Author's notes – Hey everybody! Happy New Year! I'm committed to finishing my series of POV stories and writing the remaining four characters (Zac, Trini, Scott and Sarah). The last couple of years I've written very good stories, but they've all taken a long time to get through, so hopefully 2016 will see me get through a few more. This story is Billy's chance to shine.
Continuity? In my series, the original MMPR team stays as Rangers, so reaching Zeo means that Billy is blue, Trini is yellow, etc. Zac would have a black suit as Zeo Ranger 4, which means the green costume would shuffle down the line to become Scott's (I think I'd keep Jason as gold/black and Tommy as red, though). I was always putting off writing Billy's story, because I knew a story told by Billy means lots (and lots) of complex Billy-speak, and it's a very difficult thing to get right. I admire the skill of the MMPR writers for managing Billy's dialogue for about four years! But I had this great idea for Billy's story. I figure, Billy's overall character arc would be him growing as a person (coming to terms with his incredible intelligence and learning to accept his emotional side as well). So this story is the epilogue of that tale, the end result of Billy's journey. I hope you enjoy it :).
A couple of other things also inspired me here. I use another of my original villains (a villain I really like). Writing The Impossible Boy, I realised that the nerdy Rangers are great at solving problems and building things, but they don't get many badass moments (like Jason or Tommy or Sarah), so I wanted a story where the geeky Rangers get to be total badasses. Also, I recently read complaints about a superhero franchise where two of the characters were romantically involved (people were complaining that it made the characters weaker, and demeaned them somehow), and I just thought that was so ... ridiculous. Every day, beautiful and amazing and powerful people fall in love, and this is good thing! So my response was to write a story about my favourite Ranger couple (well, favourite after Jayden and Antonio, giggle). Anyway, enjoy the tale! :)
Chapter One
Unknowns make for bad science.
I say that often to my friends. Probably too often, actually, now that I really think about it. But it's a rule I've lived by every day of my life. After all, what is a new day other than challenges to meet, puzzles to solve or mysteries to untangle? What is science itself other than taking unknowns and transforming them into knowns? And believe me, I've lived through more than my share of days like that.
Apologies. I'm being long-winded again. It's a constant battle.
It's a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is William, William Cranston, but my friends have always called me Billy. I've never minded. The nickname made me feel like I was part of the group, and I was grateful to my friends for giving me that.
Oh, and I'm the Blue Power Ranger. I probably should've started with that one, shouldn't I?
Years ago on a quiet Saturday morning, I'd just finished a friend's karate class when the world changed forever. The planet came under attack from an alien sorceress and her legion of malevolent magical creations. I can still picture it so clearly, standing there in the Youth Centre with four of my best friends before teleporting to a protected stronghold deep in the desert. Once there, an interdimensional wizard named Zordon revealed his secret designs for us to become a team of superheroes. We turned him down initially, although I deeply regretted walking away. There was something in Zordon's voice that stayed with me, a sincere belief that the five of us could accomplish anything. I was grateful when the offer was repeated later that day, and when I received my Triceratops Power Coin, the world became so much bigger and more amazing than I ever thought it could be.
Time passed and the team grew with friends and allies, here and far away. Late last year, another quiet morning heralded another threat from beyond the stars. It was an empire of machines this time, robotic conquerors with a ruthless contempt for organic life. Another challenge to rise to, another chance to show the human race at their most resilient. With a little assistance from an ancient magical crystal, of course.
And at some point between the alien invasions, the environmental catastrophes and all those extra-dimensional incursions, I fell in love with one of my best friends.
Her name is Trini Kwan.
Trini is the most amazing, intelligent and compassionate woman I've ever met. We grew up as friends, and it took us years to realise how much we meant to each other. Truthfully? I'd always considered love to be something of an abstract concept, a whimsical notion that couldn't be measured or quantified, which left it irrelevant to any scientific paradigm. And while I still struggle to understand my feelings, when I'm around Trini, it's like she completes the pieces of me that I never realised I was missing. I don't know how else to explain it.
It's a common joke amongst the team that fighting monsters and dating are totally incompatible. I still remember the early stages of our courtship when our dates were constantly interrupted by disasters or aliens. But Trini and I have always worked well together, and I suspect that's one of the reasons we make such a good team. Whenever there's trouble, I'm always stronger when Trini is standing beside me.
Like today.
The Machine Empire had launched a surprise incursion against a high-profile scientific institute located in Johannesburg. They'd only sent a small squadron of cogs and not a monster, but the robotic soldiers still presented a serious threat to the residents of the city. Most of the other Rangers were currently off-world, gathering information we can hopefully use to finally defeat the machines, but Zordon summoned Trini and I. Once we'd morphed into Zeo Rangers two and three, Alpha had teleported us to South Africa, and we'd confronted the army of cogs on the street in front of the building.
