Brighter Paths

Book 8: Quest for Power

Chapter 29: The Past that Comes Back to Haunt

The dimensional portal dropped the Power Rangers six feet in the air above an ocean.

They hit the water hard, their backpacks and heavy clothes dragging them down immediately. They shouted involuntarily as their heads bobbed erratically above the icy water.

"We've got to get to shore!" Tommy yelled, pointing at a nearby beach. The Rangers started lurching toward the shore, pulling off their backpacks and dragging them behind.

Adam was the strongest swimmer and the first to reach shore. Instead of collapsing like he wanted to, he threw off his backpack and peeled off his water-logged denim jacket and tennis shoes so he could dive in again and help his teammates.

One by one, the Rangers reached the shore. Rocky laid flat on his back, breathing hard. Kimberly kept coughing, having accidentally inhaled a good amount of sea water. Billy was last to shore, where he immediately dumped out his over-full backpack to see if he could dry out his electronics.

Adam walked over to check on Rocky after helping Aisha dump out the rest of the backpacks. "You okay?" he asked fretfully.

Rocky took a cautious breath. "Yeah. I mean, I think so. Just trying not to throw up." He grimaced. "I think I swallowed seaweed, and it didn't taste like the stuff around sushi at all."

Adam grinned and helped Rocky up. "If you drank that much seawater, you're probably going to throw up anyway. May as well get it over with."

Rocky immediately turned green when he got vertical. "Good idea," he squeaked out, and then ran behind a boulder.

Tommy shot a questioning look over to Adam, who nodded, showing that he'd keep an eye on Rocky. Aisha was currently checking on Kimberly, holding her while she coughed and spluttered. Tommy made a move over to the pair, but Kimberly gave a weak thumbs up. So, that just left Billy.

Billy was sitting on the sand, well away from the surf, with two work rags laid out. Disassembled pieces of electronics lay on the cloths, baking in the sun.

"How bad?" Tommy asked, wincing at the jumble of parts.

Billy looked up at him, his eyes taking on that exhausted look he got whenever he was stressed. "It's too soon to tell. I carried a small computing device, just to store and display some information we might need, but I never took the time to waterproof it." He laughed hollowly. "I didn't think I would need to. It was made for space, and I thought we were going to a desert. I was prepared to shield it from sand, not take it swimming."

"And the map's on there," Tommy said, already knowing the answer. "It's okay. Remember, I brought the paper copy of the map."

"Yeah?" Billy said. "Have you checked it yet?"

Tommy grimaced and stalked back to his soaked backpack. He dumped it out and carefully pulled a wad of sodden paper out of the pile. Only a corner was visible, and not a corner that included any coastline.

A shadow fell over the map, and Tommy looked up to see a very upset Aisha. She was hugging herself, rocking from one foot to the other, glaring at him. "The communicators aren't working," she said. "I've tried. I tried to contact Alpha. I tried to teleport. It's… it's not…" She choked back a sob. "Is that the map?" she said wildly.

Tommy got to his feet, shocked, and reached out to Aisha. She pulled back angrily. "So, what. We're stuck here? No map, no way out, and no one knows where we are except Alpha?!"

Rocky gave a laugh. "You forgot no powers."

"Shut up, Rocky!" Aisha looked livid, like she wanted a target for her anger. "Now's not the time for your bullshit. We're gonna die here, if you haven't figured that out."

"We're not going to die here," Tommy tried to say, but Aisha held out her hand to him.

"You don't know that," she said. "You don't know anything, do you? You're real good at pretending you know what you're doing, but half the time you're just flying blind and hoping no one calls you on it. You and Kimberly… and Billy, too. None of you know what the hell you're doing, and now my parents won't even know what happened to me…"

At this, the strength seemed to go out of her legs, and she sank to the ground, sobbing deep and soundlessly. Tommy looked around helplessly, but everyone else looked just as flummoxed. Aisha had never lost it like this before. It made the whole terrible situation feel even more terrifying.

Kimberly made a move to comfort Aisha, but Adam was ahead of her. So Kimberly, now recovered from her coughing fit, steeled herself and prepared to prove that she did know what she was doing… kinda. "Okay, this sucks," she said evenly, "but we're still alive, and we're where we're supposed to be, mostly. If we're going to stay alive, we're going to have to warm up. We need to light a fire and dry our clothes. Once that sun sets, we don't know how cold it's going to get."

"Solid plan," Tommy said. "Rocky, you up for it?"

