Chapter 13

And after the exciting battle between the rookie Power Rangers, the veteran and the punk of an idiot kid, who STILL THINKS THAT A Ranger can not feel any pain, against a returning super villain that has the staff of his former master and can control it alongside with the power that his former master extracted from the veteran ranger and can wield it with ease, the city of Angel Grove, after much difficulty, have moved on with their lives. Though there is still the underlying fear that Divatox and Goldar will join forces, but given at what just happen yesterday, all answers point to "Not gonna happen." Divatox is a loony who hires monsters from all around the universe to take on and destroy the Power Rangers and Angel Grove, with nothing but brute strength. Whereas Goldar, a true warrior, sees to it that an enemy has to be worn down from the inside, then and only then when the victim can't take anymore punishment and begs for death, does Goldar grant that wish. And instead of using brute strength Goldar would want to kill his target with his bare hands while watching the life going out of his victim's eyes. I shuddered, my spoon clanked against the bowl. This morning newspaper was in front of me. The front page screamed Goldar Returns with picturers of the battle, interviews from eyewitness and some bogus quotes from the Power Rangers that the reporters made up. Everyone, who was at the battle or had seen it live on TV, had been terrified that there was going to be two wars going on in Angel Grove, until the mayor read a letter sent to him by one of the Power Rangers, that the Rangers will do their absolute best to keep Angel Grove and its people safe. The people, who have seen many villains come and go knew that the Rangers would keep to their promise and had moved past the fear and continued on with their normal lives. It seemed a bit startling to me that after an attack and a battle like the one yesterday, people can go about as if nothing big had happened. That they can still go to work, come home, kiss their wives, husbands or kids, good morning or good night and sleep peacefully in their beds with no fear of what might come the next day. It was also startling to me that my birthday was coming up and my friends wanted to celebrate. At first I declined a celebration, it would seem weird to celebrate, what with everything that was going on now, but my friends insisted. And I caved in, Kimberly was flying down from Florida to be with us for my birthday and Billy was coming down from Aquitar. At first I had begun to panic thinking that on their journeys both of them would be attacked by Divatox or worse by Goldar and end up being killed. I asked(screamed is more like it. You seriously can not get through to A-6)that the Power Chamber's sensors keep a sharp eye on Kimberly Hart and Billy Cranston and to call me if Goldar or Divatox attacked them. They were to arrive this weekend. I began to hope and pray that nothing would go wrong with my sister's flight or with Billy's journey. I also prayed that Aisha was watching over the both of them and keeping them safe. I was hoping also that Dad would come and be with me to celebrate, but there was a very slim chance of that. Dex, called me up earlier that week and told me that he was sorry but he wouldn't be able to make it, he had something to do, something very important. This hurt me, because this would be my first birthday with my boyfriend, and it turns out that he has something more important to do than to be with me when I celebrate the day that I turn 17!!! At first I was a bit peeved but then I let it go, thinking that it had something to do with figuring out a way to defeat Count Dregon.

My birthday celebration went off without a hitch, well only a couple, but it went pretty well all the same. Kim had watched the news and had seen the battle and was really glad that I had returned her calls(after she left 10 messages on my answering machine) and that I was all right and in one piece. When Tommy and I had picked her up from the airport, she was already jumping up and down to see over the heads of the crowd of people in front of her, and when she saw us, she shoved past all of them(a lot of people gave her dirty looks), ran toward us and gave me a pretty tight bear hug.

"Oh my gosh Amy! I can't believe that he's back after all of this time. Hi Tommy." she said in a off handed kind of way. Tommy blinked frowned then followed us as we went to claim her baggage. We exited out of the airport and climbed into Tommy's truck, and Kim continued to talk a mile a minute.

