Author's Note: DBZfan45, thank you so much for the review! You're a guest so I can't reply though. :( But here you go! Yes, I'm going for a more modernized, 2017 inspired Power Rangers story, where it's more mature and realistic, but also keeping some classic fantasy space MMPR elements to it! They'll get the Zords, Ninja Powers, and other Rangers and plots will show up from the shows too. But I'm also putting my own spin on most of it, and hoping it'll make it fresher. I mean, other stuff will show up eventually! It is called "Earth Force", after all, not just "Earth team of five kids." And as the trope goes, there must always be a Sixth Ranger! And a White Ranger, too...I'm soo excited for that. I've got it all planned out! Plus the Green Ranger hints I dropped too, with Rita! Glad you caught it! I do actually plan on making Tommy a "Tammy." :) But in the spirit of LGBT diversity, I'm doing it different from expected.
I hope you enjoy this story, and what's to come!
It is kind of going to be written like seasons, yes! This is pretty much season 1, or the 2017 movie.
End of AN!
It was so strange, fighting with Chloe, Nicole thought.
It was like they'd fought side by side like this for years. In tandem, together.
They'd move to attack from opposite angles, left and right, front and back, low and high - and when one needed it, the other would be there to defend them. Block, dodge, duck and weave - opportunities taken advantage of in an instant.
Nicole thought it was even stranger that she had time to think; her mind was on some kind of autopilot, her body moving on its own, while her conscious self was taking the backseat. Yet she could take the wheel, sometimes, and make a move.
And yet, for all that, for all that either of them were doing...they were doing nothing.
Rita was fast, powerful, strong - magical. Thousands of years old, with hundreds of years of fighting experience of her own. Conquering worlds...fighting Power Rangers of the past.
Well, if she was fast, powerful and strong - with a magic scepter to boot...
Then the Rangers needed something to even the odds.
It came to Nicole's mind, somehow - an image, a thought. An understanding and an instinct.
She twirled away from Rita and stretched out a hand, and the words burst from her mouth: "Stardust - Power Whip!"
A jet black, lengthy whip materialized in her hand, right out of thin air, in particles and energy like the armor. It was lined with segmented neon lights of dark purple, and it was almost as long as her own body. The handle glowed, and electricity crackled across it, over Nicole's armored fingers.
Nicole whipped it back and forward, snapping it at Rita and slicing her down the front; dark purple energy burst on contact, and the alien witch stumbled back with a cry as purple lightning danced over her body.
Chloe came in from behind with a flying kick, knocking Rita forward.
Nicole spun and flourished her whip, lashing Rita across the shoulder; the witch staggered to the side and caught herself on a stack of crates.
Rita gave a high laugh, and whipped around suddenly with an evil smile. Her scepter slashed through the air, and a wave of green energy flew out to slam into Nicole.
Nicole was swept up in it and flung backwards, blowing apart a shelf, several crates, until she hit the wall and then crashed on through it.
She rolled out in open air, coming to a halt. Her armor was singed in places, green fires burning still. Smoke rising.
Nicole frantically tried to pat at herself with a gloved hand, trying to stamp it out.
Chloe suddenly came flying out of the broken section of the warehouse wall - but not wildly, like Nicole had. Chloe was graceful, flipping backwards in a long arc that saw her land right in front of Nicole.
Nicole jumped to her feet and quickly placed herself beside Chloe.
A jet of green energy flew out of the darkness; Nicole and Chloe dodged, left and right. Rita came gliding forward, right out of the dark, and the fight resumed.
She was cackling madly, twirling and fighting with more ferocity than ever.
She was holding back a lot less now.
And clearly showing Nicole and Chloe that when she wasn't holding back, they couldn't keep up with her nearly as well.
Rita bashed Chloe across the face, sending her flipping through the air a dozen feet high. She caught Nicole's whip on a raised hand of glowing green energy, then gave a sharp tug and a twirl, and kicked Nicole in the chest before tossing her away by her own weapon's length.
Nicole joined Chloe on the ground. She gasped for breath, reaching for her.
Chloe jumped up without using her hands, and set her visor gaze on Rita. She flashed her hands up, and she signed something. Quick, brief. Sharp.
