Chapter 21
I sat alone in my apartment on the couch and inspected the computer more closely. Turning it over and over in my hands I marveled at how well it was made and all that it held. Opening it up I ran my fingers over the keyboard, screen and the various buttons it had. Billy had told me that most of the buttons had the same functions as the ones on the console of the Command Center.
"It's pretty simple really, plus you can scan all of Angel Grove for any kind of trouble if you press this button here....no...the other one....yeah that one. You can also check your energy level so you don't use too much energy and wind up in another week long coma. You can also use it to detect any weakness in any enemy." This will probably not work on Goldar, I'm not even sure if the guy has any weakness. On a sudden impulse I typed in Tengu Warrior. After a few moments there was a beep, looking at the little screen I was amazed of all the information of the Tengu Warriors that Billy had put into the computer, and most of it I recognized as what I had told Billy all those years ago. There was even a picture of a Tengu, front and back. I scanned the words beside the picture until I came to the last sentence. No known weaknesses. I frowned, then shrugged my shoulders. Thought as much. When I asked if I could contact dad via the computer Billy shook his head sadly.
"Sorry Amy, believe me, I tried to find a frequency so that the computer will be able to tap into the communication systems of Edenio but....no such luck. Other than being unfamiliar with the how their communications work...." Dex came to his rescue and explained that after someone from Edenio had sent that distress signal that Tentomon had received, somehow Dregon had picked up on it. After the Rangers had left to return to Earth, the frequency had been changed and modified so that Dregon wouldn't be able to locate the communications systems and destroy them. We all had nodded in understanding we didn't want to put Dex's people in any more danger than they already were.
Speaking of danger, I would often pass by Justin's house to see how the kid was doing, I was very careful that no one saw me, so of course I went in my morphed state. Peeking into his room I would see him sitting on his bed, with his books out and open on his desk, but he wasn't even looking at them. He was just staring at the wall with the same look of fear on his face. And I would often wonder if he was replaying the images that Goldar showed him. Then he gave himself a long and hard shake, got up from is bed, walked over to his desk, sat down and began to do his homework. But ten minutes later he would stop and stare at the wall again. He put down his pencil, buried his face in his hands and began to cry. I gave a sigh as I went home wishing that I could talk to Justin and comfort him. But how can I do that when I can't get near him? Following him home one day while T.J, Carlos and Cassie were walking beside him, I saw that Justin kept looking over his shoulder and at his surroundings. After watching him for a few moments while the others tried to cheer him up and made various promises that Goldar was not going to go after his father, Justin finally exploded at them. Spinning around to face them I saw to my shock how pale he looked, he had even more darker shadows under his eyes and his they had a slightly mad look to them.
"You think you can keep your promises that you will protect my father when you couldn't even protect me?" He screamed at them. The others looked taken aback at the fury in his voice. I slithered over to a bush and settled myself underneath it to watch as Justin continued to scream at his friends that the Turbo Rangers couldn't possibly stand up to the power that Goldar and the Tengu Warriors had and if they couldn't do that, then they couldn't protect a planet let alone a simple city.
"You know what kind of power that Goldar has, the Tengus alone could kill us. We alone couldn't take them on. Amy would always be the one to bail us out. And if we have trouble just by dealing with a couple of foot soldiers then how are we going to....?" He began to cry. T.J.'s eyes had flashed when Justin had mentioned my name and a look of anger appeared on his face. He still thought that I had something to do with Goldar's return and that all those times that I had saved all of them had been an act. He had to convince Justin that they didn't need me, that they would be able to protect Angel Grove, Justin's dad and Justin all by themselves.
"Justin, we don't need Amy, we've been doing fine on our own and with Dimitria and Alpha helping us out, there is no way that you or you dad will be in any danger. We'll protect you." Instead of looking reassured Justin only looked at T.J. coldly then without a word, took a step back and walked away. I don't think he believe you T.J. Cassie, Carlos and T.J. looked at each other helplessly. I knew what they were thinking, it was as if they had spoken out loud. Can we really protect Justin and his father from Goldar when we can barely protect each other? I waited, half expecting for one of them to voice the thought of letting me back on the team, they knew that they couldn't handle Goldar or the Tengu on their own. But they didn't. Instead they just told each other to keep their eyes open and to make sure that Justin and his dad were kept safe. Disgust and anger filled me as they all began to jog to catch up with Justin. Why can't they see that they need me to fight Goldar and to keep Justin safe? Not to mention sane? They're just too proud to admit that they can't cover all of the bases and when that happens they'll end up being another Ranger short, or find themselves dead. I slithered from underneath the bush, went behind a tree, materialized and began to limp angrily down the street back to my apartment. It was plain to see that they would never ask me to rejoin the team, thinking that I would double cross them or send them into a trap. Which was just plain ridiculous. I'll just have to keep an eye on them and help them out whenever Goldar shows up.