"I'm mean I knew that he was going to come back, I mean we all knew, to get revenge on the all of us. And I thought for sure when he put that spell on Kat and captured me, I thought for sure that he was, you know going to stay and start attacking you guys alongside King Mondo but when he didn't I was really surprised but not you Ames, you knew that he was only playing with us. He still had his cracked armor so he wasn't all that powerful and he didn't know how to control Zedd's staff, and when you told me that the guy that you fought on the rooftop was in fact Goldar I was surprised that he didn't show up soon after, but he must have not fixed his armor yet. But for him to show up now! Its just......i—its just scary Ames. And how he controlled the power that Zedd stole from you....that was just....super scary. I was all about to morph when I saw him launch that truck at you! It just came as a real bummer and a let down that I remembered that I wasn't a Ranger anymore. And when I saw that you were alright I cheered and when you were going to fight him all by yourself, I was wishing that I could morph so that I could help you, you have no idea how scared I was that you were going lose to Goldar so I began to pray that Aisha would there beside you, and I'm pretty sure I saw her!" Tommy glanced at Kim.

"You saw Aisha? I didn't see her and the others and I were watching the fight. Are you sure Aisha was there?" He glanced at me.

"I didn't sense her presence." Kim looked crestfallen but then she spoke up again.

"Well maybe she only showed up to me because I was her best friend when she was alive." I shifted in my seat. Kim kept talking about the battle, how worried she was, how she had called up Jason, Zack and Trini and found out that the fight was being played all over the world. Jason and the others, like my friends, had been frustrated that they could longer morph to face off against an old enemy and wished that there was some way that they could become Rangers again.

"Jason was even thinking of contacting Trey and asking to become the Gold Ranger again to fight Goldar, by the way he says hi and so do Zack and Trini, anyway he knows that, its like impossible because as far as we know the Power Coins were the only ones that were capable of switching hands back and forth. But oh, I wish I wish I wish that we could morph into Rangers again." She was breathing a little hard and her eyes were bright.

"And I see that the long journey hasn't worn you out at all Kim." said Tommy in a good natured voice as he smiled at her while he got her bags down. Kim stuck her tongue out at him as we climbed the stairs to my apartment. As I unlocked the door and let them in Tommy said that as soon Kim got ready we were to met the others at the restaurant.

During the car ride, I asked Kim not to mention the fight. Tommy said that he asked the same for the others and he also told Billy, who was already at the restaurant, along with the others. Kim nodded saying that

"Today is a very special day for my sister and should not be ruined by talk of a battle that happened yesterday." Kim hugged me, then helped me out of the car as Tommy put it in park We went into the building where my friends were their already seated at the table, after we said greeted each other and had sat down, the celebration started. For two hours, we managed to steer clear of the subject of Goldar, the Tengu Warriors, Zedd's staff...or I guess I should say Goldar's staff. I can't really imagine that staff as Goldar's. We focused on the fact that Dex wasn't here to celebrate with me, Tommy said that Dex probably had a good reason and that he'll tell me when the whatever he was working on, is finished.

"In the meantime relax." Talk soon turned to any new relationships that were turning up in the lives of Blue Elf and Adam. Blue Elf said that he was seeing this woman and she seemed really into him, they had a lot in common, and they would have lots of fun on their outings on the town. Adam said that he had been seeing this girl, her name was Ashley, and from how Adam talked about her, she was everything that he wanted in a girl. I was happy for the both of them, to have found someone to love, to share things with. Life can get pretty lonely after a while. I thought to myself, I thought of Dex. He had told me once that he when he had first met me he had felt a special connection. One that he couldn't describe but he knew it would ease the pain of loneliness that he had been feeling for a while. I'm glad that I was the person to help ease that pain. I was looking forward to the next day, wondering what Dex was going to show me.

As we all sat back in our chairs after eating the food, and cake and after listening to the staff of the restaurant sing "Happy Birthday" I began to think that talk of the battle yesterday would never come around and we could all discuss it tomorrow.....until I saw the serious look on Billy's face. Oh no. The atmosphere around the table quickly become serious.

"Not to ruin your special day Amy...." He ignored Kim's glare. "But we need to discuss what's happening." Reluctantly everyone nodded, I looked down at my ice cream and pushed the remains of it around the bowl with my spoon. Tommy took a deep breath then let it out. Blue Elf was the first to speak.

"I can't believe that he's actually here in Angel Grove. Or how powerful he's become."

