Chapter 4
Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm myself I released the death grip on my sword and looked up at the others.
"So there you have it." I looked around at all of them. Cassie, TJ and Carlos were looking at me with a mixture of horror and shame. They had never heard the full story until now, they had never given me a chance to explain. Andros was looking at me up and down.
"Y–you......you..." he stuttered. I nodded and said with minor impatience.
"Yes, I used to work for the other side and yes...I regret what I've been forced to do. I'll regret it for the rest of my life." I put away my sword. Cassie took a step toward me.
"Why didn't you tell us?" I gave her an angry look and didn't answer. TJ cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Amy, uh—what we said uh back at the Power Chamber....." .
"It's okay, water under the bridge." I said shortly. I turned to Andros and said business like.
"Andros, we need to start looking for my father right away. Can you lock onto his location?" Andros seemed to shake himself out of whatever stupor he had been in and nodded.
"Yeah, I can." Moving to one of the consoles he began to push at the buttons. I gave a sigh, then taking out my computer once again I began to try to reach Edenoi. I just had to know if Tentomon was alright. If I can't get through this time, then I'll contact Aquatar. Maybe they possibly heard or saw something. Although it was unlikely, Aquatar was pretty far away from Edenoi, still I held on to that hope. Damn it! Still nothing. I looked at the blank screen in frustration. I began to type in Billy's email address, wishing that we could still teleport, wishing that dad had sent us an SOS. Wait a minute. Why didn't dad or Tento send an SOS? Was the attack unforseen? Were they unprepared for it? That's a possibility. A sick feeling grew in the pit of my stomach and I tried to shove away the pictures that flew through my head. If there had been an attack on Angel Grove, the alarm would usually alert Tentomon and Dad, who in turn would call the Rangers. But what if Edenoi didn't have that kind of system? Then any attack that would come outside of Edenoi would be unexpected. I decided to take a chance and contact Aquatar, briefly wondering if King Lexian and his people even knew the Aquatar Rangers and that they were our allies. There. My message had been sent....now I just have to freaking wait for Billy, Cestro, or Delphia to answer. I bounced impatiently on the balls of my feet, then began to pace back and forth again, wondering why everything was taking so freaking long!! Dad could be moved to the other side of the galaxy before my friends respond or when Andros finally locks onto dad's location. If that happens, then we may never find him, space itself.....is so vast and huge....it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack! My hands began to shake uncontrollably, my heart was thumping fast. Dad. Dear god! I might never see him again. I lowered my head and began to shake it back and forth, my entire body was shaking. First mom, then Kimberly, now dad...am I doomed to lose everybody that I grow close to the forces of evil? Is all that has happening to me some kind of prolonged punishment? I shut my eyes tightly willing myself to calm down, to focus. If I lose it we'll never be able to find dad. I took a couple of deep breaths. I remembered the words that Tommy would often speak to me whenever my mind would be filled with fear or hatred toward my enemies.
"They want you to make mistakes so they can use them against you, you must have a calm mind. You must learn to overcome any obstacle that they throw at you." Gradually my racing heart slowed down and my mind cleared while I thought of Tommy and the strength that he had which I had grown to admire. I opened my eyes, and looked around, everyone was still at the computers. They hadn't seen my near breakdown. I breathed a silent sigh of relief and turned back to my computer. My heart leapt. It was Billy! Quickly I typed what had happened so far, ignoring the questions that he fired at me. I pleaded with him with go to Edenoi. He promised me that he would try, he was worried about Tentomon as much as I was. I turned toward the rookies and Andros and told them that I had managed to contact Aquatar. Andros blinked and straighten up.
"Aquatar?" I nodded.
"Yes, a former Ranger lives there, he says that he'll try to find out about Alpha 5, the Alpha unit before Alpha 6." I was about to address A-6 as "the replacement" but stopped myself just in time. I turned to the others, who had looks of confusion on their faces and told them that
"The Rangers have allies on that planet, they'll be able to help us." Even as I said this, doubts and worries crowded my mind. What if Cestro and the others have problems of their own on their planet? I thought of Edenoi. If I ask them to go to Edenoi to see if Tentomon and the edenoites are okay, will they be walking into something that they can't possibly walk out of? And the air, both Billy and Dex have told me that Edenoi's air is unbreathable thanks to the toxic gas fumes that the edenoites were forced to dig up. I'll tell Billy that Delphia and the others will have to go as Rangers. I just hope that they'll be able to stay there, just long enough to see if everything is alright. In the back of my mind a small voice asked: But what if it isn't? Then they'll have an obligation to stay and help out, I'm not sure if they'll be able to last long in that toxic atmosphere. My computer beeped, I looked down at the screen. The others were all crowded around me and saw what had popped up.
