Fic: Dying of the Light 2/3
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.
Part 1 can be found here.
Chapter 4 - Aisha
Aisha followed behind Adam as they made their way into the desert. She was a little bit worried about him, but then again, there hadn’t really been a moment over the last year that she hadn’t been worried about him and Rocky.
“How many miles is it to this place?” she asked.
“I teleported in,” Adam said shortly. “I don’t really remember.”
“I know that this is hard, but don’t you dare take it out on me,” she told him.
He softened slightly. “I know,” he told her. “And I’m sorry. I’m just trying not to remember.”
“I think it would be better if we all could forget,” she said softly.
“Too bad that isn’t possible,” Adam answered.
”Maybe one day it will be,” Aisha said. “And then we can start over, and go back to our lives as if none of this had ever happened.
“There’s not very much cover out here,” Angela observed. “But from the map, we should probably be there by the end of the day, if we keep going.”
“And if we don’t run into any more Putties, or worse,” Aisha added.
“A fight is the last thing we need out here,” Adam said. “You would think that this desert would be less mountainous.”
“Angel Grove has always been the center of weird geography,” Gene said. “I mean, even before all of this.”
“Less talking,” Adam said. “We don’t want to attract any more attention.” His eyes kept darting to the northeast.
“What’s out that way?” Aisha said.
“A camp,” Adam answered. “I spent some time there.”
It was the first time Aisha had heard Adam say the word camps without his voice shaking.
“How many are being held in that one?” Angela asked.
Adam shrugged. “It was the first camp I was in,” he said. “It’s been so long now, my information is probably really out of date. Most of the camp was dead within the first few weeks,” he continued. “I don’t know if they added more people after. I wasn’t there for that long anyway.”
October 7th, 1993
Aisha sat on Rocky’s couch, eyes glued to the TV screen.
“How can the Power Rangers be dead?” Adam asked. “I mean, they’re the Power Rangers.”
“They looked like they were our age,” Rocky said softly, none of his customary good humor in his tone. “Can you believe it?”
“Rita can’t actually be taking over the world,” Aisha said. “I mean, where is the Army? Shouldn’t someone be coming in to stop them now?”
“What is the army supposed to do against those things?” Adam asked. “I mean, if the Power Rangers couldn’t beat them, what is a regular army supposed to do?”
“I suppose we’ll find out soon enough,” Rocky said suddenly. The Air Force had just arrived.
Rita just laughed. “Goldar, Scorpina!” she shouted. “Grow!” She held up her wand, and the two villains grew to a tremendous height, Scorpina losing her human form and turning into a horrible monster as they did so.
The two monsters seemed incredibly unconcerned by the invading Air Force, and in only a few seconds the two giants had smashed the planes into bits.
“Well, that was no good,” Aisha muttered. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“Rocky!” his mother said as she burst into the room. “You and your friends need to hurry. Everyone is packing up and leaving.”
“Are you sure?” Rocky asked. “I mean, where are we going to go?”
“Somewhere not here,” his mother said firmly. “We’re way too close to Angel Grove right now for my liking.”
“Where are we supposed to go?” Aisha said.
“I just finished talking to both of your parents,” Mrs. DeSantos answered. “The whole group of us are going to caravan out together. We’ll head out of California, and then we’ll see what happens. Hopefully we’ll get far enough away that we’ll be safe.”
“Where are we supposed to go that will be safe?” Adam said. “I mean, you saw those things. If the Army can’t beat them, and the Rangers are all, you know, do you really think that there’s anywhere safe for us?”
“You three shouldn’t worry about all of that,” Mrs. DeSantos said. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep all of you safe.” She turned to Aisha. “You guys should head on home, your families are waiting for you. We’re going to meet back here in half an hour. Bring only what you really need.”
“Sure thing,” Aisha agreed. “Don’t worry about us.”
*
The caravan pulled into a gas station. They hadn’t gone nearly as far as they should, since Adam’s family needed to stop for gas. Aisha got out of her car, and knocked on Rocky’s window. His two younger siblings were curled up against him, and he shook his head. Aisha nodded - there was no real way for him to move without moving them, and he wasn’t going to try.
Instead, she went and let herself into Adam’s car.
“Hi, Mr. Park,” she said to Adam’s dad, as she settled into the backseat next to Adam.
“Hello, Aisha,” he said. He looked exhausted, and Aisha looked quizzically at Adam.
“Dad’s not handling this well,” Adam said quietly. “He didn’t want to leave, he kept saying that the authorities would handle it somehow, but Mom overruled him.”
“It’s probably a good thing,” Aisha agreed. She glanced behind them, at the large cloud of smoke that was coming from where Stone Canyon had previously been. They had gotten out just in time, it looked like, and Aisha was sure that plenty of other families were probably wishing they had left. She hoped that everyone would be okay. She had called Shawna before they left, and amazingly had been able to get through after a bunch of busy signals. But Shawna and her family hadn’t been interested in leaving. Not yet, anyway. Shawna’s parents had said that Rita would probably be too busy conquering Angel Grove to get to Stone Canyon yet, and they were sure that someone would stop it before it got too far.
“Don’t look back,” Adam said quietly. “Right now we just have to keep going forward. We can mourn later.”
“You think Shawna and the others got out?”
Adam shrugged. “We’ll find out,” he said finally. “I’m nervous about cutting so close to Angel Grove, but the radio was saying that Hasper City should be safe.”
“Aisha,” her parents called. “Get back in the car. We’re ready to leave again.”
“Later,” Aisha said to Adam, as she ran back into her parents’ Sedan and buckled her seat belt. Her family’s car pulled out first, followed by the DeSantos’, and finally the Parks.
October 3rd, 1994
They walked in silence for a while, Aisha and the others all keeping a careful eye out for any monsters or putties. There were times when Aisha wondered why Rita hadn’t just sent down a complete army of her monsters to crush Angel Grove, as she had done to all of the other cities. It had been so long now since they had really heard from any other cities - supposedly there had been other resistance movements at first, but now Angel Grove was the only one left.
The problem with wandering through the desert was that it all looked the same. Well, there were other problems - it was hot, it was dusty, there was no cover, they were all quickly getting dehydrated. And wandering through the desert was boring, but at the same time they needed to pay careful attention to make sure that they were going in the direction that Ernie had marked on their map. Angela was the one with the compass, so as long as they followed her they should be going in the right direction.
“It’s supposed to be in those mountains,” Angela said. “If we keep going straight ahead, we should be right there. And at least when we get closer it’ll provide some shade.”
“That sounds about right,” Adam said softly from behind her.
Aisha took a moment to glance at Adam. He was looking relatively calm, but she had known him long enough to know that he wasn’t doing as well as he claimed. But then again, any mission that would make him deal with his memories of what happened had that potential for disaster. To be fair, that was true for any of them. But she had gotten so used to looking out for both of her boys that she couldn’t help but do it more now.
October 8th, 1993
“Crap,” Aisha said as she stared up ahead of them. “What are we supposed to do now?”
The cars came to a complete halt, and her parents were obviously still so shocked that they didn’t bother to yell at her about cursing. But the road ahead of them was filled with Putties.
“Whatever you do, don’t get out of the car,” her mother said. “Is your door locked?”
“Yes, Mom,” Aisha said dutifully, as she pressed down the lock. “So what now?”
“We could try running over them,” her father said thoughtfully.
“You’ll just kill them?” her mother asked.
“It’s them or us!”
While her parents squabbled, Aisha turned around to look at the other cars.
“Mom,” she said softly. “Mom!” she repeated again. “Rocky’s car! There’s a monster!”
Rocky’s car was being completely overwhelmed. She watched as the door opened, and Rocky came out, brandishing his younger sibling's baseball bat. He swung it at the monster, which resembled a giant oyster.
“Don’t get out of the car, Aisha,” her mother said, as she revved the car up.
