The Rangers materialized on the Power Chamber, and looked up to see two halves of a beach-ball-sized rock sitting in a large basin in the center of the room.
The whole place stank like rotten eggs.
Kat made a disgusted face and shrank back from the smelly thing.
"Oh!" Alpha said, looking up from where he was taking a sample. "I forgot, the smell of sulphur is unpleasant to humans." He shuffled over to the computer and turned on the oxygen purification system. The smell began to fade.
"Where is the Morpheonite?" Zordon asked.
"Dead." said Tanya. "She's lying in a puddle on the warehouse floor. Whatever you had Rocky do to her, it did the trick."
Then Kat spoke from where she knelt with Tommy. "Could we possibly have a little help here?"
The other Rangers made room and Alpha hurried to the MedLab to get a force-field immobilizer. He strapped it to Tommy's arm and activated it, and Tommy sucked in a breath, suddenly feeling pressure around his neck and shoulders. "It's okay," Kat soothed. "it won't strangle you."
She held his hand and they teleported away to the MedLab, taking Alpha with them.
"What is that?" Tanya asked, rising and cautiously approaching the meteor.
Zordon answered, "This is the vehicle in which the Morpheonite--"
"Gh'ess." Rocky supplied.
"Yes--in which Gh'ess traveled to Earth. She remained in her natural, liquid state in the compartment at the heart of the meteor, while the journey took place. Then she emerged through the escape tube at the edge."
Tanya, Rocky, and Adam looked at the cross-sectioned rock. There was a hollow at the center of both halves, and a channel ran from the compartment to the outer edge. The walls were coated in the same gelatinous stuff that had been in the nest.
"Originally, the meteor was much larger than this, but the Earth's atmosphere burned away much of it upon entry."
Adam shook his head as he tried to stand. Rocky and Tanya had to help him, and he they set him against one of the computer banks so he could take the weight off his leg. He rubbed it, wincing. "The feeling's starting to come back." he said. Then he looked up at his friends. "That's a bad thing."
"What happened to you?" Rocky asked.
Tanya replied. "There was a big fight. Gh'ess gave Adam the old 'shin-to-the-femoral-nerve' bit."
"Ouch..." Rocky flinched, knowing what that felt like. "What about Tommy?"
"She gave him the knock-'em-through-a-plate-glass-window-and-let-'em-fall-two-stories- to-the-concrete-floor' bit." said Adam.
"Oh."
"He would have broken every bone in his body if he hadn't been morphed when he fell." Tanya shook her head. "I think we came away lucky today."
"Speak for yourself." said Adam.
Then Zordon spoke to them. "I would like a full oral report on this incident recorded in the computer files. Each one of you is missing certain pieces of the puzzle and I suggest you hold a conference to help you fill in the blanks. In the meantime, I will take care of the nest and the bounty hunter's remains."
"Good idea." said Tanya. "I am totally confused about what went on here. And what did Gh'ess mean about the Machine Empire? Could she really have removed them?"
"I don't know." Rocky replied. "But I sure wouldn't put it past her."
"Amen to that." Adam nodded.
They shook their heads, remembering their incredible opponent. For now, they were all just glad that battle was over.
Kat finished setting up the bed monitor program. She turned from her computer console and made her way over to the edge of Tommy's bunk, glancing briefly at the readout at his head. His eyes were closed but he was awake.
"Hey there, Wild Man..." she mimicked.
He smiled and opened his eyes to look at her, anticipating some teasing. "Looks like I'm in for a taste of my own medicine." he said.
"No, just a lecture." She became more serious. "What's up with you going out to fight before you were a hundred percent recovered? You could have been really hurt, you know."
"This isn't hurt enough for you?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "You know what I'm talking about, Tommy. It was a reckless thing to do, and you're smarter than that."
He sighed. "I know, I know. I just felt responsible for Rocky getting in trouble, and I wanted to make things better."
"You always feel responsible for our every little bump and bruise. Would you do that if we weren't your fellow Rangers?"
"Of course not, but you are. Zordon trusts me to look out for you, and as the leader of the Zeo Rangers, I'm not going to quit anytime soon."
