Disclaimer: Again, probably nothing in here that you've previously heard of is mine in any way. This contains dialogue from "The Joke's on Blue." Thank you for reading.
His departure from the planet proceeded much more quickly than his arrival had. This was partly because he had no need to fight his way away and partly due to the power of the Heart of Turmoil. At the speed he was traveling, seeing the things he was seeing, lesser, unaided minds would collapse into themselves, leaving their owners useless and gibbering wrecks. But the Heart kept him steady, as he knew it would, as it always would.
Even so, he was traveling a very long distance over a lengthy time, and as his throne careened across space, wisps of Storm trailing behind, he was spotted frequently. He paid no attention. Any who made demands of him would be ignored; any who obstructed him would be destroyed. It was his will and it was the Heart's will and they were ever in agreement.
He knew, of course, that liberating the Heart would be a call to arms for every simpering do-gooder inside the galaxy and their allies outside of it. He was interested in seeing how little of a challenge such fools would provide to the Heart's power.
But thus far, no army of justice, no self-proclaimed champions of righteousness, had emerged to challenge his progress. He had not had to do so much as blast an inconveniently positioned rock out of his path.
His journey progressed as intended. The Storm behind him continued to strengthen, and the reach of the Heart grew in both distance and intensity, forward, backward, through and around. The fabric of the universe bent around him, then sprung back to — and past — its natural state.
The Heart was preparing.
"Not like this," Katherine whispered. Mondo's monster's blast had blown the Pink Ranger's uniform clean away in most places, and had done considerable damage to the girl underneath. She started to reach out, as though she could touch the evil creation or her friends fighting it, then screamed weakly and withdrew her hand as she saw her blackened skin.
Kat would not survive this fight, and without her, neither could her friends. She tried one last time to stand, putting every ounce of energy she had left to her into the motion, but barely managed to get her torso off the ground. She laid on the ground, completely spent, watching in horror as the monster sliced through Rocky, blasted Jason to dust, broke Adam's back, and finally blew away Tommy's head.
Tanya turned her back on the monster and removed her helmet, approaching Kat with a sad, understanding smile on her face. "It's okay, Kat," she said. "We know you can't help us. We forgive you."
Kat tried to protest, but lacked the strength to do even that. She managed to force out a guttural "no," which Tanya ignored. Without changing her expression, the Yellow Ranger reached down and somewhat cruelly yanked the upper half of Katherine's body up by her hair.
"See?" Tanya asked. "You're forgiven." The Yellow Ranger bent over and gently kissed her friend's forehead. "It's okay, Kat," she repeated, the sympathetic tone of her voice sharply contrasting with the careless way she dropped the Pink Ranger to the ground.
A bolt of light burst through Tanya's chest, blinding Katherine. The last thing she saw as her eyes were seared out was Tanya falling to the ground, barely managing to speak her last words:
"After all, it's just a dream, right?"
"Tanya!"
Kat sat up in bed, gradually understanding that the shout had been hers. Still disoriented, she glanced at her bedside clock, then realized with relief that she could see her bedside clock. Her eyes were still there.
Her next realization was that she was covered in sweat; her nightgown and underwear were soaked through. "Damn," she muttered, throwing off her blanket with a groan, then, stronger, "damn!" as she heard footsteps approaching. Their direction meant they weren't Tanya's, and their lightness confirmed that it was Kat's mother. A more attentive look toward her clock let her know that it was 4:41 in the morning, much earlier than she'd planned to get up — and no doubt much earlier than her mother had planned to get up, as well.
"Katherine?" Her mother was tapping on her door now, and from the volume of her voice, she certainly had no doubt that Kat was awake.
"Yeah," Kat sighed, swinging her legs off the side of the bed to sit on the edge.
Her mother opened the door. "I heard screaming," she said, squinting with bleary eyes at her daughter. "Are you all right?"
No, Kat thought. "Yes," she lied. "It was just a bad dream. I'll be fine."
"You're sweating." Her mother came all the way into the room now. "Are you coming down with something?" she asked, reaching for Kat's forehead.
"I'm not sick, I promise," Kat said, doing an admirable job of keeping her voice steady. "I think the nightmare really got to me. I can't remember what it was about, though." Another lie to her mother, this one in hopes of fending off any unpleasant questions she would only have to answer with more lies. Lies were a fact of Ranger life, lies kept their families safe, but lies like this always stuck in her throat.
"Hmm." Her mother appeared to believe her, but was still clearly concerned. "You've been having a lot of bad dreams these past few days," she said. "Is there anything you want to tell me about?
Absolutely not, Kat thought. Her more mild response was, "No, nothing's wrong. Just a clump of bad dreams, I suppose."
"Nothing's an issue at school?"
"Not at all. I'm doing great." Though less great lately, if she were going to be perfectly honest.
"Nothing wrong between you and Tommy?" her mother ventured to ask.
"Oh, come on," Kat said, managing an embarrassed smile. "Of course not!"
She got a smile in return. "I'm your mother, I have to ask." Patting Kat on the thigh, she backed away. "Well, I'm glad you're okay, dear. I know you probably weren't planning on being awake at this hour, but from the looks of you, I think you should take a shower and start getting ready for your day. You'd best not go back to bed with your clothes that drenched."
Kat grimaced. "No, I'm definitely not going back to bed. I feel gross. I'll try not to wake Tanya or Dad; no need for us all to be up."
Her mother turned to leave the room as Kat began to collect some clean clothes. "No doubt you'll feel better after you shower." Closing the door behind her, she offered one last bit of reassurance. "After all, it's just a dream, right?"
Billy was hard at work in the Power Chamber, as could be expected. Since assuming the mantle of the Gold Ranger, Jason had spent a fair amount of time there, as well, making the Rangers' headquarters a bit less lonely. While fond of Alpha, Billy would be the first to admit that the android was not the greatest conversationalist and was possibly a bit prone to overreactions. Jason had no shortage of tales about his time in Geneva, and was happy to provide Billy with a steady stream of stories covering his experience and the experiences of their friends still over there.
At the moment, though, there were no such stories. Jason and Alpha were busy fine-tuning the Golden Power Staff, limiting their conversation to essential work discussion. Billy had helped at the beginning of the process, but once things were under way, he'd switched consoles and began working on his current top-priority project.
The Heart of Turmoil was almost certainly approaching, along with the being who took it. Billy had no idea when they'd arrive or what could happen when they did, but he needed to be as ready as possible for what they were calling the Last Night. Right now, the best way he could think to prepare was by doing more research into the premonitions his friends had experienced lately.