“But that’s Rocky!” Aisha protested. She could see Adam running over to join Rocky. “We have to help them!”
“There’s nothing that we can do for them,” her mother insisted, and even as Aisha fumbled for the door her mother slammed on the gas, plowing through the monsters.
“No!” Aisha yelled. “We need to go back! We need to save them!” Her father turned around in his seat and grabbed Aisha’s arm.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said. “They’re gone. There’s nothing that you can do to save them.”
Aisha looked back, and she saw Adam fall. Even if they went back, they would only end up captured as well. Her parents had put enough distance between them that she would never make it in time to help.
But she still felt like she should have gotten out of the car. She should have tried to help them.
It was all her fault.
October 3rd, 1994
“I think it’s a little bit west of here,” Adam said suddenly, the first time he’d spoken in a few miles. “I recognize those rocks up ahead.” He started to turn left, and Angela relinquished command of the group, as they all began to follow Adam.
Aisha walked a bit faster, enough that she could get over to talk to him.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked him quietly.
“I’m fine,” he repeated, but there was less of an edge to his voice this time. “Really, Sha, I know you’re worried, but I really can take care of myself.”
“I know you can,” Aisha said. “But I look out for you. I need to. Please let me help you.”
“You are helping,” Adam said, his voice shaking slightly. “More than you know. But right now I’m really okay. I just need to… not focus on what happened the last time I was here.”
Aisha nodded, and reached for his hand. Adam flinched slightly at the contact, but then squeezed back before releasing her hand. The two of them walked on in the lead, with the others following behind them, all carefully looking for any intruders. But remarkably, their trip was undisturbed. There hadn’t been any signs of putties or monsters or anything else since they had gotten into the desert, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t any out there, just waiting for them.
Adam stopped suddenly, and Aisha wondered what it was that he’d seen. The others on their team all moved in closer to him, wondering what he’d seen.
“It should be just around that next bend,” Adam said, nodding to the ridge that they were nearly at. “If they’re going to attack, that’s probably where they would do it. That’s where I would, anyway.”
“Any ideas then?” Angela asked.
“Stay in formation,” Adam said. “Keep a look out, and be prepared for a fight. The whole area there is pretty rocky,” he glanced over at Rocky and smiled. “No pun intended, I swear.”
The group nodded, and reformed. Adam still stayed in the lead, with Angela following close behind him. Aisha took the middle, with Skull behind her and Rocky bringing up the rear. She was one of the stronger fighters in the group, and one of the more versatile ones. This way she could help out whoever needed it, and if the middle was attacked expecting to find the weaker party there, well, they would be in for one hell of a surprise.
They rounded the side of the ridge without incident, and Aisha’s jaw dropped slightly when she saw what it was that the Putties were guarding.
October 12th, 1993
Aisha was running. Sometimes it felt like all she had done in the last week was run. She was never fast enough, not ever going to be fast enough. She had gotten fairly good at dodging Putties and other monsters. She was tired and hungry, and she was pretty sure she was lost. She’d need to stop soon, but she didn’t know where.
She’d lost her parents almost two days ago, when they had been caught by a group of putty patrollers. Aisha had fought her way free, but they hadn’t. The last she had seen of her mother had been her being dragged off, while yelling at Aisha to run.
So she had. She had run away again, leaving more people behind her to die or get captured -- and she had no idea what Rita and her monsters were doing to the captured. She had failed her friends, she had failed her family, and she had clearly failed herself.
Angel Grove Park was almost completely abandoned. This hadn’t been Aisha’s first plan - they had been trying to get far away from it. But all of the roads out of the area were blocked. Stone Canyon was still in flames. She’d been forced deeper and deeper into Angel Grove. At least she could probably hide in the park somewhere - it was fairly big, and maybe she could find some other people around.
She needed to stop for a while. She found a tree and made her way up it, and settled down, glad for all the practice she’d had at climbing to get into the tree fort that she and Rocky and Adam had built.
There was someone sitting up in the tree across from her. He was human, or at least he definitely wasn’t a putty. One of Rita’s new monsters, the one that had killed the Yellow Ranger, she looked human. And the Green Ranger was human. So this guy could be working for Rita.
“You’re not a monster,” the guy said in surprise.
“No,” she said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Sk… I’m Eugene,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. Aisha didn’t push it. She could understand not wanting to give out a real name, especially when she didn’t know who he was or what side he was on. Still, she was going to have to trust someone.
“I’m Aisha,” she said.
“You’re not from around here,” he observed.
She shook her head, balancing carefully among the branches. “I’m from Stone Canyon,” she said. “Or I was, anyway. It was burning when I left.”
She tried not to think about the last week. She tried not to think of the town that she loved, and the flames she had seen pouring from it.
“I’d say welcome to Angel Grove, but it isn’t really that welcoming a place right now,” he said grimly. “Look, I need to get some sleep. But after this, I was going to try and head to the Youth Center. They were talking some about rebellion before - I’m going to try and make my way back there and join up.”
“I’m in,” Aisha told him. “It’s not like I had any other plans anyway. Besides,” she added, “Rita and the rest of them need to pay for what they did.”
October 3rd, 1994
There were putties everywhere, and Aisha recognized Squatt and Baboo guarding the ruins. She was surprised that they were being given such an important assignment. The two of them were not really known for being that competent. But it was what they were guarding that was the most interesting.
She hadn’t known at all that there were ruins out there. She had no idea what it had been at one point, but it had clearly been something incredible. She could almost see the structure rising up into the sky. But that had been a long time ago, now there were only piles of rocks, with only parts of the base still standing.
“What do you think it was?” she whispered.
“Whatever it is, we need to find out,” Adam answered. “But if we try to go in right now, we’ll have one hell of a fight on our hands.”
“You’ll already have a fight on your hands, Rebels!” a voice said from behind them. The five of them whirled around, only to see that Goldar was standing behind them.
“Scatter!” Adam ordered, and the five of them split up in all directions, running into the putties, fists flying. Aisha saw Squatt and Baboo teleport out, and as they left, a piece of parchment dropped to the ground. She leapt after it, doing a dive roll over the kick of one of the putties, fighting her way through the rest of them until she grabbed it. She didn’t know what it was, but if it was what the two troublemakers were holding then it had to be something that she and the rest of the rebellion could use.
She tucked the parchment into her belt, and then went back to the fight. The five of them were good, but they were heavily outnumbered.
“Retreat!” she heard Adam yell, even as his kick caused another putty to explode.
“This is a disaster,” Gene muttered, when they regrouped safely behind some rocks.
“It might not be,” Aisha said as she pulled out the piece of parchment. “Squatt and Baboo dropped this.”
As the five of them inspected the parchment, a white light suddenly surrounded them all, and then Aisha knew no more.
Chapter 5 - Adam
Adam groaned as he woke up. The light had blinded them as soon as Aisha had shown them the piece of parchment. They were still in a desert, but it wasn’t the same one they’d been in before, when they were trying to figure out what was up with those ruins.
It wasn’t the first time he had woken up in an unfamiliar place. He wasn’t going to think about that now. He couldn’t think about that now. He groaned, and made it to his knees. The others were all still unconscious. Rocky was closest to him.
“Rocky,” he muttered. “C’mon, you need to wake up.”
Rocky groaned, and his eyelids fluttered open. “Hey,” he whispered. He managed to sit up, albeit it very carefully. Around them the others were starting to stir.
“Where the hell are we?” Angela asked.
“Somewhere else,” Adam said with a shrug. “Does it really matter?”
October 9th, 1993
“Wake up, humans,” the voice growled. Adam woke up with a start. His head ached something fierce. Where was he? The last thing he remembered he had been fighting those putty things, and then he….
Then he….
Oh God.
He remembered the monsters, and the putty that had finally gotten in a lucky shot. He remembered the screams from his family, and he remembered seeing Aisha’s family drive off. Then there had only been the monsters.
