"Hey," Bulk smirked crookedly, coming up and leaning on the locker beside mine, "Want in on our plan?"
I turned to look at my friend and rolled my eyes below closed lids, "No, 'Hi Nikki how are you'…no 'hey Nikki how was your morning'?"
"Hey Nikki how was your morning, you want in on our plan or not," he rushed, not allowing me to get a word in edgewise.
"No Bulk…I'm good, and 'our plan'…did Skull help conjure this up or is this all you?"
"It's all me for now…but as soon as I see him we'll be gettin' everything set up."
"Whatever," I stated, letting my locker slam shut, math book in my hands, "I want no part of whatever it is you have planned."
"You don't wanna even know what it is?" Bulk asked, a touch of sadness creeping into his voice.
"If I don't know, it won't come back to bite me," I replied, turning my back to him and walking the other way.
"Well," he shouted after me, "It's your loss." I turned the corner and spotted Trini, Jason, Billy, and Kim all headed toward the stairs at the other end. Math was on the second floor…might as well join them.
"And because of their contribution to justice and their unending efforts to protect the entire planet, Angel Grove city officials have declared today Power Ranger Day," I heard Kim state excitedly as she read word for word from the newspaper.
"Hey," I smiled, waiting to announce my presence until after her speech. I didn't want to interrupt.
"Oh hey," Jason stated, giving me a wide smile. I smiled back noticing his red and black grunge plaid shirt. That was a cool shirt…I had a grey one, but now that I see where it originated, I was donating it as soon as I got home.
"Hey guys, what's up?" I heard Zack ask curiously from behind us as we continued our way toward the stairs.
"Hey," Trini replied, caressing Zack's arm as he walked by her, "We're talking about the Power Rangers."
What was with Trini…is she like the Power Ranger Groupie or what…she's like a tease, she angers me and I don't even know why…maybe it's because it's like she's leading Billy on…yeah…that's it.
"Oh yeah, what's it say," I heard Zack ask curiously, and realized I should be a part of this conversation since I'm standing here.
"Mayor Harington hopes that the mysterious super heroes will make a public appearance in Angel Grove Park where countless fans will be gathered to celebrate them," Kim continued, "I have a feeling the Power Rangers will show up…don't you."
"I wouldn't be surprised," Jason added.
"Wouldn't wanna disappoint the fans," I added sarcastically, although I have a feeling the sarcasm went right over their heads as they nodded along with me.
I trailed along behind Bulk and Skull as we made our way to the park, I still wasn't going to be included in on their plans but I figured since I had to go anyway, I'd walk with them. Kim had invited me to walk with her saying, 'Billy'll be there' to which I responded, 'so'. She also had said that Trini the slut would be walking with them too. Okay so she didn't say the 'slut' part, I added that. Nonetheless, I decided to walk with the idiot twins.
I watched as we neared one the make-shift photo booths that seemed to be covered in those paper announcements and watched as Bulk ripped off one of the announcements before wadding it in a ball and letting it fall to the ground.
"Today's the day the people of Angel Grove'll…" he suddenly stopped mid-sentence looking directly at me before changing his train of thought and saying instead, "Not in front of you-know-who." Exaggeratively pointing his thumb at me; like I wouldn't notice that.
I waved my arm at them incredulously before turning and heading off in the direction that the rangers would most likely be, finding them in a circle near the yellow and red Power Ranger banner. I found an empty spot between Billy and Zack just in time to hear Jason ask if we were, "Ready to morph."
"Oh yeah," Zack shouted excitedly, backing into me, "Oh Nikki, you're here."
"We were worried you weren't gonna show," Billy added.
"I'm here…though I'm not entirely sure why."
"Cus your one of us," Kim stated, playfully punching me on the shoulder.
I glanced up in time to see the most frightening scene my eyes have ever be held as I heard a fake authoritative voice shout, "Out of our way." It was Bulk and Skull in ridiculous costumes.
"Oh dear god," I mumbled to myself, finding myself actually face palming in embarrassment…my father was wearing a purple unitard thing and my Uncle had a giant pizza attached to his belt. I am just counting my blessing that those things never made an appearance and any of me and Spike's birthday parties.
"What are they doing in those costumes?" Kim asked curiously, turning to me as if expecting an answer.
"Your guess is as good as mine," I replied, humiliated.
"That's your father," I heard Billy whisper with a laugh, his breath warm against my ear.
"Don't remind me," I muttered, thumping him on the arm, annoyed that he would even mention such a thing at this moment.
