Disclaimer: 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) are property of 'Saban', who are in some strange way related to Disney, who run the show on ABC. No infringement is intended.
ROARING ON THE WIND
By Etcetera Kit
Chapter Nineteen: Waiting For A Friend
Mary Anne blinked a couple times. The lab came into focus and the almost completed teleportation grid. She had fallen asleep with her head on the desk and had to painfully peel her cheek away from where it had cemented itself. Glancing at the clock on the computer, it read six-thirty in the morning. Her heart constricted with panic for a moment. It had been one night. Mesogog could have destroyed all of the rangers in that time. But she let her panic go when she saw that the computer was still picking up eighteen strong life signals. Good. Hopefully that would give her enough time to finish the teleportation system and get the Dino Thunder rangers back. Then her father could realign the grid for the others.
It seemed like a good plan. Maybe somewhere in there her and Susie could leave the lab and find some breakfast. She wished she had one of the Dino Thunder rangers present so she could test the system on one of them before trying it cold-turkey on all of them. It seemed like so much could go wrong with it.
And yet… she had taken the schematics off of her father's computer and followed his plans to the letter. All that was left was some superfluous wiring (more of a safety net than anything else) and to reprogram the computer for the changes. Then, hopefully, the system would be up and running and life in Reefside would be good again. She glanced over to Susie who was still asleep in the captain's chair. This had to work. She was not even going to try to envision life without her father.
She quickly picked up the electrical tape and her pliers. The wiring went smoothly enough and soon her fingers were flying over the keyboard, putting in the correct commands. Once the initial reprogramming was done, she shut down the computer, so it could restart and fully register the changes. Her stomach rumbled painfully. She knew that Hayley had told her to stay in the lab with the lock down, but Mesogog didn't know about her and Susie? Right? It couldn't hurt if they went up to the kitchen to get some cereal or something. Her stomach twisted itself into a nervous knot. Well… it was the only way. She could fight… kind of…
Checking to make sure that Susie was still dead asleep, she lifted the lock down on the lab manually. Surprisingly, the grinding did not wake up Susie. She nimbly went up the stairs and into the deserted first floor of the house. It had a deserted air even though it had only been empty since last night. There didn't appear to be any Tyranno-drones about or anything else unsavory. She ran into the kitchen and threw open the cupboards, searching for cereal. She found a box of Lucky Charms, two bowls and spoons and a half-gallon of milk. As she was walking through the living room with the food, there was a loud knock on the door followed by the doorbell ringing. Mary Anne felt her heart jump into her throat and she nearly dropped what she had in her arms.
Who was at the door of Tommy's house? She put the milk, cereal and dishes down in the front hall and crept towards the door. She peered out of the peephole. There was a woman standing on the front porch. She had dark red-brown hair that was pulled back into a severe ponytail and was wearing jeans and a light pink blouse. Mary Anne was fairly certain that she was not associated with Mesogog. But who was she? Tommy's girlfriend? The woman started to look impatient and rang the doorbell again.
"Wes?" the woman called through the thick wood of the door.
Mary Anne, already too scared for her own good and wanting some help, quickly decided that the woman was a former ranger, although she had no proof. She opened the front door.
The woman smiled. "Hey," she said, as though she had expected someone like Mary Anne to open the door. "Is Wes here?" She looked uneasy at Mary Anne's silence. "Wesley Collins? I was told he would be here."
"He's not here anymore," Mary Anne said slowly.
"Where is he?" the woman asked.
"It's a long story." The teen looked closely at her. There was a morpher on her wrist. "Look, who are you?"
"Jen Scotts," she replied, looking worried. "Who are you? What is going on here?"
Mary Anne bit her lip. "I think you should come with me down to the lab. It will be safer and I can explain what I know."
The woman shook her head, but followed Mary Anne down the stairs and into the lab. She quickly put the lock down back on the lab and turned to face the woman. Jen had a concerned look on her face. "First things first, who are you?" she asked Mary Anne.
"I'm Mary Anne Cranston," she replied. "That's my younger sister, Susie." She paused, thinking of the correct way to phrase the next bit of information. "Our father is the green Dino Thunder ranger."
Jen looked like she was going to faint. "There are more rangers?" she asked faintly.
"There's been a lot of rangers."
The woman sighed. "I guess you should know this. I was the Pink Time Force Ranger. I went back to the year 3000 when our mission was over. I came back to this year illicitly to see Wes."
