Chapter 10

"Tommy are you absolutely sure that you didn't see Goldar?"

"How many times do I have to tell you Amy? No I didn't see him, I only saw the Tengu Warriors when they surrounded us and the monster, I didn't see Goldar. When I woke up the Tengus were gone." I frowned.

"They didn't say anything about Goldar or when he's going to be showing up?" He scowled at me.

"I was unconscious Amy, I couldn't hear anything!" He snapped.

"Okay Tommy no need to bite my head off, just getting all the facts that's all." Kat had her arm around his shoulders and was looking at me reproachfully.

"Really Amy, Tommy can't answer any questions right now, he barely remembers what happened as it is."

"Okay, I won't ask anymore questions." I said irritably. Tommy looked at me.

"By the way Amy. What are we doing here at the cemetery?" We were sitting at the picnic table, near the cemetery, I thought that this would be a good place to discuss what had happened yesterday and try to figure out if Goldar was going to make an appearance anytime soon.

"I thought that this would be a good place to talk about what happened, it's a good place to think." I glanced at my friends.

"At least it is for me." They frowned at me and I suddenly thought if they were still feeling guilty over not being able to save my earth parents. Still...its peaceful here, my mother and my step-dad are here and so is Aisha, maybe they'll help us in figuring out what's going on. Kat shifted in her seat. Adam looked at me.

"So, any theories Amy? On why this happened and why the Tengus handed Tommy over to Divatox and not delivered him to Goldar?"

"Well I've got a couple. My first theory is that what happened yesterday could be just a check up on the Turbo Rangers."

"A check up?" said Adam looking over at me, he was sitting on the picnic table, Tommy and Kat both glanced at each other.

"Yup, a check up."

"For what?" asked Kat.

"For several reasons: One is that they just wanted to see if we were still the Power Rangers. Two would be, if we did hand over the role of Power Rangers to a whole new team then that would be an okay sign for Goldar to return to earth."

"And do what?" I glared at Tommy.

"To invite us over for tea, to track us down and kill us what do you think Tommy!! If we are not the Power Rangers anymore then we will be easy targets." Tommy looked startled.

"But he never could destroy us, even as Rangers he could barley touch us, even after Aisha died, sure we got a few hits but our suits always protected us and you would always heal our injuries." I glanced skyward, wondering if Dimitria was listening and also asking for patience.

"We've got the Power Blast as well, we'll be able to keep him back even if we can't morph." chimed in Kat.

"No, guys don't you get it? The Power Blast won't be enough to keep him back, he's got the Tengu Warriors, and Zedd's staff, which still has the power that he stole from me. Now all of that power in Goldar's hands makes him very dangerous, plus he could be able to deflect any Power Blast that we throw at him." Or absorb it and throw it back at us. I shuddered as I remembered firing a Power Blast at Zedd, who had absorbed it within his staff and had sent it flying back toward me.

"B-but he can't possibly know how to use the staff. Only Zedd could use the staff." Tommy shook his head.

"You'd be surprised Adam who could wield what." he told us about the time where he had used Goldar's sword to transport himself out of Zedd's Dark Dimensions. Kat spoke up, after some hesitation, when Goldar used Rita's staff to recast the spell on her. After a moment of silence, everyone turned to look at me. I looked at them for a moment and blinked. I shook my head.

"I never wield my former master's staff or Goldar's. I was terrified of them remember?" Adam shifted uncomfortably on the table, he turned his head away and look toward Aisha's marker.

"What is your other theory?"

"My other theory is pretty much the same thing, only that he must have heard that a new baddie was in town and, as everyone knows, when there's a new baddie in town, that means that it's time for an upgrade. He might have just sent the Tengus to capture Tommy, just so that he could see the Turbo Rangers in action. Try to determine how strong we've become with our new powers and try to figure out if we had any weaknesses." The others were staring at me. I gave a shrug of my shoulders.

"I just want us to be prepared for what may happen." I suddenly thought of Justin, the boy was only thirteen, but.....he may be a kid and a rookie but that probably won't stop Goldar. I couldn't help but remember the things that Zedd did to me when I was fifteen. I winced, remembering the pain that I went through. Adam looked at me.

"S–shouldn't Justin be here? I mean he is part of the team." I thought about it, glancing at Tommy, who looked back at me. I nodded.

"Yes he should be told, he could face Goldar and not know what he can really do. We shou;d warn Justin that under no circumstances Goldar should be faced alone, tell Justin to call for back up. Alright?" Adam nodded and I was surprised to see that Tommy was smiling at me.

"What?" I asked him. Tommy was still smiling.

"You're acting more and more like your dad everyday Ames." A warm feeling went through me as Kat and Adam nodded.

