A/N: You know the drill. I don't own them, except for Lady Chaos and Sarah of Eltar. See Ch. 1 for the disclaimer.
Ch. 14-Dangerous Revelations
Lunar Palace
Unknown Time
Lady Chaos smiled triumphantly at the new look Kimberly, and then placed an arm on the former Pink Ranger's shoulder.
"You do not need to serve me, as I am not your mistress. What you need is for yourself to be happy. You have been through quite enough already. What would you like to happen for yourself to be happy?"
"Revenge on that pathetic White Ranger and his friends," snapped Kimberly, "and that windbag Zordon too. They always treated me like some kind of antique vase…a precious commodity. I am NOT someone who is soft!"
Lady Chaos chuckled…this was better than she could have ever expected.
"As it turns out, I am in a war with Zordon and his Rangers for possession of the Earth," said Lady Chaos, "so it appears we have the same goals. After the Rangers are destroyed, how would you like to help Rita and Zedd take over Earth?"
Kimberly smiled at this…she could only imagine what she'd be able to do if she had the Earth's resources at her fingertips without anyone getting in her way.
'It would also be a nice bonus to be able to do it after I've destroyed Zordon and his Rangers,' thought Kimberly.
"That has possibilities. I could go for that," said Kimberly.
"Excellent. And I have some gifts for you," said Lady Chaos. She raised her hand to the sky, and a pink staff, which appeared to be a cross between Rita and Zedd's staves, appeared in her hand.
"Here, take this," said Lady Chaos.
"What is it?" said Kimberly.
"Just a little toy for you that gives you the ability to wreck havoc on the Rangers' very lives," said Lady Chaos. "This little magic weapon allows you to create strong monsters and re-create old ones, put a myriad of spells on any kind of Ranger, and improve our foot-men."
Kimberly smiled. With this weapon, she'd be able to create anarchy in the Rangers lives in no time flat!
"But wait…there's more," said Lady Chaos as she raised her hand again, and a nasty looking black archer's bow appeared in her hand.
"Why…that looks like my old Pink Ranger weapon!" said Kimberly.
"It may look the same, but it is night and day from your old weapon," said Lady Chaos. "These arrows can do a nasty variety of different things. Some have the ability to cast spells on humans. Others have electrical charges. Others can travel into machines such as the Rangers' Megazords and cause serious damage to systems. There are other things these arrows can do, but you will learn that in time. You will also receive a sword, but that will come in time after you are more experienced with sword-fighting."
"These are indeed some great gifts. With these, I can destroy those brats in no time flat," said Kimberly, grinning from ear to ear before her grin faded. "But I'm not going to."
"What? You said you wanted to be happy!"
"I didn't say I was going to let them off the hook forever. I'm not stupid, Lady Chaos. They'd expect me to attack right away, and destroy them right away. That's part of the problem with you guys is that you attack them too soon. I want to do this slowly and painfully, so I can enjoy every minute of this. I want to make them nervous that their stupid communicators are going to go off…wondering what I'm going to do next. Their links will be severed one by one, and that brat Tommy…will be the last one to fall…at MY hands," smirked Kimberly.
"Excellent. I love it," said Lady Chaos. "I assume you would like to get some rest?"
"Yes. I'll start planning soon, but for now I want some rest."
"OK. Remember, I'm here to help you grow and learn of your abilities. For now, let me show you to your quarters. But, do you have any ideas on how to at least cause them some havoc first?"
"Yes. I'm going to bring back an old friend."
"Who would that be?"
"The Blue Globbor."
Throne Room
"HOW COULD YOU LET HER GET AWAY?" roared Lord Zedd to his lead henchman Goldar. "NOW OUR GREEN RANGER PLAN IS GONE AND RUINED!"
"I am sorry, my Lord," said Goldar as he bowed his head in shame. "She was-"
"SILENCE!" roared Zedd, obviously still fuming. "SHE WAS NEVER YOUR EQUAL, AND WAS WEAK-MINDED! AND YOU LET HER ESCAPE!"
"And Rito, what do you have to say for yourself, my cowardly brother? Oh, never mind that! Get out of my sight!" screamed Rita as she pointed her staff menacingly at her brother.
"All right, but before I do, I think you should see something. TENGAS! BRING OUR PRISONER!" shouted Rito.
