PREF
On a cloudy, rainy night in Angel Grove, nobody saw the small streak of light descend from the clouds and disappear among the trees of the forest outside the small city. The light was a spaceship settling onto the sodden earth and powering down quickly so as to avoid any detection by NASADA or other more sinister characters. A small ramp extended from the underbelly of the round ship whose outer hull shone an eerie silver glow in the pouring rain. From inside two figures emerged. The first was a young man, huddled under an olive green raincoat which he pulled tightly around himself in a futile effort to keep the torrential rains out. Behind him came another figure, wrapped in long flowing robes that gave him the appearance of gliding down the ramp. He was quite tall, perhaps six feet six by American reckoning, and he had a graceful and powerful aura that seemed to follow him around. He glowed with an ethereal light that emanated from his swirling robes. The robes themselves were rather odd; they seemed to be blue, green and white at the same time. Had anyone been looking, it would have been difficult to know for certain which color those robes really were. "Are you sure this is the right spot?" the figure shrouded in the raincoat asked. "Certain," the robed figure replied easily. He didn't seem at all bothered by the deafening thunder, blinding lightning or the violent downpour of rain. He raised one very long arm and pointed with an elegant finger towards an old stump of a tree on the outskirts of the clearing they had landed in. "There it is," he said. "Prepare for teleportation." He went to the tree stump and placed a hand on it. Seconds later the two disappeared from sight, only to reappear elsewhere, in an underground chamber. The young man took a deep breath as he looked around at the high ceiling, the consoles, the boxes of equipment and the many doors leading off in unknown directions. "So, this is the new Command Center, Traeleon," the young man said. The white robed figure beside him nodded his head. "This is it, Luca," he said. "All the supplies have been delivered. Everything is set up and functioning for the most part. All but the most important." He turned to his young assistant. "Do you have the case?" "Right here," Luca said, withdrawing a metal briefcase of sorts from beneath his oversize raincoat and placing it on the closest table. Standing next to him, Traeleon watched patiently while Luca released the clamps and lifted open the case. Inside were three crystals. Each one glittered with a myriad of colors but one was considerably dimmer than the other two and emitting a golden haze around its edges. "The carbon crystal is not faring well," Traeleon observed, brushing one pale finger across the ailing crystal's smooth surface. "I hope Bray can hold out for a while longer." "There'll be trouble if he can't," Luca replied. "But," he continued optimistically, "if I know Bray, he'll stay on his feet for a while longer." "I do hope so," Traeleon answered. He picked up each crystal, one by one, and carried them over to one of the myriad panels in the wall of the cluttered but tidy Command Center. He opened it and placed each crystal in turn inside a small nook shaped exactly like the crystal. Once he had transplanted all three he stood back and turned to his assistant. "Well," he said, "the time has finally come where we must part ways. I will return home to complete my mission. You must stay here and see to the protection of Earth." He went to Luca who was watching him with wide, anxious eyes, and put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I have great faith in you," he said. "Do not worry. This time of strife will soon be over and we will be reunited again." Luca stared back at Traeleon somberly. "Goodbye, Traeleon," he said with a bravery in his tone that was not in his heart. "Let the good luck follow you." "Thank you, Luca," Traeleon replied. "Remain strong while I am gone. Soon I will return and things will be set right again." The two men shook hands and then, in a flash of bright, blue-green light, Traeleon was gone, leaving Luca alone in the Command Center.