A few weeks later we all began to notice that Goldar wasn't the only one that was showing up in the middle of battles, an invisible.....person would come along and fight beside the Rangers and then vanish as quickly has he/she had come. T.J. and Co. were perplexed at to who this new...guy was. The people of Angel Grove noticed as well, a couple of them said that he looked like a ranger yet could turn invisible, and thus dubbed him(are they sure that this new Ranger's a guy?) The Phantom Ranger. My friend's were curious about him and thought that maybe one of our allies saw, or heard that we.. ....I mean...Angel Grove was having a bit of trouble with all the baddies that were attacking the city and sent this guy to help out. But after we contacted Trey, Cestro and the other Aquatarian Rangers, we all received a shock when they all said that neither one of them sent this "Phantom Ranger" In fact as it turned out none of them have ever heard of him. If our allies have never heard of this guy then there won't be any information about him in the data banks. Still, the others insisted that I see if there was anything in my computer. There wasn't any. Okay so we have a new guy in town. I'm cool with that, he seems to be helping out with fighting Divatox and all but why does he continue to pull the old disappearing act? It's starting to get on my nerves. Is it because he doesn't want to be seen? Is he afraid of being confronted knowing that hundreds of questions will be fired his way? If he's showing us that he's an ally of the Rangers then why doesn't he join the team? The rookies sure could use him. I thought while I limped from one exhibition to another. I was enjoying the peace and solitude of the Museum of History. I stopped in front of a painted picture of a Mastodon and stood gazing at it for a few minutes. My computer could pick up the body heat of invisible foes(believe me they've been used) and whenever I would pick up the Phantom Ranger's heat signature I would always chase after him, calling him to wait that I just wanted to ask him a few questions. But I would always loose him whenever he would....vanish. I'm serious! He would actually vanish in thin air! After a couple of times of being left high and dry by him I began to think that maybe he could teleport, how, is anyone's guess. Speaking of guesses, ever since the Phantom Ranger began to show up, Goldar has become more and more scarce. At first I thought that Goldar was somehow behind the Phantom Ranger, making us all think that the Phantom was on our side but it'll turn out to be a Tengu in disguise. But the Pantom's fighting moves...those are not the fighting moves of a Tengu Warrior. Still the possibility of it being a Tengu in disguise having only copied the fighting moves of a ranger and is only using those moves to trick all of us..... I moved on to the next picture which showed warriors battling, the background was the color of a burning city. I wish that I could tell T.J. and the others to be careful of the Phantom Ranger. A rush of anger filled me. Stupid kids, they won't get very far with only four Rangers, never mind that one of them is in constant fear of facing Goldar in battle and freezes when the Tengu show up. Why don't they think rationally and ask me to rejoin the team? Do they really think that they'll be able to handle it all? Especially with a sarcastic and rude robot and a mentor that always speaks in questions? It's been 4 weeks and they still haven't found a new Yellow Ranger to replace me, if they don't find a replacement soon all of them are certainly going to get killed, if not by Divatox then by Goldar, who will probably kill T.J., Cassie and Carlos and drive Justin insane. Then where will that leave Angel Grove? I'm only just one Ranger with awesome powers, but even I wouldn't be able to fight for long without the danger of fully being drained, if I try to call on any of my allies to come and help, it would only mean trouble for them. The Alien Rangers will need constant water to keep them going and we don't know if Trey will lose control of his powers again. About a dozen times I tried to voice my concern about the Rangers being one ranger short to T.J. but he would always begin to shout at me saying.
