Pretty Poison by cynthia_harrell [Power Rangers, beginning]
Title: Pretty Poison
Author: cynthia_harrell, Higuchimon
Words: 3,184
Theme: 'beginning'
Fandom: Power Rangers
Warnings: Power Ranger level of violence.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented here and am making no profit whatsoever off of this.
Of everything that Jason Lee Scott had ever imagined that he would be in his life, a superhero at the age of sixteen wasn’t really one of them. Oh, he’d daydreamed about it. What healthy young man hadn’t, especially one who enjoyed martial arts and helping others? But until the day that Rita Repulsa had escaped from her space dumpster and Zordon had chosen him and his four best friends to be the Power Rangers, he had thought it was nothing but a fantasy.
“Hey there, good-looking!” If that had been spoken in any other voice than the one it was, he might’ve thought they were talking to him. It wouldn’t be the first time some girl around school had tried that line on him. For that matter, Zack had been known to say something like that if he were in one of his seriously joking moods. But Skull wouldn’t be that insane.
Jason glanced quickly over to Kim’s locker to see if the young punk was bothering her again. He was slow to learn that his affections, such as they were, weren’t appreciated by the young gymnast, and Jason considered it a part of his duties as Kim’s friend to keep Skull at a proper distance.
But Kim and Trini were the only ones at her locker, talking animatedly about a shopping trip. Jason looked around again, and this time spied Skull, leaning against a locker and grinning at a tall young woman who was getting her books out. Jason didn’t think he’d seen her around before. He was fairly sure that he would have remembered if he had. She wasn’t that much shorter than he was, and her long dark hair was pulled back into a pony tail. She wore a comfortable pair of black pants and a green blouse. He couldn’t tell what she looked like, since her back was to him, but he guessed she was cute. One thing that could be said for Bulk and Skull, they did notice who the really good looking girls were.
“I said something to you, cutie,” Skull leaned in more closely, and Jason closed his locker a bit loudly. If Skull happened to be intelligent today, he’d hear that and perhaps pick up on the fact leaving people alone might be a good idea. “Didn’t you hear me?” Or perhaps he wouldn’t.
The girl turned a bit towards him, and Jason caught a glimpse of tanned skin and deep brown eyes. “I heard you.”
“Well, then? Aren’t you going to say something?” Skull’s grin got even cheesier, if that were possible. Jason wondered where he got all of his lines. Bad midnight movies? “Like say…what’s your sign?”
She closed her locker door and pushed her way past Skull calmly. “No loitering.”
Skull blinked a few times, obviously taken aback, and turned to follow her. “Hey! Are you trying to say you don’t like me?”
“You catch on fast.”
Jason couldn’t help but grin. He thought he might like her already. He swung his bag over his shoulder and headed over to cross her path. She looked to be new, and it wouldn’t hurt to show her around a little.
“Hey!” he called out once he’d taken a few more steps closer to her. “That was pretty smooth.” Now that he could see her from the front, he noticed that she was indeed as attractive as he’d thought. He thought she might have some Native American blood in her from the style of her cheekbones. There was also something hauntingly familiar about the way she carried herself.
She looked over at him, one finely made eyebrow arching as she did. “I don’t suppose you’re going to try to ask me out too.”
Jason blinked a few times, then shook his head. Not that it hadn’t crossed his mind; he was human, after all. But if she weren’t interested, then she wasn’t interested. “No, not really. The name’s Jason, by the way. Jason Scott.”
“Tommi Oliver.” She nodded a little at him, then tugged a piece of paper out of her book bag. “Do you know where Ms. Applebee’s classroom is? I’m supposed to go there for homeroom.”
“Sure.” Jason nodded and gestured down the hallway. “I’m going that way myself. Come on, I can show you around.”
Tommi took a long look at him, then nodded slightly. “All right.” She started walking and he joined her, pointing out some of the classrooms they passed along the way, and mentioning where a few of the doors went to.
“And here we are.” Trini, Zack, Kim, and Billy were already in there when he entered, and he waved over at them. “Hey, guys! This is Tommi, she’s just moved here.”
“Welcome to Angel Grove.” Billy said, smiling and waving a bit at her. “I’m Billy Cranston.”