The day was sunny and bright. Cas Lambert was the outdoorsy type who liked to enjoy such days, so she decided to take a walk in the woods behind her home, looking for something to interest her. Her backyard was vast, since she lived on the outskirts of Angel Grove, almost in the country. It would take her a few minutes just to cross it and reach the back gate. But she had more than an hour to kill before her best friend Sandy came over to pick her up for their karate class that afternoon so Cas wasn't worried about returning late. She ambled along without a care in the world, kicking at a pebble and feeling the sun beat down on her face. Something silver and shiny caught her eye, sitting nestled in the tall grass. It glinted with the dazzling sunlight and cause Cas to squint. Curious, she walked over and squatted down to examine the object. It appeared to be a briefcase of some sort. Cas was confused; her father didn't carry a briefcase like this one, and even if he did he wouldn't have left it out in the middle of the yard like this. Squatting down Cas's fingers brushed over the smooth metallic surface which, to her surprise, wasn't warm from exposure to the sun. "Hello," a voice said. Cas jumped up and backed away from the sound. Given Angel Grove's history as a hot spot for hostile monsters, she was rather wary of strangers, particularly those who appeared out of thin air as this one seemed to have done. Standing before her was a young man. He appeared to be only a few years older than her, with bright eyes, a pleasant face and dark hair. "Hello," Cas replied cautiously. The man held his hand out to her. "Don't be frightened," he said. "My name is Luca. I want to speak with you." Cas watched him, not convinced, but finally she extended her hand and shook Luca's briefly. "What do you want?" she asked him. Luca took a deep breath. "This will take some explaining," he said. "Would you like to go indoors." "Here is fine," Cas said, feeling rather bewildered. "Who are you?" she inquired. "How do you even know who I am?" "My name is Luca," the young man said again. "My mentor and I have been observing you for several days and we agreed that you were the best candidate for the job." "Huh? What are you talking about? What job?" Cas shook her head, feeling as though she were in a dream. Luca sighed. "You've heard of the Power Rangers, of course?" he asked. "Who hasn't?" said Cas. "Good. Well, as you know, their job is to fight evil and keep it from taking over the Earth." "Yeah. But all evil was destroyed. It was almost a year ago when we found out who the Power Rangers were during that huge attack by Whatshername- Astronema." Luca bowed his head and Cas looked at him, no longer suspicious, but worried. "What does this have to do with me?" she asked. Luca looked up at her. "All evil was destroyed," he told her. "Unfortunately, it did not last. Zordon made a great sacrifice, but evil is greater than any one being. It will take more than Zordon's energy to destroy it for good." "I don't get it," Cas said. "Who is Zordon?" Luca bowed his head again. "He is the Eltarian sage who gave his life in order to purge the galaxy of evil," he replied. He was silent for a moment and Cas let him grieve without interruption, though she still didn't have a clue who this Zordon was or why the mysterious Luca was here, telling her this story. Finally Luca raised his head again and gave her a heavy stare. "Evil has come again," he said. "It has already reached many parts of the galaxy and it will soon come again to Earth. Very soon." Cas watched him with a fluttery, tingly feeling in her gut. Her mind raced, trying to make sense of Luca's words but having little success. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked finally. A little happiness returned to Luca's darkened face. "There are other Power Rangers," he said, "but they are unable to defend Earth. They are far away. This planet is open to attack and it will be attacked very soon. We need new Power Rangers to defend Angel Grove and the rest of this planet." He stared straight into her eyes as he said this, Cas watching him, disbelieving. "We chose you," Luca said. "You will lead the next team of Power Rangers."
Luca bent to pick up the silver case which had first drawn Cas to him, and opened it. Inside three crystals glinted in the sunlight, settled comfortably in protective lining. "These are power crystals," Luca informed the dumbfounded Cas. "You have only to hold it in your hand long enough to allow the power to flow into you. Then you will be a Power Ranger." He held the case out to her. "Take it," he prompted, as she continued to watch him dumbly. "What if I don't want to?" Cas said slowly. "What?" Luca asked. "What if I don't want to?" Cas said again, more fervently than the first time. "I'm just another person who wants to live a normal life and be left alone. I didn't ask for this. Did you think you could just come up to me, thrust these crystals in my face and expect me to throw my life away?" Luca was speechless. It seemed that it hadn't occurred to him that Cas might not want to become a Ranger. "But," he stammered, "evil has returned. "Trakeena and her Stingwingers-" Cas cut him off. "Evil was destroyed," she snapped. "The Space Rangers defeated the Quantron army and turned Astronema back to good." With that she whirled around and fled back to her house, leaving Luca calling helplessly after her.
