Author's note: Thank you to the two people who've left reviews. To everyone else, please let me know what you think of the story.
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Jason looked set to thump something. He was angry at losing both Tommy and the coin and, with no one else handy, he was blaming himself. Billy was trying to work on tracing the energy residues of the ninjas, but kept looking up to see Jason pacing madly about the power chamber. The rest of the Rangers didn't look much better, but Jason's pacing was occasionally interrupted by muttered curse words.
As a rule, Jason didn't swear.
Billy didn't want to get in Jason's way when he figured out how to find these ninjas.
Fortunately, it was getting easier. The number of times Tommy's kidnappers had appeared and disappeared in the past couple of hours meant that Billy had a lot of fresh residue to analyse. It was still difficult, trying to find a way to follow an unfamiliar form of transportation. It was made more difficult still by having Jason's pacing in his peripheral vision to distract him.
And the other Rangers asking him how he was doing every other minute.
"I think I may have something," Billy said, "now will you shut up and let me work on it!" The others took a step backwards. They weren't used to him losing his temper, but Billy cared about Tommy as much as the rest of them. He had to find a way to find him. They'd not been able to locate him despite all of their equipment and the communicator signal wasn't getting through.
The Rangers kept their distance and kept quiet, except for when Billy told them to fetch the various bits of equipment he needed. A machine was taking shape on the workbench.
"Right," Billy said at last, "providing all my calculations are exactly right and if my educated guesses turn out to be correct, this thing should follow the energy back to its source, allowing us to teleport after Tommy."
"Us?" Jason asked.
"Yes," Billy replied, "the device only works one way. You'll need me there to make the necessary adjustments to get back. That is, assuming that we get there." Billy would only offer the odds of success being about fifty-fifty. He wasn't even completely confident that it would take them anywhere. The thing had been cobbled together from old teleportation circuitry and some hardware from the power chamber that Alpha would now need to replace. It was a slightly misshapen sphere about the size of a person's head, with a circular handle running around the equator.
"What are we waiting for?" Tanya asked.
"I don't think we should all go," Billy said, "it's not very big and I'm not sure how much power it will need to take us to Tommy. Besides, someone should be here in case King Mondo attacks." He didn't say that someone should stay so that they didn't all die when this thing blew up.
"I'm going," said Jason.
"What if we need Pyramitus?" Rocky asked.
Jason glared at him. "I'm going," he insisted. None of them wanted to argue with that expression.
"I'll go too," Adam said. Jason nodded. Billy picked up the device. It was surprisingly heavy for its size and he was grateful when Adam and Jason both put their hands on the handle.
"We'll go from Tommy's house," Billy said, "since that's their most recent disappearance point. Alpha, prepare to teleport."
"Teleporting now."
"Good luck," intoned Zordon, "and may the power protect you."
A moment later and there were standing in Tommy's bedroom. The signs of the recent struggle surrounded them: broken ornaments, toppled furniture, books scattered on the floor. Billy sent a prayer up to any deity that might be listening. They had to get Tommy back.
"Hold on tight," Billy said, "and cross your fingers." He pressed the on switch.
For a few seconds nothing happened and Billy began to think he'd made a mistake. Then the device nearly wrenched his arms out of their sockets. It was moving, and moving fast. The bedroom had vanished and suddenly they were surrounded by nothing but darkness. There wasn't the slightest trace of light, but Billy could still clearly see Jason and Adam. They were, like him, struggling to keep a grip on the device as it raced in some unknown direction.
Billy hoped desperately that he hadn't made a mistake in calculations and that he was right about how to follow the energy. If not, they could materialise anywhere in the galaxy, or even further afield.
Then he slammed into something hard. A few moments to catch his breath and recover from the shock, then Billy was looking around himself. They were lying on the floor, the device between them. It had clearly suffered the same impact as them, because a piece had fallen off. Billy stood up cautiously, testing out bruised limbs. Jason was already on his feet and looking around.
They were in a short corridor. The floor was of white tiles, the walls and ceiling smooth and painted white. Coloured lights were pointed at the white to leave multi-coloured patterns. As he watched, the colours shifted and changed. There were no doors, but there was a junction in each direction only a few metres away.
"Alright," said Jason in a tone barely above a whisper, "we'll try and find somewhere where you can hide and fix the device. Then I'll look for Tommy."
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The brother and sister walked in to the youth centre and looked around. There were teenagers sitting at tables chatting, or working out on the weights machines around the room. A couple of kids were in the middle of the room running through katas on the mats.
"I don't see him," said the boy.
"Then let's ask." The girl led the way to a juice bar, where an overweight man was wiping down the counter.
"What can I get you?" he greeted them cheerfully.
"We're actually looking for someone," the girl said. "A guy called Jason. We were told he hangs out here a lot."
"Jason, yeah," the guy behind the counter said, "He comes here most days after school with his friends. Not seen him today though."
"Do you know where he might be?"
"'Fraid not. He might be in the park."
"Thanks anyway."
"You want me to give him a message if I see him?"
"No, that's OK."
"I don't suppose you know his address?" the boy asked. The guy behind the counter shook his head.
"Never mind." The girl thanked him again and then the two headed for the door. The boy paused, looking across to where a teenager was practising gymnastics on a balance beam.
"We can't," the girl said.
"I hadn't said anything," her brother complained.
"I know what you're thinking and we can't go to Florida."
"Just to see her."
"We can't," the girl insisted, "because if I saw her, I know I'd want to save her."
The boy sighed and then headed outside, his sister right behind him. They both knew what they were here to do. Kimberly Hart would die, but it wouldn't be at their hands. They were here only for Jason Lee Scott.