"Yeah," Rocky said quietly, still staring at Aisha. "I got a lighter that might still work." He headed for higher ground to gather some wood.

"I'm right behind you," Tommy called out. He carefully took the map over to Billy, who had returned to looking despondently at his electronics. "This is all I could recover," he said quietly. "Maybe this and anything you can salvage will be enough."

"I'm on it," Billy said gravely. "We'll need to take stock of our supplies as well."

"Later," Tommy said, glancing over at Aisha and Adam. "We're not going anywhere anytime soon."

Tommy followed Rocky to build a fire, hoping that they'd have a choice in not going anywhere. They were in a different dimension. What looked like a peaceful shore could turn nasty quickly. He smiled sardonically. Nothing good happened on beaches.


Skull walked on the beach, his eyes sharp, gripping the baseball bat he'd appropriated from the gym. He was an idiot, he knew that. A complete moron. He didn't even know what he was doing out there.

Scratch that. He knew exactly what he was doing. There were still people unaccounted for in the gym, and he was going to find them.

The whole town was battened down. All the evacuation centers had reported in, and the police had sent out a list of those who were still missing. Some of them would be out of town or whatever, but he knew there were still people missing. Maybe people who didn't know, since they hadn't run the monster attack sirens.

Kimberly was missing. Tommy and Billy. Those new kids they hung out with: Aisha, Rocky, and Adam. He knew they were in town. They just weren't in any safehouse he knew, so he was going to make sure they were okay. That's why he'd gone out one last time. Just to make sure.

Skull turned past the boat rentals, and suddenly he wasn't okay.

He ducked back behind the building, squinting at the… whatever they were. From the erratic movements, he'd expected Putties. In fact, he sorta knew how to deal with Putties long enough to get a running head start. These, though, were something knew. Six foot tall birds with human legs and armor circled the beach. They walked around awkwardly, as if they weren't used to their legs, and they waved their wings to keep balance.

A seagull flew by, and the giant birds froze. One took wing and, before Skull could process it, the seagull was already dead, bleeding in the giant bird's beak. It had taken less than a second.

Skull wanted to run, but he couldn't move. He was frozen in terror. If the birds saw him, they could take him down in a second. He wouldn't even have long enough to raise his bat. He'd be just as dead as that seagull. As they squawked behind him, he closed his eyes and prayed, wishing desperately he could remember more Yiddish.

And then they were gone, attracted by something Skull couldn't see. He waited, too afraid to even check if it was safe to move.

People had to be warned. There were still scouts out, and they might think these were still like Putties.

Cursing, Skull sprinted in the opposite direction the giant birds had taken. He just hoped that wherever Kimberly and the others were, they were safe.


The fire flickered in the darkness, casting ominous shadows all around them. It was a far different experience from their survival camping, Aisha reflected. The familiar woods surrounding Angel Grove, when she was safe and secure with her powers and the knowledge she would get to go home, was far different from the strange coast of this unfamiliar dimension. They'd climbed up to higher ground to avoid the tides, but that had led them to rockier, less comfortable land. They hadn't prepared for camping, so they had no tents or sleeping bags. And the air was filled with strange squawks, growls, and buzzing that could just as easily be from harmless animals or ferocious predators. There was no way to tell.

At one side of their makeshift camp, Tommy and Kimberly were poring over fragments of a map: the soggy paper map and the partially damaged digital map. The projection cast a green tinge over the glow of firelight. They seemed to be arguing, and Aisha was oddly comforted that they weren't trying to act calm. They were just as scared as she was.

Or maybe not. No one else had freaked out. Aisha's face burned in shame as she remembered the fit she'd thrown, though she still believed every word to be true. And she was still terrified. She just didn't want to waste energy yelling about it.

Rocky poked the fire to keep it going and said something to Adam she couldn't hear. They laughed, and Aisha wished she could know what it was about. She could use something to laugh about, but it didn't feel like that was going to happen anytime soon.

As if sensing her thoughts, Rocky walked over to her and plopped down beside her, staring into the fire rather than looking at her. "So…" he said quietly, "can I talk now? Cuz I'm getting better at shutting up. Marginally."

Despite herself, Aisha felt her lips curling up. "You know I wasn't being serious."

Rocky nodded exaggeratedly. "Don't bullshit the bullshitter. I can smell it a mile away." He picked up a stick and started playing with it. "What's the real problem, kiddo?"

Aisha wrapped her arms around her knees even more tightly and buried her head between them. "Like I said, we're stuck here. There's no guarantee we're ever going to get home, and even if we do, we don't know if there's a home to get back to… or if we'll have the power to protect that home." She sighed. "And no one knows we're here."