Tommi nodded at him, then at the others as they introduced themselves. She looked to be a little on the quiet side, but Jason hoped that once they all got to know each other, that would pass. If we can. He’d already noticed that some of the friends he’d had before becoming a Ranger had kind of faded out of his life, so to speak. There was never quite enough time to hang out like they had before, and he always had to watch what he said. It was just better to be with those who already knew what was going on and weren’t going to be looking at him oddly when his watch beeped.
There wasn’t much time left before homeroom began, and everyone settled in as Ms. Applebee entered and started to take the roll after the bell had rung. Jason groaned a little when it turned out that Skull was sitting right behind Tommi, though the new girl herself didn’t appear to notice him at all.
That, of course, didn’t sit very well with Skull. When the bell for first period rang, Skull started to poke at Tommi with a pencil. “Hey! Are you sure you don’t want to go see a movie or something?”
Jason shook his head some; Skull was never going to learn. With the way Kim and Trini both kept turning him down, you’d think that he would. But he just didn’t.
Tommi paid him no attention whatsoever, but only got up, slung her bag over one shoulder, and started to walk out the door. Bulk, however, proved true to his name and stood before her like an animate wall. “My buddy asked you out. You could at least give him an answer.”
“I already did. I’m not interested.” Tommi’s voice was cool, almost on the verge of cold, and Jason frowned. That just didn’t quite sound right for some reason.
“Hey!” Skull started to poke her with the pencil again, and Jason made to go over there. Tommi might not appreciate it, but he hated seeing someone pestered.
He stopped in his tracks, however, when Tommi reached out and calmly seized Skull’s wrist and bent it backwards. There wasn’t enough pressure to break it, but from the look on Skull’s face, she could have done so if she’d wanted to. “Leave. Me. Alone.”
She pushed him backwards, releasing his wrist, and turned towards Bulk. Jason didn’t move an inch, but just watched, confused. I thought she was nice. She hadn’t talked that much, but he just hadn’t thought she would act like this at all. He couldn’t hear if she said anything to Bulk or not, but the large teenager got out of her way as quickly as he could.
“She is weird.” Zack spoke up from behind him, and Jason nodded a little. That was one way to put it.
“Come on, let’s get to class.” Kim was almost obviously trying not to look at the other girl. Jason glanced at her in concern.
“You all right, Kim?”
Kim nodded a bit, her eyes drifting over towards where Tommi had been. “Yeah. She just makes me nervous, that’s all.” The brunet laughed some and shrugged. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
Classes went on as they normally did, and Jason tried his best to put Tommi out of his mind. She did keep wandering through there, mostly because it seemed she shared most of their classes. She seldom even looked at any of them, and after what had happened, Skull didn’t appear to be all that interested in looking at her, either.
The last bell had just rung, when another sort of chime altogether sounded. Jason glanced at his communicator, then around a little. There were still several people in the halls, and one of them was Tommi. She turned towards him as if she’d heard the noise, and gazed at him for a moment. There was something that he’d never seen in any set of eyes before, something that sent a vague chill down his spine. Then she turned and left without a single word.
Weird doesn’t cover it. Jason had no more time to think about it, because Zack, Billy, Kim, and Trini showed up just then. “Jason, did you hear that?” Zack asked, gesturing quickly towards the communicator.
“Yeah, I heard. Come on, I think that classroom’s empty.” The five of them hurried over, and Jason tapped the device quickly, putting Tommi out of his mind. It was time to work again. “Zordon, what is it?”
“Goldar and a troupe of Putties are in the park, attacking civilians. You had best take care of them.” Zordon’s voice came tinnily through and Jason nodded quickly, knowing that they were also being observed on the Viewing Globe.
“We’ll be right on it!” It was hard to say just what Rita was up to, sending Goldar out like this. It wasn’t the first time that had happened, but she usually sent Putties and a monster. Well, that would show up before the day was through. Rita was way too predictable.
Getting to the park from school was child’s play, especially with all the experience they’d had doing so. And indeed, Putties and Goldar were there. The armored golden monkey laughed when he spied them, waving his sword.
“What took you so long, Rangers?” he mocked. “Let’s get this started!” And with that, he charged, the Putties scurrying along beside him.
Jason was ready, though. He ducked under Goldar’s blade and slammed a quick, hard fist into his armored stomach. Fighting him unmorphed wasn’t the best idea, but there were still a few civilians who hadn’t yet cleared out of the way. One or two were fighting a few stray Putties, and even doing a decent job of it. That was another fun fact about Angel Grove: you couldn’t throw a brick without hitting someone who knew something about martial arts.
