As soon as they were sure the two were gone Adam Aisha and Rocky popped back out of the closet. "Come on." Aisha said "We're losing time."
They ran down several corridors behind Finster and Raquel so they knew where they were. Perhaps they would find Jason that way and at the very least they knew where the danger was this way.
They went through a bunch of dungeon places. They stopped and listened to something very interesting.
"What did you do to her?" yelled a boy's voice.
"Raquel? Are you alright?" a girl's voice cried.
"Stop it," Finster said "I have to get her to her quarters and you're distracting her."
"I know you," Raquel said "don't we play together?"
"Yes, yes, you play together, but you cannot play right now. It's time for bed. Come on." Finster said pulling Raquel away.
"Aw, I'm not even sleepy." Raquel said with a whine.
"Don't hurt her!" The girl's voice yelled then as the footsteps started to fade they heard the voice saying "I don't like this Billy, something weird is happening here."
"Billy?" Adam said.
The three ran into the room and indeed the blue and yellow rangers were there. "Quick where are the keys?" Aisha asked.
The two stared at the teens as though they didn't quite comprehend what was going on. Billy pointed to the wall and they unlocked the dungeon cells one at a time. Billy and Trini stumbled out and looked at each other. "We're free." Trini said giving Billy a hug. After a moment they pulled apart and looked very serious "Who are you?" Trini asked.
"We're friends of Zack and Jason. We're looking for Jason. Ninjor's helping us look too. Come on." Aisha said.
Rocky opened his pack and pulled out the morphers he found "You might want these." He said.
"I thought Zedd destroyed our morphers." Trini said in surprise.
"Apparently he just used them to generate the new evil ranger powers. More like a guideline for them. Intriguing, I'll have to try that." Billy said.
"Think about it later. Come on." Aisha said.
Ninjor and Raymond were going much more quickly than Adam, Aisha, and Rocky. Perhaps that was because Ninjor was experienced in tracking. They soon came to a cavern where they could see Jason, Zedd, and the Green Ranger all in one room.
"Stay close to me, Raymond." Ninjor said as quietly as possible.
Raymond nodded but couldn't make a sound. He was too much in shock of the horror he saw before him. Jason was very weak now. He could hardly keep himself up. Zedd was torturing him horribly yet it was by magic so there was no actual mess. Just a feeling of darkness and evil permeating the room and Jason's obvious pain.
"And so ends the erra of Zordon's earth power rangers." Zedd laughed "You are lucky that I tire of this. You can die now, and you can stop feeling the pain."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Ninjor yelled jumping into the room. Raymond held his gun and followed. Zedd growled and pointed his staff at Jason fully intending to fire quickly, but when he fired something fell in the way. Jason had just enough energy to get away from his perilous position. He barely noticed that there was a flaming backpack next to him.
"Yeah, that was smart." Aisha yelled at Rocky "Now you don't have a weapon."
"Oh yeah," Rocky muttered.
"Stay behind us." Billy said stepping farward.
"Right, it's morphing time!" Trini yelled.
"Billy? Trini?" Jason muttered in shock as the two morphed before his eyes.
Adam, Aisha and Rocky ran to Jason, to help him up. Billy and Trini attacked Zedd with Ninjor's aid.
Green Ranger suddenly attacked Ninjor. "Get away from him!" Green Ranger growled angrily, but then he howled in pain as he felt something hit him in the arm. He turned and saw Raymond holding a blaster.
Green Ranger charged him, but Raymond put up his shield. It protected him from the initial blow. The other three teens ran to tackle him.
"Don't kill him." Jason muttered "Got to save him. I promised to save them."
Trini looked over from their fight with Zedd. She also noted that the chamber was starting to be flooded with monsters and putties. Goldar was starting to enter the room.
"I think we need to go." She said calmly.
"Yes, the odds are against us. We can fight another day." Billy said running over to get Jason. The two lifted him up "Come on!" they called to the four. Everyone ran out of the palace, with Ninjor guarding the back.
"Jason you have to morph to go outside." Trini said.
"I can't morph." Jason said "Zordon stripped me of my powers. I failed."
"No, he didn't." Adam said quietly.
"I think Zedd did whatever he did to Zack to Jason." Raymond commented "It was just an illusion."
"Just trust us; you can morph." Aisha said.
Jason looked at Billy and Trini who nodded "Do it Jason, hurry."
Jason morphed though it obviously took a ton of effort on his part. They pulled him outside. Raymond started to make contact with the command center. They could see the monsters coming out after them.
"Come on Alpha." Raymond muttered. Suddenly they felt that feeling of being pulled away, and they disappeared from sight.
Zedd was very angry. His prisoners had escaped right before his victory.
Tommy's wound form Raymond's blast had been bad. He was forced to demorph. He tried to kneel and hear out his master's abuse and frustration for failure. Zedd looked like he was about to yell but finally turned away from Tommy. "At least they're weakened. Go get Finster to fix up your wounds, boy." He snapped.
Tommy nodded his head respectfully and went off to find Finster.
Zedd growled and sat down on his thrown.
Goldar growled from the corner in raged that the rangers were not going to get chewed out.
