Chapter 14

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Avalon slowly stirred awake. She kept her eyes closed, raising her hand to her forehead, it was pounding with pain. In fact, each movement sent an explosion of soreness throughout her body, allowing a wave of nausea to seize her stomach. Even the slightest movement to lift her head had her curling up into the fetal position.

"Aww, poor little Avalon, is all washed up!"

Avalon opened her eyes. There was nothing but darkness around her, the musty smell that infiltrated her nose caused her to slowly get to her feet. Raising her hands to her head, her dark eyes darted around…nothing. Everywhere she looked, there was nothing. Lifting a hand to her face, she realized that she could at least see that. Wiggling them, she took stock in her body parts, everything seemed to be there. Her dress was a little worse for the wear. However she was fine.

Her eyes swept around the darkness once more.

Relatively.

"You must be exhausted," Rita said as she and Zedd stepped out of the smoke and shadows. They stopped a few feet in front of her, both holding onto their wand and scepter—respectively—as they gazed at her. The evil smile on Rita's face exhibited her glee. She was practically bouncing up and down, twirling her wand in her hands. The two started to encircle Avalon. "What with you little extracurricular activities when you're not with the rangers."

Avalon's hands clenched into fists. Her jaw started to ache and she realized that she had her teeth clamped so firmly together that you couldn't even wedge a piece of gum through them. She spun in slow circles, watching Rita and Zedd. "What do you want, boofheads?"

"The real question is…" Rita and Zedd stopped and stood next to each other once more. "What do you really want?"

Avalon's eyebrow raised.

"Trini, my feet are really starting to hurt," Billy said, wiping sweat off of his forehead. He leaned over, his shoulders slumping, watching as Trini continued to move in front of him. Trini beamed at him, holding her arms above her head, twirling in a circle. Her hair hit him in the face and his smile widened a bit more. "I seriously don't know how you girls do it. Realistically speaking, after the muscles in the body-"

"Billy, please no science talk tonight," Trini said. She reached out and grabbed onto his hands. "But if you really want to rest, then go sit with everyone else." She inclined her head towards the tables that had been pushed to the sides of the gym for the students to sit down, rest, and eat. Kimberly, Tommy, Zack, and Jason were all sitting together. Billy smiled and nodded at her before the two walked over to the empty chairs at the table to sit down. He let out a sigh of relief once he was finally off his feet.

"You two looked like you were having fun," Kimberly remarked, lacing her fingers together as she smiled sweetly at them.

Billy blushed a little, fumbling with his glasses. Thankfully, Trini spoke up before he could. "Yeah, I think Billy's really come a long way with this dancing," she said. "It just goes to show you what practice can really do."

"Or not letting him leave the dance floor," Zack pointed out with a wink and shrug. "There's that, too." Trini and Billy laughed along with the others. He sat up straight, looking around. "Has anyone seen Avalon?"

"I haven't seen her for the past one thousand two hundred seconds," Billy said. His eyes orbited towards the ceiling when Kimberly, Jason, Zack, and Tommy all gave him blank looks. Trini giggled before coming to Billy's aid.

"He' means the last twenty minutes," she explained.

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen her either," Zack said. He rubbed the back of his head as he sat up, looking around the gym. There were dancing teenagers all over the place, but he couldn't find the orange ranger. Turning to Jason, he smiled a little. "You've been quiet," he remarked. "Did she ditch you?"

Jason had his arms crossed over his chest, and a frown on his face. If it wasn't that he knew them so well, Billy would have really thought that he was annoyed that he had been ditched. No, this was the look that Jason gave every time there was news about Rita, Zedd, or one of their monsters attacking Angel Grove. The look of calm, stoic worry and determination. Jason looked around before leaning forward and confirming Billy's thoughts.

Something is really wrong here, Billy thought as he leaned forward as well. We may have let our guard down.

"I think we need to check things out," Jason said, loud enough for everyone to hear over the music. "There's no way that Rita and Zedd could let us have a night off." He shook his head. "Not on a day like this. It never happens."

"But the communicators haven't been letting us know," Kimberly said, motioning to the artifact on her wrist.

