Green with Evil
Missing
Part II
Rita's palace was less than gloomy than usual. It was still dark, cold and clammy, but there was a certain ambiance that made everything different. For the first time in over 1,000 years, Rita felt like she was winning. With Zordon gone, the command center all but destroyed and the Power Rangers single-handedly defeated by her Green Ranger, what wasn't there to be happy about?
Rita dances around her throne with Baboo and Squat close behind her. Goldar remains in the corner of the throne room, unmoving and his red eyes peeled. Goldar was concerned for his Queen, feeling that she was putting too much into the Green Ranger. From the staircase, Finster arrives carrying an old book with ancient writing on the spine and cover. A thick layer of dust made a home of the book as it probably hasn't been touched since before Rita's untimely capture.
"I found it, My Queen," Finster says before bowing his head in respect. Rita stops dancing abruptly which causes Baboo to also stop in his place and then Squat to crash into him, both of them falling onto the ground with a loud thud. Rita turns around glares at her clumsy minions.
"Will you two block-heads cut it out?" Rita turns around and grabs the book, "Excellent. This is one of my most coveted spell books of all times. Hello my pet," she says adoringly as she wipes a layer of dust off the cover. She opens the book and begins to turn the tattered pages and stops on particular page with strange hieroglyphics and the outline of a weapon.
"What is it for?" Baboo asks, shoving Squat off of him.
"I wanted to reward my Green Ranger for his efforts by giving him a weapon of absolute darkness," she begins, "The Sword of Darkness." Goldar stands upright and his crimson eyes wide as they can be.
"You can't be serious?" Goldar says, but Rita chooses to ignore him. "The Sword of Darkness is not to be trifled with." Rita snaps her head toward Goldar, her eyes glaring. Baboo and Squat giggling behind her.
"Do I look to be a trifling mood, Goldar?" Rita says challenging her second in command.
"I mean no offense, my Queen. But the Sword of Darkness twists the soul. It turns its wielder into something so dark that it cannot be controlled," Goldar tries to keep his voice controlled and respectful, but he wants to get his point across. "Look at what the Dark Armor did to that last human you put your faith in? He died so quickly it was practically a waste of time. Why shall we repeat history?" Rita raises her hand to silence Goldar and he bows his head.
"I think I can control my Green Ranger, Goldar. He's so devoted to me – he would never betray me. And, the Sword of Darkness will seal the deal with his affiliation," Rita says. Baboo and Squat look at each other confused.
"Are you concerned he could change?" Finster asks.
"No. But there is always the possibility. When that human Daniel wore the Dark Armor, he wasn't fully consumed by darkness – some humanity remained, which prevented the dark ritual to fully consume the Dragon Coin in evil. There is still a chance of humanity. But if Tommy bonds with the Sword of Darkness, there will be no light in this world that could change him," Rita explains.
"And he'll be unstoppable!" Squat chimes in, to which Rita nods her head to agree.
"But if I remember correctly, the Sword of Darkness doesn't bond itself to anyone. There's a price to pay, yes?" Squat asks.
"Indeed. Blood from one of a pure of heart," Finster recites from the book and looks up to Rita. "I don't think that'll be necessarily easy to find."
"Ha," Rita cackles, "it's already taken care of. Tommy used his powers to send the Red Ranger to the Dark Dimension Chamber. He's completely isolated from Zordon's other brats. My Green Ranger will make minced meat of the Red Ranger and then, once bonded with the sword, nothing will be able to stop him."
"So we shall see," Goldar mutters. Rita waves her hand a crystal ball and it floats over to her. This crystal acts as the direct telepathic link between herself and Tommy. Her fingers dance over the crystal ball and Tommy suddenly appears inside.
"Hello my Green Ranger, I have a task for you," She says with a wicked grin.
The command center didn't particularly look better than the previous days, but Billy certainly had been putting all of his extra time and energy into making it as sufficient as possible - and with Alpha 5 finally fully operational again they were determined more than ever to get Zordon back.
"I'm transmitting new calibrations now. Make sure the circuitry can withstand the voltage," Billy instructs from the main console while Alpha is standing behind a newer computer. "Spreading through the system now." Billy enters code and presses a big red button, suddenly all of the alarms go off and the circuits that Alpha is holding begin to flare up, sparks flying everywhere.
"Ayi-yi-yi-yi-yi!" Alpha exclaims and drops the wire before any damage is done. Billy enters more code and presses the red button again, turning off the main console.
