Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.
Notes: Angel Grove in the original series was set in Southern California, probably near Los Angeles as where the majority of the filming took place. For the sake of the reboot movie, Angel Grove in this fic will be slightly further north towards Ventura county where dairy farms are and still close to the coast where commercial fishing occurs. There will be words from the Jicarilla Apache language. Shi Dadee (pronounced da-deh) means my sister, shi na'áá means my brother, shish dazha means younger brother/sister, dade' (near same pronunciation as dadee only with a shorter ending) means older sister, máá means mother, ka'éé means father. There's a wonderful little app made by the Jicarilla Apache tribe available for free where you can learn more words and a bit of the tribe's culture and history. Check it out!
Contacts and Other Things
It didn't take long for Rita to gain her strength back. A mere few days in the energy tank and she was back at full capacity. Well, as full as she could be without her green coin. Thankfully she still had her partial armor still and that gave her a good boost.
She was in her quarters, a quaint, cozy room with a bed and a mirror. She didn't need much else. Looking at herself in the mirror, she could never quite get used to her face. Surely, she was beautiful compared to her former team. Hell, compared to the humans she was a goddess. And soon, she would rule them and make them bow before her and beg like the insolent fools they are.
"My mistress?"
The voice belonging to Finster shook Rita from her thoughts and she looked at the mirror and saw the white, furred creature staring at her. He would be a cute pet, Rita thought. "Yes?"
"How are you feeling?" Finster held his hands together in front of him but did not move from the doorway.
"Good," Rita replied, "Very good." She looked down and stood up, turning toward him. "It's almost time to send a soldier. I want to gauge where those power brats are."
"Yes, my mistress." Rita walked toward him, and he moved to let her pass and like a faithful servant, he followed. "I have a surprise for you, my mistress."
That made Rita stop in her tracks. With a sharp, wicked smile she turned to Finster with a maniacal gleam in her eyes, "I love surprises."
"Right this way, Mistress." Finster lead her down the short corridor to his lab. It was a bit of a mess, but organized in its own way. "Here," he pointed to the work table.
It was her staff. It was no longer golden except for the sharp tips that littered it. In the place where her coin had resided was a ruby jewel. Of course, it wasn't an actual ruby, but it shined like one and contained some kind of dark energy. "It's beautiful," she whispered.
"That is a Xalantan stone. The dark energy in that is quite powerful and can be shot from here to Earth."
Rita turned her head to Finster in shock, "How did you manage a Xalantan stone? Xalanta was destroyed eons ago."
Beneath Finster's fur he smiled and one brow cocked up as his eyes gleamed behind his glasses, "Lord Zedd has much at his disposal."
That much was true, Rita knew, but hearing this statement only made her more agitated. "Then why does he want my help? What is he planning?" Now she was angry, and she took threatening steps towards Finster, holding up her staff as if she were readying herself to attack him.
Finster took some steps back, hints of fear showing in his eyes, "I promise you, Mistress, he only seeks a partner. That is all."
It was a lie, Rita was sure of it. No one with that much power would ever want a partner much less view someone as an equal. Still, Rita new she needed to play the game right, or else she'd lose her chance. Perhaps she could use what Zedd has given her and when she destroys the rangers she could find a way to siphon the energy from their coins and use it with hers. Well, once she finds her green coin. "Very well," she said, putting her staff down, "I accept this partnership. I will destroy the power rangers and conquer Earth to obtain the zeo crystal. Now, what faithful soldier do you have ready for me to bring to life?"
Letting out a small breath of relief, Finster straightened himself and proceeded to another work table. "I watched your battle with the rangers and was quite intrigued by your putties. I designed a soldier similar to them, except stronger." He opened a case and a sculpture of a creature was revealed.
It looked like her putties but she could see it was designed to be itself, not made of debris as her putties were. "I like this." Finster took the sculpture out and placed it inside a chamber and closed the doors. "What is this?"
"This shall grant the creature life. But it can only be activated by your staff." He pointed to a lit square that was off to the side.
Rita knew what she had to do. It was simple, shoot an energy beam to it and it would render the creature animated. All Rita wanted was to have the power of life at her disposal, and in some fashion, she now did. She lifted her staff and willed it to fire. And it did, directly into the center of the square and the entire chamber lit up and steam poured from the top. It made a loud noise that she hated and hissed at, but it was over in mere seconds. Then the doors opened and a rock creature, a rock monster came out aggressively and nearly smashed Finster's table. It gave Rita so much joy to see a creature come to life because of her, and to be powerful and ready to kill. She couldn't ask for anything better.
