Powerless

Summary – It was the first time the rangers were ever truly powerless; trapped inside school with an active shooter.

01

Trini Kwan was a proponent of peace.

She believed there was good in everyone and everything and if there were any conflicts, it could be figured out with communication, listening, and words. Fighting and violence was never completely her thing and that was one of her reservations of being a ranger in the first place.

The idea of fighting against monsters and aliens when she was vehemently against violence as the fist line of defense?

Her gentle and kind nature worked well within her studies of kung fu; even with her lightning fast moves and powerful high kicks she would rather take down her opponents with the least amount of force. Trini used her mind as much as she used her hands and feet. Still, she quickly understood the responsibility that was thrust upon her and her friends to be rangers and took it very seriously. She was one of the protectors of Angel Grove, of course.

But for everything else she preferred to use her words. That's why when Ms. Appleby approached her to become a student mentor, someone who would help other students work their way through their problems, Trini quickly agreed to it. There were those who just wanted to talk, others who were having problems at home, and those who just needed a good influence on study habits to become better students. No matter how big or small the problem was, Trini would do the best she could to give them some peace of mind.

Even if it was only for a few minutes.

And she took that job very seriously.

So it was a surprise to her, after everything was said and done, that the one who had caused so much terror, was someone she thought she had been helping so much.

The morning started out like any other. She had finished getting ready for school, running a brush through her hair and had just finished touching up her makeup, when the phone in her room rang. Trini leaned across her bed to pick it up and immediately knew it was Kimberly when she put the phone to her ear.

Kimberly's light grunts of frustration sounded in the background of the call before she came on to say, "Trini, I'm having a major crisis here."

Trini couldn't help but smiled. Kimberly's life was always so passionate, even something as small as breaking a nail could lead them on some sort of an adventure. "What's going on, Kim?"

"I can't find anything to wear," Kimberly complained. "Everything I have is so…last year."

"Um…" Trini tapped her finger to her chin. "Didn't we just go clothes shopping yesterday? After our Big Sisters meeting?"

"Yeah, and that was totally fun, but I want to wear something special today. It's Tommy's and my anniversary, you know?"

"How could I forget, you've been talking about it for weeks," Trini pointed out. Her smile widened as she could practically see Kimberly's pout. They were such close friends that if Trini were on the outside looking in at them, it was like they were sisters. From the first time they met it was like kismet despite their opposites that really seemed to attract. "Kim, Tommy's going to love whatever it is you wear. But he doesn't care what you're wearing—" Trini was cut off as Kimberly started to giggle. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know, I know." Kimberly continued to laugh to herself. "I'm just picturing the look on your face."

"Ha ha, you're so funny, Kim," Trini said.

Kimberly's laughter finally faded. "You sure he won't care?"

"Kim, I'm not trying to speak badly about Tommy when I say this, but I don't think he'd even notice if you chopped your hair off into a pixie cut or dyed it blonde."

Now Trini started to laugh to herself, knowing how oblivious the white ranger could be at the best of times, not to mention his issues with remembering his homework and being on time to class. It was starting to become a joke to them, really, to see how much they could convince Tommy he was forgetting. So far Zack was in the lead with getting their fearless leader to buy the black ranger his lunch, with Jason right behind to get him to lend some money.

"He loves you for you not for what you wear. Now, tell me, what are you guys doing for your anniversary." And Trini listened as Kimberly went on about the special lunch she prepared for the two to have in the school's quad and the walk in the park they would be going on after school where they would present their gifts to each other. It all sounded really nice and Trini was happy for her best friends. "Well, that sounds like you're going to have a great day today."

"Yeah, if Rita and Zedd don't mess it up," Kimberly said.

Trini was about to mention they would if they were smart, considering Zordon and Alpha were scheduled to go on their recharge that day. Though if anything did come up they still could just use their morphers and deal with the monster themselves. Still, the nagging thought of being completely alone, even if they had defeated monsters time and time again didn't sit well with her.

Whether it was a bit of foreshadowing of the day's events to come, Trini wouldn't think about it until much later. What was going to happen? They would go to school, meet up at the Youth Center afterwards to get their workouts in and work on their homework together, then go their separate ways to either hang out some more or go home to relax and do it all again the next day. Whether or not a monster attacked was to be seen and was something they were always prepared for.

It was that naiveté that ultimately made them so utterly unprepared.

Because when it all came down to it, they were still just teenagers.

A/N: One of my first stories that doesn't focus so much on the rangers being rangers. I don't plan on this story being too long as I don't plan on chapters being so long either but we'll see how it goes.

This is rated 'T' for violence, just a fair warning now.

Also, I don't know if I'll have my OCs Avalon and Bailey in this story but let me know if you'd like to see them.

~Av