Chapter 50

Starting Over


Bailey hummed lightly to herself as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and fastened it with a purple ribbon, twisting it into the shape of a bow with a few quick flips of her wrists. As soon as she spotted the purple fabric sticking out from the sides of her ponytail in her reflection, she wondered if it was a mistake.

She wasn't a ranger anymore; she shouldn't have to only wear purple. She could wear any color she wanted to wear now. Within reason, she reminded herself. You don't want to steal anyone else's color. Not that that it leaves the rest of us much to choose from, yeah? She turned away from the mirror and watched as her sister leaned into her own mirror over her desk and took a few steps closer. Enviously, she watched as the orange ranger carefully put on some mascara and a little bit of lip-gloss. As much as her sister complained about how short she was—standing only at five feet tall—how she didn't have the same upbringing as the others, and constantly worried whether or not she was doing the right thing, Bailey saw her sister as nothing but beautiful.

"How do you do that?" She asked her sister, kneeling down so that her reflection was next to her sister's. Avalon's brown eyes moved over to hers and she gave her little sister a funny look. "How do you put makeup on like that? It looks like you're not wearing any at all."

"That's the idea, Goober," Avalon said. She picked up a makeup brush and playfully fluffed it over her sister's face. "You're not supposed to make it look like you're wearing a lot, unless it's a certain color." Twisting her mouth to the side for a moment she tilted her head to the side and studied her sister for a moment. "Actually, I think you're old enough to start wearing some."

Bailey's eyes widened and she did her best to hold down the excited 'eep' that inched its way up her throat. "Really?"

"Yeah! I'm sure Mum would say the same thing. I didn't start wearing any until I was a little bit older than you. But after everything we've been through as of late you need something to look forward to. Sit down." She moved out of her seat and motioned for Bailey to sit down as well.

The former ranger did as she was told and eagerly closed her eyes while her sister got to work. She felt something get spread over her face, a brush tickling her nose, her eyelashes being tugged, and then a wand slathered across her lips. Then when she had the okay, she turned towards the mirror and opened her eyes. She was surprised to find that she saw herself in the mirror, but could tell that something had been changed as well, her eyes stood out a bit more than the regular dull, dark brown than they always were.

"I like it, Av!" Bailey leapt to her feet and gave her big sister a big hug, which the orange ranger returned. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Bay." Avalon chuckled as she rubbed her sister's back. She then slapped a light pink tube into her hand. "Just be sure that you put this on every now and then when you feel like it's wearing out and you'll be fine."

"Thanks," Bailey repeated. She stared down at the tube in her hand. In some strange way it was like a symbol for the end of her reign as a power ranger. She was trading the nearly daily afternoon fights with monsters and practices in the Command Center to….to what? To being a normal teenager. It was what she had wanted, to be honest. What she had thought a lot about within the last couple of months and now that she had it… she wasn't sure if she truly did want it.

She wanted friends, she wanted a social life, she wanted to be able to go out with her boyfriend. And she was able to do that all while fighting off intergalactic beings and expanding her scientific prowess with Alpha and Zordon. But her friends weren't her friends; they were Avalon's friends. Her free time before had been filled with nothing but ideas and schematics for new weapons; now she was going to have nothing but free time, though she knew she would be able to help out the others when they needed it. Now she could go out with her boyfriend whenever she wanted…but she knew he would be just as preoccupied with the goings on of the Machine Empire as anything else.

In many ways it was like she couldn't win…and didn't know how.

There was a light knock on the door and the two girls turned to find David standing in the doorway, holding his knuckles on the wooden paneling. Once he was sure he could go inside, he gave a small smile to the two girls. "You both look like you're ready to go back to school after everything that's happened."

"I don't know if ready is the right word, David," Avalon said to him with a light laugh. "Not when there's the chance that history could repeat itself."

She gave him a sympathetic look and he nodded, knowing she was implying the school invasion Rita and Zedd had managed to inflict on Angel Grove Middle and High school. As much as the rangers had never thought it would happen, it caused a lot of grief for a lot of people; security within Angel Grove changed in conjunction with the emergency evacuation plan, it was then that Sabrina had learned about and had to live with the fact that she and Scorpina were one and the same, then that the rangers had to morph and potentially reveal their secret in front of all of their classmates, and it was when they found out that no matter what they did to protect their friends and family, no one was 100% safe.

