Disclaimer: This fic relies fairly heavily on the alternate team of Rangers. If you don't like 'em, don't read this. But, it doesn't rely solely on them; don't worry, they'll be gone soon, anyway. There is also an emphasis on Saban's Rangers. There is some bad language, and some mature themes, but I don't think it's worse than PG-13. This is a rewrite of the original, and I think, better than the previous. However, the basic plot is still the same. I'm not going to pull anything totally out of the air, so if you've read it once, except for a few twists, it's the same thing as the original. Six of the Rangers, Sigma, Nadia, Omicron, Sheila, Draanov, Raphael, and their fighters are courtesy of me.
By Jeremy Ray Logsdon
"Wait!" Kimberly cried, running after the fleeing woman. "Hold up!"
"I can't!" she shouted back. "The red is going to catch me!"
"What is the red!" Kimberly yelled. Lightning tore the sky in half, and she ducked slightly. A hard rain began to pelt her, yet she continued to run. The woman in the blue dress, a faint red tinge at the hemline, darted into a overgrowth that Kimberly would have sworn had not been there a moment before. "Please!" Kimberly shouted. "Just tell me who you are! Maybe I can help you!"
The woman stopped and turned back to look at Kimberly. "Nadia?" Kimberly asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Please Kimberly," Nadia said. "Distance yourself. You stay away, and keep everyone else away. Especially Jeremy and Beth. Don't let them come near me, okay? Blue becomes red, so you stay back."
Lightning flashed again, and with a jump, Kimberly woke up.
She jerked only slightly as she realized that the crack of thunder that followed was real. Sitting up in bed, she looked out the window. Rain pelted the glass and the wind howled. "A country summer storm," Kimberly muttered.
"Kim?" Katherine complained from beside her.
"Nothing Kat," Kimberly sighed, lying back down in bed. "Just a dream."
"I don't understand," Billy called.
"I know you don't," Nadia said. She walked to the end of the cliff, and magically, a rock bridge formed beneath her feet. "Follow me for the answers."
"I don't even understand the question," Billy said as he hurried down the trail. He reached the edge of the cliff and stepped off onto the rock bridge that was forming beneath Nadia's feet.
"Destruction," she announced, pointing down. He realized just then that they were at an unrealistically high altitude, as the only thing visible was clouds and the navy blue purple color of the sky itself.
"I don't…"
"Destruction," she said again. "Not necessarily bad." Looking down, he saw the remains of the twelve recently destroyed Assault Vehicles floating in space.
"It's bad for them," he told her. "You're the enemy. When they lost their Assault Vehicles, you stand a much better chance of winning."
"Destruction and change," Nadia told me. "Not necessarily bad. Good, even."
"Yeah, I got that. Destruction and change can be good. But…"
"No more, no less. Go before blue becomes red."
His eyes slowly opened as the dream ended. Billy looked at the sleeping form of Jason beside him. He carefully crept out of bed, not wanting to wake him up. He wasn't used to having to share a bed with anyone, but as bed space was limited, he hadn't had much of a choice. He and Jason had just recently stopped kicking each other all night long.
He stepped out into the hallway and pressed his thumb and index finger. A faint blue glow began to shine from his fingers as a communications channel was opened with the Command Center. "Omicron? Sigma?"
"Billy?" Omicron asked. "Is there a problem?"
"I've been having some weird dreams," Billy said. "Repeat dreams. Can I teleport in, ask you some questions?"
"Yeah, come on in," Omicron said. "Uhm, Jeremy's here, too, actually."
"Testosterone levels?" Sigma asked.
"A bit more than I would have suspected," Omicron answered, "but not really abnormal."
"Blood pressure?"
"One twenty over ninety."
"Pulse?"
"Sixty-seven."
"You've got a good heart. Boy, you're calm, huh?" Sigma asked me.
"They're just dreams, not nightmares," I reminded him.
"Any cold sweats, anything out of the ordinary?" Omicron asked.
"Nothing. Just dreams with a recurring trend."
"What did Nadia do in this dream?" Sigma asked.
"She was a policewoman," I said. "I don't really remember anymore." Blue light flared up as Billy teleported in.
"That's a pretty simple dream," Omicron murmured. "Hey Billy. Dream quality?"
"Just a normal, fuzzy dream," I answered.
"It's only been six days since the big battle," Sigma said. "Nadia played a key role in that battle, on our side. It's only natural that she should show up in your dreams as well."
"But every single night ever since?" I asked.
"It's been six nights," Omicron said. "You've just got a lot of stuff in your head that's going to have to be dreamed out. Give it time. Now go home, and go to sleep."
"All right," I said, hopping off of the medical table. "I hope you know what you're talking about. You want me to wait for you?"
"No, it's okay," Billy answered, taking my place on the table. "So…"
"More dreams?" Katherine asked the next day at the lake. It had taken us some time to get thoroughly rested from the biggest fight of our lives, but we had decided that when we were rested, we were going to spend a day at Nolin Lake, swimming and taking in the sunshine.
"Yep," I answered as I took my glasses off. "Which direction is the lake?"
Laughing, Katherine said, "Just gimme a sec and I'll lead you there."
"Are you guys coming or what?!" Rocky shouted, obviously far from shore.
"We'll be there in a minute!" Kat shouted back.
Suddenly, a body slammed into mine. Purple and blue light overwhelmed me, and I realized with a loud mental laugh that Allison had just teleported us. In a mingled blue and purple streak of light, we teleported to where Rocky and the others were swimming and rematerialized, splashing into the lake.
"I can't believe you did that!" I protested as I resurfaced, spitting out a mouthful of water.
"How big is this lake?" Rocky asked, looking around. The far shore wasn't more than five hundred feet away, although the water stretched to our left for a long distance.
"It's in about five different counties," Allison said. "It's big."
"Man, the sun feels good," Jason murmured, floating on his back in the water.
"Certainly does," Kimberly agreed. She and Crystal were currently sharing an air mattress.
Rocky suddenly surfaced right by my side. Whispering, he asked, "Can Crystal swim?"
"Flip 'em backwards," I said with a grin. "I'll help." With a knowing glance, we both sank beneath the water and swam to the air mattress.
Although I was pretty much blind at that point as I can't swim with my glasses on, I could see well enough to find the end of the air mattress. Rocky, who at that point was nothing more than a red blur from his swimming trunks, pushed up on his end. Sensing his movement, I grabbed the pillowed end and pulled down. With a loud cry of alarm, Crystal and Kimberly were flipped backwards into the lake.
