Disclaimer: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are owned by Saban, Inc. They are not mine. A fighting style in this story from the video game Soul Caliber is not mine either. If it's original, it's mine, so, um... there! Lastly, if it's not mine, I'm not making money off of it.
Author's notes: If you've ever read my writing, you know that aside from plot, plot-twists (yes, there will be some in this one,) and plot development, my writing is slightly lower than "so-so." In other words, please follow the story itself rather than the words. Finally, this is a continuation of "Armageddon's Refugee," not a sequel. This means that events and original characters from the last one can and will be mentioned, but the plots have no direct connection. And yes, I've finally thought of a surname for Joseph. Timeline is a month and a half past the first one. Now, on with the fanfic!
Green with Evil, Part 6
By Al Solomon
By Al Solomon
Friday afternoon, A battle of sorts has been raging at the park
"You are NOT winning this!" Joseph scowled at Tommy Oliver and Adam Park, who had moved to block his path. They each had one eye on Joseph and one eye on the orange object in his possession.
"Oh? And when did you change your last name to "'Jordan'?" Adam asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I'm vaguely offended by that." Joseph joked as his teammate moved to block Adam.
"Maybe "'Mr. Rodman' here can think of some better trash talk!" Rocky shot at his opponent.
Adam moved in front of Rocky. Without warning, Joseph broke into a run in Tommy's direction. Tommy tried to stop him, but Joseph made it past, hopped up, and took the shot.
The basketball ricocheted off the rim and went right to Tommy, who preceded to pass it to Adam. Adam had gotten past Rocky and was already making a mad dash to the other end of the court when he caught it. Rocky couldn't stop him in time, and Adam sunk a three-pointer.
"That's the... sixth time we've won this week?" Tommy remarked, unable to resist the temptation to needle his friends.
"I told you to find someone else Rocky..." Joseph informed his teammate, with a hint of humor in his voice. "...But nooooooo, you have to get it in your head that you can win with a sports-hater as your teammate. I can't believe how logical that is."
"Of course, we know that that was just the biggest fluke in history..." Rocky started to say.
"You wish!" Adam retorted.
Lord Zedd's Palace
"Damn them!" Lord Zedd screamed as he watched the Rangers from his palace.
"What's wrong now, Zeddy?" Rita asked her husband.
"Look at them Rita! They're laughing...playing... I can't stand it anymore! Despite everything we do to conquer Earth and make their lives a living Hell..."
"Calm down! Why don't we just think up of a smarter plan? We could attack somewhere other than Angel Grove...
"Won't work..." Zedd answered. "It would just take them longer to get there."
"We could put that new Green Ranger under a spell..."
"COME ON WOMAN!" Zedd yelled. "When has that ever worked? The Ranger affected causes trouble, yes, but something always goes wrong, and it always blows up in our faces. It's to unreliable. But maybe..." Zedd trailed off. Rita could almost see the light bulb form over his head. "...Maybe we can get him to work for us through other means."
"Such as?" Rita inquired. Zedd explained his idea to his wife. "That's GREAT!" Rita yelled in excitement. "Just hold off on it for a few days, alright Zeddy? My father insisted that I come to the party he's throwing for the anniversary of his divorce."
"Oh, not a chance in Hell!" Zedd cackled, overcome with bliss as Rita pouted. "Goldar! Get out here! I've got a mission for you!"
Joseph's House, late that night
Twelve straight losses... I HATE sports! Joseph reminded himself as he turned his key in the lock. Leave it to Rocky to convince him to play. The two had become very close since they met.
He crept inside his house, not wanting to wake any of his family. He had no curfew on weekends, and he often enjoyed it, but he knew he would catch Holy Hell if he woke anybody up. Much less from his brother than he would have a month ago, ever since his little "secret" had been discovered by his foster sibling.
Joseph had an odd feeling as he entered, like something was wrong. He shrugged it off as part of his fatigue, the only negative about his late-night weekend escapades.
As he worked his way across the living room, Joseph received a shock. The lights suddenly turned on, and Joseph spun around figuring he wasn't as quiet as he thought he was. He was extremely surprised to see Goldar next to the light switch and he morphed immediately.
"What are you doing here?" Green Ranger asked, not in the mood for a fight, especially in his own home. "Never mind. Tell you what, Goldar. Rather than beating each other senseless right now, why don't you leave and we can do this tomorrow?"
"Oh, I have no intention of fighting you, Green Ranger. And I am leaving, but with you."
"Are you miserably failing an attempt at humor, or am I going deaf?" Green Ranger asked, quite mockingly.
"Not at all, Ranger! You can stay if you want. Of course, You'll never see your family again."
