Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Next Generation
"The Return of the Blue Ranger" Part 3 By Christine Coulter
The Rangers stared in shock at the giant basilisk that stood before them. People that saw the creature screamed even more than what they had at the basilisks before. One of the snake's long fangs dripped venom, falling to the ground so fast that the Rangers were barely able to avoid being hit by it. The spot where the venom had landed fizzed and smoked, and when it stopped, a giant hole was in its place.
"Whoa. We definitely need to watch out for that," Christopher stated the obvious.
The giant basilisk tried to step on them, but they dodged its seven-foot long foot. It swung at them with its clawed hand, missing all but Jesse, who was thrown fifty feet away. The Rangers ran to him, but luckily, he wasn't seriously injured. The snake turned from them and went toward one of the few buildings that remained intact, only to knock it down with one single swish of its muscular tail.
"What are we going to do?" Samantha asked, watching the snake's path of destruction. At one point it went after Bulk and Skull. When they saw the creature, Bulk jumped into Skull's arms, causing him to topple over backwards. The snake laughed and moved passed them.
"We need our Zords."
"Hey Elnia, we could use a little help here," Jesse said to his communicator, after getting to his feet.
"Tommy and I are working on it. I think there might be...Oh no!"
"Oh no? What do you mean, Oh no?!" The Rangers were answered by what sounded like sparks followed by a small explosion.
"Elnia, Tommy. What's going on?" Before anyone could answer, the Rangers felt an odd sensation, and watched in horror as they changed back into normal street clothes.
"What the...?"
"Uh, guys? We have a problem here," Tommy said, his voice sounding panicked. "I think you all should teleport back here. Now."
"You lost the connection to our morphers?!" Jesse shouted, more out of desperation than anger. "How are we supposed to defeat that thing now?"
Upon teleporting back to the Command Center, the Rangers had been shocked to see the whole control panel smoking. Elnia explained how she and Tommy had found a short in one of the wires, and upon trying to fix it had just created a bigger disaster. Zeldon said they were lucky they still had enough power to teleport back.
"I am so sorry!" Elnia said, obviously trying to keep herself calm. "I was just trying to make the connection to your Zords, but now I've screwed everything up."
"We know it wasn't your fault," Kimberly said, as both she and Angela tried to comfort her. "Zeldon can fix everything, can't you, Zeldon?"
"Of course I can. It'll take time, but I can."
"But we don't have time, that's the point!" Jesse said. "The Wolvenians destroyed most of the city themselves, so it won't take long for the basilisk to finish everything off."
"And then there's Billy," Samantha reminded them. "He's still out there, and who knows what he's..." she gasped when Billy's face appeared on the screen of the viewing globe.
"Hello Rangers. Zeldon. I see you've decided to run away like the big cowards you are. Oh well. Just all the easier for Alagor to take control of the city. I will still destroy you, though, unless you do me this one thing."
"And what would that be, you ..."
"Now, now. Rangers aren't supposed to talk like that. All I want is to meet with Miss Samantha Callaghan there." Everyone turned toward Samantha, who was staring at Billy like she could look into his eyes, despite the fact that he was still wearing his helmet.
"What do you want, Billy?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking because she felt like she was about to start crying.
"To talk to you alone. If you do this, I may be able to convince Master Alagor to let your friends live."
"Samantha wouldn't be caught dead talking to you..."
"Wait, Josh. Okay, I'll talk to you Billy. Where do you want to meet?"
"At the cliff outside of the city." This was the same place the Putties had taken her, and where Billy had saved her life.
"Alright. I'll teleport there right now."
"Good. See you Power Punks later." The screen went blank.
Everyone stared at Samantha in shock.
"You can't really be serious about meeting him, are you?" Megan asked.
"Yeah, I am."
"You've gotta be crazy," Randy exclaimed.
"Look, this may be the only chance I have of talking to him. Maybe I can talk some sense in him, make him remember."
