Chapter 12

Double Trouble

"C'mon Av!"

"No, and don't call me, Av." Avalon stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back against the chair that she was sitting in. She looked around the youth center before focusing on the newspaper that she held in her hands. There were a few ads already circled. "Besides, I've got to look for a job, remember?" Anything to keep up this ruse. God, it's getting harder than I thought.

"So why don't you work here?" Trini suggested. She brushed her long hair behind her ears. "I'm sure that Ernie won't mind if you try out for the job, he always says that he's looking for someone to help her out."

Avalon looked at her over the top of her newspaper. "I'll go along with that at the same time that you actually convince me to get a dress for the homecoming dance." She set the newspaper down on the table and brought her arms up to rest on her upraised knee then jerked her head over to Jason who had been sitting quietly at their table, doing some homework. "And that sounds about as much fun as a root canal, mate," Avalon dead-panned. "Considering the fact that we weren't even ask if we wanted to go, Kim!"

At the sudden sharp turn of Avalon's tone, Kimberly, Jason, Zack, and Billy all looked up from their homework to see what was going on. At the mention of her name, Kimberly gave a sweet smile. Avalon continued, "but, hey, I guess I can spare one night away from watching Bailey like a hawk."

Jason smiled, shaking his head. "Don't do me any favors," he replied smoothly. Avalon gave him the finger.

'Aww isn't that sweet!" Zack pushed back his chair and got up. He walked around the table until he was standing behind the red and orange rangers. Grinning, he bent down and put his arms around their shoulders, pulling them closer together. "They're having a lover's spat already." He grinned as he looked back and forth between the two rangers. Jason was smiling and laughing at Zack's antics and Avalon looked annoyed. "So, when's the wedding."

"Zack, leave them alone," Trini said, reaching out and pushing Zack on the shoulder. "You're not funny." She shook her head as she turned to Avalon. "Come on, Avalon, it's just dress shopping. It's not like I asked you take part in one of Billy's experiments. She tilted her head over to Kimberly. "Has he used you for any experiments yet? Did anyone tell you about the time that he accidentally switched his and Kimberly's bodies?"

"Ugh, I don't want to think about that again," Kimberly said. She shuddered as if someone asked her to eat a snot sandwich. Kimberly ran her hands over her face and then held them out in front of her, as if trying to keep a frog from touching her. "Glasses really did nothing for me."

"Thanks, Kim," Billy said sarcastically.

Kimberly gave him a sweet smile.

"By the way, Kim, did you ever find that pearl necklace that you were looking for?" Trini asked, turning to her best friend. "You know the one that you were going to wear for the homecoming dance?"

Avalon gave a start, jostling the table. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over at Kimberly and listened closely as she responded to Trini's question. Kimberly shook her head, looking a little down. "No, I still can't find it and it was going to go perfectly with my dress!" She wrinkled her nose. "It's so weird, Mom's gold necklace disappeared too, and she still can't find that."

Shit. Avalon raised a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes warily. She let out a sigh, lowering her hands from her face. She noticed Jason looked at her funny and composed herself the best that she could, shoving her hands into her leather jacket pockets, lightly rocking back and forth on the chair's back legs. You've got to be kidding me. Way to go, Chase, nice house you picked.

Though she did know that she had to blame herself for most of it, she was the one that willingly went along with the plan both times….and every other house before. The money was important, but never in a million years did she think that she would ever steal from someone that was actually going to be that close to her. Now things were getting messy. Being a power ranger was supposed to make things easier, to keep the lives separate. Everything was falling apart around her faster than she thought it was going to be a problem.

"I'm sure you'll find it, Pinkerbell, don't worry," Avalon waved a hand, but it was shaking.

Jason sat up, looking straight at her. His eyebrows were lowered in concern. "Av, are you sure you're ok?"

