Fic: Dying of the Light 1/3
Title: Dying of the Light
Fandom: Power Rangers
Rating: R
Pairings: Adam/Aisha
Warnings: violence, major character death, implied non-con
Word Count: 19,593
Summary: The spell on the evil Green Ranger is never broken, and the Power Rangers fell. In Angel Grove, five members of the rebellion go to search for an ancient artifact that might help defeat Rita...
Notes: So many thanks to my amazing betas for the handholding and all the help. queenriley, jedinewsie and queenitsy are all amazing, and any remaining mistakes are my own. And many thanks to angel_negra for coming up with the title and for making me an amazing fanmix which you can find here.
Chapter 1 - Kimberly
October 7th, 1993
Kimberly paced back and forth in the Command Center as Billy worked rapidly to try and locate Jason. She was sure that Billy could do it; he was their resident genius, after all. But Jason had been missing for a while now, and with this Green Ranger running around, Kimberly was starting to worry for him. She knew he could take of himself, but she had thought the same thing about Zordon, and, well… she couldn’t even bear to think about that, and she deliberately turned away from his empty tube.
“I think I’ve got it,” Billy said suddenly. “I just have to reconfigure this setting and repolarize the beams, and then I think we should be able to get a lock on Jason, wherever he is.”
“Here, Billy, let me help you,” Trini said, coming over to stand next to him at the console.
“Thank you, Trini,” Billy said in surprise. “It should go much faster with your aid. If you could strip these wires, that would be of great assistance.”
While they were busy, Kimberly turned back to pacing.
“Hey,” Zack said to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. Jason’s tough - he can take care of himself.”
“I know,” Kimberly agreed. “I’m just… this whole situation with the Green Ranger is starting to really worry me. And Zordon is….” She trailed off. “And I’m worried about Tommy! He got so cold suddenly.” She felt a little bit silly for obsessing when so much else was going on, but thinking about Tommy was safe. Boys she could deal with. Something happening to Jason she could not.
“Got it!” Billy said triumphantly. “Initiating teleportation now.”
The four Rangers stood back to watch as the familiar beam of red light materialized in the middle of the Command Center, and then solidified into Jason’s form.
Kimberly screamed. Jason lay on the floor, blood gushing from a wound in his chest.
Zack was at Jason’s side instantly.
“Jase,” he said, his voice shaking. “Come on, bro, it’s going to be okay.”
Jason’s breathing was labored, and Kimberly didn’t know what to do. She had known on some level that being a Ranger could lead to serious injury or even death. But she had always thought that Jason would be fine. He was the best of them, after all. The strongest, the leader. She couldn’t stand to think that he could be hurt. If something happened to him, than how was she supposed to function as a Ranger? She wasn’t even half the fighter that he was. He was the rock that held them together, their leader.
“Jason,” Zack was still pleading. “C’mon, man, don’t do this. You can’t die on us.”
Billy was standing over Jason, waving some sort of medical device over Jason that Kimberly would swear was out of that weird scifi television show that her father used to watch. Kimberly watched Billy's face, wondering when he was going to have that moment where he figured out how to use science to save the day, just like he always did. Instead, she saw the exact moment when Billy realized that he didn’t have an answer.
Jason’s breathing grew steadily worse, and Zack still hadn’t let go of his hand, while Trini knelt by him. Jason kept trying to speak, but no sound came from his throat. All they could do was watch until Jason’s eyes closed and his labored breathing stopped completely.
It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes since they had found and rescued Jason, and now he was gone. He was actually dead.
They all just stood there for a moment, all of them in various stages of shock. Zack still hadn’t let go of Jason’s hand.
“What are we going to do?” Trini said finally, breaking the silence. “We need to tell his family.”
“Tell them what?” Kimberly asked. “We don’t even really know who… who killed him.”
“Judging from the wound, I would say that it is safe to assume that Goldar is the one responsible for this,” Billy said, his voice detached.
”So we tell them that Goldar killed him? Zordon said we aren’t supposed to tell anyone that we’re Rangers,” Zack’s voice rose in anger the farther along we got.
“Zordon could be gone as well,” Trini said, her soft voice cutting Zack off before he got farther into his rant.
“If we tell them he was a Ranger, his family will surely figure out our identities as well,” Billy pointed out. “We cannot allow for that to be compromised, not until we have figured out a way to regain contact with Zordon.”
“How can you be talking like that?” Kimberly burst out. “Jason is dead and you’re just talking like… like… I don’t even know!”
Zack got up and grabbed her hand. “We’ll figure it out somehow,” he told her.
“Billy, do you have anything in your lab that might be able to help us re-establish contact with Zordon?” Trini asked. “We spent so much time trying to find Jason that we’d been neglecting our other responsibility.”
”Not enough time,” Zack said sullenly.
“I did everything that I could!” Billy snapped at him, whirling around to face Zack, his face contorted with rage. “Unfortunately this time my best just… it wasn’t enough. And he’s dead because I wasn’t good enough!”
Trini took Billy’s hand and squeezed it gently. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said softly. “This isn’t any of our faults. This is Rita’s fault, and Goldar’s.”
The other Rangers all nodded. Trini was right, as usual. Kimberly squeezed Zack’s hand again. “So what do we do now?” she asked hesitantly.
“I’m going to go back to my lab and see if I can locate anything that might be of use to us,” Billy said. “While I do that it might be for the best if the rest of you take care of Jason’s body.”
He teleported out in a streak of blue, and Kimberly tried not to be upset with him. Billy was the only one of them who had actually dealt with death before. This was just his way.
“We can’t just leave Jason lying there,” Kimberly said. “What are we supposed to do?” She was proud that her voice only shook a little bit. They couldn’t afford to be distracted right now, even with death.
“There’s a room in the back,” Trini said. “We can move his… his body there, until we decide.”
“I’ll do it,” Zack said. “I can’t stand to just leave him there any longer.” He carefully lifted up Jason’s body, and carried him to the other room. When he returned, his face was stained with tears.
“Billy to the Command Center,” Billy’s voice came from the speakers. Kimberly and the others all glanced over at the viewing globe out of habit, but it was still filled with static.
“Go ahead, Billy,” Trini said. She seemed to have taken charge. Not that Kimberly minded. Trini had always been good at that - she had always been the one who organized where they were going and what they were doing, making sure that everyone got where they were supposed to be.
“I think that I may have found a way to bring Zordon back, but it’s going to take me a while. If one of you could teleport me -” He cut off midsentence, and there was a crash. They could hear Billy screaming, and the sounds of a struggle.
“Teleport him out,” Zack hissed, and Trini frantically tried, but the console was still unresponsive. The sounds finally stopped, and nobody was sure whether or not that was a good thing.
“Billy?” Trini said in concern. “Billy, are you okay?”
A familiar mocking laugh came over the communicator.
“Goldar,” Zack growled. “What did you do to Billy?”
“That’s two Rangers down, Power Brats,” Goldar told them. “And with Rita’s Green Ranger on our side, I’m sure that the three of you will soon follow.”
Zack slammed his fist into a console.
“Billy,” Trini said, tears silently streaming down her face.
“You’re going to pay for this, Goldar!” Kimberly swore at him.
Goldar just laughed. “That’s what you think, Pink Ranger. My Mistress has a special plan for you.”
“Go to hell,” Kimberly snapped.
“One of us will,” Goldar agreed, and then the line went dead.
“Maybe Billy is still alive?” Kimberly asked hesitantly. “I mean, Goldar could have captured him or something.”
“Maybe,” Zack said, but he didn’t sound that convinced of it.
An alarm went off, the sirens in the Command Center blaring at full blast.
“Does anyone know how to shut them off?” Zack said. None of them were really that great with the technological stuff. Billy was - Billy had been. But usually Alpha or Zordon had controlled all of this.
“I might be able to figure out what it is,” Trini said hesitantly. “Billy had been showing me.” She moved over to one of the control panels that Billy hadn’t cracked open during his quest to try and bring Zordon back and locate Jason, and began to fiddle around with the controls. The klaxons finally shut down.
“I might be able to bring up the viewing globe just enough that we might be able to see what the problem is, but it’s going to take a lot of power,” Trini offered finally. “I’m not sure that we’ll be able to teleport out.”
“We can take the Radbug if it comes to that,” Zack said. “But we still have a responsibility to Angel Grove.” There was a conviction in his voice, and Kimberly knew that he had to be aching for some revenge on Goldar for what he had done to Jason, and to Billy.
“Okay then,” Trini said, and the three remaining Rangers turned to face the viewing globe, as they had done so many times before.
“That’s the evil Green Ranger,” Zack said. “He’s attacking at the harbor district.”
“There’s a lot of people in that part of the city,” Trini observed. She flicked a switch and the viewing globe shut down.
“We should still have enough power for one last teleport, but getting back here will be a problem.”
“Okay, then,” Zack said. “It’s morphin time!” The three of them reached for their morphers, and in three brilliant flashes of light and the cries of their respective dinosaurs - Mastodon, Pterodactyl and the Sabre-Toothed Tiger - they were transformed into the Power Rangers.
“Back to the action,” Zack said grimly, and soon the three of them rematerialized down at the harbor district.
Goldar, the Green Ranger, and a horde of putties were all there. None of them had grown yet, and that was something at least. Kimberly didn’t think that they would be able to summon the Megazord with only three of them, and she wasn’t really sure how well they would be able to do against two opponents even if they could. She wondered if the Green Ranger had a Zord. He was a Ranger, so she was sure he did.