Unfortunately, the plan backfired when one of them landed directly on top of me. I was forced upside down, and in doing so, a glimmer of light from the bottom of the lake caught my eye. Lack of oxygen forced me to resurface. "There is something at the bottom of the lake," I said as I filled my lungs with oxygen.
"What kind of something?" Crystal asked, running her hands over her disheveled hair.
"It was glowing," I answered. "Maybe it was a diver's lantern or something. I'm gonna go get it."
"I'm coming too," Allison volunteered. As I dove down into the water, I could hear the rest of the group following me. We were apparently farther out from shore than I had thought, because it took several seconds to reach the bottom. We were about twenty feet under, although the light was greater at the bottom of the lake than just beneath the surface. Exhaling the last of my air, I knelt on the bottom of the lake. My fingers scuttled across the glowing object as the rest of the Rangers reached the bottom. The object was as smooth as glass, and seemingly round, although I couldn't free it.
I felt a hand tapping me on my back, and I turned to see Jason motioning toward a large rock. It took me a moment to realize what his intentions were, but then I realized he wanted me to help him move it. I curled the fingers of my left hand around the stone and pulled back in unison with Jason. The large slab of the rock didn't lift up, although we did slide it down enough for Katherine to pull the object free from the mud. By that time, my lungs were screaming for air, and as soon as I realized Katherine had the glowing object in her hands, I returned to the surface with a few powerful chest strokes.
"Did you get it?" Billy sputtered as we all resurfaced. Judging from the red looks on everyone's faces, I presumed that everyone had swam to the bottom.
"I got it," Katherine said. She had it beneath the water and was shaking it to get the excess mud off of it. A few seconds later, she lifted it out of the water.
"It's a dagger," Crystal muttered in disbelief. It was about twelve inches long, the double-edge blade making up half of it. Despite lying at the bottom of the lake for no telling how long, it looked remarkably sharp. The hilt, however, was the most interesting. It was a gargoyle with one menacing hand stuck up in the air. In that claw was a crystal orb, glowing with a soft white light. The gargoyle was mostly royal blue, although the outstretched arm was red with a bit of purple where the two colors intermingled.
"It's beautiful," Kimberly sighed.
"And it's mine," a female voice said from behind us. I whipped my head around to see Sheila sitting on the surface of the water effortlessly. She was wearing her customary blue spandex bodysuit, and her braided hair just narrowly missed touching the water. "May I please have it? I'm going to take it regardless, so you might as well just give it to me."
"GET DOWN!!!" a loud voice shrieked.
"Teleport!" Allison cried. I saw only a brief flash of yellow before I squeezed my thumb and middle finger together. My body turned into blue light and I sank beneath the water with the others.
Red and purple teleport streams circled around me, and I began to pick up on thoughts that the two of them were projecting to me. I sent back my own agreement, and with that decided, we shot straight up out of the water. As soon as Crystal, Allison, and I rematerialized, we were already morphed. It wasn't the first time we had morphed in a teleport, but the process is much easier to understand than to explain.
I silently called on my Power Ski, and it materialized beneath me in a blue glimmer. As soon as I looked up, I saw Tara driving back toward us on her own Power Ski. She had rammed Sheila, sending the henchwoman halfway across the lake. "Good thinking, girl!" Allison shouted to her.
A few moments later, the other five Rangers drove up to us on their own Power Skis, Kimberly and Katherine riding on the back of Billy's and Rocky's respectively. "Sigma told me you all needed help," Tara said, slowing to a stop near us.
"Who has the dagger?" Crystal asked.
"I have it," Katherine said, revealing that it was still clenched tightly in her fist.
"NADDIES!" Sheila screeched. With multiple flashes of colored light, Naddies began to drop out of the sky on their own Jet Skis.
"Take it back to the Command Center," Crystal suggested. "And have Sigma contact Dana and Beth."
"You got it," Katherine agreed before she teleported away.
"Let's do it!" Allison shouted. The other Rangers roared off on their Power Skis, leaving me behind.
"You guys, wait!" I shouted. For some reason, my Power Ski wasn't moving. Just then, Nadia rose from the water beside me. For the first time in a few weeks, she was wearing her dark blue robes, although the very bottom of them was stained with red. "Nadia?" I asked.
"Blue becomes red," Nadia said. "The change. Blue comes red. The change. Blue becomes red. The change. Blue becomes red. The-"
"change?" Rocky said.
"Huh?" I snorted as I sat up. I realized I had fallen asleep. I was lying in an inner tube in the middle of the lake.
"Do you have any change?" Rocky asked beside me, floating in the water. "For the vending machines. We forgot to bring any cokes."
"Oh, yeah," I said. "In the ash tray of the blazer, I guess." It was then that I realized I had just dozed off. I sank through the hole in the inner tube and resurfaced beside it. "These dreams are making less and less sense."
I glanced up at the shore and saw that everyone else was getting ready to eat lunch. The dreams were obviously more than just manifestations of typical teenage angst and bad memories, no matter what Sigma said. "I'll talk to him about it later," I sighed as I began to swim for the shore.
"The alignment will occur in four days, three hours, seventeen minutes, eight seconds," Omicron calculated. "July 3, at 4 a.m., and it will last until July 5, 1 a.m. The peak will be reached on July 5, at just past midnight, and it closes shortly thereafter."
"How big will the power surge be?" Sigma asked.
"Big enough to revise pretty much the whole concept if we needed to," Omicron said. "Certainly enough for new Assault Vehicles."
"Then we should get a new design plan," Sigma said.
"Let's make some type of series," Omicron suggested. "I like horses. Maybe we could make farm animal Assault Vehicles."
"And which lucky Ranger gets to pilot the Cow A.V.?" Sigma quipped.
"All right, all right. I see I didn't think that through. Aquatic animals that can fly through the air like through water."
"I doubt Beth wants another flying A.V. She's been in the air for the past two years."
"Maybe automobiles?" Omicron suggested.
"Oh yeah, nothing is better for fighting the forces of evil than a great big Pinto," Sigma said sarcastically.
"Then let's just set the computer to come up with the ideal second wave of Assault Vehicles," Omicron said. "And we'll go with whatever the computer comes up with."
"Deal."