"And it's not like we haven't been back to school," She added. "It's just the first day back after Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile managed to capture so many residents of Angel Grove. If this doesn't mean there's going to be an increase of government presence around here, I don't know what does."

Bailey nodded in agreement. Since the days when the rangers had discovered their Zeo Powers, Captain Mitchell made it a point to call the girls every now and then to make sure everything was okay, as well as speaking with Billy to speak about the plans that were being worked on to increase national security. Even Dana called just to see how things were going every now and then and Ellie, who was supposed to go back to Australia within a few days of the attacks, decided to stay in Angel Grove for the rest of the girls' school years.

"Well, that being said, there's something I wanted to talk to you two about," David said. He licked his lips for a moment as he tried to find the words to say. "I know that I haven't really been here for you, Bailey, or Billy for the past couple of months because of…" he paused for a moment and swallowed hard, showing the girls she still wasn't over his wife's death. Or, Bailey realized, that he doesn't know how to move on from it. "…Because of what happened. But Lacey and I both agreed to bring you into this family was something we couldn't question and while you're now adopted by the Olivers, I want you to know that I do still think of you two as my daughters, even if I haven't really shown it a lot."

Bailey smiled over at David. She did, in many ways, think of him as her father, just as much as Mr. Oliver was getting to that point in her eyes, just as she had once viewed her own father before things had become so complicated. Besides as far as she was concerned David was really going to be her father one Av and Billy got married.

"And Lacey had wanted to give you these for Christmas, but I thought it would be a good idea to do it now." David reached into his pocket and pulled out two small boxes, handing one over to Avalon and one to Bailey. "To show you how proud we are that the two of you have managed to turn your lives around so well."

Exchanging a glance, the sisters opened the boxes and looked inside to find a locket resting inside. Bailey's eyes widened as she took in the silver jewelry and lifted it out of the box. She turned it back and forth in her hand, watching as the start gently twinkled back and forth. Glancing over at Avalon she saw her sister had gotten a heart shaped locket in her box and was also silver in color.

"I'm really proud of what you two have accomplished and I know that we're not that close, but I thought with this being your senior year, Av, and you going into high school next year, Bailey, that you should be reminded of it as much as possible."

"Thanks, David." Avalon pulled her hair aside and quickly fastened it around her neck and Bailey did the same. She brought her hand up and lightly rested her fingertips against the surface of the cool piece of jewelry. "It means a lot that you think that."

Bailey nodded in agreement before getting up and going over to David, throwing her arms around him in a hug. He appeared caught off-guard for a moment before Avalon hugged him as well, allowing him to relax and gently hug them back before motioning for them to leave or else they would be late for school. Grabbing her backpack, Bailey followed her sister out of the room and down the stairs to find Billy standing in the kitchen, the phone pressed to his ear with one hand, the other resting on his hip as he paced back and forth. As he reached the end of the kitchen and turned back to start his path all over again, he found the sisters watching him curiously.

Lifting a hand to let them know he'd be a minute, he lowered his voice to an almost mumble as he continued speaking into the phone. Finally, he let out a low sigh and brought his hand to his forehead, nodded, gave his thanks, and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Bailey asked, as nosy as ever. She felt a nudge against her back and twisted her head to stick her tongue out at her sister. Yes, she was trying to figure out a private phone conversation, but she could see her sister wanted to know as well.

"It's no one," Billy said with another sigh. He ran his hands over his face, suddenly looking tired. "They're just having some problems they need my help with. I can fix it later." He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder before reaching out his hand as an open invitation. Avalon smiled and slipped her hand into his, squeezing it as she stepped closer to him.

Miming sticking a finger down her throat, Bailey turned on her heel and led the way from the kitchen and out of the house, calling goodbye to David as she went. The three rangers left the house and hand-in-hand Billy and Avalon strolled over towards Billy's truck. Bailey hesitated as she walked towards it and her sister noticed.

"Are you coming, Bay?"

"No," she said quickly. "Fred and I are going to walk to school. He should be here any minute." She looked at her watch, suddenly self conscious about the makeup that had been placed upon her. Did she look good? Did she look goofy? It was like the first day of school all over again (which it was in some ways) and her stomach rumbled with anxiety.

