Chapter 49
Rage Against the Machine
Prince Sprocket let out a long sigh as he turned away from the window of his parents' ship and crossed his arms over his metal chest. "Daddy, when are we going to get there? I want to destroy another planet and this is taking too long."
"Dear, I don't think Sprocket will last much longer," Queen Machina said to King Mondo, who sat on his throne with an expression of indifference on his face. "You know how he gets when he gets like this. The last time it was to take a leak, now it's that he wants to take time to destroy something."
"He takes after his father," King Mondo replied with an air of pride. His eyes shifted over towards Prince Gasket, his and Queen Machina's eldest son, and his wife Archerina, then to Klank and Orbus. "That's more than I can say about the rest of these lazy bags of bolts. Is it so much to ask for them to have the same kind of drive I do to take over every planet we can get our hands on. I think they're just along for the ride."
"Now dear, you know as well as I do that once we get to Earth and land, they'll be more inclined to destroy everything they can get their hands on," Queen Machina reassured her husband. She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's nothing we need to worry about."
"Daddy!" Prince Sprocket cried again.
"Though we need to worry about this one," Queen Machina said. "He'll probably turn on the thrusters and send us into the planet destroying it that way." She laughed before turning to her son and placing a hand on his head. "Patience, Sprocket, we're nearly there."
"I just want to see the place we're going to take over," Sprocket continued to whine. He moved and placed his face against the window that overlooked the galaxy. "I want to see what species we're going to kill off. The last ones weren't very interesting. They just sat there and took it. I want to see them squirm, Daddy."
King Mondo laughed appreciatively as he turned back to the control panel that sat in front of him. Amongst the futuristic buttons, knobs, and dials was a screen in between them all, showing what was ahead of them. He smiled as the picture of Earth loomed closer and closer. It was the best place for them to take over next. He had seen how badly Rita and Zedd had tried to conquer it and they had failed, it was perfect timing that they had runoff before he and the rest of his cohorts arrived. They had nothing against the Machine Empire; if King Mondo could destroy planet after planet and conquer galaxy after galaxy this wasn't going to be an issue.
Now, all they had to do was figure out where they were going to set up camp and start their world domination. Power Rangers be damned. There was no one that sided with the alliance of evil that didn't know who the power rangers were; they were just a little nuisance that could easily be contained and exterminated when the time came. If Zordon could be encompassed within a time tube, then he could destroy everything about that planet.
It was only a matter of time.
"Does anyone else find it kind of weird or is it just me?" Billy rested his head on his upraised palm as he leaned against the couch. He legs stretched out in front of him and crossed his legs at the ankle, his eyes moving around the other team members with him. "We started out with a team that had known each other for so long…and now we're changing team members sooner than I had ever anticipated."
"Well, let's be honest here, Billy, you didn't really think you were a good ranger when we started," Jason reminded him. He smiled a little as he gently rocked himself back and forth in the armchair that sat in the Cranston's living room. "If I remember correctly, you were the one that would have rather run away from the putties and pick them off one by one that way than right them."
The former blue ranger rolled his eyes as a light round of laughter moved around him. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to take them out strategically than through fighting. You taught me that, remember," he reminded him.
Tommy smiled. "That may be one of the biggest rules you learn in martial arts, but when it comes to aliens from other galaxies and planets, I think immediately going into a fight can be excused." He lay on his stomach on the floor with Bailey sitting on his lower back, resting her arms on his head. The smile slid from his face as he took in what Billy was saying. "But I get your point. We've managed to change our powers and our zords so much…" he trailed off for a moment as his falcon zord nestled in front of him in its small form. Since the rangers had changed to their Zeo powers, the power of their ninja abilities had become obsolete. However, unlike their Thunderzords, the powers hadn't been destroyed and while the ninja zords were offline in the case of their powers, they were still living things with a connection to their rangers.
Tommy briefly wondered if the crane zord had gone off to find Kimberly, he hadn't seen it since they left their new Power Chamber while the rest of their ninja zords went with their respective rangers.
"We need to keep everyone safe, but it's hard to have to start over so many times," Tommy continued. "When we still had our mighty morphin' powers, we were a well oiled machine. Then Rocky, Adam, and Aisha came in for Jason, Zack, and Trini." He quickly propped himself up on his elbows. "I'm not saying they're a bad addition to the team or anything, and they're great friends, but it's hard to continuously see them go."
Billy nodded and his eyes moved over to Avalon, who was curled up on the couch, listening quietly. Then he looked over at Jason and caught his eye, the two sighing heavily. Billy didn't realize it was going to be so hard, to have all of the powers and responsibility he had become so used to and had helped him grow into being a much more confident young man, and have them given up. But the Zeo Powers weren't destined for him and there was nothing he could do about it, no point in being upset. It was as he said, he was using his abilities in a different way that was still supposed to help.