"Don't call me Av," Avalon responded quickly. She gritted her teeth for a moment, wondering why she said that it was alright for Billy to call her that. Now everyone else had fallen into that pattern and it was already starting to get on her nerves. She glanced over at Billy, thinking about the conversation that they had. He now knew her father's name and was going to try and get into contact with him soon. It was like she was starting to lose her control on everything. "And I'm fine. Just a little cold." She pulled her jacket tighter around her for emphasis.

"Don't change the subject Avalon," Kimberly said, placing her hands on her hips. "The dance is this weekend and you need to get a dress!"

"I told you," Avalon said. "I already have a dress!" She tapped her pen on the table in front of her. "It's in my closet and I have the shoes to go with it. I'm sure Jason's tux or whatever matches it fine, considering its mostly black."

"Are you trying to steal my color?" Zack demanded. Avalon reached over and pointed at his shirt. He looked down and she flicked him on the nose. Zack laughed and rubbed his nose. "Good one, I haven't tried that in a while." He looked thoughtful. "Speaking of the dress, where are we meeting up to take pictures?"

"We could all meet up at Kim's place," Jason suggested. "I think she said something about her mom getting a limo." Kimberly nodded to acknowledge that what he had said was true. Jason then turned to Avalon. "I can pick you up at your place and then we can head over to Kim's."

Avalon's mind raced with as many excuses she could come up with in a matter of seconds. It shouldn't have been that hard, she made so many excuses for everything for the past couple of years, why did it have to be so difficult now? "I'm not sure my parents are gonna be around," Avalon said slowly.

"Your dad's still on his business trip?" Billy closed his textbook, already finished with his homework. He moved his notebook over to help Kimberly out on a problem she had been struggling with for the past half hour. "I figured he would have been back by now."

"It got extended." Avalon started to twirl her hair around her finger. "Government worker and all that, things happen all the time." She dropped her hair and shrugged.

"So what does your Mom do?" Trini gave Avalon a kind smile, not wanting to scare her off. She found it better to be friends with someone by showing that they weren't trying to be intrusive or nosy. And while Avalon was still weary around them, she felt they had, at least, gotten a bit closer. "Does she work for the government too?"

"No, Mum's a teacher." Avalon leaned over as her pager went off, trying to look at the number that was calling her. "But she does some tutoring and stuff on the weekends too; I think she already had plans with some friends before we realized that it was the same day as homecoming."

"She'll tell you the same thing about the dress though." Kimberly seized the opportunity to try and persuade her once more. "You need to get a new one."

Avalon looked at her watch. "Yeah, sure." She grabbed her backpack straps and started to back away from the other rangers. "But I've got a phone call to make, just need to be sure that Tommy's OK. Who knows what kind of torture Bailey's putting him in? So…I'll see you later." She turned on her heel and speed walked over to the counter.

"Hi Avalon," Ernie greeted her, drying a glass with a dish towel. "What can I get for you? Have you put away all of those smoothies already?"

"Actually, I need to use your phone," Avalon said. She noticed Ernie's glance over towards the pay phones that were set up all around the Youth Center. "It's sort of an emergency and I need to be sure that I get connected. Please?"

Ernie hesitated for a minute before nodding his head back towards the back room. "Just this once, because it's an emergency," he said. Avalon nodded and hurried behind the counter and into the back room. Her heart thudded against her rib cage so hard that she was starting to feel nauseous; she could feel herself starting to sweat. Pulling open the door, she went inside Ernie's office and headed over to the phone. When the door slammed shut behind her, she jumped, letting out a started cry.

Whirling around, a relieved sigh escaped her lips, blowing her hair off of her forehead. "It's just the door Avalon, calm down." Raising her hands to her face, she took a couple more deep breaths. "Relax. No one's here. Nothing's going to happen." Everything that she was trying to hide was causing her guilt and paranoia to run wild and she wasn't sure how much longer she could take before she had a complete mental breakdown.