"Alpha knows," Rocky reminded her. "And Zordon does, if he can get his head out of his ass… or whatever he has. And apparently various sets of parents…"

"Not mine," Aisha said quietly.

Rocky nodded, this time seriously. "Yeah, I figured that was what was really going on. You nearly died, and your folks have no idea where you are."

Aisha gritted her teeth. "I was a coward. I thought it'd be fine, that I'd have time. I kept putting it off, even after I saw that it was working out okay for Adam, and that Kimberly's parents and Ms. Sylvia were supportive and no one had to lie…" She choked back a sob, but she was honestly too exhausted to keep crying. "If I talk Mama and Dad, they'd worry, but they'd at least know." She cleared her throat and looked at Rocky. "Don't you think about that?"

Rocky shrugged and looked resolutely into the flames. "You know my dad. He doesn't give a flying acrobatic shit where I am and what I'm doing. He stopped asking long ago."

Aisha rolled her eyes. "You keep saying that, you might convince yourself. Your dad might not be around all the time, but he still cares about you. Why do you think he makes you go to those parties you take me to?"

Rocky gave a smile that didn't quite hide the hurt. "How else is he going to show off his possessions?" He shook his head. "Really, I'll probably tell him sometime, but it's not breaking me up that he doesn't know where I am. And you're distracting us from your problem, mama bear."

Aisha tried to frown at the nickname, but she completely failed. "What if we are stuck here, Rocky? What if we never make it back?"

"Then the other parents will tell them what happened," Rocky said quietly. "They'll make sure your parents know that you're a hero, that you gave everything to the fight… and then they'll fight on in our place."

Aisha felt herself crying again, slowly and silently. She'd never heard Rocky so serious, almost heroic.

"But, like, we're not stuck here," Rocky amended. "We may not have a map worth anything, but we've got some idea where we're going. We may not have communicators, but this is a mystical dimension, and we've got people who are used to dealing with that. And… we're Power Rangers."

"Not anymore," Aisha said miserably.

Rocky shook his head. "Still. Forever and always. As long as we've got each other, we've got power." He laughed. "And, hey. We're on a mystical quest here. Those are pretty good for getting mystical powers, last I checked."

Aisha laughed finally, and they held each other, trying to keep their hope alive.

In the darkness, in the dying firelight, neither one of them saw the stones shifting behind them, stones that, if examined closer, looked suspiciously like bone. And they were moving on their own.


"And that's how we do it!"

Rito laughed as he wrecked yet another lane with a thrown bowling ball. Goldar had taught him to play properly, but he just found this much more fun. If the humans wanted him to roll the balls, they would have made them heavier.

Goldar stared pointed at the destroyed lane, and then back at Rito. "If you keep that up, we won't have any lanes left. Then we'll have to come up with something else to do until Empress Rita kills us."

In truth, Goldar was getting bored with bowling, as well as more worried about what was going on in the Moon Palace. The Power Rangers were nowhere to be seen, and they'd lost all contact with the moon. It was apparent that they weren't ruling the Earth yet, but that was as much as Goldar knew. This not knowing was ruining any fun to be had.

"You have got to stop worrying, bud," Rito said. "It's not like there's anything we can do. We tried teleporting, and we have no orders. What are they going to do, punish us for not reading their minds?"

Goldar gritted his teeth. He found he was doing that a lot around Rito. "Not all of us can benefit from nepotism."

"I resent that remark," Rito said. "I'll have you know I bathe every month or so."

Goldar was about to say something—he honestly didn't know what—when a door from the far side of the alley swung open. Goldar and Rito drew their swords, but it wasn't a Power Ranger, or even a monster sent to collect them. Instead, they saw a pale blonde girl in black stalk over to the vending machine. She fished around in her pockets, but apparently couldn't find what she was looking for, as she started kicking the vending machine. It shuddered put didn't yield any of its contents. She hit the machine in frustration and then started looking around.

Goldar fully expected the girl to see them, scream, and run for the door. It was his usual interaction with humans.

Instead, this girl said, "Oi! You guys got any change?"

Goldar looked at Rito, who looked just as confused as he was. "I mean, we get bigger," Rito said, "but we don't change…"

Goldar was fairly sure that the girl was asking for currency, but he didn't have any of that either.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Look, I was just passed out in there because my blood sugar was low. If I don't get some peanut butter and crackers, I might die. You don't want that on your conscience, do you?"

