CHAPTER ONE
Laya stood as she looked out of the window in the throne room. The grounds men hurried around the beautifully appointed garden area. Almost as if they were trying to look busy. Laya smiled as she mused. The various members of staff, employed at the palace were in the process of setting the stage for her coronation later that week. A peace summit was also set to take place later on that very night. She should have been taking a last-minute look at the various issues that she wanted to cover that night and yet still she stood staring out at the grounds men.
Coming down the hallway, she could hear some of her advisors and councilors coming ever closer. TO disturb the little nugget of peace that she was trying to carve out for herself. It had been a hellish few months and there were things that she was still grappling with, but her sense of responsibility to the people that she called her subjects, wouldn't let her. Taking a deep cleansing breath, she turned to face the room at large but not before taking one last longing look out her window. The alliances that she hoped to form were at the forefront of her mind as she sat down and awaited her council to be seated also. Delegates from several different countries of earth as well as a few representatives from different planets would be in attendance.
The peace summit promised to be a long, if lively one and she looked forward to further ways that she could protect her new home. With an army of assistants chomping at the bit to help her get things in motion, all Laya had to do was relax and let them do their jobs. But something kept nagging at her – almost as if something big was about to happen but for the life of her she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Selma, screen all incoming communications according to preset guidelines and send only the high priority ones through to me"
"affirmative." came the well-modulated response. As that brief conversation ended, Laya made her way towards the palace garage and once there she got into her car a royal blue escalade. Looking back on when she originally got the vehicle, she mused that she probably should have gotten something a little more circumspect. Something that looked a little more … royal. Shaking that thought off and bringing herself back into focus, she cautiously backed out of the driveway and took off towards the city. Laya slowed down as she came up to the traffic lights just before she came upon the entrance to the docs. As she waited for the lights to change, she saw a large crowd of people coming from near the docks.
They looked terrified, as though they had seen something that scared them senseless. Pulling to the shoulder, Laya parked her vehicle and got out. All she knew was that she had to help these people. Crossing the lights on foot, Laya made her way to the direction that the people were coming from. When she got to the center of all the confusion, she saw five teenagers, like herself, standing as a wall against a rather hideous looking monster. Laya stood behind a concrete post and watched.
"why don't you go back to where you came from?" one of the teens asked. His disgust and anger clearly evident in his tone.
"because ranger, my mission is to destroy you all." he replied. Laya thought his answer was very much cliched. Looking at the poses of the 5 teens standing in a line, a wall to protect those around them that could not protect themselves, Laya realized that these five tees were the power rangers. She quickly took stock of what was about to happen and realized that the rangers would take some serious damage if she didn't do something to help them. Just as she came to that realization, the monster fired an energy blast at them. the blast shook the ground and caused the rangers to the fall to the ground. Rubble rained down upon them, causing them to sustain some injuries. the monster kept firing blasts at the rangers. Not giving them a chance to get up and defend themselves, but then again, what did she expect. Deciding to take a stance then and there, Laya threw up an energy shield just as the monster launched his most powerful attack. At the same time as she threw up that energy shield, she also let loose a volley of her own energy blasts and that caught the monster by surprise. It also got the monster's attention and caused it to focus on her.
The rangers were looking around to see who was helping them and that's when they saw Laya.
'Hi guys'
'Miss…. You need to leave here. This is dangerous' Tommy said to her as he tried to get up from the last volley that the monster had sent against them.
'Yeah and it wasn't dangerous to you guys?' she asked. A slightly confused tone in her voice.
'You need to go….'
'Look, whoever you are. This…. whatever it is, is attacking people. I can't just stand idly by and do nothing to help – especially when I have the power to do something'
Just then the monster switched tactics and fired on Laya. She pulled the shield around herself just in time. But now she was pissed, and this showed in the way arcs of blue lightening raced across her eyes and over the rest of her body.
'You did not just do that' she muttered to herself as she encased the rangers in a smaller version of the shield that now covered herself, and gave the monster in front of her, her full concentration.
'Why are you here, you thing?'
'To destroy the rangers and take the earth for my own'
'Well you just might have run into a bit of a snag. You see I'm not going to stand idly by and let you do this. You realize, that don't you?' Just then she threw an energy constricting force field around the monster and slowly began to compact it.
Pretty soon the monster realized what was happening and started throwing his own energy blasts at the inside of the shield, trying to break free. But he couldn't. Laya slowly but surely collapsed the field until the monster imploded.
The rangers had managed to regain their footing and were now standing. There was a silence in the air as everyone took note of all that had happened. There was damage to buildings and cars, even the roads seemed not to have escaped the damage that the monster had meted out. Laya cleaned up as much of it as she could then put in a call to her administrators at the palace to send out a team to help however they could.
" that was incredible' Katherine said, 'and yet I get the feeling that you were not even trying."
