A/N – Thank you everyone who has reviewed and added my story to your favourites. I haven't done any creative writing since leaving school 12 years ago so I was genuinely please with the positive comments. Hopefully you'll like the next chapter.
Chapter 3 – School Daze
September 3 1994
Mission Log: Senior Field Agent Kris Hightower: Since arriving in Angel Grove, progress has been slow. The number of monster attacks is significantly less than over the previous few months. Due to this we have yet to begin collecting the artefacts Major Harmon is interested in. We have conducted research into all the items , one of which is the Sword of Power. Our research shows that it was allegedly created on Atlantis and was capable of creating and transferring vast amounts of energy. Logically this seems the most likely source of the Power Rangers abilities. To back up our theory, Agent McBride is setting up numerous energy detectors around common monster hotspots to try and take a reading of the Power Rangers.
Aimi and Xander were in The Bunker, monitoring the feed from Kris' mobile camera. He had been given the task of setting up the readers that Xander had created. With these it was hoped that they could get some sort of energy reading from the Power Rangers. Currently Kris was in a crane, three floors off the ground fixing a sensor to one of the nearby buildings.
"OK Kris this should be the last one, then we should be good to go", Xander stated into his headset.
Kris snorted, "You know I still don't understand why I was given this job. As senior agent I could have vetoed the pair of you".
"Oh lighten up Kris, you know this was the best option" Aimi said as she walked up to the video screen, "Xander needs to be here to make sure all the sensors are active and you said yourself this wasn't really a woman's job".
One hearing this, Xander laughed and started choking on the Red Bull he was drinking, this was picked up by Kris through the microphone, "What was that noise?"
"Nothing Kris must be interference" Aimi responded, barely containing her own laugh, "I'll offline the headsets and check them out". She then flicked a button on the control panel before turning to face Xander, "You're an ass do you know that?"
"How was that my fault?" Xander replied whilst holding his hands up in a defensive manner, "You were the one you turned Mr Macho's words back on him. Have you seen the state of this console now, I'll never get these stains out".
"I swear if you could marry a computer you would" Aimi fired back.
"Come on I'm not that bad" Xander stated as he grabbed a tissue to clean up the spill, "plus I've already asked Greta here and she turned me down" he continued, patting the console.
Aimi gave the teenager a strange look before proceeding to stand up and grabbed a tissue out of Xander's hand, "Come on Romeo I'll help you clean this up then I'll get you another drink. I could do with some fresh air and I've heard good things about this place called Ernie's that's just a few blocks away."
Angel Grove High
It was the first day back for the students of Angel Grove High and the students were in good spirits, swapping stories about their summer. Amidst all the excitement Kimberly Hart was at her locker check out her schedule for the coming semester. All 10th Grade students and below had been assigned Music as a compulsory class with a new teacher by the name of Mr Bentley. Whilst she was still studying her schedule she was approached by her friend Billy Cranston and her boyfriend Tommy Oliver. She smiled and walked up to the pair, giving Tommy a quick kiss.
"Hey beautiful, how are you today?" Tommy asked.
"I'm doing great Tommy, I can't wait to get started today. I'm so looking forward to our Music class first thing"
"I too can't wait to start this year" Billy chipped in, "although I don't understand why this class is now mandatory, it never used to be".
"Well I'd like to believe that Mr Caplan is finally focusing on the subject, it's been really neglected in the past" Kim responded.
"I'm just not sure what I'm going to get out of it, I haven't got a musical bone in my body" Billy said
looking slightly dejected.
Tommy clapped a hand firmly on Billy's shoulder, "I'm with you man, I'm totally tone deaf as well".
Kim folded her arms over her chest, "Don't be so hard on yourselves, you never know what hidden talents you could uncover"
Just as Tommy was about to respond the bell rang, "Well I guess we're going to find out, come on the classrooms this way.
The trio walked through the halls until they reached the Music classroom. There were instruments lining the walls and a number of chairs in the middle of the classroom. At the front of the room was the person they could only assume was Mr Bentley. He appeared in his early twenties with dark spiky hair. He looked quite laid back with an untucked dark coloured shirt. He had also teamed his trousers with a pair of bright red converse.
"Come on guys grab a seat, don't be shy now" Mr Bentley called out to the students as they filed in. It wasn't a large group, along with Kim, Billy and Tommy were about eight other students, two of which were Bulk and Skull.
Once everyone had a seat, Mr Bentley address the class, "Morning everyone and welcome to your first music class of the year. My name is Mr Bentley, however, I'm not one for formalities so you can call me Marcus. Now in the first semester we will be focusing mainly on the history of popular music, before moving onto more practical aspect of music after the Christmas break". Seeing that one of the student had a hand raised Marcus paused, "yes you have a question Mr..."
"Skullovitch sir, I mean, Bentley, er Mr Marcus, sir"
"It's just Marcus Mr Skullovitch, whats your question"
"Er, no offense but are you fully qualified" Skull asked, "I mean, you don't look much older than us".
A few other students nodded in agreement, whilst the rest looked surprised that Skull had asked a good question. Marcus just smiled and replied, "I can assure you Mr Skullovitch I'm more than qualified to teach this class and you're right I'm not really that much older than you guys. Let's just say I was a bit of a child protégé".