Out of the corner of one eye, Jason could see the other Rangers were also charging into the Putties, knocking them around as much as they possibly could. This probably wouldn’t take too much longer, and then the monster would show up. He wondered what it would be today. They hadn’t studied anything in class that would lead Rita to a monster, which was a tactic she’d used before. At least he didn’t think they had. Trying to think like Rita gave him hives, so he didn’t do it too often.
“All right!” Goldar backed off a few feet and looked around, the Putties gathering around him as he did. They looked as if they’d had enough of the fight. Jason was fine with that; it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a head start on his homework, after all, once this was over with. “I think it’s time that you humans met Rita’s newest warrior!”
“Oh, great, she’s hiring more help?” Zack rolled his eyes. “What is it, some relative of yours, monkey face?”
Goldar laughed derisively. “You won’t be saying once you see what’s in store for you! Good luck, Rangers. You’re going to need it!” And with that, he and all of the Putties vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Everything was quiet suddenly, and Jason looked at his friends. “What do you think he was talking about?”
No one had a chance to say anything, before another voice spoke from behind them. “He was talking about me.”
All five of them turned at once, and as they did, a bolt of emerald green lightning struck the ground, sending them falling backwards. Jason didn’t bother to wait to see what was coming out of the cloud of smoke that rose up. He was quickly learning in this war to pay attention to his instincts, and all of those instincts said three simple words, words that he called out quickly himself.
“It’s morphin’ time!”
There was a quick flash of red light across his vision, and when it cleared, his attention was caught almost at once by someone in green standing only a short distance away. Whoever it was gave him, and the rest, no chance for introductions. A green blur shot over to him, and for one of the few times in his life, Jason found himself facing an opponent as strong and skilled as he was. A powerful leg struck him in the stomach, while an equally powerful fist plowed into his chest, sending him stumbling back some.
Then he actually got a look at what this new fighter was wearing, and it was all that he could do to stop himself from just staring.
In all respects except the golden shield on the chest and shoulders and the color, the armor the other wore was identical to his, and to the other Rangers. “A Green Ranger?” Jason had only enough time to whisper the words before the other struck again, this time slamming fists and feet into Zack, throwing him quickly against Billy.
All things considered, it wasn’t a fight. It was something on the order of a massacre: of the Power Rangers. Green Ranger struck harder and harder into them, pushing them farther back with every assault.
“Jase, we need to stop this guy!” Zack gasped, leaning against him while Green Ranger stalked Billy and Trini. The enemy fighter was all but silent after that first declaration, save for the occasional grunt when one of them landed a hit. That was unnerving in and of itself. “Got any ideas?”
“Let’s see if he can take us all on at once!” Jason wasn’t sure if the idea would work, but it was worth a try. They’d been letting Green Ranger run the fight, but that was over. He pulled out his laser pistol and aimed it at Green Ranger, the other four doing likewise. “Fire!”
Five beams of light shot towards the enemy, sending smoke and dirt flying and blocking the view for a few seconds. Jason gestured for them to stop, expecting to see Green Ranger down on the ground, or at least looking a little singed.
Instead, the other Ranger stood there, arms folded, and somehow, Jason was certain there was a smirk underneath the helmet. “Guys, I think…” His words were cut off by Green Ranger, not by anything that the other said, but by a blast of raw lightning coming from gloved fingertips. The five of them fell backwards, twitching. Jason didn’t think he could so much as move, no matter how much he wanted to.
And as it dawned on him that Green Ranger was coming closer, he realized that he did want to. Quite a bit.
Another difference in the armor now seeped into his mind as he saw those boots coming closer. Where his and the others had white, Green Ranger had black. Something about that scheme teased at his mind, only to be thrown out as Green Ranger kicked him in the stomach, knocking him over. The boot came down hard on his back, keeping him where he was.
“What are you doing, working for Rita?” Jason managed to spit the words out. “You’re a Ranger, aren’t you?”
He got no answer, at least not a verbal one. The boot just kept pressing down between his shoulder blades. Then there was something else, pressing against where his helmet fastened to the rest of his armor. He couldn’t see what was going on, but he knew anyway: Green Ranger had a blaster pointed at his head.
“Green Ranger!” Rita’s voice echoed all around, and for once in his life, Jason was glad to hear it. “Leave them be for now!”
Green Ranger didn’t move so much as an inch, and Jason winced. This was not how he’d wanted today to go. Rita snapped again. “I said to leave them be!”
