25 chapters and 100 reviews. Not bad. And, I'm posting because I'm already halfway through the writing of chapter 29.
One last note - I've been rewatching the series on Netflix since the writing began. Chapters 25-29 were written between watching portions of "A different shade of pink". Which unfortunately put me in an irritated frame of mind. I like Kat as a ranger (independent on her own). However, her replacing Kim in all aspects of life, irks me. So there's a bit of a sad feeling to the next few chapters (not helped by the circumstances the rangers find themselves in either). So yeah, I apologize if it feels a little gloomy.
Oh well, hope you enjoy.
Fateless
"Can nothing bring this thing down?" Ethan groaned, beginning to lose hope. "Dr. O's energy orb didn't even dent him."
"And we're down to six rangers," Kira added in, looking back over her shoulder. The other five rangers hadn't left the park, and were actually standing quite a distance away, arguing with each other.
"At this rate they, and we," Adam stated, indicating himself and Kira, "are going to be stuck like this forever."
Mind Changer was happily moving away from the rangers, resuming his course for the city of Angel Grove. Merriment and maniacal laughter were all they could hear from him.
Dr. Oliver sighed, casting a look at the five rangers with him, and then at the five on the other end of the park. He watched Kimberly shove Tommy, and then walk past him. His younger self didn't even look at her, let alone go chasing after her like he should have done. He turned back to the rangers still with him, and sighed again. Without Tommy there, Adam and Billy were quickly loosing hope. Kira couldn't break her eyes away from Trent, and Connor and Ethan both looked dejected.
"Guys," he stated, realizing there wasn't nothing else for it but to give the pep talk he would have gladly let Tommy make in his place. "We can't give up. They," he said, pointing at the arguing rangers, "need us. Kira and Adam, need us to fix this," he added. "There is always a way! There is always hope! We've just got to believe that together we can do this." Despite the fact that he did mean every word, he felt slightly embarrassed about having said so out loud.
Connor, Kira, and Ethan all started at him for a moment as if not quite believing the words that he'd spoken. Dr. Oliver wasn't known for giving them pep talks when the battle seemed hopeless. Connor was the first to snap out of it. "Dr. O's right," Connor stated, looking over at the five unmorphed rangers and then at Kira and Adam. "Mind Changer thrives on discord and chaos," he told his friends. "He functions best when we don't work together. As long as we operate as one mind, he can't win."
"Z-rex blaster?" Ethan asked, realizing what Connor was suggesting.
"Rangers acting as one," Kira agreed, with a nod. "Adam, you'll need to call for the ptera grips," she told the ranger clad in yellow. He nodded and did as she suggested, while Connor and Ethan summoned the tyrrano staff and tricera shield. "Will it be strong enough without Trent's drago sword?"
"Not as strong as I'd like," Connor replied, "but our determination will make up for that. Let's bring our weapons together guys," he added in.
"You four handle this," Billy told them. "Kira and I will try and stop them from leaving the park," he added, pointing to the teenagers whose arguing seemed to be escalating. Kira nodded and together they took off running toward the five.
"Hey reflection face!" Adam called out, getting the monster to turn back around and face them.
"Z-rex blaster," all four rangers said as one, assembling the device with four out of the five dino thunder weapons.
"Ready," Dr. Oliver shouted.
"Aim," Ethan added.
"Fire!" Connor commanded. He pulled the trigger and the center of the weapon shot forth a golden blast, striking Mind Changer dead center. This time the creature roared in anger, and fell forward, its mirror center shattering into thousands of pieces, as the four rangers turned their backs in celebration, high fives and shouts between the four of them. However, their celebration didn't last long.
"I don't feel so good," Adam stated, swaying on his feet as Mind Changer hit the ground. Inside his helmet, Adam's eyes rolled back into his head and he began to collapse, Ethan catching him before he hit the ground. The blue ranger supported his body as he demorphed.
Yards away, Billy and Kira had almost reached the five wayward rangers, calling out to them. All five had looked up towards them, only to see an explosion occur behind them. As the explosion erupted, all five groaned in pain and gripped their heads, blinking. Beside him, running, Billy saw Kira stumbled and fall forward, hitting the ground. Billy stopped running and turned back, racing towards her, along with the other five rangers. She demorphed just as they reached her.
