1. One before last! And Adam's Aftermath story is already in beta'ing process. We're talking a 16,000 words novella, so it may take a few weeks, but overall? This is it.

2. The 'song' used in this story is mostly adapted from the lyrics to PR theme song seasons 1-4 and MMPR: the movie. You can find the original lyrics at stlyrics dot com.

3. Love: to Camille (cmar) and Mara, my wonderful beta readers.

4. This story in "Aftermath" is titled "Coda".

Enjoy, and please review!

Project: Aftermath

Tanya Sloan

The summer air was warm and scented. The sun already hung low on the horizon, spilling deep golden light over the Angel Grove park. The thousands gathered in the park shifted and murmured, creating a low noise, like the waves of the ocean. They were waiting for the main event to begin.

A flicker of colour appeared in the corner of the stage. The crowd fell silent for a moment, and then erupted in cheers as they recognized the woman. She stepped to the front and center of the stage and halted, patiently waiting for the cheers to subside. Her yellow dress practically shone against the brightly-coloured stage.

"Good evening, Angel Grove!" she called. She smiled into the microphone as she was answered with more cheers. "My name is Tanya Sloan, and I am proud to host Power Rangers Day of 2004!"

Against the darkness
In the name of the light
Against the darkness
In the name of the light
They are coming
They are rising
They are rising

She saw Cheryl enter the control room but she didn't pay too much attention to it. Her manager would often come there, often bringing her paperwork with her – "For company", she said. It was nothing unusual, too, when she leaned over the shoulder of one of the techs, speaking to him. When Tanya finished the take, though, Cheryl spoke into the mike. "Tanya, could you come out here for a second?"

"Sorry for pulling you out", she apologized once both of them were in the hall, "but they wanted response real quick and I thought you'd love this."

"You thought I'd love what?"

"You're originally from Angel Grove, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I got a call from the mayor's office couple of minutes ago. They're going to hold a – Power Rangers Day? – in a couple of months. They probably want you because you're a local girl. There's going to be plenty of media there – plenty of publicity for you right before your tour starts."

"A Power Rangers Day? What's the occasion? It has to be, like, ten years since the previous one, and there's hasn't been Rangers in Angel Grove for – what? Six years? Since the space team."

"I didn't ask, really," Cheryl shrugged. "If it's ten years then maybe they're holding a special anniversary or something. But they did ask we get back to them quick. Apparently there are already rumors flying around, and they can afford to choose. So, you want this gig or not?"

"Yeah." Tanya took a deep breath. "Hell yeah, I'm in."

They've got
A power and force that you've never seen before
They've got
The ability to morph and even up the score
Forever
They are champions of the light
Forever
They will fight for what is right

Tap, tap, tapped her pen against the writing pad. The room was empty and dimly lit. Normally she preferred to have people bustling around when composing but this was different, somehow. For once in her life she felt that she couldn't think with other people around. She could never explain to the people she worked with now just what this song meant to her.

Tap, tap. Being invited to host Power Rangers Day was enough of an honour. Being asked to write a song for the occasion was something else entirely. She had agreed immediately, without having to think. She wanted to do this – now that she was handed this task, she knew that she had wanted to do this for years but couldn't. Now it was different – she was different; and trying to reconcile the two views kept her staring at an empty sheet.

Tap, tap. The rhythm changed, she noticed. She was no longer tapping a constant rhythm but a distinct one. What was that? She was sure she had heard it before. She continued tapping, and slowly the image resolved. The Power Chamber, so many years ago. This was the rhythm of their old communicators. She had once asked Billy why he picked it, and he only shrugged and said it was catchy.

Tap. The pen hovered over the page. Catchy, huh? She thought. She drew the six notes at the top of the page, and stared at it for a moment before she began to write.

Stronger and faster and higher
Stronger and faster and higher
Go! Go, Power Rangers!

The sun had already set, but the stage lights blinded Tanya to most of her surroundings. She could hear the crowd, though, and she could see the lights they were waving: some candles and lighters, but mostly sticklights – coloured sticklights.

This was it. This was her moment. She took a deep breath, and started on the first verse, carefully drawing out the syllables: "Against the darkness…"

The band was silent for the first verse. Only her voice echoed across the park.

"They are rising," she repeated, pausing for half a second before the second verse, and the band kicked in. She couldn't help but grin as she moved to the beat and continued singing – she'd done this routine countless times in rehearsals, but this was the real thing, and it was as exhilarating as she had ever imagined it. It was just the music, her crowd and her, now – and the people she kept in mind as she sang, the people for whom she wrote this.

Rising higher than before
Powered up for more
Stronger than before
Rangers to the core
Go! Go, Power Rangers!