With the other Rangers absent, respecting their privacy, Katherine and Adam had provided almost every detail about their visions that they could recall. Billy knew both were holding a couple of things back, but he trusted their judgment. Kat and Adam knew better than to hide any important fact, and given how terrible their experiences had been, he was more than willing to allow them a little slack when it came to reporting the less-significant horrors.
"I guess that does it," Billy heard Jason say. Looking up, he saw his oldest friend hoist the Golden Power Staff. "We could always use a little more power, and we certainly did the best we could. We'll have to see how well it holds up once I'm in the field. Thanks, Alpha."
"Certainly, Jason!"
Billy felt a twinge of guilt at not being more helpful, but he knew as well as anyone how important the work he was doing was. If he'd insisted on sticking around on that project, Jason would have been the first to tell him to concentrate on the Heart instead.
His thoughts were interrupted by an unusual alarm, a series of beeps he'd never heard — which, in itself, was in danger of becoming a tediously frequent occurrence. A computer a few steps away was blinking its lights in a rapid pattern.
Jason looked over at the flashing console. "What's this?"
"That's the intergalactic warning system," Alpha replied.
Jason rolled his eyes. "I am getting tired of any kind of galactic warning system," he said, more or less echoing Billy's earlier thoughts.
Alpha began to shuffle toward the console. "You'd better check it out, Billy."
Billy was already on his way over, and was able to key up the warning quickly. "Something or someone extremely powerful has just teleported to the moon. I'll pull up a thermal image now."
"You don't think..." Jason started to ask, but couldn't finish the question before the Viewing Globe lit up with what was apparently a thermal image depicting two beings, but providing few identifying details beyond their shape. Not human, Jason mused. Probably mechanical, especially given the Rangers' luck.
"Zordon, do you have any idea who they could be?" Billy had evidently come to a similar conclusion.
"I am afraid so, Billy," Zordon acknowledged. "King Mondo is father to not one, but two sons."
"There's another Sprocket out there?" Jason asked with a look of annoyed disbelief.
"I would not be so concerned if that were the case."
Alpha began to get flustered. "Oh, I don't like the sound of this."
"Several centuries ago, King Mondo's first-manufactured son, Prince Gasket, fell in love with Archerina, the daughter of Mondo's mortal enemy, King Arradon. The two eloped due to the fact that their fathers would never accept the marriage."
Jason was able to finish the story from there. "And now that his father's gone, he's back."
"Gasket and Archerina are a grave menace. It will take all of your powers to stop them."
"We'll be ready," Jason promised.
The Power Chamber momentarily lit up with a pink teleportation flash. "Hey, Kat," Billy greeted her as the light faded.
Jason cocked an eyebrow. "Why aren't you in..." he began, and then thought to check a clock. Angel Grove High's day had ended six minutes earlier. "...class. Never mind. Guess I lost track of time."
Kat smiled. "That can happen in here."
"What's up, Kat?" Billy could tell that the Pink Ranger was not at her best, even setting aside how quickly she'd rushed to the Power Chamber after school.
"I had another nightmare," Kat replied, slightly embarrassed, then elaborated for Jason's benefit. "Not the normal kind, the ones that are a hazard of being a Power Ranger. These are more vivid, more disturbing, somehow. They've been happening since my first vision, and Adam has mentioned having them, too. And after this one, Billy, I was just wondering... is there any chance that they could be another part of the visions, just sneaking up while I'm asleep?"
"It's possible, but we'll have to see." Billy was already calling up old scan results and preparing new scans, though given their past attempts, he wasn't optimistic about getting any clear answers.
"Katherine, are these nightmares taking place in the same time or location as the visions you have had while awake?" Zordon asked.
Kat shook her head. "Not really. The visions seemed to go together, and they felt like memories of the Last Night. These do feel more like dreams, each one separate from the other, but they're exceptionally intense and much easier to remember than most of my dreams. So even if they're not visions, I'm thinking they might be connected."
"Worth checking out," Billy said. "I'm not willing to leave the smallest stone unturned right now. Are they completely unrelated to each other, or can you think of any links at all between them?"
Kat took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Just that they all end in failure. No matter what happens or what we're fighting, I end up letting the team down, and everything goes wrong because of it."
"That does sound like a classic Ranger nightmare," Jason speculated. "I remember a couple weeks after we got started, Zack called me in the middle of the night in a panic, just to make sure one of Rita's monsters hadn't turned me into a rock and kicked me into orbit."
"Yeah, I've had those nightmares," Kat said. "But these new ones are so much more powerful. It's one thing to dream of a specific old monster coming back and, say, shrinking one of us; it's quite another to watch one of us get cut in half by a monster I've never seen before."
Jason winced. "Was it me? You can be honest."
Kat gave him a small, grateful smile, appreciative of the small attempt to lighten the mood. "No, Rocky, actually. This time, you just got disintegrated."
"Let's make sure neither of those happens, please," Billy offered from the computer. "I lack the medical ability to fix either condition."
"See anything, Billy?" Kat asked.
Billy shook his head. "No. Sorry. That, of course, doesn't mean there isn't anything." He looked up. "If I had to guess, though, I don't think they're related to the visions."
"Just nightmares?"
"Not 'just.' Nightmares, but nightmares intensified by your recent experiences. You're tense and concerned, and with nothing to relieve that in the real world, it's affecting your dreams. Have they gotten worse each time, or are they all about the same?"
Kat considered the question. "They're not too far off one another, but I'd say yes, they've gotten worse. At first, they weren't more damaging than any other nightmare, just more frequent. Last night's dream was probably the worst dream I've ever had."
"What about when you had the second vision?" Billy asked. "Did that make them worse?"
"Actually, while I had a couple the night after the first vision, I don't think I had one after the second," Kat replied. "And thinking about it, yeah, they did lighten up somewhat immediately afterward."
Billy nodded. "As unpleasant as your visions are, it sounds like the second one acted as a kind of safety valve; it allowed you to bleed off some of that tension. Now that it's been a few days, the tension's been building back up in force."
"So I have to hope I get another terrible vision so that I get a break from the terrible nightmares?" Kat grimaced.
"No, I think not having another vision would work just as well, eventually. You wouldn't have the triggering emotions at all if it weren't for the visions, after all."
"I'll root for that option, then. Thanks, Billy."
"You're quite welcome. Anything else we can help you with?"
Kat shook her head. "No, not unless you'd like to do my physics homework." Looking around the Power Chamber, she noticed the image still on the Viewing Globe. "What's that?" she asked, pointing. "Who are they?"
"Archerina and Prince Gasket, according to Zordon," Jason said. "King Mondo's daughter-in-law and prodigal son. They're newly arrived on the moon."
Kat looked skeptical. "Mondo has a daughter-in-law?"
"A daughter-in-law of whom he doesn't approve, apparently," Billy elaborated. "She's the daughter of his biggest rival. There must be real bad blood — or bad oil, I suppose — for Mondo to willingly disregard the help of two powerful threats."