Blocking a punch from the left, Trini struck the cog away with a blow to the chest before spinning to the right, summoning her Power Daggers with a thought and carving them across the chest of a second attacker, sending the robot crashing. "What do you think they were after, anyway?" she asked.
Across the street, I stepped to the side as one of the cogs swung its staff for me, catching the weapon when the cog tried again and kicking the robot away. Behind me, I saw several cogs closing in on a group of scientists trying to flee the building, so I reached for my sidearm to keep their attention on me. "I'm honestly not sure," I called. "At least King Mondo was predictable. With Gasket, your hypothesis is as accurate as mine."
It was true. King Mondo's plans had tended to be very linear and organised. Although we'd destroyed him recently, I doubted very much we'd seen the last of him. However, his first-built son Prince Gasket had recently arrived to claim the vacant throne, and Gasket had turned out to be far less predictable. He rarely approached problems directly, and his methods were increasingly difficult to discern. It was disconcerting, to say the least.
"Still," Trini continued, gazing around at the pile of broken cogs littering the street, "I think we managed to stop them. On your left Billy."
I instinctively spun to the left with a powerful punch, shattering a cog's torso and scattering the remains across the pavement. "Appreciated," I said, and glanced to the Yellow Ranger. "On your right."
With barely a glance, Trini threw one of her daggers. The blade tore through the chests of two cogs before embedding itself in a third. In a flash of light, Trini summoned the weapon back to her hand as the cogs all fell over. Turning to the only cog still standing, she used one of the daggers to block the robot's baton before slicing both blades across its chest. The cog collapsed to the ground in a shower of sparks, and we were out of opponents.
"Good work," I said brightly, as the defeated cogs began teleporting away.
"Thanks," Trini replied. "Oh, and before I forget, you'll need to take your suit out of storage. The good one, with the blue tie."
"Oh?"
"Yes, it's my cousin's wedding next week," Trini continued, knowing full well I'd probably forgotten. Which I had. "You're my plus one, remember?"
"Your…oh, a wedding?" I stuttered. "Right. Of course. Right."
Trini smiled beneath her visor. "It's okay Billy, I'm not trying to drop any subtle hints," she said. "I know you need time to study all the theoretical outcomes before you make a decision. It's one of the many things I like about you."
I nodded and raised my wrist. "Shall we head back?" I asked.
"I think we're finished here," Trini nodded. "And for the record? When I do start dropping hints, they won't be that subtle."
I laughed, and the two of us disappeared from the scene in two bright flashes of blue and yellow.
Almost four hundred thousand kilometres above our heads, Prince Gasket made his way across the rocky lunar landscape, his footsteps quiet in the thin atmosphere around the Machine Empire's skybase.
With the castle behind him, Gasket gazed around the empty terrain with his glowing yellow eyes, taking in every stone without really seeing any of them. The robotic prince could've calculated the mineral composition of every rock in a fraction of a second, analysed the debris fields of meteorite strikes or even determined what kinds of cosmic radiation the stones had bathed in over the years. But the silent beauty of the landscape was lost on him. On all sides, the prince saw nothing organic to be despised for its frailty, nor the perfect design of purpose-built machines. There was just rock, a resource to be used and discarded at will.
Stepping over the rim of a crater, he looked up to focus his attention on the blue orb hanging in space before him, slowly turning on its axis and still as out of reach as ever. A hundred feet away, Gasket's most recent project sat in the shadows of a tall lunar cliff, covered by a lattice of metal scaffolding. But Gasket's vengeful gaze remained fixed on the planet before him.
How long he stood there, he didn't know. But presently the sound of footsteps reached him, and he glanced over his shoulder to see his robotic bride Princess Archerina approaching from the castle.
"I hear word of another failure," she trilled, and rested a hand on her beloved's shoulder. "The Rangers thwarted another brilliant plan, I gather?"
Gasket stepped to the side, shaking off Archerina's hand. "I was most displeased," he replied. "But cogs can be rebuilt easily enough. Even the ones I disassembled, although that may take longer."
Archerina gazed back to the construction site on the lunar surface. "Still, what a waste of an exquisite plan," she said, then paused. The cogs were still busy at work, climbing over the scaffolding and diligently finishing the prince's designs. "But why are the cogs still working, my love?"
"Like the accursed Zeo Rangers, you have a habit of underestimating me," Gasket replied icily. "And I do not appreciate it from you, either." With that, the prince walked away.
A few days later, I woke up early and listened to the birds outside for a few minutes as I contemplated the day ahead. The only thing facing me on the desk across my room that I hadn't built myself was a small framed photo. The six older Rangers had been hanging out in the Youth Centre one afternoon shortly after Tommy's arrival, when Kimberly had given Ernie her camera and asked him to take a picture of us.
