ELSEWORLDS : EARTH O - ESCALATION
Chapter 1 - CHILD'S PLAY
The war with Rita and Zedd had been going on for the past two years. Even with their new ninjetti powers, the two sorcerers were formidable foes to be reckoned with. Sometimes, Kim feared that they would be attacked in their homes and killed in their sleep. However thanks to the forcefields around their houses, she had one less thing to be frightened of. Her life was a mess ever since Zordon selected her to be his pink ranger. Yet she wouldn't change a single moment of it. Her experiences made her a better person. Her powers helped her save so many innocent lives. Kimberly Hart was content with her life, and accepted the craziness that came with it.
If only other people in the planet were as open minded to the stuff that was taking the world by storm, as she was. Alas, people tended to fear what they didn't understand... something their enemies took full advantage of.
Zedd had leaked the whereabouts of the Command Center to a rogue xenophobic faction of an organisation called A.P.E.X , the same institution responsible for detaining aliens in Area 51.
A missle directly headed for the giant structure located in the desert in the outskirts of Angel Grove. The crane Zord flew over one, caught it with it's talons, and manoeuvred the missle back at the army tank, which had launched it.
Kim saw a soldier being teleported away from the tank just before it exploded into smithereens.
The falcon zord redirected a missle towards the skies, and the bear zord destroyed several tanks by stomping on them.
The red, black and the blue rangers stood infront of the people who had tried to destroy their base of operations. They should have been killed when the zords had retaliated. But killing was against their code. Besides that was exactly what Zedd wanted ... the death of humans at the hands of rangers to spark an anti-ranger campaign.
" Why ?" Rocky, the red ranger asked.
" You know why. You rangers brought your galactic war to us. Zedd has promised to leave us alone if we take care of you freaks." The leader spat. All of them were covered from head to toe in black.
Billy sighed, taking off his helmet, revealing his face to them. " We're humans, just like you. Zedd started this war, not us."
"Lies." He snarled, getting up and charging at the blue ranger with a dagger." How dare you steal human faces !"
"That's enough, Agent Todd." A strong authoritative female voice echoed across the desert. The man stopped in his tracks and turned around to face a 30 year old brunette in a green military jacket.
"Commander Sheers." He said surprised.
" Seriously you thought with the attack on Promethea, I wouldn't notice you five teleporting away with military gear. You wasted our resources and allied with alien invaders. Do you have anything to say for yourself ?"
" We did the things you didn't have the guts to do." He replied cooly.
Melanie Sheers grimaced. " All of you were exceptionally talented. It would be a loss for A.P.E.X, but I suppose it'd be for the greater good."
" What ?"
Billy put his helmet back on. Melanie put on a pair of sunglasses, and took out a silver pen. She opened the cap, and a bright light flooded the entire place.
The rogue agents fell unconscious on the ground.
" Neuralyzer - always works! These people won't remember anything about you people. Tell Zordon I've taken care of the matter. " She informed, before she and the former agents disappeared in a flash of white light.
" Wow." Adam demorphed, and sighed, after checking his watch. " It's 6.18 already. So, are you guys ready for class ?"
" No. I lost my beauty sleep. I am so going to make Zedd pay for this!" Kim's voice was heard through the communicator.
Billy chuckled. "We better go home now, before our parents discover we're missing. Oh, remember our class projects today."
"Ofcourse we do. It's not a test. Just something for fun. Brainiac. " Aisha mock scolded. All them nodded, teleporting away in streaks of coloured lights.
Later that day, all of them were seated in their classroom, trying to stiffle their yawns, while Mrs Appleby taught them a poem based on childhood.
"Class, so did you bring what I asked you too ?" She asked sweetly. " A photograph from your childhood, which is close to your heart."
There was an unanimous "Yes", even from Bulk and Skull.
" Fine. Kim, why don't you go first ?"
"Um. Okay." Kim smiled widely, getting up and walking excitedly beside Mrs Appleby. She held up a photograph, and faced the entire class.
"As you can see, this is my first gymnastics competition. I didn't win. I was a bit bummed out, but you know what ? It taught me to be a good sport. We participate in games and competitions, not to win but to enhance ourselves, learn from our mistakes and have fun." She said happily.