“I’ve got Goldar,” Zack said angrily. “Trini, you want to take the Green Ranger? That leaves the putties to Kim.”
“Right,” the two girls agreed. Kimberly knew why they were leaving her the putties -she had always been one of the worst fighters on the team. Her gymnastics skills had more than compensated, but she should have tried harder, she should have learned more from Jason. If they lived through this fight, she was going to work more on it so that she would be better able to help. They couldn’t afford to lose anyone else.
Kimberly made her way through the putties, a whirlwind of punches and kicks. She dodged out of the way of one putty, and flipped over so that she was in the center of another group, knocking three out at once. She could see Zack and Trini were barely holding their own, and could see a new monster, one that she hadn’t seen before teleport in.
“Trini!” she yelled. “Watch out for the scorpion lady!” Her warning wasn’t fast enough, though, as the woman in the golden armor hit Trini in the back with her sword. Trini fell, and her powers faded as they did, leaving Trini’s limp body lying on the street, her yellow sweater ripped and stained with blood.
The new arrival made her way over to where Zack was fighting Goldar, and Kimberly barely even noticed what was happening with her last remaining teammate as she came face to face with the Green Ranger.
“Hello, Beautiful,” he said almost conversationally as he thrust at her with his sword. “Goldar said that he told you that our Empress had special plans for you. She’s agreed to give you to me.”
“Never,” Kimberly vowed as she brought her bow up to block his sword. He was good, probably even better than Jason was. She leapt out of the way, knowing that her agility was by far her best asset in this fight. If she could just hold out a little bit longer then maybe she could get away.
Her next leap had her landing facing Zack, and as she saw his body lying on the ground, unmoving, with blood drying over his cheek. Like Trini, he had lost his morph.
“You’ve lost, Kimberly,” the Green Ranger told her. “Just surrender.”
“Never!” Kimberly said defiantly, shooting an arrow at him. She never saw if it hit, because everything went dark.
Chapter 2 - Angela
October 1st, 1994
Angela made her way to the center of the reinforced Youth Center and Juice Bar, now the nerve center of the rebellion against Empress Rita. In another life, she would probably be in this building, working out or volunteering with a bunch of kids from Angel’s Haven. She still did that now - there were a lot of orphans that needed to be looked after since the Power Rangers had died, since Rita Repulsa had proclaimed herself to be the Empress of Earth.
“Angela!” Justin said as he made his way over to her side. The ten-year-old had been her near-constant shadow since the beginnings of the rebellion. He was a smart kid, and he helped keep the higher-ups in the rebellion informed with what was going on among the various non-combatants who the rebellion were trying to protect.
“What do you have for me today, Justin?” she asked.
“There are people wondering if we’re going to do anything to mark the first anniversary,” Justin said, not quite meeting her eyes. “I mean, as a way to honor the dead, especially the Power Rangers. And, well, you were closest to them, so I thought I should mention it to you.”
Angela closed her eyes for a second, and tried to keep her emotions under control. It had been almost a year, after all, and breaking down in tears in the middle of the hallway wouldn’t be good for anyone. Besides, there were more productive ways to channel her sadness, and her anger. She hadn’t broken down when they first found out, and she wouldn’t break down now at the mention of the name.
October 7, 1993
“Why are there only three Rangers?” Angela wondered as she watched the battle. Most of the teens in the Youth Center were huddled around the television. The Power Rangers had been around for over a month already, but seeing them battle the forces of evil or monsters or invading space aliens or whatever people were saying it was at the moment was still considered a treat. It wasn’t every town that got to see real live superheroes. Angel Grove was special.
“I don’t know,” Ernie said, his eyes fixed on the Pink Ranger, who was locked in combat with the Green Ranger. “It looks like they’re having a pretty hard time of it.”
“Who’s the other villain?” Veronica wondered. “I don’t think we’ve seen her before.”
“Rita must have gotten more allies,” Ernie said with a shrug. “Hopefully the Red and Blue Rangers will get there soon.” He glanced over at the gathering crowd, and spoke a little bit louder so that everyone in the Youth Center could hear them. “I’m sure that they’re off creating some sort of device that will stop the attacking monsters. The Power Rangers have never let us down be…” he trailed off suddenly, and Angela turned back to look at the screen.
The Yellow Ranger had fallen to the ground, the new villain having stabbed her in the back, and as she fell her costume melted away.
That couldn’t be.
Angela knew her. Went to school with her. She had always assumed that the Power Rangers were aliens as well - she had even heard Jason say so at one point. Or maybe they could have been college students who had stumbled across an ancient power. She had never thought that it could have been students her own age.
And now Trini Kwan was dead. Trini was a Power Ranger. She had been protecting Angel Grove while Angela had been doing…. What? Nothing? Watching kids, and just dealing with typical high school drama.
The whole Youth Center was oddly quiet. There should have been the sounds of talking. Even during the first fight, before the Power Rangers had appeared, people had talked while the sirens had gone off. Even that awful reporter, Jimmy Jameson, wasn’t saying anything.
Angela’s mind was going a thousand miles a minute. If Trini was the Yellow Ranger, that explained why she was always wearing yellow. It really wasn’t all that flattering a color on her. Angela had just thought that Trini had lost her mind or something, but even Kimberly Hart, fashion queen of Angel Grove High hadn’t commented on it.
Kimberly wore pink all the time now. And if she was…. Then that must mean…
Angela realized that Zack must be the Black Ranger just in time to watch as Goldar stabbed him with the sword. Someone screamed Zack’s name, and it took her a minute to realize that it was her voice.
October 1st, 1994
“We probably should do something,” she agreed. “Most of us are here because of the Rangers, and I don’t think that there’s anyone left who hasn’t lost a friend or family member that they want to honor. That’s a really good idea, Justin.”
”I’m just passing it on,” he said with a shrug. “Do you think that they’ll let me fight? I’m ten now.” He looked so proud and hopeful. “And you know I’ve got karate experience.”
“You know the rules,” Angela said. “We’re just trying to keep you safe.” She gave him an encouraging glance. “Besides, you help out in a lot of other ways.”
“I know,” Justin said. He glanced around, and not seeing anyone else, he spoke really quietly. “You want to hear something stupid?” he asked.
“If you want to tell me,” Angela said, as she continued walking towards the Juice Bar that served as the nerve center of the resistance.
“I thought maybe I could be a Power Ranger one day,” Justin said wistfully. “I’m not the only one - Fred said the same thing. He wanted to be the Gold Ranger.”
Angela smiled at him. She had never even thought about being a Power Ranger, but she could understand why he would have wanted to. “When I was your age,” she told him, “I wanted to be Wonder Woman.”
Justin smiled back at her as they reached the doors to the Juice Bar. He knew he wasn’t allowed in.
“Go talk to Fred,” Angela said. “See what else you two can come up with.”
*
When she got inside, the other members of her team were waiting. It wasn’t precisely her team - she may have been one of the ones to start the resistance, but Adam Park had a much better head for strategy than she did, and she tended to defer to him for that. And of course, Ernie was in charge of everything, although he never actually went out on missions.
Adam was sitting in one of the remaining chairs, with his girlfriend Aisha Campbell perched beside him. She was glancing worriedly at him, and Angela made a note that she should ask Aisha about that later. Adam was a brilliant strategist; he knew all of Rita's moves, and already had plans to fight them. He fidgeted in his chair slightly, and Aisha put a hand on his arm, trying to project an aura of calm out onto him. It was a familiar sight, one that Angela had seen a lot in the last six months, ever since Adam had escaped from one of Rita’s labor camps.
Rocky DeSantos, Adam and Aisha’s best friend, paced nervously behind them, a bundle of nerves and restless energy. His gaze darted around the Youth Center, keeping a running tally of all possible exits and escape routes, and his eyes had the haunted look of all recent camp escapees. He had only been free for a month or so, but Adam and Aisha had both vouched for him, and he had quickly been incorporated into their team.
The last member was Eugene Skullovitch. The bully formerly known as Skull, now known as Gene, had been one of the earliest members of the rebellion, and he had become a good friend over the last year. He was perched on a stool at the end of the bar, leaning back. Unlike the others, he looked far more relaxed. Gene hadn’t spent any time in the camps, and it showed. He still had an air of nervousness about him, but he didn’t have the same exhaustion and pain in his eyes that Adam and Rocky did.
“You’re late,” Adam observed, not moving from his seat.
“I had to speak to Justin,” Angela said, taking a seat next to Gene. “He wanted to talk about the anniversary.”
“You too?” Gene said, a note of surprise. “Fred came to talk to me earlier.”
“We do need to do something.”
“I’ve already started to make plans for it,” Ernie said, as he took his familiar place behind the counter. “Don’t worry about it. Besides, you’ve both done enough for this rebellion without having to plan that. And I’ve got something else for you to do.”
“Thanks, Ernie,” Angela said. “So what is it?”
Ernie’s smile disappeared, and he was suddenly all business. It was a look that Angela had seen far too often in the last year.
October 7th, 1993
Ernie reached around the bar to grab Angela’s hand. “Calm down,” he told her urgently. “You’re scaring the kids.”
“But they’re dead,” Angela said, struggling to keep her breathing under control. “Zack is dead.”
There was a wail going around the Youth Center as people began to cry. Some people were running for the pay phones in the corner, trying to call their families. Everyone was sobbing.
“Angela?” Justin asked hesitantly. “Are the Power Rangers really dead, like my Mom?”
Angela tried not to cry. She was Justin’s big sister in the program, and she needed to be strong for him now.