At once, the door banged open and twenty Tengas shoved an unconscious Jason Scott into the throne room.
"By the name of the cosmos," muttered Lord Zedd, "is that the original Red Ranger I see in this throne room? And he's here as a prisoner?"
"It is, my lord," said Goldar, "and he is here as a prisoner. After Adam escaped, Rito and I got the idea to sneak-attack and kidnap Jason as the Rangers were retreating. We figured Jason would make a better candidate for the Green Ranger powers anyways."
"Hmmm…that's not a bad idea, actually," said Rita. "Actually, it's a possibility fate has decided to smile on you two and give you some brains after all. It would be an interesting twist of fate to have Jason fighting Tommy…only with Jason on our side this time. I also think there's a deep connection between Jason and Kimberly. What do you think, Zeddie?"
"I agree, my pet," said Zedd. "After all, Tommy is who we've always targeted, right?"
"I believe that's the plan. Once Tommy falls, the rest of those Rangers would be history. He'd NEVER fight Jason AND Kimberly! They'd destroy him in no time flat!"
"Goldar, Rito, leave us. You did well in capturing Jason," said Lord Zedd.
"Yes, my lord," growled Goldar.
"You got it, Ed!" said Rito.
"That's ZEDD, you bag of bones!" growled Zedd as the two henchmen left the room. The Tengas had set the unconscious Jason right before Rita and Zedd. Suddenly, Goldar and Rito came running back in
"We forgot to give these back, my lord!" growled Goldar as he set the Sword of Darkness and Green Ranger Coin in front of Zedd and Rita. "You'll need these!"
"Nice work, Goldar," said Zedd as the space ape bowed, then raced out with Rito.
"Now, we just need to find a way to get the machine rebuilt," said Zedd.
"That can be done with my magic and yours combined," said Rita. "And with that machine, Jason will be ours FOREVER!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road!" said Zedd.
East End
Twenty minutes later, an extensive amount of Rita and Zedd's magic had rebuilt the machine. Sabrina had taken care that her blast was strong enough to shatter the machine, and so it took a great deal of time and expended a lot of energy from Zedd and Rita.
"How could such a good warrior turn against us just that quick, Rita?" said Zedd. "After all, she was allied with you."
"You got me there, Zeddie. When was the last time you used her in battle?"
"The whole Vice Versa dance fight. You heard about that right?"
"Of course I did! And you haven't heard from her since?"
"No. Was your spell that weak that she broke it that easily?"
"The Ninjetti are intensely powerful beings…and she was Ninjetti if you recall correctly," said Rita. "Ugh, I hate Dulcea now that I really think about it. She has nothing else to do but watch over the Ninjetti powers, and care for those who have been under her wing. She could be so much more useful if she wasn't just some goody-good."
"Make that two of us. Anyways, let's quit wasting time. Take these," said Zedd, handing her the Sword of Darkness and the Green Dragon coin, "and give them to Jason. I will then blast the coin with my staff, and you blast the sword with yours."
"As soon as both items were in Jason's right palm, Zedd fired his staff at the Green coin, and Rita fired hers at the Sword. Both danced with evil energies, until five minutes later, the transformation was complete, and up rose the Green Ranger, Sword of Darkness in his right hand, who promptly took off his helmet, to reveal the black haired, stone-faced Jason Scott, whose eyes flashed a dark shade of red.
"Hello, Rita Repulsa. Hello, Lord Zedd," said Jason, an evil grin crossing his lips. "I believe we know each other? One thing I know, I am the Green Ranger, and I am ready to butt heads with Zordon's fools!"
"Yes, I believe we know each other, and we both believe you will make a fine warrior," said Lord Zedd.
"I am going to do more than that. I am actually going to show that idiot Tommy what finishing the job really means. He came close to defeating the Rangers while in this very uniform, and I will see to it that this job gets finished!"
"That is an excellent suggestion, Jason. But how do you plan on doing it?" Rita asked.
"Let's just say that when Kim and I are through with them, Tommy will wish he'd never have been born," Jason said, with an evil smirk. "They are going to go down, and I'm going to make their defeat slow and painful. And it starts…with the Power Chamber."
Friday, April 11
4:00 p.m. local time
The Power Chamber
Angel Grove, CA
One day after their partly successful mission, a tired, battered group of Rangers were gathered in the Power Chamber at the urging of Zordon.