"Excellent, Kim. Adam, why don't you go next ?"
"Sure." Adam walked up to her, with a photo of his own.
Unknown to the rangers, their activities were being observed by a devious evil.
Rita banged her fists upon the railings of her balcony, her eyes still fixated to the eyepiece of her Repsula-scope.
"Stupid kids with stupid lives." She sneered, before letting go of her telescope, and leaving the veranda.
As she left, a human boy appeared out of thin air, deactivating his cloaking spell. He held a miniature version of the Z staff. He peered into the Repsula-scope, highly interested in the events taking place in Mrs Appleby's classroom.
He watched as Adam spoke about spending time with his father, Rocky about learning responsibility by taking care of his dog Buster, Tommy about his karate competition, Billy about inculcating determination by fixing his mom's vacuum cleaner and Aisha about her happiness on performing a dance routine infront of her ailing grandmother.
He continued to listen as the other students rambled on about conquering their fears of darkness, animals and heights, and celebrating happy moments of their lives.
Unlike him, these humans were able to enjoy their childhood. He was born in a time of war. Within months, his growth was accelerated in order to give him the powers to protect himself from those who seeked to hurt him... Beings who were far older and powerful than himself. He desired to enjoy his childhood, and anyone who prevented him from doing so, would be punished.
The boy snapped his fingers, and a spell book appeared in his hands. And that's when everything changed.
He started to speak in a forgotten tongue, and purple smoke poured out from the book and enveloped everything.
Kim's eyes snapped open. She saw statues all around her. Statues which resembled her classmates. Where was she ?
The sky was purple and lightning crackled all around her.
"Kimberly !" She turned around to see her teammates running towards her. She smiled widely, enveloping Tommy in a bear hug.
" Thank god, you guys are okay !"
" Oh no... Principal Caplan...Miss Appleby !" Aisha murmured, seeing two statues holding hands together, their eyes still wide with fear. "What happened to everyone?"
They were in a desert landscape, with their classmates and teachers turned into stone.
"Must be Rita and Zedd." Rocky surmised.
"We can't reach Zordon. Nor can we morph." Billy informed.
" Are we in another dimension ?" Aisha asked. "Sure feels like it."
" All of us are trapped here." A steely voice echoed.
"Zedd !" Tommy growled, turning around to face the skinless monster and his generals- Rita, Goldar and Mordant.
" Yes, white ranger. But we are not the ones responsible for this situation." He stated coldly." The one responsible for our current situation is my son, Thrax."
"What ?" Aisha raised her eyebrows, pointing her fingers at Rita and Zedd. "You two have a kid ?"
" Save the theatrics for later, yellow..." Rita scoffed. "He used forbidden magic from my spellbook to do this. He has sent everyone older than himself to this Shadow dimension. As you can see, any normal person would be petrified. Our powers protected us from suffering the same fate. But we are still trapped here."
"Why would he do something like this ?" Tommy asked.
"We rapidly aged him to a 12 year old soon after he was born. And he might have grown jealous after spying on you wretched punks giving speeches on the importance of childhood." Rita said nonchalantly.
"You spy on us !" Kim gawked.
" Focus on the bigger picture, human." Goldar growled. "We need your help to escape."
"How ?" Billy asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "The spell restricts everyone older than Thrax from being in our reality ..."
He looked up, eyes wide open." No ! You can't mean -"
Rita smirked." I have a spell to make you relive your childhood. "
"Why would we trust you ?" Tommy snarled. " Why can't you use the spell on yourself ?"
"We are immortals, and thus immune to these spells." Zedd supplied. " We need you to save us all, power rangers."
The teens exchanged wary glances.
"The spell ... Is it reversible ?" Adam asked. " Can we use our powers as kids ?"
"You are ninjetti. Didn't Dulcea teach you kids anything ?" Rita shook her forehead.
" Wait, you know Dulcea ?" Aisha asked.
" Know her ? I see, there's a lot your mentors didnt tell you. We were friends once, before the Great War. For the ninjetti, anything is possible. Well, almost anything." The empress stated." You can reverse the enchantment, any moment you want. Just wait till you reverse Thrax's spell."
"How do we do that ?" Kim asked bluntly.