"How could you hear it?" Jason pointed out. His frown deepened. "And Zordon couldn't teleport us out of here when there are so many people around. Not when they could all see our biggest secret." He lifted his wrist. "I've wanted to go somewhere quiet to see what's going on…but there are people everywhere." There was a sudden tension that went around the table as the realization settled in. The rangers had been waiting for an outright attack on them while they were at the dance, they didn't expect them to use everything around them against them. Rita and Zedd had never smart enough to do it before, but now…

They know about her powers, Billy suddenly thought, his eyes growing wide. They know that she has the power of two rangers. They're probably going to try and turn her to their side. Who knew what could happen if they got their hands on that sort of power. They weren't sure what sort of limits her powers had or what could happen if it fell into the wrong hands.

"That was their plan!" Tommy cried, snapping his fingers. "Waiting for us to be in a place where we'd, essentially, be completely stuck."

"It's brilliant if you really think about it," Billy said helpfully. "Cutting off all of our resources and making sure we're completely isolated." All eyes turned to him and he shrugged. "I'm just saying, it really is smart. If we could utilize the same tactic-"

"That's it!" Tommy cried. He brought his communicator up to his ear and, listening hard, he could hear the sound of the communicator letting off the rhythmic sound of danger it always did. Billy and the others watched as Tommy tapped his finger against his chin, his eyes darting back and forth. "We're going to use Rita's and Zedd's tactic against them.

"But first we have to figure out what's going on," Trini reminded them. Billy glanced at her, seeing the look of worry and apprehension slide over her face. She and the other rangers looked around as screaming classmates started to run into the gym. In the resulting chaos, the music was shut off and the gym started to clear out.

"Looks like it shouldn't be too difficult now," Zack remarked. The rangers stood up and blended in with the crowd before darting off to the side to answer Zordon's call. Tommy brought his communicator to his mouth, "what's going on, Zordon?"

"Rangers, Avalon's been kidnapped by Rita, Zedd, and Goldar. However, Arieselle is attacking the school. We can only think that she is being used as a distraction for you guys so they can do something equally as dangerous as when they had Tommy under Rita's spell as well as throwing Jason into the dark dimension.

"What are we going to do?" Kimberly crossed her arms over her chest. If it was out of fear of the cold, Billy wasn't sure, but she started to shake, her lower jaw trembling. "If she was put into the dark dimension, we have no ways of getting to her and Arieselle is too strong for us."

"We're currently working on a way for you to get to the dark dimension and to save Avalon, but for the moment, you have to take care of Arieselle," Zordon replied.

Tommy lowered his communicator. "Looks like we don't have choice guys, we can only hope that Avalon can take care of herself while Bailey, Alpha, and Zordon find a way to get to the dark dimension or to get her out." He waved a hand and the rangers moved off to the side, away from the screaming teenagers. "You guys ready?"

"Ready!"

"It's morphin' time!"

"Tiger Zord!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-tooth Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

"What do you freaks want?" Avalon backed away from Rita and Zedd, bringing her hands up to her face.

"Like I said, it's more of what you want," Zedd said. He lifted his Z-scepter and pointed it at her. "We're aware of the things that you've been doing," he drawled. Avalon scowled. "Things that the other rangers wouldn't be so very fond of if they found out." Avalon slowly started to lower her hands, a look of panic flashing across her face. Zedd exchanged a glance with Rita. They had her now. "Trying to keep you and your sister safe and sound…in a nice home."

"Cut the crap and get to the point!" Avalon snapped. In the next second, a scream of pain was ripped from her throat as Zedd powered up his scepter and blasted her with the evil energy from it. He merely watched as she felt to her knees, gasping for air, her hair hanging over her face.

"I don't think you want to upset me," he growled, taking a step closer to her.

"We've found that you will do anything to help you and your sister," Rita took over. As she spoke, she started to wave her want, allowing a green mist to come out and encircle Avalon once more. "And the things that you've done…they don't seem to be what a ranger makes. But it is what an evil range makes." She waved her wand a mountain of goods appeared in front of Avalon, complete with jewelry, TV sets, and electronics. "Join us and we'll be sure that you won't have to worry about anything ever again. You don't have to continuously exhaust yourself at all hours just to get money that you don't seem to have."