"Don't we?" Rito said, thoroughly confused.

"Who do you think we are?" Goldar asked cautiously. The girl didn't look well, so she was obviously having some kind of episode, but Goldar had never been confronted with this kind of problem. Human just ran away. They didn't hang around and ask for handouts.

The girl eyed them critically. "Birthday performers? Really into costumes? Look, if you're not going to help me out…"

Rito, however, was advancing toward her already, swinging his sword jovially. "If it's this thing you want in, I'd be happy to oblige. Nothing like a little minor vandalism to keep the spirits up." He swung his sword, actually taking care not to harm the girl, and cut the front of the vending machine open. Snacks fell out, and the girl immediately pounced on a small rectangular packet. She crammed one in her mouth and chewed as fast as she could, and then she slumped to the floor, breathing deeply.

"You literally saved my life," she said, her voice muffled with the dry snack. "I just had my insulin dosage changed, and I guess it's not right." She looked around. "When's the birthday starting?"

"Oh, thanks, but my birthday's not for another month… I think," Rito said.

Goldar sighed. "There's no birthday party, kid. We're not performers. We're monsters. That one was rampaging around the city only a few hours ago."

The girl stared at them blankly, still chewing.

"I guess it seemed normal to you that he could destroy that machine if he were a performer," Goldar said.

The girl shrugged. "I just figured he did a lot of weightlifting. I've been around Pan Global athletes most of my life. Some of them could do it."

Goldar looked around. Was he being pranked? "I don't think you're getting this, human. We're literal monsters. We could kill you right now if we wanted to."

The girl cocked her head. "Do you want to?"

Rito slapped Goldar on the chest. "Of course not! Don't be rude," he whispered to Goldar, but it was a loud whisper that everyone could hear. "Join us for a game?"

The girl got up and waved the snack. "Not a good idea. But I can watch you guys play while I recover."

"Rito's the name!" Rito slapped her on the back, pitching her forward. She stumbled to recover. "And my grumpy friend is Goldar."

The girl stuck out a hand at Rito. "Katherine. But everyone calls me Kat."

Rito just stared at her hand.

Goldar buried his face in his hands. "You're supposed to shake, and I hate myself for knowing that, and this is such a bad idea."

Both the human and his idiot partner were ignoring him, so Goldar trudged after them, partly blaming himself for suggesting bowling in the first place.


"So as long as we keep to the southwest," Kimberly said, pointing at the map, "we should hit the edge of the desert after a day of travel. If no obstacles get in the way."

"We'll still need to scout out for water and food sources," Tommy pointed out. "That may slow us down a bit."

Billy laughed. "I suppose we're not in a hurry?"

Tommy shook his head wearily. "I know we're worried about everyone at home, but rushing this will only exhaust our energy, and it won't do anyone at home a bit of good either."

"Right," Kimberly said softly. "Let's talk to the others, see what they think."

There was a shout, and the three looked up to see Adam running toward the dark edge of the camp. As soon as he was out of sight, there was a loud crunching sound, and Adam came flying back, landing on the ground near the fire hard.

"Adam!" Rocky yelled from the darkness.

"A little help here?" Aisha yelled almost at the same time.

Adam was back on his feet as the other three Rangers launched themselves over to the disturbance. Before they could reach the shadows, a long tail made of bone snaked out at them and whipped Billy off his feet.

"Watch out!" Rocky called. "This thing's big!"

"Thanks for the warning!" Kimberly called. "What is it?"

"It's a dinosaur skeleton!" Aisha answered.

"It's a what?!"

Before Aisha could clarify, a bone white horn shone in the firelight. This was closely followed by a ridged head, where Rocky was hanging on for dear life.

"Is that a triceratops?!" Kimberly yelled.

No one seemed in the mood to answer. Rocky was being tossed around on his perch as the animated skeleton tried to shake him off. Aisha was busy dodging its tail.

"Grab weapons," Tommy said. "Fence in and provoke."

They didn't have super powers, but they still had training. Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, and Adam grabbed the longest sticks they'd been saving for firewood and surrounded the triceratops skeleton. They used a technique they'd practiced against particularly dumb monsters: poke or attack it on all sides, alternating so the monster's attention didn't rest too long on any one person. This would either enrage the monster or simply confuse it, thus buying them time.

"Rocky!" Billy called. "Can you get to the skeleton's neck?"

"I… am… trying… to… get off… this…thing…" Rocky said amid grunts and yelps of pain.

