Chapter Twenty Eight: No Net Change

She still wasn't speaking with him.

Two days had gone by since the incident and Liz had reacted the hardest. Of course, it was a given that she would have, given her closeness with Michael but to not come to class for the two days was…well, it was difficult to say the least. At least she had an excuse with being with the family as they struggled to pull their life together but she was back for Friday at least. Weihan didn't pretend to understand how she was feeling but he had some idea. It wasn't really the same though as he could always teleport to San Angeles to see AJ whenever he wanted and they would both remember each other with much love. Liz's situation on the other hand…he shook his head and tried to think of the other bit of news he had received through the Dimensional Doorway. It was an after-action report on the most recent battle…and it concerned him greatly.

The battle had been rather tough for the Rangers to deal with as Night Shade had apparently taken it upon himself to look retrieve Gilda from her icy 'exile'. Whether or not he had retrieved Tricksy was up for debate as she hadn't been seen since her attack on the Changeling Lands. The monster, however, brought a chill of familiarity that ran through his entire body as it was a creature he would never forget. The Ogre, that had practically destroyed the old Thunderzords and had managed to cripple the upgraded versions, had somehow returned. Thankfully, whatever unholy force had resurrected it hadn't had the foresight to enlarge it right off the bat but, according to Billy, it had given them an extremely hard time. The images that had been sent over gave him serious chills as it seemed the creature had been crossed with scissors and, horrifyingly enough, a spider. It had taken a powerful strike from Billy for the monster to be defeated, but it had been a serious wake-up call for them. Although he tried desperately to dissuade the thoughts, a small part of his mind was slowly making the connections between Night Shade and Xonix. He had a feeling that he wouldn't like what came up.

"Anything yet?"

Looking up from his thoughts, he saw Bree looking curiously at him. The past two days had been hard on her as well, he knew. Continual calls from AJ to Bree had revealed to the blonde ex-reporter the drastic measures that had to be taken in order for their identities to be suppressed…and the fallout from said measures. From what Bree had told him, her sister had understood the method behind the supposed madness, but had seriously questioned the severity before her sister had set her straight. AJ had emailed him reassuring words, but chose to not get too involved with the current situation. Plus, it seemed like the leader of the incomplete Crystal Rangers was dangerously close to cracking under the pressure and she didn't want to make things worse with any careless words. He shook his head and glanced at the doors to the school, looking for the familiar form.

"No, nothing from Liz. I warned him though, you heard me warning him not to move or something like this would happen. It was always a possibility that the memories to be removed may be one or two days over but this…well, it's pretty much an extremely rare occurrence."

Of course, he was talking about the memory wiping and construction spell that had been applied to Michael. Although the first few seconds had been all right, the boy had started to strongly resist the magic working its way into his mind. To avoid a full memory wipe, Weihan had been forced to cast a binding spell to strengthen the ropes holding him. Unfortunately, this had meant there would be a very small amount of time in which the magic used for the mind wipe spell would be almost ten times as strong. The next thing any of them had known, there was a bright flash and the boy was out cold on the floor of the Ultra Cavern. He had created some 'evidence' to show to his parents and Liz volunteered to take him back to the battle scene…and his parents.

The only person who knew the full extent of the mental trauma was Liz as she had been close to the family and she wasn't really going to spill any details anytime soon. She was going through her 'Bad Future' event and he didn't want to do or say anything that would make her completely turn away from the Rangers or make her feel like everything was riding on her shoulders.

"They can still fight, right? Even without her as leader?"

"Yeah. The next Ranger in the Crystal's chain of command is Bec but I doubt she's feeling up to any leadership. Means I'll be leading the Crystals from now. Well, only until everything settles down."

She nodded and he briefly closed his eyes. He wondered what Zordon would have to say to him in this situation and he found himself wishing for the strange echoing voice that seemed to know everything. Of course, what would probably be said was how this was an issue that he had to solve himself; it was something that he already knew. He opened his eyes at Bree's sharp intake of breath to see Liz emerging from the college and make a direct beeline to the duo. The Ivory Tiger Ranger looked like she had a lot on her mind and was unsure as to what to do. Meeting her at the half-way point, he directed her into the alley near the school and looked around for eavesdroppers. Muttering a few words under his breath, he watched the air intently for the slight ripple-like effect that would mean the silencing spell had gone into effect. After a few seconds, he spoke.

"Liz, are you all right?"