Avalon sat back on her heels, her teeth gritted together. She lifted her head, listening to what Rita said. I wouldn't have to steal anymore? I could spend more time with Bailey? I don't have to worry…about anything…That wasn't true. There was still the matter of being in the gang…they were her friends; she couldn't turn her back on them. Then there was the truth about what was going on with their parents…and why they were alone in Angel Grove…would that be a problem too?

At Avalon's hesitation, Rita and Zedd gritted their teeth and turned their wand and scepter towards them, they both started to glow, illuminating the darkness around them. But the darkness still stayed dark. The green mist continued to encircle Avalon, as if waiting for orders to take her over. "If you don't join us, we'll reveal your secret to the other rangers and we'll destroy you, your sister, and everything you love!"

Avalon swallowed thickly. Another scream erupted from her throat. This time, of rage. Leaping to her feet, she raced towards Zedd and threw her fist at him. He lifted his scepter to shield himself, and her fist connected with it. There was a bright flash of light and the forced sent the two flying back from each other. Avalon fell back to her knee, bringing a hand up to her chest, she gasped for air. She could feel the new power…feel how it was coursing through her veins, strengthening her…however…each hit seemed to take her energy away from her as quickly as she used it.

Rita and Zedd seemed to understand this, as they laughed evilly at each other. Zedd waved his scepter and an image appeared in the air in front of them. As Avalon watched, the other rangers fought against Arieselle, doing their best, but getting beaten quite easily. This monster was definitely one of the better ones the two had created.

"We'll watch the other rangers die as you make your decision."

"Ay yi yi yi yi! What are we going to do?!" Alpha cried, watching as the rangers fought Arieselle. He raised his hands and covered where his eyes would be as Zack was hit in the chest, getting knocked over in the process. As Arieselle came back to attack him again, Jason jumped in the way and fended him off with his power sword. Arieselle seemed to slow down, but used the energy from her horns to blast the rangers back onto the ground.

"We can only hope that we find a way to get the rangers to the Dark Dimension," Zordon said.

Bailey, who had been standing by a control panel, chewing her fingernail, frowned at Zordon's words. It didn't make sense; they should be able to teleport into the Dark Dimension. That's what Jason had said, anyway. Back when they had first encountered Arieselle, in the park. They had explained everything they could about what they had gone through over the past couple of years. When they had gotten to the par about the Dark Dimension and how Jason, Tommy, and Billy had all been there, Jason's words had stuck in her mind.

"The Dark Dimension makes it so that your communicator is powerless, however, you can still use your power morpher and teleportation."

"So couldn't you all have teleported out of the Dark Dimension?" Bailey had asked. It seemed like the most logical answer at the time. If you could teleport in, you should be able to teleport out. Nothing was ever that logical or that easy as she found out a few seconds later.

"Being able to teleport in was what Rita and Zedd used as a trap, many times," Trini said. She paused for a moment, thinking. "Being able to teleport out…it had to have been when our power has been at its strongest, or when Zordon and Alpha were able to teleport us out."

Bailey had nodded, storing the information in her head for later, just in case. Who would have thought that she was going to have to use it to rescue her sister? Bailey turned on her heel and started to pace the floor of the Command Center, her footsteps falling quicker as she went. How could this happen? The person that was trying so hard to give her a good life, the only person she could count on was now captured? Well now it was Bailey's turn to help her. She clenched her hands into fists, they shook at her sides. No one messes with my sister and gets away with it!

"I have an idea," she said, turning to Alpha and Zordon. "Of getting rid of Arieselle as well as getting Avalon out of the Dark Dimension." She pushed her glasses up her nose and turned to Alpha. "You know what we've been working on after getting a reading on Avalon's levels?" She turned and started to walk to a side of wall of the Command Center. At the last moment when it looked like she was going to walk into a wall, a security door opened to another room. She walked inside and pulled on a pair of gloves.

Alpha followed behind her. "Do you think that they're ready for this? We don't know if the clout is something they can handle. We haven't tested the equilibration of it along with the power grid or the power coins."

"We may not have a choice, Alpha," Bailey said. After pulling on her gloves, she reached over and picked up a pair of tongs. Reaching over with her left hand, she opened a panel on the wall and lifted a cover before pressing a series of buttons. The floor opened and a pillar rose out from the ground, holding onto a white cube. Moving forward, Bailey placed the tongs around the cube and turned around, holding it out at arm's length away from her.