Avalon dropped heavily into the large armchair, setting back into the leather, allowing it to envelop her, giving her a sense of comfort. Once the muscles in her back and neck loosened, she opened her eyes again. Relax, everything will be OK. Reaching forward, Avalon picked up the phone and quickly dialed a familiar number.

"Angel Grove Auto Shop, how may I help you?" Came the cheerful reply. Avalon's upper lip curled at the greeting. These people lived in a city that was attacked by monsters on a nearly daily basis and they were still that happy? Must be something in the water.

Avalon cleared her throat. When she started speaking, her voice cracked, but she recovered enough to be clear over the phone. "Uh, yeah, my name is Avalon; I'm looking for my mate, Chase, is he there?" Avalon's grip on the phone tightened with each passing second.

"No, he's not here right now, in fact…I don't think that he's scheduled to work today."

"Are you sure?" Avalon rested her forehead on her upraised palm. She could feel her breathing becoming unsteady, sure that she was about to pass out.

"I can double check if you want me to. Do you need to leave a message?"

Avalon slapped a hand on the counter, resting her forehead against it before bringing the phone back up to her ear. "No, I don't need to leave a message," she lowered her voice. "Thanks." Avalon replaced the phone in the cradle before standing up straight and running her hands over her face. She slammed her fist on the table. "Fuck!"

Avalon tried to push down the overwhelming sense of panic that was threatening to take her over. She stole Kimberly's necklace, she knew that for sure at this point. She was still working with her gang, as there was no other way to get money, she was keeping that a secret while trying to be a ranger, she was the reason Bailey couldn't bring any friends over to the apartment, she was the reason Bailey was caught up with the rangers, and now she was trying to keep all of that from getting out in the open.

She couldn't deal with all of that coming out in the open, not if she couldn't find a way to fix it herself. If she knew that things were going to get this bad, she would have gone back to Australia when she had the chance.

There had to be a way she could fix this.

"Bye Tommy!" Bailey called, waving towards the white ranger as she walked down the front steps of the Oliver house. Avalon lifted her chin in a nod to the white ranger before putting her arm around Bailey's shoulders and steering her off down the street. Bailey hitched her backpack up her shoulder and moved to Avalon's side as the two started down the sidewalk to get back home.

They hadn't gotten far in their journey when a familiar voice stopped them.

"Avalon! Bailey!"

Avalon stopped short. Bailey stopped and looked up at her eldest sister. The two of them had definitely heard their names being called. Looking around, Avalon squinted when she spotted a familiar figure walking towards them. Bailey let out a gasp.

"Dad!"

Avalon and Bailey darted into the empty street and over to their Mr. Mitchell as he continued to walk steadily towards them, a large smile on his face. Avalon reached her father first, throwing her arms around his upper chest. Bailey collided into their sides a second later, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Bailey asked as the two girls stepped back. Her smile was so wide it could split her face. "Did you find Mum?"

"Yeah and how'd you figure out where we were?" Avalon asked, taking a small step away from him, her arm still looped around his waist. She wiped a tear away from her eye as she looked up at her father. When did she start crying? Avalon didn't think about it, she was too busy looking up at her father. He was as tall as she remembered him with sandy brown hair, shinning brown eyes. His facial features mirrored Avalon's almost exactly, but in a more masculine way. He smiled down at her.

"Don't worry about that now," William said to his daughters. "Just think that we're together now. Are you guys hungry? Have you eaten anything lately? I'm starving. Oh and how about all of your friends? Have you made any when you started going to Angel Grove?"

Avalon froze as she looked up at her father. There was something off about him. He looked exactly like him, he smelled the same. He sounded the same, but still there was something off about the way that he had asked if they had any friends…and how did he know, if he was gone for so long, that they had started going to Angel Grove High?