Jason let out a quick breath as the pressure finally eased up. Rita cackled briefly, and he leaped to his feet, followed by the others. There was no sign of the sorceress, but her voice sounded once more anyway. “I hope you enjoyed meeting my Green Ranger, Rangers. This is just the beginning! It’s going to get worse from here!”
“You’re never going to win, Rita!” Jason wasn’t going to let something like that pass without some kind of response. “We’ll stop you!”
Rita’s twisted laughter was the only reply, then Green Ranger vanished in a twisted gleam of light, a kind of parody of their own teleportation beams. Jason ground his teeth; this was not going well. “Let’s get to the Command Center,” he said after a moment. “Maybe Zordon and Alpha will know something about this.” They did about everything else that Rita threw at them, after all.
In five gleaming arcs of colored light, they lifted off of the ground and soared across the city and towards the desert. Teleportation took barely a few seconds, and then they landed in the Command Center.
Or what had been the Command Center.
Wires and damaged circuitry were everywhere. Someone had went to a lot of trouble to destroy as much of the computers and scanning devices as they possibly could. Alpha was slumped in a corner, burns on various parts of his robotic body and a few random lights blinking here and there. But perhaps what was worst of all was Zordon’s tube: cracked as from a powerful blow, and completely, utterly empty.
Billy took a few steps forward, then stopped, not wanting to step on anything and possibly wreck it beyond his ability to repair. “What happened here?”
“Rita. It’s got to be Rita.” Zack declared, no more willing to move than Billy was. “Who else would it be?”
“But how?” Trini wanted to know, edging around as best she could in an attempt to get to Alpha. “How could she get in here? Didn’t Zordon say this place was protected against her?” That had been part of what they’d all considered their ‘orientation’ meeting, after they’d accepted being Power Rangers.
Jason nodded, remembering what Zordon had said. “Only someone with a Power Coin can get past the defenses.”
All of them stopped and turned towards each other. It was impossible, but it was the only answer. Kim was the one who said it. “The Green Ranger.”
To Be Continued
Notes: Of course, you, the reader and knowing Power Ranger canon, knows who Green Ranger really is, what is up with Tommi, and who attacked the Command Center. Yes, the uniforms look like they do in the movie, armor and such.
Author: cynthia_harrell, Higuchimon
Words: 3,184
Theme: 'beginning'
Fandom: Power Rangers
Warnings: Power Ranger level of violence.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented here and am making no profit whatsoever off of this.
Of everything that Jason Lee Scott had ever imagined that he would be in his life, a superhero at the age of sixteen wasn’t really one of them. Oh, he’d daydreamed about it. What healthy young man hadn’t, especially one who enjoyed martial arts and helping others? But until the day that Rita Repulsa had escaped from her space dumpster and Zordon had chosen him and his four best friends to be the Power Rangers, he had thought it was nothing but a fantasy.
“Hey there, good-looking!” If that had been spoken in any other voice than the one it was, he might’ve thought they were talking to him. It wouldn’t be the first time some girl around school had tried that line on him. For that matter, Zack had been known to say something like that if he were in one of his seriously joking moods. But Skull wouldn’t be that insane.
Jason glanced quickly over to Kim’s locker to see if the young punk was bothering her again. He was slow to learn that his affections, such as they were, weren’t appreciated by the young gymnast, and Jason considered it a part of his duties as Kim’s friend to keep Skull at a proper distance.
But Kim and Trini were the only ones at her locker, talking animatedly about a shopping trip. Jason looked around again, and this time spied Skull, leaning against a locker and grinning at a tall young woman who was getting her books out. Jason didn’t think he’d seen her around before. He was fairly sure that he would have remembered if he had. She wasn’t that much shorter than he was, and her long dark hair was pulled back into a pony tail. She wore a comfortable pair of black pants and a green blouse. He couldn’t tell what she looked like, since her back was to him, but he guessed she was cute. One thing that could be said for Bulk and Skull, they did notice who the really good looking girls were.
“I said something to you, cutie,” Skull leaned in more closely, and Jason closed his locker a bit loudly. If Skull happened to be intelligent today, he’d hear that and perhaps pick up on the fact leaving people alone might be a good idea. “Didn’t you hear me?” Or perhaps he wouldn’t.
The girl turned a bit towards him, and Jason caught a glimpse of tanned skin and deep brown eyes. “I heard you.”