"But the-"

"I'm not going to sit back and allow my sister to get turned to evil by Rita and Zedd!" Bailey said firmly. There was so much bite to her tone that Alpha stopped in his tracks, gazing at her. "She's taken care of me so long…she's forfeited so much of her time and energy for me…" She shook her head. "I'm not going to stand aside and let anything happen to her."

Alpha and Bailey walked out of the secret room and back to the main area of the command center. A lectern appeared and she placed the cube on top before attaching wires to it. She then went over to a control panel and started to push a series of buttons. "Zordon, do you have a lock on Avalon in the Dark Dimension?" She kept her head down as she continued to work.

"Indeed," Zordon explained. "I have her coordinates exactly, however, if you send the other rangers there, I can't guarantee that they're going to be able to be brought back."

That's what you think, Bailey slowly started to smirk. After pressing a few more buttons on the control panel she turned back to the cube, watching as it glowed white, red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and pink. Bingo! Bailey restrained herself, knowing that the present time wasn't good to celebrate her genius. But that didn't help the smirk that slid onto her face. "Now we need to get the rangers here and let them know what's going on," she turned back to the viewing globe, wincing as Kimberly was struck again. "I don't think that they can beat her like this."

"Alpha, teleport the rangers to the command center," Zordon instructed.

"Right away, Zordon," Alpha said. He turned to a control panel and started pressing a few buttons. Bailey watched as the colors of the rangers appeared in the command center. They took off their helmets and turned to Zordon.

"Alpha, Arieselle's too strong for us," Zack said, gasping for air. He glanced around at the other rangers, who looked worse for the wear. There was nothing but worry and disappointment on their faces. "What are we going to do?"

"Avalon's gone as well," Trini agreed. "We don't know where she went."

"Rita, Zedd, and Goldar kidnapped her and took her to the Dark Dimension," Bailey explained. "Just like you've figured out, they were using your dance as a ways to separate you guys and so you couldn't respond to her calls for help." She reached over and pushed an orange button on a computer and held out her hands, Avalon's power morpher appeared, nestled inside. Her power coin repeatedly glowed orange.

"Her morpher?" Kimberly gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth.

"She'd have no way to defend herself while in the Dark Dimension," Jason added.

"What were you thinking?" Billy asked Bailey, who looked back at him patiently. She nodded over to the cube and his eyes widened. Turning back to her, he stared at her for a few moments, his eyes narrowing. "Are you sure that it's going to synthesize well with the power and morpher grid? It may rescind our powers for all we know."

"Does anyone understand anything about this?" Zack waved an arm towards Billy and Bailey. "I mean, I knew that they were smart, but this is getting ridiculous."

"They're saying that this cube may be what can help Avalon get out of the Dark Dimension," Trini explained. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line. "What it is, I'm not sure. But it might not work well with our powers and the power and morpher grid. If anything, it can help us, but it may damage our ability to morph in general."

"We have to try something," Tommy said with conviction. He looked around at the other rangers. "We can't let Rita and Zedd destroy her."

"Tommy's right," Bailey said. "They know about Avalon's power of two rangers, that's where this came from." She started to walk around the cube. "This is part of Avalon's power that we managed to harness that Alpha and I believe can help you in your quest to destroy Rita as well as to defeat Arieselle."

"We had an idea," Tommy added. "Do to them what they did to us, split them up and gang up on one. Just like Gemma and Nie did and just like Goldar did with Avalon."

"Take a look at the viewing globe," Zordon said. The rangers all turned to see Avalon, from earlier that night, taking the call from Zordon. As they watched, she went towards the gym to get the other rangers, but then backed away, running outside.

"She was trying to keep us from fighting Goldar?" Zack turned back to Zordon. "But why?"

"She wanted to keep you guys from having your night ruined," Bailey explained, pushing her hair behind her ears. "You've done nothing but fight monsters for as long as you all can remember and she figured that she could handle it herself while you guys had fun." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Guys," Kimberly said. "We need to go save Avalon, she's not just one of us, she's our friend." Kimberly looked down at her helmet. "She wanted to make sure that we had a good night…we can't abandon her now." With new determination, she held her helmet at arm's length. "We're going to defeat Arieselle and get our friend back."