Joseph was suddenly wide-awake and in shock from Goldar's statement. He hadn't realized it before, but the living room looked like someone had been attacked inside. Attacked and taken against their will.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!" Joseph demanded to know.
"The Kawalskis have been... relocated. They are quite safe, I assure you. Whether or not they stay that way is entirely up to you. Leave your communicator. You can stay morphed, and you can even keep your weapons. But you will come with me or they die. Well?"
Joseph did the only thing he could do. He reached under his glove, pulled out the communicator that Billy made for him, and dropped it on the ground. Goldar smiled as he teleported the both of them to Zedd's palace.
"Goldar, leave us." Zedd ordered as the armor-clad ape brought Green Ranger to his throne room. Goldar did as he was ordered. "Before you have to go through the trouble of asking again, Joseph, your family is safe. Their location will remain unknown to you."
"What do want?" Green Ranger asked, standing still as the Lord of Evil walked around him. Joseph was slowly realizing that Zedd was much more intimidating when he wasn't making stupid mistakes out of anger.
"As you humans say," Zedd answered, "that's the million dollar question. Right now, I want you to follow Goldar. He will lead you to a room that I have had prepared to accommodate you, where you will get some sleep."
"Excuse me?" Joseph asked, confused.
"You heard correctly. Obey me and I will allow you to see your family. You are free to walk about the palace, but you will be back before me at ten PM tomorrow. Goldar! Lead Green Ranger to his room."
Goldar entered the chamber again. "This way, Ranger."
Joseph turned to follow Goldar, but stopped and looked back at Zedd from the doorway. "If you harm them Zedd, I'll shove that staff down your throat and rip your stomach out with it." He said before leaving.
Zedd sat in his throne and cackled, happier than ever before.
Green Ranger's "room" was like a dungeon. The walls were made of the same dank, dreary stone as the rest of the palace, and there were no windows. The atmosphere was damp and cold, the only light coming from behind the slow-turning ventilation fans on the walls.
Zedd had told the truth when he said the room would accommodate him. A freshly carved niche on the far side contained a bathroom, on one side of the room was a bed, and next to it was a stone nightstand holding a digital clock that was set to Angel Grove's time zone.
Joseph noticed that it was five in the mourning, and he was already falling asleep while standing up.
Obey me and I will allow you to see your family...Obey me... He remembered Zedd telling him. Green Ranger found himself wishing that he knew location magic, but Gorganus never taught him how to find others. His best spell healed fatal injuries, but it took away any magical effects that the caster was affected with, and Joseph wasn't willing to grow old in order to save someone who would live less than a fraction of the time he could. He didn't like where this was going, and had a feeling that Zedd was going to order him to do more than sleep. He already had no choice but to do as he was told, but right now sleep didn't seem so bad.
Lord Zedd's palace, the next day
Joseph woke up on Saturday, hoping the events of the early mourning were a dream. They were not, of coarse. The clock read 1:37 PM; for once he had gotten a good eight-hour sleep. Joseph got up, took a shower, and decided how to pass the time until ten PM. He was tempted to do nothing, boring himself to the point where time would seem to stop. He didn't want to know what Zedd was up to, but the time would come anyway, so he decided to walk around the palace.
The Youth Center, same time
Tommy, Kimberly, Adam, Aisha, Rocky, and Billy sat down at their usual table in the Angel Grove Youth Center.
"Has anyone seen Joseph?" Kimberly asked, noticing that he wasn't there. Everyone's response was the same; nobody had seen him.
"Are you referring to Joseph Kawalski? I was hoping to find his friends..."
The Rangers looked up to find that an officer from the police department had approached them.
"Yeah, that's us." Tommy answered, afraid that his friend had done something. "Why?"
"We got a complaint last night from one of his neighbors, saying that there were extremely loud noises coming from his house around 4:45 this mourning, and it died down as Joseph was seen coming home. The caller rather rudely insisted that we come down to give them a warning, and we found the place empty. The living room was trashed, and there were signs of people being taken against their will..."
"Are you saying his entire family has been kidnapped?" Adam asked as the officer's dictation sunk in.
"Yes. We think a similar thing happened to Joseph when he arrived home. I was hoping one of you might have seen him. The other thing that was strange was an object we found." He said, suddenly eyeing the Ranger's wrists. "Actually, it looked just like those, except it was green."
"It's Joseph's..." Billy told him.
The officer said a few more things and left, leaving the Rangers to call Zordon and see if he knew anything. Their mentor checked, and found no trace of Joseph or his family anywhere.
Lord Zedd's palace, ten PM
Goldar led Joseph into Zedd's chamber.
"Ah, Green Ranger! Did you sleep well last night?" Zedd casually asked.