“Well, then? Aren’t you going to say something?” Skull’s grin got even cheesier, if that were possible. Jason wondered where he got all of his lines. Bad midnight movies? “Like say…what’s your sign?”
She closed her locker door and pushed her way past Skull calmly. “No loitering.”
Skull blinked a few times, obviously taken aback, and turned to follow her. “Hey! Are you trying to say you don’t like me?”
“You catch on fast.”
Jason couldn’t help but grin. He thought he might like her already. He swung his bag over his shoulder and headed over to cross her path. She looked to be new, and it wouldn’t hurt to show her around a little.
“Hey!” he called out once he’d taken a few more steps closer to her. “That was pretty smooth.” Now that he could see her from the front, he noticed that she was indeed as attractive as he’d thought. He thought she might have some Native American blood in her from the style of her cheekbones. There was also something hauntingly familiar about the way she carried herself.
She looked over at him, one finely made eyebrow arching as she did. “I don’t suppose you’re going to try to ask me out too.”
Jason blinked a few times, then shook his head. Not that it hadn’t crossed his mind; he was human, after all. But if she weren’t interested, then she wasn’t interested. “No, not really. The name’s Jason, by the way. Jason Scott.”
“Tommi Oliver.” She nodded a little at him, then tugged a piece of paper out of her book bag. “Do you know where Ms. Applebee’s classroom is? I’m supposed to go there for homeroom.”
“Sure.” Jason nodded and gestured down the hallway. “I’m going that way myself. Come on, I can show you around.”
Tommi took a long look at him, then nodded slightly. “All right.” She started walking and he joined her, pointing out some of the classrooms they passed along the way, and mentioning where a few of the doors went to.
“And here we are.” Trini, Zack, Kim, and Billy were already in there when he entered, and he waved over at them. “Hey, guys! This is Tommi, she’s just moved here.”
“Welcome to Angel Grove.” Billy said, smiling and waving a bit at her. “I’m Billy Cranston.”
Tommi nodded at him, then at the others as they introduced themselves. She looked to be a little on the quiet side, but Jason hoped that once they all got to know each other, that would pass. If we can. He’d already noticed that some of the friends he’d had before becoming a Ranger had kind of faded out of his life, so to speak. There was never quite enough time to hang out like they had before, and he always had to watch what he said. It was just better to be with those who already knew what was going on and weren’t going to be looking at him oddly when his watch beeped.
There wasn’t much time left before homeroom began, and everyone settled in as Ms. Applebee entered and started to take the roll after the bell had rung. Jason groaned a little when it turned out that Skull was sitting right behind Tommi, though the new girl herself didn’t appear to notice him at all.
That, of course, didn’t sit very well with Skull. When the bell for first period rang, Skull started to poke at Tommi with a pencil. “Hey! Are you sure you don’t want to go see a movie or something?”
Jason shook his head some; Skull was never going to learn. With the way Kim and Trini both kept turning him down, you’d think that he would. But he just didn’t.
Tommi paid him no attention whatsoever, but only got up, slung her bag over one shoulder, and started to walk out the door. Bulk, however, proved true to his name and stood before her like an animate wall. “My buddy asked you out. You could at least give him an answer.”
“I already did. I’m not interested.” Tommi’s voice was cool, almost on the verge of cold, and Jason frowned. That just didn’t quite sound right for some reason.
“Hey!” Skull started to poke her with the pencil again, and Jason made to go over there. Tommi might not appreciate it, but he hated seeing someone pestered.
He stopped in his tracks, however, when Tommi reached out and calmly seized Skull’s wrist and bent it backwards. There wasn’t enough pressure to break it, but from the look on Skull’s face, she could have done so if she’d wanted to. “Leave. Me. Alone.”
She pushed him backwards, releasing his wrist, and turned towards Bulk. Jason didn’t move an inch, but just watched, confused. I thought she was nice. She hadn’t talked that much, but he just hadn’t thought she would act like this at all. He couldn’t hear if she said anything to Bulk or not, but the large teenager got out of her way as quickly as he could.
“She is weird.” Zack spoke up from behind him, and Jason nodded a little. That was one way to put it.
“Come on, let’s get to class.” Kim was almost obviously trying not to look at the other girl. Jason glanced at her in concern.
“You all right, Kim?”