"Kira?" Tommy asked, as he and Rocky rolled her over and onto her back. Rocky helped her to sit up. Kira's eyes slowly blinked open.
"Did someone get the license plate of that bus?"
"She's alright," Trent laughed, as he and Aisha high fived each other.
"She? Who are you calling she?"
"And Adam's back," Kimberly laughed, as Tommy and Rocky helped him to stand. He was still a little wobbly on his feet as he started taking a physical inventory of himself.
"How you feeling frog boy?" Rocky asked him, hugging his best friend with one arm over the shoulders, and ruffling his hair.
"That was absolutely the strangest experience of my entire life," Adam told him with certainty. The other six rangers laughed in response to his grin.
"Everyone ok over there?" Dr. Oliver's voice reached the group from the distance. He was still morphed, as were Connor and Ethan who each stood on one side of Kira, supporting her.
"We're good," Tommy called back, as they all looked up at the four. "Mind Changer toast?"
"Burnt to a crisp," Connor called back, with a laugh as they continued walking towards the other rangers.
"Kira!" Trent called out, breaking away from the group he was with and rushing towards his teammates. Connor and Ethan stepped back as Trent reached them, allowing him to wrap his arms around her. Kira hugged him back tightly. "Are you alright?" he asked her, pulling back and searching her face. He was a little hesitant that something might have gone wrong, but Adam had seemed fine. Kira smiled and nodded. Trent laughed, and lifted her up, spinning her a bit in a way reminiscent of how Tommy had spun Kimberly on Monday night. He set her down and kissed her lips, longer than he'd done before.
"Too much PDA," Connor laughed, as Kira broke away from Trent. She hit him hard in the stomach, causing Connor to double over, despite the fact that he was still morphed. Yellow rangers could hit hard.
"Um, guys," Billy stated, as the rest of the six angel grove rangers joined the dino thunder team. "I hate to be the barer of bad news," he stated, looking over everyone's heads. Flashes of greenish blue lightning were radiating in the sky, striking the area where the dino thunder rangers and Adam had thought they'd finished off the creature.
"For once," Aisha muttered. "Can't they just go down and stay down?"
"Not their style," Dr. Oliver replied to her. He took a deep breath and looked over at his younger self. "You got this?" Tommy nodded, as his team copied his motion of throwing arms behind their backs.
"It's morphing time," he shouted. His call of 'white ranger power' was followed by the sounds of the other four unmorphed members of his team, Billy being the only one who had not powered down.
"Oh, thank god I'm black again," Adam muttered. His team and the dino thunder rangers laughed at him.
"Let's do this guys," Rocky told everyone.
Billy turned to the Dino Thunder team. "We'll see you back at the Command Center," he told them, receiving nods in response. Billy raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke into the communicator. "Zordon, teleport Dr. Oliver and his team back to the Command Center." Instantly the five rangers disappeared in streaks of grey and white light. Billy immediately joined his teammates as they reached toward the sky, summoning their zords.
"We need Ninja Zord Power Now!" All six rangers shouted as one, followed by each of their independent zord calls. Within moments the earth was shaking under the weight of the zords' arrival. As soon as they were in range, the rangers leapt up into the cockpits.
"Let's not waste any time," Tommy told his team. "Ninja MegaFalcon Zord formation now," he stated.
"Right," his five teammates stated, as they flipped switches within their respective cockpits. Each zord shifted shape, looking less like their animal spirts and more like the respective body parts of the megazord. Tommy's seat slid into the cockpit as the falcon zord completed the formation attaching to the back.
"What a shiny toy," the Mind Changer laughed at the rangers. "But mine is shinier," it added. As always, each part of the creature was back in tact following the results of Zedd and Rita's enlarging. The Mind Changer shifted its body, allowing the mirror at its center to catch the light. The sun bounced off the reflective surface and struck the megazord, knocking it backwards. Tommy immediately applied the thrusters, stabilizing the megazord.
"He'll have to do better than that," Rocky laughed as the megazord regained its footing. The rangers launched themselves toward the Mind Changer, gripping it above the area that would have been its shoulders. The two giant fighters engaged in a wrestling match, occasionally exchanging a punch or a kick that would knock the enemy away.
