POWER RANGERS:
ALL DREAMS FORWARD
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
Alpha 5 examined his newly upgraded body with abundant satisfaction as he made his final preparations.
The new power boxes had all been tidily stored away in a large cardboard box, various relays and scanners had already been installed several floors above, and all that was left was to bid the Power Chamber a fond farewell.
Alpha couldn't bring himself to, he'd only finally gotten used to being around this particular area of the Ranger's strategic outpost. A quiet little secret he and Zordon had kept from the Rangers until the day that Rita and Zedd's forces scorched their piece of earth.
The Power Chamber, located deep beneath the structure, had proven an invaluable asset to the growth of the Rangers as a unit and the womb which helped birth their era as a team infused with the power of Zeo.
For the last year or so, Zordon and Alpha had embarked on another project secret from the Rangers, one with Billy's help. They had intended to surprise the Rangers with the welcome news that they had used the design schematics for the Power Chamber to assist them with the reconstruction of the Command Centre's upper level. The Rangers were to return to the upper deck, they were all to come home.
That was before Billy was forced to depart this world to keep his accelerated ageing under control, before Jason's body began rejecting the Gold Ranger powers, and before the looming notion of graduation dawned.
People were growing, changing, and moving on.
The upper levels changing to match the look of the power chamber reflected very much the state of their world. There was a sense of home and family, but nothing was the same, nothing was going to be the same.
If life had been a pleasant little grid before, the last year or so had completely shattered it.
Alpha wanted to focus on the good that had come with being associated with the Power Chamber, where Tanya had been welcomed into the family, where Billy had made the selfless decision to step back and allow Tanya to take his spot in the team, and where Jason had returned to the fold to take on even greater responsibilities and help secure the Earth.
Alpha did'nt want to reflect on the negatives, for aside from Billy's departure, there were none to be had. This Chamber had seen the team go through more ups than downs. This year had been good to them.
Alpha felt uneasy about the next year. He felt the team, the family, had gone as far as they could; that he and Zordon had taken the mission as far as it could be taken.
The Earth was secure, all its enemies could barely be detected standing at the gate with swords and staffs and growth bombs and quadrafighters.
The power protected it.
So what now?
Zordon's dream had been realised, and he could tell his mentor, his friend, felt like Alexander the Great, standing on a rock and weeping for there were no goals left to accomplish. It was time to look towards a time of personal fulfilment, a time to contemplate breaking the chains that bound him to this life and to take his wisdom not to uncharted areas of creation, but back the place of his own.
He could tell the dreamer wanted to awaken.
And he knew he wanted to be at his side when he did.
Alpha took a few steps up the staircase, taking one last look at the lower level incarnation of the Power Chamber. He took one last gander at the assembled costumes of the original Power Ranger team, knowing that above them the upper level's multi-colour pods had no such display, and switched the central lighting off with the pull of a lever to his left.
As the Power Chamber was swallowed in darkness, Alpha vowed its name would not be forgotten, this year of change and growth would not be stricken from the record, Alpha would convince Zordon to christen the upper levels the Power Chamber, so that the realities of yesterday informed all dreams forward.