Chapter 2:The Rumor Mill

Tim woke up the next morning, dreading school. He was never going to hear the end of how he let 'Becca get taken. But, whatever, he had tried his best, and in the end, saved her. That's what really mattered, right? Of course. He got ready for school and his friends Mike and Eric greeted him when he got there. "Dude, did you hear? The Power Rangers are back in Angel Grove!" Tim stared at Mike blankly, and he laughed. "Yeah, 'Becca's been telling everyone about how the Green Ranger saved her life. Awesome, huh?"

Tim shook his head, "I wouldn't be so sure…Why was it only the Green Ranger if they're all back? I can't believe it, man. It was probably some guy in a costume." Eric laughed at the idea, and Mike shook his head. "Whatever, dudes, I just need convincing. If they're back, then how come no one has a picture of them?"

Eric patted Tim on the back, "Not everything that is true is always seen, my man. I mean, this was their first appearance in Angel Grove since…how long ago was it? Eh, who cares? Everyone else believes it."

Tim chuckled, "And everyone also believed that the school was haunted by a ghost-monkey. The masses believe whatever crap is thrown in front of them." He smirked, knowing he had just solidified his secret identity. "Anydangway, let's head to homeroom before we're late." Tim walked off past his friends, and left them looking at each other. Tim never really cared about getting to class on time, and just breezed through the day with no fuss, but always being punctual.

"He seems off today," Mike said to Eric as they followed him. Eric agreed, but they didn't do much more than that. They went to their lockers, and then took their seats in front of and behind Tim. "What's up, Tim? You seem weird…"

"Nothing's wrong… I'm just tired. Didn't much sleep last night," That wasn't really a lie, he was tired, and he didn't sleep much the night before, but that wasn't really his problem. For some reason the rumor was annoying him, and he didn't really know why. After a few minutes of conversing, 'Becca walked up to the trio. Mike and Eric stopped talking and turned around, wanting to stay out of whatever argument was about to spring up. "Hey, 'Becca," Tim said, more cheerily than he felt.

"Hey, Tim," She started. She had used his first name, which was quite a rarity from her, "I wanted to thank you for trying to help me out yesterday. But…don't think this changes anything between us." She scowled at him, but it almost seemed forced. Tim chuckled, and grinned.

"I'd never think such things. But you're welcome. At least you have some semblance of common sense in that head of yours." She walked off, and back to her friends, where they promptly started laughing after one of them said something.

"Holy crap. Did Rebecca just talk to you civilly?!" Eric asked turning back around to face his friend.

"And what was she talking about?" Mike asked. Tim assured them it was nothing important. After talking some more, the bell rang, and the school day went on. It was a slow day, for the most part, nothing exciting, nothing extraordinary. That was, until, in the last period an announcement came over the loud speaker that a monster was attacking, and that no one was to leave the school. But, Tim couldn't stand still, he slipped away as everyone ran to the window, and ran down empty corridors, and sneaked past some wandering janitors. When he reached the outside, it was time to morph, so no one would see him.

He dropped his bookbag onto the ground and pulled out his Morpher. "Morphin' time, Dragonzord!" Now that he was morphed, he ran to where the creature was attacking, the middle of the city. This thing however was nothing like Goldar. It looked like a giant raccoon. "Alrighty, you ugly thing, you, how about you stop terrorizing the city like you crazy monsters do, and fight me?!"

"Ah, Green Ranger, just the man I was hoping to find! What took ya so long?"

"Oh, you know, I had to shine my helmet…press my tights…" Tim smirked behind his helmet and took out his Dragon Dagger. "Care to dance, fur ball?" The raccoon-beast popped out claws from each hand, and Tim almost regretted suggesting a fight. But, he could do nothing else except draw him away from the innocent people. The monster ran at him, and swung a giant paw, but he dodged. He continually slashed at him, but Tim was fast enough to dodge, until he made a bad move and was hit in the chest. Sparks flew from his shield, and he went flying backward. "Heh heh. Lucky shot, sparky." The Ranger shot a blast of green energy from his dagger, and it hit the raccoon-beast with full force, sending it flying backwards. Explosions ensued, and smoke rose into the air. As the Dragon Ranger walked over to finish him off, it bounded out from the smoke, and tackled Tim to the ground. He struggled to get out from the weight of the monster, but it was too strong.