"Don't you dare come near us traitor! If we let you on the team again, how do we know that you're not going to go racing to your master and start blabbing all of our secrets to him? We do not need your help, we are doing just fine without you!" I was tempted to point out the trouble that they were having finishing off one of Divatox's monsters whenever it grew big(something I would try really hard to prevent) plus the fact that I was the one that made sure that they didn't get themselves killed whenever Goldar attacked, whether they liked it or not. Luckily most of the time, they would have no idea that it was me helping them, I would often prevent the monster from growing or make the playing field more even, in my morphed state, but sometimes I would end up fighting along side them in my normal state. All of them would start yelling at me but I would ignore them. I would try to make my appearances as brief as possible, I didn't want Divatox taking any notice of me thank you very much. Still.....it couldn't go on like this, if I couldn't find a way to become a ranger again soon then things were going to go downhill. I closed my eyes briefly as a flash of dizziness suddenly came over me, as soon as it had passed I opened my eyes once again and found myself face to face with a sabertooth tiger. I looked at it for a long moment, Billy had told me all about the old Zords, the Mastodon, the Tyrannosaurus, the Triceratops and the Sabertooth Tiger Zords. How they were the first zords that the Power Rangers had ever piloted, and how when they came together, they formed the Mega Zord, I had seen it for myself on the day, we had destroyed King Mondo and that sword of his. Speaking of which Tommy had gotten the idea of trying to contact Aisha and asking her for help.
"Maybe she can give us our Zeo power back." But after Kat and I had both began to yell at him, pointing out the new and very powerful danger that was Goldar and the Tengu Warriors.
"Even if and I say if you were able to contact Aisha and have her restore the Zeo Powers, that won't be enough to stand up to Goldar!" Adam spoke up.
"She's right Tommy, remember what it was like after Aisha died? The powerful monsters? And how Zordon had to teleport us out of the battlefield when it got too much which was nearly every time? Remember how we even got to fear of going out onto the battlefield? Of worrying if we were going to come out of it alive? Even Zordon....." His voice cracked and he turned away. After a few moments he regained control and he turned back to face Tommy.
"I lost a very good friend to..." he glanced at me swallowed then continued. "Zedd's forces, I don't not want to lose another ranger and friend." He looked pleadingly at Tommy. I stepped forward.
"He's right Tom. Before I and my powers came along you guys were on your last legs, it was only thanks to my power and the fact that I was half alien and could keep up with Zedd and his army that prevented all of you from joining Aisha. Even if I give you all of my power and you guys go out there and face Goldar...it won't be enough. You guys are only human....and I wish that....other than my powers I could give you my speed and strength...but I can't. I wish that Double-Face had never made me question who my real father was, then I....I wouldn't be feeling this way." I stared at the carpet underneath my feet and kicked at it angrily. Why me? Why does it always have to be me? I stared at the Saber tooth Tiger that was in the glass box and wished myself to be in one also. Then no one would become hurt on account of me, no one would seek revenge against me and hurt the people that I had grown close too. I would be safe, shut away from all the pain, the guilt and the fear that one day I would see my friends die in front of me at the hands of Goldar. Goldar. The mere thought of him filled me with rage and hatred. Why couldn't he leave me alone? Why can't he leave my friends alone? If he wants to kill me then why doesn't he attack me already when I'm in a vulnerable state or when I'm sleeping and get it over with? Why does he continue to play games? Is he hoping that I go completely insane? Does he want me to suffer so much that I'll fall to my knees and beg him to end my life? My shoulders sagged and I began to wonder how long I could keep on fighting, keep on protecting until I threw in the towel and committed suicide just to stop it all. I looked up at the sabertooth and did a double take. I was so sure that the cat had blinked. I stared at it for a few more minutes, but nothing happened. Thinking that it might have been my imagination, I turned and limped away. As soon as I had exited the museum and gone down the stairs I was about to go get something to eat when my mini-computer beeped. Great. Just what I need today on top of all of my worries. I thought for a moment as I limped to a secluded place, opened up the computer and checked out the screen. Tengu Warriors were at the mall nearby and smashing everything in sight not to mention terrorizing the people shopping there. I shut the computer, morphed into a puddle and raced there as fast as I could. Maybe this will be a good thing, I mean isn't exercise a good way to chase away bad feelings and all? I arrived at the mall and began to race to and fro behind the Tengu, underneath them or beside them and using my powers to fling them or to blast them back and away from the people. I also began to repair everything that the Tengu Warriors had broken but then stopped, I could do that later. I saw a Tengu chase after a family while they were fleeing, suddenly it was flung away high into the air, but it spread its wings and continued the chase. I was busy protecting the other families that were being attacked, flinging away the Tengus, levitating the broken glass from the department stores and flinging it at them, I heard one give out a shriek but I didn't look to see what was happening. There's too many of them! I can't fight them like this! I began to fire Power Blasts everywhere, hitting the Tengus, telekinetically shoving the people out of the way, using everything that was around me to fling at them or to use them as shields. Suddenly I froze when I heard a scream, a human scream rip through the air.