“I think so,” she said.
“But that was Zack, and Trini!” Justin said. “They’re friends with my sensei! Do you think Jason is a Power Ranger, too?”
“If Trini and Zack are… were…” Angela said as a moment, deliberately keeping her eyes away from the television. “Then yes, I’m fairly sure that he is.”
“Look!” someone shouted, pointing at the tv, and Angela couldn’t help but look. At least it wasn’t still Zack’s body laying there, she couldn’t bear to look at him any longer. All of the times that he had run out on her on a date suddenly made sense. All of the excuses he’d made - he had been covering up for something. It just hadn’t been what she’d thought.
The room got quiet again, as they saw that Rita Repulsa herself had appeared on Earth, standing over the fallen bodies of the Black and Yellow Rangers. There was no sign of the Pink Ranger, of Kimberly - the last that Angela had noticed, she was fighting the Green Ranger. Angela could only assume that she was dead.
“Hahahahaha,” the witch laughed, as Goldar and the woman stood beside her. “Attention, people of Earth! After ten thousand years of imprisonment, I have now conquered Earth! Soon my putties and my monsters will spread throughout your cities. If you resist me, you will be destroyed!”
There was a flash of green, and the other Ranger, the evil Green one appeared beside her. With a shimmer, he demorphed.
The Green Ranger was human.
“Isn’t that the new kid?” someone asked. “The one Jason sparred in the tournament?”
“What are we going to do?” one of the other students asked. “We can’t just surrender!”
“But they just killed the Power Rangers,” someone else yelled. “If they could do that, what are they going to do to us?”
“We can’t surrender,” Angela heard herself say, as she stood up.
“Go on,” Ernie said encouragingly.
“Those were our friends, our classmates,” she said, taking a deep breath. “And you’re right, they did just give up their lives for us. But is this how we’re going to repay their sacrifice?” The words kept on pouring out, and she knew that this was the right thing for her to do. “We can’t give up, don’t you see? If we let Rita win, then why did they even bother to fight for us? They were only our age - younger than some of us here. If they could fight for Earth, then so should we!”
There was a rumble of agreement from around the room.
“But they had powers,” Veronica protested. “We don’t.”
“There are more of us,” Angela said firmly. “But we need to work quickly. You heard what the witch said - we need to start preparing, try to figure out a way to resist, before her monsters get here.”
“That’s right,” Ernie said. “Angela has a point. Everyone needs to go and run home, but go in groups. Gather everything you can in terms of supplies. Find your families, and then come back here. The Juice Bar is pretty defensible.”
“How do you know?” Raymond asked.
“Ex-marine,” Ernie said with a shrug, his smile fading from his face and a grim expression replacing it. He looked more serious and more determined than Angela had ever seen him, and it was hard to reconcile that look with the jovial man that she had come to know. “I’m prepared for anything.”
“Go on,” Angela said, her voice ringing out. “We are not giving up yet.”
A faint cheer went up around the Youth Center as the beginnings of the rebellion went out to try to prepare for the coming battle.
October 1st, 1994
“There’s something out in the desert,” Ernie said without much of a preamble, as he gestured to the maps that he had laid down on the bar. “Rita and that new husband of hers are definitely guarding something. I want you five to try and figure out what it is that they’re guarding.”
“Go into the desert?” Adam said skeptically. “Just the five of us? Are you kidding me?”
Ernie held up a hand. “I know that it’s dangerous, but whatever Rita is guarding could be of great importance. Or if she’s looking for something, then we can’t let her have it. This could be important - it could be the start of the end of this war.”
Adam shut up. Angela knew that Ernie was right, but she could see Adam’s point. The desert was firmly in Rita’s territory, and they wouldn’t have a lot of cover.
“We’ll do it,” she said.
Adam snorted. “Going to make another speech?” he asked.
”If I need to,” Angela shot back.
Aisha whacked Adam lightly on the side of his head. “Quit it,” she told him. “You know we need to do it.”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “I’m just not looking forward to being back in that desert.”
“You’ve been there before?” Ernie asked.
Adam nodded. “Once,” he said, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “With Her.”
Ernie sighed. “I hate asking you this, I really do,” he said. “But if there’s anything you can remember about that desert, we need to know about it.”
“I’ll have a plan in the morning,” Adam said.
“Good,” Ernie said. “Because you all leave tomorrow afternoon.”
Chapter 3 - Gene
October 2nd, 1994
Gene made his way to the Juice Bar, snagging some coffee on his way. He didn’t know where Ernie managed to get his supplies from, but then again he wasn’t one of the people assigned to gather. The team he was on was strictly intelligence. (Okay, that meant that they did occasionally go look for supply details, but they were more involved in figuring out what Rita’s forces were up to.)
Some of the others got out of his way, and he made a face. Even a year later, he still had a reputation as a bully. It didn’t matter that he had changed as much as everyone else had since Rita had taken over, there were still plenty of people who saw him as nothing more than Skull, the bully.
But being known as a bully did have its advantages, he had to admit. At least people got out of his way when he wanted some coffee.
Aisha and Angela were already waiting when he got there. Aisha also had a mug, and she looked worried.
“Where are Rocky and Adam?” Gene asked.
“Rocky’s trying to calm Adam down,” Aisha said, her voice strangely flat. “Apparently I’m incapable of helping this morning.”
“That isn’t fair,” Angela said. “You know Adam depends on you.”
“I do,” Aisha said. “And I wasn’t in the camps like they were.” She rubbed her eyes, and then took another sip of her coffee. “Ernie, I’m not really sure that bringing them along is a good idea. If Adam has a flashback out in the desert…”
“I’ll manage,” Adam said from behind them. He was glaring at Aisha, who ignored it.
“Mmhmm,” she said noncommittally, “If you’re sure.”
”He’ll be fine, Sha,” Rocky said, speaking up for the first time. His eyes darted about the room. “You know we wouldn’t lie about that.”
Aisha nodded, although she didn’t look entirely convinced.
Ernie cleared his throat. “Okay, what do you have for me, Adam?”
“I don’t remember a lot of it,” Adam said, his voice flat and even as he crossed the room to sit between Aisha and Rocky. “I was pretty… out of it for most of the time I was there. But I remember being taken to see the ruins out there. Rita wanted something from there, and sent Scorpina to get it, but I don’t remember what they were looking for. I think that whatever it was belonged to the Power Rangers.”
Everyone waited, but Adam just shrugged. It really wasn’t a lot to go on, and after all the drama, Gene had hoped that Adam would have been able to provide more information than that.
“That’s more than what we knew before,” Ernie said after a long pause. “Do you think you’ll be able to find your way back to those ruins?”
Adam hesitated, and then nodded. “Once I’m in the general area, anyway,” he said. “I was teleported in, so I have no idea how to get there from here.”
“This is going to suck,” Gene muttered.
“You think?” Aisha snapped. “Nobody said this was going to be easy.”
“It never is,” Gene said. “I know.”
*
They set out a few hours later, each of them carrying a pack with basic supplies - some food and water, and a weapon of some sort. They all carried guns, of course, but it was really hard to fight one of Rita’s henchmen with just a gun, so they had all been trained with different kinds of swords. It was one of the reasons they made such an effective team.
Making their way through the streets of Angel Grove wasn’t as difficult as it could have been. They had all been doing this for a while, and Angela and Gene knew the streets and hidden ways better than anyone. Normally they wouldn’t have been as nervous about running into Rita’s putties - they were fairly easy to defeat. But ever since Rita had gotten married to the Emperor of Evil himself, Lord Zedd, the putties had been given an upgrade, and the team hadn’t yet figured out a way to defeat them. As well, tipping off Rita at all for this mission would probably have been more trouble than it was worth, and Gene knew better than to risk getting Adam involved in a confrontation with Scorpina.
They cut through a few buildings, and they finally made it into the park. Going through the park was the fastest way to make it to the desert, but it was always a big risk. Rita used the park as a training ground for her monsters, before she sent them out to raid and conquer the few remaining pockets of resistance.
“This way,” Gene said. “There’s a shortcut that most people don’t know about. It leads through to the quarry. From there we should be able to cut up north. I don’t think Rita is using it yet.”
“When’s the last time you went this way?” Rocky asked.
“It’s been a while,” Gene said.
October 8th, 1993
“I don’t know about this, Bulk!” Skull said. “I mean, maybe we should go back to the Youth Center with the others.”
“No, Skull,” Bulk said, as he continued to cut through the park. “You saw what the Green Ranger did to the Power Rangers. They’re all dead, and we need to get out of here.”
“Can you believe that those dweebs were the Power Rangers?” Skull said half-heartedly. It sounded like something that he thought he should be saying, but a small part of him was impressed. He knew that he’d liked Kimberly, and now to find out that she really was something special…. Well, that was something.
“And look where that got them!” Bulk said. “They’re all dead. If we stay there with Angela’s rebellion thing, then we’ll probably be dead too!”
“You’re right, Bulkie,” Skull agreed. He wasn’t sure if they were doing the right thing - maybe they should be fighting. He really didn’t want to die though. He was too young for that. And if the Power Rangers could die, then what chance did they have of living?
“This way,” Bulk said as he looked around. He started to head into the park.
“I thought we were going to go towards Hasper City,” Skull said. “Why are we going north?”
“This way is north, dim wit,” Bulk told him. “I know where I’m going.”
“Okay, Bulkie.” Skull didn’t press it. Bulk knew what he was doing. Bulk would take care of him.