Before Avalon could move, her father grabbed her arms and pinned them to her sides. She gasped as he lifted her of off of her feet. Her arms pinned against her sides and squeezing tighter, Avalon's gasp transformed into a cry of pain. She could hear Bailey's scream and then a second later; she could feel the hands of her father's morph and change. When Avalon opened her eyes, she saw a humanoid looking monster in front of her. To her surprised, it morphed to look like her mother, before turning back into her father.

When it spoke, it continued to use Mr. Mitchell's voice.

"Don't worry, honey, your father's here now, to protect you," as the monster spoke, a light green mist started to emanate from its body, circling Avalon. The mist continued to wrap around Avalon. As she listened to the monster, her dark brown eyes started to turn a bright green. "I'll always be here to protect you, you and Bailey. Don't worry, Avalon."

"Av!" Bailey cried as Z-Putties appeared around her and started to circle her. She ducked as one leapt towards her. Falling onto her back, she scrambled away as the putties closed in around her. Every where she turned, there was a putty reaching out towards her. Bailey's eyes widened in fear. "Av," she called desperately, her voice cracking. "Help me!"

But Avalon didn't move, she continued to be held by Rita's monster.

"Yes, yes, that's it!" Rita cried gleefully as she watched the scene unfold on earth. As one of the twin monsters continued to hold onto Avalon, the other was waiting in the trees for the other rangers to come around, ready to ambush them when needed. The putties grabbed Bailey and started to lift her to her feet. Her screams echoed around the lunar palace, causing Rita's smile to widen.

Behind her, Zedd watched in satisfaction. They had all of their monsters at their disposal to wear out the rangers while they finalized their plan to take over the world. This time, they weren't going to be defeated. A deep rumbling started in his chest before his laughter joined in with Rita's. He held up his Z-scepter in triumph. "We've got the Orange Ranger now!"

"You can't think that was too much of a coincidence, right?" Jason asked, grabbing everyone's attention. His eyes bored into the others around him as they waited for him to finish his statement. He had watched Ernie's office, to see if Avalon was going to come out, but she had just disappeared. If he had to guess, she teleported out of the Youth Center. And having it happen right after she got paged…it wasn't the first time he noticed her running away when she got a message from someone. It wasn't the first time he noticed, anyway. Who knew how long it had been going on?

"What do you mean?" Trini frowned.

"She gets a page and just disappears," Jason said, voicing his thoughts. "It's not the first time she's done it, either."

"Maybe it some sort of a family thing we don't know about," Zack suggested.

"Yeah," Kimberly agreed. "It's probably not a good idea that you're jumping to conclusions over this. Who knows what's really going on with her? Maybe someone in her family is sick." She started to twirl some loose hair around her finger, taking in Jason's words. He might have a point… She seemed to be running away from them, and then there were the weird friends that she had…The more she thought about it, the more she could see Jason's concerns.

"Actually…" Kimberly said slowly. "I think Jase is right." She clasped her hands together in front of her before she started to speak, waving her hand around as she did so. "I mean, a lot of strange things have been going on since we met Avalon. I'm not saying that she's behind all of it, but it is really weird. Her sister gets attacked at the park, she becomes a ranger…but she always has an excuse not to go somewhere or she's hanging out with her weird friends, and then things happen."

"And she always has a pager on her and it's constantly going on" Zack agreed. He reached out and lightly hit Billy on the arm. "We haven't gotten anything on our project done because she's always running away to do something, leaving everything behind." He rubbed his chin. "Plus she never lets us over to her house, we always go to mine or Billy's or we're at the Youth Center."

"So?" Trini asked. "She's still adjusting to life here-"

"How could she still be adjusting if she said that they lived here for years?" Kimberly interrupted. "But just transferred to Angel Grove High?" She shrugged, tilting her head back to look at Billy. He and Billy were the only ones that didn't seem convinced. "I'm sorry; I just think it's a little weird."

Everyone started to talk at once.

