Disclaimer: The Power Rangers and all villains belong to Saban. This is a work of pure fiction and any resemblance to anyone is pure coincidence. The title and idea are inspired by a song by Mark Knopfler.

A/N: Jade Stiger and JamieLea Lightfoot thank you for the reviews. I'm glad you like it. I think I've fixed everything.

Summary: What happens when the rangers ignore Billy one time to many and where did he keep disappearing to during the gold ranger period?

~*~

Junkie Doll

By

Devon

~*~

Billy sat in the far reaches of the Power Chamber turning a blackened object over in his hands. It was a diode of some kind that he had removed from Adam's Zord after the rangers' most recent battle. He threw the object across the room and watched as it flew gracefully through the air before settling with a metallic ring in the recycling bin. Using the wall for support Billy hauled himself to his feet. He winced in pain as he stretched out his cramped muscles. Soon the blood started to flow back into his legs and the unpleasant sensation of pins and needles almost made him sit down again. How long had he been sitting there? He wondered. He sighed. He needed to get out of the Power Chamber it reminded him to much of what he had once had and what he could have been. The Power Chamber and working on the Zords just made him dwell on ifs and that left him feeling depressed and lonely. Whenever his friends returned victorious from a battle his sense of relief was always clouded by an intense jealousy and hatred that he could not seem to shake.

He would sometimes watch them on the viewing globe as they laughed and had fun without sparing him a second thought. Ever since the power coins had been destroyed something between the rangers and him had changed. He was a powerless ranger and to them a hint of their possible future and a reminder to Tommy of a past, the leader would much rather forget. He was also seen as a weak technician who once let out of the Power Chamber would have to be watched constantly just to be sure that the evil attacking the world did not use him against the rangers. Billy kicked the wall as his old frustrations resurfaced. As long as he was in the Power Chamber the rangers did not have to worry about him. They could go on with their daily lives happy in the knowledge that he was safe. They gave a whole new meaning to the phrase out of sight out of mind. Billy pressed a button on his communicator and disappeared in a stream of light. He needed some air.

~*~

Billy landed somewhere unfamiliar to him. He could have sworn that he had punched in the co-ordinates for Angel Grove Park. He must have messed up somewhere. He surveyed the area. It was not a place he would have come to on purpose. He was standing on a rather deserted pavement. It was littered with plastic bags, newspapers, garbage and other indescribable gunge which Billy did not think he wanted to know about. The walls of the buildings next to him were covered in graffiti. Most of it was old and faded with new pictures and writing scrawled over the top. The plaster at the base of each building was peeling and there were cracks which spread from the ground to the roof. Most of the windows were high up and quite large with small panes of glass dividing them into sections. Almost every pane was broken or cracked. His gaze moved passed the scattered cars which were parked against the curb to where a string of open shops stood. Their walls were also covered with art which was broken by the untarnished white of security gates guarding the doors against unwanted people.

Someone bumped into him and muttered an apology. Billy's eyes followed the kid as he crossed the street and disappeared down a dingy alley. Billy reached down for his communicator so that he could go to the park like he had intended. His hand touched skin. Thinking it odd he looked down to find his wrist bare. He looked back to the alley where the kid had gone and cursing quietly to himself he crossed the street and entered the alley.

It was dirtier than the street not to mention darker. The rubbish on the ground was thicker and the stench of urine assaulted his nostrils. There were boxes lining the walls of the buildings on either side of him. He saw a pair of feet sticking out from underneath the flap of one of the boxes. A hand reached out to spread a newspaper page over the exposed feet. Now he understood; they were makeshift houses. He felt a deep sense of sorrow that someone had to live like this.

He heard someone shouting ahead of him and looked to see what was going on. He saw the kid in a heated argument with an oldish looking man. The kid was brandishing his communicator. Billy walked swiftly towards the arguing duo.

"May I have my watch back please?" His voice surprisingly calm as he was worried the kid might have a knife or some other kind of weapon.

"What's it worth to you?" Billy was taken aback by the question. It was the last thing he had expected.

"Excuse me?"