Kat lowered her eyes, still not satisfied that her point was getting through.
"Tommy, you are our leader," she said quietly. "and as our leader, it's true you have to watch out for our safety. But we're supposed to do the same, and now I'm asking you to understand how much you scare me sometimes."
Tommy listened silently and she met his eyes again.
"You know I care about you alot, and I'm glad you care enough in return to watch over me and the others. But what's going to happen when you get yourself killed?"
There was no way he could answer that. He just gazed at her and realized her eyes had filled up with tears. Her voice didn't waver, she didn't break down, but he could see that the whole matter hurt her more than he'd ever imagined.
Now he found himself getting teary. "I...I'm sorry, Kat." was all he could whisper.
She bit her lip and looked down again, swallowing.
"C'mere..." he said finally, and pulled her down into an embrace. She laid her head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, stroking her hair with a gloved hand and the tears began to flow.
They escaped the corners of Tommy's eyes and ran down the sides of his head, onto the low pillow. They formed a damp spot on his chest under Katherine's face. Neither one had anything left to say, nor did they feel like breaking the silence with more than soft sniffling sounds. Like before, they were too close, emotionally, to need words at a moment like this.
Finally, Kat raised her head and managed a gentle smile. Tommy took an shaky breath and let it out again. She fingered the wet place on his chest and gave a short laugh. "So much for Everything-Proof..."
He couldn't bend his head to look down that far, but he could feel the spot right over his heart. He sighed as she squeezed his hand. Then she leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.
Alpha, who had been totally silent the entire time, looked up, saw what was happening, and realized this was a good time to leave the room. He picked up his tools, stepped quietly away from the console, and discreetly teleported out.
Command Center Computer Log:
Date: seventeenth day of July, nineteen hundred and ninety seven (earth calendar)
Time: twenty-one hundred hours (nine o'clock pm)
Location: Command Center Conference room.
Present: Zordon, Alpha V, Pink Ranger, Yellow Ranger, Green Ranger, Red Ranger, Rocky DeSantos.
-----
Alpha V: "Alright, Rangers. The recorder is running."
Zordon: "I will begin with the events that took place three months ago. A bounty hunter named Gh'ess Piah, a shape-shifter from the planet Morpheon, answers a summon from the Tivanik Spokesperson in charge of External Affairs. Piah is hired to travel to the planet Earth to destroy the Zeo Rangers. She is paid an advance reward of two point four million credits. Constructing a vehicle disguised as a common meteorite, she makes the journey in fourteen point seven days, and impacts on the surface in the state of California, USA. She locates a suitable place in which to build her nest--an abandoned storage building in the town of Angel Grove, where she believes the Power Rangers to be. Immediately, she discovers the presence of King Mondo and the Machine Empire, and uses an unspecified spell to temporarily freeze all activity there."
Rocky (whispered to Green Ranger): "She makes it look so easy..."
(Green Ranger stifles a laugh)
Zordon: "After that, she proceeded to cause minor disruptions and mischief around the city, hoping to draw the Zeo Rangers' attention. Among other things, she impersonates a Macrosoft executive, a police official, a Bengal tiger, a high-powered stereo amplifier, a teletype machine, and a highschool student."
(eye contact between Pink and Yellow Rangers)
Zordon: "Failing to attract the Rangers' notice, she plants a bugging device on the Pink and Yellow Rangers while they are at a party, and through this device, learns of the Blue Ranger's imminent departure. She breaks into the command center while the power transfer is taking place, disguised as a black ranger. She disrupts the transfer, sends the Blue Ranger into an unconscious state, minorly injures the Red Ranger, and damages my systems."
(Zordon turns to Rocky)
Zordon: "Rocky, will you please share with us what you experienced next?"
Rocky: "Sure. I was standing there, feeling all the Blue energy being sucked away, when there was this intense flash. All of a sudden, I couldn't feel my body anymore. It was like I was totally separated from where I had been. Then I...'woke up'...in this strange sort of landscape. Gh'ess was there. She told me she regretted not playing fair with me, but she had a mission to complete. I asked her what was going on, and she said I was in a dream-state where I'd stay as long as she needed me to. She also said the Power Transfer had been completed and I was now just a regular human being."