"You'll know when you open the book." She said mysteriously. "Just remember he's my son, not a monster. A living breathing person. Don't kill him please."
"We don't kill." Tommy stated coldly. "Unlike you... We're ready."
Rita waved her staff, sending a green fog at the rangers. As the smoke enveloped them, they disappeared from their veiw.
EARTH
COMMAND CENTRE
"Aie aie aie..." Alpha -5 muttered frantically. " Zordon ? 75% of the world's population has vanished, including the rangers."
"IT IS TROUBLING INDEED. I SENSE THAT ZEDD AND RITA'S MAGIC AT WORK, YET I DONOT FEEL THEIR PRESENCE ON THIS REALM. ALPHA, SCAN THOSE PEOPLE. DETECT IF THE VANISHING IS RANDOM OR PARTICULAR TO A SELECT GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS."
"Aie aie aie, Zordon. Everyone above 14 years of age have vanished. And a elusive figure has appeared in Angel Grove park. I will put up the image in the viewing globe."
The viewing globe came into action, showing a young boy dressed in white with a crown on his head, carrying a Zstaff, walking placidly amongst a crowd of confused youngsters. He raised the staff, sending an energy wave up into the sky. Instantly, everyone there looked up at him with blank faces and red eyes.
"Stupid people of Earth, I am King Thrax. Bow down and accept your positions as my subjects."
Without asking anything, they stooped to their knees.
"Zordon, he is using mind-control over those kids. How can we stop them without the rangers ?"
" ALPHA, INITIATE PROJECT SUPERSO-" Zordon broke off, his lips forming a smile. " ALPHA, THEY ARE BACK. TELEPORT THE RANGERS BACK HERE."
"Affirmative, Zordon." The robot nodded, pressing some consoles.
ANGEL GROVE
Tommy opened his eyes. He felt himself smaller. He looked at his fingers, clenching his fists.
Kim touched her face, and clutched her short hair, as she got up beside Tommy.
"We made it back." It was Rocky. Like Tommy, he had a ponytail.
Kim stifled her laughter. "You look wierd, Rocko."
"Man, I hated this -" He whined, running his hands through his hair.
"Don't sweat it, Rocky. I think you look cute." Adam punched his arm, getting up.
"Aw... You look great too-"
"You guys are adorable! But as much as I love seeing you too making lovey dovey eyes at each other, we have a planet to save." Aisha rolled her eyes, as Rocky and Adam turned red. "Billy, do you think Zordon and Alpha are still here ?"
" They should be..." Billy adjusted his glasses. "Since Zordon is an interdimensional being trapped in a time warp, and Alpha 5 is a robot, I postulate that contact with them is possible. Yet we should attempt to do so, in order to affirm-"
" Great!" Kim shouted." No matter is my hair miserable, Billy has regressed to technobabble again."
Exactly at that moment, all six kids appeared in the Command Centre.
"RANGERS, I AM GLAD TO SEE YOU AGAIN. HOW YOU REVERSE -"
" Rita did it. Her son cast a spell to banish everyone older than him to a Shadow Dimension. We need to reverse this." Billy informed.
"I SEE..." The eltarian sage mused. "CAN YOU MORPH ?"
They summoned their morphers, yet they couldn't transform.
"I THOUGHT SO." He nodded. " EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN'T MORPH, YOU ARE STILL NINJETTI. TRY TO CHANNEL YOUR ANIMAL SPIRITS."
Tommy closed his eyes and concentrated on his spirit animal. Winged lord of justice, he thought. White energy enveloped him, empowering him. He opened his eyes, but instead of finding himself in normal ninjetti gi, he found himself a white version of Superman's costume.
He looked around to see Kimberly as Sailor Moon, Aisha as Wonder Woman, Billy in an Ironman costume, Rocky as Thor and Adam as Batman.
"What..." Rocky said, lifting his red cape with one hand, and his hammer in the other.
"YOUR NINJETTI ARMOUR GAINS POWER FROM YOUR SOUL. IT APPEARS LIKE THIS BECAUSE AS KIDS, THESE HEROES WERE YOUR INSPIRATIONS. AND THUS YOUR NINJETTI ARMOUR RESEMBLES THEIRS.:" Zordon explained.