"How much you willing to pay for it?" The kid repeated lengthening his question to give it more clarity.

"Nothing..."

"$50 or you can't 'ave it."

"I don't have to pay for it. It's mine." The kid shook his head at Billy making it clear that he was not going to give it back without receiving a small fee in return.

"$100." He increased the price. Billy sighed it was his only way home and if someone messed with the buttons there would be hell to pay. Added to that he could be stuck here for days before anyone missed him. The last thought saddened him. Billy looked at the kid carefully. He was young about twelve, thirteen and thin much to thin. He had dark circles under his eyes and his brown hair was thick with grease and dirt. Billy's heart went out to him.

'I don't have fifty or a hundred on me."

'How much do you have?"

"Thirty."

"Deal." The kid held out his small, filthy hand. Gingerly, Billy took it in his and they shook on the arrangement. Billy pulled his wallet from his back pocket and emptied his money into the kid's eager hands. The kid handed him his communicator and he strapped it onto his wrist.

'What's you're name?"

"What's it to you?" The boy asked defensively.

"Just asking." At that point the man who had been arguing with the boy chose to enter the conversation.

"You're new?" Billy remained silent not sure how to respond. The man ushered them into a building and they stopped at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Billy noted that the walls around him were also covered with graffiti just like the outside ones.

"You'll be wanting a hit then?" The man's words were slurred and the boy handed him a twenty dollar note, nodding his approval.

"A hit?" The man lifted an eyebrow at Billy's ignorance. He held up a needle and Billy took an involuntary step back. The man smiled revealing a few rotten teeth and Billy had to resisted the urge to wave away the smell of the man's breath. He was in definite need of a breath mint and on second thoughts a tooth brush would not do him any harm.

"You never had a hit before?" Billy shook his head. "You want one?" Billy shook his head again wanting to get the hell away from the man and boy now that he had his communicator.

"No thank you." He started to back away. Then man fixed Billy with another toothless grin.

"First one's been paid for." He indicated the kid with a dirty crooked finger. Billy stepped away from the pair until the door was pressed against his back. "You won't regret it." The man continued to press. Billy's fingers searched for the door handle. He felt sick and he desperately wanted to have a shower.

"It'll make you feel better." It was the boy who had spoken. He had been watching Billy and had noticed the sadness in his eyes. Billy looked at the boy suddenly tempted. He had never done anything rebellious. He had always been the perfect student, the perfect child, the perfect power ranger, never straying from his studies or staying out late, on call twenty-four, seven and look where it had got him. Throughout his school career he had been thought of as a loser and now those who he had thought of as friends had abandoned him. He also, could not remember the last time he had done something for himself.

"Come." The old man started to climb the stares sensing Billy's weakening resolve. Billy followed feeling a great sense of excitement and trepidation rise inside him. The trio made there way onto a landing which consisted of one room. It was furnished only by a carpet and a bar which stood in one corner. The carpet was a nauseating shade of dark green and the bar was wooden with a stain covered surface. The toothless man went behind the bar and deposited the money the boy had given him in a safety box. He then pulled a box of matches, a candle, a tablespoon, two little sachets and two syringes with needles from under the counter. He handed the items to the boy. "Jonny cook up."

Billy followed the kid to the middle of the room.

"I'm Billy." He introduced himself. Jonny nodded and opened one of the sachets and poured its contents onto the spoon. He spat onto the spoon because there was no other liquid he could mix with the powder. He struck a match and lit the candle. He then used his fingers to put out the match's flame before using it to stir the mixture which bubbled on the spoon.

Billy's attention turned away from Jonny as the old man - who Billy now realised was younger then he looked - rolled up his sleeve and tired a rubber tube around Billy's upper arm. He tapped the inside of Billy's elbow causing the sound of flesh hitting flesh to resonate around the room. He then took the needle that Jonny offered him and pushed it into the vein that bulged, welcomingly, in Billy's arm. Then he slowly pushed in the plunger forcing the liquid out of the syringe. Billy watched in fascination as a small amout of red - caused by his blood - mixed with the yellow liquid in the fast emptying syringe. He gasped. He could feel the path of the liquid as it made its way up his arm. Suddenly he started feeling very happy as if he did not have a care in the world. His communicator started beeping but he ignored it as he lay down and surrendered himself to the orgasmic bliss.