Adam told us later that he had told Justin while the rest of us went to the Power Chamber and tried to set up an alarm system so we would know when Goldar arrived on earth. A-6 and Dimitria wanted to know the full history on Goldar, so while Tommy and Kat where explaining, I finished setting up the alarm, then I began to try to figure out how to put alarms around my sister, Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy(he said that he would keep an eye out but was doubtful that Goldar would come after him) and the rest of my earth family. I made a mental note to contact Billy and ask him how to put alarm systems around people.

"Do you really think that he'll go after the former rangers?" asked Tommy a worried look on his face.

"Possibly, they were part of the team that fought against Zedd and Rita. So he might go after them just to hurt us...." I thought back to the day that my earth parents died, that had hurt me in more ways than one. Tommy said that he would call Kim and the others and tell them to be on the alert if Goldar ever showed up in their towns. I would keep an eye on my step brothers and sisters, it's doubtful but..... I turned to Tommy and suggested that he and Adam step up Justin's training and that all of us should follow suit.

"We have to make time to train harder and as much as possible, we need to be prepared in case another attack by the Tengu Warriors or by Goldar himself, is launched."

Several weeks passed and we never saw hide nor hair of the Tengu Warriors, within or around Angel Grove. Despite our concerns for the safety of our friends and families, we received word that they hadn't sighted Goldar nor the Tengus. But other than bringing me a sense of relief that Goldar must have seen how strong we've become and taken off to the other end of the galaxy to leave us in peace(which was something that I wished with all of my heart) I knew that he was still around, possibly invisible or in disguise so he can watch us and try to figure out the exact time to attack us unexpectedly. We were training each and every day, sometimes before school, or work and we were training after school and work as well. I made sure that we didn't tire ourselves out too much or we would too tired to be ready for an attack and we still had Divatox to deal with. Later in the week I suggested that we use the time that we used to fight Divatox's monsters and henchmen, to practice our new skills. To which Justin and the others gladly obliged and would send monsters and henchmen flying. The baddies were surprised that we were more stronger than ever and I'm pretty sure were questioning Divatox and her plan to destroy the Power Rangers. I saw all of this as nothing more than practice for the real battle which, I felt, was going to begin soon. I just hope that it doesn't have any causalities. I was rather looking forward to facing Goldar again, I was getting tired of looking over my shoulder and jumping at the sound of rustling leaves which, mostly turned out to be the wind, and not Tengu Warrior feathers. I was also looking forward to the end of my ranger duties and days and settling down and resuming a normal life, I would often joke around with the others that I so out of touch with the whole "living a normal life" routine that I would have to go to school to be taught not to "jump at shadows and think that, just because nothing out of the ordinary is happening, doesn't mean that something out of the ordinary is going to happen". The others would smile and chuckle and tell me that they would teach me how to be "normal" again. Justin stared at me.

"You want to go back to being normal? Its unbelievably boring." I turned to him and narrowed my eyes. I always had a hunch that the only reason that Justin jumped at the chance to be a Power Ranger was because he was bored. And it looks as if I was right. He shook his head at me.

"I would always want to be a Power Ranger, in fact there's nothing more exciting or fun as morphing, driving cars that turn into zords and fighting evil aliens." He sat back with a satisfactory sigh.

"Oh, and being all powerful and unbeatable is the best thing that has ever happened to me, do you really want to give that all up?" I stared at him, shocked that he could say such things, that he could think such things. All powerful? Certainly not! If we were all powerful, Aisha would still be alive, and I would have been able to save my mother and step-father. Unbeatable? Well, yes.....but we can't win every battle. There are some personal battles that we have lost. The others wore the same expressions that I was wearing, it took a moment for us to shake ourselves out of our shock and start to address Justin about showing a bit of humility and that we are not all powerful, there have been some battles that we have lost. But Justin shook his head, saying that he really didn't believe that the Power Rangers were even capable of losing any battles.

"We've got all of this Power, the suits and the zords plus Dimitria on our side....how can we possibly lose?" Where.....is.........he.......getting.....this? Even I knew that I wasn't that all powerful when I first started out. I began to wonder if Justin would ever be convinced that we weren't all powerful, that we weren't invincible, that we can get hurt, we can be beaten. When is he going to realize that we are only human?

A few days later while limping toward the Youth Center to finish up some homework and looking forward to end a week long craving for a mango smoothie, who should I see talking to right next to the Juice Bar but Justin, Cassie and T.J. My first thought was that, having recognized Cassie and T.J. from a few days ago and how they had helped us rescue Tommy from Divatox, he had seen them and greeted them like two old friends, when in reality they were strangers and have never met before!! I limped passed all three of them as I made my way to the Bar, and ordered my drink from Ernie. Justin, I was glad to realize, didn't see me and kept up chattering with T.J. and Cassie. My drink came, thinking it best to hide myself so as not to be seen and get drawn into an awkward conversation, I attempted to slip out of the Youth Center quietly and unnoticed.