" well ..." she said trying to think up a response. She was at a loss for what to tell them.
Adam started to slowly fall to the ground. It would seem that he had sustained more serious damage than she had estimated. Laya went over and helped him up.
" I'm assuming that you guys have a command center. let's go. He one looks as if he's taken some damage" she said as they tuned their communicators and teleported in streams of multicolored lights.
"I wonder who that girl was today that defeated one of my monsters as if he were an oversized toy." a dark voice wondered.
" we're not sure yet my lord but we will soon know." a subordinate answered.
" that is all just splendid. I want to test her and if she's in league with the powers of good then the balance has yet again shifted."
when the teleportation sequence ended, Laya along with help from the others put their injured team mate on an examination table.
"rangers, what happened to Adam?" the android known as alpha asked.
"he took a blast to the chest in the battle we just had, but how come you guys didn't know. is the viewing globe down or something?" Jason asked.
"there was a signal blocking the use of our equipment and it has taken us this long to get it back on line. "the head that floated in a tube-like structure answered.
" he'll be alright. I just scanned him. only a couple of bruised ribs and a slight concussion. some rare should do the trick." Laya said and all attention in the command center shifted to her.
"welcome your highness I am known as zordon." the voice from the tube replied.
" I prefer Laya. "she said.
"Laya then. I knew of your parent's eons ago and of the great responsibility that your father bore. tell me is the great power still safe?" zordon asked.
" at my birth my parents intertwined it with my lifeforce. it is now a part of me and lends its strength to me in times of need"
"that is good to know. while you call this planet home, the power rangers will help whenever possible. let me introduce them. Katherine
'hi '
' Tanya '
'hello '
'Billy '
'nice to meet you'
'and you already met Adam'
'what's up'
'you have already met Jason and tommy'
'these are the rangers of epsilon bay." he ended the introductions.
"nice to meet you all I have to be going..." an alarm started blaring and they all turned to the viewing globe.
" a monster with an unusually high-power level has just appeared in the school district. rangers, I don't have to tell you how dangerous this could be for the citizens of the city." zordon stated.
" ok Adam's down and I have a feeling we'll need his help." Jason said as he walked to a console.
"that's not a problem. I can pilot his weaponry vehicle with a mind merge and should it become necessary I can shield you all." Laya said as they all turned to stare at her in amazement
"are you sure?" Tanya asked.
"yes I am." she replied. " it's morphin time"
"mastodon"
"pterodactyl"
"triceratops"
"sabretooth tiger"
"tyrannosaurus"
"White Tiger"
as the rangers transformed so too did Laya and they teleported once more. a few minutes after they left tommy started coming around.
"what happened zordon?" Adam asked groggily.
"we have gained an ally " he replied as he turned to watch the battle that ensued.
as Laya and the rangers re-materialized at the sight of the monster attack, Laya couldn't help but reflect that she had gotten herself in some serious s*&t! the monster looked them all over, especially Laya and laughed.
Laya's eyebrows rose and she placed her hand underneath her chin in a contemplative gesture. She in turn studied the monster right back. when it finally got tired of the staring contest it spoke.
" I was sent here to destroy the new girl but obviously she's not worth the trouble"
"oh really! "she replied as she began to marshal her powers. out of nowhere an energy blast was fired at her. the rangers made as if to come over to her, but she held up a hand.
" I'll handle this. "was all she said. about five seconds before the blast hit her she erected a force field. the monster was not impressed and continued to fire blasts of energy at her. each more powerful than the last. while this was going on four things happened. zordon made a call to a number that the rangers knew nothing of. Adam was impressed. the rangers were realizing just how powerful an ally they had, and the battle was being broadcast all over the country. the attacks stopped and Laya let her forcefield. not wasting any time, she turned it into a ball of pure energy and sent it right at the monster. It was clearly caught off guard by the way that it stumbled.
she knew it was up to something, but not quite what. the monster fired a blast that hit her dead on and millions of people zordon and the rangers included, cried out in shock. Laya absorbed the energy and channeled it using some of her own. she began to glow with the amount of energy that she was channeling and still she continued to call forward more.
she floated upwards until she was midair and stopped. A massive ball of energy whirled around her. Lightening arced and wind blew as if a tornado had descended into their midst. Everyone was now shocked, surprised and cautious. what kind of being could take that kind of blast and still be alive?
"take this message to your master." as she said this she formed yet another orb and encased the monster in it. "I am not to be messed with and the earth is under my protection. if your master wants a fight let him come. I'm always game for a challenge." and with a flick of her wrist she sent it sailing out of the atmosphere and back to his master. such a use of her powers left her weak and as she floated back to the ground, tommy came forward and caught her. to his team mates he said "let's get back to the command center. you guys look like you cloud use a rest."