“I said wake up, humans,” the voice repeated, and Adam looked around. He was in a cell with a few other people, none of whom he recognized. He reluctantly got to his feet, following the others out of the cell.
It didn’t look like it would be that hard to escape. Their cell, wherever they were, looked as though it had been hastily constructed. If enough of them ran for it, they would be able to get free. He wasn’t really sure where they were going to go after, but it was going to be one step at a time.
He followed the others out into a courtyard, keeping an eye out for familiar faces. He was finally rewarded with the sight of Rocky, and Adam edged his way around to stand by him.
“Rocky,” he said quietly, as he placed a hand on his best friend’s shoulder.
Rocky flinched, and turned around.
“Adam,” he said, his voice filled with pain. “They killed my brother.”
Adam flinched back from the agony in Rocky’s voice. “I’m sorry about Pablo,” he said, because he really didn’t know what else he could say or do. He tried not to think of his own parents, or of Aisha and her family. He hoped that wherever they were they were still alive.
“What about Lindsay?” he asked. “And your mom?”
Rocky shrugged. “I haven’t seen them,” he said, and the amount of pain in his voice made Adam almost wish that he hadn’t asked. “Hopefully they’re still alive.”
“Quit talking, humans,” the gold monkey said.
Adam did as he was told for a moment, but as soon as Goldar looked away he leaned in closer to Rocky. “I’m going to try to escape tonight,” he said. “Are you in?”
Rocky nodded. “Just tell me the plan.”
October 4th, 1994
“Where to now?” Adam asked. “If anyone’s got any ideas, I’m listening.”
“There’s a map,” Aisha said suddenly. She’d been inspecting the piece of parchment that had brought them all there. “Look, that rock formation totally matches up to this one here, and there’s a mark down in that direction.”
“So you just want to follow it?” Adam asked skeptically. “I mean, we could be walking right into a trap.”
“Or this map could have been what they were looking for,” Aisha said defiantly. “I mean, that could be why Squatt and Baboo had it.”
Adam sighed. It really wasn’t worth arguing with her. Besides, they didn’t really have any other ideas.
”Okay,” he said after a moment. “Lead on.”
“I’m so glad that I have your permission,” she said, rolling her eyes. Angela and Gene were both snickering at them, while Rocky didn’t even manage a smile. Adam could understand why - he remembered what it had been like for him right after… right after. Rocky hadn’t been rescued for that long. He would get better eventually. Adam would see to that.
After all, it was his fault that Rocky was like this.
October 9th, 1993
The word spread throughout the humans who were being held in the camp pretty rapidly. Some people were willing to join up in rebellion, others were too busy mourning their loved ones to do anything. Some thought that if they just stayed put and did what they were told then maybe it would be okay, but Adam couldn’t believe that. Wouldn’t believe that. They needed to fight back - there was no way that they could let a bunch of evil aliens conquer them.
Soon most of the camp (and there were about a thousand people there, going by Adam and Rocky’s unofficial headcounts) were looking at the two of them for the escape plans. They were barely sixteen years old, and suddenly they were the leaders of a rebellion. That honestly hadn’t been how Adam had expected to spend his sophomore year.
They spent most of the day working on moving rocks around for the invaders. Adam didn’t know why Rita needed the land cleared and rocks moved and things built, but he and the others were trying to work as slowly as possible. Someone was spreading the rumor that they were all going to be released as soon as things were built, but Adam didn’t believe it. They needed to escape now. Besides, Rita didn’t have any right to hold them captive.
As they walked back towards the cells, Adam got a good look at the wall around the camp. He thought that if they all rushed the door then they should be able to escape. They couldn’t be that far from safety, or the army, or something. They certainly couldn’t be here any longer. Anything had to be better than this
He glanced over at Rocky, who looked back at him and nodded once. Adam took a deep breath.
“Now!” he yelled, and he brought his elbow around to knock over the nearest putty. He saw Rocky fighting on his left, and a lot of the others, mostly teens around his age, were fighting as well. But they were outnumbered, and it seemed like every single time they knocked a putty down, another one would spring up in its place.
The first attempt at rebellion was a complete failure, and Adam found himself thrown facedown in the dirt with a bunch of putties holding on to him.
“Well, well, well,” a voice, a female voice said, and Adam managed to raise his head enough to see the monster who had killed the Yellow Ranger. “So this is the leader of this impromptu rebellion?”
The putties who were holding Adam down murmured something in their weird language, and Scorpina shoved her boot in his face.
“Well,” she said. “This is interesting for one so young.” She left her boot there for a moment, and Adam tried not to wince. He wouldn’t let her see any weakness.
“Take him to my chambers,” Scorpina said finally. “He interests me.”
October 4th, 1994
The whole group was on edge as they followed Aisha, and Adam could feel the start of a freak out. He tried to take deep calming breaths, the way that Aisha had shown him, and eventually it started to help.
The others hadn’t noticed, at least. He didn’t want their pity, and he certainly didn’t want them to think that he wasn’t capable of fighting. He didn’t want to worry them. He just wanted to make sure that nobody ever went through again what he’d been through.
“Where to now?” Rocky asked. “It’s really hot here.”
Aisha stopped and consulted the map again. “It should be just a little bit farther, whatever it is.”
“Hopefully it’ll have a way for us to get back,” Angela pointed out. “Since I’m pretty sure that this may not even be the same dimension.”
“It’s not,” Adam said suddenly. That must be why he was feeling so nervous. “Definitely not our dimension.”
“Is it one you’ve been in before?” Angela asked carefully.
“I don’t think so,” Adam said after a moment. “But I mostly stayed either in our dimension or in the Dark Dimension.” He was proud that his voice didn’t really shake when he said that.
“Maybe the inhabitants are friends,” Gene said after a moment.
“There’s a first time for everything,” Rocky agreed.
“Well, there’s no point in turning back now,” Aisha said defiantly, as she took one last glance at the map, and then began to walk, the others following behind her.
January 24th, 1994
“Follow,” Scorpina ordered.
Adam did as he was told. It was just easier that way. If he didn’t, or she even thought that he was hesitating in following her commands, or that some sort of resistance passed through him…. Well, it was better for him if he didn’t think about it. The last few months had been hard, but he wasn’t going to think about it. He wasn’t going to think about anything. He was just going to do whatever it was that Scorpina wanted, and then go back to his cell. Rocky would be there. Things would be okay while he was there. He was safe there.
He only flinched a little as he walked behind her, keeping his head bowed. Scorpina didn’t like it when he looked her in the eye, not without permission. He’d gotten better at following her just from watching her heels. He’d only bumped into her once. He never would again.
Scorpina paused, and Adam stopped as well, making sure that he was still three steps behind her. She reached out and took his wrist, and Adam was proud that he did not flinch.
He didn’t know why he should be proud of that.
“We’re going into Stone Canyon,” she said, her nails digging into his skin, and Adam barely even registered the pain. He’d had so much worse, that it wasn’t worth thinking about at all.
They teleported out without much warning, and Adam felt his stomach lurch as they arrived. It wasn’t the first time he’d been teleported by her - she seemed to enjoy taking him around to see the new order under Rita’s regime. And she was always excited afterwards, which was never good for Adam.
He raised his eyes enough to look at his hometown. They’d landed in the very center of the city. Adam had spent a lot of time here, before, but now it was hard to remember what it had been like. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember what had been in the store on the corner.
The blow caught him off guard, but he didn’t fall.
“Watch it,” Scorpina hissed.
“Yes, Mistress,” Adam repeated dully.
“Scorpina,” Squatt said, as he appeared in front of them. “There are some rebel invaders nearby. Rita wants you there right away!”
“I’m busy,” Scorpina said. “Can’t you see I’ve brought my prize with me?”
“Empress Rita said immediately,” the blue buffoon insisted.