The rangers had piled into Kimberly's car and she drove them to the mines. Billy, being the tallest, had the luxury of riding up front whereas poor Jason had gotten stuck between Zack and Trini. The ride itself wasn't bad or obnoxious and neither was the hike up. She just didn't feel like training. Truthfully, she was a bit tired and wanted to go home and binge on Netflix and text a certain new kid that was too cute for his own good. Well damn, here comes that blush.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Jason teased as he fell in step with Kimberly at the back of the group.
"Nothing, just a little tired. Some big tests coming up and I've just been stressing about them a little," she replied. Jason only nodded then fell silent. Kimberly felt a little bad. She had felt something for Jason when they first became rangers. There was some kind of spark between them and when she had confessed her sins to him, she wanted to kiss him but thought better of it. She wanted to become a better person, not jump to the first set of arms that happened to be open. Jason deserved better than to be some kind of security blanket. She didn't exactly know where they stood, but she knows they are friends first and that's where they left off. It was a comfortable place and she's glad she could fit there. She only hoped he viewed it the same.
The rest of the hike was short, and they were at the cliff to the entrance of the ship. They all jumped in together and swam their way to the bottom- or top- whatever it was. They had gotten better at landing, but sometimes they'd still stumble. Well, not Kimberly as her cheerleader training kicked in right away and almost always landed on her feet now. If not her feet, she was able to roll correctly as to not hurt herself too much. Trini was actually pretty good at that herself, but yoga would prepare one for that.
They made their way through the cave when Trini stepped next to Kimberly. "So," she said.
Kimberly looked at her questioningly, "So?"
"You and Tommy seemed to talk quite a bit today."
Kimberly couldn't stop the blush from creeping onto her cheeks. She was thankful it was dark inside the cave. "And? You and Tamsin were pretty chummy yourselves." The noise that came out of Trini was short, almost sounding like a puppy trying to growl, and Kimberly made sure to place it in her memory bank that she may bring it up and tease Trini about it. "Oh my God, what the hell was that noise?"
"Shut up, Gibbler," Trini mumbled.
Kimberly closed her eyes and smirked. "Did you happen to get Tamsin's number?"
Although it was dark, and realistically Kimberly couldn't see it, she was sure Trini blushed. "No," she replied.
"I got Tommy's," Kimberly bragged, feeling Trini glaring at her. "If you want, I can ask him for Tamsin's number for you." Trini didn't say anything, but Kimberly could feel her struggle with her thoughts. She figured she should step off the teasing now that she could feel how conflicted Trini was becoming. "Look, it's not a big deal. I can get the number and you can text her or not. Or just get it whenever you see her again."
"I'll think about it," Trini murmured.
They got to the entrance of the ship and walked through the automated doors. Once in the command center Alpha came running towards them, "POWER RANGERS!" he screamed, "We have trouble!"
"What is it?" Jason asked, stepping forward.
Zordon materialized on the wall, "It seems the threat of Rita is not over."
"What do you mean?" Billy wondered, "I thought we slapped her into space?"
"That wasn't enough to kill her. I had hoped she'd be lost, floating in space forever but it seems fate is working in her favor."
"How did this happen?" Trini asked, clenching her fists. Kimberly looked at her, worried about her. She knew that Trini suffered at Rita's hands personally. Both her and Billy. Although Billy was mostly okay, as he was never shy about expressing his thoughts and feelings regarding his ordeal of dying, Kimberly knows that Trini had some, maybe still has issues with the aftermath and possibly even holds guilt that she was indirectly responsible for Billy's death, no matter how temporary. She knew her best friend, and her best friend was one to hold in her pain and take the weight of the guilt in silence. Still, Kimberly couldn't help but step towards her and place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Trini turned to her and smiled gratefully.
"We're not sure. The ship's scanners have been finding various readings around the planet. It did find a spike in energy levels on the moon specifically," Zordon informed.
"Can't those scanners see if there's something there? I mean, this is pretty sick tech," Zack expressed.
"Normally, yes, but the ship hasn't been running in 65 million years. All systems are still updating," Alpha explained. Just then, he brought up a scene in the viewing globe, "Rangers, look!" The scene they saw, they didn't expect. It was some creature resembling Rita's putties, but it looked different. More solid and powerful. "Analysis shows that this is definitely an out of this world creature! Its origins are unknown but, Zordon, the scanner is picking up Xalantan energy particles."
"Xalantan? How can that be?" Zordon asked rhetorically.
"I don't know, sir, but I'm sure it's Rita's doing."
"Yes, most definitely. Rangers, you must get out there and destroy this… This monster before it destroys Angel Grove."
"Got it!" Jason exclaimed, "Alright guys, it's morphin' time!"
