Chapter 2:
"Who are you going to get to back us up?" Ashley asked doubtfully. "Everyone in Angel Grove has been affected." She reminded the robot regretfully.
"I found some rangers outside of Angel Grove." Alpha declared as five streams of light appeared on the bridge. "Ashley and Zhane, you remember Kim, Rocky, Aisha, Jason, and Zack."
"Hey guys. Thanks for coming back to help." Zhane said graciously, grateful for their help.
"We'll do whatever needs to be done." Jason spoke up for the entire team.
"I'm afraid it's quite a task." Alpha acknowledged as footage of downtown Angel Grove played on the main monitor. The seven watched in horror as crime was rampant with people breaking into cars and stores, thousands of items being stolen, and people being hurt.
"It's like no one even cares anymore." Kim commented sadly as they shut off the disturbing images on the monitor.
"They don't." Zhane confirmed. "Whatever was in that potion Dark Spectre poisoned Angel Grove with has caused everyone to only care about themselves."
Alpha took the new team for some training and debriefing while Ashley and Zhane concentrated on taking down the mind mixer.
"What are we going to do Zhane? We can't destroy the mind mixer ourselves." Ashley cried out in distress. She slumped against the console in front of her. "Deca's not responding, our teammates are missing, and Dark Spectre..." She continued dispiritedly.
"Come on Ash. It may be a long shot but we're the only ones here who can save them. Who can save the city." Zhane decided firmly. He was about to continue when Alpha rejoined them on the bridge.
"So what do we do now?" Ashley demanded as she paced back and forth on the bridge.
"Luckily Deca left us some information on this mind mixer. She was prepared for this situation." Zhane said as he read through the files on the computer.
"Then why didn't she stop it?" Ashley protested angrily. Angry that her teammates were ill, angry with Dark Spectre for attacking her town, and angry that Deca had let it all happen. Zhane understood her anger, even agreed with her; but they needed to focus on the matter at hand.
"She couldn't stop it, but you can." Alpha encouraged the duo before leaving to check on the others.
"Why us?" Ashley wondered sadly. "Why couldn't we all have been spared?"
"Good timing I guess." Zhane quipped. "It could have been anyone of us Ash, but for some reason it's the two of us and we're going to work like hell to defeat that monster!"
"You're right Zhane." Ashley agreed slowly. "I just don't want them to suffer." She said softly as tears began to fall from her brown eyes.
"Don't cry Ash. We're going to get them back." Zhane said confidently. "We have to."
"Yeah." She conceded, sounding more like her old self. "We can't let Dark Spectre win."
"It looks like we've got our work cut out for us, so let's get busy." Zhane directed and ushered her to the bridge.
Zhane and Ashley were quickly immersed in their research. "Wow." Zhane mumbled in amazement at the amount of detail and preparation that would have to be done to even attempt this mission.
"Ashley, Zhane. It's 2 am. You need to get to sleep." Alpha begged the two weary rangers.
"Alpha, we've got too much work to do here." Ashley complained, gesturing towards the piles of books and papers strewn about.
"Ashley, you might make a miscalculation by being too tired. Please, just go to sleep. You can continue in the morning." Alpha declared firmly.
Ashley was about to protest when Zhane stood up next to her. "He's right Ash. Come on let's get some sleep."
Sensing she wasn't' going to win this argument, she reluctantly put down her books and followed the silver ranger out of the research laboratory.
"It just seems so lonely without everyone here." She whispered breaking the silence as the two friends exited the lift and walked down the corridor to their rooms. They happened to stop in front of Andros's room as Zhane considered her statement.
"I miss them too." He confided in a rare moment of somberness.
"I wonder if we'll see them again." She confessed quietly.
"Sure we will Ash." The blond haired boy declared confidently. "They'll come back to us."
"But what if we don't come back to them? This mission is more difficult than anything we've ever faced, psychos included. And it's just the two of us." Ashley sighed as she thought about the arduous battle that lay before them.
"That's true, but we're not going to just let Dark Spectre destroy them, destroy everything. We have to try our best, that's all we can do." Zhane advised. "Let's try to get some rest and do some more training in a few hours."
"Would it be okay if I stayed in Andros' room?" Ashley hesitated. Zhane's heart went out to her. His normally cheerful teammate was subdued and anxious. He hadn't thought it possible that his moody best friend would ever fall in love. But when he had met her, he knew that she was undoubtedly in love with Andros as well.
"Sure Ash. Good night." He whispered, gracing her cheek with his lips gently and pushing her into Andros's room and hoping she would get some rest.
Despite the events of the day, the two fell into bed exhausted.
7 hours later, Ashley and Zhane resumed the tortuous task of digging through Deca's files to find the necessary information to begin plotting their attack on Dark Spectre's compound.
Silence filled the room as they poured over tons of data when Ashley's excited scream pierced the air. "I found something!"
Zhane raced over from his side of the table. "What is it?" He asked frantically, as he peered over her shoulder.