Then she spread her arms, and from out of her gauntlets sprang twin swords - long, thin ones, like hidden assassin's blades. They were hot pink in color. Her palms and fingers, thus, were left free to move as ever.
Chloe clenched her fists and brought up her arms, her new blades on the backs of her hands. She looked to Nicole, giving a simple nod.
Nicole twirled her whip in a figure eight, and they went at Rita again.
Chloe slashed and ducked, sideflipped and cartwheeled all around Rita. She did a high jump into a corkscrew, coming down slashing over Rita's shoulder, at the same time as Nicole flashed her whip out to wrap around Rita's left ankle and pull her off balance.
Rita screamed, pink energy searing down her shoulder blade. She rammed the end of her scepter into the ground, and green magic exploded in all directions, tossing Chloe and Nicole high.
They came down atop a truck, completely crushing its hood and roof, respectively.
Dark purple and hot pink lightning flew off their armor, scorching the vehicle's paintjob and the metal beneath. Their armor itself went strangely fuzzy, with little particles drifting off before it solidified again. The same happened to their weapons - Nicole's whip, and Chloe's twin swords.
They'd almost lost their suits and weapons.
They were going to, if this kept up.
Nicole somehow just knew. The Morphing Grid might have been infinite and powerful, but the Morphers and the Power Coins could only channel a limited amount of that infinity, only maintain it for so long.
And they were about to reach their limits. It was too much damage. Too much...Rita was too much.
Nicole glanced around herself, reaching a hand up to her helmet on instinct; her view changed, becoming almost as clear as day, if a great deal washed out in terms of color.
She couldn't see the others - couldn't see her mom anywhere.
That meant they had to have gotten far away by now.
Nicole and Chloe had done their jobs.
The job to defend, protect their friends and family - not to attack or kill the enemy.
Nicole hopped off the truck's hood, grabbing Chloe's hand to pull her down too. "Let's go."
Chloe nodded.
Nicole tapped her Morpher at her belt, and said quickly, "Zordon - beam us!"
Rita's eyes narrowed, and she aimed her scepter and sent several blasts of green energy at the pair.
Nicole twisted out of the way, shoving Chloe the other way as she did.
Chloe rolled and came up, doing a flip over another beam.
Nicole leaped back and high to avoid a beam of her own, then did a standing flip to avoid another immediately after.
Their bodies were enveloped in light, and they were pulled across reality once again.
Nicole and Chloe appeared together in the Command Center.
For a moment they stood there, just looking at each other.
Then they dropped to their knees, their armor and weapons dematerializing simultaneously - all together.
The others were already there - Alycia, Michael, and a now conscious Rachel.
And...
"Nicole? What-" her mom started, staring all around herself. She stopped herself. "Are you alright?" she asked instead, rushing to her and pulling her into a hug.
Nicole hugged her mom back - likely with a little too much strength, because her mom gave a little noise and gave a bit of a shove at her. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I'm still not used to my superpowers, and I just came out of a battle with an alien witch. We got our butts kicked; but at least it let you get away safe, so it worked out."
Her mom drew back, staring at her. She took another look around. Stared right into Nicole's eyes. "Alien witch," she repeated. "Super powers? And all of this - what is this?"
Nicole glanced down at herself, then pulled her Power Coin out of the Morpher. She held it up for her mom. "I found this coin a few weeks back..." she began quietly.
She told her mom everything - with help from Zordon for the more...historic aspects of it all. Universal parts of the story. And after she had...
Her mom looked to Zordon. "There's really no way to remove this power from her?"
"No," Zordon confirmed seriously. He paused, glancing at Chloe, as if just noticing her; the wall screen split off, and a small section began to display signing hands as he spoke on. "I am sorry. It was never my intention for children to become Rangers. The Coins were sent to Earth with help of another, a Seer who saw that Rita would somehow return, and finish what she started on this Earth. But they never saw who would obtain them, or when. Nevertheless, they alerted me, and I was monitoring for energy signatures consistent with bonded Power Coins."
"Is that how Rita found me?" Nicole asked. "Can she find us through the Coins?"