Tommy and Tamsin had been walking through downtown Angel Grove right after detention. As they walked, they lamented at how damaged the town still was from the battle of aliens that took place only two weeks ago. Many people were still displaced, most of the shops were closed, buildings destroyed, and the marina near useless. Efforts to rebuild the town were strong and, from what Tommy could see, the townspeople worked together; they had each other's backs. If one was a local that is.
When they had moved there, because their father was offered a manager's position at a name chain factory where plane engines were built, Powers Bros. Aviation, many towns folk were resentful that an outsider was granted a job when many qualified individuals who'd lived their lives in Angel Grove needed it. Of course, it didn't help that they were the only Native family in the small town and the ingrained racism towards Natives was still alive and well. It made Tommy angry when he heard the whispers and saw the vandalism on his father's truck. It took all his will power to not do something stupid,especially that the truck was a gift from his late mother to his father. That truck was special to them and he was ready to fight anyone who came across it.
But he held his anger in, sparred with his sister to release his anger and keep up their kick boxing skills. It helped them both really. Things were hard for Tamsin as well and he wished he could do more for her, but she put it upon herself to bare the weight of the void left by their mother's death. He told her time and time again that she didn't have to be alone in it, but she would only smile and say, "I know."
"Hey," Tamsin suddenly said, "What's that?"
Tommy looked up and saw something strange in the middle of the street. It looked like some kind of weirdly formed rock formation, but almost anthropomorphic, which should be impossible. But not as impossible as it being bipedal and moving. "What the hell? C'mon!" He grabbed Tamsin's arm and pulled them back just as this rock creature let out some sort of scream and pounded at the ground, causing a ripple that reached them and made them falter, nearly falling. "We've gotta get out of here!"
They ran as the ground shook more and the few people that were out began to scream and run in all directions as the rock creature began to break pieces of the pavement and threw them through the air. One piece landed on a car just as someone was about to enter it. Two cars crashed in front of Tommy and Tamsin blocking their route. They ran and hid behind a bench.
Suddenly a group of five colorful individuals flew through the air and landed in front of the creature.
"It's the power rangers!" someone yelled in relief.
"Whoa, what the hell is that?!" the black ranger exclaimed.
The creature responded by shrieking again and threw more pieces of pavement as the rangers ran at it.
"An unhappy camper," Yellow said, jumping over the creature, trying to land a kick in before being thrown back.
"This rock thing, it's like a putty but stronger right? So, it would be like a rock star wouldn't it?" Blue joked as he- or she- circled it and ran to Yellow.
"That's not a bad code name, Blue," Pink grunted as a rock hit her, or him.
A sword-like light blue light came out of Red's hand. "Time to get this show on the road."
Wow, that was kind of lame, Tommy thought, laughing in his head.
Red jumped up, using Black to catapult him or her up into the air but Rock Star caught Red and threw them to the side right into Blue and Yellow.
"That's it," Black growled, "This is getting stupid!" Black put their hands together and a black and yellow light shined and formed what looked like an axe.
"I got your back, Black!" Pink shouted, "Hey, that rhymed, ha!" they added. Then a pink and white light shined through their hand a looked as if they were about to shoot something like a bow and arrow. That, Tommy thought, was pretty cool.
"I can't believe we're seeing this!" Tamsin gasped, tightening her hold on Tommy's arm.
Black charged at Rock Star then took a step to the side as Pink shot an arrow made of what looked like lightning. It hit Rock Star square in the chest and it faltered back and gave Black the opportunity they needed to strike Rock Star with their axe, successfully sending the creature flying back into a street light.
"Good job you guys!" Red shouted, "Blue… Yellow… NOW!" Both Blue and Yellow were propelled by Red and in midair summoned their own weapons- which Tommy couldn't quite see, only that they were blue and yellow sparks- and threw them at Rock Star which caused a small explosion on the monster, causing the ground to shake again as a street light fell over.
"We gotta get back," Tommy said, "There's too much debris flying around."
"Yeah," Tamsin agreed.
Then they heard a cry for help. Tommy and Tamsin looked at each other and he knew that she was thinking the same as him. They had to find the source of the cry.
While the power rangers continued to fight Rock Star, slowly gaining the upper hand, Tommy and Tamsin ran into a shop that had broken windows and a giant rock at the door step. "Help me!" shouted a small, innocent voice.
"We're coming, just hang on!" Tommy shouted as he and Tamsin climbed over broken wood and glass, stepping through what once was a window display. "Shit!" Tommy hissed as he pulled his hand away from the wall. Blood began seeping out from a deep gash.