"Could have been more than two," Jason added. "If King Mondo had played his cards right, approved of the marriage, he could have stolen away any of this King Arradon's forces that would stay loyal to Archerina. Wonder what he was thinking."
Jason and Kat turned to Billy expectantly, but got only a puzzled stare instead of an answer. "Why are you two looking at me like I've got a degree in Mechanical Interempire Relations?" the teen genius asked.
Kat shrugged. "You've done the most research into the Machine Empire since they arrived."
"And you're the only one of us with any real off-world experience," Jason pointed out.
"I went to Aquitar, Jase. That's about as far as you can conceptually get from the Machine Empire, and I wasn't exactly sitting in on any political science courses while I was there."
"The answer is actually quite simple, Rangers," Zordon interrupted. "It is a matter of mere pride. King Mondo would rather renounce his eldest son than admit that any of Arradon's creations could be useful additions to the Machine Empire."
"I guess we should be grateful that he's so petty," Kat said. "We're better off dealing with them separately."
"They would be a remarkable force for evil if they combined their efforts," Zordon agreed.
"So what are they up to?"
Billy glanced at a console. "Still nothing, yet. They only just got here."
"For now, they are likely convincing Queen Machina to accept their aid," Zordon explained. "Machina was more accepting of their relationship than her husband was, though not willing to challenge his decision. If they pose an imminent threat, I will be sure to alert you."
"Understood, Zordon. Thanks," Jason said with a nod.
Adam's textbook and notes were spread out in front of him on the Juice Bar, as well as in front of the chairs to either side of him. Ernie grinned. The normally conscientious teen clearly had something on his mind; otherwise, the mess would be driving him mad.
"Big test coming up?" he asked, sliding Adam's strawberry smoothie a few inches back to protect the growing spill of papers.
"Hmm?"
"You look distracted. Are you studying for an important exam?"
Adam looked up. "No, no tests," he said. His concentration broken for the moment, he finally noticed the extent of the jumble of schoolwork in front of him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ernie. Just haven't been getting enough sleep. I didn't mean to take up this much space."
"Don't worry about it," Ernie said with a chuckle. "Plenty of room up here right now. Just don't fall asleep on the bar, please. People will start to wonder if there's something besides juice in my smoothies."
Adam managed a tired smile. "I'll do my best."
Ernie smiled back. "Thanks. Hey, Rocky!"
Adam looked over his shoulder just as his best friend took the seat next to him. "Hi, Rocky."
"What's up, guys?" Rocky looked down at the assortment of Adam's papers in front of him. "Mind if I...?"
"Yes, sorry, I'll get everything together," Adam apologized, starting to sweep his books into a pile.
"No rush," Ernie assured him as he walked away.
"Yeah, don't hurry yourself on my account," Rocky said. "I've got room for my elbows now."
"No, I should pack up anyway. I got some good work in before I lost track of what I was doing, I'll take a break."
Rocky looked at Adam with concern. "More nightmares?" he asked, lowering his voice.
Adam nodded. "Yeah. They're bad enough on their own, but man, the damage they're doing to my sleep schedule is ridiculous." He closed the flap on his bag. "The Machine Empire only wishes they could disrupt me this badly."
"Hey, keep your voice down," Rocky joked. "They might be listening, and I don't want you giving them any ideas. I'd really prefer not to have to get out of bed at one in the morning to fight off a pencil sharpener with an attitude." With a surreptitious glance to make sure they still had privacy, he leaned in a little closer. "Kat still having the nightmares, too?"
"Yeah, and they're as bad as, or worse than, mine. The poor girl's imagination can be pretty nasty when it's riled up, it seems."
Rocky shook his head, frowning. "As if she didn't have enough to worry about. Unfortunately, on a related note, I spoke to Billy a couple hours ago. It seems more of Mondo's family is showing up while he's gone."
"There's more of them?" Adam sighed. "I didn't like the ones we already knew."
"Me, either, and from what he said, the newcomers are just as bad. Prince Gasket is Sprocket's older brother, and Archerina is Gasket's wife. Apparently, Mondo disowned Gasket when Gasket ran off and married Archerina."
Adam raised his eyebrows. "I think that's a point in their favor, really."
"Yeah, you'd think so. But Billy says that Zordon assured him, Jason and Kat that these two are just as evil as the rest of them. And if they feel like they've got something to prove, we're probably going to have our work cut out for us."
"Thanks for the good news, Rocky."
"Any time, buddy." Rocky pointed over his shoulder to the mats in the gym. "You want to stick around and practice a bit?"
Adam sighed. "Sorry, but it's not a good idea today. I don't want one of us to get hurt because I'm tired and I screwed up."
Rocky nodded. "No problem, I understand. Get some rest. I'm sure we'll be the first to know if the Machine Empire's black sheep sends Earth a 'hello.' And let me know if you need anything."
"Anything?" Adam asked.
Katherine shook her head angrily. "Still no sign of him. And we still have no idea where the hell he went." The mixture of concern and anger that had been building up inside her was finally letting itself out.
"Look, we can be pretty sure he's going the same direction we are. He's got the same goal we do, he's just being, well, stupid and stubborn about it. So 'no sign of him' is a good sign; it means he's still mobile. Once we get moving again, we can pick up our pace a bit, see if we can catch up to him before he gets himself killed."
"Don't say that!"
"Kat... you know what happened to the others," Adam said, his voice cracking a bit this time. "We can't pretend he couldn't be dead. I mean, you heard what those other two said; they told us outright that he was dead where they're from."
"Please, stop." The Pink Ranger sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "I need him. We need him. How are we going to come back from this without him?"
The Green Ranger sighed, bringing his hand up to his increasingly useless helmet as though he were going to rub his brow. "Forgive me for being negative, Kat — it's just been that kind of a day — but how are we going to come back from this at all? The fiends have done more damage to Earth in the past few hours than our previous enemies, combined, managed to do across their entire tenures. We're more outnumbered than before, we're way outgunned, and even if we manage, somehow, to successfully drive them away, we'll still have —"
"— nothing else left."
As Kat finished saying the words, she started in her chair. "What happened?" she began to ask, but there was nobody around to tell her. She was slumped across her desk, alone in her bedroom, and feeling ready to vomit. And, besides, she knew the answer.
Another damned vision. The Last Night. It had to be. She didn't know how she had ever confused those nightmares for one of these.
Kat was unaware that she had cried, but her cheeks were wet; she reached up and wiped them off. Her stomach kept turning over as her brain processed more of the vision. She was about to head to the bathroom as a precaution when she heard her mother call for her.
"Katherine! Phone for you!"