Now that she wasn't a ranger, her attention had shifted over to the other part of her life that didn't make a lot of sense to her. Before she could change her mind, she heard her name being called and turned around to see Fred heading her way on his bike. Taking a deep breath, she waved to Billy and Avalon and he waved back before carefully backing out of the driveway and took off down the street. Tucking her hair behind her ears, Bailey turned back towards her friend.

"Hey Fred," she greeted him, voice a little shaky. "What's up?" What are you so nervous about, Bay? You've been dating him for a while now, he's your friend. You were braver than this when you were fighting against Tengas and Goldar. As if reading her thoughts, she felt her lion zord, which was nestled into the bottom of her backpack, gently nudge against her back. Yeah, but you used that as a way to distract yourself from…everything else.

"Not much," Fred replied as he came to a stop beside her. He lifted his baseball cap off his head and wiped his forehead. "I was kind of getting used to being off of school for a while." He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Kinda makes me wish that the Machine Empire really is as bad as Zordon and Alpha say, so that we can get some more days off."

Reaching out a hand, Bailey shoved Fred on the shoulder and shifted her backpack up her shoulders before started down the driveway and walking along the sidewalk. Fred slowly peddled his bike along beside her. "Don't joke about that, Fred, we already have enough problems to deal with. The Machine Empire alone is going to be bad if Rita and Zedd are afraid of them."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. His voice sounded wistful. He shrugged for a moment, continuing to face forward as he peddled along. "It just makes me wonder, if the Zeo powers are really a match for them."

"It helped the guys fend of Rita, Zedd, and Master Vile."

"I know, but they just ran away, we don't know if it really could've helped. Especially since your ninja powers were taken away so quickly."

"…True."

She hadn't thought of that. The two walked along in silence for a few moments before Bailey recognized the top of Angel Grove Middle school come into view. Then the anxiety rolled through her stomach once more. She sighed and shook out her hands, causing Fred to give her a half smile.

"What are you nervous? It isn't really the first day back at school, you know?"

"I know," Bailey replied. She hugged her arms to her chest. "It's just…I can already tell that things are different. I don't feel powerful and even though no one else in school knew I was a ranger…I felt more confident with it, I guess." She shrugged and lowered her head. "Never mind, it's stupid, yeah?"

"It's not stupid, Bay, its how you're feeling. You went from singlehandedly defeating Ivan Ooze—"

Bailey burst out laughing. "Okay, we helped but I don't think we stopped him singlehandedly," she reminded him.

He continued, ignoring her interruption. "Got your ninja powers, worked hard as a ranger to make sure that your weapons worked throughout it, faced as many monsters and Tengas as you could because you understood what it meant to have that responsibility. It'll be hard to go back to normal, but I guess there's one good thing about it." He trailed off, cheeks stained red.

The former purple ranger noticed and laughed teasingly. "What? That I get to spend more time with you?"

"Well…yeah." Bashfully, he focused on the road ahead of them.

Bailey reached out a hand and placed it on Fred's shoulder, signaling for him to stop. As he pumped the breaks she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I was thinking the same thing," she admitted. Giggling under her breath when she noticed the light pink stain that stuck to his cheek, she climbed onto the back of his bike and held onto his shoulders. "C'mon or we're going to be late."

"I'm going, I'm going."

Fred shifted his weight to the side and pressed his feet onto the pedals once more.


Tanya looked around, hugging her books to her chest as she watched the students of Angel Grove High stood at their lockers chatting, laughing, yelling to each other up and down the hallway, and got ready for their classes. Now she knew what it felt like to be one of the wild animals she had seen running around in the savannah or the watering holes. It was so animalistic to her, comforting in that sense, but also so very different.

She had never been in a school like this before, not this big, not with so many other classmates that case from so many different backgrounds and had so many different religious views, morals, and ideals. And now here she was in a new city, working with a group of people she barely knew to protect a city she had hardly lived in, and was expected to go to this American school all at the same time.

