Chapter One
The shrill ring of the phone extension that was almost next to his head was just about more than Adam could successfully ignore, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to continue to try. He was supposed to be having a lie in to aid recovery from a tough month's work, and to that end Tanya had taken the twins out to the park to give him some peace and quiet. Shit.
Without bothering to so much as roll over, Adam stuck an arm out of bed and picked up the receiver.
"Adam's asleep, Tanya's out, this is a recording."
"I've spoken to your answering machine and it doesn't sound anything like that," laughed the person on the other end of the line. "You sound like hell Adam."
Adam gritted his teeth. "That would be because I got back from a chaotic month in Hollywood last night and you're ruining my lie in, Rocky. Whatever this is, make it quick, or call me back in four hours time."
"Well I was kind of hoping you could pick me up from the airport at lunch time."
Adam's sleep hazed mind attempted to grasp the request and failed. "Why?"
Adam could almost hear Rocky roll his eyes. "Because my flight lands at one o'clock this afternoon, PST."
"You know I'm not a morning person," Adam retorted a touch defensively. "Anyway, I meant where have you been to be flying into Angel Grove? I didn't know you were out of town."
"You weren't kidding about a chaotic month," Rocky observed. "I've been in Washington covering the 'trial of the century'."
Adam frowned for a few moments, trying to dredge up any current affairs and news he might have come across in what little free time he'd had. "The Kazinski case?"
"That's the one," Rocky agreed. "And I'll even tell you all about it, if you pick me up."
Adam shook his head. Rocky was persistent, he'd have to give him that. "OK, OK. I'll meet you at one o'clock."
"Adam, you are a Godsend and a life saver - I owe you and Tanya a night out."
Before Adam could remind Rocky about the twins, Rocky had hung up. Knowing Rocky, he actually means he'll baby sit for us. Adam smiled and shook his head. For a guy who likes kids so much, I'm always surprised to know he isn't even seeing anyone.
Setting the receiver back in its cradle, Adam decided to cut his losses and get up. He had managed a couple of hours more sleep, which was not bad going - especially given the twins - and was considerably better than nothing at all. With the decision made, he started to get up, only to be halted as the phone began to ring again.
"What is this, pick on the frog day?" Adam groused, reaching for the receiver once more. "Park residence."
"We know where you live, Ranger. We're coming for you." The voice was so highly distorted Adam knew he shouldn't have been able to recognise it, but for all that, there was a note of familiarity in the threat.
Even as he recognised that, though, there was the telltale click of the call being disconnected, leaving Adam sat, more than slightly stunned, listening to the dialling tone. Who knew that piece of his past? It wasn't so much the threat that had shocked him, but the fact that the caller had called him a Ranger. Eventually, Adam realised he was still holding the receiver, and mechanically set it back in its cradle, but the question continued to rattle around his mind.
There were, by his reckoning, no more than twenty people who knew that he had been a Ranger. Of those, fifteen were ex-Rangers themselves and good friends of his. There was no way it could be any of them. The remaining five were admittedly former enemies of the Rangers, but Adam knew now that all of them had been under some form of spell and that their real personalities were about as far away from the villainous personas he had known as they could conceivably be. That made it unlikely it would be one of them.
The only other candidate that he could think of was Eugene 'Skull' Skullovich but that just had Adam shaking his head before the idea could even properly form. As irritating as Skull had been when they had been in high school, Adam had long since realised that it had all been a front. Just as he had chosen to hide in his books and martial arts classes, Skull had chosen to play the role of obnoxious punk. No - even if Skull had learned his secret, Adam doubted he would have come up with this eerie threat.
All of which left Adam with no obvious suspects. He wanted to dismiss it as a crank call, but the mention of rangering had got every last nerve on alert. He sighed. He wasn't going to figure it out alone, or without a cup of coffee. When he saw Rocky later on that morning, he'd see if Rocky had received any kind of threat. With that decided, Adam dismissed it from his conscious mind, and started to get up.
~*~
"Mel?"
Mel heard the lilting, musical call and grimaced. His sister was looking for him, but he most definitely did not want to be found. From his perch in the Massassi tree, he watched as his sister came into view.
"Mel where are you?" she called.
Mel stayed still, safely hidden within the spreading branches. He knew full well why she was looking for him. Today was the day he was supposed to take the tests to see whether he should attend the Mage College. He knew that if he took the tests, he'd pass and be accepted, but he didn't want to go there. He wanted to stay on in high school with his friends. He didn't want to be different.
"Come on, Mel, please - come out?"
She was right below him now, a flash of blond hair and pale complexion amidst the greenery of the tree. He didn't want to upset her - after all, she had all but been his mother for most of his life - but he did not want to take the tests.
"Mel it's nothing to be afraid of."