Kat hadn't even heard the phone ring. She got up on unsteady legs and left her bedroom, walking slowly to try to avoid falling. "Who is it?" she called back, hoping her voice didn't give anything away.
"Adam."
Of course. She picked up the phone her mother had left on the counter for her and immediately turned back toward her room. "Adam, it's me."
Adam, clearly tense, wasted no time. "Did you get it, too?"
"Yeah. God, they just keep getting worse."
"No kidding. We need to tell the others."
"Do we really?" Kat whispered.
"What? Didn't catch that, Kat."
"Nothing. We'll meet at the Power Chamber and tell Zordon first. I'll be there in a couple of minutes."
"Same. I'll see you there. Is Tanya with you?"
"No, she's still at the Youth Center with Rocky, I think."
"All right. Stay strong, Kat."
"You, too."
Kat looked herself over in the mirror. She didn't look great, but she didn't think she looked terribly suspicious, either. Hopefully, her mother wouldn't pay too much attention.
"Hey," Kat said on her way through the living room, "I'm just going over to Adam's for a while; I told him we would study together."
"Sure." Her mother looked her over quickly. "Where are your books?"
"I'm just going to use his," Kat covered. "No reason for me to carry mine back and forth."
"All right. Don't be out too late."
"I won't."
As soon as Kat was sure that she was out of sight, she teleported to the Power Chamber.
"This is indeed disturbing news," Zordon said to Kat and Adam and to Billy, who was standing a few feet away, arms crossed. "Alpha, contact the other Rangers. We must inform them immediately."
Before Alpha could comply, Billy spoke up. "Just a minute, please, Zordon," he said. "Yes, we need to tell the Rangers that there's been another vision and the basics of what was seen, but — and no offense, guys — there are a lot of vague details in there. I'm not sure it'll do us any good to tell them everything."
"They need to know," Adam replied. "They deserve to know."
Billy shook his head. "But what will they 'know,' and what will they just suspect the worst about? Look at what we don't know from your firsthand experience. We don't know who you two were talking about trying to find, except that it was a 'him.'"
"I think we can be pretty sure it was Tommy," Adam said, eyebrow raised.
"Still, we shouldn't have everybody who isn't Tanya worried. Also, who are these 'other two' you mentioned, and where did they come from? What exactly 'happened to the others,' and which of us are 'the others?'" He took a few steps forward. "Adam, I understand your point, but there's so much uncertainty in your accounts that I think it's best if we streamline the story a bit."
Kat nodded, glad to hear Billy say what she had thought a few minutes ago. "I agree," she said firmly. "We can't hold back anything essential, but we don't need them to have the same worries we have. That won't make us any more ready to fight this."
Adam looked at both of them for a moment, then shrugged. "You might be right."
"There is wisdom in this approach," Zordon acknowledged, "but there is also danger. Never forget, your greatest strength is your teamwork. In the face of such a terrible threat, we must be careful not to create any divisions."
"Of course, Zordon," Kat said.
"Very well. Let us summon the others now." Zordon paused while Alpha pushed the outgoing communications button and waited for an answer. "Rangers, please report to the Power Chamber at once. Adam and Katherine have experienced another vision."
Within a minute or so, the rest of the team had gathered. Tommy had hugged Kat while Rocky and Tanya clustered around Adam, and the visionaries had told their abbreviated story.
"So there's no way to tell who you were separated from, at all, right?" Tommy asked.
"Not for sure, no," Kat said, shaking her head. "Anything we don't explicitly see or think, we don't bring back with us."
"But why?" Tanya asked. "How can you remember remembering, but not remember what you remembered?" She grimaced. "If that's actually a coherent sentence."
"The mind is complicated," Billy elaborated. "We speak of the concept of 'complete thoughts,' but the brain doesn't form complete thoughts; it forms connections, writes a map and, when it needs to remember, it follows that map again. But our Kat and Adam aren't the ones who were having those thoughts. They don't have the connections, so when they try to follow the map, it doesn't take them where they're trying to go."
"It's like it's on the tip of our tongues," Kat said in summary.
"Well, there's good news at the bottom of this," Jason said, causing the others to all turn toward him. "I mean, this is further evidence that wherever Kat and Adam are on the Last Night, they don't think they're alone. Some of us are still there. Maybe all of us."
You know what happened to the others.
Adam bit his tongue. Jason was wrong, but the last thing in the entire world that Adam wanted to say right now was that Jason was wrong.
Billy was better at the easy lie. "Good thinking, Jase," he said, clapping his oldest friend on the shoulder. "Let's all keep in mind that we don't know everything for sure." Not a lie, then, not really; just a truth told to mislead.
"Besides," Tommy said, Billy's words bringing the Red Ranger's confidence through, "I'm not ready to say that we can't change whatever's going to happen. We're the Power Rangers. We can't, and we won't, go into this expecting defeat."
Adam and Tanya were facing away from Rocky, who was very carefully carrying three smoothies back to their table. "Will one of you take yours before I drop all three?"
"Sorry, Rocky," Tanya said with a smile, reaching up and taking two from her teammate. She took a sip of Adam's before passing it on.
Rocky put his own smoothie down and sat down next to Adam. "How are you feeling today, man? Nightmares?"
Adam shook his head. "No, actually. The vision's still messing with me, granted, but no nightmares last night. Kat says she didn't have any, either."
"Good news with a bad cause still counts as good news, I'd say," Rocky said.
"Well, yeah; all else being equal, I'd rather not have the nightmares," Adam replied with a shrug. "But if we're talking preferences here, I'd rather have the nightmares than the visions. At least the nightmares don't feel as real when they're over."
Tanya affectionately nudged Adam. "Hey, I'm on Tommy's side, here. We're going to make sure the visions aren't real, either. Whoever's doing this to you is in for a rude awakening."
"You're assuming someone's doing it to me, though. What if it's just a side effect of the Heart of Turmoil? Or what if somebody's doing it to Kat, and I'm just caught in the blast with her?"
"Either way, we're going to stop them, man," Rocky insisted. "Heart or no Heart, we can beat this."
Tanya nodded emphatically. "Rocky's right. We've been through too much to be so easily defeated now."
"I hope you're right," Adam said, attempting a smile.
Rocky's attempt at a reassuring response was interrupted by their communicator alarms. With a sigh and a sad look at his mostly full smoothie, Rocky left the table, leading the others into the hallway. "We read you, Zordon," he answered after confirming the coast was clear.
"You are needed in the Power Chamber, Rangers. Prince Gasket has made his first appearance on Earth."
"We're on our way."
The trio arrived just after Tommy and Kat, and Jason was only a few seconds behind them.
"We may not have time to waste," Zordon said once the whole team had assembled. "Observe the Viewing Globe."
