Andros reached the Ranger bay of the Astro Megaship just in time to see Zhane, still in his Silver Ranger suit, leaning against his Galaxy Glider, breathing heavily as he reached up with his left hand and unlatched the clips holding his helmet in place over his head. Silently, Andros watched his good friend undo the clips and pull the silver colored helmet off. Zhane's face was slightly pale and his eyes glossy as he took in deep breaths.
"Zhane?" Andros's voice drifted through the quiet.
Zhane looked over, his breathing starting to calm somewhat. "I'm okay, Andros. Those Velocifighters were getting a little too close, that's all." Zhane admitted. He got to his feet, holding his helmet and walked over to Andros, resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder when the concerned look Andros was giving him didn't leave his face. "Really...I'm okay."
"Okay." Andros replied. He was willing to let it go for now because he simply didn't have the time to press the issue further. Not with the war of the universe unraveling before them. He turned and gestured for Zhane to walk with him. "Come on." he said instead.
Andros and Zhane walked along the corridors that led back towards the bridge of the Megaship.
"Alright," Andros said, "what's going on? Your message said something about KO-35 under attack?"
Zhane nodded. "The rebels are under attack. So far, they've held them off, but they need our help."
Andros shook his head sadly, filled with regret. "It isn't just the rebels Zhane. Dark Spectre, Astronema, Divatox, Rita and Zedd...they're all involved in attacks all over the universe."
Reaching the bridge, the two Space Rangers enter it, where the other four Space Rangers are navigating the Megaship back in the direction of Earth. Andros took in the tense faces of his Earth born friends and exhaled a deep breath. "What is it?" Andros asked them.
T.J. looked at the monitors. "Divatox has conquered Gratha, Andros."
"Rita and Zedd are attacking the Vika Galaxy and the Vika have...Andros, they don't have any defenses." Cassie said, her voice tinged with worry.
Carlos was looking over different monitors at his station of the bridge. Now, hearing Cassie's voice, he looked over at Andros and Zhane. "The Vika are peaceful, they don't know about war...they won't know what hit them."
Zhane took in those words, then looked at Andros. He saw a similar look of tense worry and grief echoed on his friend's face. "They're trying to conquer the whole Universe." he said.
Each and every Ranger stopped moving at those words, in their own minds...they were now realizing the importance of what their enemies were doing. Andros nodded, however. "Exactly and if we don't stop them...they'll succeed."
They all were silent as the Megaship continued to soar through the blackness of space, back towards the Milky Way galaxy. Carlos looked at one of the monitors when he heard a beep come from the controls. His eyes widened and his eyebrows hiked up. "Hey," he said slowly, "look at this. Over a thousand Velocifighters."
"Heading where?" Andros asked instantly. Although, being as he was an intelligent enough person, he already had an inkling of an idea of where those Velocifighters were heading.
Carlos studied the screen before him. "Heading..." his voice faltered as his eyes took in the results to his quiery. He brought the image of the Velocifighters and where they were headed to the screen in front of everyone, the largest screen in the bridge. "...heading for Earth."
They all looked up at the screen and shock colored their faces when they saw the image on the screen. On the screen, there were indeed at least a thousand Velocifighters edging closer and closer to the Earth. It was an eerie feeling seeing that sight and knowing they wouldn't make it back before the attack against Earth began.
Without saying a word, Andros walked over to his station of the bridge and sat down, manning the controls. He exhaled a deep breath, preparing the Megaship for a warp drive trip. "Hang on Earth," Andros said, "we're on our way."
As his words faded away, he propelled the Megaship into hyper warp, zooming through the outer realms of space, faster than the speed of light.
A red Jeep moved down the streets in Angel Grove at a restless pace. This Jeep moved around other cars in the street and dodged cars, sped around curves, occasionally hitting the sidewalk before moving back to the road as it made many different turns, heading towards a certain neighborhood.
Behind the wheel of the Jeep, a very anxious and concerned Tommy Oliver watched the road in front of him, his mind hardly on the pavement in front of him. Instead, all of his attention was focused on a house just a few minutes away and a feeling he got that put him even more on edge than he was when he left his apartment.
About five minutes prior, when he was about halfway across the distance of his apartment and the Hillards home, he felt this tendril of fear go through him, like that feeling you got when you knew something bad had just happened and when he felt it, he knew immediately that something had happened at Kat's parents home. That made him hurry as fast as he could, hardly caring how many traffic laws he was breaking by his reckless driving as it was.
He turned his Jeep around a corner of the street he was moving down and he felt his heartrate pick up. Just down the street was the Hillards house, part of it's roof aflame with fire and strong smoke drifting up out of the windows on all sides. "No, no, no, NO, NOO!" Tommy's voice got louder and louder as his Jeep stopped when Tommy slammed on the brakes, his Jeep stopping just at the yard of the Hillards house.