"That looks bad," Tamsin said, as she held Tommy's hand in hers before looking up at him, "Stay here." She moved forward entering the shop as the walls began to shake. He grabbed a green handkerchief out of his pocket and wrapped his hand before turning back around. He saw that the power rangers nearly had Rock Star defeated when the monster suddenly curled in on itself, shook, and exploded some kind of energy wave.
The wave knocked all the rangers down and threw Tommy across the threshold of the shop and into the rock. He struggled to breathe as the air was knocked out of him and the ceiling began to collapse. Shit, he thought, still struggling to breathe, This place is gonna fall. I've got to get up. He struggled, but his chest hurt as he took in breaths without air. Tamsin, he panicked and forced himself to his feet as dizziness clouded him.
He stepped through the window display again, ready to fall inside to find his sister and the kid that was inside. Then suddenly Tamsin appeared, blood falling from the side of her head, with a little girl in her arms. "Here, take her," she said, eyes fluttering, and mouth opened. Tommy said nothing as he reached and grabbed the girl and stepped back outside, Tamsin right behind him.
They made it about five feet before part of the ceiling caved in on that shop. All three stared at the building that was now nothing but broken wood and cement. The little girl in Tommy's arms tightened her grip around his neck. He placed his hand on her back reassuringly and whispered, "I got you." He turned to Tamsin and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she replied. They ran back to their cover behind the bus bench. "What do we do?" Tamsin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was obviously hurting from her head wound.
Tommy shook his head, "We just have to stay put until the power rangers stop that thing."
He looked up and saw the fight was still going. The rangers had all grouped together and faced Rock Star. "Okay guys," Red announced, "Let's bring 'em together!"
"Right!" the rest shouted in unison.
All of their weapons became some kind of electrical energy bolt and they all threw them up into the air where it exploded and fell into Red's hands. It looked like a mini canon of sorts. The other rangers formed behind Red and placed their hands on each other's shoulders as they yelled in unison "Fire!"
The blast it shot out was extremely bright; almost blinding. Tommy turned his head away and covered the little girl and Tamsin as best as he could. He heard the explosion and scream of Rock Star and then tiny bits of rock and other debris showered down over them. It appeared that the power rangers had defeated this monster once he heard them cheering.
"Great job, guys," Red said proudly.
"I can't believe we did that without the zords!" Blue exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.
"That was pretty dope," Yellow added.
Both Tommy and Tamsin stood from their hiding spot, the little girl still holding onto Tommy tightly.
"Hey, guys," Pink said then pointed to them.
Red stepped forward, "Are you all okay?"
Tommy swallowed then answered, "Yeah, we're okay."
"Good. Sorry you got caught in the cross fire. But good thing you stayed back."
Other towns folk came out of buildings and from behind cars. "Mommy!" the little girl yelled as a woman came running at Tommy.
"Emmy!" She took the girl from Tommy's arms, "Thank you for saving her."
Tommy smiled shyly and said, "Not a problem, ma'am."
"Oh my," she said with concern looking at Tamsin, "You need to get that checked."
For the first time, Tommy really looked at Tamsin's head wound. It was a pretty big gash and still hadn't stopped bleeding. It probably would need stitches, or at the very least, butterfly band aids. "Oh damn. Yeah, c'mon, Dadee." Tommy quickly shook the woman's hand and pulled his sister towards the oncoming medics. He turned one more time towards the power rangers as they waved at the town's people before taking off.
It was quite the eventful day for Trini and when the others wanted to do a bond fire, she almost declined because she wanted to go home but when Kim gave her those damned puppy dog eyes, Trini couldn't say no. So, there they were, sitting around the fire, Kim sitting next to Trini but Kim using her lap to put her feet up as they all sipped on beers. She'd have to ask Zack how he keeps getting beer for them.
Billy now made sure to bring snacks for them and, since Zack lives the closest to the mine, leaves graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate at his trailer for s'mores. Trini will forever be thankful for that.
"We did good today, guys," Jason announced, "I'm proud of us."
"Thanks, Dad," Zack said, laughing.
"Yeah," Trini quipped, "Thanks, Boss Man!" She made sure to emphasize his nickname because she knew he hated it. Jason blushed and turned away smiling.
"I didn't think combining our weapons was gonna work, but I'm sure glad they did. It was like a 'power blaster' yeah?" Billy asked, excitedly.
"Nice one, Billy!" Jason shouted and clapped his hands.
"Yeah, man," Zack said, "You're our official, uh, code name provider?" Zack laughed, "Whatever, you know what I mean."