"You can cut the shit, Zedd. I want to see my family." Joseph retorted, rubbing the scar on his face.
"All in do time, but first, I've got something for you to do." The Lord of Evil replied in his mockingly calm voice. "Then you can see them. In fact, you can see them after every assignment that I give you, as long as you don't fail me. You are free to refuse anything I order you to do, fail on purpose, or tell the other Rangers what I'm doing, but I'll personally see to it that your family goes through a slow, extremely agonizing death."
He's blackmailing me... Joseph realized. The sinewy bastard is using my family to blackmail me!
Joseph thought for a moment. The idea occurred to him that Zedd didn't have his family at all, but he realized that the evil lord wouldn't have told him that he would be allowed to see them at all if that were the case. In fact, if Zedd allowed it, he was only helping his own interest by keeping Joseph sure that he had to obey him to keep them safe.
"You win."
Zedd laughed. Green Ranger was his, and he was going to milk the opportunity for all it was worth.
"The other Rangers have undoubtedly heard that you are missing," he said, circling Joseph again. "But they have their own things to do. They would be pleasantly surprised to see you just reappear suddenly."
"So?" Joseph asked, afraid to hear the answer. Zedd turned to face him.
"I want one of them in Angel Grove Memorial Hospital by tomorrow, with several injuries severe enough to take him or her out of action for a while." The Lord of Evil said, quite matter-of-factly. "I don't care which one, just make sure the one you pick is alone."
Joseph's face went pale. A Ranger out of action means broken bones... and worse. "I can't..."
"I think you had better decide what would be worse, Green Ranger!" Zedd exclaimed. "Assaulting a friend, or losing your family."
Zedd had made his point.
"Fine. I'll do it." Joseph breathed out as the thought of what he was going to do made him sick.
"Ha ha haa! Good! Now go!" Zedd cackled. The Ranger vanished in his trademark green flame.
Angel Grove
Joseph materialized in an empty alleyway and walked onto one of the streets of Angel Grove, thinking of which Ranger to carry out his orders on. They always told each other what they were doing over the weekends.
Aisha is helping Ernie at the juice bar... Adam is babysitting his little cousin... Billy is tutoring a friend in science...Tommy and Kimberly are out on a date... that leaves... Joseph paused, almost unable to bear the cruel twist of fate.
The two houses next to the one that Joseph was walking to were devoid of lights or cars in the driveways. At least the neighbors won't call the police before I can finish... He thought, anticipating the noise. He went up the walkway, past the mailbox marked "DeSantos."
"Damn him for making me choose..." he cursed under his breath, realizing Zedd had probably done that on purpose to make it worse for him. Joseph had gotten along with Rocky more than any of the other Rangers; the Red Ranger hadn't been kidding when he said he related to quiet types.
Joseph knocked on the door, and heard footsteps from inside. "What the Hell..." came a familiar voice, as Joseph noticed the peephole in the door just before it swung open.
"Joseph!" Rocky exclaimed.
"Can we talk?" Joseph asked, as if nothing was wrong. Rocky led him inside.
"What happened to you? A cop came up to us today and told us that you and your family were missing..."
"Yea," Joseph replied, walking just past Rocky, and keeping his back turned to his friend. "You could say that."
"Well? What happened?" Rocky asked, puzzled. Joseph suddenly reappearing after supposedly being kidnapped would be normal, if Joseph was actually showing that he cared about it. Joseph ignored the question and took in a deep breath.
"Rocky..." he started, realizing the longer he stalled, the harder it would be. "I'm sorry."
Had Joseph been looking, he would have seen the most confused expression that was ever on Rocky's face. "For what?" he asked.
"For this." Joseph replied. An instant later, he spun on his heels and backhanded Rocky in the face with a vengeance. Rocky reeled from the blow, and caught himself with his arms to keep from falling completely down. Before he realized what was happening, Joseph kicked him hard in the stomach as he tried to stand and ended up rolling on to his back, gasping for breath and heaving in pain. Rocky managed to roll to the side and pull himself to his feet as Joseph tried to stomp on him.
"What... what the Hell are you doing?" Rocky managed to yell, realizing that Joseph had morphed.
"What I have to do." Green Ranger replied coldly as he approached.
Rocky went for his morpher, but he wasn't fast enough. Green Ranger pulled the saber off of his belt and smashed it away with the end of the handle, and immediately rushed Rocky with his shoulder. The edge of the Dragon Shield met with Rocky's chest, and the Red Ranger staggered back against the wall as he realized that the enchanted metal had broken half of his ribs.