Sheila clapped her hands once, summoning all of Nadia's henchmen. They were a considerable army, although most were seldom seen. They tended to keep the magical army of Naddies in tip-top condition, as well as keep other processes within the lunar palace functioning perfectly so that Nadia only had to make ensure the capture of the Earth and the destruction of Sigma. However, as of late, Nadia hadn't been seen.
"Is there a problem, Sheila?" Draanov, the rat-beast, asked.
Sheila crossed her arms across her chest and strummed her fingers against each bicep. Looking over the group of assorted humanoids, animals, and beasts, she saw that with few exceptions, all were wearing blue and pink, herself included.
"As a matter of fact, there is a problem," Sheila said. "Nadia seems to have left us."
"Bite your tongue, Sheila," Nadia snapped from the back of the room. "I have not left."
"You made a temporary alliance with Sigma," Sheila challenged. "If that isn't betrayal, I don't know what is."
"No, I'll tell you exactly what betrayal is," Nadia snarled as she picked her blue robes up slightly to enable her to stride over to Sheila. "Betrayal is when a main warrior attempts to take the Queen's place by filling the heads of her crew with lies and propaganda. That's betrayal." Nadia extended her hand and summoned her pink staff. "I'll trust you not to betray me, again. Is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am," Sheila said. "I'm terribly sorry, Nadia."
"Dismissed," Nadia snapped, thrusting her staff into the air. She disappeared in an explosion of pink, leaving the lunar palace behind again.
"You are right," Draanov said as he walked up to Sheila. "She is softening."
"Three weeks ago, she would have killed me for such betrayal," Sheila muttered. "And today, not even a slap on the wrist. Something happened to her when she joined Sigma's side, even if it was temporary. And what is this about her not attacking until they can get Assault Vehicles? Anyone would know that this is the time to attack! While they are defenseless…"
In a much quieter voice, Draanov asked, "Are you giving Blue and Pink Ranger the dreams?"
"I accidentally gave the wrong Pink Ranger the dreams, the gymnast one. What's her name? Oh yes, Kimberly. And they are having quite an effect on the both of them. I believe I'm going to just totally screw with the heads of all of the Blue and Pink Rangers. And I think it is time to introduce a new factor," Sheila said. She clapped her hands twice and said, "Raphael?"
A handsome man with jet black hair walked up to them. He was wearing blue jeans and a bright blue t-shirt which revealed tightly packed muscle across his chest, abdomen, and shoulders. "Yes my Queen?" Raphael asked in a whisper.
"Who is this?" Draanov asked.
"This is Raphael," Sheila explained. "My newest weapon. And when I take Nadia's place, he shall be my main henchman."
"But, Sheila," Draanov started to complain, but Sheila put a hand up to silence him.
"Fear not, Draanov," Sheila assured him. "You will be rewarded for remaining so loyal to me. I may even give you Beth Berry as your reward, when blue becomes red."
With that said, Beth woke up. She kicked the thin cover away and breathed out a sigh of relief when she realized it was just a dream. "Not me too," she muttered to herself. She quickly got out of bed and teleported away, still in her sleeping shorts and shirt.
"Her testosterone is a little elevated, too," Omicron murmured.
"What does that mean?" Beth asked.
"It could mean several things," Sigma told her.
"What does it likely mean?"
"Truthfully? It might embarrass you."
"Sigma," Beth said, "I'm practically in my underwear having a dream analyzed. What more is there to be embarrassed about?"
"Well, given your sudden drop in pulse rate and blood pressure, and the slightly elevated testosterone level, it seems you may have been aroused by your dream," Sigma explained.
"And apparently, there is plenty more to be embarrassed about," Beth muttered with a red face.
"I think you and Jeremy are both just tired, still," Omicron theorized. "Go home, drink some warm milk, and get some sleep."
"Warm milk?" Beth protested as she hopped off of the medical table. "That's disgusting."
"Fact remains, get some sleep," Omicron said. "Take care."
"You too," Beth said just before she teleported away.
Omicron and Sigma looked at each other for a moment. "Why do I sense that you know so much more than what you are telling me?" Omicron asked, folding her arms across her chest. "You know, even for an archangel, you are still a pain-in-the-butt big brother."
"Have the computer see how much longer until we can execute PC Plan."
"Why?" Omicron asked.
"Big brother isn't gonna tell," Sigma said plainly. With that, he disappeared.
Omicron "hmph-ed" and then turned to check the computer systems. It wasn't much of a surprise to find out that the estimated time until the magical alignment of the sun, Earth, and the North Star was still more than three days away.
"Lights down," Omicron said. The entire Command Center darkened, the only light coming from the many control panels, the lighted pie grid in the center of the room, the crystal pedestal his Sword perpetually rested in, and the neon columns. She slowly walked to the back of the Command Center. A section of the wall slid up, revealing a very human-like bedroom. Since she wasn't technically a flesh and blood human, Omicron didn't need sleep. However, she had long since established that simple rituals such as sleeping and eating were greatly relaxing. With a slight hand gesture, her outfit of shorts and red t-shirt changed into a yellow sleep shirt. Her waist-length blonde hair was immediately bound with a pink scrunchie, and she sank into her feather-mattress bed. She considered turning on the television, but there was seldom anything good on in the middle of the night, and Omicron had already seen virtually every infomercial in existence. "Sigma," she muttered to herself as she pulled the covers up over her body, "I sure hope you tell the rest of us what you're thinking."
"I've never known I was dreaming in my dreams, before," Rocky admitted.
"You mortal men have a tendency to think very linearly," Nadia explained as the two of them walked down a worn path. They were walking nearly straight down a sloping hill. Tall green weeds grew on each side of their path, and hundreds of tiny blue flowers dotted the green landscape.
"I've never been called a man before, either. Except by my mom," Rocky said, thinking about that.
"Really? How old are you?"
"I turned eighteen this past April."
"Ever been with a woman?"
"No," Rocky said. "Why?"
"I'm trying to decide if I was justified in calling you a man," Nadia explained.
"Oh," Rocky said dejectedly.
"No, it's okay," Nadia said. "I think you are a man. I think being a virgin makes you more of a man."
Rocky blushed slightly and decided it would be best if he didn't bother to mention that a significant contributing factor to his remaining virginity was that the opportunity to lose it had never presented itself. He didn't know if he would have taken it or not, and he felt he was better off not knowing what he would, in fact, do.