October 2nd, 1994
“I’m glad that you knew about this shortcut,” Aisha said. “I wasn’t really looking forward to dodging putties in the park.”
“Same here,” Skull said. “It’s too bad Rita gained control of the park so early. The trees would have made pretty good cover.”
“At least the putties stand out pretty well. You’d think she’d have figured out a way to have them blend in.”
“Don’t even suggest that, Adam!” Angela scolded. “We have enough trouble with the new Z-Putties. We really don’t need to give Rita any more advantages.”
Adam shrugged as he made his way over a rock. “I’m just saying, that’s what I would do if I was in charge.”
Rocky laughed, one of the first genuine laughs that Gene had ever heard from him. It was a harsh sound, and he could remember Aisha telling him once that Rocky had used to be the prankster of the group, with his laughter as the driving force. Just another thing that Rita had taken from them.
“Good thing you aren’t, then,” he said. “Don’t know how it would be if we had to go up against you.”
“Where to next, Gene?” Aisha asked.
He looked around, trying to remember which way they had gone. “If we go down that cliff, we should make it,” he told her.
“Go down the cliff?” Adam asked skeptically. “We really need to scale it?”
“There’s a ledge that makes it a lot easier to get down,” Gene answered. “We found it by accident.”
October 8th, 1993
“Run!” Skull shouted, as the putties appeared from out of nowhere.
“What are we going to do now?” Bulk said, as they came upon a cliff. “We need to get out of here.”
“I don’t know how to fight them,” Skull said. “Come on, Bulkie, you have to have some sort of idea!”
“Run?” Bulk suggested.
“Where?” Skull asked, as the putties surrounded them, their dance growing more and more menacing as they closed in on him. He took a step back involuntarily, and then winced as he realized that they were getting closer to the edge of the cliff.
“We could jump?” Bulk suggested.
Skull laughed nervously. “Gee, Bulkie, I don’t know. That’s a long way down.”
The first of the putties made its way towards them.
“Looks like we don’t have a choice!” Bulk shouted, and the two of them turned and ran for the cliff.
“Look!” Bulk shouted. There was a narrow path along the sides of the cliff. The two of them began to run down. It was a hard path, and both of them were breathing heavily. This was harder than it looked.
Skull paused to catch his breath, and he turned around only to see that a few of the putties had tumbled off of the cliff. He watched them fall and land with a satisfying splat.
“Come on!” Bulk urged him. “We’re almost to the bottom.”
October 2nd, 1994
“You’re seriously telling me that Bulk managed to get down this way?” Angela said in disbelief.
Gene shrugged. “You can do a lot of things when you’re running for your life.”
In single file, the five of them managed to make it all the way down to the bottom of the cliff. By the time they did, it was starting to get dark.
“There’s no way we should cross the rest of this at night,” Aisha said flatly. “Not if most of us don’t know the way.”
“There’s a cave about a quarter of a mile away,” Gene told them. “I stayed in it for a few days the last time I was here.”
October 10th, 1993
“We need to go at some point,” Bulk said. “We’ve run out of food.”
“Well, where are we supposed to go?” Skull demanded. “We can’t go back up that cliff, and if we keep going this way we’re going to head straight into the desert.”
“I don’t know yet!” Bulk shouted back at him. “I can’t believe those dweebs had to go and get themselves killed, or else we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“You don’t actually mean that,” Skull said.
Bulk sighed. “No, I don’t. I just can’t believe they’re dead, and that they were the Power Rangers.”
“Me neither,” Skull said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have been so mean to them.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Bulk agreed. “But it doesn’t matter now. What matters is getting out of here so that we can find something to eat.”
“Yeah,” Skull said. “At least we found this cave. Rita and the Green Ranger haven’t found us yet.”
“We’ll leave in the morning,” Bulk decided. “We don’t have any other choice.”
October 2nd, 1994
“You okay?” Rocky said, as he sat down next to Gene.
They had finally managed to get a fire going, but the cave was still pretty damp and uncomfortable. That might have just been Gene’s imagination though. There were a lot of memories associated with this cave.
“I’m fine,” he said.
Rocky just looked at him. “I hear that from Adam a lot,” he said, momentarily glancing over to where Adam and Aisha were sitting. “For that matter, they hear me say that a lot.”
“Yeah,” Gene said. “Sorry, it’s just… this cave brings back a lot of memories. The last time I was here was right after the invasion.”
“Been a bad year for everyone,” Rocky agreed, and Gene felt momentarily guilty for being so melodramatic. That was the thing - no matter how hard the last year had been for him, there were always others who had had it worse.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“Don’t apologize,” Rocky said. “I didn’t say it to upset you. Just stating a fact.” He sat there for a moment. “You want to tell me about it?”
“This was where Bulk spent his last night alive,” Gene said. “I just… I wonder what he would say if he could see me now.”
“He was your best friend, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’m sure he’d be proud of what you’ve been doing,” Rocky said. “Just like I’m proud of what Adam and Aisha have accomplished. And I’m sure that they’re proud of me, for still being here, after everything.”
“Thanks,” Gene told him, trying to project everything he felt into that one syllable.
“Any time,” Rocky said. He looked exhausted, and there was a lot of pain in his eyes. “I’m going to try and get some sleep,” Rocky said. “Big day tomorrow and all.”
“Yeah,” Gene agreed. “Hopefully it’ll go better than the last time did.”
October 11th, 1993
“I’m telling you, we need to go this way,” Bulk said.
“Are you sure? I think that’s back towards the desert,” Skull said. “We passed by those rocks almost an hour ago.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Bulk told him. “If we just keep on going….” He trailed off as they heard an unfamiliar noise. They both turned around, and they saw the Green Ranger standing right before them.
“Oh, keep going,” the Green Ranger told them. “Please, I was really enjoying your argument.”
Skull turned to start to run, but when he turned around Goldar was standing behind him.
“Don’t even think about it, human,” the big gold monkey said menacingly. “I haven’t killed anyone in almost an hour, and I’d really like to kill the both of you.”
“I don’t think so,” the Green Ranger said.
“Thank you!” Bulk said.
Skull wasn’t sure why the Green Ranger was defending them, but he had a feeling it wasn’t something that he was going to enjoy.
“Oh, you shouldn’t be thanking me yet,” the Green Ranger said, as he powered down.
Skull’s face fell as he realized who the Green Ranger was. This guy had beaten them once before.
“You see,” Tommy said menacingly as he walked up to them. “You annoyed me before I got these powers, and I thought that it would be more fun for me to beat you without them.”
He still had his sword and dagger in hand. For some reason they hadn’t faded away with the rest of his powers.
“Look, man, we didn’t mean anything!” Bulk protested. He took a step forward.
“Bulkie, no!” Skull yelled, but not fast enough, as the Green Ranger brought up his sword.
Skull couldn’t watch. Bulk just stood there, with the Green Ranger’s sword through his chest.
“No,” he repeated again.
“You can go and run if you want, human,” Goldar said. “Why don’t you let us chase you?”
Skull did the only thing that he could - he started to run. And he kept running until he felt that his feet were going to give out under him. He wasn’t sure how long he had been running, but it didn’t look like anyone was chasing him. He eventually made his way back to the cave, where he collapsed on the ground to cry.
Bulk was dead, and as far as Skull was concerned, he had gone with Bulk.
October 3rd, 1994
They headed out of the cave at dawn. Gene took point now, since he knew the area best of anyone. They had been lucky so far, there hadn’t been any sign of the putty patrol. But that couldn’t last forever.
“How much farther?” Adam asked, tension fairly radiating off of him.
“Not looking forward to that desert, huh?” Gene asked.
“You aren’t the only one who has bad memories associated with this trip,” Adam said. “Frankly, I’ll be glad when it’s done and we get back to base.”
“Do you think that there’s something in there that will stop Rita?”
“If there was, I’m sure that she’s destroyed it already,” Adam said grimly. “But we’ll have to check it out anyway.”
“We should be at the desert soon,” Gene said after a moment longer. “If I’m right, then it should be right around this bend.”
He was right, which was nice at least. But right now, he wished that he had been wrong.
“Putties!” Adam shouted, as the patrollers started coming at them. “Everyone, get into formation!”
The group of five spread out, getting into the set-up that they had practiced for so long, a circle with their backs to each other.
Gene’s fist swung into one of the putties jaws, and it fell back into a tree. He didn’t have time to watch, as he dodged another one’s kick. He saw Aisha flipping out of the way as one putty stabbed at her, and Rocky sent another one flying. This would have been enough to stop the old putties, but these new ones were tough.
Gene’s kick caught the next putty directly on the Z shield on its chest, and he watched in shock as the putty began to disintegrate. He blinked. It couldn’t actually be that simple. He threw a punch directly at the shield of the next putty, and it blew up as well.
“You guys!” he yelled. “Aim directly for the Z!”
“Right,” Adam yelled, and he elbowed the next putty he saw. “You know, it is nice of them to give us a target now,” he said grimly.
Something that sounded like flute music played in the background, and another set of Putties appeared.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Adam muttered. “What the hell was that?”
“That sounded like the Green Ranger,” Angela said. “Doesn’t he usually have some of music around him?”
“Yeah, but where does it come from?” Aisha asked. “I never heard of the Rangers having a theme song.”
“Whatever it is, I’m betting that’s how he summons the putties, and maybe other things,” Gene said, as he hit another putty in the Z. “Do you think we can use that?”
“When we get back to Angel Grove, we’ll take it to Ernie,” Angela said, forestalling any other discussion. “For now, let’s just fight.”
