Homecoming – The Transdimensional Archives

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Disclaimer: Saban owns Power Rangers and all related indica. All new characters (and old but not owned by Saban) are copyright by Aya and/or Akiko. Note: It would be advisable to read Akiko's and my story "Virus Hunters" first for background on Damiana and the whole Amazon-Ranger history. If you're not already familiar with Akiko's character Alexandra "Alex" Jamison before you read "Virus", you may also want to read Akiko's series of Purple Ranger stories. In Saban's timeline this story occurs during Power Rangers in Space. Astronoma still doesn't realize she and Andros are siblings, but she has met Zhane and developed some chemistry with him. Cassie and the Phantom Ranger have also developed some chemistry.

<h5><center>Homecoming By Akiko and Aya</center></h5>

<h5><center>Chapter 1</center></h5> Damiana sighs as she tops the wooded hillcrest and looks down into the valley below. Home. She unconsciously rubs the encircling grooves of the silver bracelet around her left arm. It clinks against the bronze cuff bracelet also on her arm. Its bronze twin circles her other wrist. Damiana takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and walks purposefully down the hillside to the village of tents, half broken-in horses, and never broken-in women. Cries of "Damiana!" "Welcome home!" "Where's Ephanine?" "Tell us about Athens!" greet Damiana as she crosses over the outermost edge of the village's perimeter. She looks down at her silver bracelet as she passes by the back of the stable where she found it one summer ago. It had been her souvenir from that battle–her humbling reminder of her gullibility and her affirming reminder of her heroic redemption. "Sister." A pair of maternal-like arms encircles Damiana. "Aella," Damiana replies, returning the much appreciated hug. "Queen Cyrene will want to see you first, but then come see me. We have a lot of catching up to do." <center>~*~</center>

"Your majesty," Damiana says humbly and bows respectfully. "I bring this message from Ephanine." She hands Cyrene a tight scroll. Cyrene looks annoyed, and her expression becomes worse as she surveys the scroll. Upon completion, Cyrene slams the scroll down on the arm of her throne. "Damiana! You have single-handedly managed to undo all the progress Ephanine has made. She and I have had to work hard to forge the alliance with King Krokus, and you have almost ruined it with your foolishness," Cyrene steams. "For many moons I've been receiving coded messages from Ephanine explaining what she's had to do to smooth over your many incidents. But I had no idea to what extent she has had to go to to make amends. Damiana, your behavior has disgraced the Amazons. And as Ephanine's message states–and I quote-"'King Krokus has requested that Damiana return home to Istria and not return.'" Ephanine had talked to Damiana about Krokus's request and the contents of the scroll before Damiana left Athens. It stung then, but the mortification of hearing it from the Queen of the Amazons makes Damiana want to shrivel up and die. "Leave me," Cyrene strains to check her temper. "Come back at sundown when I've had time to think about what to do with you." Damiana offers a weak bow and scoots out of the tent meekly. Tears well up in her eyes as she tries to slip away from the area. "Damiana?" Aella calls. Without looking at Aella, Damiana tries to control her voice enough to neutrally shout back, "I'll be back before dark, Aella. I need to pay homage to Artemis." Damiana walks quickly to the edge of the village and then breaks into a run. Even though her vision is blurred by streaming tears, her memory leads her deftly over log and through tangling underbrush, even at breakneck speed. Damiana falls in a heap at the base of the Wells of Artemis. She almost vomits from adrenaline, fatigue, and the ingestion of tears. Damiana reaches a trembling hand out to cup and drink some of the Wells' restorative waters. She slowly rights herself and makes her way to the temple. Damiana smiles when a moonstone ring catches her eye. It had remained just where she had returned it the previous summer. Damiana approaches the statue of Artemis and repeats the invocation Ephanine had taught her so long ago. All the gold jewelry and shiny weapons glittering in the lamplight used to distract her so much she could never make it completely through the invocation without losing her place. But today, heart heavy and eyes closed, she does it in one attempt. She unconsciously reaches for her silver bracelet as she bursts into tears again. Why, Artemis? Why can't I do anything right? I thought my days of shaming my sisters were all behind me, but I've done it again! Help me, Artemis, to find my way…. Damiana sits down on the temple floor, burying her face in her knees and hugging them to her chest. She is oblivious to her surroundings–in particular to the momentary darkening of the sun. <center>~*~</center>