"I know that I'm dreaming, but WHY am I dreaming?" Rocky asked.
"I can't tell you that," Nadia told him. "But I can tell you this. The blue becomes red."
"I was red becomes blue," Rocky mused.
"That is an excellent analogy."
"Is Jeremy becoming a Red Ranger?" Rocky asked. "What's going to happen to Crystal?"
"Blue becomes red does not directly affect the Rangers," Nadia explained. "The consequences of blue becomes red will have a profound affect on the Rangers, however. You too, if you are still here."
"Am I ever going home?" Rocky asked.
"I don't know," Nadia said. "Why don't you wake up now?"
Rocky's eyes were forced open as his dream ended. It was as though Nadia had made his dreaming stop. He sat up, rolling his shoulders slightly. He then realized he had been sleeping in a bad position, as a single strand of pain was present in his back. Although his back was essentially healed, it did still tend to give him trouble on occasions. "Blue becomes red," Rocky whispered to himself. His body then spoke to him again, and he realized his bladder was painfully full.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and turned on the lamp. Wincing slightly at the light, he tapped around with his feet, looking for a t-shirt. Not finding one, he just stood up and walked across the near-dark room. He ran his hand over his sleep-roughed hair and walked across the darkened living room and into the hallway.
"Rocky?" a soft voice asked.
"Huh?" he asked, turning toward the voice's source. "Kimberly?"
"Are you awake?"
"Yeah," Rocky said, stepping into the bathroom. "What are you doing up?"
"Dream," Kimberly answered noncommittally. "Are you decent?"
"Not really," Rocky muttered, glancing down at his body, clad only in red shorts.
"Well, I'm coming out anyway," Kimberly said. "Gotta get something to drink."
Rocky paused in the bathroom door, and then he looked back out into the hallway to Kimberly. "What was your dream about?"
"Nadia," Kimberly answered. "Something about blue becomes red. It doesn't make any sense, but they always make me wake up."
"That's what I dreamed about," Rocky said with a near-silent gasp. "After I use the bathroom, I'm going to the Command Center. You come with me."
Rocky and Kimberly teleported into the Command Center in the middle of the night. Kimberly had finally found a t-shirt for Rocky to put on, although she was just wearing a long sleeping shirt that reached past her knees. "It's dark," Kimberly muttered. "Omicron?"
A door at the back slid open and Omicron came walking out. "I was sleeping," she complained. "Lights on." With a whir, the entire room lit up. "Let me guess. You both had dreams about Nadia." Before Rocky or Kimberly could answer, she called, "Sigma. Meet us in the Med Chamber."
"Stop it!" Katherine screamed angrily.
"Keep them away!" Nadia shouted to her. She didn't seem angry in the least; she was just running from her. They were running deeper and deeper into a confusing maze of stone walls. The walls had the appearance of what Katherine would have imagined the interior of a pyramid to look like. Blue torches, burning with red fire, were placed every few feet along the walls, providing significant light.
"Nadia, stop running!" Katherine shouted. The blonde demonness continued to run through the maze of stone walls. She was always a few feet ahead of her. However, Katherine suddenly entered a larger room that signaled the end of the tunnel. The room wasn't large, however, but it was big enough to hold a single bed on which a dark blue sheet was draped.
"Blue becomes red," Nadia said simply. She said it firmly, as though she was trying to tell her something. "Make Beth and Jeremy stay away from me no matter what. In fact, make all of them stay away from me. You too. Blue becomes red. The way out is in the bed." Nadia leapt at the bed, and her body collapsed into a glimmering form of white light. The white light sank into the bed and disappeared.
"The way out is in the bed," Katherine murmured. She stood beside the bed and looked at it in disbelief. "Well, I don't know of any other way to wake up." She yanked the sheet off, and screamed. Beneath the sheet was a pile of snakes, spiders, and assorted insects, all writhing and scurrying across each other. As soon as the sheet was off, they began to spill onto the floor.
With a slight cry of alarm, Katherine sat up in bed, her momentum causing her blonde ponytail to cascade over her left shoulder. Whimpering, she ran her hands over her face, wiping the cold sweat away.
"Katherine?" Kimberly asked, sitting up. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Katherine stammered. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just had a normal dream with a nightmare ending."
"What about?"
"I'm not really sure. Blue becomes red… Nadia… a pyramid… a confusing jumble of images."
"You should go talk to Omicron," Kimberly said. "All of the Pink and Blue Rangers have been having dreams about Nadia and her telling us blue becomes red."
"Go now?" Katherine asked. "It's the middle of the night."
"I'll go with you."
The next few days passed rather smoothly. We heard nothing from Nadia or Sheila. However, Beth, Kimberly, Katherine, Billy, Rocky, and I continued having dreams. We all discussed our dreams, yet no one, including Sigma and Omicron, could determine just what was causing the common trend. With the exception of Katherine's first dream, there was no horrific aspect, and Sigma blamed Katherine's nightmare ending on a horror movie we had watched that night. As the dreams weren't too bad, we did nothing but dream them. We always woke up at the end, but getting back to sleep wasn't too much trouble. We just waited for the time to pass until Sigma could tell us why we were dreaming about Nadia and blue becoming red.
In addition, we had Munfordville's Annual Fourth of July Costume Party to look forward to. Some of us were making our own costumes, while others were relying on Omicron to make "impressive" costumes. Although they wouldn't tell us what they were making, we did know that Billy, Rocky, and Allison were going as some type of trio.
Meanwhile, Nadia stayed true to her word and didn't attack. She didn't send Naddies or any of her customary gargantuan machines that always forced us to call on our Assault Vehicles. Unfortunately, Sheila made no promise. Fortunately, Sigma was prepared.
July 3
8:30 p.m.
Beep beep beepbeep beep beep.
"That's a sound from the past," Kimberly said.
I lifted my glowing hand to my mouth and answered, "I read you."
"All Rangers, please prepare for teleportation to the… well… to your headquarters. Please prepare for teleportation," Omicron said.
"Should we take your telescope inside?" Billy asked. The night had been so starry and warm, we had decided to go outside and spend the evening looking at the universe.
"This is the country," I reminded him. With a smile, I added, "People don't steal here." Then, in six streaks of blue, pink, and red light, we lifted into the nighttime sky.