Mel knew she was speaking from experience - she had tested for the Mage College herself, everyone did when they reached thirteen. It did nothing to assuage his fears. He didn't want to be different. People who went to the Mage College were feared - and he didn't want to be feared. He had too few friends already - he didn't want to lose the rest.
"Please, Mel."
She wasn't going to let up, but Mel was equally he wasn't going to come down until she'd gone. He knew she'd be disappointed, and knew that his father would be angry. But he didn't want to go. Why couldn't they understand that?
There was a rustle in the branches of the tree and suddenly a hand came down upon Mel's shoulder. He jumped.
"Mel," his sister began gently, "it really is nothing to be afraid of."
She had found him. "You don't understand, Lidya."
Lidya smiled. "Then make me. Tell me what you're so bothered about?"
Mel sighed. "I don't want to go to the Mage College."
Lidya's eyebrows raised in surprise. "But you can't possibly know you'll pass the tests. If you don't pass the tests, you'll go to the high school, just like I did."
"But that's just it," Mel replied miserably, "I do know."
Lidya's expression froze. "What do you mean?"
"I saw it. I saw me taking the test...I saw me passing."
For a long moment, Lidya stared at her brother in silence until Mel started to feel uncomfortable with the scrutiny. "What do you mean you 'saw'?" she asked, eventually.
Mel shrugged not sure how to put it into words. "I got...a picture in my head. Like a dream but much more real." Lidya's gaze continued to bore into him. "What?"
She shook her head. "How long have you been getting these...pictures?"
Again, he shrugged. "I don't know. Since I was a little kid?" Lidya shook her head. "Doesn't everyone get them?"
Lidya gave a long, measured sigh. "No, Mel. I don't get them; father doesn't get them. Mother didn't get them either. None of your friends get them either."
Mel gaped in outright horror. "Vlarnia was right I am a freak!"
Lidya sighed again, shook her head and smiled ruefully. "You're not a freak, Mel. I promise you you're not. You're just...gifted."
"Gifted?" Mel echoed.
"Gifted," Lidya confirmed. "Those pictures you get are visions and only very special people can get them."
"So...I'm...I'm special?"
Lidya nodded. "Yes. Very special. And you will need to go to the Mage College so that you can learn how to...control the visions."
"Could...could they make them stop?" he asked softly.
Lidya shook her head again. "It's a part of you, Mel - they could no more stop the visions than you could stop breathing. Why?"
"Promise not to tell father?" Lidya looked confused, but nodded nonetheless. "I see other things too...nasty things..." Mel gulped. "Death."
"Whose death?" Lidya asked softly.
"Father's."
"Oh, Mel..." Lidya trailed off, shaking her head. She reached out to him and drew him into an embrace. "Why didn't you say something sooner? We could have got you help." Mel said nothing. "Will you come now and take the tests? So that you can have some help?" Meekly, Mel nodded.
~*~
Edward slumped back in his seat and propped his head on his hand. His eyes burned from a lack of sleep, his head pounded from too much caffeine and he felt heart sore from the certain knowledge that there was nothing he could do to prevent what was coming.
"We have to try."
He looked up. "I know we do. And at the same time..."
She held up her hand to stop him. "Don't."
He sighed and shook his head. "I can't help it, K. I know what I saw. What I felt. Worse, I know what happened to the previous wielder of the powers."
"So you said last night." She crouched in front of him. "Tell me about him - maybe we can find a way to help this time round."
Edward leaned forwards. "I guess it might help," he admitted. "But it's mostly ancient galactic legend."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Galactic legend?"
Edward nodded. "The truths have got lost in the mists of time."
"But you know them?"
Edward smiled faintly. "I know some of them," he hedged. She just looked at him knowingly. "Did Zordon ever tell you about Meledan?"
"As in the order of?" she queried.
"Sort of," Edward answered. "Meledan was the man they formed the order in memory of."
"Zordon's Zordon, huh?"
Edward grinned. "Not exactly. Meledan disappeared without trace before Zordon had even started his training. Some say he was killed, others say he simply vanished into the sunset."
She gave him a shrewd look. "And what do you say?"
"I say it's a hell of a lot more complicated than that."
~*~
"Adam!"
The yell was loud enough that those closest to the source physically recoiled. It left Adam shaking his head, but it was Rocky all over. Always the exuberant one.
As Adam watched Rocky race up the ramp into the arrivals lounge something strange started to happen. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Movement turned to slow motion. Sounds stretched out into meaningless echoes, yet one sound remained.
A heartbeat.
His own.
Pounding.
And then there was another sound. A loud, exaggerated explosion.
Real-time started again as people started to scream, but it took Adam's brain several seconds to catch up. His eyes were riveted to the horrific sight on the ramp up into the arrivals lounge.
It was like something out of a movie.
Except this was real.
The explosion was a gunshot, perfectly aimed, right between Rocky's eyes, leaving behind a perfect, red hole.
