Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. Someone else does, but not me. No profit is being made from this story. It's all just in fun!
(Author's note: My first fan fic ever! Hope you enjoy it. If you do (or even if you don't) please leave some feedback. I know you know how.
Chapter One
A huge surge of electrical energy briefly lit up the otherwise dim room, and then converged on a central location, a large cylindrical crystal. This surge of energy caused a radical change in its environment; ancient computer systems began to boot up, the mainframes flashing a multitude of colored lights as they were reawakened, overhead lights cast their luminescent glow for the first time in ages, and finally, a large spherical screen lit up in the corner of the chamber.
This activity did not go unnoticed by the three foot tall android standing in the center of the room. It understood exactly what this all meant, and did not even need the words of its longtime friend to confirm this knowledge.
"Alpha, Lord Zedd is free."
"Yes Zordon, Alpha said in a high pitched mechanical voice. "Initiating program hunter-one."
Zordon's face, holographically projected inside the crystal cylinder, was grim and emotionless. Alpha felt (as much as an android can feel) much the same way Zordon looked, his shiny disk-shaped head angled to the floor in what could only be described as depression. They knew what was coming, now all they had to do was wait.
The last drop of blood hit the floor with a near silent splash, and was instantly assimilated into the larger pool it had fallen into. He wanted to cry, needed to cry, but for some reason he could not bring himself to do so. His deductive mind tried to understand the reason for his apathy, but it seemed it was beyond even him.
"I must look into this problem when I return home today," He thought to himself. "Perhaps I could --" his thoughts were cut short by the sight of Jason and Zack, two of the very few people he could consider friends. Whether they felt the same way about him was unknown, but it didn't matter. They had always been nice to him, and that is what mattered. Unfortunately for him, Jason and Zack were part of the 'in-crowd,' and as such, associated primarily with others in that same group. Unfortunately, that made their friends his enemies. And also unfortunately for him, Jason and Zack happened to be walking straight toward him with their friend Richard, who had a reputation for picking on people smaller and weaker than him.
Trying to avoid a confrontation with Richard, Billy moved quickly to hide behind a garbage can, and could only hope that he hadn't been seen.
"Billy!" he heard someone shout. In preparation or possibly even in fear, Billy shut his eyes tight, under the childish assumption that if he couldn't see Richard, Richard couldn't see him. "Billy, are you all right man?" that was definitely not Richard. Billy opened his eyes and to his surprise saw Jason and Zack standing before him with concerned looks on their faces.
Billy, confused by his own actions once again, did not respond right away. "It seems that the presence of fear somehow causes one to expect the worst of a situation, though it may not necessarily be the case. What interesting behavior. I must find a way to study this later." Billy thought to himself. "Yes Jason, I am quite alright." he finally answered.
"You don't look alright. What happened?" Zack asked
"The little nerd probably tripped over his own shoelace," that was Richard, who was standing a few feet behind Jason and Zack, obviously not concerned with Billy's well being.
"Back off Richard," Jason said with anger in his voice. Richard did as he was told, not wanting to piss off Jason. Though he was only twelve years old, Jason had the physical appearance of a well built sixteen year old, which could cause him to be quite intimidating at times. "Seriously Billy, what happened?" Jason asked, his voice changing from harsh and angry to calm and caring almost immediately.
Again, Billy took his time in responding to the question, trying to come up with a good reason for why his nose was bleeding so profusely. Ultimately, he decided that it was best not to lie, especially to Jason and Zack, who were the only two people nice enough to talk to him. "I'm afraid that Farkus and Eugene approached me yet again, and requested that I relinquish my lunch money. When I refused, I was subjected to a violent shove, and due to my momentary loss of balance, my face came into direct contact with the floor. Unfortunately, they managed to purloin my funds while I was down."
"God I've had it with those two!" Jason exclaimed. "I'm gonna find them and teach them a lesson!"
"Jason, I implore you, do not involve yourself in my affairs. I'm afraid that if you were to confront them, they would, as a result, take their anger out on me." Billy explained. "And I am loathe to physical punishment."
"Then how about this," Jason started, "From now on you hang out with me and my friends. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again. I'll protect you."
"That is very kind of you Jason," Billy began, "But I sincerely doubt your friends would appreciate my presence." Billy took another glance at Richard who was still not far away.
"Billy, my friends don't judge people the way others do. They will accept you for who you are, and eventually become your friends too."
"That's right," Zack said, "So what do you say?"
With only a moments hesitation, Billy replied, "I accept."
After helping Billy get cleaned up, the three young boys walked side by side down the hallway to meet up with Jason and Zack's friends, while Richard tried to catch up to them from behind.
ONE WEEK LATER:
Billy walked into the cafeteria and, out of habit, began proceeding to the corner of the room where he usually sat and ate alone, but quickly remembered that was not his place anymore. He had friends now, four friends to be exact, and as such, he no longer ate lunch alone.
Billy was still amazed that he had been accepted into the tightly knit group of friends. Ever since Jason had introduced the others to him, he had gained a new sense of belonging. Everything just fit together. He did not feel awkward or uncomfortable around his new friends, and he suspected that they did not either.
Kimberly Hart, one of his new friends, was a cheerleader, and was easily the most beautiful girl he had ever met. Billy had never even considered the fact that he could become friends with someone like Kimberly, mostly because cheerleaders tended to be nasty and superficial, and those were not qualities he was looking for in a friend, but also because he never thought that a beautiful girl would even want to be his friend. Of course, Kimberly was neither nasty nor superficial, and she apparently did want to be his friend.