"Listen. Every third Friday in March, the alliance of evil meets to celebrate the last moon rising." Ashley stated eagerly.
"Which means?" Zhane asked in confusion, as if he should know the importance of this discovery.
"This Friday is the third Friday in March. That means all the evil beings are required to be at this meeting, which means no one will be at the compound watching the mind mixer." She finished with a smug look on her face as she leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms. She waited as understanding dawned on the silver ranger.
"Ash! You're a genius!" He hollered as he gave her a kiss on her cheek.
"Well now we just have to figure out how to destroy the mixer by Friday." She reminded him, bringing him back to reality.
"Oh yeah, why don' t you give me something hard to figure out." Zhane said sarcastically, as he returned to seat.
"There's another thing." Ashley added reluctantly as she studied the plans of the compound. "Apparently there is a frequency coded barrier around the compound. If we go morphed we won't even get in."
"Great." Zhane moaned. "Could this mission be any harder?" he complained in disbelief. Alpha had overheard their conversation and knew the two rangers needed a pep talk. "You weren't' chosen to be power rangers just because of your physical talent." The robot began. "Zhane, your courage and boldness is an incredible asset to the team and it will help you in this mission." The robot encouraged the silver ranger before turning to the downcast yellow ranger.
"And Ashley, your loyalty and optimism have seen the team through the toughest of battles. This will be an extraordinarily tough mission, but you were chosen for such a time as this." Alpha finished and let the rangers dwell on his statements.
"He's right." Ashley murmured in agreement after a few minutes of contemplative silence. "We can do it." She declared looking at Zhane. "Or die trying." She finished.
"Or die trying." Zhane agreed solemnly.
Alpha came in at noontime to bring Zhane and Ashley their lunch. "What are you looking at?" He questioned the busy rangers as they poured over the blueprint in front of them.
"Zhane found a blueprint of Dark Spectre's compound in Deca's files. Now we're trying to figure out how to get to the mind mixer." Ashley spoke up without moving her eyes from the plans.
"Is there anything I can do?" The robot questioned hopefully.
Zhane glanced at Ashley before replying. "Actually Alpha there is. Can you get us a pod that we can use for transportation?"
"It's got to be small enough so it can be cloaked." The yellow ranger added.
The robot chirped excitedly. "Sure thing Zhane, I'll get right on it." Alpha hurried out to the room to begin his task. Ashley and Zhane shared a small laugh at the robot's enthusiasm.
"Why didn't you tell Alpha about getting a high tech medical facility for the pod?" Ashley wondered, looking at Zhane for an answer.
"I didn't' want to worry him with all the things we are going to have to add to the pod in order for this mission to be accomplished as successfully as possible." Zhane explained somberly, as the weight of the task at hand filled the two rangers. "Besides, I don't want to get his hopes up. I mean the chances are small that if we did somehow survive an explosion on the compound, that we would be able to be teleported back to the pod, where lifesaving stations could sustain us if someone were able to find any traces of the pod." Zhane's statement confirmed the dangerousness of their mission.
"I don't want to die so let's find out the best plan to accomplish our goal and do it." Ashley declared firmly.
Hours later, Zhane finished the arduous task of finding a path to the mind mixer. "Ok this is what I've come up with so far. First, we have to disable the security system. Then we descend into the main lobby from the roof and enter into a side room where we have to maneuver through a series of mines and traps. After that we bear left down a long hallway and into the blue room where we disable the explosives. Finally we get the codes and enter the warehouse where the mind mixer is and destroy it." Zhane spelled out the plan that would enable them to save their friends and the world from the evil spell.
"I guess we should break down the mission into separate parts and work on learning how to accomplish each one." She recommended. "Then we'll practice and train for each level and be as prepared as possible for Friday." She concluded as she and Zhane separated the tasks and set off to determine a plan of action for each step.
"22 seconds." Ashley declared triumphantly as she stopped her stopwatch as Zhane unhooked from his harness besides her. They had been practicing all afternoon and had the descent part down to less than half a minute.
"Good." Zhane commented, finally satisfied with their results. "Next we have to maneuver through a series of mines and traps." They managed to get a scan of the compound from a space satellite and downloaded it unto the simudeck so they could practice their strategy.
"There's gotta be a quicker way." Zhane swore under his breath frustrated. It had taken them four hours to get through the mines and traps. Dark Spectre's compound was far more extensive they had imagined. "If we don't get this part down under four hours there is no way we'll be able to even attempt to destroy the mind mixer and escape." He tried hard to hide his irritation from Ashley.
"Zhane." Ashley said quietly. "Don't worry about me. I know the reality of this mission; you don't have to protect me. I can handle it." She reassured him as she pulled him into a hug. "There's two of us, you don't have to take responsibility all on yourself. We'll do it together." She promised him as she pulled away and squeezed his hands.
"Maybe there's a way we can shorten all the other parts of the mission?" Ashley suggested hopefully as she turned away to study the blueprints more carefully.