"Or maybe it's just a trap, and when he gets you alone, he'll kill you."
"That's a chance I'm willing to take."
"She's right," Zeldon said, which shocked everyone even more, including Samantha, because she had been sure he would have refused to let her go.
"Zeldon, you can't seriously let her go there. Who knows what he'll do," Jesse said.
"Samantha has a special connection with Billy that no one else does. That's why they were such good friends. If anyone can break Alagor's spell, it's her."
"So, you're saying I can go?" Samantha asked, feeling her heart beat faster. She wanted so much to talk to Billy, and now she was getting her chance.
"Of course. But take your morpher, just in case. I should have everything in order shortly."
"Thank you, Zeldon. Now Elnia, if you wouldn't mind teleporting me to the cliff."
Elnia pushed the few buttons that were still working, and Samantha was gone.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing, Zeldon," Tommy said.
"Oh, he does," Elnia whispered under her breath, hoping no one saw her smile.
Billy wasn't there yet when Samantha appeared. She looked around, remembering so clearly that night 10 years ago. She could still hear Billy's voice asking her if she was all right, and then telling her to take his hand. She placed her hand to her cheek, remembering the feeling of complete safety she had gotten as she held his gloved hand.
"So, you actually came." Billy's voice startled her back to the present, and she whipped around to see him walking toward her. He looked exactly the same as he did the night he saved her life.
"Of course I came. I always keep my promises. So, what did you want to talk to me for?" she said, watching his every move closely, just in case this was a trap.
"I am offering you the chance to live, with me, if you like."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, like Zeldon hasn't told you. Alagor knows what you have within you-A great power, and he wants it. But he knows that the only way he can use it is to keep you alive."
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but I don't have any powers. Whatever it is that is telling you that I'm something special is wrong. I'm a nobody, a zero."
"You don't have to be. Come with me. I can give you everything you want. I'll even marry you."
"And why would I want to marry you?"
"You think I can't see the way you look at me? The way your eyes light up? You think that just because you were wearing a helmet that I couldn't see inside your head. Well, I could. All you have to do is come with me to Alagor's ship. Join our side."
Billy held out his hand to her. She looked at it, something inside her wanting to take it, to have her best friend back and so much more, but then she remembered the look she had seen in Billy's eyes when he had stepped out of the ship, the way his voice sounded as he spoke to her. Her head cleared of the wonderful thought she had had about being reunited with Billy, and she thought of a plan. She took his hand.
"That's my girl," but as he said this, Samantha pulled his face to hers.
"I'm not your girl!" she said, and she punched him in the stomach. "You're not Billy. I know he's in there somewhere, but you're not him." She turned to run, but he grabbed her foot.
"You shouldn't have done that!" he said, pulling her to the ground. "You could have lived, but now I get to destroy you and all of your Power Friends."
They started fighting, but Billy blocked almost every one of her moves. She took a hit in her stomach, and knew that with him being morphed and her not, she wouldn't stand a chance, but as she reached for her morpher, she found that it wasn't there.
"Looking for this?" Billy said, waving her morpher in her face. She tried to grab it from him, but he kept it out of her reach. She was about to punch him in the stomach again when she felt the ground rumble. She turned to see the giant basilisk heading right for them.
"Oh, perfect timing," she said.
"So, when are your friends coming to save the day?" Billy asked.
"Right about now!" Billy heard someone behind him say, and turned around just in time to have Tommy kick the morpher out of his hand. Samantha caught it perfectly.
"Thanks, Tommy," she said, before calling out, "It's Morphin Time! Stegosaurus!"
"Samantha, are you all right?" Trisha asked, after Samantha had morphed. The future Rangers, along with Tommy, Kimberly, Zack, and Jason where there.
"Yeah. I'm glad Zeldon was able to get our morphers fixed, or else I wouldn't have been all right a few minutes from now. Were they able to get a connection to the Zords?" "They were working on that when we left."