Scorpina sighed dramatically. “Fine,” she said, her gold dress shimmering to become her suit of armor. Adam shivered, but at least she was still in her human form. “Take him back to my rooms on the moon.” She teleported out, leaving Adam alone with Squatt.
He wasn’t sure what to do. He could go back with Squatt, knowing what would be there later that day. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to.
It would be so easy to escape. He didn’t dare risk a glance over his shoulder. This was probably a test. If he tried to run, Scorpina would grab him, and he would be beaten. Or worse. Maybe this time she would kill him.
It was probably a trap. He was sure of it.
”Come along, human!” Squatt said. “Scorpina will be very displeased with us if you aren’t there waiting for her when she returns.”
All he had to do was go with Squatt. Maybe he would have some more freedom after. It was probably a trick.
Still, this could be the only chance that he had to escape. If he passed up this opportunity, then there would probably never be another chance. If he left, there was no way of knowing what would happen to Rocky.
He did the only thing he could - he turned and ran.
October 4th, 1994
“We seem to be spending a lot of time following weird directions,” Gene observed. “First we follow people out in the desert to find whatever it is that Rita’s searching for, and now we’re following some sort of map that could be leading us straight into a trap.”
“You have to be prepared to take some risks,” Adam reminded him, more harshly than he intended. “Otherwise, we might as well give up and just let them win.”
He knew the others were staring at him, but he just plunged ahead and kept walking, ignoring the feeling of their eyes. It was easier.
He tried to keep his eyes up, staring straight ahead. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about the past, not right now. There was a mission. They had to complete the mission. Everything else could be thought about later, or better yet, never.
“Hello, Adam,” a voice said, and Adam felt a chill going through him.
“Scorpina,” he said through gritted teeth, staring at his ex-captor. It took every ounce of willpower that he had not to call her Mistress, or to take a step back. The other members of his team came up behind him, lending him their strength. He wouldn’t have to face her alone.
“It’s been a long time,” the monster replied, and Adam assumed a fighting stance, matching the others. “Do you really think you can fight me?” she asked. “You should know better. Of course, it will be all the more incentive for me to punish you, afterwards, so if you really want to try this, then let’s fight!”
She leapt at him, but Adam was expecting it, and dodged out of the way, taking Angela down with him as he went.
A swarm of Z-Putties appeared, and the group split up to fight them. Aisha and Gene had squared off with Scorpina, and Adam was grateful that they were sparing him the confrontation. He instead threw himself into fighting putties. He didn’t need to think about it. It was just punch, dodge, kick, kick, dodge left, block, punch. He let himself get settled into the routine, until he saw Aisha fall.
He shouted her name, and jumped over a putty, his leg hitting it in the Z as he went. He crouched by her side, and brought up his arms up to block Scorpina’s blow, and with a strength that he didn’t know that he had, managed to send her sword flying.
“How dare you defy me?” she screeched at him as she grabbed for her weapon. “You will pay for this!”
As soon as she’d regained her sword, she and the putties vanished. The five of them stood there for a minute, breathing heavily, and then they grinned.
“We did it!” Aisha said.
“I fought her,” Adam said in disbelief. “I really fought her.”
“You did!” Aisha said. She kissed him quickly, and Adam smiled.
“So where to next?” he asked. “You know that they’ll be back at any moment.”
Aisha consulted the map. “That’s weird,” she said. “If I’m reading this right, then I’m guessing that we should be right there. But I don’t see anything, do you?”
Just then, the ground began to shake.
Chapter 6 - Ninjor
Ninjor had been waiting for this moment for nearly a year. He had felt the death of Zordon, and it had pained him greatly. But he, like many of the Morphin Masters of old, was not permitted to interfere. Not until a group had proven themselves to be worthy of The Power, and he had begun to worry that no group ever would. It had only been a year of their time, but it had always been before that when one group of Rangers fell, another would step up instantly to replace them.
But Earth was a young world, and they had not yet learned the old ways. Still, the group that currently lay before him was a good group. They were damaged, but still strong. Each and every one of them had proven that they were dedicated to overthrowing the overlords who had conquered their world. They were more than deserving of the right to call themselves Power Rangers.
“Welcome!” he called in his deep, booming voice. The Rangers, or the soon-to-be Rangers, all began to stir, and he watched as they sat up, eyeing him warily. “Do not be alarmed, I am not going to hurt you. I am Ninjor, the keeper of the Temple of the Ninja Power, and a friend and compatriot of Zordon of Eltare.”
“Who?” the one destined to be the Red Ranger asked suspiciously, as he got to his feet.
Ninjor sighed. “Zordon is the fallen mentor of Earth’s original team of Power Rangers,” he explained to them. “Sadly, he is no more. But you have all shown that you understand what it is to be the Power Rangers, and to fight evil. If you accept this power and responsibility, then you too will be Power Rangers.”
The five warriors exchanged glances, and then nodded.
“Please stand in a circle around me and raise your arms,” Ninjor requested, and they did, matching motion to his words. He handed each of them a Power Coin in turn, pocketing the last one for himself. It was a shame, but none of them would be able to use that coin, not as long as the true holder of the coin still lived.
“I shall guide you in your quest for knowledge and power. Older than time itself - man has always known the calling. Light of the light, strength of the soul, ignite this eternal power inside of me. I am Ninja!"
Ninjor watched with pride as five brilliant flashes of color exploded along the way, leaving the five teens dressed in the outfits of the Ninjetti. They were not the traditional uniforms of the Power Rangers, although they could become so when it was necessary. Their eyes opened, and they glanced down at themselves, and Ninjor knew that this team could hold the key to stopping the evil that had enveloped the earth.
"I am pure of heart, body, mind, and spirit. Join with me now as I become one with the power of Ninja. Your journey is complete. Now it is time for you to claim your destiny. You now possess the power of Ninja deep within your souls. Come and learn of your new gifts."
Adam stepped forward, claiming his place as the leader of the Power Rangers. "I am the ape, mighty and strong! We are one!" He placed a red gauntleted hand on the ape symbol on his chest, bowing at Ninjor.
Aisha stepped up next, and a yellow light surrounded her. "I am the bear, cunning and fierce!" Her voice was filled with pride, and Ninjor felt a sense of rightness - this, at least was the way that the universe was supposed to have gone. This was something that Aisha was born for.
Then Gene stepped forward, although his voice shook. “I am the wolf, silent and sure!" He didn’t sound quite as sure, and Ninjor could sense some doubt coming from him, some sense that he did not deserve to be wearing this color, even though Ninjor could tell that he would make a fine Blue Ranger.
Angela stepped forward, tears running down her cheeks. "I am the frog, courageous in spirit!" Ninjor could see her mind drift, and sensed that she was thinking of the man who had been the Black Ranger before her. But she was truly courageous, and she would be a fine holder of the Power.
Rocky was the last one to step forward. "I am the falcon, just and able!" There wasn’t much emotion coming from the new White Ranger, just a fierce determination.
“Congratulations, Power Rangers,” Ninjor told them. “You will have a few problems that have not been encountered by earlier Rangers. You will not be able to summon the NinjaMegazord, as you will be unable to complete the transformation without the Crane.”
“We could probably find a Pink Ranger,” Adam said, although he didn’t sound convinced. “Veronica, maybe?”
Ninjor shook his head. “Nay, Red Ranger. The Pink Power Coin will only work for one person, and she still lives in captivity on the moon.”
“Kimberly is still alive?” Gene asked, before Ninjor’s words had time to register with any of the other Rangers. “We need to find her!”
“You must!” Ninjor agreed. He handed the Pink Power Coin to Rocky, who slipped it into the folds of his uniform. “But I have faith in you, my team. Now you must leave my temple and get through the barrier. From there, you should be able to teleport back to your homes.”
“Thank you, Ninjor,” Adam said. His team followed him out, and Ninjor smiled as best he was able. Hopefully this was the beginning of the end.
continue to part 3
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.