He shoved the door open and dove out, moving around and running up to the house. The fire department had yet to arrive and with the attack against the world, just about to begin, there was a doubt in his mind that they'd bother with a house on fire at all.
Tommy reached the front door of the house and he raised his arms up to shield his face from the intense heat of the flames and smoke in the house. He shouldered the door open and stepped inside the house, looking around. Thick and very hot flames were everywhere in the house, smoke covering much of the air in the house. Tommy's eyes looked back and forth, trying to see if he could find Kat, but he found his attention focused on two forms laying near the wall next to the staircase.
The forms were unmoving.
Instinct flared movement within him and he moved over to them. He knew who they were immediately. Chester and Allison Hillard. His soon to be in-laws. Tommy saw a rolled up piece of parchment paper laying on the ground and he grabbed it, stuffing it into his back pocket. He had assumed it belonged to Chester Hillard. Tommy reached down, hardly aware of the danger of the sizzling flames almost tickling his skin, and grabbed Allison Hillard's small frame and hefted it into his arms.
As quickly as he could, he moved out of the house and to the grass outside the house, settling her down on the greed blades of the yard. Without waiting for a breath, he moved back into the house and went to where Chester Hillard was laying. He reached down and put his arms under Chester's, the man's back facing Tommy and he pulled Chester out as quick as he could.
Moments ticked by as he cleared the house, with Chester with him. And just as Tommy got to his knees, the Hillards safe from the fiery inferno of the house, the upper level of the house collapsed from the flames weakening the structure of the wood inside it. A blast of hot air rushed from the house as it collapsed and Tommy, his face covered with dirt and smut, covered his face from the heated air.
Tommy leaned back, tears springing unbidden to his eyes as he made a realization. He was too late. Kat was dead and so was the child they were going to have together. Tommy closed his eyes, only moments away from grief filled sobs ripping through him.
Then, he felt a hand touch his hand and he had to force himself not to break down in front of the Hillards. He opened his eyes and looked down. Chester's eyes gazed back at him. "T-tommy..." Chester's voice was weak.
"Y...yeah sir. I'm...I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner." Tommy said.
"Th-this wasn't your fault, Tommy." Chester said, leaning up on an elbow as he turned to his wife's body. He pressed a couple of fingers to Allison's throat and sighed in relief. "Allison will be okay." he said it more to himself than to Tommy.
In the distance, they could just make out the fire truck on it's way to the house, it's sirens already heard by the two men. Tommy looked down, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have left her yesterday." he said forlornly.
Chester looked at him. "Tommy, this was NOT your fault. I know you have a tendency to blame yourself for what happens to your friends, but this IS NOT your fault. It couldn't be."
Tommy looked at him. "What?"
"When we were ready to leave, something outside made the door explode. That's what knocked us out." Chester shook his head, then his eyes widened. "Wait, what about that piece of paper...it was laying next to me!"
Tommy reached behind him and produced the paper. He then looked back at Chester, raising his eyebrows. "You mean...it's not yours?"
Chester shook his head. "No, I felt it hit the ground next to me just before I lost consciousness. And...and I believe...at least I think it was, but I'm fairly sure I heard Kat's voice. Talking to someone...I can't remember."
Tommy swallowed and unrolled the parchment. Then, he re-read it, a flush of rage beginning to form itself in the pit of his stomach.
Tommy...
You and I have a long ago issue to settle. Bottom line, I have your precious Kat. You want her back, then you'll do what I say. I will give you the instructions on how to get her back, but you will do it on my terms or I will cause her bodily harm. Her and the unborn child the two of you share. In one hour, I want you to go to the old abandoned power plant on the outskirts of Angel Grove. Come alone or I will make you regret it.
Zedd.
A name he thought he'd never hear from ever again. Once his days as a Power Ranger ended, he'd thought and hoped all the worldly dangers that came with being a Ranger were over. He was wrong and now, Kat was in extremely grave danger because of it. His hand crumpled the paper, the stark whiteness of his knuckled visible to the watching Chester.
Chester Hillard had never seen Tommy Oliver with that type of anger crossing his face and he'd known Tommy for a little over two years. "Tommy, are you alright?"
Tommy looked at the older man. "I'm okay, sir." Tommy paused, letting the situation settle over him and let his mind begin thinking about ways to protect both himself and Katherine, along with their unborn child. "Kat's going to be fine, sir. I promise you that."
Without a further word, Tommy turned and walked back to his Jeep. He knew the authorities and the ambulance would arrive in mere moments, so the Hillards would be safe. What his mind was focused on now, of course, was how to get his family out of this very serious and very deadly situation they were now in. He knew Zedd would keep his word if he did involve anyone, so he would deal with this on his own, alone.
Tommy got in his Jeep and closed the door, breathing heavily and trying to think. Mindlessly, his eyes drifted to the sky. The Velocifighters were getting very closer to the city. The attack was almost upon the world.