As soon as I materialized, all I could see was the color blue. "What is this?" I asked, putting my hands out before me. I felt a smooth wall on each side of me, and then I realized I was in some type of booth. I walked out of my blue cubbyhole, and with a gasp, I realized I wasn't in the Command Center.
I glanced to my left to see Crystal emerge from a cubbyhole with red light glowing from it. "What do you think?!" Omicron cried from beneath us.
I looked out and saw that what had once been our Ranger headquarters, virtually identical to the Command Center from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers : The Movie, was now replaced with a totally revised room. It was divided into two levels. The top level was about half the size of the bottom and looked over it like a balcony. The walls of the entire room were seemingly composed of glowing silver with a thin-lined black gridwork design. Sigma's Sword still rested in a pedestal of crystals, although it was located in the very center of the top level. A great amount of white light shone from it, and even more light was shining from the seven cubbyholes.
All along the back wall of the upper level was what we later learned were called the Teleportation Booths. Three booths set into the wall, yellow, purple, and pink, were on the right side, each the size of a closet. Their respective colored light shone from them. A larger room, glowing bright white, was set in the middle of the wall, between the blue and pink cubbyholes. It was the "landing area" for anyone other than Sigma's six Rangers to teleport in to, including the visiting Rangers. On the other side of the white room was blue, red, and green.
"Omicron!" Tara cried, running out of her teleportation booth. "What is this place?!"
"It's your new headquarters!" she cried from below.
A glass railing was stretched along the upper level. A wide staircase was positioned in the direct center of the level, leading to the bottom. The steps were also made of glass. There were twelve of them, and they were all glowing in our Ranger colors. Blue was at the top, followed immediately by pink, red, purple, green, and then yellow before the pattern repeated itself. A glass banister stretched up both sides of the stairwell, with neon-tubing in it which added even more light. At the bottom and top of each banister was a large glass orb with six rings floating around it, slowly rotating; the six rings were glowing our respective Ranger colors.
The floor of both the upper and lower level was composed of small rectangular blocks of glass. They were all lighting up in a rhythmic wave pattern, the light traveling from one wall to the other before disappearing.
Gold and neon light columns, similar to those in the Command Center, were in each corner of the room. The old computer consoles lined three of the walls. A large video screen was set in one wall, not hidden as it had been in the Command Center. "This place is wonderful," Dana said as she hurried down the stairs. The rest of us were close behind.
"What do you call it?" Billy asked, looking about himself in awe.
Sigma appeared with a white crackle of electricity. "Welcome… to the Power Core," Sigma said with a smile. "This isn't our only change. Rangers, prepare to reach the next level."
His Sword flashed once, and a silver pedestal rose from the ground. The top was divided into six sections, each section holding one of our colors. "You haven't changed our armor, have you?" Tara asked as she approached the yellow section.
"Same helmet, same general suit design," Sigma told us.
I stood before the blue section, trying to understand what was going to happen. My five co-Rangers were just as perplexed as I was.
"Rangers, you have defended this planet well in secrecy for almost two years now," Sigma began. "You have fought well against Nadia and her forces of evil, as well as the occasional teenage angst which made its way into the team. However, before we continue to the next level, there is something I must confirm. While being a Power Ranger is a great honor, it is an even greater burden. You are now presented with the ultimate choice. You can continue with me in my fight against evil, or you can choose to return to a normal life. Your memories of the past two years will not be erased, of course. However, I must warn you, this is an all or none situation."
"What?" Tara asked, turning to Sigma in horror.
"The Power will know what anyone of you decides," Sigma said, "and should one of you decide to leave, the Power will essentially make you all leave. It has accepted the six of you as a tightly knit group, and it could not function if any one of you should be missing. A new team has been considered, this one a bit more evenly divided at three men, three women. I would much rather keep you six, but I don't want to put a hamper on your lives, as this never-ending fight could truly last until your dying days. You have already made the decision even if you do not know it yet. Reach into yourself and draw the Power out. It will either be further infused into your being, or it will graciously accept your group retirement."
I glanced at Dana. She had never been as thrilled with the morphing process as the rest of us, and she had hated having to put her life on the line on a nearly weekly basis to defend a planet that for the most part didn't even know she existed. A part of me could relate to her feelings, but a bigger part yearned to have a hand in the battle against evil. Looking at her face, I knew that my fight with Duran had been my last fight. Glancing at Beth, I saw that she had reached the same conclusion.
"It was good while it lasted," she whispered.
"Rangers, touch your destiny," Omicron reminded us.
Crystal put her fist out before us. I placed my own hand on top of hers, and the rest of the group was close behind. A deluge of memories flooded through me. Our first fight with Naddies, first meeting Nadia, the first fight with Duran, the first time I left the Earth's atmosphere in Triceratops… The five faces before me were faces I knew very well. Beth, my long time crush and a fighting spirit that kept the team going even in rough times. Crystal, the source of team camaraderie and bravery. Allison, my best friend and confidante, who was always able to supply the team with an often needed idea to let us gain the upper hand. Dana, our resident genius, when morphed anyway. Tara, the mean Ranger who could intimidate morphed or unmorphed. The six of us were a truly equal team with not a single position of leadership anywhere to taint our friendship.
"Let's get it over with," Crystal muttered, looking at our faces nervously.
"Now!" Beth shouted. We yanked our hands back and slammed both palms down onto our colored section. A surge of power tore through me, forcing my eyes shut in shock. Blue light overwhelmed me, and I felt the power leave me.
Then, I felt it return, more powerful than before. I forced my eyes open and realized I was fully morphed. With a gasp, I held my hands up before me. "Dana?" I asked, looking over at her. She was standing in her own Green Brachiosaurus armor.
"I thought for sure we were done for!" Allison cried, clapping her gloved hands together happily.
Dana only shrugged and with a laugh said, "I guess I don't want to leave after all."
"Our Power Coins," Beth said, looking down at her chest. I realized that on each of our chests was a blank silver coin, no longer the golden coin on which embossed was our animal guide.
"Sigma?" Tara asked.
"The next level," Sigma said. With a minuscule sparkling of silver, a silver Power Coin appeared on the pedestal. "Accept your new Powers."
I picked up the silver coin resting in the blue section of the pedestal. A Lion was emblazoned on its surface. "My totem," I whispered, running a finger over its surface.
"While your new animal guide may or may not be your totem," Omicron explained, "the computer felt the animals chosen was an appropriate comparison.
"Tara, you are the Fox. You are loyal and wise.