"The neck joint should be its weakest and most vital connection!" Billy said. "Try and pull it out!"

With great difficulty, Rocky vaulted himself over the head ridge onto the dinosaur's back. He scrambled for the neck, his fingers scraping over rough bone. His body slammed into the dinosaur's ribs over and over.

The dinosaur skeleton started bucking, and Rocky flew up in the air. He curled to protect his vitals as he came back down… right on the dinosaur's neck.

The skeleton crumpled as the head fell from the spine, and all that was left was a scattering of bones with Rocky in the middle.

He raised up his head. "Did I get him?"

The others looked at each other incredulously. Chuckling, Adam helped Rocky to his feet. Rocky was bruised and had a bloody nose, but he was remarkably unharmed for his troubles.

"So, first, how did the skeleton of a triceratops come to life?" Billy asked. "And, more importantly, why was the skeleton of a triceratops here?"

"And a perfect skeleton," Tommy added. "Practically all the pieces are there. That doesn't even happen on Earth."

This earned him curious looks.

"What?" he said. "Dinosaur bones are cool. I know things besides martial arts, you know."

"Is it coincidence that it's a triceratops?" Kimberly said. "I mean, what's next? A sabertooth tiger?"

A yowl sounded from the forest, and the Rangers looked at each other, nonplussed.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kimberly said.

"I think it may be time to run," Aisha pointed out.

They just had time to douse their smoldering fire and start running when they heard the unmistakable sound of something crashing through the underbrush. They ran deeper into the forest, away from the cliff and shore, not wanting to get boxed in by whatever was chasing them. Moonlight provided imperfect lighting for their unexpected midnight run, which slowed them down, but they stayed ahead of the crashing sound.

That is, until they ran straight into the massive figure of a mastodon.

The Rangers slammed into the obstruction, as it was just at the edge of the forest, and they threw themselves off of it quickly in disgust. Rather than simply a skeleton, the mastodon still had fur and muscle and fat… but all that seemed to be slowly putrefying. It was a zombie that was slowly rotting down to a skeleton, and it smelled like it, too.

The Rangers tried to run past it, but the delay had cost them. The sabertooth tiger, in a more advanced stage of zombification, pounced on them and landed heavily on Tommy, who went down without a sound.

"Tommy!" Kimberly yelled, dashing toward the tiger completely on instinct. She'd dropped her makeshift stick weapon, so she had nothing to threaten the zombie cat, who batted her away like a common housecat would a bug. Billy was there to catch her, though that still left Tommy stuck under a giant fanged zombie cat.

Thankfully, at that moment the mastodon, perhaps sensing the tiny annoying creatures around it, decided to turn its head. Its tusk collided right with the tiger, lifting it up as the tusk slipped through a hole in the tiger's front leg joint. The tiger screamed and hissed at the mastodon, and the ensuing fight let the Rangers slip past them.

"Don't think about what's left," Adam said under his breath. "Don't think about what's…"

"What do you mean, what's left?" Rocky said.

"Those were our Zords!" Kimberly said. "At least, undead versions of them. What's left is…"

There was a swoosh and clatter, and Aisha screamed as she was lifted off the ground by large talons. She looked up to see a skeletal bird… no… an actual pterodactyl skeleton, and it was flying without skin.

"This doesn't even make any sense!" Aisha yelled angrily.

The other Rangers ran after her, shouting for her to hold on and be careful.

"Like I have a choice," Aisha grumbled.

As the improbable pterodactyl flew higher, the Rangers tried to keep up. Thankfully, the trajectory took them away from the mastodon and tiger, but that was the only thing that was going right.

"We gotta bring them down!" Rocky said, picking up a stone and pulling it back to throw it.

"No, that'll kill her!" Tommy shouted. "Don't…!"

It was too late. Rocky had flung the stone. It shot through the air with a force that astonished everyone (save Adam) and shot through the neck of the pterodactyl.

The pterodactyl skeleton fell apart. Aisha was free, yet she was falling to the ground like the stone that had freed her.

"Oh, fuck!" Rocky shouted. "I didn't mean…"

The Rangers ran for Aisha in the vain attempt to catch her, knowing any collision would maim or kill her and anyone else… when she abruptly froze six feet from the ground. She was still screaming and flailing, but as she realizing she'd stopped she slowly opened her eyes, the screams dying in her throat.

"Umm!" Aisha said. "Why am I not dead and why doesn't anything make sense?"

"You are not dead because I have saved you from such an ignoble end."