"Hey Amy! Look who I found!" Justin's cry reached my ears. I cringed, then turning slowly around and fixing a smile on my face as I limped over to his table. Justin grinned up at me, Cassie was looking at the floor at my feet frowning slightly, T.J. smiled in a friendly way at me.

"Oh, hey Justin. Who are your two new friends?" I asked. Justin blinked.

"Amy, don't you remember? This two helped us—" But before he could finish, my hand shot out and I smacked him on the top of his head. He glared at me.

"Ow. What was that for?"

"Nothing I thought I saw a fly buzzing around that head of yours." I said while at the same time giving him a look that plainly said We weren't there, remember? He seemed to get the message, after a moment he said

"These are the two that helped the Power Rangers rescue Tommy." I fixed a look of surprise on my face, extending out my hand and shaking it I explained that Tommy had told us all about his ordeal with our resident nutjob.

"You mean Divatox?" asked T.J. I nodded.

"I want to thank you for helping the Power Rangers save my best friend, and I think if they could tell you in person, the Rangers would thank you too." Cassie smiled at me.

"You're welcome."

"Hey, no prob. I would never turn my back on someone who was in trouble."said T.J. I smiled again, then after chatting with them for a few more minutes I began to make my way out of the Youth Center when Cassie called out to me.

"What happened to your ankle?"

"Oh, I twisted it while trying to learn how to roller blade." I saw Justin open his mouth but I sent him another look and he closed it. I gave all three of them a smile and a wave then exited the Youth Center and headed toward the courtyard. After finishing my homework and drink I went back inside the school to look for Justin and have a small talk with him. I was beginning to doubt Blue Elf's choice of having Justin be his replacement. The boy is too eager to head into battle and he thinks he's invincible and all powerful and that we will be there to bail him out whenever he gets into serious trouble. Which, I am glad to say, has never happened. He needs to learn to stop thinking like this, it's going to get him killed someday. Where in blazes is he? I looked around the Youth Center, I didn't see Justin or the other two. I gave a sigh, and was thinking that the communicators should have come with a tracking device. I limped up to the Juice Bar again and waited for Ernie to finish with a customer then asked him where Justin had gone.

"Justin? He took off with his two new friends just a little while ago, all three of them seemed really excited." I thanked Ernie then limped out of the Youth Center, thinking that I could just call Justin later tonight, or corner him after we've dealt with a monster. I was out in the hallway when my communicator beeped. Slipping into a nearby empty classroom, I closed the door and answered.

"Amy here." I was surprised to hear Tommy's voice come of the communicator, and instead of sounding serious, like he normally did, he sounded excited.

"Amy, come to the Power Chamber. You are so going to love this." Curious I gave the door a quick glance then teleported to the Power Chamber. When I arrived there, who should I see standing beside A-6, that for a moment I thought I was seeing double, was

"TENTOMON!!" I screamed out happily as I limped rapidly toward my friend, wrapped him up in a hug, lifted him off of his feet and swung him around.

"Tentomon! Tentomon!" I hugged him tightly.

"Amy, are you sure that's the right Alpha?" asked Adam. I turned to him and laughed as I set Tento down. He staggered a bit, then righted himself.

"Got quite a hug there Amy." I turned toward Adam with a grin on my face. A-6's body language said that he was a bit miffed, but I ignored him.

"You kidding? I know this robot's face anywhere." I gave Tentomon another squeeze. Then I looked around.

"Where's da–zordon?" Adam pointed to the far corner. Kited, Adam, Tommy and Justin were around dad and they were talking to him. I began to limp rapidly toward him, wishing that I could run. Dad moved away from the other rangers and opened his arms to embrace me in a hug. We stood like that for a full minute, momentarily forgetting where we were. I was so happy to see that my dad was alright, that my nightmares about him being captured and being put back into that tube never came true. Mom must have gone to Edenio to be with him, she must have been as worried as I was. I thought as we separated and looked at each other.

"D-zordon, what are you doing here?" I stopped myself from saying "Are you here to stay?" I really wanted to hear that. I missed seeing my dad so much. Dad didn't answer at first then he took a deep breath. He stepped away from me and turned, the others were standing in front of him, Tento had now moved to stand beside dad. An uneasy feeling suddenly formed in the pit of my stomach, whatever dad wanted to tell us, it was serious. After looking at us for a minute dad cleared his throat and said.

"Rangers I want you to know that Alpha and I are both very proud of you and of what you have accomplished throughout the years as rangers." He smiled at all of us. We could only look at him and wonder what this would lead up to.