"Perplexing," Billy says, pushing his glasses from the tip of his nose back to his face. "Are you okay, Alpha?"
"Affirmative. I just don't understand why it didn't work this time," Alpha replies.
"We'll figure it out. Don't worry," Billy reassures the robot, even though he doesn't quite believe himself. Pink, Yellow and Black lights fill the room as Kimberly, Trini and Zack appear. Billy smiles and turns to Alpha, "That's progress!"
"Indeed," Alpha agrees. Kimberly, Trini and Zack make their way up to Billy and examine the progress he's made.
"So, the teleportation system is operational," Trini says.
"Affirmative. I made sure that was priority when I got here," Billy replies. Trini, Zack and Kimberly walk over to Billy and examine the progress he's made.
"It's looking a little better," Zack says, "Any luck with Zordon?"
"Negative. We're unable to fix our dimensional locator," Alpha says.
"We will," Billy says confidently.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay. When you weren't in the parking lot after school we all thought something had happened," Kimberly says.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. We were just making so much progress I didn't want to stop," Billy explains.
"Yeah, the communicators didn't work so…" Kimberly says and Billy nods his head.
"Right, right. They should be fixed…now," Billy presses a button and all four of their communicators sound off in unison.
"Well that's a relief," Kimberly says. "Also, Billy, do you think you can help me in the Medical lab? My muscles are still so sore. I tried to stretch this morning and I nearly cried," Trini pats Kimberly's back comfortingly – after the Green Ranger's energy ball attack, Kimberly's injuries were extremely severe; thankfully she received the help when she did.
"Absolutely," Billy replies. "But guys, where's Jason?"
"Oh, he had to go talk to the new kid – Tommy – about something," Zack said and Kimberly doesn't even try to be subtle making a loud grunt and rolling her eyes. Zack raises his communicator to his face and presses the button, "Jason, come in." Much to their surprise though only white noise is heard.
"That's strange," Billy says, a hint of concern in his voice.
"Is he out of range?" Trini asks.
"There's no way. His communicator just might be trashed. Alpha can you lock onto Jason?" Billy asks and the automaton runs over to a computer and begins entering code.
"Negative, Ayi-yi-yi-yi-yi! Jason's missing!" Alpha says panicked. The rangers run over to him and look at the monitor, none of them but Billy knowing what they're looking at.
"What do you mean missing?" Zack asks.
"The Morphing Grid can't find him. Jason – like all of you – are linked to the Morphing Grid, as well as your power coins. Neither Jason nor the Tyrannosaurus Power Coin are on Earth!" Alpha explains and begins to panic once more.
"That's gotta be a mistake. We just saw him," Zack says. "We need to figure this out."
"Split up?" Billy suggests.
"Yeah, it makes the most sense. Kimberly, you get set up in the Medical lab. Billy, you stay here and try and see if you get a lock on Jason," Zack instructs and then looks to Trini, "Will you help me look for him?" Trini, while still being apprehensive toward Jason, nods her head.
"Of course," she replies; Zack smiles.
"We'll be back soon, let us know if you find anything," Zack says and both he and Trini activate their teleportation devices and are consumed by black and yellow lights. And then they're gone.
When they arrived at the school, they were disturbed to find no signs of Jason, or anyone really. Only the Janitors and few teachers remained but none of them had seen Jason. From there they went to the Youth Center and asked around but no luck there either. The next stop was the basketball court, the park, the gym and then slowly but surely they were running out of ideas and getting more and more worried. The last place they decide to look is Jason's house.
When they get there Trini becomes overwhelmed with a bad feeling and folds her arms. Zack notices the change in her and stops.
"Are you okay?" he asks.
"Something just doesn't seem right," Trini says. "I don't think he's here…"
"He may not be, but we have to try," Zack says. He leads Trini to Zack's front door and finds a note tapped to it. It's a white letter with the words "THIRD NOTICE" in big, red font. Zack looks at Trini who didn't seem to make any sense of it either. Just as Zack knocks on the door, it cracks open, apparently having not been shut properly.
"What do we do?" Trini says awkwardly.
"Hello?" Zack calls out but no answer. Zack gently pushes the door open and reveals an empty looking front room. "Maybe he was here, he wouldn't have just left the door open." Zack crosses the threshold and Trini follows. They look around and try to be quiet in case someone unfriendly is in the house.
The more they get into the house, the more they notice the awful condition it's in. There's a weird layer of smoke hanging in the air and bottles everywhere with some stains on the carpet. When they get into the kitchen they see a bunch of letters scattered all across the kitchen bar. There is another letter that bore the same font and verbiage as the one on their front door, this one labeled "SECOND NOTICE". Zack reaches for the letter and see's the word 'eviction' in bold.