The Rangers looked to see three distinctive mechanical beings, along with a small squad of Cogs. Two of the beings were recognizable as Prince Gasket and Archerina.
"Gasket and Archerina showed up a few moments ago, but they haven't really done anything yet," Billy explained. "They're either waiting for something or looking to introduce themselves."
"How polite of them," Jason deadpanned.
"And who's the third?" Tommy asked.
"They have brought along a monster they call the Primal Piston," Zordon explained. The Viewing Globe zoomed in on the exiled prince's creation, a savage-looking robot whose structure was dominated by an assortment of cylinders. "This creature's construction makes it capable of very quick, powerful attacks."
"They're still just kind of... standing there." Tommy turned toward Billy. "Any indication of a trap?"
Billy shrugged. "I can't rule it out; I have no way of knowing what he's got planned. But the group we see there are definitely the only ones in the area. There's nobody hiding out and no sign of any signal interference that would indicate some kind of cloaking screen."
"Good enough for me. It's morphin' time!"
"Ah, here they are, Archerina," Gasket said. "The Power Rangers. Earth's defenders." He even offered a small bow in their direction.
"Good, you know us and we know you, Prince Gasket," the Red Ranger said. "So let's get right to the point. Leave. Now."
"Unless you want a taste of what your old man went through," the Blue Ranger added smugly.
Gasket waved off the remark. "Mondo is old, nearing obsoletion. He doesn't have the sense or strategic mind he used to. You'll find I don't share that problem, and he'll understand it, too, once he comes back."
Kat cocked her head. "Maybe, but you've got a time limit, don't you?" Off Gasket's clearly puzzled look, she continued. "You need to beat us before he's ready to return. If Mondo sees that the Power Rangers were defeated, maybe you regain your rightful place in the Empire. But if he comes back, and all he finds are you two cowering on the moon and us as strong as ever, you have to run away, and Dad'll never take you seriously again."
"Careful, Pink Ranger," Archerina cut in. "Our family affairs are none of your business. You wouldn't want us to take it personally."
"Nonetheless, your point is understood." Gasket walked back to Archerina. "There's no need to waste any more time. We'll let you have some fun with our friends here. Farewell, Rangers."
Teleportation flashes carried the prodigal Prince and his wife back to the moon. Simultaneously, the assembled Cogs charged the Rangers, looking for a tactical advantage while they were distracted. However, they were still slower than the Rangers' reflexes, and combined with the small size of their squad, they barely managed to put up a fight.
The Primal Piston stayed out of the skirmish, watching the Rangers handle the Cogs. Then, with a satisfied nod, he stepped forward to take their attention. "Somewhat impressive, you colorful cretins," he begrudgingly admitted. "But you'll find I'm no such pushover!"
"Let's see about that," Rocky said in rebuttal. The Blue Ranger led the charge to the Primal Piston's position, prepared to deliver the first blow. As soon as Rocky was in range, though, the Primal Piston made a strike of his own with lightning quickness.
Rocky never saw it coming, and was flying backward from the force of the hit before the pain even registered. The landing knocked the wind out of him.
"Rocky!" Tommy shouted. "Are you all right?"
"Don't know yet," Rocky gasped. "Thing packs a harder punch than I thought."
"Time to find out how well he can handle a Gold Rush, then!" Jason moved in to attack, but the Piston was quicker. Unlike Rocky, Jason was able to recognize that the Piston had the jump on him, and the Gold Ranger tried to move out of the way of the Piston's kick. He was only partly successful; a cylinder slammed into his own right leg with a tremendous impact, sending Jason rolling. Instinctively, he tried to go with the roll and get back to his feet, but as soon as he tried to put his weight on his right leg, he collapsed hard, grunting in pain.
"Two for two!" The Primal Piston gloated. "Who wants to try next?"
"Spread out, Rangers!" Tommy called. The Red Ranger took the face-to-face position as the other three mobile Rangers moved to circle the monster, all keeping a safe distance from the Piston's punch and kick range.
"Oh, please, by all means, let's try this," the Piston chuckled. "Do you want me to work clockwise or counterclockwise?"
"The more important question is, 'how well can you handle a fight on two fronts?'" Tommy asked, seeing Tanya move into attack position from behind. To try to give her an opening, Tommy jumped in for an attack of his own, focusing more on bracing himself for the Piston's counterattack than on getting a successful hit.
As it turned out, though, the Primal Piston was quite capable of fighting on two fronts. He bent over slightly and thrust his right arm forward and his left leg backward. Both the Red and Yellow Rangers took direct hits. With pained shouts, they hit the ground, rolling quickly out of range. The Pink and Green Rangers fell back, regrouping with their allies; Jason was on his feet, but still limping, while Rocky couldn't stand completely straight.
"I think we need a new plan," the Red Ranger said through clenched teeth.
Alpha was displaying his distress by spinning in place with his hands in the air. "Should we prepare the Zords, Billy?"
Billy, watching the battle, shook his head absently. "I don't think we'll need them."
"What do you mean, Billy?" Zordon asked. "Why not?"
"Because," Billy started, then stopped, confused. "I don't know. Sorry. Obviously, we should prepare the Zords." He moved back to his console to make sure everything was in order. "I just... I had a really strong feeling that we're not going to need to use them."
"The Primal Piston is a fierce competitor, Billy," Zordon said with what Billy would swear was the tiniest hint of disapproval. "We must not be unprepared should Gasket choose to make his monster grow, or else it could destroy a significant area of the city."
"Of course, Zordon," Billy said. "They'll be ready."
Jason had discovered that for all the speed of the Primal Piston's attacks and reactions, it was not quite as fast as him on the ground. However, undaunted, the Piston continued to move after him, turning Jason's advantage against him by nearly managing to keep him isolated. "Rangers, a little help?"
"We're trying!" Tommy and Kat were moving to intercept, but the sudden movements and reactions of the Gold Ranger and the Primal Piston were keeping the pair from predicting their path. "If you could sit still for just one second..."
"Are you nuts, Tommy? I'm going to feel that first hit for weeks!"
"You think you'll have weeks to feel it?" the Piston growled. "You should be so lucky."
Jason, running on instinct, leaped into a tree as the Piston prepared another charge. By the time the metal monstrosity had reached his position, the Gold Ranger had climbed up to a steady branch and was studying his options. "Going to guess climbing's not really your thing, big guy!"
"No," the Piston agreed. "I'm much more into demolition!" A full-power punch to the trunk easily broke the tree with a loud snap. Jason, surprised at the monster's destructive power, nonetheless managed to jump out and make a safe landing, instinctively covering his head as the tree landed behind him. On the bright side, he had reunited with the rest of the team.
"Hey, what'd that tree ever do to you?" Adam asked the Piston.