Mary Anne nodded, too numbed to be shocked that the woman was from the future. And she was a former ranger. She could help them get the others out of the island. The only problem was that she didn't have a Dino-Gem bonded with her. She didn't know how to program the teleportation grid for power sources outside of the gems. "All the former red rangers came here because Tommy asked them to," the teen started slowly. "Something happened and Mesogog now has them and all of the current rangers on some kind of island. I don't know what he wants with them or what he's going to do. He even got Hayley, their tech girl. Me and Susie are the only ones left."
"Mesogog is the bad guy?" Jen asked.
Mary Anne nodded. "I just finished the teleportation system. The only problem is that I can't put you on the island because you don't have a Dino-Gem."
"Dino-Gem?"
"The power source for this team."
Jen nodded.
"Why don't you see if the purple gem wants her?"
Both of them whipped around to see Susie struggling to sit up properly. "You were awake?" Mary Anne asked, incredulously.
The little girl shrugged. "How else do you think I figured out that Daddy was Santa?"
"There's another gem?" Jen asked as Mary Anne hurried to the vault and put in the code that her father had told her only days ago.
"Yeah," Mary Anne called as she opened the briefcase that held the purple gem and took it out to the main lab where Jen and Susie were. "It never bonded with anyone. Tommy's keeping it in the vault until its owner comes."
Jen picked up the purple gem and it flashed a brighter shade of purple in her hand. She looked up at the girls. Mary Anne smiled. She was fairly certain that it had just bonded with her.
The sun peeked through the iron bars, slowly lighting up the cell and providing a little warmth. Leo blinked against it, his side aching. The events of the previous night came back to him in a terrible dance. Mesogog was going to make them destroy one another. He swallowed, even though his mouth was dry as the Sahara. Why would he think that the rangers would be willing destroy one another? Perhaps he thought if they got desperate enough to… he shook his head. He would die before killing another ranger. And if Mesogog wanted to destroy all of them through these bracelets, then he was welcome to. Leo imagined that if the bracelet exploded then most of them would not die of the initial wound, but of the shock that would follow. It was not a pretty way to go, but it was the only option.
Andros, who had been curled in a ball on the floor, shook himself awake. Leo tried to smile and be reassuring, but failed. "What are we going to do?" he whispered.
The Red Space Ranger shook his head. "I don't know." He paused. "But I do know that we need to stick together now even more than before… Mesogog wants to tear us apart. We need to stay close and make it clear that we aren't going to harm anyone."
Leo leaned back against the wall. He wished that Mike were here. His older brother would know what to do. Or at least it seemed like that. When they were little, Mike had been the caretaker. He always had a decent plan and waited to form the plan. Leo was much more likely to just take off and not think things through. The only problem was that all of them had had the entire night to think of something and everyone came up empty-handed.
"You all right?" Andros asked, interrupting his train of thought.
"I just hope Kendrix escaped all of this," he said softly. "I don't think you ever found out, but Kendrix is pregnant."
Andros cracked a tired smile. "Congratulations. I was wondering when it was going to happen to you." Andros' eyes looked sad and far away. Leo couldn't blame him.
"Are you all right?" It was his turn to ask Andros.
He shrugged. "I just wish I knew where they were."
Leo nodded, knowing what he felt. His tired blue eyes glanced around the cell. Everything about them this morning looked tired and defeated, from the makeshift bandage around Carter's chest to the fact that Jason, who could sleep anywhere, had not closed his eyes all night. Andros' hair was down (the ponytail holder had disappeared) and stringy with dirt and the dampness of the cell. How long had they been waiting? Too long.
"Good morning."
His heart fell into his stomach as he saw that the female cyborg was back and then he saw who the drones behind her were holding. Ashley… Kira… Kim… Hayley… For a brief moment, he felt hopeful. Had Kendrix escaped the drones?
Everyone was alert and looking at the cyborg. "Listen up," she said as if she were a drill sergeant and they were all in the army. "You are going out into the island today. This building is off limits. The island is marked off with wires. If you cross out of your section before you're supposed to, then it's curtains. You will have until sundown tomorrow to get rid of all the others in your section." She paused. "And don't even think about trying to escape. This island has a force field around it preventing you from getting anything or anywhere."