"Was there ever any doubt that one day he would one day return?" said Kim drily. I shook my head.

"No, as soon as he had regained his strength and made himself stronger......" My voice trailed off. Adam turned toward me.

"The new rangers....are you sure that you've explained everything to them, Goldar's history, who he used to work for."

"Yes! I told them everything! Except for where he got that extra boost in his powers, they think that its his powers that they witnessed at work the other day."

"Well, you can't tell them otherwise, theoretically it is his power that he was displaying." said Billy.

"How did they take it after you told them?" asked Blue Elf.

"Shocked at first that a new enemy could destroy a monster with just one shot, and angry, because they thought that I had always known that he would return and failed to tell them. Plus they thought for sure that yesterday was going to be their last battle."

"They thought that?" asked Kat.

"Yeah....they were all grateful that I came out of that crash alive and distracted Goldar and the Tengu when we began to fight."

"B–but the new rangers still couldn't get away from the Tengu?" asked Kim. I shook my head.

"No, Carlos and T.J. both said that the Tengu were strong, even more stronger than the Piranhatrons themselves." Tommy had a thoughtful look on his face.

"That's their say, what about you Ames?" I looked at Tommy

"Well....." I paused." They were pretty strong, a bit more stronger than me but just by much. Actually their strength reminded me of the time when Master Vile came. Remember how all of a sudden the Tengu were super strong and you...we had to use the Metallic Armor to beat them?" The others nodded.

"So whatever Vile gave to make the Tengu stronger back then..." said Kat.

"Goldar just gave them another dose." said Tommy grimly remembering, unconsciously he rotated his right shoulder, recalling how one Tengu had slashed at him. Rocky had a perplexed look on his face.

"But didn't whatever Vile gave the Tengu to make them stronger wear off a couple of days after Vile took off?" Billy was in deep thought then he nodded.

"Yes, it did." Tommy spoke up.

"Goldar must have given whatever it was to the Tengu again, he must have gone to Vile to ask him where he could find an endless supply." His face was angry, he tightened his hand on his fork. The others all nodded thoughtfully. Tommy relaxed his grip on his fork although his eyes still showed anger, I quickly turned to my sister. She looked at me.

"H–how much of your power did Zedd steal from you Amy?" I cringed. I did not want to remember the five minutes of laying on the floor screaming while Zedd pointed his staff at me, feeling my power taken out of me, seeing it going into the staff, staring up at him wishing that he would kill me. The extraction of my power felt like my insides were being ripped from my body, and I wished for the pain to stop, to end. It had only taken five minutes and yet...it had seemed endless.

"H–he took enough.... to make his monsters stronger A–after it was done, I–I felt weak...I–I could barely get out of bed as it was." I began to tremble, Kim covered my hand with hers and gave it a squeeze. It seemed unreal that we had all come here to celebrate a birthday party.

"I wish that I had met all of you earlier then....then I wouldn't have had to go through all of that." And Aisha would still be alive. A lot of things would be different. I blinked back tears as I thought about all the things that could have been if I had met Kim and the others sooner. I struggled to push away the emotion that was welling up within me. Kim must have seen the struggle for she got up and hugged me, soon the others had put their arms around me and we just stayed like that.

As we were walking out of the restaurant we continued our discussion about the powers that Goldar could have other than levitation.

"So far he can levitate and create power blasts." said Tommy. I just hope that's all that he can do. I began to worry that he could teach himself how to morph and I began to envision him morphing, sliding underneath my front door and waiting for me until I was in my room, or worse he could sneak into one of my classrooms at school and attack me there, where I would be powerless to stop him. I shuddered then began to curse myself angrily for not destroying that blasted staff! As soon as my friends dropped me off, I gave a grateful sigh, it was good to be home. Away from all that talk, away from all the speculation, away from the growing fear. I turned and stared out into the street, then I turned back to my apartment, inserted the key unlocked the door and stepped into my living room