I watched as they moved onto the stage in front of the giant backdrop of us in full ranger gear…I don't remember them getting a picture of us standing in that formation…I can't even combine my weapon with theirs…someone was taking too much artistic liberties with this rendering…oh wait the idiots are still up there; shit.
"Testing…testing…testing...hello good citizens of Angel Grove," Bulk began, "And welcome to this city's most historic moment." I watched as Kim crinkled her nose in disgust while Billy seemed to find it hilarious. I continued to elbow him as if to clue him in to the fact that it wasn't funny but that only seemed to make him smile more.
"A moment when two of the most dynamic, powerful, incredible super heroes ever to walk the earth decided to move to this fair city and protect it; of course I'm talking about myself and my sidekick. I'm the incredible Bulkster…"
"And I'm Super Skull; tall and wonderful."
"Show us some of your superpowers," I heard some dweeby kid shout from the crowd and I couldn't help but hide a smirk.
"Yeah," another kid added.
"I wanna see some Super Powers too," I shouted loudly, the two glaring at me, which only caused to smirk more. They moved to center stage and began to pose exaggeratively causing everyone to laugh at them.
"Classic," I heart Zack mention with a laugh. I was watching them when suddenly, Bulk and Skull vanished.
"Hey," I shouted; but within seconds everyone was gone…just the six of us left.
"What's going on?" Jason questioned frustrated.
"Where's everyone gone?" Kim questioned nervously.
"The whole park is empty," Trini added, thank you captain obvious. Okay its official…I am a bitch.
"Jason to the command centre," Jason hurriedly stated into his watch, "We have an emergency."
"Yes, I'm already picking it up Rangers," Zordon replied, "A powerful vortex beam emanating from the moon appears to have enveloped everyone in Angel Grove."
"Rita," Kim decided.
Zordon was disconnected from us for a minute, probably to bark orders at Alpha before suddenly voicing over the watch to us again, "Rita's palace can…" I feel like I'm missing something from this conversation, "If she brings it to earth as it appears she may, it will greatly increase her powers." Okay, what is Zordon talking about…he really needs to make sure his finger isn't on the button of whatever 2-way radio system he's using to talk to us through.
I heard a loud crashing noise off in the distance and felt the ground under us start to shake violently…joy.
"We've got big trouble here Zordon," Jason shouted urgently into the watch.
"Rangers you must warp to downtown Angel Grove and activate Megazord," Zordon replied.
Jason understanding immediately, jumped into formation and shouted, "It's morphin' time."
I morphed along with them even though I wasn't particularly sure why, I didn't have a Megazord…still…it seems like Zordon would be able to find me something; I'd be happy with Optimus Prime at this point; oh wait Transformers aren't real.
We arrived downtown and Jason turned to me, "You take Tyrannosaurus, I'll take the Dragonzord."
"Really?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, why?" he responded confused.
"No, sounds good," I replied nonchalantly.
"Okay," he muttered before addressing the group, "We need DinoZord power now."
Between the two MegaZords we were eventually able to defeat the Cyclopsis but not before we had to become the UltraZord. The UltraZord always bothers me because it looks like it has a giant white penis with a dragon face on it…I never say anything, I always just snicker to myself when I hear Jason shout that we're ready for action; because with a penis like that…you've gotta be ready for something. But then it happened…after we defeated the Cyclopsis, the penis zord got sucked into a sink hole and disappeared.
The Rangers and I watched as Cyclopsis was reconstructed from the Command Centre. It was fun…not.
"Lokar's out of control," Jason stated, standing the farthest from the viewing globe.
"It looks like Rita's reconstructed Cyclopsis," Zack pointed out in awe. I watched Kim storm up the steps toward Zordon in a fit,
"Zordon what are we gonna do?"
"Nothing Kimberly," Zordon replied, apparently trying to make us think.
"But if we stop him, we stop Rita and the others right Zordon?" Zack asked curiously.
"Yes Zack, Alpha is scanning the computer memory for more data on Lokar. It should provide a clue to help you defeat him."
"Zordon?" Billy asked curiously, "What about all the people; where are they?"
"My sensors indicate they are all safe but out of reach in Rita's dimensional vortex."
I noticed Jason get a pained expression on his face, "We're their only hope."
"That is correct Rangers because if you lose this battle; they will all be trapped in Rita's vortex forever."
Zordon…always the motivational speaker.
(pt2)
"Cyclopsis is one of Rita's most terrifying creations. She hasn't brought him out in almost 10,000 years," Zordon lectured. I decided to ignore him and went to the computer interested in the status updates of the Zords; they had taken a beating. I mean we'd won but they still needed resting time…time we didn't have any more. "You have to defeat him if you are to release the population of Angel Grove from the dimensional vortex in which Rita has them trapped. Goldar has taken over piloting Cyclopsis with backup from Lokar. The situation is grave, if you don't win this battle soon Angel Grove and the entire world is doomed."