"Back to action!" Jason declared and the rangers put their helmets back on. Bailey used the tongs once more and picked up the cube, she moved to stand beside the rangers. "Can you get us to the Dark Dimension?"

"I can do that and more," Bailey replied. "First, with Arieselle. Think of this…if Rita and Zedd made monsters out of horoscopes, what do you think is the one thing that can defeat them?"

"One of their own…" Jason said.

Bailey smirked, dimples appearing in her cheeks.

"Alright, let's get to the Dark Dimension and get Avalon!" Zack declared.

"Right!"

The rangers teleported out of the Command Center. Alpha twisted to address Zordon, and then stopped when something caught his eye. On the pedestal that the cube had recently been sitting, something was glimmering at him. Walking over, Alpha picked up the object and examined it in his hand.

"Could it be…"

In his palm rested a power coin.

What do I do now? Avalon could feel herself on her last legs of energy. At this point, she was barely standing, swaying on her feet. Rita and Zedd continued to zap her whenever she would attack them. If she had her morpher, she would be able to defend herself easily. Not even the extra power she had was helping her much, they were that strong.

"Puny weakling," Zedd snarled. "If you joined our side, you would know how to use your powers to be the strongest being in the world." He pressed his Z-scepter to her neck, forcing her head up to look at him. Avalon glared at him through the fringe that fell in her eyes.

"Not so far, Zedd!"

Avalon turned to see Tommy, Jason, Kimberly, Trini, Billy, Zack, and Bailey had teleported into the dark dimension and was standing behind her. She moved to get to their side, but Rita grabbed her by the arm and pressed her wand to her throat. The green mist started to curve around her body. Her eyes slowly started to turn green. "It's too late, rangers, she's already growing under our spell, and soon she's going to be utterly under our spell." She tilted her head back and laughed evilly.

"I don't think so!" Jason declared.

"Saba!" Tommy pulled his sword out from its sheath, spun him around his fingers and threw him. Saba swirled towards Rita, but she lifted her wand and batted it away.

"What was that supposed to do?" Rita laughed. "You and your puny toys. They're not going to defeat us this time." She turned to Zedd. "FINISH THEM NOW!" The emotion in her voice expressed glee at the thought of mercilessly killing the rangers once and for all. Her eyes flashed with fortitude and her face started to twitch at the corner, her eyes darting back and forth as she watched the rangers start to fight Zedd.

The Power Rangers charged forward and started to attack Zedd, summoning their power weapons as they did so. Zedd viciously fought back, electrocuting them whenever he had the chance as well as slammed his scepter into their stomach. At one point, he reached out and slammed his fist so hard into Zack's stomach that he lay prone on the ground for a few moments. Kimberly and Trini leapt forward to attack him at the same time.

"Hiya!" The twin girls, smashing Zedd with their power bow and power daggers. He let out an enraged yell and brought his scepter up the second time they started to attack. The second their weapons clashed, a shockwave was created, sending the rangers back along the ground.

"Say goodbye, rangers!" Zedd started to charge up his scepter.

"Now, Bailey!" Billy called.

"I'm on it!" Bailey called back. Rita and Zedd turned to see Bailey, who had been crouching in the corner get up and run over towards her sister. When she reached her, she shoved the cube into Avalon's hands. The cube glowed a bright orange so that it filled the room and when it diminished, Avalon was a few feet away from Rita, smiling over at her sister. Bailey smiled back, her eyes lighting up.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Zedd roared, turning to his wife.

"I don't know, Zeddy!" Rita looked at her wand. "She was under my spell."

"That's what you think." Bailey smiled and pointed above their heads. Rita and Zedd looked up to see Saba hovering over them, a red beam going from his eyes to Avalon. It was putting her under a protective shield, keeping Rita's magic from taking the orange ranger over. After a few seconds, Saba released his hold on Avalon and flew back over to Tommy.

Thrusting a hand in the air, Tommy caught is friend. "Nice going, Saba," Tommy said to him.

"Thank You," Saba replied before Tommy placed him back in his sheath.