Zordon: "Go on."
Rocky: "It was really strange in there, the way time passed. I don't know how long it was, but it felt like ages. The whole time, she just been stood there, like she was guarding me against something. I talked to her and asked her what she was doing on here on Earth, and she told me all about her home world and stuff. I've recorded everything she told me in the computer already, by the way. It was weird, she actually started to grow on me. Then, she up and left. It was like she got distracted and had to go take care of something. The next thing I knew, I was drifting upward toward what looked like the surface of a pool. Then I woke up, and Alpha told me what was going on.."
Zordon: "At the time of the disruption, Gh'ess Piah put Rocky into a dreamlike state where most of his neurological systems would not work. It was a similar spell as the one she used on the Machine Empire. He was unconscious until she could no longer monitor him, and then his body began to return to normal."
Rocky: "Right...what he said. Anyway, when I found out what Gh'ess had done, I got really mad. I couldn t believe she'd do something like that. She seemed so....benevolent....in the dream. I didn't want to kill her, but it was the only way to save you guys, so when Alpha gave me the needle, I went down and did what he told me. I guess everything turned out for the best in the end. (pause) So really, what all happened while I was unconscious?"
Green Ranger: "After Gh'ess messed up the transfer, she just teleported out. It all went down so fast and we were left to try and figure out what had happened to you. We saw all the symptoms, but there wasn't a thing we could do about them. Tommy needed time to recover a bit too, so Kat and Tanya and I went to check out some weird energy readings Zordon was getting."
Zordon: "I had detected them while my visual image systems were deactivated. I had turned them off to concentrate all available energy to repairing the sensors, which had been severely damaged in the energy surge. During a test, I discovered strange organic readings that were not of this planet, but I was unable to collect any more information than that."
Pink Ranger: "So he sent us to go investigate."
Yellow Ranger: "We teleported to the warehouse and went up to the office, expecting to find...well, I don t know what we expected. Then we saw the nest."
Green Ranger: "Yeah...the nest."
Zordon: "I have brought the nest here and put it in stasis for later study. Do not worry, Alpha will perform that procedure."
(all participants sigh in unison)
Yellow Ranger: "Anyway, we found the thing and then Zordon warned us about a life form in the area. A second later, he said his sensors must have been screwing up again and we went home. But actually the sensors were fine, weren't they?"
Pink Ranger: "We went back and looked at the sensor logs, and what Zordon detected was Gh'ess morphing out of a disguise. She had been camouflaging herself on the stairway wall and we walked right past her when we went up. Apparently, she can hide herself from detection at all times except for a moment when she changes form. So, after we gave up on the thing, we came back here and Tommy told us what he'd found out about the Machine Empire. He showed us the graphs, and Alpha told us about the Morpheonic Beings, and we put a bunch of it together right there. We realized what the nest must have been and we went back, this time with our brave leader, Tommy, in command."
(Brief eye contact between Red Ranger and Pink Ranger. Pink Ranger smiles and looks away)
Pink Ranger: "We got to the warehouse and Tommy told us to wait while he went up by himself. Zordon called us to give us the rest of the info on the Morpheonite and gave Tommy the excuse he needed to convince us to stay behind. We let him go and weren't waiting five minutes before he came back down--the quick way."
Green Ranger: "What happened up there while you were gone, Tommy?"
Yellow Ranger: "Yeah, one minute you went in the little door, and the next you came out the big window."
Red Ranger: "I got up there and found the door just where you all said it would be. I stopped a second, trying to figure out what I was going to do if I got attacked, but there were way too many things that Gh'ess could have been morphed as. I figured I better just go in there and deal with things as they happened. I smashed the door in, thinking I'd get the jump on anybody in there but the room looked totally empty. I saw the nest in the corner right away..."
Yellow Ranger: "It's kinda hard to miss."
Red Ranger: "..and I saw you guys down below through the window. I called you up to tell you the place was empty, and let you know what was going on.