This seemed to appease most of the class but before Marcus could continue, there was a knock at the classroom door and Mr Kaplan entered followed by three teenagers. They were a male with Asian features, a latino male and an African-American female.
"Ah Mr Bentley sorry to interrupt" Mr Kaplan began, "but we have three transfer students from Stone Canyon. I'd like to introduce Adam Park, Rocky DeSantos and Aisha Campbell".
Marcus nodded in acknowledgement, "Great the more the merrier, grab a spare seat you three and we'll continue. Thank you Mr Kaplan. Right where were we, ah yes we going to start the year by learning about famous composers. On the board is a list of composers, you first assignments will be to give a presentation on one of them. This will be a group assignment with teams of two or three and to mix it up, I'll pick the groups"
After school Kim, Billy and Tommy met up with Jason, Trini and Zack outside the main entrance. They were busy catching up with their first days and the topic of conversation soon fell on the new teacher.
"So what did you guys think of Mr Bentley?" Trini asked the group.
" He seems nice enough" Kim replied, "not really like any of the other teachers we have. I still can't believe how young he is"
Zack snorted in disagreement with Kim, "Nice? He gave us a research and presentation assignment on the first day. Slave driver is more like it"
"Hey you're just upset it was classical composers we have to research and not hip hop artists. You need to broaden your horizons Zack-man" Kim responded. Zack then gave Kim a playful shove with a smile on his face.
Jason and Tommy had been silent during this exchange, Jason in particular appeared to be deep in thought. Sensing something was troubling the pair, Trini asked, "Hey what's wrong with you two? Are you upset you got paired with Bulk and Skull Tommy?"
Tommy looked up, "That's part of it Trini, but I dunno something just doesn't feel right. I can't put my finger on it", he turned to Jason, "are you feeling the same bro?"
Jason stopped walking and addressed the whole group, "Don't you guys think there's something fishy going on? We all suddenly have a compulsory class in a subject that usually optional. Not only that but we have a teacher who doesn't look old enough to be out of high school himself"
Zack put his hand on Jason's shoulder, "I think you're being paranoid man. It's not like this is part of Lord Zedd's latest plot"
"I agree with Zack" Kim spoke up, "It's good to be on alert Jason but not every weird thing that happens in Angel Grove is down to Lord Zedd or Rita".
"Yeah he probably just knows the right people, or did the right people" Zach said with a large smile on his face.
Trini responded by smacking him on the chest, "Don't be so crude Zack". Before she could chastise him further, Trini spotted the three new students, "Hey Kim is that the new guys you told us about?"
"Sure it lets go and say hi" Kim and the others crossed the road to catch up with Rocky, Adam and Aisha, "Hey guys wait up".
Aisha was the first to turn round, "Oh hey Kim are these the rest of your friends?"
"Sure are Aisha. Jason, Zack, Trini meet Aisha, Rocky and Adam" Kim pointed to each in turn and they all introduced each other.
"Billy and Kim I'm really looking forward to working on our project" Rocky said, "we should get together at some point and start planning"
"Great idea" Kim responded, "We're heading over to Ernie's for some shakes, fancy joined us?"
"Sorry we can't, we've got to help our parents unpack. We've not long moved from Stone Canyon" Aisha responded. "But we'll catch up in school tomorrow though" Adam chipped in.
"Aww no problem guys, I'll get we'll see you around" and with that the group said their goodbyes. Before the Rangers could continue down the path, their communicators went off. They all looked around before taking cover behind a nearby wall. The group gather around Jason who answered the call
"Go ahead Zordon, we read you"
Zordon's voice boomed through the communicator, "Jason there is a disturbance in the financial district. Lord Zedd has created a new monster to terrorise the city. You must stop it immediately"
"Don't worry Zordon we're on it", Jason turned to the group "you guys ready?"
Everyone shifted into postion and nodded in agreement, before make their respective calls.
"It's morphin' time"
"Dragonzord"
"Mastodon"
"Pterodactyl"
"Triceratops"
"Sabre-toothed tiger"
"Tyrannosaurus"
The group then proceeded to teleport to the monsters location.
The Bunker – During the monster battle
Kris, Aimi and Xander were gathered around the main console and viewing screen watching the Rangers battle Lord Zedd's latest monster. This battle wasn't going well for the Rangers so far, they had been knocked back on a few occasions. Xander was monitoring the data from his sensors in real time to make sure they were functioning correctly.
"How's it looking Xander?" Kris asked.
"Well the sensors are recording everything perfectly. I'm running the data through a program I wrote which triggered when the Rangers teleported in. It's picked up the maximum energy available to them and it's showing me in real time how much they use".
"Anything unusual?"
"Well it appears that whatever it powering them it can recharge itself very quickly" Xander put the reading up on the main screen. "Look at this, considering how many hard hits they've taken all of them are still operating at 74 percentage capacity".
Aimi looked at the reading with a puzzled look on her face, "Not all of them Xander, take a look at the green rangers readings. His maximum rating is lower than all of the others and it looks like its draining much quicker".
