By Daylight and Angel Mouse
Now the life of a power ranger isn't all power and glory. It's also a lot of hard work. Yes, a lot of work. We trained hard the year before we were able to morph for the first time and even harder the years afterwards. I'm talking about fight training, strategic training, weapons and spaceship mechanics, field medicine. We got the works. We wanted to be the best and had to be ready for everything, and after all that training, we thought we were.
Morphing…it's indescribable. A rush of power that makes you feel more alive than you ever thought possible. As Zhane said, we felt we could take on the world. We were wrong.
(You're sure about that? Andros simply shook his head at his silver coloured friend.)
Zordon must have been able to see the future. I don't know if he knew Dark Specter was going to target KO-35 or if he just knew we were vulnerable, but it was a good thing that he gave us our morphers because Dark Specter's attacks really started to pick up. Even though they were small at first and we weren't needed, it was still hard to stay behind while others fought.
(You never liked staying behind, Zhane sent. Andros raised an eyebrow. Look who's talking.)
Then those bugs came. Looking at those ugly little things, you wouldn't have thought they could cause such trouble, but you'd be incredibly wrong. I can't believe it only started with two of those things, but it soon spread. No one had a clue as to what was happening until people started showing up in the hospital with enormous bite wounds, freezing cold, the venom very visible as it trailed up their veins. We thought we were dealing with a simple epidemic. As scary as that can be, it turned out to be a lot worse. The ones that got stung ended up looking like bigger versions of the bugs: multi-segmented blue and purple creatures with spiked heads and hands, and covered in some sort of ooze.
(Zhane grimaced as he recalled the things. They were definitely disgusting. Very, nodded Andros.)
Everyone was in a panic, but the planetary forces thought they had it under control, until they broke out of the hospital and started attacking people. That's when they called us. They had gotten almost everyone out of the infected area and quartered it off, but a few didn't make it out. By that time, the epidemic had spread until we had a swarm of fifteen large bugs and still the two small ones flying around. The doctors were confidant they could find a cure. They just needed time. We had to make sure the bugs didn't cause any more trouble in the meantime.
This was our first battle so our hearts were pumping like crazy as our nerves tried to get the best of us. No training can truly prepare you for the feeling when you suddenly realize what it is you have to face and that everyone is counting on you. But we knew we had each other. That made it a whole lot easier.
Getting the small bugs turned out to be relatively easy. They came straight for us. Luckily, our suits protected us and we were able to shoot them down with little trouble. Corralling, the large ones was tougher especially since we had to be careful that we didn't cause them any harm, but thanks to Zhane's idea we managed. Yes, I did go with Zhane's plan. He can come up with good ideas every now and again. Of course, since it was his idea, it involved him putting himself unnecessarily in harm's way as usual.
(Hey! My plans aren't always like that. Zhane's only response was a pointed look from the former red ranger.)
When we had finally trapped them, we were so relieved. It made us overconfident and we didn't pay attention to our surroundings. It didn't even occur to us that we might have missed one, until it appeared and pushed us off the roof. This was our first real fight with a monster and we were unprepared for the strength we had to face. The fact that I had landed badly and broken my arm didn't help. I wasn't willing to stand down and admit failure. Luckily, Zhane somehow manages to be the one to stay calm under fire. And against my many protests, he dragged me away. I was about to run back into battle the minute he put me down, but somehow, he managed to convince me it wasn't a good idea.
(Andros glanced over at his friend. You threatened to hit me over the head as I recall. Zhane winced. Sorry?)
As it happened, while we were at the hospital we found out that the cure was ready. All we needed to do now was give it to them. Now, this is where Zhane's imagination gets away with him. Don't give me that look, Zhane. Unfortunately, though we had the cure, we also had a bigger problem, literally. When we returned to the quarantined sector we were shocked to find that somehow the bug we had missed had grown in size. It was now taller than even the tallest building on KO-35. We were now the bugs. But I had a plan.
While Zhane circled overhead, I landed my glider on the top of a nearby building. Taunting the giant creature, I managed to annoy him enough that he took a swipe at me. Then he grabbed me and lifted me up. I was in a tight spot for a moment as he tried to crush me. I almost felt my ribs grinding together. Finally, he lifted me close enough to his mouth. So close I almost thought he was going to eat me. Anyway, I shot the cure right down his throat. He immediately began to change, so I quickly called my galaxy glider before I faced another bad fall.
We quickly rushed over to the building where we'd trapped the others and luckily, managed to administer the antidote to them from a safer distance. They were fine though a little bit dazed.
"Not bad for our first battle," observed Zhane. "Even if you did get injured."
"I'm fine," I protested. He's always overprotective.
"Sure. Let's just take another trip down to the hospital to make sure everything's fine like you said." He started to push me in the direction of the medical building. Normally, I would have put up a bigger fuss, but I was tired.
"The city really is a mess. Maybe we should offer to help clean up."
"I don't think so," Zhane replied quickly. Still spiked on adrenaline, we laughed giddily and wearily as we continued on our way.
Our first battle was a trial that sure brought us down to Earth to borrow a saying. We now knew we were ready to protect KO-35 even though we weren't quite as powerful and infallible as we had believed. What we didn't know was that this was nothing compared with what we would have to face in the future.
In the next part, Zhane's POV of their first battle….