(sighs, shakes head)
Red Ranger: As soon as I said 'teletype machine' I realized it wasn't one of things you mentioned. Next thing I knew, there was a weird 'glorp' sound and I turned around to see this blonde girl in a Black Ranger suit standing right behind me. Before I could even think, she threw a wicked backhand and I went flying through the glass. I swear I don't remember the moment when I hit the ground, I just found myself lying there when Kat came over. I said something to her..."
Pink Ranger: "'Told'ya I'd be right back down.'"
Red Ranger: "..right...and then it felt like somebody was playing tug-o-war with my spine. I tried not to move much after that."
Zordon: "A short time later, I received his distress transmission. At the same time, Rocky was emerging from his unconsciousness and asking where everyone was. I decided he would be the best one to carry out the plan Alpha had devised."
(pause in dialogue)
Pink Ranger: "Alpha, you're blushing...!"
Green Ranger: "He is??"
Alpha V: "Well, I didn't really devise the plan. I just figured out about the alcohol content in Morpheonic Fluid, and realized we had the answer right before our eyes."
Rocky: "And being the only person available, guess who had to take it down and deliver it to the enemy?"
Zordon: "At this point, you were all reunited again, and you all know the story. With her last words, Gh'ess Piah revealed her contract with the race known as Tivanik, and disclosed the fact that she had blanketed the entire Machine Empire, including King Mondo himself, with a spell. Further examination has since revealed an ice-inducing spell encasing the entire empire. At its current rate, it will not fully melt for another 46 days."
Green Ranger: "A month and a half?!"
Red Ranger: "You didn't tell us that, Zordon!"
Pink Ranger (to Yellow Ranger): "You know what this means..."
Yellow Ranger (high-fiving Pink Ranger): "..vacation time!"
Zordon: "Yes, you will be able to take a break. A much-needed one, I might add, as some of you need time recover from injuries before resuming your duties."
(Pink Ranger elbows Red Ranger)
Red Ranger (whispered): "Ow! I'm injured, remember?"
Zordon: "I believe this concludes the report, Rangers. Is there anything else you would like to add?"
(pause)
Rocky: "Um...I would Zordon. .I just wanted to say, let's not put it on the record that Gh'ess was, like, the evil scourge of the universe or anything, okay?"
Zordon: "Why do you say that, Rocky?"
Rocky: "Well, when I was unconscious, and she was there guarding me, it was almost like we were...inside each other's heads. I could tell she wasn't doing this just for the sake of being evil. She was doing it because she was hired to, and it wasn't like she had anything personally against us. She even said she would have liked to have been fighting on our side. Am I making any sense?"
Green Ranger: "Rocky's right, Zordon, let's not flame her for doing her job. She was a pretty brutal enemy but I think she must have had her reasons for being in that line of work. What do you guys think?"
Yellow Ranger: "I'm with you."
Alpha V: "Yes, I concur."
Red Ranger (after a pause): "Yeah, that sounds good."
(all look to Pink Ranger. a long pause ensues. Pink Ranger looks at Red Ranger as she speaks)
Pink Ranger (whispered): "Alright. I'm game."
(Pink and Red Rangers clasp hands beneath table)
Zordon: "It is agreed then."
(all rise)
Zordon: "I thank you Zeo Rangers. I will see you after your vacation. And Rocky, since you are leaving within the next few hours, I wish you peace and good-fortune on all your future ventures."
Rocky: "Thanks Zordon. And...y'know...thank you, guys. I swear I wouldn't change the past couple years for anything."
Pink Ranger: "Good luck, Rocky."
Yellow Ranger: "Take care of yourself."
Green Ranger: "Keep in touch, okay?"
Red Ranger: "Keep your head together, man. Thanks for everything."
Alpha V: "We'll miss you, Blue Ranger."
Zordon: "Goodbye, Rocky. And may the Power protect you...."
END LOG.
Author's Notes February 2002: This is the earliest fic I have on disk, and I am resisting the urge to apologize for it, but I thought it should be included here. Hopefully some of the better stories from later in my 'career' make up for it.