Continue to Part 2
Fandom: Power Rangers
Rating: R
Pairings: Adam/Aisha
Warnings: violence, major character death, implied non-con
Word Count: 19,593
Summary: The spell on the evil Green Ranger is never broken, and the Power Rangers fell. In Angel Grove, five members of the rebellion go to search for an ancient artifact that might help defeat Rita...
Notes: So many thanks to my amazing betas for the handholding and all the help. queenriley, jedinewsie and queenitsy are all amazing, and any remaining mistakes are my own. And many thanks to angel_negra for coming up with the title and for making me an amazing fanmix which you can find here.
Chapter 1 - Kimberly
October 7th, 1993
Kimberly paced back and forth in the Command Center as Billy worked rapidly to try and locate Jason. She was sure that Billy could do it; he was their resident genius, after all. But Jason had been missing for a while now, and with this Green Ranger running around, Kimberly was starting to worry for him. She knew he could take of himself, but she had thought the same thing about Zordon, and, well… she couldn’t even bear to think about that, and she deliberately turned away from his empty tube.
“I think I’ve got it,” Billy said suddenly. “I just have to reconfigure this setting and repolarize the beams, and then I think we should be able to get a lock on Jason, wherever he is.”
“Here, Billy, let me help you,” Trini said, coming over to stand next to him at the console.
“Thank you, Trini,” Billy said in surprise. “It should go much faster with your aid. If you could strip these wires, that would be of great assistance.”
While they were busy, Kimberly turned back to pacing.
“Hey,” Zack said to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. Jason’s tough - he can take care of himself.”
“I know,” Kimberly agreed. “I’m just… this whole situation with the Green Ranger is starting to really worry me. And Zordon is….” She trailed off. “And I’m worried about Tommy! He got so cold suddenly.” She felt a little bit silly for obsessing when so much else was going on, but thinking about Tommy was safe. Boys she could deal with. Something happening to Jason she could not.
“Got it!” Billy said triumphantly. “Initiating teleportation now.”
The four Rangers stood back to watch as the familiar beam of red light materialized in the middle of the Command Center, and then solidified into Jason’s form.
Kimberly screamed. Jason lay on the floor, blood gushing from a wound in his chest.
Zack was at Jason’s side instantly.
“Jase,” he said, his voice shaking. “Come on, bro, it’s going to be okay.”
Jason’s breathing was labored, and Kimberly didn’t know what to do. She had known on some level that being a Ranger could lead to serious injury or even death. But she had always thought that Jason would be fine. He was the best of them, after all. The strongest, the leader. She couldn’t stand to think that he could be hurt. If something happened to him, than how was she supposed to function as a Ranger? She wasn’t even half the fighter that he was. He was the rock that held them together, their leader.
“Jason,” Zack was still pleading. “C’mon, man, don’t do this. You can’t die on us.”
Billy was standing over Jason, waving some sort of medical device over Jason that Kimberly would swear was out of that weird scifi television show that her father used to watch. Kimberly watched Billy's face, wondering when he was going to have that moment where he figured out how to use science to save the day, just like he always did. Instead, she saw the exact moment when Billy realized that he didn’t have an answer.
Jason’s breathing grew steadily worse, and Zack still hadn’t let go of his hand, while Trini knelt by him. Jason kept trying to speak, but no sound came from his throat. All they could do was watch until Jason’s eyes closed and his labored breathing stopped completely.
It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes since they had found and rescued Jason, and now he was gone. He was actually dead.
They all just stood there for a moment, all of them in various stages of shock. Zack still hadn’t let go of Jason’s hand.
“What are we going to do?” Trini said finally, breaking the silence. “We need to tell his family.”
“Tell them what?” Kimberly asked. “We don’t even really know who… who killed him.”
“Judging from the wound, I would say that it is safe to assume that Goldar is the one responsible for this,” Billy said, his voice detached.
”So we tell them that Goldar killed him? Zordon said we aren’t supposed to tell anyone that we’re Rangers,” Zack’s voice rose in anger the farther along we got.
“Zordon could be gone as well,” Trini said, her soft voice cutting Zack off before he got farther into his rant.
“If we tell them he was a Ranger, his family will surely figure out our identities as well,” Billy pointed out. “We cannot allow for that to be compromised, not until we have figured out a way to regain contact with Zordon.”
“How can you be talking like that?” Kimberly burst out. “Jason is dead and you’re just talking like… like… I don’t even know!”
Zack got up and grabbed her hand. “We’ll figure it out somehow,” he told her.
“Billy, do you have anything in your lab that might be able to help us re-establish contact with Zordon?” Trini asked. “We spent so much time trying to find Jason that we’d been neglecting our other responsibility.”
”Not enough time,” Zack said sullenly.
“I did everything that I could!” Billy snapped at him, whirling around to face Zack, his face contorted with rage. “Unfortunately this time my best just… it wasn’t enough. And he’s dead because I wasn’t good enough!”
Trini took Billy’s hand and squeezed it gently. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said softly. “This isn’t any of our faults. This is Rita’s fault, and Goldar’s.”
The other Rangers all nodded. Trini was right, as usual. Kimberly squeezed Zack’s hand again. “So what do we do now?” she asked hesitantly.
“I’m going to go back to my lab and see if I can locate anything that might be of use to us,” Billy said. “While I do that it might be for the best if the rest of you take care of Jason’s body.”
He teleported out in a streak of blue, and Kimberly tried not to be upset with him. Billy was the only one of them who had actually dealt with death before. This was just his way.
“We can’t just leave Jason lying there,” Kimberly said. “What are we supposed to do?” She was proud that her voice only shook a little bit. They couldn’t afford to be distracted right now, even with death.
“There’s a room in the back,” Trini said. “We can move his… his body there, until we decide.”
“I’ll do it,” Zack said. “I can’t stand to just leave him there any longer.” He carefully lifted up Jason’s body, and carried him to the other room. When he returned, his face was stained with tears.
“Billy to the Command Center,” Billy’s voice came from the speakers. Kimberly and the others all glanced over at the viewing globe out of habit, but it was still filled with static.
“Go ahead, Billy,” Trini said. She seemed to have taken charge. Not that Kimberly minded. Trini had always been good at that - she had always been the one who organized where they were going and what they were doing, making sure that everyone got where they were supposed to be.
“I think that I may have found a way to bring Zordon back, but it’s going to take me a while. If one of you could teleport me -” He cut off midsentence, and there was a crash. They could hear Billy screaming, and the sounds of a struggle.
“Teleport him out,” Zack hissed, and Trini frantically tried, but the console was still unresponsive. The sounds finally stopped, and nobody was sure whether or not that was a good thing.
“Billy?” Trini said in concern. “Billy, are you okay?”
A familiar mocking laugh came over the communicator.
“Goldar,” Zack growled. “What did you do to Billy?”
“That’s two Rangers down, Power Brats,” Goldar told them. “And with Rita’s Green Ranger on our side, I’m sure that the three of you will soon follow.”
Zack slammed his fist into a console.
“Billy,” Trini said, tears silently streaming down her face.
“You’re going to pay for this, Goldar!” Kimberly swore at him.
Goldar just laughed. “That’s what you think, Pink Ranger. My Mistress has a special plan for you.”
“Go to hell,” Kimberly snapped.
“One of us will,” Goldar agreed, and then the line went dead.
“Maybe Billy is still alive?” Kimberly asked hesitantly. “I mean, Goldar could have captured him or something.”
“Maybe,” Zack said, but he didn’t sound that convinced of it.
An alarm went off, the sirens in the Command Center blaring at full blast.
“Does anyone know how to shut them off?” Zack said. None of them were really that great with the technological stuff. Billy was - Billy had been. But usually Alpha or Zordon had controlled all of this.
“I might be able to figure out what it is,” Trini said hesitantly. “Billy had been showing me.” She moved over to one of the control panels that Billy hadn’t cracked open during his quest to try and bring Zordon back and locate Jason, and began to fiddle around with the controls. The klaxons finally shut down.
“I might be able to bring up the viewing globe just enough that we might be able to see what the problem is, but it’s going to take a lot of power,” Trini offered finally. “I’m not sure that we’ll be able to teleport out.”
“We can take the Radbug if it comes to that,” Zack said. “But we still have a responsibility to Angel Grove.” There was a conviction in his voice, and Kimberly knew that he had to be aching for some revenge on Goldar for what he had done to Jason, and to Billy.
“Okay then,” Trini said, and the three remaining Rangers turned to face the viewing globe, as they had done so many times before.
“That’s the evil Green Ranger,” Zack said. “He’s attacking at the harbor district.”
“There’s a lot of people in that part of the city,” Trini observed. She flicked a switch and the viewing globe shut down.
“We should still have enough power for one last teleport, but getting back here will be a problem.”
“Okay, then,” Zack said. “It’s morphin time!” The three of them reached for their morphers, and in three brilliant flashes of light and the cries of their respective dinosaurs - Mastodon, Pterodactyl and the Sabre-Toothed Tiger - they were transformed into the Power Rangers.
“Back to the action,” Zack said grimly, and soon the three of them rematerialized down at the harbor district.
Goldar, the Green Ranger, and a horde of putties were all there. None of them had grown yet, and that was something at least. Kimberly didn’t think that they would be able to summon the Megazord with only three of them, and she wasn’t really sure how well they would be able to do against two opponents even if they could. She wondered if the Green Ranger had a Zord. He was a Ranger, so she was sure he did.