"So then he showed me these crystals and told me to become a Ranger!" Cas exclaimed, sounding as distressed as she felt. Her best friend, Sandra Allister, sat next to her in the driver's seat of her car and gave her friend an odd look. "You've gotta be kidding," Sandy said. Cas turned and gave her an exasperated glare. "I wouldn't kid about something like this and you know it," she said. "Sandy, what do I do? This is crazy!" Sandy shook her head, bewildered. "I dunno, Cas," she replied. "This is just too weird. I mean, everybody thought the Power Rangers were just some really good government agents or something who had been sent to protect us and keep their identities a secret for their own protection." "Yeah right," Cas said. "I knew Ashley Hammond before she graduated. Not well, but enough to know she's no government agent. And that Andros guy- no one ever could figure out where he was from and there are rumors going around that he's not even from this planet!" She gave her friend a helpless look. "Either this guy Luca is completely insane, or he's serious. And it makes sense too. Unless they've kept a lot of research projects on metamorphosis secret, no one on Earth can morph the way the Rangers did. Seems more likely that the Rangers' abilities come from someplace other than Earth and that this guy Luca is telling the truth." Cas rubbed her temples. "Okay, so we've established that Luca isn't crazy, just stupid to pick me for this job. I mean, look, it's May for one thing, we've got finals coming up, and for another, I've got my family to worry about. Next year I'll be searching for colleges and trying to maintain my grades. I don't have time to save the world!" "Seems to me there's nothing to save it from," Sandy said. "There hasn't been an attack since last May." "Luca said the monsters have returned, or something to that effect," Cas said darkly. "Well, Cas, it's up to you," Sandy told her. "You can choose to ignore this guy and go on your way, or decide to accept the power. Who knows, maybe this guy Luca'll turn out to be crazy after all and you can go on home having learned not to talk to strangers who show up in your backyard with silver briefcases." Cas rolled her eyes. "Sure," she said. "What if he keeps showing up and won't leave me alone, then what?" "Knock him on his butt," Sandy replied. "Speaking of which, we'd better get going. We're gonna be late to karate as it is." She started the car and they drove off, Cas staring moodily out the window with her mind in a turmoil.
On a cloudy, rainy night in Angel Grove, nobody saw the small streak of light descend from the clouds and disappear among the trees of the forest outside the small city. The light was a spaceship settling onto the sodden earth and powering down quickly so as to avoid any detection by NASADA or other more sinister characters. A small ramp extended from the underbelly of the round ship whose outer hull shone an eerie silver glow in the pouring rain. From inside two figures emerged. The first was a young man, huddled under an olive green raincoat which he pulled tightly around himself in a futile effort to keep the torrential rains out. Behind him came another figure, wrapped in long flowing robes that gave him the appearance of gliding down the ramp. He was quite tall, perhaps six feet six by American reckoning, and he had a graceful and powerful aura that seemed to follow him around. He glowed with an ethereal light that emanated from his swirling robes. The robes themselves were rather odd; they seemed to be blue, green and white at the same time. Had anyone been looking, it would have been difficult to know for certain which color those robes really were. "Are you sure this is the right spot?" the figure shrouded in the raincoat asked. "Certain," the robed figure replied easily. He didn't seem at all bothered by the deafening thunder, blinding lightning or the violent downpour of rain. He raised one very long arm and pointed with an elegant finger towards an old stump of a tree on the outskirts of the clearing they had landed in. "There it is," he said. "Prepare for teleportation." He went to the tree stump and placed a hand on it. Seconds later the two disappeared from sight, only to reappear elsewhere, in an underground chamber. The young man took a deep breath as he looked around at the high ceiling, the consoles, the boxes of equipment and the many doors leading off in unknown directions. "So, this is the new Command Center, Traeleon," the young man said. The white robed figure beside him nodded his head. "This is it, Luca," he said. "All the supplies have been delivered. Everything is set up and functioning for the most part. All but the most important." He turned to his young assistant. "Do you have the case?" "Right here," Luca said, withdrawing a metal briefcase of sorts from beneath his oversize raincoat and placing it on the closest table. Standing next to him, Traeleon watched patiently while Luca released the clamps and lifted open the case. Inside were three crystals. Each one glittered with a myriad of colors but one was considerably dimmer than the other two and emitting a golden haze around its edges. "The carbon crystal is not faring well," Traeleon observed, brushing one pale finger across the ailing crystal's smooth surface. "I hope Bray can hold out for a while longer." "There'll be trouble if he can't," Luca replied. "But," he continued optimistically, "if I