Aisha slowly floated to the ground, where Rocky immediately flung himself toward her. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…"

The rest of the Rangers were staring at the figure who had just spoken. It was a woman, clad in fur and armor, holding a staff aloft. She put the staff in the holster across her back. She was imposing, but she didn't look like she wanted to fight.

"That was quite a throw, young warrior," she said, a wry smile on her lips. "Impulsive and ill advised, but not lacking in power and accuracy. I suggest, if all of you are sufficiently recovered from the near-death experience, that we run. The ghosts of your past are… quite formidable."

She pointed to the right, and she and the Rangers immediately ran left, just in time to see the skeleton of a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex crest the horizon.


Sylvia turned on the lights in the lab. She took a breath. "Before we do this, I just want to know. Does everyone know the risks?"

Frank Harris, Aaron Park, and Karen Scott nodded grimly. The rest of the parents were checking in on the defenses of the various evacuation centers, and the second eldest Taylor brother was watching the rest of the kids in the living room.

"The kids aren't back, and the city's in danger," Karen said. "We don't have a choice."

"The rest of the city is prepared for monsters," Frank said. "They're not prepared for these giant bird creatures Alpha warned us about."

"Alpha told us to sit sight and not engage," Sylvia reminded them.

"What Alpha doesn't know won't hurt him," Aaron said. "Let's ride."

The four of them armed themselves with weapons Sylvia picked out.

"These two are simple stun guns," Sylvia said, giving them to Aaron and Karen. "I'm not sure how effective they'll be on these bird creatures, and they're too risky to use if you see a Putty, but they might buy anyone a chance to escape. Now, this one…" she picked up her favorite weapon, the one she'd used in the too-many times now she'd had to defend her town. "This one's got a little more oomph, so be careful firing it around civilians." She handed it to Frank.

"What about you?" Aaron asked.

Sylvia smiled. "I'll be driving. I think a flying car is enough of a weapon to be getting on with."

The four of them loaded up in the Radbug. Sylvia manipulated the security field long enough to leave the garage and then pealed out of the driveway into the abandoned street.

"At least the roads are clear," Frank commented.

Sylvia smiled. "We don't need roads." With that, she punched a button, and the car took flight.


It was fully night. The only light emanated from the woman's staff and Billy's flashlight, and the light danced over the roughhewn stairs as the Rangers trudged up what seemed less like a tall hill and more like a small mountain.

"Rest, warriors," the woman said as they finally reached a flat surface. "This is a consecrated place: your fears will not haunt you here."

They gratefully sat on a stone bench that she indicated. She waved her staff at a fire pit. A fire sprang into the pit while the cauldron suspended above it began heating. Without a word, the woman began tossing in ingredients for what looked like a stew, never taking her hand off the staff.

Billy glanced over at Tommy and Kimberly and inclined his head at the woman, urging them to talk to her. She'd saved their lives, after all, but they knew nothing about her, while she seemed to know a bit about them.

Tommy got up and walked over to her, trying to figure out what to say. He'd thought that Ninjor was the only being in this dimension. Ninjor was famously reclusive, so the presence of someone else was jarring, to say the least.

"So," Rocky said before Tommy had a chance to say anything, "are you a witch or something?"

Aisha smacked Rocky's shoulder, and Tommy rolled his eyes.

The woman looked up, startled, as if she'd forgotten they were there. "A witch?'

"You've got a cauldron," Rocky said. "And a wand. So… witch?"

"Rocky, you know a real live witch," Aisha said, exasperated. "Witches don't necessarily have wands and cauldrons."

"Well, actually…" Tommy began, but then grew quiet at Aisha's look.

The woman looked amused. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm no witch. My cauldron is for supper rather than potions. And my staff…" She looked at it, her face turning a bit serious. "I suppose I can save more explanations after food and rest. You've all had quite an evening."

Tommy jumped in before Rocky could ask anything else. "We appreciate everything you've done for us. We're the… well… we were the Power Rangers from Earth."

Tommy looked down, rattled at hesitation in his voice. In unguarded moments, he still thought of himself as a Power Ranger, but every other moment he felt just as he'd done when he'd been stripped of his Green Ranger powers. Lost and vulnerable and afraid. And worse. Without an identity.

The woman looked at him, and seemed to look through him. "Yes… I know," she said, her voice sympathetic. "And I know why you're here. I tried to tell Ninjor that you were coming, but he seems to be… well… unwilling to talk at this time," she finished with a sour look.

"You know Ninjor?" Kimberly asked.