"We gotta stop that thing," Jason, "Nikki what's the update on the Zords?"
"Oh the Zords," I replied, looking at him nod his head, "Oh they're ready."
"Really?" he asked out excitedly surprised.
"No," I mocked, scrunching my eyebrows together in disbelief, "Seriously?"
Billy scoffed at me disappointed before coming up beside me and looking at the monitor himself, "Still not fully re-energized. They took a real beating in the fight against Cyclopsis."
"The Zords still need another twelve hours to be at full power," I heard Alpha add.
"We can't wait that long," Jason stated in frustration, "We'll take them at half power."
I looked at Billy's face scrunch up in disbelief; I couldn't help but feel the same way, "Jason, if we do that we risk doing serious damage to the Zords."
"We don't have a choice," Jason responded determined.
"There is too much danger in what you propose," Zordon attempted to reason.
"Zordon what about our city," Kim whined, "We have to stop it from being destroyed."
"Not to mention rescuing all those people trapped in Rita's dimensional vortex," Zack added.
"Their safe right now but if we have to wait twelve hours it may be too late," Trini supplied.
"What you are asking has never been tried before," Zordon informed us, "If Zord backups fail then you and everything in the morphing grid could vanish forever. Do you really want to try this?"
"No," I muttered under my breath causing the five to look at me in disbelief.
"You know we do Zordon," Jason stated, looking directly at me, as if testing me to argue.
"Yeah whatever," I muttered, crossing my arms annoyed.
"We gotta," Trini stated, energetically.
"Affirmative," Billy added.
"Cordinates are set," Alpha told us, "Are you ready to morph to the city?"
"Yeah," Jason confirmed, glancing at me to let me know that he was in charge. We get it Jason…you wear the big boy pants.
"Good luck and let the power protect you," Zordon responded.
"More like half protect us," I grumbled under my breath causing me to get elbowed by Billy again. I'm seriously going to bruise from all the shoves I get from Billy…this is ridiculous.
"It's morphin' time," Jason shouted.
We morphed into the two Zords and it didn't take long for Lokar to blow cold at us. He reminded me of Cold Miser and I couldn't help but start singing the song softly to myself as we fought; which probably wasn't advisable since I was in Red Ranger spot and therefore in charge.
"He's mister white Christmas, he's mister snow…
Da da dada.
He's mister icicle, he's mister 10 below.
Friends call me cold miser,
Whatever I touch turns to snow in my clutch,
He's too much.
Dada da da daaaaaaaaaa da too much."
Only over and over again.
I realized I was getting strange looks and stopped just in time for Lokar to get us good and send both Zords to the ground.
"Telepods are gone, we can't move," Trini relayed.
"Weapons are out," Zack added, "I can't believe it."
"All yours Rita," I heard that stupid Lokar guy inform his boss lady; he didn't sound anything like Cold Miser.
Only about 30 seconds later a red flash came from nowhere which only damaged our equipment more.
"It's overloading," Jason shouted from the DragonZord.
"Our circuits are out," Trini added.
"We're coming out…" Zack stated before the sound of crackling drowned him out.
"Rangers abandon ship," Jason shouted, jumping from the DragonZord as it disintegrated. We followed suit and jumped as well just as ours was destroyed too; all six of us landing on or near the stage in the park completely demorphed. I was surprised the fall hadn't killed or injured any of us. "You guys okay?" Jason asked curiously as he jumped down from the stage, me and Zack following suit, and Billy helping Kim down.
"Jason to Command Centre," Jason stated calmly into the communicator, "Jason to Command Centre we have an emergency."
"Rita is undoubtedly jamming the frequency," Billy stated coming up from behind the group, "We've lost all contact with Zordon and Alpha."
"And the Zords," Zack added frustrated. I notice Billy bite his lower lip nervously, some people would say it was cute…but not me…no, definitely not me…shut up, he wears overalls, I mean it's impossible…I refuse to fathom such things.
"They just came apart…," Kim continued, apparently talking about the Zords still, a nice distraction, thank you Kimberly, "…an dissolved."
"That was actually the new security system Zordon designed from the Zords," Billy commented. Why didn't I know about this? "See if they lose in battle they automatically disassemble and return to the secret hiding place to re-energize."
I watched Trini make her way in front of us and closer to Billy with some ridiculous bitchy look on her face.
"So the Zords aren't destroyed?" she asked stupidly, way to waste our time with stupid questions.
