Chapter 14 – A Child's Plaything

"Where did the Mighty Morphin ones go?" Arthur furiously opened his drawers and tossed around papers. "Argh! Why do they always disappear?" He paused in mid snarl, of course. He should have known. "Sarah!" He marched to his door and threw it open, yelling down the hall, "Sarah, have you been in my room again?"

"Maaaaayyyyybeee…" A small figure peeked through her door, grinning. "Maaaayyyybeee not."

Arthur stormed down the hall, furious.

Sarah squeaked, shutting and locking her door.

Arthur pounded on it, "Give me back my Power Rangers!"

"I don't have your stupid dolls," Sarah yelled back. "They're not pretty enough!"

"They're not dolls! They're! Action! Figures!"

"Whatever!"

"Mom!" Arthur, realizing he couldn't just kick down the door, yet, he hadn't gotten that far in karate class, retreated to a higher authority. "Mom, Sarah took my Power Rangers again!"

"Sarah," they heard their mothers voice say, "Did you take your brothers things?"

"Noooo!"

"You're sister says she doesn't have them Arthur."

"She's lying," Arthur cried, "You always take her side." He stormed back to his room and slammed the door as loudly as he could. The walls shook. He fumed, leaning against the door. No one ever listened to him. He glanced at his desk where the half a dozen Power Ranger figures sat. Different ones than he'd left when he went to school. But those had disappeared by the time he came home and had to leave for soccer practice. Sarah couldn't have taken them, she had ballet right after school. His eyes narrowed, there were action figure thieves about. Invisible ones who could sneak in and out of locked doors. They probably had green skin and came from outer space. He would have to devise a security system to keep them out of his house.

When his parents and sister finally went to bed, Arthur carefully got out of bed and tip toed to his desk. His sketched out plans had replaced his again forgotten homework. Rough sketches of his front door, the hallway and the stairwell. Yeah, he thought, this would trap those aliens. He pulled a spool of string from his desk and saw the Ranger figures still sitting on his desk. They would be in danger if he left them here. The ninja aliens would take them. He grabbed them and stuffed them and the bad guy in his robe pocket.

He opened his door slowly. It didn't even creak. He listened, hearing the sound of his father's snoring and his sister's stupid music before stepping out. He was down the stairs in a flash, sliding down the banister since the stairs couldn't be trusted to keep their silence.

Now standing in front of his front door, he pulled a single strand off his ball of string and set to work. He tied one end on the door handle then stretched it around the various objects and furniture in the hall, looping it through table legs and taping it to the walls. He tied it off at the base of the stairs. He worked his way up the stairs with the string, twisting it through the hand rail on both sides and being sure to stand only on the very edges of the stairs. Twisting it so much that no one could so much as breathe between them. Once he finished that. He went to his sisters room and secured her door against the evil thieves then did the same with his parents. By the time he was finished, he was out of string.

He stared at the empty spool. Now how could he protect his few remaining Ranger figures from the invisible alien ninja thieves?

Wearing his own, homemade Power Ranger helmet, painted red of course, and holding his light saber, also red, as if expecting an attack any second, Arthur stood facing his door. He had barricade the door to the best of his ability, his desk chair had been pressed up underneath the knob and he had taped the sides with duct tape he'd found lying right next to his bed. Nothing was getting past the labyrinth of stringand that.

The ninja's wouldn't get past him.

He settled down on the floor, ready to wait all night to protect what was his.

He must have fallen asleep. He woke up to find himself lying on top of his bed, the covers still messy from when he woke up this morning. He rubbed sleepy hands in his eyes, he couldn't have been out for long. It was dark outside, he could see the moon through his window. It was bright and full and in the same place the moon was last time he'd checked it before falling asleep.

The house was too quiet. He pressed his ear against the door. He couldn't hear his dad's snoring or his sister's bad pop songs. He shivered, when did it get so cold? He reached into his pocket, the figures were still there. So he hadn't been attacked yet while he was asleep. He hadn't failed.

The house shook. Small pictures and trophies fell from the shelves on his walls. The books tumbled off his desk. His alarm clock clanked to the floor.

"Ah!" Was it an earthquake? The shaking stopped and Arthur tore open his door, easily ripping the tape and chair out of the way. His family, he had to know they were ok! He pressed a button and his light saber glowed. Soft red light lit his way as he walked towards Sarah's room. The paintings and pictures had fallen off the walls.