She looked up at him, blinked and opened her mouth to answer. Her mind seemed to catch up to her mouth and she closed it again. Thoughts were rolling around in her mind in a complicated jumble and every single aspect of her world seemed to be buckling at her feet. The only person she could really turn to for advice was the same person who had changed Michael from the loving and kind person to someone who didn't even know what day it was. All right, maybe she was exaggerating a bit on the last point but she had a right to hold a tiny grudge against him, right? Shaking her head, she tried responding once more.

"I…no, I'm not. A small part of me thinks it was overkill but I know it was his fault for struggling. His parents accepted the explanation of the monster shooting a beam at him but…"

She swallowed hard as the memory of her now ex-boyfriend swam up in her mind's eye. The confusion and distress on his face had been heartbreaking to watch and she knew she would always carry the guilt inside her. It would be so easy to pin the blame on the Orange Ranger and assuage her feeling of guilt…but something held her back. She didn't know what it was but, whatever it was, it was holding her back and making her face her guilt and inner turmoil. It had been practically child's play to doctor up some footage of the monster shooting a beam of some sort at Michael as he pushed Liz out of the way of an attack. The fact that this act of 'bravery' had been recorded by the Rangers was praised by his parents but the person in question didn't remember it at all. In fact…she sighed to herself and spoke once more.

"He didn't recognise me. Of course he didn't recognise me. Two years of life experience…wiped out in an instant. His family are moving him to the Central Coast to some special facility there. They think the memories can be recovered but they can't…and I don't know if I want them to be recovered. I can't help to think if there was another way…"

Weihan nodded, stunned that two years of memories had been wiped out by the powerful magic. It had come to a shock that the light had been brighter than anticipated but as none of the others were experiencing any form of memory loss, the whole thing had been deemed a success. It had only been later that night when the first seed of doubt had been planted due to a secure text message sent from Liz's phone to them. She had only written one thing:

He remembers less

She hadn't come to class the next day and all attempts to communicate were met with non-response. The news reports surrounding the family hadn't shed any light, only that something had happened to their son that was the cause of a monster attack…which was stuff that they already knew about. Pushing all that out of his mind, he sighed and wondered what the 'other way' would have possibly been. With the loss of the hard evidence, Michael would have been labelled as one of the nutjob conspiracy theorists that kept insisting 9/11 was the work of aliens and that portals to the past were opening up in London. However, he would have become a danger to himself and would have constantly endangered himself by going into battles even when told not to. Of course, that was all conjecture, but he could have seen the boy doing such a dangerous act…just to unmask them once more. Looking around to see that the spell was still in effect, only seeing Bree at the edges, he spoke in a low voice.

"Liz, the world at large isn't ready to learn our identities. The identities of the Astro, Lightspeed and maybe Time Force Rangers are public because at those times, the world needed to know the people behind the helms. Well, now TJ's saying that the reveal of the Astro Rangers was done in the spur of the moment…but anyway, if all of Sydney knew that I became a Ranger a year into High School, there would be riots everywhere and we would be literally shackled to the government."

She nodded slowly, his words shedding light onto what she knew in her heart. She didn't want to be the pet lapdog of the Howard government and she surely doubted any of the others would want to be as well. She looked up at the sky and at the clouds that slowly moved across the sky and sighed once more. There had been a lot of changes occurring to her personal life and she needed space and time to deal with them. The only problem with this dilemma was explaining it to Weihan. The young man looked like he would understand her quandary but, at the same time, the Rangers needed her and…she was getting confused once more. Maybe she could ask for a trip to Equestria to get away from the Rangers and think, but Equestria had its own team of Rangers and she would be dragged into the fighting no matter what. She rubbed the back of her neck before opening her mouth to attempt an explanation of what she wanted.

"I get it, I really do but…how do I put this?"

She closed her mouth and rubbed the back of her neck. The words were in her mind but she couldn't get them out into the open. It was almost as if her throat and mouth had been replaced with hard-packed cotton wool. Licking her lips once again, she opened her mouth and tried to convey her meaning…but all that came out was a few disjointed squeaks and grunts. Frustrated, she looked into his eyes and tried to convey her desires through her eyes – the windows into the soul. Unfortunately, it seemed as if her windows had fogged up somehow and she growled in her throat. Somehow managing to see through her underperforming actions, the Orange Ranger chuckled quietly and placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking up into his eyes once again, she felt all of her doubts and insecurities melt away and she swallowed hard, suddenly afraid of what he was going to say.

"Take all the time you need. No rush, though. The bad guys will still be around."