"Negative," Billy added.
"What if we hadn't jumped out when they disassembled though?" I found myself asking curiously, "Would we have been thrown out of would we have disintegrated too."
"From what I understand we would have simply been transported back to the command centre," Billy answered, "You weren't aware of the safety feature?"
"No…" I mumbled confused, "Not that I know of."
"Our problem now is that we have no way of contacting them," Zack stated, bringing the conversation back to the urgent matters.
"Maybe we do," Billy replied, "I might have the equipment back at my garage to change the frequencies on the communicators."
"Then let's move," Jason determined, taking the lead from the park.
"Nikki help me get some of the equipment we'll need," Billy shouted as we made it in the door to the garage.
"Aye aye capin'," I replied, grabbing a couple of devices that we had been working on to help integrate some of my suits' technology in with the stuff that he's been working on. It looked like some of the stuff we'd gotten done would come in handy.
"How's it look guys?" Trini asked as I met Billy at one of the workstations, where he was currently pulling things out of his little green toolbox.
"Well it looks like we've got all the equipment we need," I told her annoyed wanting her to go anywhere else, like a hole.
"It's just a matter of time," Billy stated, reassuringly to her before giving me a confused look. He'd asked me why I hated Kim and then got over it just in time to hate Trini last week in this very garage. I'd told him that the two had nothing to do with each other…I hated Kim cus she was obsessed with Tommy even though she was gonna marry my Dad but that I didn't know why I hated Trini, which isn't technically a lie. I know I don't like how she acts around Billy but it has nothing to do with anything…I can't figure out where my hatred for her actually stems.
"…what?" I heard Kim finish, not sure of what the question actually was.
"Hopefully Zordon's already come up with a plan," Jason responded, "Or this truly is the end of the power rangers."
We worked steadily for about 5 or 10 minutes when I heard Jason ask, "How's it goin' guys?"
"We're adjusting the modulator to read an alternative signal," Billy responded. It's kind of like those FM transmitters you can buy so that your Ipod can play over the radio, it cycles through stations that aren't in use but this is about 20 times stronger.
"Just needs a couple more minutes guys, settle down," I added, rotating the device still in Billy's hands for a better angle.
"Your few minutes are up," I hear the fuckin' Lion shout from the driveway. They better be careful around those old arcade games…I don't have time to fix those too and I love playing them.
"Goldar," Jason shouts, Billy and I not bothering as we continue to configure it the rest of the way.
"Really Power Rangers, I thought I'd stop by and say hello," Goldar replied sarcastically.
"The Ranger/Villain mixer isn't until next Friday…Goldar did you misplace you invitation again," I remarked, looking at him over my shoulder before turning back to the device.
"Silence," he growled out angrily, "I don't have time for your remarks."
"None of us do," Billy added under his breath sarcastically. I let go of the device and put my hands on my hips with a huff. He eyed me as if daring me to respond, I decided I didn't have the time and picked the device back up.
"Say goodbye forever," Goldar added, "It's been nice knowing ya."
We knew we didn't stand much of a chance without our powers and I watched Billy go into overdrive trying to get the device done and done well.
"Just keep him away from us so we can get this shit done," I yell out to whomever's listening.
"No prob Nik we'll take care of him," Jason responded. When did Jason start calling me Nik…I thought only Marcus and Juan did that.
"Your living in a fantasy huh, you're about to learn a lesson. Yeah…yeahhhhh," Goldar grumbled out moving into the garage.
"Got it," I smiled excitedly.
"They're functional," Billy smiled proudly.
"Impossible," he stated angrily.
"We're outta here," Jason stated, the six of us teleporting out…I hope Goldar doesn't wreck the garage or steal anything.
"Rangers…your okay," Alpha smiled.
"Zordon," Jason began.
"Are you alright?" Zordon asked curiously.
"Yeah," Zack answered, "We're all in one piece."
"Then there's no time to waste," Zordon continued, "We may finally have a way to defeat Rita."
"How?" Jason asked curiously.
"Alpha tapped into Rita's data storage and discovered a weakness in Cyclopsis we can use."
"What do we do?" Trini asked interested.
"Cyclopsis will adjust to whatever it fights," Zordon replied, "If you change battle modes frequently he won't be able to keep up."
"Are the Zords powered up?" Zack asked curiously.
"Ready and waiting for you," Alpha replied.
"Each time you change, Cyclopsis will weaken as it tries to adjust. Use this to your advantage," Zordon informed us.
"Won't it weaken us too though?" I asked curiously, "Doesn't changing forms use our power too…won't constantly changing drain our power?" I asked curiously.