“I’ve got Goldar,” Zack said angrily. “Trini, you want to take the Green Ranger? That leaves the putties to Kim.”
“Right,” the two girls agreed. Kimberly knew why they were leaving her the putties -she had always been one of the worst fighters on the team. Her gymnastics skills had more than compensated, but she should have tried harder, she should have learned more from Jason. If they lived through this fight, she was going to work more on it so that she would be better able to help. They couldn’t afford to lose anyone else.
Kimberly made her way through the putties, a whirlwind of punches and kicks. She dodged out of the way of one putty, and flipped over so that she was in the center of another group, knocking three out at once. She could see Zack and Trini were barely holding their own, and could see a new monster, one that she hadn’t seen before teleport in.
“Trini!” she yelled. “Watch out for the scorpion lady!” Her warning wasn’t fast enough, though, as the woman in the golden armor hit Trini in the back with her sword. Trini fell, and her powers faded as they did, leaving Trini’s limp body lying on the street, her yellow sweater ripped and stained with blood.
The new arrival made her way over to where Zack was fighting Goldar, and Kimberly barely even noticed what was happening with her last remaining teammate as she came face to face with the Green Ranger.
“Hello, Beautiful,” he said almost conversationally as he thrust at her with his sword. “Goldar said that he told you that our Empress had special plans for you. She’s agreed to give you to me.”
“Never,” Kimberly vowed as she brought her bow up to block his sword. He was good, probably even better than Jason was. She leapt out of the way, knowing that her agility was by far her best asset in this fight. If she could just hold out a little bit longer then maybe she could get away.
Her next leap had her landing facing Zack, and as she saw his body lying on the ground, unmoving, with blood drying over his cheek. Like Trini, he had lost his morph.
“You’ve lost, Kimberly,” the Green Ranger told her. “Just surrender.”
“Never!” Kimberly said defiantly, shooting an arrow at him. She never saw if it hit, because everything went dark.
Chapter 2 - Angela
October 1st, 1994
Angela made her way to the center of the reinforced Youth Center and Juice Bar, now the nerve center of the rebellion against Empress Rita. In another life, she would probably be in this building, working out or volunteering with a bunch of kids from Angel’s Haven. She still did that now - there were a lot of orphans that needed to be looked after since the Power Rangers had died, since Rita Repulsa had proclaimed herself to be the Empress of Earth.
“Angela!” Justin said as he made his way over to her side. The ten-year-old had been her near-constant shadow since the beginnings of the rebellion. He was a smart kid, and he helped keep the higher-ups in the rebellion informed with what was going on among the various non-combatants who the rebellion were trying to protect.
“What do you have for me today, Justin?” she asked.
“There are people wondering if we’re going to do anything to mark the first anniversary,” Justin said, not quite meeting her eyes. “I mean, as a way to honor the dead, especially the Power Rangers. And, well, you were closest to them, so I thought I should mention it to you.”
Angela closed her eyes for a second, and tried to keep her emotions under control. It had been almost a year, after all, and breaking down in tears in the middle of the hallway wouldn’t be good for anyone. Besides, there were more productive ways to channel her sadness, and her anger. She hadn’t broken down when they first found out, and she wouldn’t break down now at the mention of the name.
October 7, 1993
“Why are there only three Rangers?” Angela wondered as she watched the battle. Most of the teens in the Youth Center were huddled around the television. The Power Rangers had been around for over a month already, but seeing them battle the forces of evil or monsters or invading space aliens or whatever people were saying it was at the moment was still considered a treat. It wasn’t every town that got to see real live superheroes. Angel Grove was special.
“I don’t know,” Ernie said, his eyes fixed on the Pink Ranger, who was locked in combat with the Green Ranger. “It looks like they’re having a pretty hard time of it.”
“Who’s the other villain?” Veronica wondered. “I don’t think we’ve seen her before.”
“Rita must have gotten more allies,” Ernie said with a shrug. “Hopefully the Red and Blue Rangers will get there soon.” He glanced over at the gathering crowd, and spoke a little bit louder so that everyone in the Youth Center could hear them. “I’m sure that they’re off creating some sort of device that will stop the attacking monsters. The Power Rangers have never let us down be…” he trailed off suddenly, and Angela turned back to look at the screen.
The Yellow Ranger had fallen to the ground, the new villain having stabbed her in the back, and as she fell her costume melted away.
That couldn’t be.
Angela knew her. Went to school with her. She had always assumed that the Power Rangers were aliens as well - she had even heard Jason say so at one point. Or maybe they could have been college students who had stumbled across an ancient power. She had never thought that it could have been students her own age.
And now Trini Kwan was dead. Trini was a Power Ranger. She had been protecting Angel Grove while Angela had been doing…. What? Nothing? Watching kids, and just dealing with typical high school drama.
The whole Youth Center was oddly quiet. There should have been the sounds of talking. Even during the first fight, before the Power Rangers had appeared, people had talked while the sirens had gone off. Even that awful reporter, Jimmy Jameson, wasn’t saying anything.
Angela’s mind was going a thousand miles a minute. If Trini was the Yellow Ranger, that explained why she was always wearing yellow. It really wasn’t all that flattering a color on her. Angela had just thought that Trini had lost her mind or something, but even Kimberly Hart, fashion queen of Angel Grove High hadn’t commented on it.
Kimberly wore pink all the time now. And if she was…. Then that must mean…
Angela realized that Zack must be the Black Ranger just in time to watch as Goldar stabbed him with the sword. Someone screamed Zack’s name, and it took her a minute to realize that it was her voice.
October 1st, 1994
“We probably should do something,” she agreed. “Most of us are here because of the Rangers, and I don’t think that there’s anyone left who hasn’t lost a friend or family member that they want to honor. That’s a really good idea, Justin.”
”I’m just passing it on,” he said with a shrug. “Do you think that they’ll let me fight? I’m ten now.” He looked so proud and hopeful. “And you know I’ve got karate experience.”
“You know the rules,” Angela said. “We’re just trying to keep you safe.” She gave him an encouraging glance. “Besides, you help out in a lot of other ways.”
“I know,” Justin said. He glanced around, and not seeing anyone else, he spoke really quietly. “You want to hear something stupid?” he asked.
“If you want to tell me,” Angela said, as she continued walking towards the Juice Bar that served as the nerve center of the resistance.
“I thought maybe I could be a Power Ranger one day,” Justin said wistfully. “I’m not the only one - Fred said the same thing. He wanted to be the Gold Ranger.”
Angela smiled at him. She had never even thought about being a Power Ranger, but she could understand why he would have wanted to. “When I was your age,” she told him, “I wanted to be Wonder Woman.”
Justin smiled back at her as they reached the doors to the Juice Bar. He knew he wasn’t allowed in.
“Go talk to Fred,” Angela said. “See what else you two can come up with.”
*
When she got inside, the other members of her team were waiting. It wasn’t precisely her team - she may have been one of the ones to start the resistance, but Adam Park had a much better head for strategy than she did, and she tended to defer to him for that. And of course, Ernie was in charge of everything, although he never actually went out on missions.
Adam was sitting in one of the remaining chairs, with his girlfriend Aisha Campbell perched beside him. She was glancing worriedly at him, and Angela made a note that she should ask Aisha about that later. Adam was a brilliant strategist; he knew all of Rita's moves, and already had plans to fight them. He fidgeted in his chair slightly, and Aisha put a hand on his arm, trying to project an aura of calm out onto him. It was a familiar sight, one that Angela had seen a lot in the last six months, ever since Adam had escaped from one of Rita’s labor camps.
Rocky DeSantos, Adam and Aisha’s best friend, paced nervously behind them, a bundle of nerves and restless energy. His gaze darted around the Youth Center, keeping a running tally of all possible exits and escape routes, and his eyes had the haunted look of all recent camp escapees. He had only been free for a month or so, but Adam and Aisha had both vouched for him, and he had quickly been incorporated into their team.
The last member was Eugene Skullovitch. The bully formerly known as Skull, now known as Gene, had been one of the earliest members of the rebellion, and he had become a good friend over the last year. He was perched on a stool at the end of the bar, leaning back. Unlike the others, he looked far more relaxed. Gene hadn’t spent any time in the camps, and it showed. He still had an air of nervousness about him, but he didn’t have the same exhaustion and pain in his eyes that Adam and Rocky did.
“You’re late,” Adam observed, not moving from his seat.
“I had to speak to Justin,” Angela said, taking a seat next to Gene. “He wanted to talk about the anniversary.”
“You too?” Gene said, a note of surprise. “Fred came to talk to me earlier.”
“We do need to do something.”
“I’ve already started to make plans for it,” Ernie said, as he took his familiar place behind the counter. “Don’t worry about it. Besides, you’ve both done enough for this rebellion without having to plan that. And I’ve got something else for you to do.”
“Thanks, Ernie,” Angela said. “So what is it?”
Ernie’s smile disappeared, and he was suddenly all business. It was a look that Angela had seen far too often in the last year.
October 7th, 1993
Ernie reached around the bar to grab Angela’s hand. “Calm down,” he told her urgently. “You’re scaring the kids.”
“But they’re dead,” Angela said, struggling to keep her breathing under control. “Zack is dead.”
There was a wail going around the Youth Center as people began to cry. Some people were running for the pay phones in the corner, trying to call their families. Everyone was sobbing.
“Angela?” Justin asked hesitantly. “Are the Power Rangers really dead, like my Mom?”
Angela tried not to cry. She was Justin’s big sister in the program, and she needed to be strong for him now.
“I think so,” she said.