"I'm going to destroy you, too!" Rita lifted her wand and pointed it over to the Mitchell sisters.

Billy jumped in the way. "Power Lance!" He brought up his weapon and slashed Rita in the face. She screamed in pain, falling back behind Zedd. He then jabbed forward as Zedd moved towards him, the two back away again. Zedd lifted his scepter starting to charge it. Billy turned his head towards the girls. "You ok, Av?"

"As good as can be expected, yeah?" Avalon replied with a nod back. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but stopped and nodded again.

"Let's bring it together!" Jason declared.

"Power Axe!" Zack tossed his weapon into the air, making the bulk of the combined weapon.

"Power Bow!" Kimberly threw hers to add onto Zack's weapon, giving the blaster wings.

"Power Daggers!" Trini spun her weapons around her fingers before throwing it up to add onto the weapon.

"Power Lance!" Billy pulled his lance apart and threw it up onto the weapon as well.

"Power Sword!" Jason jumped up high into the air and brought his sword down on top of the weapon, making the power blaster complete. "Let's do it guys." He held onto the power blaster and Kimberly, Trini, Zack, and Billy all crowded around him to help him hold onto the weapon. "Ready?"

"Fire!" the five of them cried in unison and the blaster show out its energy right to Rita and Zedd.

Rita and Zedd brought their wand and scepter together and fended off the blow. Zedd started to glow a very bright red, his chest heaving up and down. His scepter started to glow red as well. "You think that you can defeat me?!"

"That was just a distraction," Bailey said. She brought her communicator up to her wrist. "Zordon!" The rangers teleported in a flash of light.

Zedd tightened his grip on his scepter. "NO!" He howled at the sky.

Rita looked at her husband before glaring at the spot the rangers once were. Those rangers have no idea what was coming to them…they're going to regret the day they decided to cross us. Rita growled.

"Now we just have to get rid of Arieselle!" Jason said once the rangers teleported back to the school.

Tommy turned to Bailey. As he looked at her, he saw just how worthy she was. She didn't cower in the face of danger; she went into it head on with a plan to save her sister and to help their friends. She was a formidable ally to their team. "Thanks for the help; you should get back to the command center where it's safe!"

"Got it." Bailey took the cube back from Avalon and teleported to the command center.

"Let's sheer this sheep," Kimberly said as Arieselle stopped her charge and stood a few feet away from the rangers. She glanced around at her friends then looked up at Tommy. He caught her eye and gave her a reassuring nod. Though they couldn't see each other's faces through their helmets, she could see the smile that accompanied his nod. Kimberly smiled back at him.

"So you've come back for more, huh?" Arieselle taunted. "I thought you learned your lesson the first time."

"We're not going to let you get away with this, Arieselle!" Trini declared.

Avalon looked at the rangers and took a step forward. She glared at the monster, her hands shaking. "I just wanted them to have a good night, free from having to worry about this sort of thing because…" Avalon trailed off, slowly. She stood up straight, her eyes widening slightly as realization hit her. Everything became crystal clear; things seemed to be…more inviting now. The air was sweeter, the colors around her were brighter, and there was an unmistakable feeling of camaraderie in the air. She turned to look at the other rangers behind her. "Because these guys are my friends…" She turned back to Arieselle, her eyes narrowing. "And I'm not going to let you hurt them!"

"I think you're going to need this," Jason said, handing over her morpher.

Avalon grinned as she took it. She swung her arms behind her back. "It's morphin' time!" With determination, she thrust her morpher into the air. "Stegosaurus!"

"Power Rangers!" The group cried once Avalon morphed.

"Not so fast!" Once again, Arieselle started to charge at the rangers, knocking them back every time they got in her way. "You don't have the power to defeat me!" Arieselle slammed into the rangers once more, sending them to the ground.

"We should put Bailey's plan into motion," Tommy said, struggling to his feet. "It may work." He turned to Avalon. "Let's see what you can do." She turned to him, as if not knowing what he was talking about. That kept her open to another attack from Arieselle.

"Av! Look out!" Billy called.