And while they were all together, minus Tommy, who had checked in to the Power Chamber earlier and had locked himself in another room with his distress, and without Tommy, their team was totally disoriented. Billy and Aisha had only been called back into duty two weeks ago, the Zeo Rangers had been worn down from constant battles and Adam's troubles, Zack and Trini had been out of action for a long time, Sabrina was tired, and Adam was still in a coma.
As for Tommy, his sadness needed no explaining. It had only been then that the reality of the situation had hit Tommy square in the face.
He was now in the position where he would have to fight his two best friends…the two people that had meant so much to him. His other teammates were important, but Kimberly and Jason had been close to his heart in particular. For the last two hours, he wondered how fate could deal him such a bad hand, and had cried himself to sleep.
Back in the main room, Sabrina looked up at her father and said, "Daddy, is it OK for me to be concerned? We've got tons of talent, firepower and weapons to beat Lady Chaos, but I fear our team is not where it needs to be right now."
"YOUR CONCERN IS JUSTIFIED," said her father. "I AM PARTICULARLY WORRIED ABOUT TOMMY. THE RECENT EVENTS HAVE NOT BEEN HEALTHY FOR HIM. HE LOOKS TIRED, CONFUSED, AND MOST OF ALL, I SENSE IN HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME AN ATTITUDE THAT IS NOT HEALTHY…FEAR. I SUSPECT THIS FEAR HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH POSSIBLY HAVING TO FACE KIMBERLY, JASON OR BOTH VERY SOON."
"Perhaps someone should go speak with him," said Billy. "I have never in his two years on the team seen Tommy this distressed. Someone has GOT to give him some help."
"No way, Billy-man," said Zack. "You know Tommy…he's just…being Tommy. He doesn't want to face any of us right now…he thinks he failed. He's drowning himself in what he considers failure."
"No, this is different," said Billy. "I too sense dread within him, which is an attitude that is very un-Tommy like. I've never seen him this scared."
Sarah of Eltar stood up, and Sabrina joined her.
"I'll go," said Sarah.
"How in the world can you do this, Sarah? You don't know what you're facing walking in there," said Aisha.
"I have my ways about me, Yellow Bear. What he needs more than anything is someone to be there for him," said Sarah. "Trust me, you won't be disappointed when I'm finished. Where is he, my love?"
"ON FLOOR TWO," said Zordon.
"Got it. I'll be back," said Sarah.
"Mother, I'll come with," said Sabrina. "You could use some Ninjetti help for this."
"You are right. I could use some Ninjetti help," said Sarah. "Sometimes I wish I was under Dulcea's influence like you were."
"Shouldn't we be going?"
"We should be. Let's go."
20 minutes later, they arrived at the room Tommy was in, only to find it locked. They could clearly hear the sobbing from outside.
"Wow. And I thought I was a damsel in distress too often," said Sabrina.
"I'll go in," said Sarah. "Your dad always left me a key to the main rooms in the Command Center and Power Chamber."
"I think that's a good idea," said Sabrina. "I don't know how much trust Tommy has in me, and I think he's established a trust with you. I'll send a mental message to him however."
Inside the room, Tommy was continuing to weep in agony.
'Why does fate…always have to leave me at the altar?' he thought despondently. 'WHY?'
He was wallowing in his misery so much that he never saw the door open, which was followed by a 'Don't worry Tommy. Help is on the way.'
Seconds later, Tommy felt a couple of warm hands run up and down his back, and immediately felt his sadness subside. He then turned to see…
"S…S…Sarah?" he muttered astoundingly.
"Yeah, it's me," she responded. "I know I'm not Kimberly, Tommy, but you need someone to comfort you. This attitude is not like you, and your team really needs you right now."
"Sarah, I've just had an awful time shaking these nightmares," said Tommy. "I don't know if it's Zedd's doing or mine, but I've had nightmares for the past few hours about Jason destroying the Power Chamber for good and Kimberly killing me in cold blood. I'm almost certain that Lady Chaos has given Kimberly power at levels I don't even want to think about. It's NEVER been this bad for me before…not even when I was under Rita's control!" he cried as he started to sob uncontrollably.
"Tommy, listen…I do know what it feels like. My husband is trapped in a damn time warp, and I lost my daughter for 10,000 years…she was Eltar's best warrior, too. You do trust me, do you not?"