Xander studied the screen for a few minutes, deep in thought, "Hmm that is interesting it could a number of reasons. The green rangers appeared after the others so maybe he's powered differently. Could also be a fault in one of the sensors, I won't know more until I study the data properly later".
Just as Xander finished speaking, the trio noticed the green ranger suddenly drop to his knees. He hadn't been struck by the monster but he was definitely struggling.
"Take a look at that" Kris said whilst pointing at the monitor. The reading for the green ranger was flashing red and had dropped very close to zero. They hovered at this level until they began rising again.
"Any thoughts Xander" Aimi asked.
"Many" he responded, "but I won't more until I study the numbers further".
The agents continued to watch the battle and slowly the rangers began to get the upper hand. The rangers attacked individually with their own special weapons, before combining them all together. With one multi-coloured blast it struck the monster who fell to the ground in a shower of sparks before exploding. It didn't escape their attention that the green ranger had once again collapsed. The use by the rangers of the power blaster also had an effect on the console monitoring the energy readings. It was now smoking and had sparks coming out of it.
"Woah shit man, wasn't expecting that" Xander shouted out whilst jumping away from the console. "The huge energy spike from that weapon has shorted out the system"
"Does that mean we've lost the data?" Kris asked.
Xander tapped a few buttons before replying, "It doesn't look like it, everything should have backed up onto the main server automatically. I'll have to run some diagnostics so maybe this would be a good time for you to take five"
Kris and Aimi nodded in agreement before heading to the door. Aimi paused and turned back to face the teenager, "Hey Xander these sensors of yours, could you pick up anything?"
"Sure anything from gamma radiation to what next door has been listening to on the radio".
Aimi paused in thought, "Is it even legal to use them?"
A small smile appeared in the corner of Xander's mouth, "We work for the US Government, what do you think?"
Deciding not to press the matter any further, Aimi took off after Kris.
The Command Centre
The Rangers had been able to teleport back to the Command Centre with Tommy, who was currently unconscious. Fortunately Lord Zedd had decided not make the monster grow into a giant. This had confused the Rangers who were sure that Zedd would want to take advantage of the fact that Tommy wouldn't be able to summon the Dragonzord. Currently though they were too concerned about Tommy's health to worry about how Lord Zedd's mind operated.
Tommy had been placed on a medical table, then Alpha and Billy connected him to a machine to measure his vital signs. Kim was knelt by Tommy's bedside whilst the other Rangers paced around. The machine that Billy and Alpha were standing next to make a buzzing sound and a computer read out started to print. Billy tore the paper from the machine and studied the figures that had come out.
Kim looked over at the Blue Ranger, "Well, what's the verdict?"
"Curious, very curious", Billy muttered, not hearing Kim speak.
"Yo Billy, do you know what caused Tommy's collapse", Zack shouted across hoping that Billy would hear him.
"I'm not sure guys", Billy stated "It would appear that Tommy's powers are fluctuating wildly. He collapsed due to nearly exhausting his own life force, his body shut itself down temporarily to prevent serious injury. As to what caused it, I'm not sure maybe something is draining Tommy's powers".
Zordon chose this moment to speak up, "Billy feed the data into the main computer, I shall analyse it and try to determine the what incapacitated Tommy".
As Billy did this, Tommy began to stir and slowly he sat up. He looked around at the concerned faces on his team mates, "Hey guys what happened, the last thing I remember is attacking the monster then everything went black".
Kim gave Tommy a hug, "Tommy we were so worried about you. Zordon, Billy and Alpha are looking into it now"
Jason approached the Green Ranger and grasped his hand in a firm shake, "Hey bro how you feeling?"
"Like I just got ran over by a truck, did we beat the monster?"
Jason gave a small laugh, "Trust you to be more concerned about a battle then you own health. Yes Tommy we did, Zedd didn't enlarge the monster so the Dragonzord wasn't needed".
Tommy smiled at Jason in relief, "Rangers I have finished analysing the data from the medical unit" Zordon's voice boomed from his tube. "Billy's theory was correct, someone or something is draining the Green Ranger powers. Tommy's collapse was due to the power coin feeding directly off his life force to recharge it's energy rather than from the Morphing Grid".
This news troubled the Rangers, this wasn't the first time someone had tried to take the powers from the Dragon power coin. "Could someone have attempted to recreate the green candle Zordon?" Trini asked.
"I do not believe so Trini, this artefact was permanently destroyed when Jason rescued Tommy from Rita's dark dimension several months ago before the power could be fully drained. The green power coins link to the Morphing Grid was weakened to its time spent in the hands of evil and so more susceptible to damage. It seems my fears have been realised, Lord Zedd has found a way another way to drain the green powers".
"Is there anything we can do Zordon?" Tommy asked.
"The only way to save your powers Tommy is to locate the item that is draining them and destroyed it"
"Don't worry bro" Jason stated "we've done it once, we can save you powers again".
Tommy nodded his thanks, but he and the rest of the Rangers couldn't help but worry. They must find a way to stop the drain, otherwise the Green Rangers powers would be lost forever.