Maybe I can tell people that I change my mind, that I don't really like it here, Tanya thought as she slowly inched her way down the hallway. Then I can go back home and help out my mother and father, like I was supposed to. Turning the corner, the Yellow Zeo Ranger glanced down at the scrap of paper that sat in her hand, holding her locker assignment as well as the combination for her lock. Eyes running over the metal slabs that sat around her, she briefly wondered what the point of having a locker was. Her books weren't so heavy and she was used to carrying them around all the time as it was. It was more than she needed anyway.

Still, she was grateful for the space she could call her own and looked at her sheet of paper once more. It had to around there somewhere…Tanya was so engrossed within looking for her locker assignment that she walked into an African-American teen who was coming in her direction. She dropped her books to the ground and immediately started to pick them up.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I wasn't watching where I was going." She looked up when she noticed the teen had knelt down to help her and their eyes met. He smiled at her, a dimple appearing in his cheek and she smiled back. "I guess I'm kind of nervous. It's my first day."

"It's sort of the first day for a lot of us," the teen replied. "So I'll let it slide this time." He laughed to himself and stood up, holding the last of Tanya's books out to her. "I'm Shawn, by the way. Shawn Montgomery." He stared at her for a long moment. "You're the exchange student from Africa aren't you? Tanya Sloan?"

"What gave it away?" Tanya was sudden very self-conscious. "My accent?" She knew it was different compared to everyone around her. When she was in the store getting some new school supplies, at Aisha's insistence, she had gotten a few expressions of surprise, a few funny looks, but otherwise people were really glad to help her with others asking about her life in Africa. If all of Angel Grove was this nice, she was glad she moved there.

"That," Shawn admitted. "And I don't think I've ever seen anyone that has as much of a beautiful smile."

With his words, Tanya's smile widened even further. "That's so nice, Shawn."

"What can I say? I can't lie about something that's right in front of me." Shawn looked at his watch before turning his attention back to Tanya. "I have to get going, but I hope I see you around soon. Maybe show you around the school."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." And she truly did appreciate it. No one else had welcomed her to the school like Shawn did. Or…complement her in that way. None of the guys back in Africa had been that nice, but then again their social rules were a bit different. She wasn't arranged to be married exactly, it wasn't one of their practices, but there were conversations about her getting married sooner rather than later and some guys were interested in her. Some more aggressive than others. But he was sweet. "Maybe we can do our homework or something later."

"Maybe. Let me know." He stepped around her and headed off down the hallway. Tanya watched him as he walked away from her. She found herself staring, only snapping to attention when she realized her eyes rested on his backside for too long. She whirled herself back around and found her locker with a sigh of relief, spotting Kat and Aisha at their lockers nearby.

As she approached, the Pink Zeo Ranger and the former Yellow Ranger turned and waved to her excitedly. "Boy am I glad to see you," Tanya said as she approached them. "I didn't realize there were so many people that went to school here. I really feel out of place."

"Don't worry about it, Tanya, you'll fit in soon," Aisha reassured her.

"Yeah," Kat agreed. "And I know what you mean when you say you feel out of place." She placed her hand on Tanya's shoulder and gently shook it. "I'm still pretty new here and Rocky, Adam, and Aisha moved here a little before I did. And so did Avalon and Bailey. But we've all managed to get used to it, to find a place we fit and so will you."

"I hope so." Tanya put her combination into the lock and opened the door. "I can't wait for all of my classes, but I guess I'm a little nervous, too." She took out the books she needed and placed everything else inside. "That's normal, right?"

"I'd be a little worried if you weren't," Aisha said honestly. "It's normal to be nervous on your first day. I'm sure I will be when I go to Africa." She hugged her books to her chest and let out a light sigh, now frowning with anxiety.

"Well, that won't be for a while," Rocky commented as he, Adam, Billy, and Avalon walked over to the girls. He grinned down at Aisha, moving a braid back out of her face. "And until then we'll enjoy having your around." Suddenly, as if his fingers burned, his pulled his hand back away from her cheek and coughed into his hand, cheeks turning red. Kat's eyebrows rose as she exchanged a glance with Adam, who pressed his lips together to keep from laughing out loud. The way the two were acting around each other was cute.

"Who do you have for homeroom?" Avalon asked her. "Ms. Appleby, I'm sure." Tanya nodded her confirmation and the short Australian teen nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ace! She's a great teacher and a good listener and treats you like a person rather than just a student."