"Y…yes. It's just that it hurts like holy hell. I feel like I failed my two best friends," said Tommy.
"Shhh…shhhh…that's why I'm here. No one could have thought you'd be too late to save Kimberly, or that monkey-for-brains would attack Jason from behind. You need to feel safe in someone's arms until we get back Kim," said Sarah.
For the next several hours, they went to sleep, never taking themselves away from each other. While there was no major intercourse or kissing between the two, they did their best to keep themselves safe and happy.
Three hours after Sarah had come in, she said, "How are you feeling, Tommy?"
"I feel much better. Moreover, I feel safe in your arms somehow. Not to the extent of Kimberly, but still, this feels pretty secure," said Tommy. Then, Tommy asked, "Sarah, how's Zordon going to react to this?"
"He won't mind," Sarah said. "Not when the fate of this planet is at stake...he loves this planet and considers it a second home. He cares far too much about this planet and he knows I love him."
"Um, Tommy, are you and your new friend going to come back to the same planet as us?" said a voice from the door. Tommy immediately broke from his hug with Sarah to look towards the door and found...
"ADAM!" yelled Tommy, almost at the top of his lungs. He then rushed over to greet his friend.
"Yeah, I'm just glad I'm all right," said Adam as the two friends hugged one another. "How in the world did I get back here though? One moment I'm in the Moon Palace, and the next moment I'm staring at Zordon."
"We'll tell you later. I'm just glad you are back with us."
"So am I. Did we get Kim?"
"Unfortunately, no we didn't. By the time we got there, Kim's spirit animal told us to retreat."
"Gad," said Adam.
"It gets worse. The bad guys got Jason."
"Ugh. I don't like the possibility of facing Jason with a sword," said Adam as he recoiled.
"Tell me about it," said Tommy. "Man, it's going to be hard to fight my two best friends in battle."
"Don't we know it. And who's your new friend?"
"Actually, she's more than just a 'new friend,'" said Tommy, beckoning for Sarah to come over.
"Sarah, Adam Park, best known as the Black Frog Ninjetti. Adam, Sarah of Eltar, best known as Zordon's spouse."
Tommy then added, "I sense that you two need to get acquainted. I'll be in the main command room if need be."
"You got it, Tommy," said Adam as Tommy left.
20 minutes later, Tommy was back in the main command room of the Power Chamber, discussing team matters with his teammates, and there was something different about his demeanor.
The main changes were the 'leader-look' that the Rangers knew him to be so famous for, and the carefree attitude that had made him what he was when he first came onto the team from Rita's services.
"I'm glad you're back to normal, Tommy," said Ninjor presently. "We were afraid we'd lost you somehow."
"Not even when Gasket and I saw you brainwashed did I ever see you this disturbed," said Archerina. "I'm glad that Tommy is back to being Tommy again at least for a little while."
"I don't know what I'd do without Sarah, you guys. She isn't Kimberly, but damn, she helped me become me again."
"And we need you to be you," said Trini, "because I'm concerned about what's going to happen to Kimberly while she's up there."
"Yeah, you've had this worried look on your face ever since you got back from the palace…almost like you're hiding something from us. What's going on, Trini?"
"I believe, Tommy," said Billy, "that she's referring to the fact that Lady Chaos may make her marry Lord Zedd."
"Why would Zedd do such a thing?" said Tommy. "He's married to Rita, for goodness sakes."
"Tommy," said Trini, "I don't know if Kim ever told you, but Zedd seems to have a gross fascination with Kimberly. One week after your Green Ranger powers faded for the final time, Lord Zedd captured Kimberly and tried to make her his evil bride. He never liked Rita in the first place, so I'm not sure how they are married now. Even though they are married, I doubt Zedd's fascination with Kimberly has faded any."
"Surely you guys must be joking," said Tommy, even though he knew Trini didn't lie very often. "Why did she never tell me about this?"
"Because of our secret identities…if she ever mailed something to you stating that Zedd tried to marry her and someone ever got a hold of it, our cover would be blown, Tommy," said Billy.
"And, when you came back," said Trini, "it was almost like a sigh of relief…that she thought her danger was over."
"He won't put a finger on her," said Tommy. "If he does, then I'm going to get Zedd and Chaos both…if it's the last thing I ever do."
TBC…