“But that was Zack, and Trini!” Justin said. “They’re friends with my sensei! Do you think Jason is a Power Ranger, too?”
“If Trini and Zack are… were…” Angela said as a moment, deliberately keeping her eyes away from the television. “Then yes, I’m fairly sure that he is.”
“Look!” someone shouted, pointing at the tv, and Angela couldn’t help but look. At least it wasn’t still Zack’s body laying there, she couldn’t bear to look at him any longer. All of the times that he had run out on her on a date suddenly made sense. All of the excuses he’d made - he had been covering up for something. It just hadn’t been what she’d thought.
The room got quiet again, as they saw that Rita Repulsa herself had appeared on Earth, standing over the fallen bodies of the Black and Yellow Rangers. There was no sign of the Pink Ranger, of Kimberly - the last that Angela had noticed, she was fighting the Green Ranger. Angela could only assume that she was dead.
“Hahahahaha,” the witch laughed, as Goldar and the woman stood beside her. “Attention, people of Earth! After ten thousand years of imprisonment, I have now conquered Earth! Soon my putties and my monsters will spread throughout your cities. If you resist me, you will be destroyed!”
There was a flash of green, and the other Ranger, the evil Green one appeared beside her. With a shimmer, he demorphed.
The Green Ranger was human.
“Isn’t that the new kid?” someone asked. “The one Jason sparred in the tournament?”
“What are we going to do?” one of the other students asked. “We can’t just surrender!”
“But they just killed the Power Rangers,” someone else yelled. “If they could do that, what are they going to do to us?”
“We can’t surrender,” Angela heard herself say, as she stood up.
“Go on,” Ernie said encouragingly.
“Those were our friends, our classmates,” she said, taking a deep breath. “And you’re right, they did just give up their lives for us. But is this how we’re going to repay their sacrifice?” The words kept on pouring out, and she knew that this was the right thing for her to do. “We can’t give up, don’t you see? If we let Rita win, then why did they even bother to fight for us? They were only our age - younger than some of us here. If they could fight for Earth, then so should we!”
There was a rumble of agreement from around the room.
“But they had powers,” Veronica protested. “We don’t.”
“There are more of us,” Angela said firmly. “But we need to work quickly. You heard what the witch said - we need to start preparing, try to figure out a way to resist, before her monsters get here.”
“That’s right,” Ernie said. “Angela has a point. Everyone needs to go and run home, but go in groups. Gather everything you can in terms of supplies. Find your families, and then come back here. The Juice Bar is pretty defensible.”
“How do you know?” Raymond asked.
“Ex-marine,” Ernie said with a shrug, his smile fading from his face and a grim expression replacing it. He looked more serious and more determined than Angela had ever seen him, and it was hard to reconcile that look with the jovial man that she had come to know. “I’m prepared for anything.”
“Go on,” Angela said, her voice ringing out. “We are not giving up yet.”
A faint cheer went up around the Youth Center as the beginnings of the rebellion went out to try to prepare for the coming battle.
October 1st, 1994
“There’s something out in the desert,” Ernie said without much of a preamble, as he gestured to the maps that he had laid down on the bar. “Rita and that new husband of hers are definitely guarding something. I want you five to try and figure out what it is that they’re guarding.”
“Go into the desert?” Adam said skeptically. “Just the five of us? Are you kidding me?”
Ernie held up a hand. “I know that it’s dangerous, but whatever Rita is guarding could be of great importance. Or if she’s looking for something, then we can’t let her have it. This could be important - it could be the start of the end of this war.”
Adam shut up. Angela knew that Ernie was right, but she could see Adam’s point. The desert was firmly in Rita’s territory, and they wouldn’t have a lot of cover.
“We’ll do it,” she said.
Adam snorted. “Going to make another speech?” he asked.
”If I need to,” Angela shot back.
Aisha whacked Adam lightly on the side of his head. “Quit it,” she told him. “You know we need to do it.”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “I’m just not looking forward to being back in that desert.”
“You’ve been there before?” Ernie asked.
Adam nodded. “Once,” he said, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “With Her.”
Ernie sighed. “I hate asking you this, I really do,” he said. “But if there’s anything you can remember about that desert, we need to know about it.”
“I’ll have a plan in the morning,” Adam said.
“Good,” Ernie said. “Because you all leave tomorrow afternoon.”
Chapter 3 - Gene
October 2nd, 1994
Gene made his way to the Juice Bar, snagging some coffee on his way. He didn’t know where Ernie managed to get his supplies from, but then again he wasn’t one of the people assigned to gather. The team he was on was strictly intelligence. (Okay, that meant that they did occasionally go look for supply details, but they were more involved in figuring out what Rita’s forces were up to.)
Some of the others got out of his way, and he made a face. Even a year later, he still had a reputation as a bully. It didn’t matter that he had changed as much as everyone else had since Rita had taken over, there were still plenty of people who saw him as nothing more than Skull, the bully.
But being known as a bully did have its advantages, he had to admit. At least people got out of his way when he wanted some coffee.
Aisha and Angela were already waiting when he got there. Aisha also had a mug, and she looked worried.
“Where are Rocky and Adam?” Gene asked.
“Rocky’s trying to calm Adam down,” Aisha said, her voice strangely flat. “Apparently I’m incapable of helping this morning.”
“That isn’t fair,” Angela said. “You know Adam depends on you.”
“I do,” Aisha said. “And I wasn’t in the camps like they were.” She rubbed her eyes, and then took another sip of her coffee. “Ernie, I’m not really sure that bringing them along is a good idea. If Adam has a flashback out in the desert…”
“I’ll manage,” Adam said from behind them. He was glaring at Aisha, who ignored it.
“Mmhmm,” she said noncommittally, “If you’re sure.”
”He’ll be fine, Sha,” Rocky said, speaking up for the first time. His eyes darted about the room. “You know we wouldn’t lie about that.”
Aisha nodded, although she didn’t look entirely convinced.
Ernie cleared his throat. “Okay, what do you have for me, Adam?”
“I don’t remember a lot of it,” Adam said, his voice flat and even as he crossed the room to sit between Aisha and Rocky. “I was pretty… out of it for most of the time I was there. But I remember being taken to see the ruins out there. Rita wanted something from there, and sent Scorpina to get it, but I don’t remember what they were looking for. I think that whatever it was belonged to the Power Rangers.”
Everyone waited, but Adam just shrugged. It really wasn’t a lot to go on, and after all the drama, Gene had hoped that Adam would have been able to provide more information than that.
“That’s more than what we knew before,” Ernie said after a long pause. “Do you think you’ll be able to find your way back to those ruins?”
Adam hesitated, and then nodded. “Once I’m in the general area, anyway,” he said. “I was teleported in, so I have no idea how to get there from here.”
“This is going to suck,” Gene muttered.
“You think?” Aisha snapped. “Nobody said this was going to be easy.”
“It never is,” Gene said. “I know.”
*
They set out a few hours later, each of them carrying a pack with basic supplies - some food and water, and a weapon of some sort. They all carried guns, of course, but it was really hard to fight one of Rita’s henchmen with just a gun, so they had all been trained with different kinds of swords. It was one of the reasons they made such an effective team.
Making their way through the streets of Angel Grove wasn’t as difficult as it could have been. They had all been doing this for a while, and Angela and Gene knew the streets and hidden ways better than anyone. Normally they wouldn’t have been as nervous about running into Rita’s putties - they were fairly easy to defeat. But ever since Rita had gotten married to the Emperor of Evil himself, Lord Zedd, the putties had been given an upgrade, and the team hadn’t yet figured out a way to defeat them. As well, tipping off Rita at all for this mission would probably have been more trouble than it was worth, and Gene knew better than to risk getting Adam involved in a confrontation with Scorpina.
They cut through a few buildings, and they finally made it into the park. Going through the park was the fastest way to make it to the desert, but it was always a big risk. Rita used the park as a training ground for her monsters, before she sent them out to raid and conquer the few remaining pockets of resistance.
“This way,” Gene said. “There’s a shortcut that most people don’t know about. It leads through to the quarry. From there we should be able to cut up north. I don’t think Rita is using it yet.”
“When’s the last time you went this way?” Rocky asked.
“It’s been a while,” Gene said.
October 8th, 1993
“I don’t know about this, Bulk!” Skull said. “I mean, maybe we should go back to the Youth Center with the others.”
“No, Skull,” Bulk said, as he continued to cut through the park. “You saw what the Green Ranger did to the Power Rangers. They’re all dead, and we need to get out of here.”
“Can you believe that those dweebs were the Power Rangers?” Skull said half-heartedly. It sounded like something that he thought he should be saying, but a small part of him was impressed. He knew that he’d liked Kimberly, and now to find out that she really was something special…. Well, that was something.
“And look where that got them!” Bulk said. “They’re all dead. If we stay there with Angela’s rebellion thing, then we’ll probably be dead too!”
“You’re right, Bulkie,” Skull agreed. He wasn’t sure if they were doing the right thing - maybe they should be fighting. He really didn’t want to die though. He was too young for that. And if the Power Rangers could die, then what chance did they have of living?
“This way,” Bulk said as he looked around. He started to head into the park.
“I thought we were going to go towards Hasper City,” Skull said. “Why are we going north?”
“This way is north, dim wit,” Bulk told him. “I know where I’m going.”
“Okay, Bulkie.” Skull didn’t press it. Bulk knew what he was doing. Bulk would take care of him.