Jonnny made sure that the ex-ranger's eyes were closed before signalling to the old man. A blinding flash filled the room leaving Machina and Scorpina standing where Jonny and the old man had been. Scorpina smiled.

"Mondo's plan is working well. Did you see how he didn't even care when his communicator went off?" She nudged the prone figure with her foot. "I never knew that the Yopop plant from Eltar could have such strong effects."

"My husband will be pleased." Machina watched the young man convulse on the floor groaning with pleasure

~*~

Billy groaned and opened his eyes - slowly. He felt disorientated. He sat up and felt his head swim. He lifted his hands and rubbed his temples in a soothing circular motion. He looked around the room and was surprised to find himself alone. He pulled the tube off of his arm and rolled down his sleeve covering the small hole in his arm where the needle had been. It had been an interesting and pleasant experience one that he did not think he would be repeating and as he teleported back to the Power Chamber he did not realise how wrong he was.

~*~

Billy landed in the middle of the Power Chamber and was immediately surrounded by angry people all of whom seemed to be finding it hard to stop themselves from strangling him.

"Where have you been?" Zordon's voice boomed.

"I was at home." He said carefully.

"Why didn't you come when we called? " It was Tommy who asked the question.

"I was in the shower." He lied as he vaguely recalled his communicator beeping just before he had passed out.

"For three hours?" Kat sounded amused

"I forgot to put my communicator back on." He had not realised that he had been out for so long. It had only felt like a couple of minutes.

"Something bad could've happened to you and then you wouldn't have been able to contact us. Not to mention that if the gold ranger hadn't shown up when he did we would've lost!" Tommy's eyes were alight with flames of furry.

Billy's temper flared also. What right did they have to be angry with him? He did not owe them anything. What right did they have to suddenly care?

"You are not my keepers," He spoke slowly, "and I am not yours." He teleported out not caring where he went knowing only that he had to escape them and their holier-than-thou attitude before he lost complete control.

The rangers stood starring at the spot were Billy had been standing, shocked. They would have been able to handle his departure better if he had been angry but the perfect calm in his voice left them shaken. They looked from Zordon to Tommy silently asking them what they should do.

~*~

Billy solidified in his bedroom. His door was open. He slammed it, trying to rid himself of some of his anger. He looked around his empty room and seemed to deflate. He dropped onto his bed not feeling particularly hungry but in definite need of sleep. He did not bother to change or have a shower he just pulled off his shoes and wrapped himself defensively in the covers. He closed his eyes and was plunged into dreams of carefree pleasure and that was how he remained until the morning.

~*~

Billy knew he had money stashed somewhere in his room he just could not remember where. He walked to the dresser and opened the first drawer. Moving his cloths around soon revealed that it contained nothing of value. He slammed it shut and opened the next drawer and the next until he had gone through all of them. He was in the middle of lifting a pile of shirts when his vision started to blur, he began to shake and his stomach threatened to erupt . Holding his hand over his mouth Billy ran to the bathroom and was soon retching into the toilet.

It took quite sometime before Billy felt he was well enough to move away from the toilet. He stumbled down the hall back to his room. The world still swam slightly and with desperation that was starting to become very familiar to him he searched his room. He turned his bedroom inside out and then finally he found the stash of ten dollar notes - he had stolen from his father - in the drawer next to his bed. He smiled in relief and teleported to the room with the green carpet. He did not care whether the toothless old man saw him arrive as a steam of white light. He only hoped that the evil smelling dealer was there. This had been the pattern of his life since he had first taken the drug three weeks before.

~*~

The dealer was lying asleep on the floor. Billy walked over to him and shook him hard. The man rolled over and yawned sleepily bathing Billy in his bad breath.

"Back so soon?" He smiled his toothless smile and got of the floor. "Another hit?" he asked as he walked to the counter.