"Trust me," Jason held up his hands, getting everyone else to calm down. "If Rita and Zedd are really going to be after her, trying to figure out her identity as a ranger, things aren't going to go well. But we have to focus on that right now, that's the bigger problem that we have. But…" he took a deep breath, looking everyone in the face. "We can't rule out anything else. With what's been going on lately….she may know more than she's saying…"

Billy sighed. "There is something that…I haven't told you," he said slowly. All eyes turned to him. "Avalon and Bailey have come to me recently, telling me that there are some extra abilities that Avalon has."

"What sort of extra abilities?" Zack's face was not of its usual jovial nature, now it was solemn. He hung on Billy's very word.

"She can run really fast," Billy said. He picked up his notebook and turned to a page that was filled with equations and notes. He passed it around for everyone to see, though he knew that only Trini would understand it. "For one, like, she can be here and then at her house in the next second. She's really strong, able to break things easily and lift a lot of weight. But…she can also hear voices in a way that it's like she can predict the future."

"You mean like a clairvoyant?" Trini speculated.

Billy nodded. "Exactly. I've done some preliminary scans on her…the readings don't make sense. Apparently something happened to her when she was young…something that had to do with her dad and a really bright light. I think that might have something to do with it."

"Have you shared any of this with Alpha?" Jason rubbed his chin. "Do they have any thoughts about it?"

"I haven't said anything to them yet," Billy admitted after a moment of hesitation. "I wanted to see if there was something that I could figure out first, but they might know more than I do. They were the ones that chose us as rangers, telling us that our powers chose us, maybe it's the same thing."

"Maybe," Jason agreed, "But what if-"

Beep beep beep beep beep beep!

The rangers all looked around the youth center, to be sure that no one was listening to them, before Tommy leaned forward and pulled his arm out, putting his communicator in the center of their circle so they could hear Zordon.

"What is it, Zordon?" Billy raised his communicator to his mouth to answer Zordon's call. Kimberly, Trini, Zack, and Jason crowded around him to hear what was going on.

"Rita's monster and Zedd's Z-Putties are attacking Avalon and Bailey! They need your help! They're surrounded."

"Got it." Jason, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Billy hurried from their seats and out of the Youth Center. Once they were sure that they were alone, they went into action. "It's morphin' time!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber Tooth Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

The rangers teleported to where Avalon and Bailey were and immediately went into action. Tommy arrived to help them a second later. He and Zack hurried over to the Z-Putties and started to attack them, trying to get to Bailey, who was being held by the arms and was being dragged away.

"I don't think so!" Tommy flipped over the circle of Z-Putties and landed on top of one of the putties that held onto Bailey. He pried its hand off of Bailey's wrist and then latched onto its arm. He spun once and threw the putty into the air. Tommy then shuffled on his feet and got a roundhouse kick to the other Z-putty, hitting it in the chest. It disintegrated, causing Bailey to stumble and fall to the ground. "Are you ok, Bailey?" Tommy asked her.

Bailey leapt up and grabbed onto Tommy, wrapping her arms around his neck as she started to cry. "Hey, it's alright! You're ok now." He pushed her back a little bit. "Go get to safety." He then spoke out loud. "Zordon, transport her to the command center.

As Bailey disappeared in a flash of white light, Tommy turned back to help Zack get rid of the other putties.

Jason, Kimberly, Trini, and Billy advanced on the monster that had its hands wrapped around Avalon. The mist continued to come from the monster's mouth, encircling Avalon. It continued to speak to her, although the rangers were advancing on it. They couldn't hear what the monster was saying, but they could tell it had Avalon in a trance. She continued to stare at the monster, listening to its every word, the green mist still around her.

"Rita's monster has her under some sort of spell," Kimberly gasped.

"We have to help her, or else she might end up like Tommy did," Billy said. He held out his hand. "Power Lance!"

"Power Daggers!"

"Power Bow!"

"Power Sword!"