"MOMMY! DADDY!" I turned and saw to my horror a Tengu was standing over a little girl, tears were streaming down her eyes, her parents were on the ground in front of her, both of their throats slashed open, blood was forming into a puddle beneath their bodies. The Tengu stood over the girl, talons dripping with blood. It let loose a cackle, bent down and snatched up the girl as she tried to run. It held her up high in the air, pulled back its right arm talons splayed. I shot forward, thinking that I would be able to save her, that I would heal her parents, that they would thank me then run, and possibly move away from Angel Grove to someplace that was safe, where there no monsters waiting to attack them, or to use them as bait. I didn't see the beam until it was too late, it engulfed me. I screamed as I was levitated into the air and assumed my human form. I began to squirm and wriggle as pain lanced through me. I was struggled to push it away and focus on using my power to blast the living crap out of Goldar.
"Y–yellow Ranger P–power B–blast!!" I shouted pointing both hands at the ground, I shot up into the air and blessed relief washed over me as the pain vanished, but then it turned into terror as I felt something grab a hold of me and was drawing me once again toward the ground. I shot forward, I let out a yell as the ground continued to grower closer and closer at an alarming rate! I struggled to stop myself. Stop!stop!stop! I focused all of the power in my mind, and then just as I was a foot from smashing face first into the cement, I stopped. I breathed a sigh, but not before I was blasted into the side, I flew into a table, it smashed underneath me, I let out a groan. Tell me again why I gave up being a Ranger? I thought to myself as I began to struggle to my feet. But before I could even regain my footing I was ruthlessly picked up by invisible hands and thrown through a glass window. The people, customers and sales people alike, who were cowering behind the counters or in the dressing rooms, gave out shrieks as I came flying in, I landed on the floor and laid there. A couple of them peeked out and saw that I wasn't moving, they looked at each other wondering who I was and whether I was even alive. They crept out of their hiding places and started toward me, then they stopped when a yellow light engulfed me. After it faded they stared in amazement when I stirred and sat up, a few moments later I stood up on unsteady feet. One man approached me.
"Are you all right?" I was careful not to turn toward him. He took a step back as I held my hand in front of me and a sword appeared in mid air, gripping it I limped through the window, stopped and with my face still turned away, I reassured the people that it will all over soon. Far off in the middle of the courtyard, eyes the color of blood and armor the color of the darkest night stood Goldar, he laughed at the people that had been brought to him, who cowered at his feet., he was going to kill them just like he would kill Justin and the other Turbo Rangers, he looked up and smiled when he saw me coming toward him. People were still running, being chased by the Tengu Warriors, a few people were lying on the ground pools of blood growing beneath them. The little girl whose parents had died trying to protect her was dead also. But for all the death, terror and destruction that was around us, we could have been the only two people in the courtyard. Goldar drew out his sword and began to run toward me. My eyes were locked on him as I began to limp as fast as I could to met him. As I was limping toward my enemy to do battle, I suddenly knew why it had to be me to take on Goldar, why it had to be me that had to destroy him and save everyone that I loved from his cruelty. It's because that it has to be me, I'm the only one that can beat him, I'm the only one that can match him blow by blow, strength by strength, power by power. In a way....he's the one that created me, he's the one that made me so strong, both he and Zedd, when they helped Dregon kill my earth parents, when I was placed underneath that spell that made me kill Aisha and take her place. All of the obstacles that they threw at me...they only made me stronger and more determined to stop them. Goldar thought that by turning the rookies against me and showing Justin nearly everything that I had done in the past, he thought that by making me quit the Turbo Rangers, I would be vulnerable and easy to kill since I wasn't a Power Ranger anymore. But he was wrong. I've always been a Power Ranger and it just took me until now to figure out that I have always had the power to become one. I spread out my arms and shouted at the top of my voice so that it echoed throughout the nearly empty courtyard.
"ZEO RANGER......POWER!!" I was engulfed in a yellow light, and when it faded, Goldar stopped in his tracks and stared as well as the Tengu Warriors, for they were no longer staring at Amy Karmer, they were staring at a Zeo Ranger, who continued to race toward them, sword glowing with power.