Avalon turned back to Arieselle. Her eyes widened and she held out her hands to try and defend herself. They started to glow orange, there was a black tint at the edge of the glow, and when she grabbed onto Arieselle's horns, she wasn't pushed back, the ram stopped on a dime. Arieselle's eyes narrowed and she clomped a hoof against the ground before starting to run again. However, she still didn't go anywhere. Avalon gritted her teeth at the effort and focused her energy on holding Arieselle still. Arieselle's horns started to glow.

"Avalon, get away from there!" Zack called.

"It's not safe!" Jason added.

"Fuck that," Avalon spat. "This thing is going down!" As she concentrated, the orange/black glow around her hands slowly changed into fire that shot forward and engulfed Arieselle. She screeched in pain and, still on fire, Avalon lifted Arieselle above her head and threw her away from them. "Whoa." Avalon looked down at her hands as the glow stopped and the flames disappeared.

"Don't congratulate yourselves yet," Bailey's voice came through their helmets. "She's still going."

The rangers watched as Rita's and Zedd's combined power grew Arieselle so she towered above them. "We need megazord power now!" Jason called. The rangers watched as their zords came racing towards their masters. Jason, Trini, Zack, Kimberly, and Tommy all entered their zords as soon as they arrived, but Avalon heisted.

This was going to be the first time that she was piloting a zord that wasn't her won. What if she made a mistake like last time? What if she overpowered the zord and the same thing happened with Billy's? Who knew what would happen if everyone's zords got turned into and technological pets. Avalon looked at her hands. They weren't glowing now…

Billy placed a hand on her shoulder. "Your body language suggests that you're hesitant," he said and squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry. We're all here to back you up. We're all on this team together. No matter what…you're not alone. And we can take down this monster and all of the other ones that are thrown our way."

Avalon smirked. "Try and stop me!"

The two leapt high into the air and entered the cockpit of the Triceratops zord. It had been fitted with two seats now, instead of the one that Billy usually commandeered himself. Avalon sat down in the seat behind Billy and grabbed onto the control sticks that were sitting on the left and ride side of her chair. In front of her, Billy did the same.

"Zack here, I'm ready to rock."

"This is Billy, locked and loaded."

"Trini here, ready to rumble."

"Yeah, this monster is toast!"

"Tommy here, all system's go."

"This is Avalon, let's do this!" Avalon concluded.

"Alright, let's do this together. As a team. Megazord power, on!" Jason cried. The zords pulled themselves together to create the Megazord. It faced off against Arieselle as the Tiger Zord stood by its side. Both zords circled Arieselle and tried to attack her, but the burning monster made things that much more difficult. "The heat is too intense for us," Jason said as the Megazord had to back up from the monster.

"Our shields are starting to melt," Trini added.

"Seems like a good time to try out your plan, Bailey," Tommy said.

"Right," Bailey agreed.

"Sending the cube down," Alpha added.

A panel opened in from of Billy and the white cube which was now glowing white, red, yellow, blue, purple, and pink appeared in front of him. He studied it for a moment, his mouth pressed in a thin line. He knew what was going to happen, but the risks…there were too many of them. How were they even sure that it was going to work.

"Billy, take the cube," Alpha instructed. "It's the only thing we have to potentially defeat Arieselle."

"Affirmative!" Billy finally made ups his mind. He reached out and grabbed onto the cube, cupping it between his hands. He and the Triceratops zord glowed a bright blue. Avalon closed her eyes, turning her head away as the light got brighter. She held tightly onto the controls, feeling the strength of it starting to break out of her hands.

"You fools! You left yourselves wide open!" Arieselle shot out a beam of energy at the same time that she charged into the MegaZord's chest. Her attack was so strong that the zord fell apart, though each individual zord was able to get to its feet.

"I'm gonna need a little help here!" Avalon called as she used the controls to move the Triceratops zord out of the way of Arieselle's charge.

"We're doing our best," Zack replied, controlling the Mastodon zord to use its tusks and horns to slam into Arieselle. Kimberly, in the pterodactyl zord swooped from above and shot rockets into Arieselle's face. "Hold your horses."

Despite the situation, she could hear laughter coming from Tommy, Trini, and Kimberly. The glow finally lowered and Billy placed it back on the panel where it closed and sank back into the zord. He reached out and grabbed onto the control sticks that were by his hands. "Let's see if this works," he muttered. "Everyone, block of Arieselle, Avalon and I can handle the rest."