"He's too fast to dodge and we can't stay ahead of him forever, guys," Tommy said as the rest of the team positioned themselves beside him. "We need to find this thing's vulnerable points!"
Rocky scoffed. "Sure. He hit me really fast with a huge chunk of metal where his fist should be. What's the vulnerable point of a huge chunk of metal that can go about Mach 3?"
"Not the chunk," Tanya said in realization. "The connection!"
"We can aim our attacks at the connecting pins, but can we get close enough to get clear shots?" Rocky was still dubious. "There's not much margin of error there."
"Any better ideas?" Tommy asked.
"I hate when you ask me that."
"Then we'll give it a try. Zeo Laser Pistols! Let's do it, Rangers!"
The team pulled their weapons and tried to draw a bead on the Piston, but even this proved to be a treacherous proposition. Staying in one spot long enough to aim at such small targets gave the Primal Piston plenty of time to charge, forcing them to move or take a hard hit. The Rangers fluidly transitioned into a two-team strategy, with three of them aiming at once while the other three moved, and two of them typically managing to fire while the Piston's target retreated. This method allowed them to hit the Piston with several shots, but their aim was too rushed and imprecise; they accomplished little besides scorching some nonessential targets and further angering the monster.
To the Rangers' dismay, the Primal Piston was cunning even when angry. With the team of Tanya, Jason and Katherine readying shots, the Piston clearly set its sights on the Yellow Ranger. Kat positioned herself, prepared to fire, and realized that the Piston's move had been a feint; it was coming for her. Kat fired a desperation shot to no effect and prepared to move, only to discover that her positioning and his angle of attack left her effectively cornered.
"Kat!" Tommy's desperate call was too far away; Tanya was closest to her, but couldn't catch the Piston or capture its attention at this point. Kat braced herself and hoped for the best. The last thing the Pink Ranger saw was the Piston's cylinder flying at her —
— which she dodged.
"Lucky idiot!" the Primal Piston muttered. "Try that again!"
The second punch was point-blank. Kat had nowhere to go and no time to get there. But, again, she was somehow in motion sooner than seemed possible, and she sidestepped the blow with room to spare.
"Kat!" Tommy had much more surprise than desperation in his voice at this point. "Keep it up!"
"Doing my best!" she had time to reply before evading a third attack.
Tanya was as close as she dared to get and firing careful shots at the Primal Piston, hoping to distract it as much as to get a good hit. But even with Adam stopping beside her to add his own shots and Jason firing from the other side, it was now too angry to focus on anybody but Kat. Tanya, however, saw her opportunity and took it. Trusting her Ranger reflexes, she let Adam take over keeping up the pressure from their position and stood motionless with her Laser Pistol ready. The instant she saw her target open, she fired, landing a bull's-eye on the connection between the Piston's arm and the deadly cylinder on the end.
The Piston, preparing another swing at Katherine, was horrified to discover that that cylinder was now fused in place. "No!" he shouted, finally turning away from the Pink Ranger and rushing at the Yellow. "You're going to wish you hadn't done that!"
But Tanya was already in motion. Too furious to care who he lashed out against, the Primal Piston aimed its good arm at Adam —
— and Adam, seemingly without thinking, dodged the punch.
Rocky shook his head in amazement. "It's like they know when it's going to hit!"
"I think they do," Tommy said seriously; his next strategy was already forming in his head. "Kat and Adam, take the point, he's all yours! Tanya, Jason, let's light him up!"
The anger of the Piston was steadily being replaced by the realization that something had gone seriously wrong. No matter how quickly he attacked or how widely he varied his angle of approach, the Pink and Green Rangers were somehow one step ahead of him at all times. The fearsome monster now looked like a fool, a look that only got worse when a shot from Rocky fused his remaining arm, and his reaction caused him to hesitate enough for Jason to fuse one leg.
"Close in, Rangers!" Tommy called, his typical enthusiasm back in his voice now that the team was firmly in control. "But watch that last leg!"
Down to one usable hitting-limb, the Piston's attacks slowed tremendously. Without the hydraulic power behind them, the cylinders were no great threat, and attempting to position his functioning leg for a kick typically gave its target time to move away. Covered in laser scorches and unstable from all the impacts, the Piston's last kick proved its doom. Adam not only saw it coming, he was able to drive his pistol right into the leg as it passed harmlessly by, firing the last fusing shot from just inches away. With its limbs locked, unable to regain its footing, the Primal Piston fell backwards and stayed down.
Tommy pumped his fist. "Finish it, guys!" The instruction proved almost unnecessary. Grounded and crippled, the Piston could offer no defense. The Rangers soon had to make some distance between them and the small explosion that announced the end of the Primal Piston.
Tanya was all smiles in the Power Chamber, with a "That was amazing, guys!" for Kat and Adam. "How did you figure out his pattern?"
"There wasn't a pattern, or at least I didn't see one," Adam said. "I just knew, somehow, and I bet Kat did, too." Kat nodded agreement.
"So it's Last Night-related. The newest part of the visions." Tommy shook his head. "I won't complain about something good coming from those, but I don't like the fact that it was able to play that much of a part in the fight. If this foresight, or whatever it was, was strong enough that you knew exactly how to dodge his attacks, what happens if the next bout of it isn't as beneficial?"
"Anything that can take over for a Ranger's fighting instincts that well can probably also be a distraction if the knowledge isn't as useful," Jason confirmed. "I think we might've dodged a bullet on this one. And, man, what if it's even stronger next time?"
"Then we'll worry about it next time," Kat replied. "I never felt out of control or distracted, personally. If it happens again, I'm confident it won't be a problem."
"I just wish we knew more about what happened," Tommy said. "I hate adding another thing like this to our pile of unanswered questions."
Billy held up his hand. "This isn't the first time we've seen something like this, though. Remember how this all started? It wasn't Kat's first full vision, it was Kat hearing something the rest of us didn't hear."
Kat nodded. "That's right. But I got kind of dizzy when that happened. I wasn't dizzy this time."
"But I don't think this time was the second time," Billy continued. "The second time was later, before you fought the Crude Dude. You said a name none of us had heard, and I don't recall you experiencing any dizziness."
Kat thought. "I didn't. I'd almost forgotten about that one, actually, but no, no dizziness then. Just frustration and worry."
"So I think it's safe to say this is at least the third incident of its kind. You, and now Adam, had the same type of insight as in your previous two experiences, but this time, you were able to put it to practical use. That might also be why it lasted as long as it did; you were focused on using the information, not on wondering why you thought it." Billy's tone had changed slightly for the last few words, though nobody appeared to notice, and he headed for the computers.
"I didn't have anything like this happen before the visions started," Adam said. "So, yeah, we can safely say it's tied to them."