Jason, Kimberly, Trini, and Billy raced towards Rita's monster, their weapons held high. Trini leapt forward and aimed her daggers at the monster. However, a blur shot out from the trees and smacked Trini across the chest, sending her backwards.

"Trini!" Billy cried.

When Kimberly tried to attack with her power bow, she was hit and knocked back, and Billy did the same. Jason managed to get a few hits, but was knocked back as well. Just like balls in pong, Jason, Kimberly, Trini, and Billy continued to bounce back and forth, trying to save Avalon from the grasp of the plant monster. But each time they got too close, the other monster would smack them back.

"Hahaha!" The newer monster laughed in triumph. She reached up, pushing her dark hair out of her face. "You can't defeat us. My brother and I…we have the same thoughts, the same movements, the same mind. You'll never be able to outsmart me and Nie."

"Guys, don't get too close!" Billy warned, holding out his lance. "She's really fast."

"We have to attack from a distance!" Trini agreed. "Power daggers!" She spun her daggers around her fingers before throwing them, hitting the monster that held Avalon. The arms were hit and Nie let out a scream of pain, retracting his hands. He dropped Avalon to the ground where she landed in a heap.

"Power Bow!" Kimberly pulled back the string on her weapon and let go. The arrows shot forward and struck the girl monster, causing it her stumble back with a scream of pain.

"Gemma!" Nie called, racing over to his sister.

"Power Lance!" Billy jumped high into the air and brought his weapon down across Gemma's face.

"Hiya!" Jason leapt up and struck Gemma as she started to fall. Nie reached her side and he swung his sword out in an arc, catching him as well. Nie let out a scream as he fell to the ground, flailing is arms and legs as it tried to get back up.

"Av!" Billy hurried to Avalon's side. "Avalon, are you ok?" He lifted her up into his arms, her head bobbing back, and she looked at him, her eyes still a slight green. "Avalon!"

As the seconds passed, Avalon's eye color returned to its original dark brown. Her eyes focused on Billy, a look of confusion passing through her orbs. Then everything came back to her. Her eyes immediately lowered to a glare as she got to her feet, breathing heavily. She grabbed her morpher and raised it. "Stegosaurus!"

Once she morphed into the orange ranger, Avalon charged forward and body slammed Gemma back to the ground. "Power Staff!" Her weapon appeared in her hand and she turned it in her hands until the spiked part was above the plant monster. "That's the last time you're going to mess with my sister!" She warned.

Gemma gave a cruel bark of laughter and flipped to her feet. With Ni by her side, the two backed up a few paces before shuffling forward and kicking Avalon in the chest, the force of the blow sending her back against the ground.

"Avalon!" Kimberly cried, a second before she was hit as well. She let out a grunt of pain, hitting the ground.

"Kim!' Tommy and Zack defeated the last of the putties before hurrying over to their friends. Zack helped Kimberly to her knees as Zack held out his hands, holding Gemma and Nie at bay. "Kim, are you ok?"

"I think so," Kimberly wheezed.

"These guys are stronger than we thought," Jason said. He held his power sword out in front of him, shifting it back and forth as he tried to figure out who to focus on. Gemma and Nie split up and started to circle the group in two different directions.

The group watched as Rita's wand came down from the sky and caused the monster to grow, towering all over all of the rangers. Tommy threw a hand into the air. "We need Megazord power, now!"

Their zords quickly came together to form the Megazord, while the Tiger Zord and Stegosaurus Zord ran up at the sides. The rangers jumped into their zords and quickly moved into their cockpits. Gemma and Nie got the upper hand against the rangers pretty quickly. Each time the Megazord or the Tiger Zord would go to attack, one of their combined attacks would knock the zords back.

Frustrated, Avalon charged up as much power as she could into her stegosaurus zord, as it spun in a fast circle. She gritted her teeth, holding on to the controls so hard that her hands were shaking from the effort. She couldn't relax, the anger that she was feeling was throbbing in her had. How dare they use my father against us? Her zord continued to spin at a higher rate, continuing to gather power. The cockpit started to shake and warning sounds started to blare around her.