Damn Zedd for making me do this! Damn him to HELL! Green Ranger shouted in his thoughts as he drew the Dragon Dagger off of his back. He lunged, and Rocky felt the blade go through his shoulder and stop in the wall. Most of the pain came from the flute pipe splitting the wound farther open to the sides. Rocky managed to raise his leg and push Green Ranger over a coffee table, sending various breakable objects crashing to the floor. He pulled the dagger out of his shoulder and dropped it to the floor. He hadn't realized it, but he was bleeding from somewhere on his head, and the pain from his now broken ribs was setting in. To top it off, he was now too injured to fight back effectively, and would soon be at Joseph's mercy.
Rocky appeared to have forgotten that it would take more than a fall over a table to stop a Power Ranger from getting back up. Green Ranger walked over to where Rocky was leaning against the wall. The Red Ranger looked up in time to see his attacker pull back his arm, saber in hand.
Joseph watched Rocky scream as his blade embedded itself in his side, and turned around after removing it, unable to look at the other Ranger. Rocky felt his knees give out, and he slowly sank to the floor as he clutched the wound.
Joseph willed himself to turn around, realizing that the wound he had just inflicted would kill the Red Ranger if he didn't receive medical attention quickly. Rocky was starting to go into shock as Joseph dropped to one knee and pried one of his bloody hands off the wound.
"Jo-Joseph...why d-don't you just hurry up and k-k-kill me?" Rocky stuttered, desperate for the excruciating pain in his side and chest to stop.
Jesus... what have I done? Joseph thought to himself as Rocky started to become delirious. "Because I've been ordered not to." He replied, trying to hide any emotion in his voice.
He looked for the new button on Rocky's communicator and pushed it. It was a new feature that Billy had installed in all of them; a broadcast to the Command Center that gave their location in case one of the Rangers was unable to directly contact the others.
For the first time since Gorganus cast the spell on him, Joseph thought of his eternal youth as a curse. It had been his most prized "possession," but for however long he lived, it would be with the memories of what he had just done.
Green Ranger stood and vanished in a flash of green fire.
"It's done." Joseph reported as he walked into Zedd's chamber. His weapons were in his hands, the blades soaked in Rocky's blood.
"Ha ha haa! Well done!" Zedd shouted, happy that things were going his way. Green Ranger cringed when he realized he was being congratulated for his evil deed.
"Goldar! Take Green Ranger to see his family!"
The other side of Angel Grove, a few minutes later
Tommy was walking Kimberly home when his communicator went off.
"What's up Zordon?" Tommy asked, slightly annoyed that he and Kim had to be interrupted.
"Tommy," their mentor's voice came. "Rocky's communicator is broadcasting it's homing signal. Alpha has tried to raise him several times, but he won't answer. I fear something may be wrong, and..."
"We'll check." Tommy said, no longer minding the interruption at the prospect that his friend may be in trouble. The look on Kim's face told him that she felt the same.
Zordon teleported Tommy and Kimberly into Rocky's back yard, which was fenced off. The back door was unlocked, and the two made their way inside. Kim checked the kitchen while Tommy made his way into the living room, noting the lights were on.
"Rocky? You in here?" he called. A faint moan struck his ears, and Tommy looked over to the other side of the room. "What in... KIM! IN HERE!"
Kim ran into the living room and shrieked. Rocky was slumped on the floor, propped up by the wall. He had several small bruises, a laceration on his head, a hole in his shoulder, a stab wound in his side, and he was bleeding badly.
"Call an ambulance!" Tommy yelled. Kim did so as he tore a piece of material off of his shirt and pressed it against Rocky's more serious wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Rocky was semi-conscious. "Rocky...Rocky!" Tommy snapped his fingers in front of the Red Ranger's face in an attempt to keep him awake.
"Tommy?" Rocky coughed out.
"Take it easy, man. Don't try to move, help's on the way. Who the Hell did this to you?"
"J-Joseph...it was Joseph."
Zedd's hidden dungeon
Rick Kawalski snapped his attention to the door of his cell as it creaked and opened. He had to close his eyes at the sudden influx of bright light, and opened them after it stopped to see Green Ranger standing in front of him, holding two bloody weapons in one hand.
"Joseph? Did that big monkey-thing get you to?" He asked.
"Not really..." The Ranger replied. "Are you okay?" he asked, noticing that his brother didn't look too good.
"Oh, sure, I'm used to being kidnapped by an ape with a sword and thrown into a cell. Seriously, I've been better. I'm worried about Mom and Dad though. I saw that thing take them, but I haven't seen them since."
"They're in another cell, together. I just saw them. They're fine." He assured his brother.
"You didn't see them like that, did you? I could just imagine you explaining your double life, to Dad especially..." he joked.