"Okay. I got that, but these are not suits of heroes or anything. These costumes are not from actual superheroes, not like us, anyways. These are just some characters from comics and tv shows." Adam said, while checking out tue various gadgets in his utility belt.
" THEY ARE MORE THAN THAT." Zordon chuckled." THERE IS MUCH YOU DON'T KNOW. BUT THAT'S A STORY FOR ANOTHER DAY. NOW, YOU MUST DEFEAT THRAX AND REVERSE THE SPELL."
"How ?" Billy asked." Thrax used a spellbook to cast this spell. We need that book to reverse this mess. For all we know, it is still on the moon. "
" NO. IT MUST STILL BE WITH THRAX. IT'S THE ONLY WAY HE'S ABLE TO CONTROL THR THE MINDS OF THOSE CHILDREN. YOU MUST RECOVER THE BOOK, SO THAT WE CAN GET THE COUNTER SPELL FROM IT."
"All right." Tommy shouted. "Back to Action!"
In jets of coloured lights, they teleported to the Angel Grove, Infront of the building which used to be the Youth Centre. Now, in it's place, stood a giant castle from the stone ages.
"Who are you ?" A voice boomed. They looked up to see Thrax hovering over them.
"We are here to fix your mess. Return everything to normal, and there's no conflict." Tommy ordered.
"Wait...You are the power rangers. It matters not how you are here, but there's no stopping me. Attack my soldiers!"
From all sides, kids dressed as knights, advanced at them, swinging swords.
"You are powerless kids. No ranger armour to defend you and no ninjetti magic to hide you. You are outnumbered, rangers! Your early Halloween costumes can't save you!"
Kim bit her lips. It was true. Their powers were gone. But then, how could she still feel strength flowing through her entire body. Then it hit her. She had powers...Her 'costume' wasn't a mere representation of the 'hero' who inspired her. It gave her the abilities of Sailor Moon. Their strength came from their imagination. And somehow, that was going to be the key to restoring the world to normal, and saving all those people trapped in the Shadow World, including their friends and families.
She smirked. Even though she was supposed to be Sailor Moon, she felt more like Sailor Chibiusa (because she was currently a child). Even though she would never admit it openly, she was a huge fan of manga and anime. And now, all those translated manga and dubbed anime would be of use... Too bad, nobody would remember this. She really wanted to brag to her mother about it.
"Moon Prism Power !"
Kim shot orbs of silver light from her tiara, disarming some kids.
"What ?" Rocky gawked.
"We are who we appear to be. We have their powers !" Kim shouted, as a silver staff appeared in her hands.
Adam nodded, sending batarangs at those attacking them, slicing their weapons to half.
" Prodigious ! This is most morphenomenal. " Billy said excitedly, as the Blue Ironman suit completely formed around him. He shot lasers from his arms and the orb in his chestplate at Thrax, which he easily deflected.
"Less babbling. More fighting, Billy!" Tommy reminded, whilst glaring at Thrax. "Let's see if I can do this. Up, up and Away !"
He raised his hands, and flew up in the sky. He smiled, as he headed directly for the scion of darkness, carefully dodging the red energy blasts thrown by Thrax's Zstaff.
He punched the boy, watching him fall to the ground. Thrax momentarily regained his balance, just before a hammer slammed against him, from behind.
He groaned as he fell head-first to the dirt, letting go of his staff. " I always wanted to use a magic hammer!" Rocky said gleefully.
" It's my turn." Aisha stated calmly, walking up to the son of their greatest enemies, and wrapping her golden lasso around his neck.
" Give us your book." She commanded.
" Never!" He roared.
"Well. Let me rephrase it. Where is the book ?"
"You'll never find it, even if you destroy me." He swore."The world will remain this way forever! It's in another dimension."
" How can we get it ?"
" Using my staff." Thrax blurted." Why am I saying all these-"
"Because the lasso of Hestia compels you to sspeak the truth." Aisha smiled. "You underestimated our imagination. Now, you pay for your sins."
Adam took hold of the staff, and tossed it to Tommy, who snapped it into two. A book popped into his hands, while the staff disintegrated to silver dust.
"Zordon, we got the book. Prepare for teleportation." Tommy stated.
