Initiating Literati Megazord sequence," J.T. said.

Moments passed as nothing happened causing the Black Ranger to repeat the command, "Initiate Megazord sequence!"

"Is something - umph! - wrong?" Justin asked as the Knight Spiritzord took a blow keeping Cueball from destroying a cell tower.

"I - I don't know! Dragon's refusing to form the Megazord!"

"Aw, to hell with this!" Daniel cursed, "Form Spirit Megazord on me!"

The Siren and Knight Spiritzords took on leg formation as the Demon's lower legs folded up into the upper legs, the three Spiritzords locking together, the left arm and head of the Demon retracting into the body. The Witch shifted into an arm and joined onto the left side of the forming Megazord before the Phoenix landed on the shoulders and dropped into head mode. Organized in the cockpit in two rows, Amanda and Daniel in front, the others behind, the Rangers activated the completed Megazord.

"Spirit Megazord, online!" The five Rangers said, using the activation code that transferred command from the Spiritzords' individual cockpits to the group cockpit of the Megazord.

Gripping the controls in his own cockpit tightly, J.T. clinched his teeth, "You gonna fight or keep being a pain, Dragon?"

An rumbling growl came from the head mounted on the Striker Mode's chest.

"I'll take that as a yes to fighting."

The Megazord and Striker Mode Dragon circled the monster, the Dragon's sword in its hands, the Spirit Megazord holding the Witch Spiritzord's staff in its left and and the Demon Mega-Axe in its right.

"Prepare to get sank, Cueball," Amanda informed the monster.

"What is it," Daniel wondered, "With everyone saying J.T.'s kind of dumb comments lately?"

In the Dragon's cockpit, J.T. crossed his arms and scoffed, "Hn, I AM the one writing this..."

"What?"

"I said 'How do we fight this?' Geez, Daniel, clean Amanda's lipstick out of your ears..."

"Can the comedy, guys, we've got a reject from a billards club to deal with," Yolanda said, reaching forward to hit Daniel on the head.

"Honey, the Pink one is hitting me!" Daniel said in a mock-pout.

"Oh, poor baby," Amanda replied, readying an attack, "Would you rather I hit you instead?"

Jessica groaned, cutting off Daniel's response, "Save it, you two."

To herself, the Green Ranger had to wonder, 'Would Johnnie and I be this bad if the roles were reversed? ...Actually, we'd probably be worse. I can almost see it, us unable to keep our hands and lips off each other and those two having the long romance...'

Jessica was broken out of her reverie when a swing of the Mega-Axe was blocked by one hand of the monster, an attack from the Witch Staff by the other, leaving the perfect opening for the Striker Mode Dragon to attack with its sword from behind Cueball. What none of the Rangers suspected was the adaptablity of Cueball's form, an oversight that was revealed to them when a third arm formed from the pool balls that made up Cueballs back to catch the Striker Mode Dragon's sword. Reacting quickly, Daniel piloted the Spirit Megazord into a flip, kicking Cueball in the chest and head before coming around and landing on its feet only to drop backwards and pull the monster off-balance, yanking it away from the Dragon and sending it flying into a building.

The Striker Mode's dragon head chestplate snarled, a sound that was echoed by its pilot, "Watch it, 'Mega Man', you nearly took our arm off with that stunt!"

Fueled by aggression, the Striker Mode Dragon ignited its sword with fire and swung it, sending an arc of flame over the Spirit Megazord and into Cueball and the building behind him.

'Looks like the construction industry's gonna be busy,' Justin winced as he thought.

The Spirit Megazord sprung to it's feet and turned, storing its weapons away and launching a series of rapid-fire punches at Cueball using its massive right hand. Little lasting damage was done, however, because with each blow the monster's form gave way and then reformed again.

Yolanda shook her head, "Physical attacks aren't doing anything - most of the damage so far's come from that fire attack."

Nodding, Amanda had the Megazord deploy the Demon Mega-Blaster and fire it point-blank at the monster, blasting holes through Cueball that were promptly repaired, but with each time the balls drew together to fill a gap, the monster grew smaller by having less material to work with.

---

"Pool's not just about trejectories, bank shots, combos, and stripes or solids. Inside each of us there's a power, Pool is just as much about harnessing that power and using it to make the balls do what you want."

"So what is this? Zen Billards One-oh-one?"

"If you want to call it that. If you want to make this shot every time, the first thing you have to do is know how you want to make the shot and use that power inside you to make it happen... after that, everything else will fall in line.."

---

J.T. opened his eyes, "See the shot, feel the power, take the shot... Dragon, follow my movements..."

The Black Ranger stood up, reaching his hand over his shoulder and then pulling it away. At the same time, the Striker Mode Dragon sheathed its sword and removed it, sheath and all from its back.

"Daniel, give me some room to shoot!"

The Rangers in the Megazord turned to look at their sixth, who was holding the Dragon's tail-sword like a pool cue. With a nod, Daniel piloted the Megazord out of the area between the Dragon and Cueball.

"Black Dragon Fireballs!"

The dragon head on the Striker Mode's chest rose up on a horizonal plane and opened it's mouth, launching three balls of energy that stopped and hovered in a triangle formation in midair before the head lowered back to its former position.

"Time to lay it on the rail, Cueball... Dragon Break Shot!"

Inside the Dragon's cockpit, his actions mirrored by the Striker Mode, J.T. drew back his right hand and swung it forward, imitating a Pool player taking his shot. The Striker Mode Dragon itself used the Battle Mode's tail sword as its cue, actually taking the shot and breaking the rack of Fireballs, sending the 'cue' Fireball straight towards Cueball with the other two Fireballs ricocheting off nearby buildings...

"Called and sank," J.T. nodded, causing the Dragon to rest the tail-sword on its shoulder, both himself and the Spiritzord turning away as the Fireballs impacted Cueball from three different directions, destroying him in an explosion of energy.

---

"Are you ready for the semi-finals?" Amanda asked, looking at the way J.T. was carrying his pool cue, broken down with each half resting on a shoulder.

"Yeah," He replied, screwing the two halves together and catching the eye of his teacher, returning the nod he was given, "I think I am."

The announcer's voice came over the loudspeaker, "First semi-final match, J.T. Magnus of Scenic City against Merrick Baliton of Turtle Cove..."

Both teacher and student approached the table, preparing to face off...

---end episode---