Title: "Always Be No"
Disclaimer: I do not own any person, place or thing that you may recognize.
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Series: Shoot the Moon
Fandoms: Power Rangers
Characters: Aisha Campbell; with mentions of Kim Hart, Kat HIllard, Tonya Sloan, Zordon, Trini Kwan, Billy Cranston, Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott, Zack Taylor, Adam Park and Rocky DeSantos
Spoilers: Definite spoilers for The Power Transfer I and II, and Hogday in the Afternoon I and II. Possible spoilers for the rest of Mighty Morphin' and for A Zeo Beginning I.
Word Count: 813
Summary: Aisha is faced with a choice: stay in Africa or return to Angel Grove with the Zeo Crystal. She knows she could do a lot of good in either place, so what's a girl to do?
Author's Note: So I've been playing around with a Power Rangers 'verse for a while now, focusing primarily on the first twelve Rangers. I don't particularly care for Tanya Sloan, so this 'verse will go AU from the change from Morphin' to Zeo.
This 'verse will start as a minor crossover, with the option of a larger crossover sometime in the future. The crossover doesn't start until the next part of the 'verse, and I'll explain a little more when I get there.
Anyway, this story is set during Aisha's quest for the yellow Zeo Crystal. The way she left the series has always bugged me. She, Rocky and Adam were portrayed as best friends from a very young age, yet she moved halfway around the world, with no goodbye, other than a generic one over the communicators. Jason, Trini, Zack and Kim all had full goodbyes and I didn't like that Aisha didn't get one.
This is me attempting to fix that. Let me know what y'all think.
Edit: As I started working on other pieces in the 'verse, I started changing things, including who was related to whom and other minor differences. As a result, I decided to go ahead and rewrite all the pieces of the 'verse.
This particular piece hasn't changed much. Mostly, I just wanted to edit it and make sure everything flowed the way I wanted it to, as well as make sure all the grammar and punctuation was correct, although I did change a few details.
Fae
Always Be No
Aisha quite enjoyed her trip to Africa on her quest to retrieve the Zeo Crystal. Born and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles, she was pretty much a city girl. Granted, she was less of a city girl than Kim, or even Kat, but still.
She wasn't typically one for wide, open spaces and wild animals roaming around.
Still, she had enjoyed her trip to the African safari more than she had expected to, and she had enjoyed meeting Tanya.
She was pretty sure that she wanted to go into veterinary medicine when she got to college and seeing those animals in trouble tugged at her heartstrings. Zordon had given her permission to stay, if that was what she desired. He told her that everything would work out with the timeline, although she wasn't sure how.
She wanted to stay. She liked it here. The place was incredible and everyone was so nice. And there was no denying that the animals needed help. But what good could she really do? She was only seventeen and while she had helped out at the animal shelter, domesticated pets were an entirely different type of animal than the wild ones here in Africa.
But even if she could help, was this really the best place for her to be? Sure, she could potentially do a lot of good here, but she was already doing a lot of good back in Angel Grove. Good that she really enjoyed doing.
Could she do it? Could she stay here?
Staying here would mean passing on the Power. She had decided that if she stayed, she would send Tanya back to California, so the yellow Crystal would go to the other girl.
She would never morph again. Could she give that up?
Yes, she realized. She could. As much as she loved being a Ranger, she knew that she could move on. She knew that she could give someone else the chance to join the Legacy, the same way Trini had given her a chance when the other girl went to Switzerland.
Staying here would also mean leaving a place she had come to call home. True, she was relatively new to Angel Grove, but Kim, Billy and Tommy had helped her fit right in. It was almost as if she had lived in Angel Grove all her life.
Staying here would alter the timeline, meaning she would never have moved to Angel Grove in the first place. Apparently Zordon had a way around that creating a paradox where she never became a Ranger, which is what had led her here in the first place- and wasn't that confusing to think about?
Could she give up the friends she had made in Angel Grove?
Yes, she realized. The only friends she had made in Angel Grove that mattered would remember this time bubble. Tommy, Billy, Kim. Even Jason, Trini and Zack, even though she didn't know them as well as the other three. Those were the only six who actually mattered.
Staying here would mean that she would lose her two best friends, her brothers. She, Adam and Rocky had been best friends since they were born. Could she move to the other side of the world, knowing she wouldn't get to see them very often?
Yes, she could do that. It wouldn't be impossible. They could stay in contact, the way Jason, Trini and Zack had. It would be different, sure. And difficult.
But not impossible.
They could manage. Besides, what was the saying about the best things in life being the ones you had to work for? Something like that?
Staying here would mean not getting the chance to say goodbye. Sure, she would be able to say goodbye over the communicators, but that wasn't the same as saying goodbye in person. Could she do that to her friends?
Again, it would be difficult. But, yes. She could.
Staying here would mean hurting her two best friends. They would say they understood, but deep down, she knew that Rocky and Adam would be hurt if she chose to stay. They had promised that they would be best friends forever.
Staying here would mean that they would just remain friends forever; then, just friends; then, finally, nothing more than childhood playmates that you thought about every now and then.
Could she do that to them? Could she hurt her best friends that way? Could she risk falling out of touch with them?
When the time came to make her decision, Aisha Campbell said goodbye to Tanya Sloan, held onto the yellow Zeo Crystal and stepped through the portal that would return her to Angel Grove.
Because no matter how much good she could have done had she stayed in Africa, when it came down to hurting Rocky and Adam, her answer would always be-
No.