"I'm getting really tired of this guy," Adam growled after a few moments, flipping several switches on his consoles. He turned to Tommy. "Ready to finish this?"
"Absolutely. Time to take to the air," Tommy replied, as the rangers disengaged from the battle.
"Going somewhere power brats?" Mind Changer taunted, thinking the rangers were retreating. He watched however as the megazord leapt into the air and flipped into a horizontal position, its frontal plain pointed at the ground. The head shifted so that it was facing forward, and both the ape and wolf fists pointed straight out in front of it. Before Mind Changer could react, the megazord sped through the air towards it. The wolf zord's howl and the roar of the ape zord filled the air as both fists struck the mirror head on. Mind Changer staggered backwards losing its footing. It fell to the ground in a series of explosions and a fireworks display that would have rivaled the fourth of July. The megazord returned to a vertical position, and the rangers waited several moments to be sure the alien creation was down and staying down. When the smoke cleared, and Mind Changer did not regain its feet, they finally allowed themselves sighs of relief.
"Thank god that's over," Adam exhaled, extremely grateful that it did appear that this particular nightmare was at its end. His teammates nodded. All six disengaged the zords and teleported back to the Command Center.
"That was awesome you guys," Connor stated, as the six rangers demorphed. The dino thunder team was already back in civilian form, all standing near the viewing globe, indicating that they had been watching. Trent had Kira wrapped in his arms, refusing to release her, not that she was fighting his embrace.
"Thanks," Tommy told him, coming forward. Both team leaders gripped each other's hands in a handshake hug. "But we owe you guys our thanks," he added in. "You broke the spell."
"It was nothing," Ethan laughed.
"It was everything," Rocky told him. "We said some really horrible stuff to each other," he added in, looking down at his feet, clearly ashamed of his behavior.
"It wasn't you," Kira assured him. "It was the spell."
"Still," Kimberly muttered, clearly agreeing with Rocky. "You all saved us."
"Of course we did," Connor laughed. "You're our friends," he added, looking pointedly at Rocky. The other red ranger looked up and met his eyes. He let a hesitant smile grace his face, and nodded. Connor extended his hand to shake, and Rocky gripped it.
"What's that about?" Billy whispered to Trent, who shrugged.
"How'd you break the spell anyway? I thought our weapons weren't having any impact on him?" Tommy asked, looking at each of the dino thunder rangers.
"Someone gave us a pep talk on team work and not giving up hope," Ethan replied, with a bit of a smirk on his face. He used his eyes to direct Tommy's gaze to Dr. Oliver who was quietly leaning against a wall, arms crossed over his chest as he listened to the conversation taking place between the two groups of teenagers. Tommy followed Ethan's gaze, frowning as he realized where it led.
"You?" he asked, disbelief evident in his voice. "You gave them a talk on hope? Do you even know how to have hope?" Tommy asked, a bit of amusement in his voice.
"I can't say it came easy," Dr. Oliver replied, pushing himself off the wall and moving towards the rangers. "In fact, you're pretty much right. I don't have a lot of it anymore. But someone's been doing a really good job of reminding me how to have it," he added, giving Tommy a smile. "I hate to admit it, but you've been good for me."
"Aww," Kira interrupted, seeing the look on Tommy's face. The seriousness that hung in the air around them was getting to be a bit too much. Especially in the wake of a victory. "Dr. O's going soft on us."
"You wish," Dr. Oliver laughed, shaking his head.
"I dunno Dr. O," Connor added in. "That talk you gave us when all seemed lost was pretty peppy and sweet," he laughed, a huge smile breaking out on his face.
"It'll be hard to imagine you as the cool, calm, sarcastic black ranger when we get back," Ethan added. Dr. Oliver glared at the two of them.
"Trent?" he asked. "You still respect me, right?"
"Not sure. Sounds like you went all sappy on us," Trent told him, over Kira's shoulder.
"Wonderful," Dr. Oliver replied, he turned back to Tommy. "This is all your fault," he told the teenager, who just grinned back. Tommy wouldn't say it, but he did like the comradery he saw between his older self and the rest of the dino thunder team. He just wished he knew that Dr. Oliver had maintained the same comradery with his current team. Tommy just shrugged in response.
"So what now?" Aisha asked, still riding the high of the two teams' victories.