"Got it," Trini said. "Initiating block."

He and Avalon directed the triceratops in front of Arieselle. As Billy's grip tightened on the control sticks, his hands started to glow blue. "Triceratops!" The two called in unison. "Triceraqua strike!" The horns on the zord started to glow a bright blue as the zord started to increase in speed until it was sprinting at Arieselle. The two lifted their right hands off of the controls. "Now!" They slammed their palms on a button on the right and the glow blue shot off of the horns and towards Arieselle in a rush of hard water. She screamed as it hit her head on. The water then turned to a blow of energy and it caught her.

Her screams faded as the energy incinerated her. When the smoke cleared, Arieselle was gone.

"Alright!" Billy cheered.

"Nice one!" Kimberly added.

"Good one, guys, let's get to the Command Center," Jason said.

"Congratulations rangers," Zordon said, beaming down at the seven teenagers in front of him.

They had all teleported back to the Command Center and demoprhed, now standing back in their homecoming clothes. Despite the wear and tear on their bodies, they were all grinning at each other. Even Bailey, who was standing off at the side with Alpha, had regained her usual personality and was bouncing up and down on her toes, exuding her insatiable excitement.

"You've managed to save Avalon as well as defeat one of Rita's and Zedd's strongest monsters. But don't think the fight is over yet, there are more monsters where that came from."

"They can handle it!" Bailey declared. Avalon smiled and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck, giving her a hug. Bailey smiled and closed her eyes, reaching up her hands to hug her sister back. Now she proved that she could take care of herself when the time came. Now they could work together and help each other to live a good life. There were going to be a few bumps in the road, but things seemed clear for them in that moment.

"What about this new power that we're able to use?" Tommy asked. "What does it mean for Rita and Zedd?"

"We can deal with that later," Zordon said with a chuckle. "Right now, you deserve to take a break."

"So we're your friends?" Zack teasing question grabbed everyone's attention. Avalon lowered her arms from Bailey's shoulders and gave him a confused look. "I heard what you said. You said that we were friends." He beamed. "Don't try and deny it."

Avalon bit her lower lip as she looked at the ground, suddenly embarrassed. Maybe 'friends' was too strong a word. Friendship meant loyalty, understanding, and honesty with each other. She got the loyal part down, but being honest and understanding about everything else…not telling them everything else…what was going to happen with that when they found out? Would they have to move again? Start all over again? She slowly shook her head. I can't do that to Bailey. We'll figure out what to do. Avalon lifted her head and shrugged. "I mean, since we're all stuck in this thing together…and you all don't seem to want to leave me alone."

The other rangers smiled, seemingly able to see through her ruse of wanting to downplay things.

"We'll take that for now," Trini said. She walked over to Avalon and put her arm around her shoulders. "But don't think you're off the hook yet." She wagged her finger in Avalon's face and the two girls started laughing, soon everyone joined in, laughing as well.

"So who's ready to head back to the dance?" Kimberly asked. She leaned into Tommy's side, looping her arm around his. "I'm, like, so ready to have some more fun."

"Sounds good to me," Tommy agreed.

"There's just one last thing that we have to do," Jason said mysteriously. He held out his hand. Tommy, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, and Billy all placed theirs on top of him. They looked towards Avalon and she made a show of rolling her eyes before stepping in between Kimberly and Trini and placing her hand on top of theirs as well.

"Power Rangers!" They cheered, jumping into the air.

A/N: Ok, now that the homecoming chapters are over, the story switches focus from being all about Avalon and mostly from Avalon's POV to the other rangers and what's going on in their lives as well as the main plot of the story starting (though Avalon's home life and her gang is still important). I just needed the beginning to introduce Avalon, get some back-story on her and Bailey, and do some character development.

And I know you're all probably waiting for an update to Giving up the Game, but I really wanted to get this chapter out first. I promise Giving Up The Game will be updated soon. Until next time, thanks for the favorites, alerts, and reviews. Also, thanks to grapejuice101 for helping me through these past three chapters and XoxMountainGirlxoX for help on my future chapters regarding Avalon and the gang.

Also, I have a new poll for you guys to check out. :)

-Avalon