"Or to me," Kat responded, almost bitterly.
Zordon spoke up. "Katherine, I do not believe we are yet able to distinguish between those two possibilities. Nor are we able to declare that they are the only two."
"Well, it looks like Billy's had an idea," Rocky noted.
The teen genius was now half-hidden behind a console, fully engrossed in whatever he was doing. He looked up upon hearing his name. "Hmm? Sorry. I was just thinking about something that happened here during the fight."
"The same thought has occurred to me, Billy," Zordon confirmed.
Jason turned to his oldest friend, hearing in his voice what the others couldn't. "What happened, Billy?"
"Something very similar." Billy ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Alpha asked me if we should prepare the Zords, and I just said, without considering it, that we weren't going to need them."
"And we didn't need them," Rocky said. "So, uh, 'good thinking, Billy, way to go?'"
Billy shook his head. "No, this happened much too early in the fight for me to have been so sure. You hadn't touched the Primal Piston yet, and he'd knocked down most of you. There was every possibility that we'd have to send out the Zords. I should have expected to have to send them. But to me, at that moment, there was no chance that you would need them."
Kat caught Adam's gaze and nodded. "I think we see what you mean, Billy."
"That does sound a little familiar," Adam agreed.
"Is it really that similar, though?" Tommy asked. "It's not as though you knew how the Primal Piston was going to attack, the way Kat and Adam did."
"Different stimuli," Billy explained. "If you had asked Kat or Adam if you'd need the Zords, unless they focused on their answer, they'd probably have just said 'no.' And if I were out there, I'd guess that I'd know exactly how to avoid the Piston's punches, though I'm not sure I'd have been able to do so without the quickness of a morphed Ranger."
Tommy sighed. "All right. Yeah, that makes sense, unfortunately." He turned back to Kat and Adam. "Following Billy's logic, then, I think the next order of business is —"
"We have to move."
Kat was on her feet instantly. "Storm fiends?"
"Not yet, but probably soon; we've got another dimensional tear. The damned things are everywhere. We're not going to get a break."
Adam shook his head. "We'll break when we're dead. Which, the way things are going — twenty minutes, give or take?"
"Enough, Adam." Katherine was using all her remaining emotional strength to be firm with the Green Ranger. "We're going to make it. We'll find Tommy, we'll wipe the fiends off the planet, and then —"
"And then what? And then what, Kat?" Adam spun to face her. "What, exactly, do we do next? Can you raise the dead? Because I sure as hell can't, and that leaves us without Jason, Rocky or Tanya." His voice caught.
"Adam..." Kat said, managing to convey a mixture of heartache and anger in that one word.
"I'm sorry, Kat. I know that if I were in your place, that if Tanya could be somewhere ahead of us, I would be saying the same things you are with the same conviction. But she's not." The Green Ranger dropped his gaze, looking as defeated as any of them ever had. "And I don't know what I'm going to do without her."
"I do," Billy interjected. "If you get through this, you will mourn her for a long time, but you'll honor her forever." He put his hand on Adam's shoulder, crouching a bit to get his face into Adam's line of sight. "As will we. And we'll do the same for Rocky, and for Jason. It will hurt like hell — it already does — but I promise you, you'll know what to do. They were Rangers, they died as Rangers. You two are Rangers; you'll live as Rangers. It's what they would want." He pointed at the handheld scanner. "And if you're going to live, we have to move. Quickly."
Adam reached up to clasp Billy's hand briefly. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks. Let's go." He took two steps, then stopped again. "Except for one thing, Billy. All three of us are Rangers." Billy was ready to respond, but Adam was more than willing to talk over him. "I don't care if you don't have a uniform; mine sure isn't doing me that much good anymore. We're all Rangers. And it's all the more important to say so if we're the —"
"— last ones left."
Kat's jaw painfully bumped the ground on the last word; she was facedown on the Power Chamber floor. Tommy hadn't managed to catch her this time, but he was crouching right in front of her. She could see Adam, also down, with Tanya holding his head gently. The four shoes between them belonged to Jason and Rocky.
Jason didn't even stop to ask if they were OK. "'Last ones left?' All right, guys, we're going to need an explanation."
Kat, who'd met Adam's eyes as soon as they both could focus, was momentarily saved from having to give that explanation by the next word out of her mouth. "Billy?"
"Billy?" Jason echoed, then, while moving toward the console, "Billy!"
"Billy, man, I'm sorry," Tommy said, rushing over to help Jason tend to their friend. "I didn't see you go down."
"My fault for being on the other side of the room, I suppose," Billy said. His tone was light as he got to his feet, but his face told quite a different story. He immediately began working on the computer again.
"Did you...?" Kat began to ask; there was no need to finish.
Billy nodded. "Yes. I saw it." He checked the results of his scan. "And I'm no longer out of sync with reality. The scanner is reading me as in tune with Adam and Kat now."
"That's three," Rocky said. "We can't let this spread; we're doomed if we all go down at once from one. We need to get this figured out."
"No," Jason said. "This is what we need to figure out: what was the beginning of the sentence that ended with 'last ones left?'"
The three visionaries exchanged looks, but didn't speak at first.
"Kat, please," Tommy said. "We need to know everything. What can you tell us?"
Kat was working on gathering her thoughts, but Billy stepped forward instead. "Based on my experience in the vision, we can say the following for sure about the Last Night." He paused, visibly unsure of how to word what he was about to say, then pressed ahead. "The primary antagonists are called 'storm fiends;' I don't know anything more than that about them. By this time in the Night, Rocky, Jason and Tanya have died." He tried very hard not to hear Tanya's gasp. "Given what we know from the previous visions, it likely happened much earlier in the Night, possibly even before Kat's first vision. Tommy is separated from the group, but we don't know why. Tommy, I have no information about your condition. Katherine, Adam and I remain together, and we all looked reasonably healthy, though indications were that the Zeo powers were not at their best. Kat and Adam can say more about that."
"We're definitely underpowered at that point," Kat said, with a quick, grateful glance to Billy for saying the things she didn't want to say. "I couldn't give you the first guess as to the cause, though."
"Can either of you add anything to Billy's story?" Jason looked between Kat and Adam.
"No, he covered the essentials of it." Adam was holding Tanya quite tightly; either she didn't notice or she didn't mind.
"Kat? Anything at all?"
"Nothing else from me, Jason," Kat said. "Except that vision seemed longer than the others."
"It is likely that as the Heart approaches, its effects are intensifying," Zordon confirmed. "Your experiences may be longer and clearer as a result."
"Add 'intensifying' to the list of words I could've done without hearing today, please," Adam remarked. "It doesn't need to be any more intense."