"Well, let's hope they've got it fixed, because as you can see, the basilisk is heading right for us!"
"Alright, everyone," Jesse said to his fellow morphed Rangers, and they all said together- "We need DinoZord Power, now!"
For a few seconds nothing happened, but then, making everyone let out a sigh of relief, five giant Zords came out of the sky-A red tyrannosaurus, a yellow sabertooth tiger, a pink pterodactyl, a black mastodon, and a purple stegosaurus.
"Alright!" Christopher shouted excitedly. "Let's kick this snake's butt!"
Samantha, after watching the Zords emerge from the sky, turned her gaze to Billy. He was running away from the Rangers, obviously knowing he couldn't take them all down on his own. Samantha knew she still had to try and help him, because the Billy she knew was still in there somewhere and she had to find him.
"Guys, do you think you could handle the basilisk by yourselves for now? I want to try and help Billy."
"What?! We need you. We can't exactly form the Megazord without you."
"Can't Jesse's T-Rex fight it for now? Look, if I can't do anything, I'll join with you guys right away."
"Samantha..." Angela said, but she was already going after Billy.
"I'm sorry. I promise I'll come back as soon as I can!" Samantha called behind her.
She caught up with Billy when he was about to enter the forest.
"Billy, wait!"
"What do you want?"
"I want to help you. You're my friend."
"You're not my friend. You're just a stupid Power Ranger."
"The Power Rangers are your friends, too. You were one, remember?" Samantha said, trying to reach the part of Billy that she knew was somewhere within him.
"What I remember is that the Power Rangers were the ones who killed the only woman I've ever loved. They killed her than destroyed her planet out of cold blood!" Billy said, fire burning in his eyes.
"Yes, they killed her, but only to save your life! Don't you see-She was the evil one. The Aquitarians were using you to help them create a weapon to destroy earth, not to help protect them like they said. And you were the one who destroyed their planet. You did it to save earth."
"I would never have tried to hurt her! I loved her!" Billy shouted, pressing his hands to his head as if to block out what Samantha was saying.
"Yes, you did, but only because you thought she loved you, but she didn't. She lied to you."
"No!" he screamed and ran at her.
Once again they started fighting, Samantha trying hard not to hurt him while keeping herself safe at the same time.
"Billy, you have to fight this," Samantha said, blocking Billy's high kick. "I know you can!" She was unable to block a second kick, and fell to the ground. Elnia's voice came over her communicator.
"Samantha, Zeldon says to destroy Billy's morpher. He's too strong with it. If you can get it from him and smash it, you have a chance of stopping him."
"Thanks," Samantha said, and quickly dodged Billy as he came at her again. As she did so, she managed to grab his morpher.
"Hey, missing something?" she said, and smashed it on the ground before Billy had a chance to react.
"No!"
Samantha watched as Billy's costume faded and he returned to the clothes he had been wearing when she first saw him step out of the spaceship. She was surprised to see Tommy, Kimberly, Jason, and Zack come running toward them
"Samantha, what's happened?" Kimberly asked.
"Zeldon told us to come find you," Zack informed her.
"Oh, so you think that just because you destroyed my morpher that you've won," Billy said, looking around at them. "Well, you're wrong. Your friends will never be able to defeat the basilisk, and Alagor will see to it that you're all destroyed!"
"Billy, stop this! Don't you remember who we are?" Kimberly pleaded.
"Yeah, Billy. We're your friends. Please, let us help you," Tommy said, putting his hand on Billy's shoulder, but he just pushed it way.
"You killed Cestria. I hate you!"
Samantha couldn't take it anymore. She reached up and took off her helmet. She wanted to look Billy in the eye.
"Billy, look at me. You know me, and you know I would never lie to you. You're the best friend I've ever had. You helped me realize that I wasn't alone, that I wasn't useless like my parents always said. I was dead inside before I met you. You saved me, and I will never, ever forget that," she said, feeling herself start to cry. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here right now. I love you, and I will not let anything happen to you. You have to fight this. You have to." She rapped her arms around him and wouldn't let him go. He didn't hug her back, but he didn't push her away, either. "Please, Billy. Please remember."