Joseph and Rick shared a laugh at the prospect of explaining to their parents that one of their sons is a Power Ranger.
"So what's going on, anyway?" Rick asked his brother, wondering whether or not it had anything to do with Joseph's powers. "And what's with your swords?" he added as he eyed the bloody weapons.
"I can't tell you what's going on, not yet." Green Ranger answered. "And please don't ask about that..." he tried to say, remembering what he had done to Rocky less than an hour ago. "I have to go. I should see you again tomorrow."
Angel Grove Hospital, later that night
"Is he gonna be okay, Doctor?" Aisha asked the surgeon who was about to leave.
"I don't know..." the doctor replied. "It doesn't look like Rocky has anything that could kill him since you got him here so fast, but I won't be sure until we determine the extent of his injuries." He said as he left.
Tommy and Kimberly had called all the Rangers from the hospital, and every one of them was shocked when they arrived.
"Who could have done this?" Adam asked angrily, to no one in particular.
Tommy was unsure if he wanted to tell them what Rocky had said, but he figured it would be better if he did. "Rocky... Rocky said it was... Guys, he probably wasn't thinking clearly..."
"Out with it man!" Aisha yelled at Tommy, wanting terribly to have her hands around the neck of her friend's attacker. "Who was it?"
Tommy decided to just say it. "He said it was Joseph."
The White Ranger wasn't surprised by the silent expressions of shock on the other Rangers' faces.
Command Center, the next day
Zordon summoned the Rangers to the Command Center when Tommy and Kimberly failed to report what they found at Rocky's house.
Zordon's image appeared in his time warp. "Is something wrong?" their mentor asked, noticing that Rocky was not present. "What had happened with Rocky last night?"
"You haven't watched the news today, Alpha?" Adam asked, flabbergasted. Watching the news was Alpha's latest passion, interested in the goings on of the world in this day and age. To top it off, discussing it with Zordon was the perfect way to pass time when there was nothing to do. In fact, Zordon was starting to make a habit of watching it himself.
"You might want to turn on channel four, I think the story was just about to be recapped..." Kimberly said, not wanting to have to relate the story of last night's incident herself. The others were still in various stages of shock. Alpha turned on the Viewing Globe to the channel, and they discovered that Kimberly was right. They caught the reporter in mid sentence, live in front of Rocky's house.
"...-ear old Rockwell DeSantos was apparently assaulted in his home around ten PM last night by an unknown person or persons, and is now in critical condition at Angel Grove Memorial Hospital. The police have speculated that burglary might have been a possible motive, but they have no suspects as of yet..."
"Turn it off, Alpha." Tommy said grimly as he turned to Zordon. "We found Rocky last night when you sent us to check on him." He explained, telling Zordon every detail of the scene.
"Zordon..." Kimberly started. "Rocky told us that Joseph attacked him..." she trailed off.
"I have not yet been able to locate the Green Ranger or his family... Rangers, it's possible that Rocky was to disoriented to be thinking clearly." He said, afraid right along with the others that Joseph actually had attacked Rocky.
"Ay, yi yi YI YI!" Alpha screamed, suddenly becoming hysterical. "Zordon! Rangers! Look!" he yelled as he pointed to the Viewing Globe.
"I know you can hear me, Power Rangers!" yelled Lord Zedd from the quarry. "You have five minutes to meet me here. After that, I start hurting people!"
"This has got to be a trap, but it's not like we have a choice..." Tommy said, contemplating the havoc that Zedd would cause if he went unchecked.
"Be careful Rangers. You already know from experience that Lord Zedd is not to be taken lightly." Zordon spoke.
The Rangers acknowledged their mentor, remembering the last time Zedd attacked before they morphed and left for the quarry.
Angel Grove Quarry, minutes later
The five Power Rangers teleported into the quarry, surprised that their archenemy was nowhere to be found.
"Where'd he go?" Tommy wondered aloud. He others were just as baffled.
"We're right here Rangers!" Came a voice from behind them. They turned and found themselves face to face with Lord Zedd, Green Ranger at his side.
"Joseph? What's going on?" Aisha asked her friend, disregarding Zedd for the moment. Green Ranger responded with silence, his head hanging low.
"You know what your orders are Green Ranger!" Zedd told the Ranger at his side, loud enough for the others to hear.
Joseph was breathing heavily. Indeed, Zedd had just given him a new assignment. "Please..." he started to say, his tone of voice sounding like he was pleading for something. "Don't make me do this..."
"DO IT!" Zedd yelled. "You know what will happen if you don't!" With that, the Lord of Evil vanished in a flash of light.
Tommy approached his fellow Ranger, at a loss as to what was going on. "Joseph, did you attack Rocky last night?" he asked.