"I was actually entertaining the notion that you were Ninjor," Billy said, then blushed. "That was perhaps from watching Star Wars too many times."

"It'd have to be a pretty intense disguise," Tommy said. "I've met Ninjor, remember?"

The woman laughed. "Yes, he's told me about meeting you. No, not told. Complained." She stirred the soup. "Think of me as Ninjor's bodyguard. I am Dulcea, high priest of the Ninjetti temple and protector of Ninjor." She rolled her eyes. "Though, sounding board for all his complaints would be a more accurate description of my job."

Tommy opened his mouth, but Dulcea sighed and held up a hand. "Please, after we've all eaten. I know you've had an exhausting experience, and I'm clearly out of shape if running from some skeletal dinosaurs makes me this tired. I will answer all your questions. Just… later."

Tommy nodded and went back to the rest of the Rangers, leaving her to mutter over the simmering soup. Abruptly, she opened a hatch in the ground and disappeared inside it.

"So…" Adam said quietly, "are we buying her story? She did conveniently turn up when we needed her."

"How long do you think she was watching us struggle?" Kimberly pointed out.

"We don't have much to go on yet," Tommy said. "Aisha, you okay?"

"Been better," Aisha said, and they both winced remembering their argument earlier. "But I'm alive. Guys, she saved my life. She didn't have to. I say we hear her out for now."

"Not to mention I'm starving," Kimberly said. "I guess we just need to stay on our toes. What do you think, Rocky?"

Rocky was slumped on the stone bench. Ever since Dulcea had disappeared, he'd been staring at the cauldron, his eyes unfocused. He snapped back into focus. "Yeah, sounds great. I mean, it's not like she can get us all killed. Not while I'm here to do that just fine."

They stared at him.

Rocky laughed nervously. "I really just said that out loud, didn't I?"

Before they could respond, Dulcea returned, laden down with bowls, cups, and a drink cask. "If someone can fill this from the spring on the far edge of platform," she pointed toward it, "we can eat soon."

Rocky bounded to his feet. "Sounds like as good a distraction as anything!" He snatched it out of her hand and practically ran to the spring.


Skull crept around the side of the Youth Center. He'd had to take the long way around to get to avoid the birds on his way to the high school. He peeked around the corner and surveyed the area, every sense straining for the sight of fast-moving shadows and the rustle of feathers.

He figured it was as safe as it was going to get, so he turned the corner… and ran smack into a man and woman.

Skull jumped back and immediately put a hand on his mouth to barely stop the yelp of surprise. The couple looked startled, though much less than he thought was warranted.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the woman said. "We're a bit lost."

"You're tellin' me," Skull said. He waved his arms to try to hush both them and himself and looked around wildly, fully expecting feathery death to come swooping in at any moment. "What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be in an evacuation center."

"We're looking for our daughter," the man said. "She was supposed to be at her friend Billy's house, but we couldn't get an answer when we called. She's about your age. Do you know Aisha? Have you seen her?"

Skull scratched his head with his baseball bat. "I was looking for stragglers, but I think she would have checked in to an evac center. She helped Bulk set up the one in the gym. Well… helped plan it. I haven't seen her, actually…" Skull realized he was babbling and stopped at the horrified looks on their faces. "But you won't do her any good dead. There are bird monsters out here. I've been dodging them all day."

"Like them?" the Mrs. Campbell said, pointing.

Skull didn't even look behind him. He half tackled the couple into the entrance of the Youth Center. He felt a rushing sound behind him; a bird had just missed him, he was sure. This time, though, he didn't freeze. He raised his bad and turned around just in time to smash a swooping bird creature across the eyes.

"This door won't open!" the Mr. Campbell yelled, tugging at the door. It wouldn't, Skull knew. Ernie and his employees were already at the gym to help provide food for the evac center.

"You come in a car? Is it nearby?" Skull said, keeping a watch for another bird attack. They seemed to be keeping their distance and considering him. This scared Skull more than mindless attacks, but he tried not to show it.

"Yes," Mrs. Campbell said. "In the parking lot there."

"All right," Skull said. "Get the keys ready. We're making a break for it in three… two…"

The birds, sensing they were ready to bolt, swooped at them, but Skull and the Campbells were already on the move. Skull tried to provide cover from the rear as they ran, but a bird neatly caught the baseball bat in its talons and Skull suddenly found himself weaponless. He concentrated on running, zigzagging erratically so the birds wouldn't have a clear shot at him. Thankfully, the Campbells were doing the same thing, though out of strategy or panic Skull couldn't tell.