know Bray, he'll stay on his feet for a while longer." "I do hope so," Traeleon answered. He picked up each crystal, one by one, and carried them over to one of the myriad panels in the wall of the cluttered but tidy Command Center. He opened it and placed each crystal in turn inside a small nook shaped exactly like the crystal. Once he had transplanted all three he stood back and turned to his assistant. "Well," he said, "the time has finally come where we must part ways. I will return home to complete my mission. You must stay here and see to the protection of Earth." He went to Luca who was watching him with wide, anxious eyes, and put a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I have great faith in you," he said. "Do not worry. This time of strife will soon be over and we will be reunited again." Luca stared back at Traeleon somberly. "Goodbye, Traeleon," he said with a bravery in his tone that was not in his heart. "Let the good luck follow you." "Thank you, Luca," Traeleon replied. "Remain strong while I am gone. Soon I will return and things will be set right again." The two men shook hands and then, in a flash of bright, blue-green light, Traeleon was gone, leaving Luca alone in the Command Center.
The day was sunny and bright. Cas Lambert was the outdoorsy type who liked to enjoy such days, so she decided to take a walk in the woods behind her home, looking for something to interest her. Her backyard was vast, since she lived on the outskirts of Angel Grove, almost in the country. It would take her a few minutes just to cross it and reach the back gate. But she had more than an hour to kill before her best friend Sandy came over to pick her up for their karate class that afternoon so Cas wasn't worried about returning late. She ambled along without a care in the world, kicking at a pebble and feeling the sun beat down on her face. Something silver and shiny caught her eye, sitting nestled in the tall grass. It glinted with the dazzling sunlight and cause Cas to squint. Curious, she walked over and squatted down to examine the object. It appeared to be a briefcase of some sort. Cas was confused; her father didn't carry a briefcase like this one, and even if he did he wouldn't have left it out in the middle of the yard like this. Squatting down Cas's fingers brushed over the smooth metallic surface which, to her surprise, wasn't warm from exposure to the sun. "Hello," a voice said. Cas jumped up and backed away from the sound. Given Angel Grove's history as a hot spot for hostile monsters, she was rather wary of strangers, particularly those who appeared out of thin air as this one seemed to have done. Standing before her was a young man. He appeared to be only a few years older than her, with bright eyes, a pleasant face and dark hair. "Hello," Cas replied cautiously. The man held his hand out to her. "Don't be frightened," he said. "My name is Luca. I want to speak with you." Cas watched him, not convinced, but finally she extended her hand and shook Luca's briefly. "What do you want?" she asked him. Luca took a deep breath. "This will take some explaining," he said. "Would you like to go indoors." "Here is fine," Cas said, feeling rather bewildered. "Who are you?" she inquired. "How do you even know who I am?" "My name is Luca," the young man said again. "My mentor and I have been observing you for several days and we agreed that you were the best candidate for the job." "Huh? What are you talking about? What job?" Cas shook her head, feeling as though she were in a dream. Luca sighed. "You've heard of the Power Rangers, of course?" he asked. "Who hasn't?" said Cas. "Good. Well, as you know, their job is to fight evil and keep it from taking over the Earth." "Yeah. But all evil was destroyed. It was almost a year ago when we found out who the Power Rangers were during that huge attack by Whatshername- Astronema." Luca bowed his head and Cas looked at him, no longer suspicious, but worried. "What does this have to do with me?" she asked. Luca looked up at her. "All evil was destroyed," he told her. "Unfortunately, it did not last. Zordon made a great sacrifice, but evil is greater than any one being. It will take more than Zordon's energy to destroy it for good." "I don't get it," Cas said. "Who is Zordon?" Luca bowed his head again. "He is the Eltarian sage who gave his life in order to purge the galaxy of evil," he replied. He was silent for a moment and Cas let him grieve without interruption, though she still didn't have a clue who this Zordon was or why the mysterious Luca was here, telling her this story. Finally Luca raised his head again and gave her a heavy stare. "Evil has come again," he said. "It has already reached many parts of the galaxy and it will soon come again to Earth. Very soon." Cas watched him with a fluttery, tingly feeling in her gut. Her mind raced, trying to make sense of Luca's words but having little success. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked finally. A little happiness returned to Luca's darkened face. "There are other Power Rangers," he said, "but they are unable to defend Earth. They are far away. This planet is open to attack and it will be attacked very soon. We need new Power Rangers to defend Angel Grove and the rest of this planet." He stared straight into her eyes as he said this, Cas watching him, disbelieving. "We chose you," Luca said. "You will lead the next team of Power Rangers."