"We are also proud of what you have accomplished as people....to fully realize your dreams and how you want to live out the rest of your lives....I thought it is high time that you pass on your powers to a whole new set of Rangers." I stared at him. Pass on.... Is he serious? We finally get to live as regular teenagers?!!! Oh, my dream has come true finally!! Excitement was bubbling within me, I was practically dancing on my feet. To be normal again, no longer will I have to teleport and fight monsters, no longer will I have to worry about weather my family will be safe from the wrath of my enemies, no longer will I have to worry about..... I froze. Enemies, oh, god Goldar is still out there. Disappointment came crashing over me like a gigantic wave, my happiness suddenly turned to despair and anger. No! I want to be a normal kid! I don't want to go on being a Ranger! I don't! I looked at dad, he was busily looking at the others and talking to them about "chosen candidates" Tommy stepped forward.

"Yes, Zordon. Kat, Adam and I have chosen our replacements." Tommy had a proud look on his face. I glared at him, Suddenly hating him and the others for not having anything hanging over their heads, for not having a demented space alien, whose master that I had killed, wanting their blood or their head on a platter.

"I chose as my replacement T.J. Johnson." Behind us, where our former ranger suits were encased, a flash of light was suddenly lit and in its beam stood T.J. he was smiling at all of us, my mouth dropped open. He knew!! He knew the entire time. I swung around and glared at Justin, but I had to refrain myself mightily, from asking him questions. Instead I turned back to dad, Kited stepped forward.

"I chose as my replacement Cassie Chan." Another spotlight flashed on behind us and Cassie stepped into view. I swallowed hard wondering if I was going to have to voice the person that would replace me. But I didn't chose anybody! Adam stepped forward and said

"I chose as my replacement Carlos Vallerte." I blinked in surprise, Adam had mentioned Carlos a couple of times, said that he was a pretty good soccer player and he had helped us out a while ago when Angel Grove was under attack. Another spotlight came on and Carlos stepped into view, I began getting nervous and my mind began to race with names but I really couldn't focus. Why didn't anyone tell me that this was going to happen? What am I going to do? Will dad give me time to choose someone? Dad nodded toward the new rangers who stepped down and accepted the Turbo Powers from Adam, Kited and Tommy. Dad turned toward me.

"Amy, you did know about this didn't you?" After a pause, I suddenly remembered the conversation that I had with him in the cemetery not too long ago. He had told me about this and he had asked if I had wanted to choose a candidate to replace me so that I can live the rest of my life as a normal teenager. I had hesitated, I wanted to say yes but then I was forcibly reminded of the conversation that my friends and I had about Goldar targeting us if he ever found out that we were no longer the Power Rangers. He still wants me dead, and he'll go after my step-brothers and sisters to finish the job that Zedd and Dregon started when they killed my parents. He knows that I wouldn't be able to bear it if I relived the guilt of not being able to save the people that I loved. That I couldn't get to my family in time, it would be a repeat of the day mom died. I lifted up my head and told dad plainly that I would continue to be a Ranger. If Goldar comes back, then someone will have to protect the replacements, they'll be an easy slaughter for him. I looked at dad and nodded.

"Yes I remember." I wanted to beg him to let me find a replacement but....no I couldn't. I had to stay. Not for my earth family's sake or Angel Grove's but for.....Cassie, T.J., Carlos and Justin. They have to be protected. Tommy and the others stood before us, normal teenagers. I wanted to cry at my loss of resuming a normal life, of putting all of this pain and guilt behind me. But that's never going to happen is it? I thought bitterly as I planted a fake smile on my face and welcomed the new team. My friends stood there, looks of pure relief on their faces, which made my blood boil. Dad was explaining the three rules to being a Power Ranger, I wasn't listening. I was busy yelling at myself for not going after Goldar earlier, for not being able to heal myself more faster, if I had then I could have killed Goldar right after I had killed Zedd, then my replacement would be standing before me, taking my Ranger Powers and saying that she'll do her best to protect Angel Grove and its people. I gave a start when I heard dad say that he and Tentomon had to leave.

"Leave? But you just got here, couldn't you stay for just a little while longer?" It surprised me that it was Tommy that had spoken, the others followed suit asking dad and Tentomon to stay for a little while longer, but with a face full of regret, dad shook his head.

"I'm sorry but we can't."

"We would like to rangers, we really would but we have to get back to Edenio."

"We still have a lot to accomplish before we can make a permanent return to Angel Grove." Tommy's and the others faces fell, and I felt, despite my anger, a sadness that my father and I would have to be separated once again.

"We understand Zordon." Tommy said walking over to him and shaking his hand. Kited stepped forward and hugged dad and Tentomon.

"Remember to call us if you're in need of any help."

"We will Kited."

"Take care and be careful." said Adam as he hugged the both of them. I walked over to my father and friend and hugged them tightly.

"Give Dregon's men a good beating for me okay?" I said. Dad smiled, and said that he will. After telling each of us to take care and watch out for each other, dad and Tentomon left once again.