"Dinner?" Rocky suggested.
"Always thinking with your stomach, huh Rocky?" Dr. Oliver asked him. Rocky grinned back. "How about at the cabin?" he asked.
All of the angel grove rangers cast looks over at Tommy. They all knew he'd been striving to spend as little time with Dr. Oliver as possible. Even Dr. Oliver followed their line of sight to their leader. He raised an eyebrow at the teenage boy. Tommy let a small smile creep onto his lips and he nodded.
"Sure," he stated. "Zordon would you mind assisting with the teleport?" Zordon simply inclined his head and all eleven rangers teleported out of the Command Center.
The eleven rangers had split the tasks of cooking and then cleaning up from dinner. The group that hadn't done any of the cooking, which consisted of spaghetti and meatballs, was currently inside the cabin cleaning up. Everyone else was scattered around the grassy area between the lake and cabin, small groups breaking off and chatting about random stuff. Tommy sat on the steps of the cabin. To one side of him, he saw Billy talking with both Kira and Adam. Connor and Aisha were sitting down in the grass, closer to the lake. Aisha seemed to be trying to lean against him, but Connor shifted to make it impossible. Watching them, Tommy just shook his head, until his thoughts were interrupted.
"Can we talk?" Dr. Oliver's voice reached him. Tommy looked up, meeting his older self's gaze. He hesitated for a moment before nodding. He wanted to say no, but the man was responsible for part of the day's victory. The part that cleared his mind and saved him and the other rangers, so unfortunately, he owed him. "Walk with me?"
Tommy pushed himself to his feet and followed after Dr. Oliver who led him down a path going into the woods. For a while, neither said anything to the other. Finally, when Dr. Oliver decided that they were far enough away from the group, he stopped walking and turned to face the teenager. For the last few days he'd been doing a lot of thinking. Despite the fact that the teenage wouldn't remember any of their meeting for at least the next nine years, if at all, he felt he owed it to Tommy to tell him what he'd been thinking about. "I know you don't really like me."
Tommy didn't deny it. He didn't even look startled by the accusation. Instead he just met Dr. Oliver's gaze with a steady one of his own. "Do you really blame me?"
"Not at all," Dr. Oliver stated. "I remember being you," he said, with a sharp inhale. Two weeks later, it still wasn't a comfortable statement to make. "Difference is, I know what happens in between you and me."
"I'm not going to like a lot of it, am I?" Tommy asked him. Both individuals had started walking again. Dr. Oliver shook his head.
"It's not all bad. In fact the good far outweighs the bad. I can promise you that. You're going to have many of your friends with you for a while yet. And a few new ones as well."
"But not Kim?" Tommy asked. Dr. Oliver shook his head again, but didn't elaborate. "So what happens now?"
Dr. Oliver knew what he was asking. He stopped walking again and met his younger in the eyes. "We go home. Connor, Kira, Trent, Ethan, and I."
"When?"
"The device is nearly complete. We'll be gone by tomorrow evening," Dr. Oliver confirmed what the teenager already sensed.
"You didn't say anything at dinner," Tommy told him. "I'm sure they'd want to know."
"I'll tell them later. I wanted to tell you first," Dr. Oliver replied, "and make you a promise."
"What does it matter? Tomorrow, I won't remember this," Tommy replied, his look slightly angry.
"But I will," Dr. Oliver stated simply. Tommy sighed and nodded understanding. "I can't change what happens between our two times; but I will do what I can to change my future. A lot of damage has been done," Dr. Oliver continued. "I got hurt," he explained, "and in return I hurt a lot of people. I can't guarantee it can all be fixed. But I'm telling you that I will do what I can to bring them back into our life."
"They'll remember too. They'll want to fix it," Tommy told him.
"Maybe," Dr. Oliver sighed. "Billy, Ethan, and I worked hard on the memory device, but I don't know if it will work," he added, and then paused as if he was debating something. Then he looked at Tommy. His eyes were sad, but determined. "I added a failsafe."
"Meaning?" Tommy asked him, frowning. He didn't think he was going to like what Dr. Oliver had to say.
"If the device can't restore the memories, it's going to erase them."
