Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, or desire to own or make any money off the Power Rangers concepts and characters presented in this story. While the main characters and situation are new, and the timeline of this story differs from the television show, the majority of this stuff is owned by Disney (because Disney owns everything). Any character you've never seen on screen is mine.

Power Rangers: Geo-Force

Chapter 35: Grandmother

"How exactly did you go from being Aisha Campbell to Grandmother?" Conrad asked.

Six teenage Power Rangers and the Commander of SPD on Earth, himself a former Ranger, looked expectantly at the Geo-Force Rangers mentor, the woman now known as Grandmother, but who herself had once been the Yellow Power Ranger Aisha Campbell.

A small smile played at Aisha's lips. "I suppose I've kept that secret long enough," she replied. "Very well."

Aisha took a breath seemed to collect her thoughts, "As you know I, along with two of my dearest friends, Rocky DeSantos and Adam Park, replaced three of the original Rangers, they being Jason Scott, Zack Taylor, and Trini Kwan, from whom I took the mantel of the Yellow Saber-tooth Tiger. We were tapped by Zordon, in part, because we already knew the Ranger's identities, having discovered them when Lord Zedd attempted to convert us to his evil soldiers, despite Rita's earlier failure with Tommy."

Teleporting that first time was a bit disconcerting. It was as if the world shifted sideways, then righted itself completely different from how it started. That first look at the Command Center would forever after be burned into Aisha's memory . . . the two semi-circles of computer consoles, the viewing globe, the high domed walls of the main chamber covered in alien sigils, and then Alpha and Zordon.

As was usually the way with their little group, Aisha took the lead, since Rocky was bouncing with barely contained excitement, and Adam was in his quiet-yet-observant mode. When the original Rangers returned with the Sword of Light, they were ready to receive their powers. Zordon had explained that, due to the ongoing threat of Rita and Zedd, he had chosen to duplicate the Red, Black, and Yellow powers, not wanting to leave Jason, Zack, and Trini defenseless. It wouldn't be safe for the departing Rangers to use the duplicated powers very often, as the Power Coins held by Aisha, Rocky, and Adam had the primary link to the Grid, but they could keep themselves safe if attacked.

"As you know from your Ranger history, and the Archive, Zedd and Rita managed to disrupt the morphing grid once, leading us to seek out Dulcea and gain the Ninja powers."

The trek through the Desert of Despair was more annoyance inducing than despair inducing in Aisha's opinion. It was hot, dry, dusty, and even managed to dampen Rocky's boundless enthusiasm. Then again, the loss of their powers was making them all feel weird, Billy being the first to observe they were all likely in a mild state of shock from the sudden power loss. However, knowing that Rita and Zedd were likely taking advantage of their powerlessness spurred them onward.

When they finally arrived at the Temple of the Ninjetti, Aisha and Kimberly had to take the lead . . . since upon seeing Dulcea the boys became absolutely useless, except as breathing drool factories. You'd think they'd never seen a woman in a bikini before. Okay, they probably had never seen a six-foot plus redhead in a green leather/chain mail bikini who could hand a dozen Tenga their butts without breaking a sweat, but that was no excuse to be such . . . guys.

Then came the ritual. At first, Aisha didn't feel anything except frustration, a desire to be where she could do some good, protect people like Zordon had told her to. For some reason, she latched onto that feeling of protectiveness . . . and that's when she found the Bear. Her Bear was definitely a Mama, and her strength was meant to protect and defend.

"Not to interrupt," Tyler interrupted, "But I thought you lost those powers defeating Master Vile."

"Our power to morph completely was lost," Aisha replied, "as the Power Coins Dulcea created for us were destroyed. However, our Ninja forms, our channeling of our Animal Spirits, became a part of us and never left us. Unfortunately, especially for Kimberly, as she could have used it during that whole Maligore debacle, we didn't realize this until several years later."

"Regardless," Aisha continued, getting back on track, "part of our plans to defeat Master Vile required re-assembling the Zeo Crystal, so five of us, Tommy, Kat, Rocky, Adam, and I went on our quests for the individual crystals. My quest sent me to Africa, where I met Tanya. I also discovered that animals in the area were effected with a strange illness. I felt called to remain in Africa to address that problem and sent Tanya as my replacement. I spent many happy years there and became part of the local tribe. Things changed, however, the day Zordon died."

Aisha paused and closed her eyes, before sighing deeply and continuing, "The part of Africa I was in had seen little of the War, but on that day several squads of Chronotrons attacked my village. I, along with the tribe's warriors, fought off the invaders. I knew what had happened the instant the energy wave, what they now call the Zordon Wave, passed over the Earth.

Anda, the tribe's medicine woman, came to Aisha that morning, "A dark cloud approaches my child."

Aisha understood. She had a sense of foreboding the whole morning . . . the same she had any day Zedd tried something particularly nasty. It was only a few minutes later that the sentries called out their warning. Aisha ran to the edge of the village, stopping alongside Tu'Challa, the chieftain. He was looking off in the distance at the strangely moving black-and-silver and white-and-silver forms approaching their village.

"What are they?" he asked in the tribal tongue.

"Enemies," replied Aisha. "My friends warned me about them. Get everyone to safety." With that, Aisha did something she had not done in years. She reached down inside of herself and found the Bear waiting, "Ranger Ninja Power! The Bear!" In a flash of yellow, her Ninjetti uniform wrapped itself around her. Her senses heightened as the Bear spirit within her awoke.

Aisha moved to charge the Chronotrons, but strong hand grabbed her arm. She turned and looked into Tu'Challa's eyes. "You are part of this tribe now. Your fight is out fight," he said to her. Then he called out, "Warriors, attack!"

The battle was going poorly. The tribe's warriors had never fought anything like Chronotrons before. Much of Aisha's energy went into trying to keep casualties to a minimum, but even then, they lost several young men. The fight raged for what seemed like an eternity, and even Aisha had begun to tire when it hit . . . a wave of energy that turned the encroaching Chronotrons into dust. The warriors began to cheer in triumph, but Aisha collapsed in tears. She knew in her heart what had happened . . . Zordon had sacrificed himself to save the galaxy.

"It was not long after that I began having the dreams. They were of a wise woman, sitting deep within a cavern, surrounded by pictoglyphs, calling to me. After several weeks of having the dreams, I went to Anda. She informed me that I was being called by the Earth."

"The Mother calls you, child," the Wise woman said.

"Why?" Aisha asked.

Anda cast the bones she used for divination, and studied the patterns they formed for several long moments, "Your sacrificed Elder told Her of you."

"Zordon?"

Anda smiled. She gave Aisha a bag of supplies. "Follow the sun for three days. At the river, walk upstream for two days and you will find the cave of your visions. There you will find Grandmother, who is the voice of the Mother."

"Why?" Aisha asked.

"One day child, those will come who will need you to follow in Zordon's path."

"I followed Anda's instructions and found the cave, and met the previous Grandmother. There are no words to describe how ancient she was . . . she remembered Zordon's arrival on Earth. Time seemed to have no meaning there, and I really have no concept of how long I stayed there. However, over the decades she passed her knowledge onto me, and eventually her mantel. Not long after that I sensed the Elements stirring, and returned here to set up Sanctuary, in the same caverns in which Zordon and Alpha made their home."

A/N: Regarding the Ninja powers, in this AU they got them the TV way, rather than the movie way, but replace Ninjor with Dulcea, mainly because she was a much better character.