"You will die here, foolish ranger! You should have let these people die, I am too strong for you!!" The raccoon bit into Tim's shield, which was lucky, because otherwise he would be missing a chunk of his shoulder rather than just feeling some pain in his arm.

"I'd never let you kill innocent people…and I will not let you, a freaking trash picking rodent…defeat me!!" Tim pushed as hard as he could with his legs, and the monster flew into the air. The Dragon Ranger stood up, and fired the green lasers at the beast again, while it was in the air. Sparks flew all over the place. He jumped into the air, his dagger at his side, and slashed the raccoon-creature as he went up. It exploded before it even hit the ground, and Tim landed on one knee, and stuck his weapon back in its holster.

"That wasn't difficult at all." Tim clapped his hands together to dust them off. But before he could walk off, a red beam of light hit the ground in front of him, followed by a golden one, and two figures stood in front of him. One was Goldar, but in front of him was an abomination of a man. It looked human, but one with all its skin missing, and silver contraptions tracing his bones and covering his face. He held a staff topped with a giant Z. Tim prepared himself for battle, but was simply blasted away by a red beam of light. He slammed into the nearest building, and was held there.

"You destroyed my monster, and you refuse to bring us Tommy Oliver. You have interfered with my plans, and I do not like that. In the old days, I could stand by defeat after defeat, but now…there is only one of you, and so inexperienced. You will do as a replacement for him!" The beam of light turned back into a laser, causing Tim to cry out in pain. He wouldn't be able to tolerate much more of this. But just when he felt he was going to collapse in pain, the beam stopped, and he collapsed onto the ground. He struggled back to his feet, and when he did, he saw a person clad in a blue outfit a lot like his own standing over the fallen red person. He held a staff of his own, double sided, both of which had three points. "Bah! Blue Ranger, you took be by surprise, that will not happen again!!" The man moved to zap him, but the Blue Ranger jumped out of the way and grabbed Tim by the arm.

"Alpha, teleport us back now!" the two disappeared in blue and green light, respectively and found themselves in the ruins of some sort of building on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

"Where the heck are we…?" Tim asked himself as he looked around the ruins. It looked like it was once an incredible place, but now it was just…dusty, broken dead.

"It used to be the Power Chamber…" the Blue Ranger explained as he walked toward an old computer console. He pressed some buttons, like it was supposed to work. Oddly enough, the "Power Chamber" had energy enough to open up a door.

"What's in there?" Tim asked the other ranger, and walked over to him.

"A failsafe," he explained, and picked up a large box inside of it. "I don't know how it works, that's Alpha's department. What's in here has more of a mystical nature that I don't understand" Tim was about to ask who Alpha was, when a robot walked out from behind some rubble.

"Aye aye aye aye aye! I can't find anything in this rubble. I can't remember where I kept that box…" The robot placed its hands on its hips and looked around.

"This box, Alpha?" The ranger waved around a box in his hand, and Alpha ran over to him. "Your memory circuits must be a little fried," Blue Ranger said laughing. "Do your stuff, Alpha. This place is in need of redecorating anyway…" Alpha opened the metal box and a light surrounded the foundation of the building. The rubble strewn all over the ground was put back into its proper place, and missing pieces were filled in, and in minutes, the building was good as new. "I still don't know how that works…" The ranger said.

"I'd explain it, but I don't think we have time. Aye aye aye! That monster's back!!" The robot pointed at a screen opposite of him, and Tim turned around to see the monster he had destroyed. "And I haven't finished the new Zords. What'll we do?!"

The Blue Ranger turned to Tim, "He has a Zord that we can use." Tim tilted his head at him. What did he mean? What was a zord?