"Yes..." Joseph replied without moving, sending the other Rangers into a state of disbelief.
"How! How could you do that to him!" Adam suddenly shouted at Green Ranger.
"Because I didn't have a choice!" Joseph shot back, suddenly looking up. He noticed that Tommy had moved closer to him. "And I still don't."
Without another word, Green Ranger's hands shot to his weapons, and Tommy was caught completely off guard as the dagger and saber struck him at the same time. The White Ranger flew back in a shower of sparks and landed several feet away from where he was standing.
Kimberly was the first to realize what had just happened, and she pulled one of her arrows onto her bow without saying a word. A second later, it was hurtling towards Green Ranger.
Joseph saw the attack coming and rolled to the side, barley avoiding the projectile. As he rose, he swung the Dragon Dagger in Kimberly's direction, and the pink Ranger realized all to late that Joseph had hurled his magical bolts at her.
As the Pink Ranger fell, Joseph felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Adam had rushed him when he retaliated to Kimberly's attack, and the Black Ranger's axe was now buried in his abdomen. Green Ranger's uniform reacted differently to impacts than the others, simply not allowing the weapon to pierce him. Joseph still reeled from the blow, and Adam swung his axe, hitting him in the same place.
"Damn it! Go down!" Adam yelled in frustration, enraged at what Green Ranger had done to Rocky the night before. The Black Ranger drew his axe back and swung once again, this time hitting Green Ranger in the Dragon Shield. Despite the extra protection from the shield, Joseph staggered and fell. Adam backed up several feet, Billy and Aisha joining him in front of Green Ranger.
Joseph sat up, the Dragon Dagger still in his hand. He pushed himself up, finding that Billy, Adam, and Aisha had their laser guns trained on him from a good distance away.
"Stay there, Joseph, or we'll fire!" Aisha yelled, not realizing that they were giving Green Ranger what he needed to turn the tide of battle in his favor again.
Joseph raised the Dragon Dagger and started walking toward the Rangers, playing the tune that normally summoned Dragonzord. The shield flashed a golden light for a split second, going unnoticed by the other Rangers.
Unbeknownst to any of them, Tommy and Kimberly had started to regain their composer and were staggering to their feet.
"Alright! Blast him!" Adam yelled.
"Guys, NO!" The White Ranger shouted as he realized what Joseph was doing, but it was too late. The Rangers had already fired at Joseph, and Tommy watched as the blasts bounced off of Green Ranger and struck the others down.
The quarry was suddenly bathed in a white light, leaving Lord Zedd as it stopped.
The Lord of Evil cackled at the downed Rangers, and turned to Joseph. "Excellent, Green Ranger, Excellent! Now, return to the palace!"
The other Rangers watched as Joseph disappeared, followed by Zedd, realizing for the first time that the ageless Ranger was taking orders from the evil lord, and following them.
Command Center, shortly after
The five Rangers appeared once again in the Command Center, an even grimmer look on all of their faces.
"Rangers..." Zordon started, but the Rangers were already discussing what had just happened.
"How could he listen to Zedd?" Kimberly asked, hoping futilely that one of the others knew why Joseph had betrayed them.
"He did say that he started out working for the bad guy in his world..." Aisha remembered. "Maybe he finds it more appealing..."
"Rangers." Zordon tried again, to no avail.
Tommy had the next idea. "Maybe Zedd has him in a spell or something."
Zordon was now fed up. "RANGERS!"
The Rangers finally looked up.
"Alpha and I scanned Joseph during the battle. He has not been affected by a spell. It would appear he is obeying Lord Zedd of his own free will."
"Wasn't he asking Zedd not to make him do something?" Adam thought of aloud. "Actually, it sounded more like he was begging... but Zedd tells him that he knows what will happen if he refuses, and then he attacks us."
Billy thought of something. "The police officer that approached us yesterday told us that Joseph's entire family was missing. Perhaps Lord Zedd is the one who took his family and is using them to make Green Ranger do his bidding."
"You know, I never thought of that." Tommy admitted.
"I will attempt to find out if Zedd is holding any human prisoners in his dungeons. If he does have Joseph's family..." Zordon started. The alarm cut him off in mid sentence.
"What now?" Adam wondered.
Alpha turned on the Viewing Globe. Joseph was perched atop a building in downtown Angel Grove, playing the flute on the Dragon Dagger. Goldar was watching him from behind as Dragonzord rose out of the water and started trashing buildings.
"Rangers, try to stop him." Zordon said. "If Zedd is indeed holding his family, Alpha and I can find them and bring them here. If not, you will have to stop Green Ranger by any means necessary."