As she blinked hard, Weihan chuckled once more. It was pretty clear to him that she wanted to take some time away from the Rangers, which was understandable given the events of the past few days. A small part of him even felt a sharp stab of jealousy towards her, as she was able to retreat from the world of the Rangers…whereas he had forged on ahead. On the other hand, at that time, he had been the only Ranger that could stand up to Xonix and he needed to form a team to ensure the Bad Future didn't happen. Circumstances were different in this situation and having an emotionally fragile Ranger leading a team wasn't good for anyone involved. Looking down at the sudden flash of light, he saw that she had summoned her Ivory Coin and was more than likely about to hand it over to him. Shaking his head, he closed his fingers over hers, ensuring that the Coin stayed within her possession. She looked at hem, confused by his action and he allowed one lopsided smile to flicker over his face as the silencing spell flickered out.

"Keep it. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one to finally get Emma onto our side."

She smiled once more and walked out of the alley, only stopping once to nod at Bree. The redhead jogged up to him and looked quizzically at the retreating Ranger. She hadn't heard anything of what had been said prior to the big speech, but she guessed the Ivory Ranger had things on her mind that needed some time away from battles to sort through. Walking towards the entrance of the alley with the boy, she sighed and wondered what she would do if she was in the same situation. Turning her head towards the Orange Ranger, she was surprised to see a rather pensive look on his face and knew, from what her sister had told her about his moods, that he was more than likely dwelling on some of the darker aspects of his past. Knowing that she had to snap him out of whatever funk he was beginning to get in before it totally consumed his mind, she asked a question that had – to her mind – a rather obvious answer.

"Did ya really mean all that stuff you said?"

Wrenched out of his thoughts at the sudden question, Weihan turned to regard the young girl with a careful eye. Pausing at the alley's entrance, he looked around him once again and recast the silencing spell. Sitting down on the curb and adjusting his blazer, he nodded once as his internal 'Ranger Radar' registered a presence coming behind him. Opening up a subtle link that would allow whoever it was to listen into his words, he inhaled deeply and began speaking.

"Yeah, I did. The world isn't ready and I doubt it will be for a very long time. Maybe in the future when we're all dead, they'll understand the reasons but as the world is now...not going to happen. The world is too disjointed and split for any real understanding to take place. In a hypothetical situation, if we revealed our identities to the world tomorrow, there would be a brief surge in support for the cause of the Rangers. We would be invited everywhere to have dinner with everyone in any position of importance and we would be the talk of the town for the next few months. The world would love us and, for a while, we would be true heroes.

Then the questions would start up. Why didn't we do this? Why didn't we save him or save her from death? Why did we say we were only concerned about defeating monsters when the Power Rangers save people and destroy monsters? Governments around the world would begin pressuring us to fight their wars and soon, Ultra Rangers would be fighting Ultra Ranger because the man with the leash said so. If any civilian deaths ensued, the governments would wash their hands clean of any involvement and state that we were the only ones to blame. The location of the Ultra Cavern would be pinned down and we would be forced to watch the governments of the world divvy up our resources to fund their campaigns of global warfare. Heaven forbid we actually rebel against the government as we would be seen as the enemy and be more than likely forced to leave Earth.

Even that wouldn't work as we would have to take our families and friend groups with us to ensure they weren't harassed. We would live in Earth's orbit but, eventually, we would become so fed up that we would leave Earth to be taken over by Xonix or whatever evil force of the day popped up. Later we would take Earth back by force but I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that the Ultra Rangers hold, and have pretty much always held, the short end of the stick. There are no revolving enemies for us to beat – only one who is continually getting stronger to match us. Twelve Rangers spread out everywhere wasn't going to cut it this year and the Crystal Coins revealed themselves. I have my doubts that nineteen Rangers will be enough in a few years, but we don't even have nineteen now. With Liz on leave until further notice, we only have fourteen Rangers on standby."

"Make it fifteen."

Bree's head whipped around to stare at Tara as she drew closer. The girl looked nervous but calmed at the same time, as if she had made a life-changing decision. That was probably the case as she had been seen on the computers looking up various news reports of the Ultra Rangers from the very beginning to the most recent attacks. As Weihan didn't seem surprised or shocked she had been listening in, he probably knew of her decision already and had made the proper preparations. The Orange Ranger stood up and brushed himself off before turning to regard Tara. Not even flinching once at the intensity of his gaze, she nodded once and opened her mouth to affirm her decision.

"I'm ready to join."

TBC…