"Yes please." Politeness was second nature to Billy and the please would always be there no matter how impatient he was.

"That'll be ten dollars." Billy handed the man a note then fished out several more. He was tired of his morning ritual. The man's toothless smile widened and he handed Billy several little sachets as well as everything else he might need.

"Thanks." Billy mumbled as he snatched them from the man. He then settled on the floor and prepared the drug. He rolled up his sleeve just as toothless - for that is what he now called the old man - had done before and pulled the tube taut around his upper arm.

He was scared to inject himself. He had never done it before because Jonny had always been there. He shivered slightly and starred at the syringe in his hand but then his need took over and he pushed the needle into his arm. The sweet liquid raced through his veins and as he lay back the tube loosened and soon he was right where he wanted to be.

~*~

Had Mondo been capable of smiling his evil grin would have cut his head in half. The power rangers' brain was out of the way. It amused him that something from Zordon's home planet could incapacitate one of Zordon's beloved rangers, especially the one Zordon treasured the most. All that was left for Mondo to do was to find a way around the gold ranger and earth would be his. He may not have been able to smile but he could laugh and soon the Machine Base was echoing with his laughter.

~*~

Billy woke up feeling a lot better then he had when he had arrived in the carpeted room. He looked at his watch. He had been out for two hours this time. The drug's effects were starting to get shorter.

He teleported to his room where he hid his supply wondering how long it would be before he would come back for more. He headed for the Power Chamber were there was probably something he needed to fix though all he really wanted to do was sleep but he felt he had to go because he had not been there in a while. A week maybe? He was not sure. Just before he teleported he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He did not recognise the face that stared back at him. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was filthy and looked as if it had not been washed in days - and it had not - his skin was pale and his eyes dull. He had lost some weight but it was not as obvious as the rest of his dishevelled appearance. His cloths were dirty and when he sniffed the air he realised that he smelt a bit as well. Billy sighed and his hand dropped away from his communicator. He was going to have to clean up otherwise the rangers might notice the change. He picked some clean cloths off of the floor and headed for the bathroom.

~*~

"Ai yi yi yi yi. Billy where have you been?"

"I was working on the pink battle hemlet. What's up?"

"We have to find a weakness in the shield around the Power Chamber so that we can teleport the gold ranger here." Billy nodded and grabbed the sheets of paper Alpha was waving around. He scanned them slowly. For some reason, possibly something to do with the drug, he was just not worried about how little time the gold ranger had.

"Got it." Billy walked calmly over to the nearest console and pressed a few buttons. "There. Try teleporting him now."

"You did it Billy." Alpha teleported the weakened gold ranger into the Power Chamber.

"Billy, you must take the gold powers until Trey's three selves are reunited." Billy held up the gold power staff and the room filled with a golden light. It dimmed slowly to revel Billy still wearing his jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Nothing had happened and then it dawned on Billy just what the drug was doing to him.

"I'm sorry." One of the Trey's reached over and patted Billy on the shoulder. Billy gave a weak smile and resisted the urge to shrug the hand away. The rangers teleported into the room.

"What happened? Billy why didn't you come and help us?"

"I can't take the gold powers."

"Why not?" Billy tried to think of something that would sound plausible.

"When the Command Centre blew up you remember how I dived over the console?" The rangers nodded after all how could they forget? "Well the blast caused something called negative protons and being so close to the blast I became infected - for want of a better word - with the negative protons. The powers are negatively charged so the negative protons repelled the power. I know that electrons are also negative but their effect is negligible. Anyway, that's why you guys can still use the power." Billy looked at the rangers' glazed expressions. He smiled secretly to himself. It was typical of them. All he had to do was go off on a scientific tangent and they would be lost. This time he seemed to have lost them the second he mentioned negative protons.

"Sorry man." All the rangers came and gave him a hug or words of condolences.