He noticed that her door was cracked, the string lay on the floor like it had been cut off with a sharp knife. He shoved it the rest of the way open, "Sarah!"

Darkness. There was no light in his little sisters room. Even her small window, covered with bright pink curtains, was dark. No moon light shone through it. "Sarah?"

He moved to her bed. She was still asleep. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow but normal. So who had opened the door?

A teddy bear hit him in the head.

He twirled, "Who's there?"

A shadow moved in the darkness. Something slithered towards him, hissing.

It scared him. It terrified him. He wanted to run. But he was standing in front of his sister. He wasn't going to move. He raised his light saber and repeated, "Who's there?"

"Ooooo," a whispy voice hissed, "What a brave little boy." The shadow entered the light of his saber. It was a giant snake. With a human face. And two scaly arms that ended in clawed hands. She smirked down at him, dark hair partly obscuring her rough face, "Brave little boy, what are you going to do? Beat me up with that plastic little toy?" She scoffed, "Right."

"Who are you," Arthur demanded, not able to keep any of the fear or tremble out of his voice.

The snake hissed a laugh, "Me?" She slithered closer, "I am the servant of the greater will. I am a shard of the greater dream. I serve those who rip apart time and space with a whim." She reared up, towering over the scared boy, "I am your worst nightmare." She leapt towards him, snake fangs drawn back in a snarl.

With a yell, he raised his light saber, knowing it wouldn't protect him.

"Rangers, go!"

Arthur felt something leap out of his pocket but he couldn't force his eyes open to look, there was a giant snake about to eat him! He heard small yells and the snake monster hiss and scream. He waited for the blow that never came. His eyes cracked open and saw both the strangest and most awesome sight he'd ever seen.

His six three inch tall Power Rangers action figures had come to life and were proceeding to beat the tar out of the snake lady.

T.J., the Blue Space Ranger, was flying through the air, he kicked the snake right in the stomach. But she didn't doubled over in pain, he was only three inches tall and didn't have much punching power. They could swarm the thing however.

"No! You can't be alive!" She batted at them but they were unusually experienced at fighting with things larger than they were. She just couldn't hit them. "You're not supposed to be moving!"

Leo, the Red Lost Galaxy Ranger, realized what she was saying, "You know who did this to us! Who was it?" He growled when she wouldn't answer, "Who did this?"

"Tell us," Tideus, the Yellow Alien Ranger, demanded. "We have a right to know!"

The snake managed to grab onto the Black Operation Overdrive Ranger. She squeezed him in her fist, hissing in anger, "You were supposed to sleep. Nothing more than dolls!"

Will cried out in pain.

Dana, the Pink Lightspeed Rescue Ranger, stabbed down at the snakes' wrist, holding a pair of pointed hair pins, "Let. Him. Go!" The snake snarled and dropped Will.

A blur of violet caught him before he hit the ground. R.J., the Violet Wolf Ranger, helped him stand, "You ok Will?"

Will grimaced, "Been better, been worse."

The six Power Rangers gathered together. They valiantly stood between Arthur and the monster.

The monster glowered down, "Power Rangers."

"Yes, we are," T.J said. "And we don't like it when monsters threaten little children."

"Even when we're three inches tall and plastic," R.J. added.

"Especially then," insisted Will.

"We will defend this boy," Tideus yelled.

"Basically," Dana said, glaring up at the creature, "we're not going to stand by while you bully Arthur."

Leo smirked, "Because we're the Power Rangers."

They scattered, each in a different direction. The snake couldn't follow them all. She tried to watch the Red blur, usually the more dangerous of the Rangers, leaning over to try and make herself a smaller target. But while she was distracted, she was hit over the head by the one person she didn't think was a threat.

A oversized fairy princess wand, made of thick, hard, metal smashed into the snake's skull. She dropped like a stone.

Arthur smiled, basking in the glow of his actions. He'd just taken out a real monster! "That was so cool."

"Oh please Divatox, you didn't help at all!"

"I did too!" Divatox glared at Blue T.J. "I was the one who suggested that you needed help! The kid was just standing there!"

"So were you!"

Divatox sniffed, "I was your back up."

"You were useless."