Part 1 can be found here.
Chapter 4 - Aisha
Aisha followed behind Adam as they made their way into the desert. She was a little bit worried about him, but then again, there hadn’t really been a moment over the last year that she hadn’t been worried about him and Rocky.
“How many miles is it to this place?” she asked.
“I teleported in,” Adam said shortly. “I don’t really remember.”
“I know that this is hard, but don’t you dare take it out on me,” she told him.
He softened slightly. “I know,” he told her. “And I’m sorry. I’m just trying not to remember.”
“I think it would be better if we all could forget,” she said softly.
“Too bad that isn’t possible,” Adam answered.
”Maybe one day it will be,” Aisha said. “And then we can start over, and go back to our lives as if none of this had ever happened.
“There’s not very much cover out here,” Angela observed. “But from the map, we should probably be there by the end of the day, if we keep going.”
“And if we don’t run into any more Putties, or worse,” Aisha added.
“A fight is the last thing we need out here,” Adam said. “You would think that this desert would be less mountainous.”
“Angel Grove has always been the center of weird geography,” Gene said. “I mean, even before all of this.”
“Less talking,” Adam said. “We don’t want to attract any more attention.” His eyes kept darting to the northeast.
“What’s out that way?” Aisha said.
“A camp,” Adam answered. “I spent some time there.”
It was the first time Aisha had heard Adam say the word camps without his voice shaking.
“How many are being held in that one?” Angela asked.
Adam shrugged. “It was the first camp I was in,” he said. “It’s been so long now, my information is probably really out of date. Most of the camp was dead within the first few weeks,” he continued. “I don’t know if they added more people after. I wasn’t there for that long anyway.”
October 7th, 1993
Aisha sat on Rocky’s couch, eyes glued to the TV screen.
“How can the Power Rangers be dead?” Adam asked. “I mean, they’re the Power Rangers.”
“They looked like they were our age,” Rocky said softly, none of his customary good humor in his tone. “Can you believe it?”
“Rita can’t actually be taking over the world,” Aisha said. “I mean, where is the Army? Shouldn’t someone be coming in to stop them now?”
“What is the army supposed to do against those things?” Adam asked. “I mean, if the Power Rangers couldn’t beat them, what is a regular army supposed to do?”
“I suppose we’ll find out soon enough,” Rocky said suddenly. The Air Force had just arrived.
Rita just laughed. “Goldar, Scorpina!” she shouted. “Grow!” She held up her wand, and the two villains grew to a tremendous height, Scorpina losing her human form and turning into a horrible monster as they did so.
The two monsters seemed incredibly unconcerned by the invading Air Force, and in only a few seconds the two giants had smashed the planes into bits.
“Well, that was no good,” Aisha muttered. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“Rocky!” his mother said as she burst into the room. “You and your friends need to hurry. Everyone is packing up and leaving.”
“Are you sure?” Rocky asked. “I mean, where are we going to go?”
“Somewhere not here,” his mother said firmly. “We’re way too close to Angel Grove right now for my liking.”
“Where are we supposed to go?” Aisha said.
“I just finished talking to both of your parents,” Mrs. DeSantos answered. “The whole group of us are going to caravan out together. We’ll head out of California, and then we’ll see what happens. Hopefully we’ll get far enough away that we’ll be safe.”
“Where are we supposed to go that will be safe?” Adam said. “I mean, you saw those things. If the Army can’t beat them, and the Rangers are all, you know, do you really think that there’s anywhere safe for us?”
“You three shouldn’t worry about all of that,” Mrs. DeSantos said. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep all of you safe.” She turned to Aisha. “You guys should head on home, your families are waiting for you. We’re going to meet back here in half an hour. Bring only what you really need.”
“Sure thing,” Aisha agreed. “Don’t worry about us.”
*
The caravan pulled into a gas station. They hadn’t gone nearly as far as they should, since Adam’s family needed to stop for gas. Aisha got out of her car, and knocked on Rocky’s window. His two younger siblings were curled up against him, and he shook his head. Aisha nodded - there was no real way for him to move without moving them, and he wasn’t going to try.
Instead, she went and let herself into Adam’s car.
“Hi, Mr. Park,” she said to Adam’s dad, as she settled into the backseat next to Adam.
“Hello, Aisha,” he said. He looked exhausted, and Aisha looked quizzically at Adam.
“Dad’s not handling this well,” Adam said quietly. “He didn’t want to leave, he kept saying that the authorities would handle it somehow, but Mom overruled him.”
“It’s probably a good thing,” Aisha agreed. She glanced behind them, at the large cloud of smoke that was coming from where Stone Canyon had previously been. They had gotten out just in time, it looked like, and Aisha was sure that plenty of other families were probably wishing they had left. She hoped that everyone would be okay. She had called Shawna before they left, and amazingly had been able to get through after a bunch of busy signals. But Shawna and her family hadn’t been interested in leaving. Not yet, anyway. Shawna’s parents had said that Rita would probably be too busy conquering Angel Grove to get to Stone Canyon yet, and they were sure that someone would stop it before it got too far.
“Don’t look back,” Adam said quietly. “Right now we just have to keep going forward. We can mourn later.”
“You think Shawna and the others got out?”
Adam shrugged. “We’ll find out,” he said finally. “I’m nervous about cutting so close to Angel Grove, but the radio was saying that Hasper City should be safe.”
“Aisha,” her parents called. “Get back in the car. We’re ready to leave again.”
“Later,” Aisha said to Adam, as she ran back into her parents’ Sedan and buckled her seat belt. Her family’s car pulled out first, followed by the DeSantos’, and finally the Parks.
October 3rd, 1994
They walked in silence for a while, Aisha and the others all keeping a careful eye out for any monsters or putties. There were times when Aisha wondered why Rita hadn’t just sent down a complete army of her monsters to crush Angel Grove, as she had done to all of the other cities. It had been so long now since they had really heard from any other cities - supposedly there had been other resistance movements at first, but now Angel Grove was the only one left.
The problem with wandering through the desert was that it all looked the same. Well, there were other problems - it was hot, it was dusty, there was no cover, they were all quickly getting dehydrated. And wandering through the desert was boring, but at the same time they needed to pay careful attention to make sure that they were going in the direction that Ernie had marked on their map. Angela was the one with the compass, so as long as they followed her they should be going in the right direction.
“It’s supposed to be in those mountains,” Angela said. “If we keep going straight ahead, we should be right there. And at least when we get closer it’ll provide some shade.”
“That sounds about right,” Adam said softly from behind her.
Aisha took a moment to glance at Adam. He was looking relatively calm, but she had known him long enough to know that he wasn’t doing as well as he claimed. But then again, any mission that would make him deal with his memories of what happened had that potential for disaster. To be fair, that was true for any of them. But she had gotten so used to looking out for both of her boys that she couldn’t help but do it more now.
October 8th, 1993
“Crap,” Aisha said as she stared up ahead of them. “What are we supposed to do now?”
The cars came to a complete halt, and her parents were obviously still so shocked that they didn’t bother to yell at her about cursing. But the road ahead of them was filled with Putties.
“Whatever you do, don’t get out of the car,” her mother said. “Is your door locked?”
“Yes, Mom,” Aisha said dutifully, as she pressed down the lock. “So what now?”
“We could try running over them,” her father said thoughtfully.
“You’ll just kill them?” her mother asked.
“It’s them or us!”
While her parents squabbled, Aisha turned around to look at the other cars.
“Mom,” she said softly. “Mom!” she repeated again. “Rocky’s car! There’s a monster!”
Rocky’s car was being completely overwhelmed. She watched as the door opened, and Rocky came out, brandishing his younger sibling's baseball bat. He swung it at the monster, which resembled a giant oyster.
“Don’t get out of the car, Aisha,” her mother said, as she revved the car up.