As Samantha was hugging him, Alagor appeared, flanked by five Wolvenians.
"Enough of this!" he shouted, seeing Billy. "Destroy her. Now!"
Billy put his hands on Samantha's shoulders and looked in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said and pushed her away, but as she looked into his eyes, Samantha saw that a change had taken place within them. They no longer had that blank, furious look to them. Instead, Samantha saw the Billy she first met ten years ago, the kind, pure-hearted Billy who was her best friend. "I'm sorry that I ever hurt you."
"What?!" Alagor yelled furiously.
"That's right. I'm back," Billy said, turning to Alagor. "And now it's time to pay for what you've done to me and my friends."
"Really? Well, we'll see about that. Get them!" Alagor ordered the Wolvenians, than he disappeared.
Samantha put her helmet back on. "You sure you're ready for this, Billy?"
"You bet I am," he said, smiling at her. God, how I missed that smile, Samantha
thought.
"Alright. Let's do it!" Tommy said, and they began to fight the Wolvenians. When one Wolvenian grabbed Samantha around the waist, Billy punched it so hard in the snout that the wolf was knocked out.
"Thanks," she said.
"No problem. You know, you make a great Ranger."
"So do you." They ducked as two Wolvenians did a jump kick at them.
"Okay, could you two stop being all lovey dovey with each other and help up beat these things?" Zack said, kicking a wolf in the chest.
Finally, they were able to defeat all the Wolvenians. Samantha was so happy to have Billy back that she had almost completely forgot about the other Rangers and the basilisk. It wasn't until she saw the tyrannosaurus Zord go flying into a tall skyscraper that she remembered.
"Oh no. I think they might need some help," Kimberly said, her eyes wide as the basilisk went after the T-Rex again.
"Right. See you Billy." Samantha teleported to the control panel inside her Zord.
"Where have you been?" Jesse asked from the tyrannosaurus that had gotten to its feet.
"Helping a friend. So, you ready to form the Megazord?"
"What do you think?" he said sarcastically.
The Ranger's Zords came together, and now they had the combined power of all five.
"We need to watch out. Now instead of it's stare causing instant death, lasers come out of its eyes." Just as Jesse said this, the snake did just that, hitting Megazord in the arm. "You see?"
It took a little while for Samantha to get used to the controls of the Megazord, at one point accidentally shooting a missile at a school bus, which had luckily been abandoned of driver and passengers when they had seen the giant snake. "Sorry," Samantha said, blushing as the other Rangers looked at her. Despite the joined powers of the Zords, the snake was still amazingly strong and fought with equal speed and ability. Even with the sword, the Rangers were able to do little damage to the basilisk.
The snake picked up the Megazord and threw it into the air, and when it landed, sparks shot at the Rangers from the controls, and the lights flickered.
"If this keeps up, we'll lose power."
"Megazord just isn't strong enough to beat this thing!"
Suddenly, the basilisk's tail swung at them, hitting the Megazord so hard, the Rangers were sent flying, landing hard on the ground. They stared up at the now empty Megazord as the snake prepared to tear it apart.
"What happened?" Tommy said, running up to them.
"The snake's too strong. The Megazord can't do it on it's own."
"Here, maybe this can help," came Zeldon's voice through their communicators, and in Billy's hand appeared the triceratops morpher.
"But Zeldon, I thought I destroyed that thing?" Samantha said, seeing the morpher. "You destroyed Alagor's morpher. This is one I made, filled only with the power of goodness."
"But what am I supposed to do with it?" Billy asked. "I'm not a Ranger anymore." "Billy, you were always a Ranger within your heart. Why do you think Zordon chose you to be on our team?" Kimberly said.