"I'll look into ways to try to dull its effects on us," Billy said. "Now that I have myself as a test subject, I can potentially work more efficiently. I don't know if I'll come up with anything; this is way beyond my expertise. But I can at least — what is it now?" The last exasperated question was brought on by yet another series of beeps from an infrequently-used console.
"We're receiving a recorded message," Alpha explained. "It appears to be related to the galactic alerts about the Heart."
"I would assume that this will be the official record of the theft of the Heart," Zordon said. "I have been expecting its arrival. We may have some of our questions answered here. Billy, Alpha, please display it on the Viewing Globe."
Billy nodded. "On it." After a few seconds, the Viewing Globe came alive with writing none of them could identify.
"Don't suppose the computers can translate the video like they did the written messages, can they?" Rocky asked.
"Afraid not," Billy said. "Zordon, do you recognize the language?"
"I do," their mentor replied. "I am quite familiar with it. The video confirms the theft of the Heart of Turmoil and the time at which it occurred." The writing was replaced by a new message. "It claims we are about to see footage recorded by those who lost their lives in the defense of the Heart."
Tanya grimaced. "Not sure we want to see that."
Jason shrugged in response. "No, but it could give us a lot of valuable information about what we're dealing with."
The footage appeared on the Viewing Globe. Neither the spoken language nor the subtitles were comprehensible to the Rangers, requiring Zordon to continue to translate. "The intent currently appears to be the reporting of a security flaw. They are announcing a 'minor assault' on their position by a lone attacker, but they do not understand how he managed to arrive without being noticed."
As the Rangers watched, the footage jumped forward in time. They could tell that the speaker was far more frantic than before. "'The intruder continues without difficulty. The Heart must be considered at risk.' They are preparing additional emergency defenses and requesting backup."
Another jump, this time to a much shakier view of a clear battle scene. This time, the narration sounded as though it had been added afterward. "This is apparently the latest footage they were able to recover. It was recorded by the helmet camera of one of the last-surviving defenders."
A blast to one side was loud enough to startle the Rangers. The defender bearing the camera had been thrown from its feet and apparently injured; its shaky attempt to get off the ground was unsuccessful. "And this is the best identification they have of the intruder."
The Rangers immediately leaned closer, ready to pick out any possible detail from the video. They need not have bothered. As the defender turned its head to try to face its attacker, the image settled on two legs the teens were certainly familiar with. All seven of them recognized the intruder, as evidenced by the batch of simultaneous shouts and gasps they let out upon seeing the chrome and exposed muscle of his limbs.
"Of course," Tommy muttered darkly. "Who else could it have been? Who else in the whole of the universe would hate us enough to capture a powerful artifact and immediately fly to Earth with it?" He turned away from the Viewing Globe. "Zordon, what can Lord Zedd do with the Heart of Turmoil?"
Zordon sounded genuinely shaken. "I do not know, Tommy. The Heart will clearly enhance his capabilities, but I cannot say to what degree. This will likely be the greatest challenge you have faced in your time as Rangers."
"Our greatest challenge," Rocky repeated, "and we already know we lose. Zedd finally gets the better of us."
Jason was firm. "No, Rocky. We're not bound by the future they've seen in the visions. We're going to change it. We're going to survive it, all of us. Forget his new Heart; we're going to kick Zedd so hard in his metal teeth that he's going to have to run away and spend months replacing those."
"Jason's right, guys," Tommy said, turning to the team with a confident smile. "We know who we're facing now, and we've beaten him before, many times. We know about his new toy, so he's not going to surprise us with that. And because of the visions, we know what we're fighting for. We won't let that future come true. The only thing we don't know is when he's going to get here, but we know we'll be ready for him. Let's get to work!"
Billy gazed around the Power Chamber. This late at night, Alpha was inactive during his routine diagnostics, and Zordon was not present in the Chamber proper. He tapped a short command into the communications console. Two quick acknowledgements followed, and Billy nodded, satisfied.
Kat arrived first, teleporting in with the customary flash of pink. They didn't have to wait long for Adam to arrive, though he looked as though he might have dozed off while waiting for the call. With the Pink and Green Rangers both in their sleepwear, Billy felt absurdly overdressed for a moment.
He shook it off. "All right, guys," he began. "I know this was my idea, but I'm afraid I haven't come up with anything, myself. What do you have?"
"Nothing that isn't either horribly desperate or horribly obscene." Kat shook her head. "Or both. I'm ashamed of my ideas; I can't even bring myself to discuss them."
Adam frowned. "The best I could come up with was giving up the Power. That would certainly mean that the future we're seeing can't come to pass. But we know Zedd's on his way, so what would we really accomplish by doing that? Leaving the world completely defenseless, or thrusting six other innocent people in his way? Those aren't acceptable outcomes."
"I don't even think it would guarantee we'd avoid the future in the visions," Billy said. "There's nothing about what we've seen of the Last Night that indicates you didn't do that. It's entirely possible you're in the visions because you had to reassume the Power."
"My ideas were rather more permanent," Kat muttered. "But if they didn't work, well... there'd be no backup plans."
"I think I have an idea of your ideas, Kat, and we're going to dismiss them right now." Billy was firm. "Even if they did have a chance of averting the Last Night, there are some risks we won't take."
"I don't think I could do it, anyway," she replied.
"Good. Keep it that way."
Adam wasn't following the discussion, but had a pretty good idea he didn't want to. "So where does that leave us?"
"Here, waiting," Billy replied. "We don't have enough information to proactively avoid this threat, and I'm sorry to say that I don't think we ever will."
"Don't say that. It can't be hopeless," Kat said quietly.
"It's not hopeless. Not ever." Billy took her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "You, out of all of us, would never let it be. But while Tommy and Jason will talk abstractly about beating this, the three of us need to be realistic. It may be that the only way we can overcome Zedd and the Heart is by reacting the right ways at the right times, not by planning a grand strategy here tonight."
Billy let Kat go and straightened up. "Our big advantage here is that the three of us have seen the Last Night. We have actual memories of what it's like and of some things that will — sorry, that could — happen. So we need to discuss them as best we can over the coming days, and see what we can know for sure. We can meet here when we need to."
"Won't Zordon get suspicious?" Adam asked. "And should we really be hiding this from him?"
"We're not hiding it from him. We're not capable of that. I'm sure he knows we're here and what we're talking about, and if he disapproved, he'd tell us."
"Fair enough," Kat acknowledged. "So the three of us keep in touch and do our best to have epiphanies. If we pool our experiences and our new thoughts, we'll have the clearest possible perspective on what we're going to face."
Billy nodded. "If we can't sidestep the Last Night, we can at least see it coming. And if we're smart, and good, and maybe a little bit lucky, our actions and reactions could save our world and our friends."