To be continued...
The shrill ring of the phone extension that was almost next to his head was just about more than Adam could successfully ignore, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to continue to try. He was supposed to be having a lie in to aid recovery from a tough month's work, and to that end Tanya had taken the twins out to the park to give him some peace and quiet. Shit.
Without bothering to so much as roll over, Adam stuck an arm out of bed and picked up the receiver.
"Adam's asleep, Tanya's out, this is a recording."
"I've spoken to your answering machine and it doesn't sound anything like that," laughed the person on the other end of the line. "You sound like hell Adam."
Adam gritted his teeth. "That would be because I got back from a chaotic month in Hollywood last night and you're ruining my lie in, Rocky. Whatever this is, make it quick, or call me back in four hours time."
"Well I was kind of hoping you could pick me up from the airport at lunch time."
Adam's sleep hazed mind attempted to grasp the request and failed. "Why?"
Adam could almost hear Rocky roll his eyes. "Because my flight lands at one o'clock this afternoon, PST."
"You know I'm not a morning person," Adam retorted a touch defensively. "Anyway, I meant where have you been to be flying into Angel Grove? I didn't know you were out of town."
"You weren't kidding about a chaotic month," Rocky observed. "I've been in Washington covering the 'trial of the century'."
Adam frowned for a few moments, trying to dredge up any current affairs and news he might have come across in what little free time he'd had. "The Kazinski case?"
"That's the one," Rocky agreed. "And I'll even tell you all about it, if you pick me up."
Adam shook his head. Rocky was persistent, he'd have to give him that. "OK, OK. I'll meet you at one o'clock."
"Adam, you are a Godsend and a life saver - I owe you and Tanya a night out."
Before Adam could remind Rocky about the twins, Rocky had hung up. Knowing Rocky, he actually means he'll baby sit for us. Adam smiled and shook his head. For a guy who likes kids so much, I'm always surprised to know he isn't even seeing anyone.
Setting the receiver back in its cradle, Adam decided to cut his losses and get up. He had managed a couple of hours more sleep, which was not bad going - especially given the twins - and was considerably better than nothing at all. With the decision made, he started to get up, only to be halted as the phone began to ring again.
"What is this, pick on the frog day?" Adam groused, reaching for the receiver once more. "Park residence."
"We know where you live, Ranger. We're coming for you." The voice was so highly distorted Adam knew he shouldn't have been able to recognise it, but for all that, there was a note of familiarity in the threat.
Even as he recognised that, though, there was the telltale click of the call being disconnected, leaving Adam sat, more than slightly stunned, listening to the dialling tone. Who knew that piece of his past? It wasn't so much the threat that had shocked him, but the fact that the caller had called him a Ranger. Eventually, Adam realised he was still holding the receiver, and mechanically set it back in its cradle, but the question continued to rattle around his mind.
There were, by his reckoning, no more than twenty people who knew that he had been a Ranger. Of those, fifteen were ex-Rangers themselves and good friends of his. There was no way it could be any of them. The remaining five were admittedly former enemies of the Rangers, but Adam knew now that all of them had been under some form of spell and that their real personalities were about as far away from the villainous personas he had known as they could conceivably be. That made it unlikely it would be one of them.
The only other candidate that he could think of was Eugene 'Skull' Skullovich but that just had Adam shaking his head before the idea could even properly form. As irritating as Skull had been when they had been in high school, Adam had long since realised that it had all been a front. Just as he had chosen to hide in his books and martial arts classes, Skull had chosen to play the role of obnoxious punk. No - even if Skull had learned his secret, Adam doubted he would have come up with this eerie threat.
All of which left Adam with no obvious suspects. He wanted to dismiss it as a crank call, but the mention of rangering had got every last nerve on alert. He sighed. He wasn't going to figure it out alone, or without a cup of coffee. When he saw Rocky later on that morning, he'd see if Rocky had received any kind of threat. With that decided, Adam dismissed it from his conscious mind, and started to get up.
~*~
"Mel?"
Mel heard the lilting, musical call and grimaced. His sister was looking for him, but he most definitely did not want to be found. From his perch in the Massassi tree, he watched as his sister came into view.
"Mel where are you?" she called.
Mel stayed still, safely hidden within the spreading branches. He knew full well why she was looking for him. Today was the day he was supposed to take the tests to see whether he should attend the Mage College. He knew that if he took the tests, he'd pass and be accepted, but he didn't want to go there. He wanted to stay on in high school with his friends. He didn't want to be different.
"Come on, Mel, please - come out?"
She was right below him now, a flash of blond hair and pale complexion amidst the greenery of the tree. He didn't want to upset her - after all, she had all but been his mother for most of his life - but he did not want to take the tests.
"Mel it's nothing to be afraid of."