October 2nd, 1994
“I’m glad that you knew about this shortcut,” Aisha said. “I wasn’t really looking forward to dodging putties in the park.”
“Same here,” Skull said. “It’s too bad Rita gained control of the park so early. The trees would have made pretty good cover.”
“At least the putties stand out pretty well. You’d think she’d have figured out a way to have them blend in.”
“Don’t even suggest that, Adam!” Angela scolded. “We have enough trouble with the new Z-Putties. We really don’t need to give Rita any more advantages.”
Adam shrugged as he made his way over a rock. “I’m just saying, that’s what I would do if I was in charge.”
Rocky laughed, one of the first genuine laughs that Gene had ever heard from him. It was a harsh sound, and he could remember Aisha telling him once that Rocky had used to be the prankster of the group, with his laughter as the driving force. Just another thing that Rita had taken from them.
“Good thing you aren’t, then,” he said. “Don’t know how it would be if we had to go up against you.”
“Where to next, Gene?” Aisha asked.
He looked around, trying to remember which way they had gone. “If we go down that cliff, we should make it,” he told her.
“Go down the cliff?” Adam asked skeptically. “We really need to scale it?”
“There’s a ledge that makes it a lot easier to get down,” Gene answered. “We found it by accident.”
October 8th, 1993
“Run!” Skull shouted, as the putties appeared from out of nowhere.
“What are we going to do now?” Bulk said, as they came upon a cliff. “We need to get out of here.”
“I don’t know how to fight them,” Skull said. “Come on, Bulkie, you have to have some sort of idea!”
“Run?” Bulk suggested.
“Where?” Skull asked, as the putties surrounded them, their dance growing more and more menacing as they closed in on him. He took a step back involuntarily, and then winced as he realized that they were getting closer to the edge of the cliff.
“We could jump?” Bulk suggested.
Skull laughed nervously. “Gee, Bulkie, I don’t know. That’s a long way down.”
The first of the putties made its way towards them.
“Looks like we don’t have a choice!” Bulk shouted, and the two of them turned and ran for the cliff.
“Look!” Bulk shouted. There was a narrow path along the sides of the cliff. The two of them began to run down. It was a hard path, and both of them were breathing heavily. This was harder than it looked.
Skull paused to catch his breath, and he turned around only to see that a few of the putties had tumbled off of the cliff. He watched them fall and land with a satisfying splat.
“Come on!” Bulk urged him. “We’re almost to the bottom.”
October 2nd, 1994
“You’re seriously telling me that Bulk managed to get down this way?” Angela said in disbelief.
Gene shrugged. “You can do a lot of things when you’re running for your life.”
In single file, the five of them managed to make it all the way down to the bottom of the cliff. By the time they did, it was starting to get dark.
“There’s no way we should cross the rest of this at night,” Aisha said flatly. “Not if most of us don’t know the way.”
“There’s a cave about a quarter of a mile away,” Gene told them. “I stayed in it for a few days the last time I was here.”
October 10th, 1993
“We need to go at some point,” Bulk said. “We’ve run out of food.”
“Well, where are we supposed to go?” Skull demanded. “We can’t go back up that cliff, and if we keep going this way we’re going to head straight into the desert.”
“I don’t know yet!” Bulk shouted back at him. “I can’t believe those dweebs had to go and get themselves killed, or else we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“You don’t actually mean that,” Skull said.
Bulk sighed. “No, I don’t. I just can’t believe they’re dead, and that they were the Power Rangers.”
“Me neither,” Skull said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have been so mean to them.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Bulk agreed. “But it doesn’t matter now. What matters is getting out of here so that we can find something to eat.”
“Yeah,” Skull said. “At least we found this cave. Rita and the Green Ranger haven’t found us yet.”
“We’ll leave in the morning,” Bulk decided. “We don’t have any other choice.”
October 2nd, 1994
“You okay?” Rocky said, as he sat down next to Gene.
They had finally managed to get a fire going, but the cave was still pretty damp and uncomfortable. That might have just been Gene’s imagination though. There were a lot of memories associated with this cave.
“I’m fine,” he said.
Rocky just looked at him. “I hear that from Adam a lot,” he said, momentarily glancing over to where Adam and Aisha were sitting. “For that matter, they hear me say that a lot.”
“Yeah,” Gene said. “Sorry, it’s just… this cave brings back a lot of memories. The last time I was here was right after the invasion.”
“Been a bad year for everyone,” Rocky agreed, and Gene felt momentarily guilty for being so melodramatic. That was the thing - no matter how hard the last year had been for him, there were always others who had had it worse.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“Don’t apologize,” Rocky said. “I didn’t say it to upset you. Just stating a fact.” He sat there for a moment. “You want to tell me about it?”
“This was where Bulk spent his last night alive,” Gene said. “I just… I wonder what he would say if he could see me now.”
“He was your best friend, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’m sure he’d be proud of what you’ve been doing,” Rocky said. “Just like I’m proud of what Adam and Aisha have accomplished. And I’m sure that they’re proud of me, for still being here, after everything.”
“Thanks,” Gene told him, trying to project everything he felt into that one syllable.
“Any time,” Rocky said. He looked exhausted, and there was a lot of pain in his eyes. “I’m going to try and get some sleep,” Rocky said. “Big day tomorrow and all.”
“Yeah,” Gene agreed. “Hopefully it’ll go better than the last time did.”
October 11th, 1993
“I’m telling you, we need to go this way,” Bulk said.
“Are you sure? I think that’s back towards the desert,” Skull said. “We passed by those rocks almost an hour ago.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Bulk told him. “If we just keep on going….” He trailed off as they heard an unfamiliar noise. They both turned around, and they saw the Green Ranger standing right before them.
“Oh, keep going,” the Green Ranger told them. “Please, I was really enjoying your argument.”
Skull turned to start to run, but when he turned around Goldar was standing behind him.
“Don’t even think about it, human,” the big gold monkey said menacingly. “I haven’t killed anyone in almost an hour, and I’d really like to kill the both of you.”
“I don’t think so,” the Green Ranger said.
“Thank you!” Bulk said.
Skull wasn’t sure why the Green Ranger was defending them, but he had a feeling it wasn’t something that he was going to enjoy.
“Oh, you shouldn’t be thanking me yet,” the Green Ranger said, as he powered down.
Skull’s face fell as he realized who the Green Ranger was. This guy had beaten them once before.
“You see,” Tommy said menacingly as he walked up to them. “You annoyed me before I got these powers, and I thought that it would be more fun for me to beat you without them.”
He still had his sword and dagger in hand. For some reason they hadn’t faded away with the rest of his powers.
“Look, man, we didn’t mean anything!” Bulk protested. He took a step forward.
“Bulkie, no!” Skull yelled, but not fast enough, as the Green Ranger brought up his sword.
Skull couldn’t watch. Bulk just stood there, with the Green Ranger’s sword through his chest.
“No,” he repeated again.
“You can go and run if you want, human,” Goldar said. “Why don’t you let us chase you?”
Skull did the only thing that he could - he started to run. And he kept running until he felt that his feet were going to give out under him. He wasn’t sure how long he had been running, but it didn’t look like anyone was chasing him. He eventually made his way back to the cave, where he collapsed on the ground to cry.
Bulk was dead, and as far as Skull was concerned, he had gone with Bulk.
October 3rd, 1994
They headed out of the cave at dawn. Gene took point now, since he knew the area best of anyone. They had been lucky so far, there hadn’t been any sign of the putty patrol. But that couldn’t last forever.
“How much farther?” Adam asked, tension fairly radiating off of him.
“Not looking forward to that desert, huh?” Gene asked.
“You aren’t the only one who has bad memories associated with this trip,” Adam said. “Frankly, I’ll be glad when it’s done and we get back to base.”
“Do you think that there’s something in there that will stop Rita?”
“If there was, I’m sure that she’s destroyed it already,” Adam said grimly. “But we’ll have to check it out anyway.”
“We should be at the desert soon,” Gene said after a moment longer. “If I’m right, then it should be right around this bend.”
He was right, which was nice at least. But right now, he wished that he had been wrong.
“Putties!” Adam shouted, as the patrollers started coming at them. “Everyone, get into formation!”
The group of five spread out, getting into the set-up that they had practiced for so long, a circle with their backs to each other.
Gene’s fist swung into one of the putties jaws, and it fell back into a tree. He didn’t have time to watch, as he dodged another one’s kick. He saw Aisha flipping out of the way as one putty stabbed at her, and Rocky sent another one flying. This would have been enough to stop the old putties, but these new ones were tough.
Gene’s kick caught the next putty directly on the Z shield on its chest, and he watched in shock as the putty began to disintegrate. He blinked. It couldn’t actually be that simple. He threw a punch directly at the shield of the next putty, and it blew up as well.
“You guys!” he yelled. “Aim directly for the Z!”
“Right,” Adam yelled, and he elbowed the next putty he saw. “You know, it is nice of them to give us a target now,” he said grimly.
Something that sounded like flute music played in the background, and another set of Putties appeared.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Adam muttered. “What the hell was that?”
“That sounded like the Green Ranger,” Angela said. “Doesn’t he usually have some of music around him?”
“Yeah, but where does it come from?” Aisha asked. “I never heard of the Rangers having a theme song.”
“Whatever it is, I’m betting that’s how he summons the putties, and maybe other things,” Gene said, as he hit another putty in the Z. “Do you think we can use that?”
“When we get back to Angel Grove, we’ll take it to Ernie,” Angela said, forestalling any other discussion. “For now, let’s just fight.”
Continue to Part 2