Sorry Ames, just preformed a scan on Edenoi's surface. Fumes are too toxic even with the protection of the Ranger suits. Got no response from anyone on Edenoi. I'm pretty sure that their computer and communications systems were damaged, possibly beyond repair. A mixture of relief and disappointment washed over me. I typed back.
Thanks Billy. I'll keep trying to contact Edenoi in a few hours, maybe their communications will be up and running by then. Billy responded with:
Right. I'll be doing the same thing. He paused, then
Do the others know, have you told them?
No, and even if I did what could they do? They're not Rangers anymore.....still..... I was prepared to pour out everything to Billy about how I wished that it was Tommy and my friends with me instead of TJ, Carlos and Cassie. But I would save that for later.
Good point Ames, but even if they are no longer Rangers they could help out.
Thanks Billy.
No problem, now will you tell me what the hell has been going on? How in the hell did Goldar find the Power Chamber? I lifted up my head and turned to Andros.
"Any luck?" Regretfully he shook his head.
"Whoever has him right now, must be hiding his location even from your computers." I mused out loud. Andros looked at me in surprise.
"What do you mean 'whoever'? Dark Specter is the one that has Zordon." I shook my head feeling a bit weird to be correcting Andros, who obviously had more knowledge of our new enemies and their movements.
"Andros, with all due respect. There could be more than one person that could be holding my father under Dark Specter's orders. The Power Rangers have a lot of enemies who would jump at the chance to put my dad back into that prison he just barely escaped from. Can you tell me who else was at this meeting?" Andros had an annoyed look on his face but it turned thoughtful.
"There was Astronema of course, and.....Queen Machina from the Machine Empire." I was surprised that Machina was at the meeting, even more so that Andros knew her by name.
"Who else Andros?"
"Prince Gasket." I raised an eyebrow. Gasket was there? Huh. Dex was right, word does travel fast. I glanced down at my computer and was surprised that my fingers were typing out the full story of what was happening, ready to be sent to Billy. I pressed send, knowing that it wouldn't be long until I got a response. I closed my computer and put it in my back pocket. Turning my full attention back to Andros I listened as he continued to round off the names of those who were at the meeting. Master Vile, Elgar, Porto, Rygog and Divatox, I was surprised to hear that Finster, Squatt and Baboo had been also present at the meeting. I had thought for sure that those three would have fled. Prince Sprocket along with Clank and Orbus had been present there as well, so was General Havoc.
"Anyone else?" I asked when Andros had ran down. He shook his head.
"That's everyone that I remember, if someone had come in late, I didn't see them. Why?" I didn't answer at first. Strange. Why wasn't Count Dregon there? He would have been delighted in seeing his most hated enemy trapped and being slowly drained of his power, it would have been a perfect opportunity to steal some of dad's power for himself to make him stronger, then it would be a lot more easier to take down the Masked Rider. And what better revenge for Count Dregon than to force dad to watch his daughter being killed by his own power? I thought for a minute. Could it be possible that he isn't part of the United Alliance of Evil? I looked at Andros. And what of Goldar and the Tengu?
"Andros, did you happen to see a large ape in black armor with an army of giant birds?" He thought for a minute, then shook his head.
"No, I didn't see any of that. What's with all the questions Amy? What aren't you telling us?" He narrowed his eyes at me. I hesistated, not sure if I wanted to tell them and add to the burden of the threat of two new enemies....but they might show themselves in battle. And what if my hunch is correct? They have to know. I turned to the others and explained about Goldar and Count Dregon.
"For all I know Count Dregon is not a part of the United Alliance of Evil, but I know that Goldar, who was a part of Lord Zedd's crew, is."
"Count Dregon's the one that kidnaped your mom and killed her right?" asked Carlos. I nodded.
"Yes."
"Why did...uh....Count Dregon kidnap your mom in the first place Amy?" asked Cassie.
"As I understand it, he fell in love with her." It was the first time that I had said the sentence out loud, but I still felt strange about it. How can a monster like Count Dregon, the man that tried to kill his own father for the crown, who made Dex into an orphan and enslaved his home planet and its people, possibly feel the emotion of love? It was definitely a mystery. Cassie had a surprised look on her face. I turned to Andros. Time to get back to business.