Kim nodded a bit, her eyes drifting over towards where Tommi had been. “Yeah. She just makes me nervous, that’s all.” The brunet laughed some and shrugged. “It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
Classes went on as they normally did, and Jason tried his best to put Tommi out of his mind. She did keep wandering through there, mostly because it seemed she shared most of their classes. She seldom even looked at any of them, and after what had happened, Skull didn’t appear to be all that interested in looking at her, either.
The last bell had just rung, when another sort of chime altogether sounded. Jason glanced at his communicator, then around a little. There were still several people in the halls, and one of them was Tommi. She turned towards him as if she’d heard the noise, and gazed at him for a moment. There was something that he’d never seen in any set of eyes before, something that sent a vague chill down his spine. Then she turned and left without a single word.
Weird doesn’t cover it. Jason had no more time to think about it, because Zack, Billy, Kim, and Trini showed up just then. “Jason, did you hear that?” Zack asked, gesturing quickly towards the communicator.
“Yeah, I heard. Come on, I think that classroom’s empty.” The five of them hurried over, and Jason tapped the device quickly, putting Tommi out of his mind. It was time to work again. “Zordon, what is it?”
“Goldar and a troupe of Putties are in the park, attacking civilians. You had best take care of them.” Zordon’s voice came tinnily through and Jason nodded quickly, knowing that they were also being observed on the Viewing Globe.
“We’ll be right on it!” It was hard to say just what Rita was up to, sending Goldar out like this. It wasn’t the first time that had happened, but she usually sent Putties and a monster. Well, that would show up before the day was through. Rita was way too predictable.
Getting to the park from school was child’s play, especially with all the experience they’d had doing so. And indeed, Putties and Goldar were there. The armored golden monkey laughed when he spied them, waving his sword.
“What took you so long, Rangers?” he mocked. “Let’s get this started!” And with that, he charged, the Putties scurrying along beside him.
Jason was ready, though. He ducked under Goldar’s blade and slammed a quick, hard fist into his armored stomach. Fighting him unmorphed wasn’t the best idea, but there were still a few civilians who hadn’t yet cleared out of the way. One or two were fighting a few stray Putties, and even doing a decent job of it. That was another fun fact about Angel Grove: you couldn’t throw a brick without hitting someone who knew something about martial arts.
Out of the corner of one eye, Jason could see the other Rangers were also charging into the Putties, knocking them around as much as they possibly could. This probably wouldn’t take too much longer, and then the monster would show up. He wondered what it would be today. They hadn’t studied anything in class that would lead Rita to a monster, which was a tactic she’d used before. At least he didn’t think they had. Trying to think like Rita gave him hives, so he didn’t do it too often.
“All right!” Goldar backed off a few feet and looked around, the Putties gathering around him as he did. They looked as if they’d had enough of the fight. Jason was fine with that; it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a head start on his homework, after all, once this was over with. “I think it’s time that you humans met Rita’s newest warrior!”
“Oh, great, she’s hiring more help?” Zack rolled his eyes. “What is it, some relative of yours, monkey face?”
Goldar laughed derisively. “You won’t be saying once you see what’s in store for you! Good luck, Rangers. You’re going to need it!” And with that, he and all of the Putties vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Everything was quiet suddenly, and Jason looked at his friends. “What do you think he was talking about?”
No one had a chance to say anything, before another voice spoke from behind them. “He was talking about me.”
All five of them turned at once, and as they did, a bolt of emerald green lightning struck the ground, sending them falling backwards. Jason didn’t bother to wait to see what was coming out of the cloud of smoke that rose up. He was quickly learning in this war to pay attention to his instincts, and all of those instincts said three simple words, words that he called out quickly himself.
“It’s morphin’ time!”
There was a quick flash of red light across his vision, and when it cleared, his attention was caught almost at once by someone in green standing only a short distance away. Whoever it was gave him, and the rest, no chance for introductions. A green blur shot over to him, and for one of the few times in his life, Jason found himself facing an opponent as strong and skilled as he was. A powerful leg struck him in the stomach, while an equally powerful fist plowed into his chest, sending him stumbling back some.
Then he actually got a look at what this new fighter was wearing, and it was all that he could do to stop himself from just staring.
In all respects except the golden shield on the chest and shoulders and the color, the armor the other wore was identical to his, and to the other Rangers. “A Green Ranger?” Jason had only enough time to whisper the words before the other struck again, this time slamming fists and feet into Zack, throwing him quickly against Billy.