"Oh my god," Trini says, shocked.
"Who are you?!" slurs a voice from behind them – both Trini and Zack turn around in fear and find Jason's mother, propped up on a pillow on a couch with a bottle of some kind in her hand. Her eyes rapidly opening and closing.
"Hi Mrs. Scott," Zack says, his voice shaky, unsure of what he's looking at. "Have you seen Jason anywhere?"
"Jason?" she says with an upward inflection and her eyes close. They open again sharply, "His father left us. Maybe he's there. Jason is…who is Jason?" and then she falls back asleep and the bottle in her hand falls to the ground. Trini and Zack stand extremely still for a few moments and then exchange glances. They finish searching the house but find no signs of him. They close the door tightly and stop at the driveway, trying to collect what they just saw.
"Oh my god," Trini says over and over again, the only phrase that could come out of her. "Did you know Jason's father left?" Zack shakes his head.
"No, Jason said his dad has been on a lot of trips lately but…oh, man," Zack says as a revelation comes over him.
"What?" Trini inquires.
"It's all starting to make sense now. Jason has been teaching so many Karate classes. He's been saving up money like crazy. You saw his Mom; I think Jason is single-handedly trying to take care of his mother." Trini's eyes widen and then she looks away, trying to process the information.
"It would certainly explain why he's so tired and stressed all the time. But surely that can't be the case. We've known Mrs. Scott for years – why would she let Jason go through that?"
"She didn't seem exactly all together there…" Zack points out.
"Why wouldn't he tell us? It just doesn't make any sense," Trini says.
"Doesn't it though? Jason is our leader now. He tries to look out for everybody, that's always been his thing," Zack replies.
"But now who's looking out for him," Trini says and Zack doesn't have an answer. "And now he's missing. I really do think something's happened to him Zack. Something really bad."
"I have that feeling, too," Zack agrees.
"I just feel so stupid. The last real conversation I can remember having with Jason was just us fighting. I know I was upset, but…if something happens to him I'll never forgive myself for how I've been acting around him," Trini says, her voice choking up.
"Hey, it's okay. Jason understands where you're coming from. Jason cares about you a lot. Don't beat yourself up, let's just try and focus on finding him, okay?" Zack holds open his arms and embraces Trini in a hug. "Look, I think we should keep this between us, okay?"
"Are you sure?" Trini asks.
"Yeah, he definitely wouldn't want us knowing about this or else he would have told us," Zack says.
"We cant just pretend we didn't see that, though. Jason needs help," Trini says.
"We should give him a chance to explain. But I think it should stay between us. Billy is stressed out enough with the command center and trust me when I say he wouldn't want Kimberly knowing. Jason wouldn't want to risk her looking at him any differently," Zack says.
"He really likes her, doesn't he?" Trini asks, but already knows the answer; Zack nods his head anyway. "Okay, let's get back to the command center. Maybe Billy have some kind of lead."
"I can only hope. I have a bad feeling that Rita is behind this – and with Jason gone, I just feel like she's going to attack us soon," Zack says, confirming Trini's fears. They activate their teleportation decides and disappear in black and yellow lights.
It's dark, foggy, cold and nowhere familiar. Jason stops walking, having felt like he's been doing so for hours now. Nothing looks different than before so he didn't know if he's on a road without end or in a perpetual circle.
"Hello?" he calls out, probably for the hundredth time since he's been there. "How did I get here…" he mutters to himself. Jason sets his bookbag down and raises his communicator to his mouth and presses buttons. "Command center, come in," but only white noise is heard. "Zack, Billy – anybody…" Still only white noise and he lets his arm fall limp behind him. None of this made any sense.
He turns around and around trying to see if something stands out, something that might give him some kind of inclination as to where he is, but finds nothing. He picks up his bag and is about to begin walking when he hears something – something like that sounds like footsteps.
"Hello?" he calls out; no response. "I don't like this…I need to get the hell out of here." He remains where he stands looking around. From behind him a figure suddenly appears – the silhouette of the Green Ranger. The Green Ranger raises his arm revealing a sword in his hand. "This is just a bad dream, right?" Jason says.
"More like a nightmare," says the Green Ranger, surprising Jason and causing him to turn around quickly, just in time for the Green Ranger to bring his sword down upon him. Jason lets out a painful yell and a little stream of blood trickles down to the ground.