Within seconds, they stood within the Command Centre, Thrax contained in an energy field.
The book floated in the air, directly infront Zordon's eyes, it's pages rapidly being flipped till it reached the last page. It fell to the metallic floor with a thud.
Zordon looked at them ominously.
"RANGERS, THE SPELL IS IRREVERSIBLE. IT'S TIED TO THRAX'S OWN LIFELINE. THE ONLY WAY TO BRING THEM BACK IS TO EITHER KILL THE CASTER OF THE SPELL OR MAKE HIM OLDER THAN EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE, BUT THAT MEANS -"
" Robbing him of his childhood, youth and everything else. He would be an old man who hasn't yet lived his life. Surely, there must be another way." Kim insisted.
" This us a war, Kim. In real life, actions have concequences. He won't die -"
Kim cut Tommy off with a glare. "Isn't this more cruel than death ?"
"Kim, if we don't do this, all of our friends and family would be gone forever." Aisha said quietly. "You know I don't want this anymore than you do, but this is the only way."
" Billy, what do you think ?"
" I ..." The blue ranger stumbled before looking down.
" Adam, Rocky ..." Kim turned around to see them having the same conflicted looks in their eyes.
"KIMBERLY, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY-"
"Do it, but it just doesn't feel right." Kim sighed, chewing her lips.
"I UNDERSTAND, MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW, KIMBERLY." Zordon replied, as he bagan to chant in an ancient tongue. Thrax shouted in pain, and a purple fog began to flow out of his mouth, engulfing everything.
" Is it done..." The fog disappeared.
They found themselves back as adults, in their civilian attire. Their superhero costumes were gone.
"Aie aie aie. You did it. The world population is back to normal."
Kim gasped, looking at Thrax. He was no longer a child. He looked barely human. His flesh had been ripped out, and twisted asymmetrical horns erupted from his head.
"What have you done to me ?" He rasped.
The veiwing globe buzzed into life, showing the faces of Rita and Zedd.
"Congratulations, rangers. You broke a spell from the Book of Darkness. We are impressed. But now, we need our son and our book back." Zedd cackled.
"YOUR BOOK WILL BE CONFISCATED, BUT YOUR SON...YOU NEED TO KNOW SOMETHING -"
"We know, Zordon." Rita said grimly. "Perhaps, this will teach my son not to play with powers beyond his comprehension."
"Aren't you a little bit worried, Rita ? This is your son! He can never be a child again. He will never have a normal life !"
"I appreciate your concern, Kimberly. But our kind donot share your human sentiments. Our son lives, and that is all that matters. Now, send him back before we send an army of monsters to retrieve him. I doubt the Command Centre could withstand that." Rita scoffed.
" VERY WELL. ALPHA."
"Aie aie aie." Alpha-5 nodded.
Thrax disappeared in streaks of silver light.
The viewing globe showed Thrax appearing between his parents.
"Thank you." Rita said, before the Viewing Globe became blank again.
"So ... that was a little bit odd !" Rocky said." But I don't understand how we became those those superheroes ."
"THE GREAT POWER WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS. CHILDREN ARE SYMBOLS OF UNLIMITED IMAGINATION. MAYBE THAT INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HARNESS THE MORPHIN GRID, BY MAKING YOU THE HEROES YOU IMAGINED YOURSELVES TO BE WHEN YOU WERE CHILDREN."
"Okay ..." Rocky said slowly. "That makes sense, somewhat."
"What do we do now ? Anyone up for a smoothie? Treat's on me!" Tommy announced, putting his arm around Kim. "I know you're bummed out, beautiful. But it's okay. We did the right thing."
"I know..." Kim said softly, as all of them teleported out of the Command Centre.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Special thanks to retro mania.
I had plans for a MMPR:TM sequel idea for a long time, but I could never figure out how to begin. Then, suddenly, out of the blue, I received a story request by retro mania to do a rewrite of "Rangers in Reverse". I did not want to stick to the original plot. So, I made my own original storyline, featuring the Mmpr:TM characters and Thrax as the villain. I have strayed a lot from the original concept, but I enjoyed writing this story nevertheless. The plot was also inspired by Justice League Unlimited episode "Kid stuff".