Chapter 9

Its been three months and I was becoming more and more comfortable with my friends so that I was talking to them about my worries and fears about living up to the standards of being a power ranger. And also my fears about my powers and whether or not I would ever grow more stronger then Lord Zedd, because sometimes it felt that I wasn't getting any stronger. Billy told me not to worry, that power takes time to grow stronger. Whenever he said that I would end up worrying about some other things. Mostly about if what Billy said was true and my powers did grow stronger, then would I be able to handle them? Zordon would often tell me that I have a hard time believing in myself.

"You need to start doing that and stop doubting yourself and your abilities." The thing was the only time I began to doubt myself was when I wound up on the battle field by myself, I was used to the others being beside me or behind me, I could always count on them to bail me out whenever I got in a tight spot. That was another thing that worried me, that I would find myself in a situation and my friends would be no where to be seen. Zordon's right, I need to start believing in myself and start standing on my own two feet and not depend on the others so much.

Another thing that would sometimes keep me awake at night was the entire situation itself. Six kids, plus a guardian of the temple that would make seven, against a vast and powerful army plus their leader who could place spells on us at any given moment; and who could unleash his entire army on us was almost too overwhelming to think about. Plus it seems hopeless, I mean come on, 6 kids against an alien army? If you think about it does seem that way. Thinking about it, almost makes me want to give up and run for the hills. But I stop myself and shove the thought out of my mind, I hold my head high, pull out my power daggers and keep on fighting alongside my friends. And I would often wonder if the others have thought these very same thoughts. But I dare not ask, I guess I'm afraid of the answer. The situation which I would pray and wish would never happen, happened. It was at night and near Angel Grove Bay the attacks that Goldar and Rito were unleashing upon us were devastating, I couldn't even block them, and that wasn't the half of it, even though we managed to dodge their attacks, they would still hit their mark, I was getting really angry and scared, if we get hit like that one more time. I wasn't sure how much our ranger suits could endure. Then something worse happened. Lord Zedd and his wife appeared! Oh no! I kicked back a Tengu Warrior and gave a shout toward Tommy and the others.

"Tommy! Guys! Watch out! Its Lord Zedd!" Tommy who was battling Goldar turned and was struck head on by Goldar. Goldar sent a red fireball, that slammed into Tommy who slammed into Billy and both of them were on the ground right at Rito's feet! Rito raised his sword, I grabbed one of my daggers and flung it as hard as I could. The sword was inches away from Tommy's chest! Sword and dagger collided and even though my sword merely bounced off of Rito's sword, still it was enough to move it a little bit to the left, missing Tommy's chest by inches. Tommy rolled to the right, leapt to his feet and began punching and kicking Rito while Billy jumped to his feet and charged at Goldar who was busily beating up Kimberly, luckly Adam came to her rescue. Calling the dagger back to my hand I continued to beat back the Tengu Warriors, in the back of my mind I envisioned myself heading toward Lord Zedd and his wife, the tempting was great but...No! I can't, I'm not ready. I turned back to my battle with the Tengu Warriors. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zedd and Rita raise both of their staffs and cross them, and fire a golden beam. At the same time Goldar and Rito both fired at me so that I was knocked down and at the same time my friends were hit with the beam. Looking up I saw that the my friends in some kind of force field that crackled as though it were made of electricity, I was about to go and help them when another fireball came my way. Dodging that I was nearly hit with a third one, dodging to the right something slammed into me. Yelling I fell to my knees then onto my stomach, whatever the blast was, it changed me back. I was in my civilian clothing, I struggled to get to my feet. I have to morph again. Got to do something. But my mind wouldn't work, it was as if my mind was paralyzed, distantly I heard my friends scream in pain. I recognized those screams. Those were the same screams that I myself uttered when Zedd was stealing my power, I closed my eyes trying to summon power but...nothing came! I felt hands all over me, dragging me forward, I could hear Zedd, Goldar, Rita and Rito, cackling. The hands stopped dragging me, they set me on the ground, I lifted my head up a few inches and raised my eyes. I was in front of Zedd! He looked down at me, raised his staff and sent electricity coursing through me. Howling in pain, I was trying to think of something I can do, to stop the pain and end this. But I couldn't! My friends were watching and they were sharing my pain! Where the hell is Zordon? Why doesn't he get us out of here? I turned toward the sound of my friends screams and saw that all of them were just like me, demorphed and on the ground. Ninjor looked as if he was having a seizure.

"LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE" I screamed, wishing that I was really powerful so that I could shove Zedd's staff down his throat. Goldar looked about ready to insert his sword into my head and it looked as if he was taking a tremendous amount of effort to hold back. Rito and Rita were both enjoying watching my friends writhing in pain.

"Your friends?" laughed Zedd, as he sent electricity through me once more and stopped only to leave me panting.

"Do you really believe that the rangers are truly your friends?" More electricity, more screaming.

"They are not your friends you know, not them and not Zordon, and not Alpha and certainly not Ninjor. Do you want to know the real reason they recruited you? They only recruited you for your power, its what they were really after, they didn't need a new ranger, they never wanted a new ranger. But Zordon instisted on it, it was the only way to get their hands on your power. They only say they like you, but in reality they don't. That's because you are a weak little girl who needs to be rescued each and every time you get in trouble. Its true, you know it is. Why, if it wasn't for your power then you wouldn't be enduring this misery. If it wasn't for your power the rangers wouldn't even give you a second glance while walking past you in the halls at school. But when Zordon told them of your power, that's when they began to notice you, they told you that they wanted to be friends with you, they told you that they needed you. When what they really wanted was your power, they don't care about you. If they did then they would have been able to save your parents, they would have been able to stop what is happening right now, but they didn't. Its because they know that the locket can never be destroyed, but its holder can. Once you are out of the way, what's to stop them from claiming the power as their own? They wanted the power not you, never you."

I was trying hard not to listen but the words entered into my mind, and hidden thoughts came forward. He's right. They only want me for my powers, that's the main reason why they recruited me, that's why they're allowing me to go through this torture, this misery, they thought that I would give up my powers since they have caused me so much pain, so much misery. They wanted me to hand the locket over to them, its what they wanted all along. They never cared about me, only about my power, they were never my friends. I let out an agonized yell and began to sob. But another voice in my mind began to scream at me in fury: Idiot!!! Who are you going to believe??!! The man that has taken your life? Your freedom? Who has shown you nothing but pain and misery and agony? The man who killed you parents? Or your friends, who believe in you, who trust you, who promised you that they would help you get stronger, who would help you redeem yourself? I thought of the answer. MY FRIENDS!! Letting out a yell of rage and of fury, I dug deep within myself and brought out a power wave that blasted everyone back!! Zedd and the others let out screams as they flew through the air, I climbed to my feet, power and energy coursing through me, I limped rapidly toward the force field that held my friends. I saw that Kimberly had her eyes closed, Rocky's mouth was open in a silent scream, I had seen enough and I have had enough!! Without even thinking or realizing what I was doing, I took two steps back from the force field. Bringing my hands together with the heels of my hands against each other, I drew them back and focused all of my power and my energy. In my hands a yellow ball of light began to form, I felt heat coming from it, and I began to feed it with more power. I heard Lord Zedd and the others from far away, aiming the ball of energy at the force field, I fired! Crash!! The ball smashed into the force field shattering it! I wasted no time in summoning another one, spinning around and sending it off toward Lord Zedd and his minions, they all vanished just before it reached them. Cowards. I went to my friends and sent a little bit of my own energy into them, thankfully all of them woke up.

"Are you all right?" I asked Tommy.

Tommy, who had managed to see the entire thing, only stared at me.

"Wow." he said. I smiled.

"I'll take that as a yes." Afer helping the others up and having them lean against each other, Zordon teleported us to the Command Center.