"It is interesting how preconceived notions can be proven wrong even if they are conceived by one of high intelligence," Billy thought to himself. "I must remember not to judge people based on outdated stereotypes."
Trini Kwan, another one of his new friends, was not a cheerleader like Kimberly, but she was still athletic. Trini participated on the school's girls volleyball team, and was voted MVP by her teammates. She was almost as beautiful as Kimberly, her Asian features making her look rather exotic, according to Billy. Interestingly, Billy had recently learned that Trini was also learning Kung Fu from her grandfather, who was something of a Kung Fu master.
Then there was Zack, the crazy black man, as he called himself. Zack was definitely the jokester of the group, but that did not mean he couldn't be serious if he needed to be. He was a real stand up guy; he was always there to cheer up his friends whenever they were feeling down. Aside from being a dancer, Zack was also the star player of the school basketball team.
Out of all his friends, Billy felt closest to Jason. Maybe it was because he was so big and strong and confident, everything Billy was not. Billy was surprised to discover that Jason was not involved in any school sports, as athletic as he was. He apparently spent most of his free time studying Karate, and had recently been promoted to red belt, though Billy had no idea what that meant.
"Hey Billy, what's happenin' man?" Zack asked as Billy approached the table.
"Nothin' much, just chillin'" Billy replied in his newly learned dialect, which elicited a laugh from Trini.
"I'm sorry Billy," Trini apologized, "But that sounded really forced."
"Leave the man be," Zack said, "He's almost got the hang of it."
"Actually Trini is correct. It took me a moment to convert my normal speak into the format you have taught me, and I doubt that the process will become any easier with the passage of time. No offense Zack, but I believe I will leave the slang terminology to you."
"All right man, it's not for everybody. No harm done." Zack said with a smile.
"Whew, anyone else glad it's lunch time?" Jason asked as he sat down with a tray full of unattractive cafeteria food.
"Ugh, are you kidding me? How could anyone look forward to eating something that is barely edible?" Kimberly asked while poking a wad of meat with a straw.
"Come on Kim, it's not that bad," Jason said through a mouthful of food.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Kim exclaimed. "So Zack, basketball's finally over now huh?" Kimberly asked, changing the subject.
"Yes it is and I could not be any happier."
"I thought you enjoyed basketball?" Billy asked.
"Oh yeah I do, it's just, now that it's over I finally have a bunch of free time to do other stuff. I was thinking about maybe joining Jason's karate class."
"All right my man!" Jason exclaimed. "It's about time."
"Zack that's great! You know, martial arts is a great way to discipline yourself and learn respect." Trini informed him.
"I know, I'm really looking forward to it. Hey Billy, why don't you join me? It doesn't cost that much and it could really benefit you to know how to defend yourself." Zack's statement was not meant as an insult, but was based entirely on observation. It was because of this sometimes brutal honesty that Billy had come to respect Zack, though the fact that Billy couldn't defend himself at all was a little damaging to his self respect. But Billy knew that Zack meant no harm.
"As enticing as the prospect of learning self defense may sound, I'm afraid I must decline. Physical activity is not something I enjoy, though I understand the benefits it might provide. Given my rather awkward and uncoordinated bearing, I would most surely appear incompetent. I would very much like to avoid that."
"What did he say?" Zack asked Trini, who seemed to be the only one who could understand Billy when he made use of his extended vocabulary.
"He said he doesn't want to look foolish."
"Ah, I see. That's alright man, I understand. What about you Kim, you wanna learn how to throw some punches?"
"I don't think so Zack, that stuff is too brutal for me."
"Aw man, so now I'm gonna have to practice alone?"
"I'll practice with you Zack," Jason said.
"Yeah, but I wanted to practice with someone I have a chance of beating." Zack stated.
"I'll go easy on you."
"Oh yeah, great way to boost my confidence Jase."
It looked as if Jason was about to say something, but he was cut off by the flashing of a bright light in the center of the cafeteria.
"Alpha, did the time distortion cell work?"
"I don't know, Zordon. The viewing globe's wiring has short circuited. We have no video link."
"Can you repair it?"
"It would take too long. If the time distortion cell worked, the effect it had will have ended before completion of the repairs."
"Then we must have faith that it worked," Zordon stated simply. "Prepare for teleportation."
"Yes Zordon," Alpha said as he shuffled over to a computer console and began pressing buttons.
"What was that?" Kim asked, startled by the blinding flash of light
"Whatever it was," Billy started, "It seems to have caused a disruption in the flow of time."
Upon inspection, the other four preteens came to the same conclusion as Billy. Their fellow classmates seemed to be frozen in whatever position they had been in before the light had flashed. In a strange and unsettling way, the scene was absurdly humorous.
"I don't understand, how did this happen?" Trini asked after a quick glance around.
"I must admit it is most perplexing. Whatever the cause, it seems to allow the laws of physics to be completely negated." Billy stated. He was right. A piece of food that had fallen off of someone's fork seemed to be miraculously floating in mid-air, obviously not being affected by gravity.
"The question we should be asking," Jason said, "Is why aren't we affected by this?"
This thought had obviously not been considered by the other four, as their eyes took on a distant quality. Thoughts immediately began pouring into their heads: What if they were stuck like this forever, being able to move around while everyone else in the world was frozen in their current position? How would they survive without anyone to help them? What if everyone snapped out of it twenty years from now? How would they explain their seemingly instant aging?
Before anything more could be said, the five friends were suddenly whisked away, traveling in bright columns of white light heading toward the mountains, and also toward the answer to Jason's question.