“But that’s Rocky!” Aisha protested. She could see Adam running over to join Rocky. “We have to help them!”
“There’s nothing that we can do for them,” her mother insisted, and even as Aisha fumbled for the door her mother slammed on the gas, plowing through the monsters.
“No!” Aisha yelled. “We need to go back! We need to save them!” Her father turned around in his seat and grabbed Aisha’s arm.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said. “They’re gone. There’s nothing that you can do to save them.”
Aisha looked back, and she saw Adam fall. Even if they went back, they would only end up captured as well. Her parents had put enough distance between them that she would never make it in time to help.
But she still felt like she should have gotten out of the car. She should have tried to help them.
It was all her fault.
October 3rd, 1994
“I think it’s a little bit west of here,” Adam said suddenly, the first time he’d spoken in a few miles. “I recognize those rocks up ahead.” He started to turn left, and Angela relinquished command of the group, as they all began to follow Adam.
Aisha walked a bit faster, enough that she could get over to talk to him.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked him quietly.
“I’m fine,” he repeated, but there was less of an edge to his voice this time. “Really, Sha, I know you’re worried, but I really can take care of myself.”
“I know you can,” Aisha said. “But I look out for you. I need to. Please let me help you.”
“You are helping,” Adam said, his voice shaking slightly. “More than you know. But right now I’m really okay. I just need to… not focus on what happened the last time I was here.”
Aisha nodded, and reached for his hand. Adam flinched slightly at the contact, but then squeezed back before releasing her hand. The two of them walked on in the lead, with the others following behind them, all carefully looking for any intruders. But remarkably, their trip was undisturbed. There hadn’t been any signs of putties or monsters or anything else since they had gotten into the desert, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t any out there, just waiting for them.
Adam stopped suddenly, and Aisha wondered what it was that he’d seen. The others on their team all moved in closer to him, wondering what he’d seen.
“It should be just around that next bend,” Adam said, nodding to the ridge that they were nearly at. “If they’re going to attack, that’s probably where they would do it. That’s where I would, anyway.”
“Any ideas then?” Angela asked.
“Stay in formation,” Adam said. “Keep a look out, and be prepared for a fight. The whole area there is pretty rocky,” he glanced over at Rocky and smiled. “No pun intended, I swear.”
The group nodded, and reformed. Adam still stayed in the lead, with Angela following close behind him. Aisha took the middle, with Skull behind her and Rocky bringing up the rear. She was one of the stronger fighters in the group, and one of the more versatile ones. This way she could help out whoever needed it, and if the middle was attacked expecting to find the weaker party there, well, they would be in for one hell of a surprise.
They rounded the side of the ridge without incident, and Aisha’s jaw dropped slightly when she saw what it was that the Putties were guarding.
October 12th, 1993
Aisha was running. Sometimes it felt like all she had done in the last week was run. She was never fast enough, not ever going to be fast enough. She had gotten fairly good at dodging Putties and other monsters. She was tired and hungry, and she was pretty sure she was lost. She’d need to stop soon, but she didn’t know where.
She’d lost her parents almost two days ago, when they had been caught by a group of putty patrollers. Aisha had fought her way free, but they hadn’t. The last she had seen of her mother had been her being dragged off, while yelling at Aisha to run.
So she had. She had run away again, leaving more people behind her to die or get captured -- and she had no idea what Rita and her monsters were doing to the captured. She had failed her friends, she had failed her family, and she had clearly failed herself.
Angel Grove Park was almost completely abandoned. This hadn’t been Aisha’s first plan - they had been trying to get far away from it. But all of the roads out of the area were blocked. Stone Canyon was still in flames. She’d been forced deeper and deeper into Angel Grove. At least she could probably hide in the park somewhere - it was fairly big, and maybe she could find some other people around.
She needed to stop for a while. She found a tree and made her way up it, and settled down, glad for all the practice she’d had at climbing to get into the tree fort that she and Rocky and Adam had built.
There was someone sitting up in the tree across from her. He was human, or at least he definitely wasn’t a putty. One of Rita’s new monsters, the one that had killed the Yellow Ranger, she looked human. And the Green Ranger was human. So this guy could be working for Rita.
“You’re not a monster,” the guy said in surprise.
“No,” she said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Sk… I’m Eugene,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. Aisha didn’t push it. She could understand not wanting to give out a real name, especially when she didn’t know who he was or what side he was on. Still, she was going to have to trust someone.
“I’m Aisha,” she said.
“You’re not from around here,” he observed.
She shook her head, balancing carefully among the branches. “I’m from Stone Canyon,” she said. “Or I was, anyway. It was burning when I left.”
She tried not to think about the last week. She tried not to think of the town that she loved, and the flames she had seen pouring from it.
“I’d say welcome to Angel Grove, but it isn’t really that welcoming a place right now,” he said grimly. “Look, I need to get some sleep. But after this, I was going to try and head to the Youth Center. They were talking some about rebellion before - I’m going to try and make my way back there and join up.”
“I’m in,” Aisha told him. “It’s not like I had any other plans anyway. Besides,” she added, “Rita and the rest of them need to pay for what they did.”
October 3rd, 1994
There were putties everywhere, and Aisha recognized Squatt and Baboo guarding the ruins. She was surprised that they were being given such an important assignment. The two of them were not really known for being that competent. But it was what they were guarding that was the most interesting.
She hadn’t known at all that there were ruins out there. She had no idea what it had been at one point, but it had clearly been something incredible. She could almost see the structure rising up into the sky. But that had been a long time ago, now there were only piles of rocks, with only parts of the base still standing.
“What do you think it was?” she whispered.
“Whatever it is, we need to find out,” Adam answered. “But if we try to go in right now, we’ll have one hell of a fight on our hands.”
“You’ll already have a fight on your hands, Rebels!” a voice said from behind them. The five of them whirled around, only to see that Goldar was standing behind them.
“Scatter!” Adam ordered, and the five of them split up in all directions, running into the putties, fists flying. Aisha saw Squatt and Baboo teleport out, and as they left, a piece of parchment dropped to the ground. She leapt after it, doing a dive roll over the kick of one of the putties, fighting her way through the rest of them until she grabbed it. She didn’t know what it was, but if it was what the two troublemakers were holding then it had to be something that she and the rest of the rebellion could use.
She tucked the parchment into her belt, and then went back to the fight. The five of them were good, but they were heavily outnumbered.
“Retreat!” she heard Adam yell, even as his kick caused another putty to explode.
“This is a disaster,” Gene muttered, when they regrouped safely behind some rocks.
“It might not be,” Aisha said as she pulled out the piece of parchment. “Squatt and Baboo dropped this.”
As the five of them inspected the parchment, a white light suddenly surrounded them all, and then Aisha knew no more.
Chapter 5 - Adam
Adam groaned as he woke up. The light had blinded them as soon as Aisha had shown them the piece of parchment. They were still in a desert, but it wasn’t the same one they’d been in before, when they were trying to figure out what was up with those ruins.
It wasn’t the first time he had woken up in an unfamiliar place. He wasn’t going to think about that now. He couldn’t think about that now. He groaned, and made it to his knees. The others were all still unconscious. Rocky was closest to him.
“Rocky,” he muttered. “C’mon, you need to wake up.”
Rocky groaned, and his eyelids fluttered open. “Hey,” he whispered. He managed to sit up, albeit it very carefully. Around them the others were starting to stir.
“Where the hell are we?” Angela asked.
“Somewhere else,” Adam said with a shrug. “Does it really matter?”
October 9th, 1993
“Wake up, humans,” the voice growled. Adam woke up with a start. His head ached something fierce. Where was he? The last thing he remembered he had been fighting those putty things, and then he….
Then he….
Oh God.
He remembered the monsters, and the putty that had finally gotten in a lucky shot. He remembered the screams from his family, and he remembered seeing Aisha’s family drive off. Then there had only been the monsters.