She motioned to the drones and in a moment the reptile creatures were dragging them out of the cell and out of the building. Leo still wondered where all of the drones had come from. Did Mesogog purposely create more of the things just to make sure that they could subdue them? It seemed likely and unlikely at the same time. With the incident with Conner last night still freshly burned in his mind and the hope that Kendrix had escaped and was working on a way to help, he allowed the drones to drag him to a part of the island and throw him into a tree. Ashley and Adam were thrown into that particular area with him.
The drones left and the distinct buzz of electricity began indicating that the wires and bracelets had been activated. Ashley slumped down onto the ground, tears running down her face. Leo did not think it was a coincidence that she and Andros had been separated.
"They can't make us kill each other!" she said between sobs. Leo shook his head. Adam sighed and exchanged a glance with him.
"No, they can't," Adam agreed with her. "But they're going to try."
"We'll all die here," Ashley cried.
Leo shook his head again. "Not necessarily. There're others that Mesogog doesn't have. Kendrix, Billy's girls…"
"No," Ashley interrupted. "That creature took Kendrix somewhere. We don't know where she was taking her, but she wanted her because she was pregnant."
Leo felt a roaring in his ears as all the hope he had amassed last night and that morning came down, crashing and burning. Black spots danced in front of his eyes. That damned mutant freak had his wife and wanted his child? His breath came in ragged gasps. This was not happening… this was not happening…
"Leo!" Adam said in a worried tone. "Are you all right?"
Leo looked up at him. "I don't care how or when, but someday that fucking freak is going to pay for this! I will kill him!"
It was midmorning and Cole was tired already. He supposed that the initial adrenaline rush had worn off and pure exhaustion had taken its place. He was confused, he was tired—both emotionally and physically—and he had never felt like this before in his life. It was hard to describe, a mixture of fear and awesome responsibility. If he failed, then he felt like the entire universe would come crashing in around him.
He thought of Wes' credit card. He could pull off the interstate and look for a motel. They were still in southern California on a fairly busy road. There had to be a motel of some kind around this place. He took the nearest exit off the interstate. Glancing at the gas gauge, he knew he had better find a gas station first thing when they started moving again. Soon enough, he came upon a Motel 6.
"Well, Karone," he said to the sleeping baby. "It's better than nothing."
He pulled the car into a parking space in front of the main desk, got out and rounded the car to the baby. When he opened the back door, the wind around him kicked up a little. The breeze was cool, but not unpleasant. That small wind said many things. Above all, it seemed to tell him that help was on its way.
"Thank you," he whispered to the breeze.
He shifted Karone from the car seat to the carrier and picked up one of the diaper bags that had been filled with stuff. The back of the car also had a duffel bag, which Cole had found out earlier had some of Andros' clothing in it. All of it needed to be washed, but there was time for that. He slung the duffel bag and diaper bag over one arm, picked up the carrier in the other and walked into the lobby.
"Need a room, hon?" the woman behind the desk asked.
"That would be nice," he replied, setting down the bags and putting the carrier on the counter.
"She's precious!" the woman gushed over Karone. "Your daughter is so pretty!"
Cole almost said that she wasn't his daughter, but stopped himself. The woman bustled around getting room keys set up and talking about the amount it would cost him to stay there for the night. He handed her Wes' credit card and silently said a prayer of thanks when she didn't ask him for some ID.
"Have a good stay, Mr. Collins," she said as he left the lobby with the room key and the armfuls of stuff he had walked in with. Great, first Karone was assumed to be his daughter and now he was pretending to be Wes. Things just didn't get any more convoluted than this.
The room was right next to the lobby and Cole walked straight there, depositing everything on the bed. Karone was awake and looking feebly at him.
"How do like this?" he asked her. "You get to pretend to be my daughter and I'm pretending to be Wes, so in some strange way, I guess that makes you Wes' daughter."
The baby just stared at him.
He shook his head at her. "You need a better name that Karone. That's a name that you have to grow into." He sat down on the bed next to the carrier and gently stroked her tiny hand with one finger. "See, if I had named you, I would have given you a name like 'Samantha' or 'Amanda'. You can grow up with that name, because there're nicknames and things. But you had to get a name that won't make sense until you're older." He paused. "You need a nickname." The baby obviously wasn't interested, but he pressed on. "How about 'Kaye'? I like that. It suits you."