"Dana, you are the Sparrow, quick and true.
"Allison, you are the Frog. The Frog grants you hindsight and a keen sense of spirituality.
"Crystal, the Squirrel is yours. He will give you speed and agility.
"Beth, the Kangaroo represents you. You are a fierce fighter and determined.
"Jeremy, you are the Lion, fierce yet graceful."
Silver light flashed around us, and our coins appeared in our belt buckle/morphers. The blank silver coin on our chest immediately bore the image of our new power source. "All six of you now own all six helmet devices. Freeze Lights, Power Scream, Power Scan, Power Beams, Power Vision, and Reality Alterer.
"You have also been given new Assault Vehicles, as well as a new concept for the Mega and Dual Assault Vehicles. Follow me," Omicron said. She teleported away in a flash of white light, which we followed.
"You knew they wouldn't leave, didn't you?" Jason asked Sigma.
"Of course, I did," Sigma answered. "But I had to give them the opportunity. Morph and go follow them. I think you'll get a kick out of the new A.V.'s."
Omicron teleported us deep into Mammoth Cave Park. We were standing on a slight hill, presenting us with a view of field and forest alike. The sun had just set, giving the night sky the purple hue of twilight. As we were removing our helmets, six broad beams of light shone up on the far horizon, illuminating the entire sky.
"As you may have guessed," she started, "your new Personal Assault Vehicles are your Power Source."
With a growl, the yellow Fox appeared on the horizon. Yellow light shone up from behind it, illuminating the giant Assault Vehicle. Tara smiled proudly as her Assault Vehicle presented itself.
A bird called, and a giant green Sparrow swooped down from the sky. Dana's hand went to her chest where her fingers danced over the sparrow symbol on her Power Coin.
Ribbitting, Allison's purple Frog leapt into view. She couldn't suppress a laugh as it ribbitted again.
Silently, Crystal's red squirrel skittered into the red lit portion of the field far before us. It stood up on its haunches, and despite the mechanical appearance, it behaved as a real squirrel would have.
Suddenly, Beth's Kangaroo jumped over the horizon. When it landed, the entire Earth shook. It served the same purpose as the original Brachiosaurus had. It towered over the tallest of the other A.V.'s, standing at a height of three hundred feet. Although it wasn't as bulky as the Brachiosaurus had been, it was much taller. Beth had finally gotten her wish in that she was going to pilot a heavy land-based Assault Vehicle.
Lastly, with a thunderous roar, a blue Lion appeared before us. Its blue mane was a paler blue than the rest of its royal blue body. Though the Lion Assault Vehicle was modeled after a male Lion, I already felt that it was a she. I suppose that was a mental homage to Triceratops, as well as Dragonfly, both of whom I had referred to as feminine entities. Lion was considerably larger than Triceratops had been, and other than Kangaroo, it was the largest A.V. in both height and length.
"Omicron, they're beautiful," Crystal said softly.
"I'm just glad to finally be on the ground," Beth commented. "I was so tired of flying."
"I'm glad to finally be in the air," Dana remarked. "Brachiosaurus was kind of hard to control… all that weight."
"We still have Dual Assault Vehicles?" Allison asked.
"Definitely," Omicron said, "but they've changed from what you might be expecting."
"How so?" I asked.
"Observe," she told us, pointing to our Assault Vehicles. "In the past, to form a larger Assault Vehicle, your Personal Assault Vehicles merged. While this is still the case, no longer is the merging mechanical." With a bright blue and pink flash of light, the Kangaroo and Lion briefly glowed their color and moved into each other. The light flashed again, and standing in their place was a tall humanoid shaped Assault Vehicle. "Beth and Jeremy, the Lion and the Kangaroo can merge to form Aries, Roman god of war." Aries had blue skin and wore pink armor. It did not fully cover his body, however. It covered his entire torso and shoulders, but his lower legs and forearms were bare. His hair was pink, and he wore pink sandals on his feet. He held his hands out before him, and with a white glimmer of light, a giant version of my Triceratops Whip appeared in his hands. "All of the Dual A.V.'s have the ability to call upon the weapon of their Rangers.
"Crystal and Allison, the Squirrel and the Frog can form Icarus, the winged warrior." With a red and purple flash, the two A.V.'s formed Icarus. He had red skin and wore a purple toga. His hair was purple, his feet were bare, and a pair of purple wings extended from his back.
"Be careful you don't fly him too close to the sun," Tara joked. Icarus silently flapped his wings, and as he sailed off of the ground, he summoned the Tyrannosaurus Talons. When he landed, he gave a quick demonstration of his dexterity with the weapons, and then he was still.
"Lastly, Dana and Tara, the Sparrow and the Fox can form Aphrodite, Roman goddess of love." In yet another flash of light, Aphrodite appeared. She had green skin, and wore a tight fitting yellow leotard and had yellow hair. Aphrodite was one of the few gods and goddesses I knew anything about, and I knew that her outfit was not something she wore.
Before I could ask why, Omicron explained, "Obviously, Aphrodite was not much of a fighter, so we changed her a bit. The leotard gives much more freedom of movement than a full-length gown."
"Why gods and goddesses of mythology?" Dana asked.
"The computers at the Command Center, or Power Core, thought it would make an interesting change from the norm. We also changed the Mega Assault Vehicle."
The three humanoid robots looked at each other, and then merged in a tremendously bright silver flash. When the light subsided, a gargantuan quadropedal silver dragon stood in the center of the field. It was the stereotypical image of a dragon, with a long tail heavyset body. Before we could comment on her appearance, she stood up, quickly transforming herself into a bipedal dragon.
"Two modes of attack," Omicron explained. "Bipedal or quadropedal. And you'll notice she is silver, as your Power Coins are now." In her bipedal form, she summoned a golden Sword. Then, she quickly separated into our six private Assault Vehicles.
"That is amazing," Billy said in awe, summing up all of our thoughts.
"Try 'em out," Omicron encouraged, stepping away from us to join with the other five Rangers.
"Lion!"
"Kangaroo!"
"Squirrel!"
"Frog!"
"Sparrow!"
"Fox!"
The power immediately took over, making the six of us quickly run through a quick skit of nonsensical moves that nonetheless looked impressive. Brightly colored glows of light began to surround all of us, and we line-of-sight teleported into our Personal Assault Vehicles.