All things considered, it wasn’t a fight. It was something on the order of a massacre: of the Power Rangers. Green Ranger struck harder and harder into them, pushing them farther back with every assault.
“Jase, we need to stop this guy!” Zack gasped, leaning against him while Green Ranger stalked Billy and Trini. The enemy fighter was all but silent after that first declaration, save for the occasional grunt when one of them landed a hit. That was unnerving in and of itself. “Got any ideas?”
“Let’s see if he can take us all on at once!” Jason wasn’t sure if the idea would work, but it was worth a try. They’d been letting Green Ranger run the fight, but that was over. He pulled out his laser pistol and aimed it at Green Ranger, the other four doing likewise. “Fire!”
Five beams of light shot towards the enemy, sending smoke and dirt flying and blocking the view for a few seconds. Jason gestured for them to stop, expecting to see Green Ranger down on the ground, or at least looking a little singed.
Instead, the other Ranger stood there, arms folded, and somehow, Jason was certain there was a smirk underneath the helmet. “Guys, I think…” His words were cut off by Green Ranger, not by anything that the other said, but by a blast of raw lightning coming from gloved fingertips. The five of them fell backwards, twitching. Jason didn’t think he could so much as move, no matter how much he wanted to.
And as it dawned on him that Green Ranger was coming closer, he realized that he did want to. Quite a bit.
Another difference in the armor now seeped into his mind as he saw those boots coming closer. Where his and the others had white, Green Ranger had black. Something about that scheme teased at his mind, only to be thrown out as Green Ranger kicked him in the stomach, knocking him over. The boot came down hard on his back, keeping him where he was.
“What are you doing, working for Rita?” Jason managed to spit the words out. “You’re a Ranger, aren’t you?”
He got no answer, at least not a verbal one. The boot just kept pressing down between his shoulder blades. Then there was something else, pressing against where his helmet fastened to the rest of his armor. He couldn’t see what was going on, but he knew anyway: Green Ranger had a blaster pointed at his head.
“Green Ranger!” Rita’s voice echoed all around, and for once in his life, Jason was glad to hear it. “Leave them be for now!”
Green Ranger didn’t move so much as an inch, and Jason winced. This was not how he’d wanted today to go. Rita snapped again. “I said to leave them be!”
Jason let out a quick breath as the pressure finally eased up. Rita cackled briefly, and he leaped to his feet, followed by the others. There was no sign of the sorceress, but her voice sounded once more anyway. “I hope you enjoyed meeting my Green Ranger, Rangers. This is just the beginning! It’s going to get worse from here!”
“You’re never going to win, Rita!” Jason wasn’t going to let something like that pass without some kind of response. “We’ll stop you!”
Rita’s twisted laughter was the only reply, then Green Ranger vanished in a twisted gleam of light, a kind of parody of their own teleportation beams. Jason ground his teeth; this was not going well. “Let’s get to the Command Center,” he said after a moment. “Maybe Zordon and Alpha will know something about this.” They did about everything else that Rita threw at them, after all.
In five gleaming arcs of colored light, they lifted off of the ground and soared across the city and towards the desert. Teleportation took barely a few seconds, and then they landed in the Command Center.
Or what had been the Command Center.
Wires and damaged circuitry were everywhere. Someone had went to a lot of trouble to destroy as much of the computers and scanning devices as they possibly could. Alpha was slumped in a corner, burns on various parts of his robotic body and a few random lights blinking here and there. But perhaps what was worst of all was Zordon’s tube: cracked as from a powerful blow, and completely, utterly empty.
Billy took a few steps forward, then stopped, not wanting to step on anything and possibly wreck it beyond his ability to repair. “What happened here?”
“Rita. It’s got to be Rita.” Zack declared, no more willing to move than Billy was. “Who else would it be?”
“But how?” Trini wanted to know, edging around as best she could in an attempt to get to Alpha. “How could she get in here? Didn’t Zordon say this place was protected against her?” That had been part of what they’d all considered their ‘orientation’ meeting, after they’d accepted being Power Rangers.
Jason nodded, remembering what Zordon had said. “Only someone with a Power Coin can get past the defenses.”
All of them stopped and turned towards each other. It was impossible, but it was the only answer. Kim was the one who said it. “The Green Ranger.”
To Be Continued
Notes: Of course, you, the reader and knowing Power Ranger canon, knows who Green Ranger really is, what is up with Tommi, and who attacked the Command Center. Yes, the uniforms look like they do in the movie, armor and such.