"You have something to say?" Zedd snapped at him.
"Your rangers failed you, yet you did nothing to them." Goldar growled in frustration.
"Well it's not like you did any better? In fact their job was to deal with the illusion spell yours was to guard the palace. You let the rangers in! You failed!" Zedd yelled.
Tommy couldn't help but smile as he heard Goldar getting chewed out.
All seven teenagers and Ninjor appeared in the command center. "Quick let me have a look at you Jason." Trini said frantically. Rinally she said "No permanent damage, but you took quite a beating. You need to rest."
Jason looked over at the force field "Zack?" he said "Is he going to be alright? What's wrong with him?"
"You were both under an illusion spell." Zordon said.
"More convincing than any spell I've been under before." Jason said "It felt so real, as real as this does."
"It was being fuled by the Green and Red Ranger. They were able to tap into your connection to the morphing grid and make a new world in both your mind and theirs." Zordon said.
"Yeah, Raquel seemed almost as screwed up as Zack, just less violent." Rocky said.
"Wait, the evil rangers are people too?" Raymond said "Raquel goes to our school, right? Why is she helping evil aliens?"
"She's under a spell. Both of the evil rangers are." Trini explained "Speaking of spells, how are we going to fix Zack?"
"I do not know. Zachary is very strong and cunning. With help I am sure he will find a way out of his confusion. Until then we must watch him at all times to insure he does not hurt himself." Zordon said gravely.
The others all nodded. Serious looks passed all around.
Ninjor looked down at Kimberly's bottle "You have a few more minutes before we must return."
"How much longer till she gets better?" Jason asked.
"Soon, I'd say just a few more weeks." Ninjor said "I'll let you talk alone." He motioned to Rocky Adam, Aisha, and Raymond to follow him, and they left the Rangers alone.
"I'm so sorry Kim, it's my fault. All of this is my fault." Jason said.
"No, it's not. It's Zedd's fault." Kimberly said "We just have to remember we're not invincible, that's all. It is not your fault."
"Affirmative, there is no way you could have predicted Zedd's attacks." Billy said.
"Especially since most of them seemed to be the Tommy and Raquel's attacks. They're kind of unpredictable." Trini said.
They all started talking and laughing.
Raymond watched the rangers almost enviously "They sure are good friends." He commented quietly.
"Just like us." Adam said.
"Yeah, the four of us are a team." Aisha said.
"We didn't do half bad." Rocky said.
The four of them smiled.
"Yes, you did quite well." Ninjor said quietly "You have great courage and skill. You have the hearts of true ninja warriors."
"Thank you." Rocky said politely.
"We just wish there was more we could do to help." Aisha said in a very serious voice.
"Perhaps there is." Ninjor said "The rangers are weaker and more vulnerable than they ever have been before. They could use allies."
"We'll always be there for them." Rocky said.
"I know you will, Rocky, but you could become a very strong fighting force yourself. I am offering you a chance to hone your natural skills by training with Ninjor." Ninjor said.
The four looked shock.
"Train with you?" Rocky said.
"Really?" Aisha said "You're not kidding?"
"I never joke about training students. It is rare to find young people as brave as yourselves." Ninjor said.
"We'd love to train with you." Adam suddenly blurted out.
"Yeah, I'm in." Rocky said.
"Me too," Aisha said.
"I- I'd love to, but I don't feel like I'm much of a fighter." Raymond said nervously "I'm not sure if I could do it."
"I believe you can, if you believe you can." Ninjor said.
"Come on Ray," Rocky said "you wouldn't be by yourself. We'd be with you every step of the way."
Raymond smile "Alright, I'm in too."
Ninjor nodded "Than tomorrow mourning you will start your ninja training. Keep your coins; I will use them to contact you."
Everyone was sad to see Kimberly and Ninjor leave. An excuse had to be made up for Zack and Trini and Billy had to get ready to finally return home.
Before they all teleported home, except for Adam who had chosen to take first watch on Zack, Jason turned to the four "I'm really glad you guys were there today. I know I kind of pushed you aside at first. I was just so preoccupied with what had happened and I didn't want to get you tangled up in this. You guys did well and I am proud to call you allies." Even Zordon seemed content with everything looking up again.
"Well?" Zedd asked loudly over insane laughter.
"Red Ranger will make a full recovery in a few days. She taxed herself too much forming two separate realities for both Rangers." Finster said "That much effort would have killed most humans. She's very lucky."
Zedd nodded "They aren't normal humans. They can take more punishment than the rest of their breed. How is the Green Ranger?"
"He should be up again tomorrow. I gave him a sedative. Whoever that kid was, he was not used to firing a blaster." Finster said "His pride is hurt more than he is. They both need rest after such a long illusion spell, or your hold on them may become weaker. They were not able to tell which wills were theirs, yours, and the rangers after prolonged exposure."
"You are sure that they will be back to normal in a few days." Zedd growled.
"Undoubtedly," Finster said "however I would like to keep them here for observation till they recover."
"Do it," Zedd said "Make the necessary arrangements," He turned to leave and said "and Finster, make her stop laughing. It's giving me a headache."