The group laughed and chatted about things that didn't matter, and it was nice and light. Then she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She pulled it out and saw a text from a number she didn't recognize:
1+575-364-1555 (7:48 pm): Is this Trini? It's Tamsin from detention. Hope it's okay but I got your number from my brother
1+575-364-1555 (7:48 pm): Which he got from your friend Kimberly
1+575-364-1555 (7:49 pm): And I just realized I might have gotten her in trouble so maybe just ignore me blowing up your phone
Trini threw Kim's feet off her lap and turned to her supposed best friend. "You gave Tommy my number?!" she snarled. Kim's face was text book deer-caught-in-headlights look and it was so comical that Trini almost laughed right then and there.
"Um," Kim paused and gulped, "Yeah?"
"Why?" Trini demanded. She had half a mind to get up and leave.
"Because he said Tamsin wanted it and that she was being shy about it."
She was being shy about it? Trini thought to herself. If that were the case, then that would mean that Tamsin might want to talk to her in the same fashion that Trini wants to talk to her. She supposes she couldn't be too mad at Kim, but she couldn't let her best friend get away with this. After all, it was an invasion of privacy. Well, that was a bit of a stretch, but Trini was willing to make it. "Okay," she finally said, "Fine." She didn't want Kim to know she was actually kind of excited she could talk to Tamsin now. "But that wasn't cool you gave some random my number. I expect coffee for the rest of our detentions together."
"Deal," Kim conceded.
Trini leaned back in her chair and Kim put her feet back up on her lap. She brought her phone up and opened her messages again and added Tamsin to her contacts and began a reply:
Tamsin the Valkyrie
You (7:52 pm): Hey, sorry. Yeah, it's totally fine.
Tamsin the Valkyrie (7:53 pm): Ok cool. I was just a lil nervous. Didn't want Kimberly to get in trouble with you lol but also wanted to make sure you were ok.
Tamsin the Valkyrie (7:53 pm): There was some alien attack in downtown AG today.
You (7:53 pm): Oh no, she's still in trouble. She owes me coffee forever now. And yes, I'm okay. I wasn't there I was actually hiking at the time.
It wasn't completely a lie. She was hiking part of the time.
Tamsin the Valkyrie (7:54 pm): Lol Kimberly owing you coffee forever and I'm glad you're okay.
Tamsin the Valkyrie (7:54 pm): So you're a coffee lover?
You (7:54 pm): Guilty.
Tamsin the Valkyrie (7:54 pm): Me too.
Tamsin the Valkyrie (7:55 pm): Would you maybe want to get coffee together sometime?
Trini stared at her phone, doe eyed. How was she supposed to answer that? What did it mean? Did it mean what she thought it meant? Oh god, oh god, oh god, she internally panicked. "Kim!" she hissed, holding up her phone, "What does this mean?!" Trini tried to keep her voice low as she didn't want the boys, specifically Zack, to overhear her.
Kim took her phone and read the texts and smiled, "Dude, I think she asked you on a date." She handed Trini back her phone.
"What do I say?" Trini demanded.
"Do you want to go on a date with her?"
Did she? Was she ready to go on a date again? Even though she did have small, non-sexually explicit encounters with a couple of girls this past year, none actually made her flabbergasted as Tamsin was doing. Then she thought of her parents. She hadn't exactly come out, but her parents knew, as made obvious by her mother this morning. She really didn't want them meddling in her life, not right now. But did she want to go on a date with Tamsin? Yes. The answer was definitely a yes. "I guess," she replied, trying to be nonchalant.
"Then freakin' text her, dummy!"
Tamsin the Valkyrie + You
You (7:57 pm): Yeah. That'd be nice.
Tamsin the Valkyrie (7:58 pm): Cool. Maybe tomorrow?
You (7:58 pm): Sounds good.
Trini couldn't help but feel giddy.
"HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!" Rita screamed, pounding her fist on one of the ship's control panels on the bridge. She turned to Finster, murder in her eyes, "How?" she asked lowly.
Finster trembled as he stepped back. "I don't know my mistress. Perhaps the rangers were more powerful than we thought?"
"More powerful than you thought," Rita said through clenched teeth. "We need another strategy." Then a nearby monitor beeped. "What is that?"
"An energy reading, Mistress," Finster answered, walking to the monitor. He pressed a few buttons on the controls and graphs came up. Things Rita couldn't read. "It appears there is left over Xalantan energy from our rock monster. The rangers destroyed it near the zeo crystal and it was able to siphon a very small bit of the crystal's energy before dissipating." He brought up another graph. "Here are readings of unknown origins."
"That's Goldar!" Rita exclaimed happily.
"Well it appears the Xalantan energy and the goldar dust is mixing. I'm not sure what will become of it."
"Knowing Xalanta, it'll be a beautiful combination."