But how much more loss was he going to be able to handle? Jason, Zach, and Trini left, Kimberly left, he wasn't a ranger anymore, Bailey wasn't a ranger anymore, Aisha wasn't a ranger anymore…his mother was gone…it was certainly only a matter of time until they reached their breaking point and could no longer handle the stress and pressures of the life they were living. As it was, he knew that his new responsibility on the team was to give them advice, continue to work on weapons and figure out how their enemy works when the time comes.
As it was, he was stumped. He knew nothing of the Machine Empire, other than what Alpha and Zordon had told them and the rest of the rangers once the Zeo powers had chosen them. All they knew was that King Mondo and his Machine Empire were stronger than Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile and they had been defeated by the ranger when they were in their unmorphed form due to the Zeo powers coming to their aid. If they hadn't been able to defeat the Emperor and Darkness and his queen…how difficult would it be to defeat the empire they hadn't met before.
"The only thing we can do is make sure the others are up to speed about everything they need to do," Avalon said, finally speaking for the first time since Tommy and Jason had arrived earlier that afternoon. "Tanya's new to all of this, not just to Angel Grove, and she needs to know that when the time comes, this is more important than everything else we do. Our personal lives, our school life, work…" She gently shook her head. "It's a tough sacrifice to make and putting the knowledge of having to become strong enough to meet the standards it'd take to defeat them." She brushed her hair back out of her face. "It just makes you wonder when this will all be over."
"I can't imagine it'd be anytime soon, Sis," Bailey pointed out. "There's always going to be another faction that wants to take over the Earth."
"I meant when we'd be done being rangers," The orange ranger corrected. She motioned to Tommy, Jason, and Billy. "They were the original rangers and I don't think any of them would've thought it was going to end. Now Tommy and I are the only ones that are left from the original-original team." She then gave a humorless smile. "Or should I say last year's model."
"Funny, Avie," Jason remarked with a light roll of his eyes.
"She has a point though," Bailey defended her sister. She leaned forward on Tommy's head, her added weight pushing him closer and closer towards the ground. "It's not that we're trying to exclude everyone else, yeah? But we've been doing it longer and we know what it takes. Rocky and Adam are still relatively new to the whole thing. They haven't seen how much sacrifice has to be made. Now that most of us are done…what's going to stop you from that happening to?" She motioned to Tommy. "What if something happens to Kim and you have to go out to Florida? Or what if something happens with Mum or Dad or Dana and we have to go back to Australia? Jason, Zack, and Trini all had good reasons for leaving…what are we going to do if that happens again?"
"We'll have to deal with it when the time comes, Bay," Tommy pointed out. His voice was muffled as his face continued to get pushed further and further towards the carpet. "It's not something we have to worry about right now."
"Are you sure?" Billy asked. "There's no better strategy than preparation for whatever is going to come."
"Like that History test none of us have studied for?" Avalon pointed out before grimacing along with Jason and Tommy. Billy, on the other hand, appeared as cool as cucumber, making the orange ranger suddenly hate him for how easily school work came to him. "Too bad we can't tell the Machine Empire to attack on days we have big tests."
"That'd be abusing the system and I'm sure there's a special rule we don't know about that would cause you to lose your powers that way," Tommy said. Now face-planted against the ground, he used his hands to push himself back up, hard enough so that Bailey topped off his back onto the ground. "Sorry, Bay, but I kinda need my lungs to breathe."
The former purple ranger stuck her tongue out at her brother before sitting Indian style on the floor.
"So here's the only thing you can do," Jason said to the group, falling back into his leadership style despite not having the role for a while. "You have to lead the way and show the others what it means to be a ranger. Have faith in them. The Zeo powers wouldn't have chosen them or any of us if they didn't think we were the ones suited for the responsibility."
"And what if we can't do that?" Avalon asked. "What if the Machine Empire is stronger than we think?"
"Then you have to keep trying until you can't try any more, the worst thing you can do is give up."
Billy nodded in agreement though he didn't particularly agree with what Jason had said. The worst thing they couldn't do was give up, it was against what they stood for, the worst thing they could do was be defeated.
And it seemed like this enemy was the one that could do that.
A/N: Last mellow chapter before things start up again. Alright, now that the Machine Empire is here the action and adventure starts again in the next chapter which will be longer as these last few ones have been kind of short. There was a little bit of it here, especially starting off things with Tanya and Shawn, but what I thought was especially important was the moment with the 'original rangers' and how they're dealing with all of the new changes.
I'm so glad you guys have been patient with me as it comes to lack of updates. I've got things worked out again so it won't be as hard to get them done. Follow me on Twitter at AvalonAvenue to get updates/heads up on when I will or will not update. Follow me on tumblr at avalonbayblog for updates on my stories, fun facts, sneak peaks, and just general reblogs of power rangers and other things I'm into.
~Avalon