"Why tell me this?" Tommy stated after he'd digested the information in silence for a few moments, struggling to keep his anger out of his voice. Despite his success, Dr. Oliver knew he was more than a little unhappy at the news. Dr. Oliver shrugged. There was no reason to tell Tommy about the failsafe. He just felt like he owed it to himself. Maybe as a reminder of his own promise.
"Memories restored or not," Dr. Oliver told him. "I'm going to find them."
"All of them?" Tommy asked him, still struggling with his anger. Dr. Oliver nodded.
"All five," he added. "And the rest. I don't know what will happen after that. But I will try and fix things. You showed me that there is nothing more important than them. I owe you for that."
"You owe it to yourself," Tommy told him.
"Exactly," Dr. Oliver laughed. Silence overtook them for a few moments. Dr. Oliver leaning against a tree, Tommy kicking at the ground, the toe of his boots creating an indent. "You ok?" Dr. Oliver asked him.
Tommy shrugged. "Don't have a choice do I?"
Dr. Oliver smirked. "Can't say you do."
"Alright then," Tommy said with a sigh. "Thanks for telling me," he added, genuinely. It was the best he could hope for. At this point he knew there was no way around traveling the path from himself to Dr. Oliver, but a promise that there might be some resolution in the future was better than nothing. And he still needed to talk to Kim. "We should get back. Some of us have curfews," he reminded his older self who laughed. Tommy did smile at that, as his older self began to lead the way back to the cabin.
"How you two holding up?" Billy asked Adam and Kira who were sitting beside each other Indian style in the grass on one side of the cabin. Neither was talking to the other. Kira was leaned back on her palms, gazing up at the sky, while Adam pulled at a few blades of grass. They didn't know what to say, but at the same time, both felt that they needed to be near the other to lend strength as they processed the events of the day. They both looked up at the sound of Billy's voice when he joined them.
"You really went through this before?" Adam asked him. Billy nodded as he settled himself on the grass beside his teammate. "With Kim?"
"Very early after we got our powers," Billy laughed. While the event wasn't his favorite thing to remember, it was funny now that he looked back on it. And if it helped Adam and Kira get over their mortification, then he could relive it for them. "We didn't tell our friends either." He looked over at Tommy, noticing Dr. Oliver emerge from the cabin and lead him away. He smirked slightly, thinking it was about time those two had a talk with one another.
"Why not?" Kira asked him.
"Embarrassed I think," Kimberly's voice reached them. She had just finished cleaning up with Rocky, Ethan, and Trent. Trent was with her as she walked over to them. "We didn't have the luxury of it being completely a monster's fault."
"If Rita wasn't responsible, who was?" Adam asked, knowing Rita was their only enemy at the time.
"Billy," Kimberly laughed. Billy shot her a look. Kim laughed as she and Trent joined the other three. Trent leaned against Kira. "Ok, and Squat and Baboo."
"So what happened?" Kira asked them.
"I tried to make a device that could read minds," Billy explained. "Squat and Baboo tampered with it. Kim had volunteered to help me test it."
"Never again by the way," Kimberly added in with a giggle. Billy sighed and nodded, understanding his friend's reservations about helping him with science projects.
"Well, when we tested it, you could say we could read each other's minds, but that was only because we were in each other's bodies. Like you two were today," Billy explained, blushing at the memory.
"How'd the others find out if you didn't tell them?" Adam asked.
"We're worse actors than you two," Kimberly laughed. "It wasn't very hard to see. They ended up guessing early on."
"Kim blew up a computer," Billy offered in. Kim stuck her tongue out at him while Kira, Adam, and Trent looked at the two of them, trying to figure out if Billy was joking.
"A computer?" Kira asked.
"Keep in mind, based on what you told us, not everyone here is as familiar with computers as people in your time," Kimberly defended herself with a nod.
"Ok, so what happened," Trent asked with a laugh, "when they found out?"
"Little bit of chaos and pandemonium," Billy told them. "The more unfortunate part was even though school was out, we had a monster to battle, as each other. It wasn't till afterwards that we were able to use the machine to switch back."
"So we spent just as long as you guys as each other," Kim finished for him. "And we survived," she added, hugging Adam around the shoulders. He blushed and nodded.
"But you didn't, you know, answer the call of nature," Kira stammered, defending why she and Adam appeared to be so dejected.