"It...is possible," Zordon said hesitantly. "I wouldn't have expected her to be capable of it now...but it appears to be so. Moreover, now that Rita knows the Rangers are definitely active on Earth, she'll doubtlessly put everything she has into ending their threat to her conquest of this planet. I'm terribly sorry."
Nicole's mom sighed, and she stroked at Nicole's cheek. "Then I'd rather she be able to keep defending herself than be helpless. If this - Rita Repulsa - is going to come after her again for...being a Power Ranger...? Then I want her to be able to protect herself - and I won't complain if she protects me again, either. Or the world," she added, with a proud look at her daughter. "A super powered, intergalactic hero for a daughter? No other mom gets to say that."
Nicole beamed, and she hugged her mom hard again.
Too hard.
Again.
"Sorry, sorry!"
"W-well..." Rachel rasped, leaning on Alycia and rubbing her throat. Her hand was shaking, and her face was pale. "That was f-fucking terrifying. See you, guys. Zordon: beam me out, please..."
"Beam me with her," Alycia said quickly. "Please."
Zordon gave a single nod. "Be well, Rangers."
Rachel and Alycia disappeared in a single streak of red energy.
Zordon looked to Nicole and Chloe. "While I wish you hadn't had to face Rita so soon, so unexpectedly, the two of you have made myself and your team proud tonight. Summoning your armor and your weapons in the same, first fight is not a common or easy thing. A rarity among past Ranger teams, certainly. I'm sending you both home now: you deserve it most of all."
Chloe looked at the screen, and gave a nod and a shaky smile. She signed at him with a simple, "Thank you."
And then the two of them were off, too. Well, the three of them (Nicole's mom went with her).
Chloe appeared in her own backyard, and immediately lay herself down on her backside.
She put her hands under her head and breathed in the cool air, staring at the familiar night sky.
Her parents wouldn't find this unusual for her.
Okay, usually she had a blanket, but that was a minor detail.
She couldn't be fussed about minor details tonight.
When she'd come to her new school, her new city, she had never imagined she'd get wrapped up in an intergalactic war.
Become some Earth protector. Powered, armored.
But if that was what she was now, then she was determined to do whatever she could - to save the planet, to stop bad things from happening, and, to live up to the expectations Zordon had for her. For all of them.
The Earth's team of Power Rangers.
It wasn't bravery - she had been terrified of every second of this night - and it wasn't even bravado or insanity, like Rachel had going for her. It was just...
Fierce duty.
The need to act, no matter what or how she really felt. To fight! Even if she herself didn't even like fighting; she had barely confronted her bullies at her last school. Now she was confronting alien space witches.
But it wasn't because she was feeling brave or powerful.
She just felt like she had to do it, because she had the ability to.
But, now, alone at home again...
There was no duty to act like anything but what she was: an absolutely pants-shitting terrified teenage girl.
Her body was still trembling in aftermath of it all.
She had fought, she had gotten away, she had saved two lives - and right now, she was crying over it.
She had thought she might have messed up a few times. Having to pay attention to body language and looks of others just to figure out what might be going on was terribly difficult at the best of times - but in the middle of a stressful situation? And then later, while wearing full on helmets and armor?
She really needed to get that sorted out with the others, or she was going to make a mistake.
She managed to slide by this time, blind and lucky (they had all been acting blindly and luckily), but...that couldn't happen again.
It was only a few hours later, when Nicole woke up, went to her mom, and told her she had to go see Zordon again.
Told her mom not to worry.
She communicated with Zordon through her Morpher, and he transported her away.
Into the Command Center - where it was dim, and quiet.
And warm.
Nicole strode around the circular room, hand trailing along the wall.
A large section bloomed to life - the image of Zordon appeared for her.
"Is there something you need, Nicole?" he spoke softly to her.
"I need to talk to you about some things," Nicole replied, gazing up at him. "Can I?"
"Of course you can. What is it you want to talk about?"
"Rita."
"Your encounter with her?"
"Yes."
"Go on, then."
"She...Rita called me the leader. She said it was rare for the Black Ranger to be one."
"Did she?" Zordon eyed Nicole a long moment - silent. Then, he gave a slight smile. "Whatever else she is, she was correct: you've shown fledgling qualities of leadership already - it only needs to...be nurtured, and bloom in you more fully. Something that will take time."