They threw themselves in the car, Skull full-length across the backseat in his haste to lock both doors after him. Mrs. Campbell gunned the gas, causing the car to streak away from the birds.

"What were those things?" Mr. Campbell said, but then was cut short when there was a loud thump against the roof of the car, which caved in slightly. Mrs. Campbell swerved the car just in time to miss the second attack from the pursuing giant birds.

"Go go go!" Skull yelled. "The high school! We can take shelter…" Then he swallowed. "No, we can't lead them there. They'd rip through the defenses in seconds."

There was another loud thump, and a single talon broke through the roof. They lurched away from it, and the car swerved again as the bird tried to free itself.

"It's going to rip through our defenses if we don't do something!" Mrs. Campbell said.

Skull was trying desperately to formulate a plan when he heard an electronic whine, followed by a blast and an indignant squawk. The talon disappeared, and they could see the bird rolling off the car onto the street.

Skull looked out the window, ready to cheer on the Power Rangers because damn was it about time… but he didn't see the Power Ranger. He saw a flying Volkswagen Beetle, one that looked vaguely familiar. From a window a futuristic gun was shooting laser fire at the giant birds. The ones it wasn't taking down were being effectively led away.

The Campbells stared at Skull, looking thoroughly shellshocked.

"You guys are fairly new to town, right?" Skull said. He shrugged. "Welcome to Angel Grove. Now let's get to the high school."


"And so that's what happened," Tommy said. "Our enemies used our own powers against us, and now we have none. We're out of allies, out of options, and our world is in danger." Tommy look a breath. He'd told Dulcea everything that had happened, and all the while she'd stared into the fire, not looking at him but listening intently nonetheless. "I mean, you may know all this already…"

"I wanted to hear it from your own lips," Dulcea said, still staring into the fire. "And what is it you wish from Ninjor?"

She probably knew this as well, but Tommy knew that he needed to formally ask. After all, he was asking a lot. "Ninjor created the power coins. We know he has created powerful artifacts for the side of good. We need more power to continue the fight against the forces of evil. More importantly, though… we need guidance. We only ask that Ninjor hear us out and offer the assistance that he deems appropriate."

He was phrasing this in a way they'd all discussed before. It seemed presumptuous for them to walk in demanding more power coins, and they didn't want to pressure someone who might range from standoffish to hostile. They wanted to seem humble so Ninjor could help them, either by creating new powers or by pointing them to where they could find some. Most importantly, they were appealing to his pride. He'd withdrawn from the war and continued to keep his distance from the war because he disagreed with how his weapons were used by people like Zordon. They needed to seem like they would follow his wishes on how to use them.

And, in truth, they needed advice. They were in uncharted waters without Zordon there to guide them. They were ready to get allies where they could.

Dulcea's eyes lit up with more than firelight. Her face softened, as if remembering a happy memory. Then she turned away from the fire to face them. "You've referred to this as a quest, and a quest it will remain. You've faced your past in the skeletal remains of your former zords. Now, in order to proceed, you must face yourselves and unlock your potential. Only then will you be ready to face Ninjor… and whatever he may require of you."

"So that's a yes?" Kimberly said cautiously.

Dulcea gave her a stern look. "I'm saying you will face the trials, and they will be difficult. You're going to be confronting yourselves, and we're always our own worst enemies." She sighed and gathered the last of the bowls. "Tomorrow, though. Tonight, you'll sleep."

She ducked back down into the trap door in the floor, and a minute later she was pulling out pallets for each of them. Any further questions were met with a stern look until they were all ready for bed.

"I will see you all in the morning," Dulcea said. "Rest well." With that, she disappeared back into her hole.

The Rangers looked at each other, surprised at the abruptness of both her decision and departure. However, they were too exhausted to complain too much.

Tommy shrugged. "I mean, it's not a no."

As they laid down, their last uneasy thoughts before sleep were on the trials. Most of them had, in a way, already faced themselves, and they worried how much worse it could be. And, still, they worried about their home and the people they'd left defenseless.


The Tengu Warriors had almost finished scouting through the mostly-empty town. They'd steered clear of the defended locations that were full of people. They harassed a few stragglers, but that wasn't their mission.

Their mission, in fact, had almost reached its culmination.

Carefully, they laid the egg in the warm sand, sand that would help it hatch soon. It was not one of their own eggs, but they felt kinship with it, so they circled around it tightly, guarding it with their life.

For in that egg laid the destruction of Angel Grove, and of Earth.