"She sounds nice. I can't wait to meet her."

"You're going to have a good time here, Tanya, don't worry," Billy reassured her. He looked at his watch before dropping his hand from Avalon's. "I have to go talk to Mr. Kaplan about something, but I'll meet you guys there, okay?" Receiving sounds of confirmation from his friends he turned and headed off down the hall.

"I can show you around before you go to homeroom" Adam suggested to Tanya, grasping her attention. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and bobbed his head back and forth. "I have to stop by my locker anyway. It's just down the hall."

"Thanks Adam," she said gratefully. "That's really sweet."

He smiled, turning his gaze to his feet for a moment before shrugging modestly. "You're welcome."

"Has anyone seen Tommy?" Kat asked suddenly. Her eyebrows were pressed together in concern. "He should be here by now. He can't afford to be late the first day back."

"This is Tommy we're talking about," Rocky reminded her. "The only thing he can afford is time." He grinned as his friends laughed.


"Oh I can't believe I'm late!" Tommy cried as he hurried through the kitchen, throwing his lunch together.

Throwing his lunch bag into his red backpack, he had actually stopped to look for his white one at the beginning of the day and that had put him behind even further, after having had woken up late.

It wasn't his fault, really. He had been on the phone late the night before talking to Kimberly and bringing her up to speed about their new powers and his new color. She had laughed loudly when he explained that he was now the red ranger, noting that it wasn't really his color and that he looked better in white. He agreed, of course, but knew that red was a really important color in terms of being a ranger. Red meant you were the leader, the one everyone else looked up to. It was a bit of a fluke that he had been the leader while wearing white. In his opinion, Jason was a better leader for them all, more experienced, level-headed, knew how to make tough decisions and the sacrifices that had to be made.

But as she was the heart of the team, Kimberly reassured him that he was a great choice for the leader of the new team. She teased him about the color for a while and then the two conversed about what the new team was like and what the Machine Empire would be. Then they talked about Tommy's martial arts training and Kimberly's gymnastics training before it was time for them to go to bed. It was a conversation they normally had; it was as if they weren't thousands of miles apart.

But they were and remembering that hurt him more than having to stop the conversation.

Once woken up by the sound of his mother yelling at him that he'd be late, he flew into warp drive, got dressed into his new red clothes, and hurried to get out of the house on time. He made sure he had everything in his backpack for school that day and headed out of the house, ignoring his mother's disappointed shake of her head. He started down the driveway before he heard a mechanical grinding sound and turned around to see what appeared to be a small army of robots appear behind him.

Tommy narrowed his eyes as he studied the small army. Each robot had a gold head, a silver jumpsuit with a black belt around the waist, and matching black gloves and boots. They moved robotically as well, as if there was jerky circuitry within them.

"What the heck?" Tommy muttered to himself as they moved closer. "I get King Mondo wanted to get started earlier than we thought." His eyes then widened when the face of one of the robots opened and a beam shot out towards him. "Whoa!" Tommy dove to the side and rolled out of the way of the beam, watching as it blew up a shrub behind him.

Sucking in a deep breath, he clenched his hands into fists before tossing his backpack aside. "Well, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you got!"


A/N: Another attack on them so soon. They never get a break can they? Well, I saw that you guys had answered my poll and that some of you want some more things that are directly from the show. I can do that, no problem. Thank you to everyone that has answered my poll as well as taking the time to review, of course. I'm excited to be working on this story again; I've also been working on New Beginnings to the point that I have the overall story idea worked out as well as the first five chapters of the story. I can't wait for you to read it.

For those wondering where Jason was/why he wasn't mentioned in this chapter, you'll find out in the next one.

If you want to know when I will update next follow me on Twitter at AvalonAvenue or tumblr at AvalonBayBlog. Not only will you know ahead of time when I will update or if I have t push it back, but I answer questions about my stories and characters there, as well as post a lot of fun facts about my stories there as well. I also take suggestions of what you like to see in the rest of the Avalon series as well as in the Bailey series.

Thanks to 1980sjfk, XoxMountainGirlxoX, brankel1, Adela, lizziestrong, Ashley, ObsessedwReading, and Son of Whitebeard for reviewing.

~Avalon