Downtown Angel Grove
Green Ranger played the Dragon Dagger and watched as his Zord smashed anything around it. Joseph was becoming more disgusted with himself by the minute. It was bad enough that he had almost killed Rocky and attacked the other Rangers, now he was attacking innocent people, and to top it of, Goldar was cheering him on.
A sudden "'caw' ripped through the air, and Joseph looked up in time to see Tommy's Falconzord soar over his head. The white bird banked hard, and raked it's talons over Dragonzord's back. Joseph was actually happy; Dragonzord couldn't fight back and trash the city at the same time.
Before Green Ranger could respond to Tommy's attack, a fast blur of blue color jumped up from the street, and Billy latched his wolf onto Dragonzord's tail. Joseph eyed Kimberly approaching in her crane, and suddenly had an idea.
"I'll see if I can knock it down!" Aisha yelled through her intercom as she approached Dragonzord in her bear. Another tune came from the Dragon Dagger, and the drill on the end of Dragonzord's tail, where Billy had latched on, began to spin.
"This can't be good!" Billy informed no one in general as his Zord, still holding on to the drill, whirled around wildly. As fast as the drill started to spin, it stopped. Billy's Zord lost it's grip from the sudden change and went sailing into the air. Unable to do anything, Billy held on for the ride.
Kimberly was trying to figure out a way to stop Dragonzord, when she noticed something funny. "What the..." she pondered as the tiny blue object became bigger and bigger. It was soon close enough for her to make out it's shape, and she had no time to react as she realized it was also headed straight toward her. "Uh-oh."
Billy's Zord crashed into Kimberly's with a massive impact, and the crane fell from the air along with the wolf.
The Zords were durable enough to stay in one piece after hitting the ground. Miraculously, Billy and Kimberly got off without a scratch.
"Billy?"
"Yes, Kimberly?"
"You were right. That was definitely not good."
Command Center, same time
"Jackpot, Zordon!" Alpha yelled in excitement. "Zedd's got Joseph's family in one of his dungeons, and it's not shielded from transport!"
"Bring them here immediately, Alpha. I shall inform the Rangers."
Downtown Angel Grove
Tommy was about to make another pass at Dragonzord, when Zordon's voice came over his communicator. "Tommy, Alpha has found Joseph's family in one of Lord Zedd's dungeons. You must tell Joseph that they are safe!"
Green Ranger was starting to wonder what was worse: attacking the other Ranger's Zords or Goldar's mouth.
"Yes! Destroy them!" the monkey yelled. "Huh, what! -Oof!"
Joseph turned to see what was going on. Tommy had apparently left his Zord and blindsided Goldar, who promptly flew away.
Not again... Joseph thought as Tommy turned toward him
"Joseph, stop! You're family is safe!" Tommy yelled before Joseph could do anything.
"What..."
"Alpha found them in one of Zedd's dungeons. They're safe at the Command Center!"
Lord Zedd's Palace
"No!" Zedd yelled, infuriated. "Damn Zordon and his technology!"
Zedd calmed down and sat in his throne. "Ah, well. At least the damage has already been done!"
Zedd cackled as he remembered checking on the status of a certain patient in Angel Grove Memorial Hospital.
Angel Grove Memorial Hospital, the next day
"I don't know if I can face him..."
"Joseph, we told him why…" Tommy tried to reassure his friend. "And he wants to see you."
Tommy was trying to keep his voice from faltering. Rocky's mother had told them some very disturbing news before they brought Joseph, and Rocky wanted to make sure himself that Joseph didn't carry the blame in his head after the other Rangers told him how Zedd forced Green Ranger to do his bidding.
Tommy and Joseph went into Rocky's room. The Red Ranger asked his parents and the other Rangers to give him some time alone with the two, but he asked Tommy to go in with Joseph in case Green Ranger didn't react very well.
Joseph couldn't think of anything to say as he looked at the injured Ranger lying in the hospital bed. The heavy bandages over the stab wounds and around his broken ribs were visible through his hospital gown.
"Still the quiet-type, eh, Joseph?"
Tommy sat down in the corner. He was quite envious of Rocky in the respect that he could never crack a joke if he was told what Rocky was earlier by the doctors.
"Yea, that's me..." Joseph started. "Jesus Rocky... I don't know what to say... I'm so sorry..."
"Joseph, if I wasn't here right now, your family would be dead. Look at it like the lesser of two evils. If one has to happen, make it the one that's not as bad. Just kick Zedd's ass for me, will you?"
Joseph was glad to see that Rocky still had his sense of humor. "I think it would be more fun if we both did that."
"So do I..." Rocky replied. "But, that's not going to happen. Joseph, the doctors told me this morning, and I wanted to tell you myself. I don't want you to blame yourself for this..."