The baby had closed her eyes again. Cole smiled to himself. He was glad that she was such a good baby, because he didn't know what he would have done otherwise. Since she had fallen asleep, Cole figured he could too. He fell onto the other bed fully clothed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Jennifer Scotts, commonly called Jen by her friends, had never thought that so many astounding things could happen to her in one day. This topped the day that Alex proposed to her, then died (or she thought he had died) and then she came to this time for the first jaunt. Here she was again. She had wanted to see Wes. The endless days and weeks of being back in 3000 had left her drained. She didn't want Alex anymore. She wanted to be with Wes and knew that she would not be complete until she was. Even if he didn't want her anymore, it was still what she needed to hear. Besides, she rather liked this time as opposed to her own time. It had grown on her in the time they had spent here.
And here she was, faced with two girls, ages fourteen and eight, who were telling her that this Dino-Gem had bonded with her and that she needed to go to a heavily wired island to save eighteen people.
She had just morphed into the Purple Dino Thunder Ranger. The outfit was reminiscent of her Time Force uniform, but obviously for the current team. She imagined that the pink and yellow outfits would look much the same if she saw them. Mary Anne was telling her about the different arsenal available to her when morphed—a litany of things including a small laser gun and sword (she had missed the technical terms) and a Cephalo-Lance. The teen then launched into an explanation about her zord, apparently the Cephalo-Zord, but it was out of commission for an undetermined amount of time from the latest battle.
Taking off her helmet, she looked at Mary Anne and then Susie. The former was giving her an expectant look and the latter was hugging a Care Bear and sucking her thumb. The only thing that stood out in her mind was that Wes (and all the others) were on an island.
"So what were you going to do before I showed up?" she asked.
"I was going to teleport all of the rangers with gems off the island."
Jen thought for a moment. There were a million things that Mesogog could have done to them on that island. And since they had no surveillance of the island, there was no way of telling what had been done. If they just randomly teleported them back, there was a large chance that they would be brainwashed or destroyed or… something…
"I'm not sure that's a good idea right now," she said slowly. "I'll get onto the island and see what has happened." She paused. "You'll have communication with me?"
Mary Anne nodded. "Yeah. The blocks on the island don't prevent things coming from the outside. I could communicate with the others as well if they had their morphers on them. I don't think that Mesogog thinks anyone else is left."
Jen almost snorted. "He's wrong. I'll let you know what's been done to them. Keep the communication lines with me open. I'll let you know when to teleport the rangers with gems."
"What if something happens to you?"
Jen didn't know why, but in the hour since she arrived on Tommy's doorstep (after being given the royal runaround from Mr. Collins who was not entirely sure where his son had gone), she felt a strange affection for the two girls. She was itching to ask about their parents—why they looked so Asian, yet Caucasian at the same time. But she suppressed the question. It was probably one that the girls got often.
"Power down," she said and her uniform disappeared, replaced by her civilian clothing. She almost wished she had a purple blouse on rather than a pink one, but it was a superfluous matter in the long run.
"You should take some stuff with you," Mary Anne said suddenly, jumping up and grabbing up a Care Bears' backpack. "Susie has some crackers in here." She picked up a first aide kit from under the desk and shoved it in as well along with a flashlight and a blanket. It was obviously Susie's backpack, but the little girl just watched as her sister handed over the backpack. "If you need to get back here because of an emergency, press this button on your morpher."
Jen looked down and saw that her morpher had become a large silver bracelet with the purple gem in the middle. A small star shaped button was on it.
"You're the only one who can teleport from the morpher. It's not on the others. I have to do them from the computer. Just think about where you need to go and it will take you there." Mary Anne sighed. "Good luck. If you need me to hack into any computer systems to reverse something, then just say the word."
Jen smiled at the girls and then pressed the button on her morpher. In an instant she was surrounded by purple light and deposited in a strange forest. A wire was running into the thick foliage and the place smelt damp. She raised her morpher to her mouth. "I'm in."To Be Continued...
Author's Note: Reinforcements have arrived! Thanks for the reviews guys-- they are the bane of my fan fiction existence. Well, perhaps not that extreme, but it certainly gives me incentive to post the chapters sooner. I have a Halloween story in the works about the red ranger bunch and wanted to post it on Halloween, but it looks like this one won't be posted until after then (and the Halloween story contains spoilers for the end of this), so the Halloween story will be belated. Just a heads up on what is potentially to come! --EK