"Did you find anything? Anything at all to where my dad is being held?" Andros shook his head. I looked toward the others, they said the same thing. Anger rose within me. Perfect. Just perfect. I glared at Andros for a minute.
"Keep trying!" I barked. All of them jumped. I began to pace back and forth again wanting to do something, anything, I couldn't stand all this waiting around. I placed one hand on my sword and kept unsheathing it and sheathing it. We should have found him by now, damn it! I wasted too much time in explaining everything to them. What could they be doing to dad right now? Horrible thoughts began to circle through my head. I struggled to shove them away. Suddenly without warning the ship gave a magnificent lurch, we all cried out as we tumbled to the floor or were slammed into the chairs and toppled off. I raised myself to my knees.
"What the?A-6, what's happening?" I asked as I was knocked to the floor again, TJ was holding onto the console in which he was in front of. Cassie was holding onto dear life to the wall, Carlos was on the ground clutching his leg, he must have landed on it wrong. Andros had fallen out of his chair and was struggling to get back in his seat.
"We're under attack!" shouted A-6. Andros managed to regain his seat and look at the screen.
"It's Astronema!" I looked up, thinking that we were going to be shown the face of our enemy. But no, what was on the screen in front of us was a ship, and it was firing it's lasers at us. I immediately threw up a shield it saved all of us from taking another tumble, by this time we had all risen to our feet, I had healed my team mates wounds, I knew that this attack would turn into a battle and I was surprised that I was looking forward to it. This battle will distract me from everything that's going on right now, I'll need it. I was ready to lash out at my teammates and Andros.Astronema's ship kept firing at us, I kept up the shield and turned to Andros.
"Andros, fire back! Do something!" Huh, I just said one of Jared's favorite lines. We received a few more blasts.
"We have to land and face her!" said Andros. About time.
"Land on the nearest planet DECA." The ship slowly turned and began to head toward a planet not too far away, Astronema's ship was still firing at us, the others were getting were getting tossed around and worried. Me? I was still standing and had one hand on my sword, I was just itching to unsheath it and unleash some every duty damage to this person and her army. We landed on the planet, the firing on the Astro Mega Ship had stopped momentarily, she must be landing as well. My heart began to beat faster, the blood roared in my ears. The last time I had been keen to throw myself into a battle was the day that I had avenged Aisha and my earth parents. Even though Dregon was the one that killed them I still felt that all blame will always be on Lord Zedd. He was the one that led Dregon to mom. Andros was staring at the screen as Quantrons began to file out of a hatch that had opened and were making their way towards us. I looked at Andros and for a moment wondered why the hell I was looking at him for? Then it hit me, I guess the others realized it as well, Andros was the unofficial leader of this new team of Power Rangers..All of us looked at Andros awaiting orders. He blinked as he looked around at all of us.
"Everyone, get ready for battle." he instructed. We all nodded and all got into a line, Andros blinked again, shook himself then went to stand in front of us.
"Ready?" He turned to head slightly to look at all of us. We all nodded.
"Ready!" We all chorused.