When the blue light subsided, I found myself seated in a high-tech cockpit. It was similar to the Triceratops cockpit, but there were new controls, and old controls were present in a new fashion. "This is amazing," I whispered to myself. "Well, Lion, I'm gonna try you out." Quickly, I flipped the hydraulic switches and pulled back on the control lever. With a happy growl, Lion leapt off of the ground, giving me full control of her movements. A mental link was connected between us, and I quickly understood all of her abilities. She could slash with her claws, fire lasers from her eyes, bite, shoot, and just flat-out attack like any good lion could.
I soon found myself in the middle of Africa, traveling across the great continent at fast speeds. "Jeremy!" Beth shouted over our radio channel. "Let's try Aries out!"
"Where are you at?" I asked, trying to find her pink blip on the global map in the control panel.
"I'm still in Kentucky," she answered. "I didn't feel the urge to hit the skies like some people."
"All right, give me just a sec, and I'll be there." I pushed the button that gave Lion the ability of flight, and with that, I flew into the darkened sky.
A few scant seconds later, I landed beside the giant Kangaroo. "Beth, you know how to do this?" I asked. "Lions tells me its a different way than we're used to."
"It's instantaneous," Beth agreed. "Ready?"
"Let's do it."
In unison, we cried, "Aries Dual Assault Vehicle. Power Up!" Lion and Kangaroo melted into giant amorphous blobs of light and energy. The two collided, instantly coalescing into the tall form of Aries. Beth and I found ourselves seated in a dual cockpit behind Aries' eyes.
"That was quick," Beth remarked, looking at her side of the cockpit.
"You guys!" Dana shouted. We looked up to see Aphrodite approach us. "Let's go for the Dragon!"
"We'll be there in just a second," Crystal told us. The red and purple Icarus flew down from us a few seconds later.
"The Dragon?" Beth asked. "We all up for it?"
"Let's do it," I agreed.
In perfect synchronicity, we shouted, "Dragon Mega Assault Vehicle! Power Up!" Silver light flashed all around us, and then, we were seated in a cockpit the likes of which none of us had ever seen.
"Oh wow," Tara sighed, looking up. We were seated in a small room, but rather than being lined up, each Ranger Partner Duo was seated in an appropriately placed console. The three consoles were placed in a circular configuration, so that we were each facing a different direction. The walls were silver, while our seats were still gray leather with colored highlights. A computer connected each console to the sides, while flat metal bridged the gap across the diameter. It was like sitting in boxes, even though the control panels before us were virtually identical to those of any other Assault Vehicle.
"Where's the windshield?" Allison asked.
"Rangers, we've made a slight modification," Sigma told us. "Your cockpit is now located in the belly of the A.V., where you should be considerably safer. You each have a monitor set before you, as well as a holographic viewer in the center of the cockpit as your primary view during battle."
When he said that, a holographic yet true to life picture of the Dragon A.V. appeared in the center of the circle of cockpits. Assuming we had been fighting a villain, he would have also been present as a hologram. "The computers feel that viewing battle from an external view may be a better alternative when the six of you work as a team," Omicron said.
"We're in Quad Mode," Crystal said. "Let's go for Bipedal."
"Who's in control of that?" I asked. "Beth and I have weapons for our specialized."
"Crystal and I have emergency control and internal workings," Allison said.
"Our specialized is Mode Control," Tara said. "Going up." She typed in a quick series of commands, and the Dragon immediately responded. There was a slight sense of movement as she stood up. The cockpit shifted slightly but quickly readjusted itself so that we were in the right position.
"Wanna take this baby into space?" Dana asked, her fingers resting lightly on the controls that would unfurl the wings.
"Let's go," Crystal agreed. The six of us quickly worked as a team, and a few moments later, the Dragon streaked out of the atmosphere in a streak of silver.
The Next Morning
"Mind if I join you?" Katherine asked as she climbed up my tree.
"No, come on up," I said with a warm smile. I scooted up to another branch to give Katherine my spot. "Sun's beautiful this morning."
"I take it you all are pretty pleased with the way everything has turned out?" Katherine asked.
"I haven't been this happy in I don't know how long," I answered. "I haven't been unhappy, but the way I feel now… Wow. New A.V.'s, still a Power Ranger, my right arm is nearly healed, and I haven't had to fight in over two weeks. I feel great. How are you all doing?"
"We're adjusting, still," Kat admitted. "We're doing much better now that we've been in one place for… what?… three weeks now? I'm doing really good. All of those horror movies you've been making us watch have been giving me some weird dreams, though."
"Are you happy here?" I asked.
"We'd be happier home, of course," Katherine said, "but yes, we are happy here."
"Good," I said with a smile. "Make sure you save me a dance tonight."
"Are you sure it's okay to go barefoot?" Kimberly asked. She was dressed up as Jane of the Jungle in a leopard print toga.
"I'm going barefoot," I said, putting on an eye-patch.
"Do pirates go barefoot?"
"They are this year. Who's Tarzan?"
"Anybody home?!" Tara called from the front door.
"Come on in!" I shouted back.
"She shanghaied me into doing it," Jason complained as he walked out of his room. He was wearing a similar leopard print loincloth that covered only half of his chest.
"Nice loincloth," Kimberly muttered.
"Nice loins," Tara said with an appreciative grin.
"Watch it, Vampire," Jason teased good-naturedly. She was wearing a slinky black dress, as well as outrageous black eye make-up and fangs.
"I guess we're going to meet everyone else there," I said, putting my glasses back on over my eye-patch.
"We teleporting?" Kimberly asked.
"It's okay with Sigma," Tara said. The four of us teleported away in four streaks of colored light.
Screaming, Beth made her rounds through the courtyard again, brandishing a fake dagger. She was dressed up, as per my idea, as Ghostface from the movie Scream.
"Did you guys see Allison?" Crystal asked as she ran up to me and Katherine. Katherine was dressed as an Indian Maiden, and Crystal was dressed up as a Genie. All three of us were barefoot.
"What's she dressed up as?" Katherine asked. Before we could ask, the D.J. began to play a thunderous score of triumphant music.
"Is that the theme from Batman?" I asked.
The people present began to hoot and holler as the blue spotlight was trained in the center of the courtyard as three caped figures ran through it. Billy was dressed as Batman, Rocky as Robin, and Allison as Batgirl. They were also wearing the extremely stylized rubber suits, although I did notice that Allison had foregone the five inch stiletto heeled boots in favor of regular boots.