"We read you, Cassie," Carlos says into his communicator while holding back a flexible tree limb so TJ can pass. "Phantom Ranger and I have reached Andromeda 9 and have started issuing the emergency relief supplies to the rebels," Cassie's voice says. "We should be back in the next 24 hours or so." "Good," says Carlos. "If you run into any trouble, Zhane is still on the Megaship. He can give you our coordinates. Right after you left we started receiving a strange reading on the monitor, an anomaly in the Morphing Grid. It led us here to this uncharted planet in the Tartarusian system. We wondered if it might be Zordon, so we came down here to check it out." "Hey, keep me posted, will you? I want to know if you find Zordon." "We will," Carlos says, trying not to get his hopes up. <center>~*~</center>

Damiana wipes her closed eye lids with the backs of her hands. She opens her eyes and finds herself sitting in a forest. The trees look similar, but the Wells and the temple have vanished. "Artemis?" Damiana whispers and thinks, Where am I? She does the invocation again. Uh, Artemis, thank you, but I'm not sure what I'm doing here. Is it because…. Damiana freezes and strains her ears to make sense of a strange whirring sound. "Great Artemis…," Damiana gasps as a group of four metallic men charge out of the brush. She only hesitates for an instant before her Amazon training kicks in. She deftly ducks the first attacker's slicing blow from an oddly curved sword. Off balance from the move, the metallic man is quickly knocked off his feet by Damiana's sweeping foot move. She grabs his sword and slams her foot squarely into his solar plexus. She whirls around to meet two more attackers. Her form is sloppy, but Damiana manages to deflect their strikes. Battle spirit surging, Damiana screams a fierce warrior cry. Momentarily stunned by her volume, the metal men are easily bested as Damiana does a horizontal sweep across their abdomens with her new sword. Maybe this thing isn't so different from my bo staff after all, Damiana thinks smugly. Her self-congratulation ends abruptly as the final metal man easily knocks the sword out of her hands. And maybe not, Damiana thinks and begins to back up cautiously. She turns her back on the metal man and breaks into a run. Damiana turns her head back toward the man as she nears a low hanging limb. "C'mon, little metal man!" Damiana taunts. He picks up the pace and closes the gap. As Damiana passes under the branch she leaps into the air. With straight arms she swings around the circumference of the branch, planting her soles firmly into the metal man's back. The momentum from her release drives him face first into the forest underbrush. Damiana grabs his sword and raises it high over her head. "Wait!" Damiana hears a woman's voice yell. A curiously attired young woman with blue spiraled hair steps out of the brush with more of the metal men beside her. Damiana clunks her current foe on his head and then charges the other metal men surrounding the woman. The woman raises her black staff with the diamond-shaped tip and points it at Damiana. "You fool!" she says and blasts Damiana with a bolt from her staff. Damiana stops midstride and falls to her knees in pain. After recovering from the blow, she salutes the woman with the traditional Amazon gesture. "Forgive me, Artemis. Now I understand," Damiana says in humility. "Artemis?!" the woman snaps. "The name is Astronoma." Damiana looks confused and then thinks,Of course, she must be a priestess of Artemis sent to test me. "Yes, forgive my ignorance, my priestess." "Priestess?" Astronoma mumbles to herself. "I could learn to like that." "Get up," Astronoma commands. Damiana obeys and stands. Astronoma approaches her, circling Damiana to observe her strange attire. "I saw you fighting my Quantrons. You're quite a good warrior." Damiana beams. "I could use a warrior like you in my army." "It would be my honor to serve you," Damiana says, kneeling in respect. "Oh, get up," Astronoma says testily. Damiana rights herself, embarrassed. "Come with me," Astronoma says sharply, "whatever your name is." "Damiana," the young Amazon replies humbly. <center>~*~</center>