Luca bent to pick up the silver case which had first drawn Cas to him, and opened it. Inside three crystals glinted in the sunlight, settled comfortably in protective lining. "These are power crystals," Luca informed the dumbfounded Cas. "You have only to hold it in your hand long enough to allow the power to flow into you. Then you will be a Power Ranger." He held the case out to her. "Take it," he prompted, as she continued to watch him dumbly. "What if I don't want to?" Cas said slowly. "What?" Luca asked. "What if I don't want to?" Cas said again, more fervently than the first time. "I'm just another person who wants to live a normal life and be left alone. I didn't ask for this. Did you think you could just come up to me, thrust these crystals in my face and expect me to throw my life away?" Luca was speechless. It seemed that it hadn't occurred to him that Cas might not want to become a Ranger. "But," he stammered, "evil has returned. "Trakeena and her Stingwingers-" Cas cut him off. "Evil was destroyed," she snapped. "The Space Rangers defeated the Quantron army and turned Astronema back to good." With that she whirled around and fled back to her house, leaving Luca calling helplessly after her.
"So then he showed me these crystals and told me to become a Ranger!" Cas exclaimed, sounding as distressed as she felt. Her best friend, Sandra Allister, sat next to her in the driver's seat of her car and gave her friend an odd look. "You've gotta be kidding," Sandy said. Cas turned and gave her an exasperated glare. "I wouldn't kid about something like this and you know it," she said. "Sandy, what do I do? This is crazy!" Sandy shook her head, bewildered. "I dunno, Cas," she replied. "This is just too weird. I mean, everybody thought the Power Rangers were just some really good government agents or something who had been sent to protect us and keep their identities a secret for their own protection." "Yeah right," Cas said. "I knew Ashley Hammond before she graduated. Not well, but enough to know she's no government agent. And that Andros guy- no one ever could figure out where he was from and there are rumors going around that he's not even from this planet!" She gave her friend a helpless look. "Either this guy Luca is completely insane, or he's serious. And it makes sense too. Unless they've kept a lot of research projects on metamorphosis secret, no one on Earth can morph the way the Rangers did. Seems more likely that the Rangers' abilities come from someplace other than Earth and that this guy Luca is telling the truth." Cas rubbed her temples. "Okay, so we've established that Luca isn't crazy, just stupid to pick me for this job. I mean, look, it's May for one thing, we've got finals coming up, and for another, I've got my family to worry about. Next year I'll be searching for colleges and trying to maintain my grades. I don't have time to save the world!" "Seems to me there's nothing to save it from," Sandy said. "There hasn't been an attack since last May." "Luca said the monsters have returned, or something to that effect," Cas said darkly. "Well, Cas, it's up to you," Sandy told her. "You can choose to ignore this guy and go on your way, or decide to accept the power. Who knows, maybe this guy Luca'll turn out to be crazy after all and you can go on home having learned not to talk to strangers who show up in your backyard with silver briefcases." Cas rolled her eyes. "Sure," she said. "What if he keeps showing up and won't leave me alone, then what?" "Knock him on his butt," Sandy replied. "Speaking of which, we'd better get going. We're gonna be late to karate as it is." She started the car and they drove off, Cas staring moodily out the window with her mind in a turmoil.