The next night Dex was driving me to the beach saying that he wanted to show me something. I, for one was glad for the distraction, I was getting tired of being paranoid and always wondering just how much Goldar could control the power within the staff. What if Goldar figures out how to morph? We could be in more danger that way. He could follow us anywhere, he could be anywhere. Will he attack my friends with his powers? If he does they won't stand a chance. Another worry that has been plaguing me: How will I be able to protect the other Rangers if I can't use my full strength and power? Yesterday I only used half. Dimitria and A-6 didn't notice because there was too much going on, but what about next time? What if Goldar launches an even bigger attack and I have to use all my strength just to keep myself and my teammates alive? If it comes to that and they see, there will be questions. I'll probably end up having to tell them that I'm part alien, what if they view me as a threat? What if they think that just because I didn't tell them sooner I'm part of Divatox's team or Goldar's, poising as a friend when in reality I'm a spy?

I gave a sigh and leaned my head back against the headrest and placed one hand to my forehead. Dex looked over at me and asked if I was alright. I couldn't lie to him, he knew me too well.

"No, it's just.....this war. Now that Goldar's back the danger has escalated." He looked over at me a sympathetic look on his face. He reached over and squeezed my hand.

"You'll get through this, I know you will. You'll do your best to protect everyone around you. Plus you have me and Tommy and the others. You are not alone in this Ames." I smiled at him.

"Thanks."

We arrived at the beach, after shutting off the engine, he got out of the car and I followed. Taking off our shoes and socks, we began to walk hand in hand along the water's edge, with the wind brushing our hair back and the waves crashing and the water barely touching our feet, I began to remember that it was here that Dex and I found out each other's secret identities, fought our first battle as a team and had our first kiss. I smiledas I remembered the shocked expressions on our faces when we both morphed in front of the other. Dex stopped in front of me, I stopped also and looked at him.

"Okay, now I'm going to show you something, but it's a surprise. So you have to close your eyes." Dex had an excited look on his face. Smiling and wondering I shut my eyes, Dex took me by the hand and began to lead me down the beach, after twenty minutes or so we came to a stop.

"Don't open your eyes yet." Dex said as he got behind me, placed his hands on my shoulders and steered me a few more feet. Finally we stopped.

"Okay, open your eyes." I opened them and let out a gasp. In front of me was a clothed covered table with a chicken dinner on top and surrounding the table on the ground were lit candles and around each of the candles were stones.

"Dex, its beautiful!" I breathed as he, smiling broadly, lend me to my chair, after seating me, he sat down himself and we began to eat. He told me that he had enlisted Chopper and Magno's help in finding the perfect place to set this all up. He had been thinking of setting this up in a restaurant but

"I figured the restaurant scene has been done to death already, so I picked the beach." I grinned at him and looked at the stone encircled candles.

"Everything is beautiful Dex, its perfect." I said as I wiped my mouth with my napkin. He smiled at me.

"I'm glad you think so." he shifted in his seat, then took a deep breath.

"Amy, this last year being with you.....it has been one of the greatest years of my life. Ever since we've met you've......you've beaten back a loneliness that has been inside of me for a very long time and I'm eternally grateful. Because of youI can now look forward to the end of every battle, knowing that you'll be there waiting for me. You've done more than get me through all of those battles....You've gotten me though the insanity that comes with this war and the hardships....I always want you to be there for me, I want you to be always by my side through the good times and bad, through the times of war and the times of peace." he paused for a bit, then he slipped his hand underneath the table and pulled from his pocket a box.

"I....I've been meaning to ask you for some time now Amy." I could only stare as he got up, came around the table, I turned in my seat as he kneeled in front of me and opened the box to reveal a gold ring!

"Amy Karmer, will you marry me?" I stared at him for a bit, my mind turned to slush at this proposal. Say something!!

"Dex, of course I'll marry you, of course." Ithrew my arms around himand kissed him hard on the mouth, we hugged each other happily. Dex slipped the ring onto my finger.

"Alright boss!" someone shouted, turning we saw that Magno and Chopper were there and had seen everything. We both smiled at them as the two vehicles cheered. Laughing I stood up and pulled Dex toward me and we began to dance.