Stegosaurs shields at five percent.

"Av!" Bailey's voice came through the cockpit. "You're using too much power."

"You're going to lose control of your zord," Alpha added. "Your power grid is failing."

Avalon ignored them. She slammed the two control sticks forward and the zord shot forwards and rocketed into Gemma and Nie. The force of the attack knocked the two of them to the ground, however they weren't out yet.

"What?" Jason cried.

"It's their power," Billy said. He was sitting at his control panel, his eyes searching the readings. "They work best together, when the two took the attack, it was less damage to them together as it would have been with one of them."

Stegosaurus shields at zero percent. Power system failing. Self destruct commencing.

"Why not try this on for size!" Nie called. He and Gemma pulled their hands back and green electricity started to crackle around their hands. They moved their hands forward and shot the electricity towards Avalon's zord just as she was ejected from the cockpit and flung through the air, landing on the ground hard.

Avalon let out a grunt, curling up into a ball as pain coursed through her body. She could only watch as the other rangers turned their zords into the thunderzords. Even with more power, they were no match for the twin monsters. They were soon sent back to the ground as well. Gemma and Nie laughed evilly before disappearing back up to the Lunar Palace.

The rangers were then teleported back to the command center.

Avalon ripped off her helmet, her eyes flashing as she turned to Zordon. "What happened?" she demanded.

"Your power levels were too much for your zord," Zordon explained. "And your doubt as well as the extreme anger and ruthless fighting power caused you to lose control as well."

"Your zord isn't just a machine to fight," Trini explained as she and the other rangers took off their helmets as well. Avalon turned towards them, turning her glare towards them. "It's a part of you and you're a part of it. If you abuse the power of it…if you don't try to keep control, you'll lose control."

"So when can I use it again?" Avalon demanded. She heaved her helmet to the ground before starting to pace back and forth. "I'm not going to let Rita do that again!"

"Unfortunately, we're going to have to take time to figure out how much damage your zord has taken," Alpha said. "You also used so much power from your zord, for that one attack, that it can take a long time before its back up and running again." He turned around and picked up something. When he turned back, an animatronic stegosaurus rested in his palm. "As it stands, we don't know how to reverse Rita's magic."

"What happened to it?" Zack peered at the zord as it lifted its head, making a pitiful crying sound. "How did this happen?"

"And how were Rita's monsters so strong?" Tommy added. "It wasn't even a match for the thunderzords."

"Rita and Zedd must have figured out Avalon's identity," Zordon said, confirming everyone's fears. "They struck at the right time so that she was alone when they tried to take her over. That's what I've been afraid of."

Silently, Avalon reached out towards Alpha. He handed over her zord. The stegosaurus zord nestled into her palm, making another crying sound before dropping its head. Avalon stared. This was her fault. Just like everything else was. Would anything ever go right for them?

Zordon's voice broke Avalon out of her trance. "For now, you're going to be co-piloting the Triceratops zord with Billy," Zordon said. Billy looked over at Avalon before looking up at Zordon, waiting patiently for his instruction. "I believe that he will be the best suited one to teach you how to use your power with the zord when you're able to pilot your own zord again."

"Yes, Zordon," Billy agreed.

Avalon let out an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. She looked over at Bailey, who had been quiet the whole time and walked over to her sister, wrapping her arms around her. Bailey clung onto Avalon as she started to cry. Avalon turned back to Tommy. "Thanks for getting her out of there, Tommo," she said.

Tommy smiled and nodded. "No problem."

"Avalon," Kimberly started, quietly. "What did the monster do to put you under its spell…it seemed like it was talking to you. Like it was trying to take you over like Alpha said." She looked over at Tommy, who suddenly had an angry look on his face. "Rita's magic is powerful…it almost got you."