Mel knew she was speaking from experience - she had tested for the Mage College herself, everyone did when they reached thirteen. It did nothing to assuage his fears. He didn't want to be different. People who went to the Mage College were feared - and he didn't want to be feared. He had too few friends already - he didn't want to lose the rest.
"Please, Mel."
She wasn't going to let up, but Mel was equally he wasn't going to come down until she'd gone. He knew she'd be disappointed, and knew that his father would be angry. But he didn't want to go. Why couldn't they understand that?
There was a rustle in the branches of the tree and suddenly a hand came down upon Mel's shoulder. He jumped.
"Mel," his sister began gently, "it really is nothing to be afraid of."
She had found him. "You don't understand, Lidya."
Lidya smiled. "Then make me. Tell me what you're so bothered about?"
Mel sighed. "I don't want to go to the Mage College."
Lidya's eyebrows raised in surprise. "But you can't possibly know you'll pass the tests. If you don't pass the tests, you'll go to the high school, just like I did."
"But that's just it," Mel replied miserably, "I do know."
Lidya's expression froze. "What do you mean?"
"I saw it. I saw me taking the test...I saw me passing."
For a long moment, Lidya stared at her brother in silence until Mel started to feel uncomfortable with the scrutiny. "What do you mean you 'saw'?" she asked, eventually.
Mel shrugged not sure how to put it into words. "I got...a picture in my head. Like a dream but much more real." Lidya's gaze continued to bore into him. "What?"
She shook her head. "How long have you been getting these...pictures?"
Again, he shrugged. "I don't know. Since I was a little kid?" Lidya shook her head. "Doesn't everyone get them?"
Lidya gave a long, measured sigh. "No, Mel. I don't get them; father doesn't get them. Mother didn't get them either. None of your friends get them either."
Mel gaped in outright horror. "Vlarnia was right I am a freak!"
Lidya sighed again, shook her head and smiled ruefully. "You're not a freak, Mel. I promise you you're not. You're just...gifted."
"Gifted?" Mel echoed.
"Gifted," Lidya confirmed. "Those pictures you get are visions and only very special people can get them."
"So...I'm...I'm special?"
Lidya nodded. "Yes. Very special. And you will need to go to the Mage College so that you can learn how to...control the visions."
"Could...could they make them stop?" he asked softly.
Lidya shook her head again. "It's a part of you, Mel - they could no more stop the visions than you could stop breathing. Why?"
"Promise not to tell father?" Lidya looked confused, but nodded nonetheless. "I see other things too...nasty things..." Mel gulped. "Death."
"Whose death?" Lidya asked softly.
"Father's."
"Oh, Mel..." Lidya trailed off, shaking her head. She reached out to him and drew him into an embrace. "Why didn't you say something sooner? We could have got you help." Mel said nothing. "Will you come now and take the tests? So that you can have some help?" Meekly, Mel nodded.
~*~
Edward slumped back in his seat and propped his head on his hand. His eyes burned from a lack of sleep, his head pounded from too much caffeine and he felt heart sore from the certain knowledge that there was nothing he could do to prevent what was coming.
"We have to try."
He looked up. "I know we do. And at the same time..."
She held up her hand to stop him. "Don't."
He sighed and shook his head. "I can't help it, K. I know what I saw. What I felt. Worse, I know what happened to the previous wielder of the powers."
"So you said last night." She crouched in front of him. "Tell me about him - maybe we can find a way to help this time round."
Edward leaned forwards. "I guess it might help," he admitted. "But it's mostly ancient galactic legend."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Galactic legend?"
Edward nodded. "The truths have got lost in the mists of time."
"But you know them?"
Edward smiled faintly. "I know some of them," he hedged. She just looked at him knowingly. "Did Zordon ever tell you about Meledan?"
"As in the order of?" she queried.
"Sort of," Edward answered. "Meledan was the man they formed the order in memory of."
"Zordon's Zordon, huh?"
Edward grinned. "Not exactly. Meledan disappeared without trace before Zordon had even started his training. Some say he was killed, others say he simply vanished into the sunset."
She gave him a shrewd look. "And what do you say?"
"I say it's a hell of a lot more complicated than that."
~*~
"Adam!"
The yell was loud enough that those closest to the source physically recoiled. It left Adam shaking his head, but it was Rocky all over. Always the exuberant one.
As Adam watched Rocky race up the ramp into the arrivals lounge something strange started to happen. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Movement turned to slow motion. Sounds stretched out into meaningless echoes, yet one sound remained.
A heartbeat.
His own.
Pounding.
And then there was another sound. A loud, exaggerated explosion.
Real-time started again as people started to scream, but it took Adam's brain several seconds to catch up. His eyes were riveted to the horrific sight on the ramp up into the arrivals lounge.
It was like something out of a movie.
Except this was real.
The explosion was a gunshot, perfectly aimed, right between Rocky's eyes, leaving behind a perfect, red hole.
To be continued...