We looked so young.
I've been considering the future a lot lately. Trini and I were both in our fourth year of tertiary education. Trini has another year, while I'll graduate soon. I've already been approached by a number of potential future employers, and while I'm not sure how to integrate my future career with my life as a Ranger, it's reassuring to know I have options. In any event, I've got months to consider them.
Particularly given what else I'm considering.
See, back in Johannesburg when Trini reminded me about her cousin's wedding, I wasn't laughing nervously to mask any latent fears regarding asking for Trini's hand in marriage. The truth is, I was laughing nervously because I'd been searching for an engagement ring for weeks now.
Thinking of Trini again, I smiled and got ready for the day.
Heading downstairs, I went into the kitchen to make breakfast, with a pot of fresh coffee for my father and freshly-squeezed orange juice for myself. A message from Zordon yesterday had indicated the other Rangers would be returning from their mission today, and I was eager to learn what they'd uncovered. Plus, I'd just put the finishing touches on the automatic fruit-squeezing machine I'd been working on, and I was still trying to iron out the kinks.
I was sitting at the counter jotting down notes about the juice machine when my father stepped into the kitchen, stopping to wrap an arm around my shoulder.
"Morning Will," he said, and reached for the coffee pot. "How's the juice?"
I regarded the glass before me. "Still too pulpy," I replied, and shook my head. "Even on the lowest pulp setting. I'm not sure why."
"I wish you'd just let me go and buy a new juice machine myself. They're cheap enough, aren't they?"
"Not when I can build you one for free from the spare parts I already have in the garage," I said, and Dad laughed.
My father and I have always been good friends. He was my inspiration and my role model, growing up, and he deserves much of the credit for the person I am today. My mother passed away from a particularly-aggressive terminal illness many years ago when I was very young. I don't remember much from that time, but I remember silence. From that point on, my father had to raise me on his own, a job I didn't envy. I can't imagine the challenges he faced as a single parent, challenges that would've intensified that day when I was four. It wasn't that I'd dismantled the vacuum cleaner to see how it worked, but that I'd put it back together twice as powerful as before. I remember that, upon discovery, my father had smiled with helpless delight and wondered what on Earth the future held in store for both of us.
From a very young age, I can vividly recall a stream of approaches from any number of institutes and scientific facilities, all wishing to recruit me. My father would tell me about every offer, but he must've seen how daunted I was. One night, I tearfully confessed that I had no wish to be trapped in a room with people older than even him. I've thought about that often over the years. I genuinely don't believe it was that I lacked courage. Rather, I lacked the support network of peers to receive that courage from. My father must've realised this too, and enrolled his academically-talented son in a local school alongside students my own age. The rest, as they say, is history.
"I heard you get up early," Dad continued. "I thought there might've been trouble."
"No, not today," I said. "I do have plans, but hopefully they don't involve saving the world."
Dad smiled. "Hopefully?" he repeated.
"It's been quiet ever since the attack in Johannesburg," I replied. "When this much time passes between incidents, it's rarely a good omen."
"Well, I'll keep an eye out for you."
The morning when Zordon gave me the Triceratops Power Coin, the first thing I did after returning home from the battle was to tell my father that I was the Blue Ranger. I realise that breaking one of Zordon's fundamental rules may not have been the best cornerstone to build a superhero career on. But when I confessed privately to Zordon that I'd told my father about being a Ranger, he said to me he understood. My father and I had always been honest with each other, and I couldn't and wouldn't lie to him, not even about this. Dad's initial reaction wasn't ideal, but I can imagine what a shock the revelation must've been. In any event, he made his peace with the news. Over the years, I've been able to count on his support no matter what.
"Hopefully you won't need to," I said.
Dad paused to finish his coffee. "And how goes your either project?" he asked. "Still searching for the right ring?"
"I am yet to find a solution that matches all the parameters," I said softly. "It's taking far longer than I'd anticipated. It's very frustrating."
"I'm sorry to hear it," Dad replied.
"Hope isn't lost yet," I said. "There's one jewellery boutique in the city that I haven't tried. That's my goal today. I've been obsessing over this particular detail for weeks now. I have to accomplish this. It's an important part of proceedings, after all."
"I know you're a stickler for details," Dad began. "Why not take along a second opinion? You said most of your friends are out of town at the moment, but surely there's still a few of you holding down the fort, so to speak."
I sat back in my seat. "Peter and Scott remained behind along with Trini and I," I said. "And, logically, it would make sense to seek out a fresh perspective on the dilemma. That's an inspired idea," and I downed the rest of my orange juice. "Thanks Dad."
"You're welcome," Dad replied, and I stood up to embrace him. "Good luck Will."
"I'll see you this afternoon," I said. Grabbing one of the croissants, I jogged out of the room.
To be continued.