"Whaddya think?" Dana asked from behind us. Turning, I saw that she was wearing a green bodysuit and a red wig.
"Poison Ivy!" I laughed.
"How do we look?" Allison asked, running a gloved hand through her blonde hair.
"This is surprisingly hot," Billy complained, fanning himself with his hand.
"You look really good," Crystal commented.
"Hey hey hey," the D.J. said, "I've just got a request for the song 'I Swear,' so guys and gals, if you came with someone special, now's the time to lead 'em out onto the dance floor."
Just as I was about to ask Allison, she blurted out, "I know we always dance during the couples songs if we're both single, but Rocky just asked me and he's really cute and I'm going to dance whether you want me to or not but I don't want to feel guilty."
"Go ahead," I said, patting her on the back. I spied Crystal not to far away, but before I could hurry over to her, a hand clamped on my shoulder.
"May I have this dance?" a very familiar voice asked.
"Nadia?" I asked in disbelief. She was dressed as a U.S.O. girl from World War II, differing only in that her entire outfit was in shades of blue. Her hair was also in a forties style in that her bangs were rolled. "You're beautiful," I whispered before I could stop myself.
"May I have this dance?" she asked again.
"Certainly," I said as soon as I found my voice. "I'd be honored." The logical part of my mind told me that I was about to dance with the woman who had wanted to kill me on a daily basis for the past two years, but the male part of my mind told me that a beautiful woman wanted to dance with me.
I delicately placed my arms around her as we joined the large crowd dancing to the slow song. "I'm not going to break," she told me with a smile.
"Uhm… how do you want me to hold you?"
"I'm also not going to try anything tonight. I'm just here for fun."
"Why don't you join our side permanently?" I tried.
Her only reply to that question was to lift her eyebrows in disbelief. We danced in awkward silence for a few seconds more before she finally said, "I can't do that. Beth hates me."
"How do you know I don't?"
"I can tell," she said simply.
"If you joined our side, Beth would stop hating you."
"No she wouldn't. I'm surprised you have."
"I still don't like you," I challenged. "And why should I? You want to kill me."
"If I should get the chance."
"You want to take over the Earth."
"Duh."
"And you've been giving us weird dreams for the past two weeks."
"Pardon?"
"The dreams. Blue becomes red."
"You've been having dreams? What about blue becomes red?"
"You always tell us that blue is about to become red, so that we had better be careful," I explained.
"Is that right?" Nadia asked, scrunching up her nose. "Methinks I will have to have a talk with Sheila later."
"Sheila is giving us the dreams?"
"Yeah. Little bitch has plans to overthrow me. That ain't gonna happen, whether she wants it to or not."
"What are you going to do to her?"
"She'll be taken care of," Nadia announced. "Don't worry about it. It isn't your concern. So… have you got to dance with all of the Ranger girls?"
"Not yet, but I intend to," I said with a nod. "How long have you been here?"
"Not long," she admitted. "I just decided to show up for a dance or two."
"The party just started. It won't wind down until around 3 a.m. or so; that's another eight hours."
"Can I hang out with you?" she asked. "I don't really know anybody, and you're about the only Ranger who'll look at me without spitting on me."
"That'd be wonderful," I mumbled woodenly. "The others will have to know you are here eventually."
"They'll find out soon enough," Nadia said. The song winded down to a close, and "Don't Be Stupid" by Shania Twain filled the air. "Know how to line dance?" Before I could answer her, she was already running to join an impromptu line that had formed in the center of the courtyard.
10:30 p.m.
"The rest of us have barely seen you tonight," Allison said when she finally caught up to me. "Dance?"
"I'd love to. I met somebody, tonight, actually."
"That blonde girl?"
"Yeah, her," I said. "She's nice."
"You seem to be having fun," Allison acknowledged. "She's very pretty."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment to you," Allison chided with a smile. "What's her name?"
"Uhm, Natasha."
Her eyes suddenly narrowed behind her eyepiece, and she punched me in the shoulder. "It's Nadia, isn't it?!"
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"I can't believe you're dancing with Nadia," she said softly.
"Oh stop it," I snapped. "We're just dancing."
"Why don't I go find RatBoy and dance with him?" Allison tried, referring to Draanov.
"Now that was just mean."
"It's the same thing."
"No, it isn't. Nadia really helped us out when we were fighting Duran."
"Her own mess," Allison battled. "It was her own mess and for some reason, she decided to help us out."
"She's different tonight," I sighed. "It's just for tonight, honest."
"For your sake, you had better hope Beth doesn't find out."
"That guy, right there," Beth said, pointing to a man in blue jeans and a blue t-shirt. His only hint of a costume was a blue eye-mask that effectively covered half of his face.
"What about him?" Kimberly asked.
"He's gorgeous."
"Go ask him to dance," Katherine encouraged. "What's the worse that'll happen?"
"Nobody ever says no to Beth Berry," Dana joked, earning a slap on the arm.
"All right, I'm going," Beth said. However, just as she turned around to go find the guy in question, she bumped into someone. "I'm sorry," Beth apologized, before she realized who she had bumped into.
"May I?" the man in the blue mask asked.
"Certainly," Beth smiled.
Sheila balanced her Gargoyle Dagger on her extended index finger. The Gargoyle was almost entirely red, with only a hint of blue at the base of the hilt. "Draanov?" she asked, walking over to him. "Is the palace empty?"
"Yes, Queen Sheila," Draanov answered obediently. "What shall we do with the Naddies?"
"Leave them," Sheila answered plainly. "I want no remnants of the past. When does the alignment reach its peak?"
"In approximately fifteen minutes, your majesty," Draanov answered. "The exchange of power will occur then."
Before Sheila could say anything else, a humanoid in blue body armor with long white hair hurried up to her. "Queen Sheila," she said, "we have just detected a great surge of pure energy."
"Oh? Meaning?"
"The change is occurring tonight, and it's going to have ramifications we didn't expect."
"Also meaning? Get to the point."
"The alignment will temporarily increase your own energy to magnificent levels."
"Allison didn't take me spending time with you well, did she?"
"No," I admitted. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I can't really say as I blame her. You know, what with all of the limboes and general mayhem."
"Well, even if our shields are down just for tonight, we've had fun."
"We certainly have," Nadia agreed. "This is a pretty song."
My hand abs