"And, about the Ranger color?"
"It's true enough - usually, the Red Ranger becomes the leader," Zordon spoke casually. "But it has differed, over the centuries and across many planets. But, every Ranger team is different, even if it doesn't look like it on the surface; it isn't about the armor, or the weapons - it's about the people underneath it all."
"What about the Green Ranger?" Nicole said quietly. "Rita said...that the Green Ranger was, 'erased from history.' That you didn't trust its power."
Zordon's expression changed. The wall screen flickered. His eyes were downcast. "That...would also be true. The Green Power Coin contains an immense power - one ripe for abuse. In the wrong hands...evil hands...it has such power that it once took the entire team of Rangers to stop that one - to stop the Green Ranger. It's extremely rare for that Coin to bond with any sapient being, of any species; it's only happened two times before now. You could say it has a...a bit of a different temperament from the other Coins."
"So, what? The Green Ranger went rogue?"
"Yes. And- they...caused untold amounts of suffering in the universe before they were finally brought down, and the Coin was stolen from them. And not only that: they were selfish, they were greedy - unworthy to hold the title of Ranger at all."
"So is that why you're so hard on us about the Ranger rules? No personal gain, no treating it like a toy?"
"One reason, yes - but another is a basic sense of respect for the level of power you now possess. Would you treat a firearm with anything less than serious care and caution?"
"True," Nicole agreed. She sighed, sitting down on the floor. She put her back to the console. "Do you think I can even be a good leader? Because I don't. I've never had friends - I still don't - and I...I didn't even mean to act like a leader, giving orders or whatever. It just...happened."
Zordon smiled at her. "I think the fact that you didn't mean to act like one, makes you the best person for the role after all."
Nicole nodded, thinking it over. "Yeah. I guess so? Thank you. But I doubt Rachel will see it that way..."
"Rachel will have to see it that way, in time."
Nicole laughed. "Try telling that to her face. She'd try to punch your - screen."
"She's dangerously straddling the line between worthy...and unworthy," Zordon answered quietly. "I always have hope that someone can become better, and I hope the rest of you will be able to do that for her. But...if she doesn't..."
"You'll kick her out of the band."
"Yes."
Silence in the Command Center.
For minutes on end.
Until Nicole spoke again. A thought that came to her.
"Why...are you just on a screen all the time? Where are you, really? Or - are you an AI or something?" Nicole asked. "I wouldn't mind if you were."
Zordon chuckled. "I am not an artificial intelligence - though, I have known a few in my days. You ask why I'm always presenting myself like this? It is because, thousands of years ago, when the past team of Rangers sacrificed themselves to stop Rita, I also...sacrificed something. Everything."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything that I am - my life, my autonomy, my body," Zordon said, with utmost sorrow. Anguish. Even frustration. "I exist now in...you might call it a Time Vortex. A place outside the universe, or in-between it. Regardless of terminology, I exist now as...energy. A spirit, and nothing more. I have only a limited way of interacting with the physical world now."
"I'm sorry."
"I did it to stop Rita - and I would again."
"The sacrifice..." Nicole whispered. "Rita said...the past Rangers, and you, sacrificed everything to stop her. She also said...that none of us would. That we weren't strong enough - brave enough - to make the sacrifice. She said you...you'd be ashamed of us."
"You're young, and new - and growing," Zordon said firmly. "And in time, you will grow to become...some of the greatest Rangers known to this universe. Of that, I'm certain."
"Certain? Or is it just more hope?"
"A little of both," Zordon allowed, with a small smile. "Hope must be kept, even in face of the worst times - even after...the worst has come to pass. Hope - it is the epitome of the Power Rangers, Nicole. That you will, in time, become...unstoppable."
"I hope it's soon, then," Nicole murmured. "We got our butts kicked tonight."
"Your first battle was not a loss - it was a victory, exactly the kind you needed. You made progress, yourself and Chloe. And you saved two lives." Zordon paused. "And even if it was a loss, that doesn't mean the entire war is also lost. There will...always be more battles. More chances to win."
"And we'll do it together," Nicole agreed. "We'll have to."
"You will. I have faith in you - all of you."