"Hey…um…Power Rangers." Arthur wasn't quite sure what to call them. They were action figures, but they were alive. And they were Power Rangers. His mind had trouble wrapping around that thought. Power. Rangers. Were. Real…ly small. "I'm sorry, but am I dreaming?"

"Oh man, they are so going to kill us," Tideus moaned. "The kid knows about us!"

"Us?" Arthur perked up, there were more than these?

"Tideus, shut up man," R.J. hissed. "You'll only make it worse."

"We didn't really have a choice," Leo said. "The monster was going to attack him."

T.J. sighed, "It really doesn't matter now. We can explain ourselves when we get back. First," he pointed to the tied up snake monster, "how are we going to get this back. We can't leave it in here."

"I can drag it," Arthur suggested helpfully. "But you have to tell me what's going on."

The Rangers glanced at each other, the kid was a lot bigger than them.

"Ok then Arthur, but you have to promise, not to freak out," said Tideus. "It's going to be a bit of a shock."

A few strenuous minutes later, Arthur dumped the snake woman on the floor, gasping for breath. "That…was not easy."

"Sorry we could be much more helpful," Blue T.J. apologized, "But we're just so small."

"It's cool," Arthur said. He sat down on his bed, "So…what happened?"

Dana and Leo glanced at each other. Dana decided to go ahead and explain, "Well, we actually don't know."

"Maybe he knows," Leo suggested, struck by a brilliant idea.

"Huh?"

"We're a TV show here, right? Maybe the lives of the Rangers on TV could give us a hint? Who are the Rangers on TV right now?"

"Oh," Arthur debated telling them. But he was still awestruck that they actually existed. It just sort of slipped out, "Power Rangers has been canceled."

The Rangers stared up at him, shocked. Canceled.

"What does that mean," Will asked. "Are we all going to die?"

Will's question worked R.J into a panicked tizzy, "Is our universe still alive? Did some Ranger team finally fail?"

"Calm down Will, R.J," T.J. demanded loudly. "Just because they've stopped the show here, does not mean we're all killed or our universe is destroyed, or that the villains won." The two Rangers nodded, ashamed of their temporary panic. T.J. looked back up at Arthur who was looking down at them with a peculiar expression. "What?"

Arthur shook his head, "I guess I never really thought about you as anything more than characters on TV. It's weird that you're alive, sure. But it feels stranger that you have fears and feelings. I guess…I can't think of you as just fake characters anymore because you're not just action figures, you're people."

Dana wanted to hug the kid, "That's very grown up of you Arthur."

"Hey, look Bulk," a voice called from near the bed, "the Power Rangers went and told the kid!"

"Ha ha. Just wait till we tell that cute Pink Ranger, Skull. She'll kill them."

The Rangers groaned with one voice as two figures walked from under the dust ruffle.

"Which Pink Ranger," Skull asked. "I think they're all cute."

The larger of the pair, slapped the smaller one on the shoulder, almost knocking him over, "The Time Force one dummy."

"Oh…right!" Skull pointed at the Power Rangers, laughing, "You're going to be in soooo much trouble!"

Arthur reached down and picked the two laughing figures up, "Wow, Bulk and Skull are real too? But you guys aren't Power Rangers!"

Bulk preened, puffing out his chest and punching Skull on the arm, "We are just as big a heroes as the Rangers are! Of course the Enemy would want us out of the way too."

"The Enemy," Arthur asked. "Who's that?"

Bulk covered his mouth, "Oops."

Skull pointed at him and laughed, "Dr. K's going to kill you!"

"Dr. K? How many of you are there?"

Bulk smirked, "Quite a few."

*AN*

Yes, when I first thought of this, Power Rangers had been cancelled for good. But it's not anymore! Seriously, what's this, the fifth time it's been canceled then un cancelled? But this is the closest I think it's actually gotten to being gone for good.

So, will this come into effect in the later chapters? Donno:), I'll build that bridge when I come to it.

Next Week: Legacy

*CL*

T.J. - Blue In Space Ranger

Leo – Red Galaxy Ranger

Tideus – Yellow Alien Ranger

Will – Black Overdrive Ranger

Dana – Pink Lightspeed Ranger

R.J. – Violet Wolf Ranger

Bulk – side character/comic relief Mighty Morphin

Skull - side character/comic relief Mighty Morphin