Who We Become (Power Rangers Ninja Steel)

Chapter 18- Choosing Battles

(February 2, 2009)

"To create an electrical circuit you have to have an unbroken circle." Mick took one wire and connected it from a light bulb to a small battery. Taking a second wire he secured it to the opposite side of the battery and touched the tip to the light bulb. It blinked on. "And when you break the circuit in any way-" Mick removed the wire. The light winked out.

"- the circle isn't a circle and electricity can't flow!" Brody interjected excitedly.

"Right." Smiling, Mick ruffled Brody's hair. "You're picking up on this pretty quickly."

"It just . . . makes sense, I guess." Brody glanced at some discarded papers. 'A lot more than math does.'

"Here. You can connect it if you want. Just make sure your fingers stay on the plastic and don't touch the metal tip sticking out. This battery isn't all that powerful but it still won't feel good if you electrocute yourself."

Brody hesitantly reached for the wire. Being reminded he could be shocked- albeit accidentally in this case- made his skin tingle with phantom pain from the times Ripcon or the kudabots had used electricity for punishments.

Mick saw the change sweep over Brody's face. "You saw that it didn't hurt me at all, but it's okay if you don't want to try. I'm planning on bringing this out tomorrow too for a couple more experiments."

"M-maybe tomorrow then."

Nodding, Mick collected the pieces and put them in a box. He set it in a corner and returned to his work desk. "I think that wraps up what I wanted to cover today. Can you help me organize by size the new delivery of screws? Ripcon enjoys mixing them all together to be that much more irritating."

Unsurprised, Brody walked over to the table. They began sifting through the bits of metal from the bucket and sorting them into their corresponding drawers. They fell into a rhythm, working in comfortable silence. Mick had just placed the last screw in its drawer when the door burst open, shattering the silence.

Brody flinched backward, knocking the empty bucket over. A kudabot stormed inside. On reflex Brody backed away, but it appeared it wasn't there to drag him off. Instead a second robot dragged a broken husk of another kudabot into the room. The first kudabot chattered out a sequence. By now Brody had picked up enough of their 'words' to understand the equivalent of 'fix it now.'

Brody looked at Mick, who studied the inert robot doubtfully. "I can try . . ." His tone didn't offer much hope.

They tossed it to the floor with a crash. Without further discussion the marched out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

"They really should have just scrapped him and saved everyone the trouble." Mick muttered.

Rolling the blue automaton over, Mick tugged open its back panel. Sparks shot and bits of wire flopped upward. Mick stumbled back to avoid getting burned.

"What in the world were they using it for that made it get so beat up?" Brody asked, taking in the dents lining the entire husk.

"Combat training probably. But these bots weren't made to hold up under such . . . onslaught."

Mick sighed and grabbed his tool box. "Fixing the outside won't make much of a difference. The entire inner circuitry is toast."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I'll try but it'll mostly be for the heck of it." He slid a pair of rubber gloves over his hands and began to fiddle with the internal mechanisms.

Brody watched curiously. Once Mick noticed his gaze he started explaining each step. Most of what Mick said went over Brody's head, but he continued to listen intently.