Damiana is awed by all the strange objects in Astronoma's village. Lots of metal and enclosed flames emitting all the colors of the rainbow. Though the forest's temperature is warm, the aura of the village seems cold. Astronoma's metal dais seems out of place in the forest's lush foliage. Off behind it is a large cylindrical object covered by a silver-colored cloth. "Doniana," Astronoma says climbing onto her dais. "Damiana," Damiana corrects softly stopping at the dais's base. "Whatever," Astronoma says turning to face her. "My spies tell me that my enemies are in the vicinity. I expect an attack by nightfall. They'll be coming for that." Astronoma points at the strange cylinder. "What is it?" Damiana asks. "It doesn't concern you. Stay away from it," Astronoma warns. Priestess or not, this woman is starting to work my nerve, Damiana thinks. Astronoma can see Damiana getting angry and makes her tone sweeter. "I need a skilled warrior like you, Damiana," Astronoma says noticing how Damiana seems to soak in the praise. "These intruders must be stopped at all cost." "But why?" Damiana asks. Can't this girl just follow orders! Astronoma growls internally. Quantrons are so much easier to work with. "Because," Astronoma continues aloud, "one of them killed my last remaining family member, and now they're after me." "I understand," Damiana says, remembering how it felt to lose sisters in the fight against Titus, even if they weren't her blood sisters. "Elgar!!" Astronoma yells. "Yes, Astronoma," a bumbling creature with a funny shaped head stumbles up to the dais. "Show Damiana to the troops and get her ready for the attack. Those Power Punks should be here any time now." Astronoma steps down from the dais, "I must tell Dark Spectre that I have Zordon and my plan is proceeding as scheduled." "Okay, boss," the weird creature says, waving dopely. <center>~*~</center>

Elgar's orientation session is surprisingly brief and informal, unlike any training lesson Damiana had ever received from an Amazon. And his conversational style was beginning to thoroughly annoy her. "So…yadda yadda yadda. Say, are you hungry? I'm starved. I think I might go get something to eat. You wanna come along?" Elgar says in rapid succession. "No, I'm fine." Damiana lies. Having the annoying creature go away was more important than having food at the moment. "Suit yourself," Elgar shrugs and lopes away. Damiana sits down on the edge of the dais relieved. The cylindrical tube catches her eye again. It doesn't concern you. Stay away from it, Astronoma's voice echoes in her head. Damiana sits still for several minutes listening to the birds. I wish those Power Punks would hurry up and attack, Damiana thinks. Between Elgar and sitting here twiddling my thumbs, it won't be much of a fight. I'm going to die from boredom before they even get here. Damiana sits quietly for a few minutes more. The cylinder seems to beckon to her. No, Damiana thinks. For once, I'll do what I'm told. I always get into trouble when I don't. I can't afford to be shamed again. Damiana sits for a few more minutes, drumming her fingers agitatedly. Maybe I'll just take a little peek. What could it hurt? Damiana looks around cautiously to make sure no one, especially Astronoma, is looking and then creeps over to the cylinder. She slowly lifts up a corner of the silver cloth. "Oh dear gods!" Damiana shouts and then quickly muffles her voice. She drops the cloth, recoiling in horror. It was a giant floating head! "Damiana," a deep, gentle voice rumbles. Damiana almost falls over backward trying to move away from the huge talking head. "Damiana, do not be afraid." "How…how do you know my name?" Damiana asks in astonishment. "Damiana, I am Zordon from Eltar. I was expecting you to come some day, but I'm surprised to find you here." "But…who told you to expect me?" Damiana cautiously lifts the edge of the cloth again. "The ancients," Zordon says. "The ancients prophesied that there would be one from the past who would be the key to the future. It's got to be you, Damiana." "No, it doesn't "'gotta be me'," Damiana retorts, annoyed about not knowing what this bodiless creature was talking about. A low rumbling of a laugh comes from the tube. "They told me you would be a feisty one. You remind me of someone I used to mentor," Zordon pauses and sighs. "But those days are over. I can't help you in this state. You must find Zhane. He will give you…." "ATTACK!!!!!" Astronoma's piercing voice echoes throughout the village. Damiana drops the edge of the cloth and springs away from the tube. She snatches up her awkward new sword and charges into the woods along with the rest of the metal men.