“I said wake up, humans,” the voice repeated, and Adam looked around. He was in a cell with a few other people, none of whom he recognized. He reluctantly got to his feet, following the others out of the cell.
It didn’t look like it would be that hard to escape. Their cell, wherever they were, looked as though it had been hastily constructed. If enough of them ran for it, they would be able to get free. He wasn’t really sure where they were going to go after, but it was going to be one step at a time.
He followed the others out into a courtyard, keeping an eye out for familiar faces. He was finally rewarded with the sight of Rocky, and Adam edged his way around to stand by him.
“Rocky,” he said quietly, as he placed a hand on his best friend’s shoulder.
Rocky flinched, and turned around.
“Adam,” he said, his voice filled with pain. “They killed my brother.”
Adam flinched back from the agony in Rocky’s voice. “I’m sorry about Pablo,” he said, because he really didn’t know what else he could say or do. He tried not to think of his own parents, or of Aisha and her family. He hoped that wherever they were they were still alive.
“What about Lindsay?” he asked. “And your mom?”
Rocky shrugged. “I haven’t seen them,” he said, and the amount of pain in his voice made Adam almost wish that he hadn’t asked. “Hopefully they’re still alive.”
“Quit talking, humans,” the gold monkey said.
Adam did as he was told for a moment, but as soon as Goldar looked away he leaned in closer to Rocky. “I’m going to try to escape tonight,” he said. “Are you in?”
Rocky nodded. “Just tell me the plan.”
October 4th, 1994
“Where to now?” Adam asked. “If anyone’s got any ideas, I’m listening.”
“There’s a map,” Aisha said suddenly. She’d been inspecting the piece of parchment that had brought them all there. “Look, that rock formation totally matches up to this one here, and there’s a mark down in that direction.”
“So you just want to follow it?” Adam asked skeptically. “I mean, we could be walking right into a trap.”
“Or this map could have been what they were looking for,” Aisha said defiantly. “I mean, that could be why Squatt and Baboo had it.”
Adam sighed. It really wasn’t worth arguing with her. Besides, they didn’t really have any other ideas.
”Okay,” he said after a moment. “Lead on.”
“I’m so glad that I have your permission,” she said, rolling her eyes. Angela and Gene were both snickering at them, while Rocky didn’t even manage a smile. Adam could understand why - he remembered what it had been like for him right after… right after. Rocky hadn’t been rescued for that long. He would get better eventually. Adam would see to that.
After all, it was his fault that Rocky was like this.
October 9th, 1993
The word spread throughout the humans who were being held in the camp pretty rapidly. Some people were willing to join up in rebellion, others were too busy mourning their loved ones to do anything. Some thought that if they just stayed put and did what they were told then maybe it would be okay, but Adam couldn’t believe that. Wouldn’t believe that. They needed to fight back - there was no way that they could let a bunch of evil aliens conquer them.
Soon most of the camp (and there were about a thousand people there, going by Adam and Rocky’s unofficial headcounts) were looking at the two of them for the escape plans. They were barely sixteen years old, and suddenly they were the leaders of a rebellion. That honestly hadn’t been how Adam had expected to spend his sophomore year.
They spent most of the day working on moving rocks around for the invaders. Adam didn’t know why Rita needed the land cleared and rocks moved and things built, but he and the others were trying to work as slowly as possible. Someone was spreading the rumor that they were all going to be released as soon as things were built, but Adam didn’t believe it. They needed to escape now. Besides, Rita didn’t have any right to hold them captive.
As they walked back towards the cells, Adam got a good look at the wall around the camp. He thought that if they all rushed the door then they should be able to escape. They couldn’t be that far from safety, or the army, or something. They certainly couldn’t be here any longer. Anything had to be better than this
He glanced over at Rocky, who looked back at him and nodded once. Adam took a deep breath.
“Now!” he yelled, and he brought his elbow around to knock over the nearest putty. He saw Rocky fighting on his left, and a lot of the others, mostly teens around his age, were fighting as well. But they were outnumbered, and it seemed like every single time they knocked a putty down, another one would spring up in its place.
The first attempt at rebellion was a complete failure, and Adam found himself thrown facedown in the dirt with a bunch of putties holding on to him.
“Well, well, well,” a voice, a female voice said, and Adam managed to raise his head enough to see the monster who had killed the Yellow Ranger. “So this is the leader of this impromptu rebellion?”
The putties who were holding Adam down murmured something in their weird language, and Scorpina shoved her boot in his face.
“Well,” she said. “This is interesting for one so young.” She left her boot there for a moment, and Adam tried not to wince. He wouldn’t let her see any weakness.
“Take him to my chambers,” Scorpina said finally. “He interests me.”
October 4th, 1994
The whole group was on edge as they followed Aisha, and Adam could feel the start of a freak out. He tried to take deep calming breaths, the way that Aisha had shown him, and eventually it started to help.
The others hadn’t noticed, at least. He didn’t want their pity, and he certainly didn’t want them to think that he wasn’t capable of fighting. He didn’t want to worry them. He just wanted to make sure that nobody ever went through again what he’d been through.
“Where to now?” Rocky asked. “It’s really hot here.”
Aisha stopped and consulted the map again. “It should be just a little bit farther, whatever it is.”
“Hopefully it’ll have a way for us to get back,” Angela pointed out. “Since I’m pretty sure that this may not even be the same dimension.”
“It’s not,” Adam said suddenly. That must be why he was feeling so nervous. “Definitely not our dimension.”
“Is it one you’ve been in before?” Angela asked carefully.
“I don’t think so,” Adam said after a moment. “But I mostly stayed either in our dimension or in the Dark Dimension.” He was proud that his voice didn’t really shake when he said that.
“Maybe the inhabitants are friends,” Gene said after a moment.
“There’s a first time for everything,” Rocky agreed.
“Well, there’s no point in turning back now,” Aisha said defiantly, as she took one last glance at the map, and then began to walk, the others following behind her.
January 24th, 1994
“Follow,” Scorpina ordered.
Adam did as he was told. It was just easier that way. If he didn’t, or she even thought that he was hesitating in following her commands, or that some sort of resistance passed through him…. Well, it was better for him if he didn’t think about it. The last few months had been hard, but he wasn’t going to think about it. He wasn’t going to think about anything. He was just going to do whatever it was that Scorpina wanted, and then go back to his cell. Rocky would be there. Things would be okay while he was there. He was safe there.
He only flinched a little as he walked behind her, keeping his head bowed. Scorpina didn’t like it when he looked her in the eye, not without permission. He’d gotten better at following her just from watching her heels. He’d only bumped into her once. He never would again.
Scorpina paused, and Adam stopped as well, making sure that he was still three steps behind her. She reached out and took his wrist, and Adam was proud that he did not flinch.
He didn’t know why he should be proud of that.
“We’re going into Stone Canyon,” she said, her nails digging into his skin, and Adam barely even registered the pain. He’d had so much worse, that it wasn’t worth thinking about at all.
They teleported out without much warning, and Adam felt his stomach lurch as they arrived. It wasn’t the first time he’d been teleported by her - she seemed to enjoy taking him around to see the new order under Rita’s regime. And she was always excited afterwards, which was never good for Adam.
He raised his eyes enough to look at his hometown. They’d landed in the very center of the city. Adam had spent a lot of time here, before, but now it was hard to remember what it had been like. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember what had been in the store on the corner.
The blow caught him off guard, but he didn’t fall.
“Watch it,” Scorpina hissed.
“Yes, Mistress,” Adam repeated dully.
“Scorpina,” Squatt said, as he appeared in front of them. “There are some rebel invaders nearby. Rita wants you there right away!”
“I’m busy,” Scorpina said. “Can’t you see I’ve brought my prize with me?”
“Empress Rita said immediately,” the blue buffoon insisted.