"Please Billy, we need you on our team now," Samantha said, looking into his incredible green eyes. Billy clutched the morpher in his hand, eyes closed, and Samantha waited with baited breath for him to decide. Finally Billy looked up.
"It's Morphin Time!" he said, and Samantha couldn't hide her joy as he then said, "Triceratops!"
After Billy morphed, he called his Zord, which joined the others in the Megazord. They fought the snake with all their might, and the power of six Zords turned out to be what they needed. With a final slash with their sword, the basilisk was destroyed.
"Morphenomenal," Billy said, and everyone looked at him. "What? It's something the other Rangers and me used to say. Really!" Everyone shook their heads and laughed.
Back in the Command Center, his old friends were hugging Billy.
"So glad to have you back, Bill," Jason said, patting him on the back.
"We all missed you so much," Kimberly said, almost in tears. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that."
"I'm fine now, thanks to Sam," Billy said, hugging Samantha for the hundredth time, after Kimberly let him go.
"Hey, you saved my life once, remember?" she said, not wanting to take her arms from around him. "We're even now."
"How did you break that spell, anyway?" Zack asked. "I mean, one minute you were kicking Samantha's butt, then the next you were good again."
"I don't exactly know how she did it. All I know is that almost at the exact moment she hugged me, all these memories flooded back into my mind. I remembered everything-How I found out that the Aquitarians were in fact working against us, how Cestria had tried to kill me, and then how Alagor had put some device on my head that made me evil. Now I know what it must have been like for you, Tommy."
"Hey, what happened to me was nothing compared to what you went through," Tommy said.
"I just can't believe all those horrible things I did. I hope that never happens to me, or anyone else, again."
"As do I," Zeldon said. "Especially since Alagor is still out there and knows about Samantha. He could come after her at anytime."
"I won't let that happen," Billy said, putting his arm protectively around Samantha. "He'll have to go through me first."
"And us," Trisha said. Samantha looked at her in surprise.
"But I thought that you guys weren't staying here. I thought you were going back...Going forward...Returning to your time?"
"Yes, but we have not yet found a new team of Rangers. We'll have to stay until we do."
Josh's cell phone rang suddenly, and after he answered it and talked for a few minutes, he looked at Samantha.
"Did you realize that we completely forgot about our gig today?"
"Crap, you're right. Why, who was that?"
"Robert from the club. He said that he'd let us play there in an hour, but if we're not there then, he'll see to it that we never play in this town again."
Samantha looked at Zeldon. "You don't mind if we do this, do you? Robert is true to his word, and I really don't feel like having to take my clothes off just to be able to sing."
"Sure, go on. You all can go. I'll take care of everything here. I'll just send Tommy and the others home..."
"Actually, we'd like to go listen to them, if that's all right?"
"Hey, I'm not your mom. You're perfectly capable of making your own decisions."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Come on!" Randy said.
The Club was packed full, and Samantha was feeling her nerves float around in her stomach. She wasn't usually that nervous singing in front of people, but now Billy was here, along with the other ex and future Rangers, and she didn't want them to think she stunk.
"Are you going to be all right?" Megan said, strapping on her bass guitar.
"Yeah. As soon as I start singing, I should be fine."
"Let's just hope that when she opens her mouth that worlds come out and not puke," Randy joked. Samantha gave him her death stare. "Okay, I'll shut up."
Meanwhile in the audience, Billy was waiting in anticipation for the band to start.
"I bet they're really good. Samantha's a really good singer."
"Yeah, I'm sure she'll rock," Zack said, just as The Club's owner, Robert, came out onto the stage. Everyone grew quiet.
"Well, seeing how they were unable to make this afternoon's gig, I invited this band back for tonight. So here they are-Power Team!"
Everyone started clapping, Billy the hardest, as Samantha and the others stepped onto the stage. Billy could tell right away Samantha was nervous.