"You are correct Nicole but it won't use nearly as much of our as it will his so there should be no problem," Zordon replied. I nodded my head in understanding and let Zordon continue.
"Let the power protect you," Zordon finished…oh I guess that was it, "Remember to change quickly and strike while he is weakened."
"It's morphin' time," Jason shouted.
As we arrived on site the Rangers called their Zords and I stood to the side and watched curiously, this time taking over the DragonZord and staying to the side simply controlling it as necessarily since there was so much changing.
It became the UltraZord with the white penis and seemed to be doing well…so well that it didn't take long for Cyclopsis to be defeated. As the enemy was destroyed the Rangers jumped from the Zords and stood beside me. We began running to the park in hopes that everyone was returned…how much would it suck if we did all that work and they were still missing.
We arrived just in time to hear somebody yell, "Hey look it's the Power Ranger." After that it was a lot of shouting and I was instantly regretting being here.
"Clear the way for the Power Rangers," I heard some old lady shout in an atrociously red shirt. Realizing there was no escape I followed along as Jason led the way to the stage.
"What about us," I heard Skull shout sadly from the side.
I noticed Tommy standing there discussing things with little kids before high-fiving us…his hand clasping mine without letting go as he pulled me in and whispered, "I need to talk to you."
"Oooookay?" I mumbled nervously, why did he need to talk to me? He released my hand and left me to my own devices. Thankfully I was the last in the line of Rangers so no one else noticed.
I walked past Skull when we reached the steps and smiled behind the mask leaning in close to state, "You're my hero Eugene." I watched as his jaw dropped and he turned to Bulk who hadn't heard anything I said; Bulk simply shook his head believing it all to be a hoax.
We made it to center stage and I watched as the woman in the bad outfit start to talk, "As the mayor of Angel Grove City, it is with great pride that I stand here before you in the presence of true heroes. They have risked their lives countless times for the safety of our city and its people. They are real examples of good triumphing over evil and now it is time to thank them. They are the Power Rangers."
I noticed them all go and walk forward on the stage, basking in the Lime light. I kind of took a step back trying to stay out of it. When they had Power Ranger day for us, I didn't even bother to show up. That was how much I hated it, doesn't Zordon's rule of never using the power for personal gain kind of work here…it should. They were all waving all enthusiastically while I kind of just did a little half ass wave out of necessity.
"Congratulations Power Rangers," Zordon began, "Victory is yours. You have dealt Rita a serious blow and proven yourselves to be the mightiest heroes on Earth."
"Thanks Zordon," Jason replied all smug.
"Rangers… the time has come for you choose again."
"You have gone far beyond the call of duty and saved your world from a terrible fate, and although the danger has not past completely, you must now choose whether you wish to remain Power Rangers and return to your regular lives. The decision is yours."
"No decision to be made Zordon," Jason added for everyone else, "I think we all feel the same way…"
I was the first to speak up, "Sorry Jason but hold on…you mean my regular life…you'd send me home with my family…I pick that."
"Your regular life here…" Zordon corrected.
"That's not regular," I stated, waving my hand exaggeratively, "Never mind."
"We're the Power Rangers," Kimberly added.
"'Til the end," Trini shouted.
"The reason you chose us was to stop Rita," Zack continued, "It doesn't end there."
"There are other villains other crimes to protect the city from," Billy added.
"Zordon you taught us what true honor and courage are all about," Trini added, "We don't want to abandon that now."
"After all the shit that's happened to us as Rangers…to just leave it all behind no way..." I grumbled…still wondering how everyone in my time was faring.
"In other words…you can't get rid of us," Zack smiled.
"I am very pleased to hear you say those things," Zordon responded, "The world is very lucky to have you and so am I. May the power protect you always."
"Achoo," Alpha sneezed, "Sorry rangers…I caught a computer virus."
"I do a scan later Alpha," I smiled, patting it on the head.
"Guys," I heard Jason state, sticking out his fist. I watched one by one and the rest of the rangers put their fists on and I sighed, shit.
"Nikki," I heard Billy whisper. I looked to see him nod to the encouragement hand mound.
"No."
"Nikki," he reprimanded, "Be a team player."
"No it's stupid," I stated firmly, crossing my arms.
"Nikki," he pouted. God, conscience…seriously.
"Fine…" I muttered, putting my hand on the mound and watching as they all jumped up excitedly shouting 'Power Rangers.' Mine was much less enthused but still there. It was times like this that I wished I was home with other obnoxious and lazy people.
What does Tommy need to talk to Nikki about, hmmm. I know, but the question is, do you know?