Scorpina sighed dramatically. “Fine,” she said, her gold dress shimmering to become her suit of armor. Adam shivered, but at least she was still in her human form. “Take him back to my rooms on the moon.” She teleported out, leaving Adam alone with Squatt.
He wasn’t sure what to do. He could go back with Squatt, knowing what would be there later that day. It wasn’t something he was looking forward to.
It would be so easy to escape. He didn’t dare risk a glance over his shoulder. This was probably a test. If he tried to run, Scorpina would grab him, and he would be beaten. Or worse. Maybe this time she would kill him.
It was probably a trap. He was sure of it.
”Come along, human!” Squatt said. “Scorpina will be very displeased with us if you aren’t there waiting for her when she returns.”
All he had to do was go with Squatt. Maybe he would have some more freedom after. It was probably a trick.
Still, this could be the only chance that he had to escape. If he passed up this opportunity, then there would probably never be another chance. If he left, there was no way of knowing what would happen to Rocky.
He did the only thing he could - he turned and ran.
October 4th, 1994
“We seem to be spending a lot of time following weird directions,” Gene observed. “First we follow people out in the desert to find whatever it is that Rita’s searching for, and now we’re following some sort of map that could be leading us straight into a trap.”
“You have to be prepared to take some risks,” Adam reminded him, more harshly than he intended. “Otherwise, we might as well give up and just let them win.”
He knew the others were staring at him, but he just plunged ahead and kept walking, ignoring the feeling of their eyes. It was easier.
He tried to keep his eyes up, staring straight ahead. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about the past, not right now. There was a mission. They had to complete the mission. Everything else could be thought about later, or better yet, never.
“Hello, Adam,” a voice said, and Adam felt a chill going through him.
“Scorpina,” he said through gritted teeth, staring at his ex-captor. It took every ounce of willpower that he had not to call her Mistress, or to take a step back. The other members of his team came up behind him, lending him their strength. He wouldn’t have to face her alone.
“It’s been a long time,” the monster replied, and Adam assumed a fighting stance, matching the others. “Do you really think you can fight me?” she asked. “You should know better. Of course, it will be all the more incentive for me to punish you, afterwards, so if you really want to try this, then let’s fight!”
She leapt at him, but Adam was expecting it, and dodged out of the way, taking Angela down with him as he went.
A swarm of Z-Putties appeared, and the group split up to fight them. Aisha and Gene had squared off with Scorpina, and Adam was grateful that they were sparing him the confrontation. He instead threw himself into fighting putties. He didn’t need to think about it. It was just punch, dodge, kick, kick, dodge left, block, punch. He let himself get settled into the routine, until he saw Aisha fall.
He shouted her name, and jumped over a putty, his leg hitting it in the Z as he went. He crouched by her side, and brought up his arms up to block Scorpina’s blow, and with a strength that he didn’t know that he had, managed to send her sword flying.
“How dare you defy me?” she screeched at him as she grabbed for her weapon. “You will pay for this!”
As soon as she’d regained her sword, she and the putties vanished. The five of them stood there for a minute, breathing heavily, and then they grinned.
“We did it!” Aisha said.
“I fought her,” Adam said in disbelief. “I really fought her.”
“You did!” Aisha said. She kissed him quickly, and Adam smiled.
“So where to next?” he asked. “You know that they’ll be back at any moment.”
Aisha consulted the map. “That’s weird,” she said. “If I’m reading this right, then I’m guessing that we should be right there. But I don’t see anything, do you?”
Just then, the ground began to shake.
Chapter 6 - Ninjor
Ninjor had been waiting for this moment for nearly a year. He had felt the death of Zordon, and it had pained him greatly. But he, like many of the Morphin Masters of old, was not permitted to interfere. Not until a group had proven themselves to be worthy of The Power, and he had begun to worry that no group ever would. It had only been a year of their time, but it had always been before that when one group of Rangers fell, another would step up instantly to replace them.
But Earth was a young world, and they had not yet learned the old ways. Still, the group that currently lay before him was a good group. They were damaged, but still strong. Each and every one of them had proven that they were dedicated to overthrowing the overlords who had conquered their world. They were more than deserving of the right to call themselves Power Rangers.
“Welcome!” he called in his deep, booming voice. The Rangers, or the soon-to-be Rangers, all began to stir, and he watched as they sat up, eyeing him warily. “Do not be alarmed, I am not going to hurt you. I am Ninjor, the keeper of the Temple of the Ninja Power, and a friend and compatriot of Zordon of Eltare.”
“Who?” the one destined to be the Red Ranger asked suspiciously, as he got to his feet.
Ninjor sighed. “Zordon is the fallen mentor of Earth’s original team of Power Rangers,” he explained to them. “Sadly, he is no more. But you have all shown that you understand what it is to be the Power Rangers, and to fight evil. If you accept this power and responsibility, then you too will be Power Rangers.”
The five warriors exchanged glances, and then nodded.
“Please stand in a circle around me and raise your arms,” Ninjor requested, and they did, matching motion to his words. He handed each of them a Power Coin in turn, pocketing the last one for himself. It was a shame, but none of them would be able to use that coin, not as long as the true holder of the coin still lived.
“I shall guide you in your quest for knowledge and power. Older than time itself - man has always known the calling. Light of the light, strength of the soul, ignite this eternal power inside of me. I am Ninja!"
Ninjor watched with pride as five brilliant flashes of color exploded along the way, leaving the five teens dressed in the outfits of the Ninjetti. They were not the traditional uniforms of the Power Rangers, although they could become so when it was necessary. Their eyes opened, and they glanced down at themselves, and Ninjor knew that this team could hold the key to stopping the evil that had enveloped the earth.
"I am pure of heart, body, mind, and spirit. Join with me now as I become one with the power of Ninja. Your journey is complete. Now it is time for you to claim your destiny. You now possess the power of Ninja deep within your souls. Come and learn of your new gifts."
Adam stepped forward, claiming his place as the leader of the Power Rangers. "I am the ape, mighty and strong! We are one!" He placed a red gauntleted hand on the ape symbol on his chest, bowing at Ninjor.
Aisha stepped up next, and a yellow light surrounded her. "I am the bear, cunning and fierce!" Her voice was filled with pride, and Ninjor felt a sense of rightness - this, at least was the way that the universe was supposed to have gone. This was something that Aisha was born for.
Then Gene stepped forward, although his voice shook. “I am the wolf, silent and sure!" He didn’t sound quite as sure, and Ninjor could sense some doubt coming from him, some sense that he did not deserve to be wearing this color, even though Ninjor could tell that he would make a fine Blue Ranger.
Angela stepped forward, tears running down her cheeks. "I am the frog, courageous in spirit!" Ninjor could see her mind drift, and sensed that she was thinking of the man who had been the Black Ranger before her. But she was truly courageous, and she would be a fine holder of the Power.
Rocky was the last one to step forward. "I am the falcon, just and able!" There wasn’t much emotion coming from the new White Ranger, just a fierce determination.
“Congratulations, Power Rangers,” Ninjor told them. “You will have a few problems that have not been encountered by earlier Rangers. You will not be able to summon the NinjaMegazord, as you will be unable to complete the transformation without the Crane.”
“We could probably find a Pink Ranger,” Adam said, although he didn’t sound convinced. “Veronica, maybe?”
Ninjor shook his head. “Nay, Red Ranger. The Pink Power Coin will only work for one person, and she still lives in captivity on the moon.”
“Kimberly is still alive?” Gene asked, before Ninjor’s words had time to register with any of the other Rangers. “We need to find her!”
“You must!” Ninjor agreed. He handed the Pink Power Coin to Rocky, who slipped it into the folds of his uniform. “But I have faith in you, my team. Now you must leave my temple and get through the barrier. From there, you should be able to teleport back to your homes.”
“Thank you, Ninjor,” Adam said. His team followed him out, and Ninjor smiled as best he was able. Hopefully this was the beginning of the end.
continue to part 3