"Let's rocket!" He shouted , throwing out one arm, pressing the button on the side of his Astro Morpher, the lid sprang open and he pressed the sequence and became the Red Ranger. We all copied his movements and become the Power Rangers once again. Man, I had no idea that I would miss this suit. As we all raced from the room, and down the hall to the hatch that opened up before us and outside, I couldn't help but think about Tommy and my friends. They would be surprised at how the rookies and I have been united for this sole cause. We ran out onto the barren wasteland, the Quantrons were before us. For a few minutes were just looked at each other, sizing each other up. I wondered if the Quantrons were trying to figure out which one of us was the one that blew them all away. I fingered my sword my heart pumping. I glanced at my team mates, I could tell that all of them were remembering their first encounter with this guys. They were scared but to a lesser degree, the chances of them getting hurt like last time were slim since they now had the protection of the suits. Before we could anything though, the Quantrons parted to let a young woman stand before us. This must be Astronema, huh....she has taste in clothing I'll give her that. Much better then Rita and Divatox. She had a staff which had a sharped end, that looked pretty lethal. She looked at each of us. Then without further ado she opened her mouth and shouted
"Destory them!"I unsheathed my sword, a grin creeping over my face, that's all I needed to hear. I raced forward, my sword glowing with power, the others were beside me and for a few minutes it felt like back on earth, with my friends. The Quantrons raced at as and our two armies collided, my sword slashed through the air, slicing into Quantrons, I leapt over the bodies that fell at my feetand continued to strike at the ones nearest me. With each swing and strike I was putting all of my emotions of fear, shock, anger and frustration. Soon there was a lull on my side and I took the opportunity to check on my team mates. Cassie was using her weapon, which looked like a cross between a gun with a small satellite dish attached to the barrel, and was busily firing it at the Quantrons that were around her. A few fell at her feet. Looking over at TJ, I saw that it looked as if he was having no trouble at all with his new weapon, an axe. He wielded the ax with precision and was swinging it from left to right. Carlos was wielding his weapon with ease as well, a lance that reminded me of Billy's power lance, only this one was much longer and hit with more force. There were many Quantrons lying at his feet. I turned my attention back to the battle, and put my sword through the stomach of one Quantron, it fell at my feet. We continued to battle the Quantrons, until the only ones that were still standing had taken off. I stared after them. That's all. Not much of a fight. Then I shrugged my shoulders. Turning back to my team mates I inspected them. They appeared to be all right. I looked around, remembering Astronema, we hadn't encountered her in battle, which meant that she probably went back to her ship. I felt disappointed that the battle had only been with the foot soldiers, I was still pumped up, I wanted to fight a real enemy. One that would not turn tail at the first sign of battle. Andros and the others came up to me.
"You alright?" asked Carlos. I held up my sword and mentally cleaned it, I let out a sigh and sheathed my sword.
"Yeah I'm okay." On the other hand, I feel loads better. I turned to Andros.
"So that was Astronemahuh?" Andros nodded.
"Yeah, she's as pretty formidable fighter when she wants to be. Do not underestimate her." We all nodded. I heard something and looked upward, small ships were flying over our heads, blasting at us.
"Velocifighters! Everyone back to the ship!" Shouted Andros. We all began to run, I put up shields as I limped as fast as I could after my team mates. The hatch closed behind us as we raced down the hall toward the bridge.
"DECA take off!" shouted Andros.
"Ignition." DECA said as the ship rumbled to life, it also shook and shuddered as it was fired upon. Reaching the bridge we all saw that A-6 was trying to do something with the controls. The ship gave a mighty shudder that sent everyone staggering.
"I think I almost got it." he said as he continued to fiddle with the controls
"A-6 what...?" I started but A-6 suddenly let out a yell.
"I got it!" DECA spoke up.
"Andros the Astro MegaZord is now on line and ready to form." Astro Mega Zord? This ship is a Zord as well? I thought in bewilderment. The others had the same expressions on their faces.
"Great DECA." said Andros, he turned and ran out into the hallway again, we all followed, racing down the hall. We had no idea what was going on, but we had to trust Andros and A-6 for those two seemed to know what they were doing. I was surprised when we ended up heading back to the shuttle, opening the hatch we all piled in and slid into our seats. Andros took the controls.
"Andros...?" Carlos started.
"Alpha will explain everything later." A-6? What the hell is going on? My mind filled with questions that unfortunately were going to go unanswered until we came to the outcome of this battle. Before us the hatchopened upand the shuttle shot out into space.
"Andros? What are you doing?" asked Cassie. He didn't answer but instead made a wide U-turn and began to head back to the ship.....which was changing into a Mega Zord!! My mouth dropped open, The ship soon had arms, legs and what looked like a hilt at its side....but no head. I turned to Andros.
"Where's the head?"
"We are the head." he said simply.
"What?" The shuttle zoomed up until we reached the shoulders then turning a bit, the shuttle landed precisely between the shoulders.
"What the?" said Carlos.
"This is so cool!" exclaimed TJ. I was still in shock. How could a shuttle built by humans be the head of a Mega Zord? The Mega Zord began to shake and rumble once again. The small ships were swarming around us firing their lasers, I looked at them and thought. Are they kidding? Dinky little ships like that against a Mega Zord? I was jolted out of my thoughts when Andros shouted.
"Astro Mega Saber!" The left hand of the Mega Zord , reached over to its right and pulled out a saber and began to slash at the little ships. Our actions reminded me of the scene in King Kong, where Kong is on the top of the Umpire State building and all these planes are flying around him. I smiled in spite of myself, soon all of the little ships were nothing but rubble. Score one for the Rangers. I thought.
Sorry this took so long, I've been suffering from a mild case of writer's block and the flu.