"I know someone who might be able to take the power. I'll be right back." Tommy teleported out. He was back shortly afterwards with Jason in tow. Billy grinned and hugged his long time friend, genuinely happy. He then stood back as Trey handed Jason the gold power staff. The room started to become fuzzy but Billy just shook it of as the light caused by the power transfer but when his head started to spin he knew that he had to leave before his friends found out the real reason behind him not being able to take the gold powers.

"Guys I have to go home quickly."

"You'll meet us at the Youth Centre later?" Jason asked giving his friend a concerned look.

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

~*~

He went straight to his hiding place and pulled a sachet from the stash. He mixed the drug on a spoon, heated it and pulled it up into the syringe just as he had been taught. He looked around for something to tie around his arm nothing. In desperation he undid his belt and tied it around his upper arm. using his middle and index fingers he tapped the area around his inner-elbow. He would have to remember to use the other arm next time because he had developed a bruise and tapping it hurt. To late now, the vein was standing out inviting the needle. He picked up his precious drug and shoved the needle into the vein. He let out a long sigh of relief. It felt so wonderful so indescribably wonderful. Slowly he lay back and let the drug take its full effect.

When Billy finally woke up it was dark outside. He had missed his appointment with the rangers but it did not matter because he had had a much more fulfilling experience with his new found friend and what a friendship it was. He sighed contentedly and sat up. Something was wrong. He could sense it. He looked at his wrist to get the time and was shocked to see the wrinkled arm beneath the watch strap. He walked carefully to the bathroom because every joint hurt and he could not have moved fast even if he had wanted to. He raised his head to look into the mirror. A cry was heard from the Cranston bathroom for the image, which greeted Billy was that of an old man close to a hundred years old. He sat on the toilet seat breathing deeply, trying to regain some form of composure. He Knew what he had to do.

~*~

"Zordon, something's happened." Billy waited for his mentor to appear in his plasma tube.

"Good eve... Billy what's happened." Zordon was shocked.

"You remember the rejuvenator...?"

~*~

The Zordon and the rangers spent the day with Billy trying to find a cure to his rapid ageing and Billy was glad to have their company because though they had not realised it he was scared out of his mind. He did not want to die.

He did, however note that he did not have the usual physical cravings for the drug. His body did not seem to want it any more but his mind? His mind was a different story. His mind wanted the drug so badly that his need was almost as bad as the physical hell he went through every time it wore off.

By the end of the day he and the rangers were discouraged but there was one last chance to save Billy. Aquitar's eternal falls.

~*~

Billy spent three weeks on Aquitar drinking from their fountain and was soon his proper age again. He was grateful for his second chance and who would not be? He had spoken to the rangers a few days before lying to them yet again - ever since his misguided teleport he seemed to have become quite a good liar. The rangers thought he was staying on Aquitar to be with his beloved but in actual fact he had asked for a ship which the Aquitians had quite happily provided and now he was touring the galaxy. His dream had come true. He was having the time of his life albeit somewhat lonely but he always had his stash. The magic waters of the eternal falls may have washed away all traces of the drug from his system but they had not cleansed his mind. He could still remember and his mind missed the heaven from the syringe.

The end

The song that started it all

Junkie doll ~ by Mark Knopfler

Turnpike lane, Turnpike lane

You spiked my arm

But you missed the vein

Now it's all gone

But the scars remain

Junkie doll, I was stuck on you

My junkie doll

Turnham Green, Turnham Green

You took me high

As I've ever been

Now it's all gone

And now I'm clean

Junkie doll, I was stuck on you

My junkie doll

And a little bit of this'd get you up

And a little bit of that'd get you down

A little bit of this'd get you up

And a little bit of that'd get you down

And a little bit of this'd get you up

A little bit of that'd get you down

A little bit of this'd get you up

A little bit of that'd get you down

Turnpike lane, Turnpike lane

You took my heart

Pan American

Now rain or shine

It's all the same

Junkie doll, I was stuck on you

My junkie doll

And a little bit of this'd get you up

A little bit of that'd get you down

A little bit of this'd get you up

A little bit of that'd get you down

And a little bit of this'd get you up

A little bit of that'd get you down

A little bit of this'd get you up

A little bit of that'd get you down