"Who said we didn't?" Kim asked, with a grin. Billy snickered. "Some things were just better left unsaid. Get over it and move on."
"We're all human," Billy added in.
"I guess you're right," Adam replied, shrugging his shoulders. "You ok with all this Kira?"
"For right now, yeah, but I'm not looking forward to facing you in the future. Right now, you're my age. It's a bit easier to live with that," Kira stated, with a smirk.
"Oh god," Adam stated, realizing that if all went according to plan he was going to forget about this day for nearly the next decade of his life, only to have it come back. "What are the odds you can erase one specific memory from our minds Billy?"
"Sorry Adam," Billy laughed. "You're going to have to live with this one."
"Wonderful," both Kira and Adam retorted. Trent wrapped his arms around Kira and kissed the top of her head.
"Hey guys," Ethan called out to Connor and Aisha as he and Rocky approached them from behind. Both rangers turned to look at them. Connor briefly thought he saw a look of annoyance on Rocky's face, but it was gone in a moment. After all, Connor had made it clear to the other red ranger that friendship was way more important to him. He just hoped Rocky would remember that later.
"All the dishes clean?" Connor asked Ethan when the two other rangers finally reached them. Ethan glared at him.
"No thanks to you," he stated.
"I helped cook," Connor laughed.
"Connor, turning the oven on to bake the breadsticks is not cooking," Aisha told him. Connor shrugged. Apparently he'd hung around the kitchen just enough that Dr. Oliver had thought he'd actually participated in the food preparation portion of the evening.
"What are you guys doing anyway?" Rocky asked. He'd positioned himself on the opposite side of Aisha, leaving Ethan to take a seat beside his best friend.
"Just talking," Aisha told him. "Connor was telling me a bit more about the future. He said Dr. Oliver and their tech Haley made them these bikes called Raptor Cycles. I wish we had something like that."
"You think it's wise telling them this stuff?" Ethan asked Connor, who shrugged.
"They won't remember once we go home anyway," Connor defended his choice.
"Wish we could keep our memories," Rocky added in, but Ethan shook his head.
"You might not like everything you've heard, but think about it; if you change anything, you might destroy the time line. We might not get to be rangers," Ethan stated.
"And it's not just us you'd be impacting. There are a bunch of other teams of rangers between us and you guys."
"Really?" Aisha asked, getting excited about that prospect. Connor and Ethan both nodded.
"Dr. Oliver did mention a mission to the moon with like nine or ten other red rangers. I thought he was exaggerating," Rocky stated.
"Nope," Connor laughed. "That happened. He told me about it."
"You didn't go?" Rocky asked him. Connor shook his head.
"Before my time dude," he laughed. "You know, thinking about time is weird now."
"How do you mean," Aisha asked him. Ethan and Rocky both looked at him waiting to see what he'd say.
"It's hard to explain. Right now, you guys are awesome. But we're exactly the same age. When we get home, you'll be Dr. O's age."
"So?" Aisha asked him.
"You don't think that's weird?" Connor asked her. Aisha smiled and shook her head.
"Of course it'll be weird. But it won't change anything," she told him.
"Aisha's right. When you get back to 2004, we'll find you. And we'll still be friends."
"Good," Connor stated. "Do me a favor Rocky, and hold onto that thought for the next nine years, ok?"
"Um… alright, sure," Rocky stated, looking at the second red clad teenager with a little bit of confusion. Connor looked back at him, and realized that Rocky had shifted his body so that he was leaning back on his arms. His right arm crisscrossed with Aisha's left arm, their shoulders touching, unconsciously.
"Hey Ethan," Connor stated. "I just remembered I have to clean the loft for Dr. O. Come help?"
"Why should I come help you clean up the mess you made?" Ethan retorted. He was quite comfortable on the ground right where he was.
"Because," Connor hesitated for a moment. "Because Dr. O told me to tell you to help," he stated, narrowing his eyes at Ethan. Ethan frowned at him, but shrugged, pushing himself to his feet.
"See you guys later," Connor stated, as Ethan started walking back to the cabin. Before Aisha and Rocky could answer, Connor took off after his own teammate.
So yeah, they're going home, soon. Time for the second portion of the story.
Hope you liked, reviews are greatly appreciated.
Fateless