"Maybe her other powers stopped it," Trini said. She walked over to Billy and placed a hand on his shoulder. 'Maybe we should test it…here…" she suggested. Billy reached up and grabbed her hand; he gently lowered it off of his shoulder and squeezed it before turning to Avalon.

"I need to be sure," he said to her. Avalon, mutely, nodded. He turned to Zordon. "Zordon, there are some other abilities that Avalon has that can't be explained. We need to see what's going on. I did some tests…she has an amazing source of power, some unexplainable things. You told us that the power chose us, what if this is a new source of power that we could use to stop Rita once and for all?"

"Aiyiyiyiyi!" Alpha cried. "Zordon!" He turned to the mythological being. "Should we test it out?"

"It may be something that can stop Rita and Zedd once and for all. We need to assess every possibility that we have." At Zordon's statement, Alpha, Billy, and Bailey set to work, setting up a reading of Avalon's energy levels, using the same mechanics that had been created to make the white ranger powers for Tommy. Once she was all set up, Billy turned on the machine and he and Alpha stood by a monitor, watching as the energy levels started to read out.

"So what does it mean?" Jason crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes moving over the waves. He exchanged glances with Kimberly, Zack, and Tommy. They didn't seem to understand what was going on either.

"Well?" Zack demanded when he didn't get a response. "Don't leave us in suspense."

"Ayiyiyiyiyi!" Alpha started to wave his arms around even faster. He even started to jump up and down, making similar movements he had when he first met the rangers and could not computer Kimberly's joking. "Zordon! I can't believe it!"

"What is it?" Bailey demanded.

"All of her powers, her new abilities…she holds the power of two rangers!" Alpha cried.

Avalon lay on her back on her bed, staring at the ceiling, as she had since she and Bailey had gotten back from the command center. She watched as the stegosaurus zord walked up and down her stomach, tiny technologic dinosaur sounds coming from it as it did so. She smiled a little, staring at the ceiling again. She had the power of two rangers? How was that possible? The light that she had seen when she was young…her father's work…did that have something to do with it? No one was sure, not even Alpha and Zordon could pinpoint where the power had come come…but Billy's thoughts had been right, there was a potential new power source that they could use to defeat Rita and Zedd.

Avalon rolled onto her side, thinking about the battle. Their spirits had been pretty low when they were all leaving and, once again, it was her fault. There must be something that she could do to make up for it. Avalon's gaze shifted over to her closet, the doors propped partially open. Avalon stared for a few moments before lifting her zord off of her stomach and placing it on her pillow. She walked over to the closet and opened the door. She stared at the dress in the back of her closet for a long time before picking up her cell phone and walking over to Bailey's room, dialing a number as she did so.

Avalon knocked on Bailey's door. "Yeah?" Bailey called. She looked up as Avalon entered the room, grabbing her attention. "What is it, Av?" She was sitting in front of a notebook, which Avalon recognized as Billy's, pouring over it. "Av?"

Avalon held up a finger and waited for the person on the other end of the phone to pick up. When they did, she told them to wait a minute before calling someone else in a three way. "Is everyone here?"

"I am," Kimberly said. She didn't sound as perky as she usually did. Probably still reeling from the fight, Avalon reasoned.

"I'm here, too," Trini added. "What's going on?"

"I was thinking…" Avalon said. "About the dance…" she turned to Bailey and looked directly at her. "How would you guys like to help me pick out a dress? We could make a day or night of it…"

A/N: So what'd you think? This is the first of the three part homecoming chapters. I hope you guys liked it. I needed to have a new monster fight at some point. The homecoming chapters really start the plot of the story for all of the rangers (though Avalon's part with the gang will be a part of it as well) so it'll shift the focus from being completely on Avalon like I needed the start to be so I could introduce her.

That being said you'll see more of Zordon, Alpha, Rita, and Zedd in the next chapter as well.

-Avalon