"What? What is it?" Joseph asked, suddenly worried. Rocky took a deep breath.
"I'm dying."
"WHAT?" was all Joseph could get out. He stiffened up. The prospect that Rocky would die from his attack scaring the Hell out of him. "Rocky... I didn't... how?" He asked, unable to form any other words.
"Some internal injury thing. The doctor said it probably happened when my ribs broke. I'm bleeding to death on the inside. They said I have another day, at most. The others talked to Zordon, and even he can't do anything."
Joseph didn't know what to do. He didn't think he injured Rocky enough to kill him. Rocky went on.
"Like I said, I wanted to tell you myself. There was nothing else you could have done that night. And no matter how much you want to, there's nothing you can do now..."
"Yes there is!" Joseph suddenly exclaimed, moving closer to his fellow Ranger. He started talking before Rocky could say anything or Tommy could tell him that he just wished there was. "Rocky, I've lived for a very long time, but I'll be damned if I live for a thousand years and remind myself that I could have saved you." With that, he rested the fingertips of his hand around Rocky's heart.
The Red Ranger saw his friend shut his eyes and heard him chanting something. Almost immediately, Rocky felt an urge to shut his own eyes and fall asleep, and the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a warm flood of light around him.
Tommy had to cover his eyes as the light became brighter, preventing him from seeing what Joseph had done. The light faded, and Tommy looked to see that Rocky had somehow fallen asleep and was snoring up a storm. Joseph was on the floor, out cold.
Tommy walked into the waiting room a few minutes later, where the other Rangers were waiting.
"How'd it go?" Kimberly asked, afraid how Joseph was going to react to the news.
"I-I don't know..." Tommy replied. "Joseph did something... the next thing I knew, Rocky fell asleep, and Joseph was on the floor. The doctors said they'd try to figure out what happened to Joseph, and if it affected Rocky. I thought it would be better not to mention that Joseph did whatever it was..." Tommy trailed off, still wondering himself what had happened.
Adam still felt anger toward Joseph. He and Rocky were friends for a very long time, and Adam found himself wondering what else Joseph could have done to him. Despite Rocky pointing out that Adam would have done the exact same thing to save his family and Adam admitting it, the Black Ranger still couldn't stop blaming Joseph.
Kimberly, Billy, and Aisha had been wondering how Green Ranger was going to react when he learned that Rocky would die from the injuries that he had inflicted.
Before anyone else could say anything, a doctor approached the group.
"Are you Rocky DeSantos' friends?" he asked. The Rangers nodded. "Are his parents still down here somewhere? I have something I need to tell all of you."
Tommy led them to where Mrs. DeSantos was sitting. Rocky's father had gone home to get his sister.
"I don't know how... but, we checked on Rocky to see if what hit Joseph hit him..." Everyone nodded; one of the nurses had told Rocky's mother that something happened, but she didn't know the details. The doctor continued, "God, the only reason I'm not acting happy is because I'm confused as Hell. Mrs. DeSantos, your son's injuries have all healed. Rocky's going to be fine."
Angel Grove Park, the next day
Joseph sat leisurely on the bench, contemplating what he had done the day before. Despite Rocky being alive, he had given up something very dear to him, and he wasn't sure how to handle it.
"What's wrong"
Joseph snapped out of his thoughts to find that Rocky had just sat down on the bench next to him. "Nothing." He replied.
"Joseph, I'm really grateful for what you did yesterday, but I need to ask you something."
"Shoot." Green Ranger replied.
"What exactly did you do?" Rocky asked, much to Joseph's dismay.
"Just some magic..."
"That's bull, and you know it. You never said you could heal fatal injuries, and you've been bummed out ever since last night. Now, did casting that spell require you be depressed, or is there something else?" Rocky shot back.
"Actually..." Joseph started to explain. "The spell requires that the caster be affected with any kind of magic that leaves a permanent effect."
"And?" Rocky pressed, remembering that Joseph said he didn't age because of a magic spell.
"The spell drains all of the energy that causes the permanent effect to heal all the injuries of the person on the receiving end."
Rocky was normally a little slow on the uptake for things like this, but he suddenly realized why Joseph was so depressed. "In other words, you gave up your eternal youth to cast it on me."
"Don't get me wrong, Rocky. I don't regret doing it, and I'd do it again. But I haven't aged a day past 16 in decades, and I wasn't planning on doing so anytime soon."
Before Rocky could say anything, his communicator went off. "Hey, maybe we can kick Lord Zedd's ass after all!"
"There's nothing else I'd rather do right now."
Coming soon: Shades of Green: Walkabout