"H-hey everyone. I, uh, hope you don't mind, but I wrote a new song I'd like to debut tonight. We wrote it kind of in a hurry, while we were backstage, so I hope it sounds okay. It's about a friend of mine that I thought I had lost forever, but luckily, I was wrong." Samantha tried to start playing her guitar, but found her fingers wouldn't move. She looked out at Billy and saw that he was smiling at her, and this gave her the strength to play.
The music started off slow, with Samantha singing, "I never knew what my heart could say/ It's words were just a whisper in the wind/But then you made me listen to it's song/ And now it's beating faster then it ever did/" but when it got to the chorus, the rest of the band broke into a rocking rhythm as Samantha sang, "You made me believe/That I could be stronger/And now I know/That I can fight harder/Then what I ever could/ Without you there/You made me understand/I can go anywhere." The band rocked to the rest of the song, and when it was done, everyone was standing up and clapping, but the only one that Samantha could see was Billy, his eyes even brighter than what they had ever been.
When their show was done, The Club's owner Robert even offered them a permanent place at the club, which the band excitedly excepted. Billy and the others ran up to them as soon as they stepped off stage.
"You guys rocked!" Zack exclaimed.
"Yeah, you were excellent," said Jason.
Samantha felt herself blush as Billy hugged her and congratulated her on a job well done. "You were amazing," he said. Suddenly, the Rangers' communicators went off.
"Oh no. Not Alagor again," Angela said, as everyone went backstage to not be seen.
"What is it, Zeldon?" Jesse asked.
"You must return here at once. There's been a malfunction with the time machine."
"The time machine?"
"I don't have time to explain. Just teleport here immediately."
When everyone had teleported, Kimberly by holding onto Tommy, Zack to Angela, and Jason to Trisha, with Megan, Randy, Josh and Jennifer staying behind at the club, Zeldon told them the situation.
"I was working on some glitches in the time machine when I accidentally switched the wrong wires. There's now only enough power left in it to send you four back, and it has to be done now."
"But what about the new team of Rangers? We still haven't found anyone to take our places." Suddenly, Samantha said something she had been thinking about since her band mates had helped fight the Wolvenians in the forest.
"I know who can be the new team," she said, and walking over to the viewing globe she brought up the image of her friends at the club.
"What, those guys?" Christopher and Zack said at the same time.
"Sure, why not? They know martial arts and for the most part are good gymnasts," Samantha said, just as they saw Randy bump into someone, causing the person to fall down, knocking several others over as well. Everyone looked at Samantha. "Okay, so he's a bit of a klutz, but he has a good heart, and from what I've learned, that's what matters most in a Ranger. But it's up to you, Zeldon."
Zeldon shook his head, as if unsure of what he was about to do, then teleported Samantha's friends to the Command Center. Randy had a cheeseburger handing out of his mouth, which fell to the floor when he saw that he was no longer at the club.
"Dudes, what's going on?" he said, picking up his food and taking a bite out of it despite it having touched to floor. Zeldon smiled broadly at him. "Okay, you're like freaking me out."
"Congratulations. You're the new team of Rangers," Zeldon said, handing Randy the mastodon morpher.
"What?" asked Megan, and Randy once again let his burger fall out of his mouth in shock.
"That's right." Zeldon handed Megan the pterodactyl morpher, Jennifer the sabertooth tiger, and Josh the tyrannosaurus.
"Welcome aboard, guys," Samantha said, putting her arms around them. They looked as though they might faint.
"Well, now that that's taken care of, let's send these guys back home."
Zeldon typed something into the time machine, and a light swept over the future Rangers. They only had time to say bye before they were gone, and the time machine fell apart.
"Not one of my better inventions, I see," Zeldon said, sweeping the pieces out of the way. "I'll have to make a better one later."
"So, can you believe your Power Rangers?" Samantha asked her friends. They just stood there, looking petrified. "You'll do fine." She slapped Randy on the back, who fell over like a log. Billy put his arm around Samantha as everyone laughed.
THE END