The highway that stretched aimlessly between Angel Grove and Stone Canyon was packed with different cars. There were about fifty miles, maybe less, between the two cities. Scared and frightened, some citizens from the two cities had began to flee towards other areas where they hoped would be safer to be. Very few of the cars, however, were heading towards the city.
But there was one car that was. A silver SUV drove through the lane, the three entrants very happy that the lane they drove through wasn't packed full of other vehicles. The driver of the car was a man in his early twenties. He wore a pair of black pants with black shoes and a dark blue dress shirt tucked into the pants, the buttons of the shirt buttoned all the way up to the neck. The shirt, a long sleeved one, was a darker shade of blue.
His hands were on the wheel, moving the vehicle down the lane and towards Angel Grove. The car was only about three minutes from reaching the city he once called his home. He hadn't been back in Angel Grove for over a year and a half. Instead, he'd moved down to Florida and went into opening his own business, a martial arts dojo, using what money his family had given him and on the side, he'd started taking college classes to better help him to run his business.
Rocky DeSantos sighed heavily as his eyes tracked to the sky, where the hundreds of Velocifighters were gathering even closer to the Earth. The dots that they were had gotten slightly larger as the minutes ticked by and now, they were almost upon their targets. The former Blue Zeo Ranger sped up on the gas pedal and the car moved faster along the road.
"Don't go too fast, Rocky." the voice from the seat next to him said.
"I know." Rocky said, turning to look at the dark haired woman sitting next to him. As he turned his eyes back to the road, he couldn't help but let his thoughts linger on her, even as his eyes no longer were on her. Penny Harding was the young woman who Rocky had met during his later days as the Blue Zeo Ranger. He had admired her early on because of her martial arts ability. Of course, it wasn't just her ability he admired.
It was the fact that she was blind that grabbed his attention. Being blind wasn't considered a disability to the young woman, she could defend herself in a battle, regardless of the loss of sight. And even after that first series of arguments she had with him, Penny Harding couldn't help but feel pulled towards him. They had started dating mere months before Rocky's back injury that resulted in his decision to retire as a Ranger.
Of course, he didn't know one thing about her, even to this day. And that was that Penny was well aware of his being a Power Ranger. She didn't tell him, of course, but she knew. That day when he morphed merely feet from her, she heard it then, even as softly as he had spoken the morphing command, she'd heard it. It had been a shock, but that had been the turnaround in their relationship. Learning that one fact about him had been a very interesting realization.
And through their dating, the two of them had gotten closer. They both were far from being ready for marriage, but they were content with the relationship they had. In fact, it had been his desire to have more free time with Penny that had been the leading reason why Rocky chose to allow Justin to take his place as the Blue Ranger when they began using the Turbo powers.
Rocky navigated the car around a curve that led closer to Angel Grove. Silence dredged on in the car for the next few moments as they edged closer to the city. "Rocky, in case I haven't said thanks, thanks again." a voice from the backseat said.
Rocky looked in the mirror slightly above him and saw the face looking back. He smiled. "It really was no problem, Kim. I'm just glad you called."
Kimberly Hart nodded, her attention drawn to the approaching attack ships in the sky. The former Pink Ranger tried to relax in the seat, but the worry for all her old friends and family in Angel Grove were clearly evident. Her life, Rocky reflected, was filled with surprises and twists as well as his had been.
It began when she left being the Pink Power Ranger behind. Going to Florida, with the purpose of competing in the Pan Global Games under Coach Smidth. Indeed, she had worked long and hard, training for the Games and eventually competing in the Games. That had been a high point in her life, winning the awards she had won beaming in the spotlight after the Games had ended.
Then, Kimberly had been forced to make a decision. She evaluated her life to that point and she made the decision that although she left Angel Grove to make her dream come true, that dream had changed. Her dream was no longer being in the Games, she'd done that and excelled at it. No, she found that her dream had changed to something else entirely. And thinking about it, she found herself desiring to go into the world of music.
Something she had never expected to even think about. But now, she was wanting to do it more and more. She knew she had an okay enough singing voice, but it wasn't until she spoke with an expert that she learned she could find great success in it. And over the course of the last year, she'd been working with the Record company that had signed her in making her very first album. It was almost ready for release.
And now, Kimberly thought to herself, the world is about to be under attack.
"I can't believe what's happening." Kimberly said. "I thought the worst was behind us, Rocky."
Rocky nodded and quirked a small smile. The way she phrased it didn't hold any wording that would refer to their Ranger days. Penny smiled, just now figuring out that Kimberly must have been a Power Ranger once as well.
The Angel Grove population sign came into view as Rocky's car passed it by and they were officially within the city's limits. And as they returned to the city they knew so well, the danger of the thousand of Velocifighters loomed over the horizon.