Power Rangers: The First and Last Hope
Chapter 11: Green With Power, Part 2
Author's Notes: Sorry for such a long wait between chapters, had some of that ever-so-fun personal garbage to deal with. But hopefully you'll agree with me that this chapter is worth the wait. And please, feedback people, I could really use it at this point! What do you think of the characters right now, the heroes and the villains? Do you like where the story is going? Am I ever going to tell you who the Scarlet Ranger is? Weigh in on these and other questions and hopefully Chapter 12 will be out soon! But hey, you haven't even read Chapter 11 yet...so here you are, have fun!
"So, what's the plan then?" Mia wondered as she stood against the cave wall, smoking a cigarette. "I'm gettin' kinda bored here."
"Well, you want to do this yourself, so the problem is coming up with a threat that will keep the Rangers in battle against you, so they won't be able to retreat." the Scarlet Ranger replied. Demorphed, her voice sounded so much more human, Mia thought to herself. "Besides, I couldn't go back into Mega mode even if I wanted to, I can't even morph right now...is that cigarette smoke I smell?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm a stereotypically rebellious teenager, you expected me NOT to smoke?" Mia snorted.
"Don't you know how bad those things are for your health?"
"What are you, my mother?" Mia asked in annoyance. "Fine, whatever, no smoking, sure. Next thing I know you'll be telling me to straighten up and fly right."
Mia tossed the still-lit cigarette to the ground and stomped it out with the bottom of her boot's heel.
"Anyway, like I was saying, so that's our situation." the Scarlet Ranger said. "So do you have any ideas to keep them in battle?"
'Actually...I do." Mia smiled. "You said all of the current Rangers are children of original Power Rangers, just like me, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, are any of their parents...still alive?"
The Scarlet Ranger chuckled to herself.
"A few are, and don't worry, I've got just the one for you to go after." the Scarlet Ranger replied. "Irony gods, you can thank me later."
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Now, Mia, here's what you have to do..."
The viewing globe showed an image of the Green Ranger, as all five Rangers stood and stared at it.
"The original Green Ranger was your father, Tristan and Ada." Zordon began. "His name was Tommy Oliver. He originally fought the original Rangers, just as this current Green Ranger is now."
"Our dad was evil?" Tristan said, sounding surprised.
"No, your father was under a spell." Zordon corrected.
"Yeah, my dad talks about Tommy a lot." Andrew spoke up. "I think the two of them were close or something."
"That's great, really, but I don't really care." Ada interrupted him. "What I want to know is, does that mean this new Green Ranger is under a spell too?"
"No, I picked up no hint of evil magic from her." Zordon said sadly.
"Then why is she fighting us?" Tristan wondered.
"Maybe she works for the Zarset Empire." Michi suggested. "Didn't you guys mention that Jerrelle worked for them at first?"
"Yeah, maybe they're blackmailing her into working for them, like they were doing with Jerrelle." Tristan agreed.
"Or maybe she's just a bad person." Jerrelle said. "You know, they do exist. Humans who aren't nice."
"Like our parents." Ada said under her breath. "Hey, if she's a bad person, maybe the Green Ranger's our mom."
"Ada!" Tristan yelled.
"No, she sounded too young to be your mom." Andrew said. "Besides, my dad tells me about the Pink Ranger, and she didn't sound like a bad person..."
"What did you just say, goody-two-shoes?" Ada said, suddenly turning her head towards Andrew. "My mom ABANDONED us. That makes her a bad person."
"Ada, back off." Michi said, stepping forward between Ada and Andrew. "My mom talks about your mom too, and she only has nice things to say about her too. I think she really was a really nice person, at least when our parents knew her."
"Well, maybe she was when your parents knew her." Ada snorted. "But nice people don't abandon their kids."
"Did it ever occur to you that there might have been circumstances?" Andrew asked her. "Or does nothing matter to you except yourself?"
"THAT'S IT!" Ada screamed, and lunged forward towards Andrew. Michi could barely stop the much larger girl from grabbing him, having to use every bit of strength she had to grab Ada by the waist and hold her there.
"You guys, we really don't have time for this." Tristan said, almost sadly. "We have an evil Ranger on our hands who's a hell of a lot stronger than we are, and we need to figure out how to stop her."
"Hey, I just thought of something." Jerrelle spoke up as Michi was still trying to separate Ada and Andrew. "Whoever this new Green Ranger is, is she the daughter of the original Green Ranger?"
"Yeah, wouldn't that make her...our sister?" Tristan wondered aloud. "But how could that be? I don't remember ever having a sister."
Ada suddenly stopped lunging after Andrew, and turned her head away.
"Not like you would." Ada said slowly. "You were too young..."
"What...what are you talking about, Ada?" Tristan questioned her, turning to face her. "You mean, you remember us having a sister?"
"Yeah." Ada replied, staring down at the floor. "I never knew what happened to her, and I never knew if maybe it was just something my four-year-old brain dreamed up at the time. But of the few things I remember before we got adopted, having an older sister was definitely one of them."
"And you just didn't think it MIGHT be a good idea to tell me all this time!" Tristan suddenly shouted at her.
"I told you, I didn't know if it was real!" Ada yelled back, tears welling up in her eyes as she didn't dare to face him. "And even if...even if it was, what was the good in telling you? Something else depressing for you to carry around too?"
"You should have told me because she's MY sister too, and it's my right to carry this around with me too!" Tristan yelled at her, tears in his eyes as well. "You're not my mother, Ada, you're my sister, and you've never understood that!"
Tristan finally turned away from Ada and simply teleported out, disappearing in a flash of red. The other three Rangers all turned their heads away, not knowing what to say, as tears continued to roll down Ada's cheeks.
Suddenly, the sound of sirens within the Command Center interrupted the brief moment of uneasy silence.
"Rangers, this couldn't possibly come at a worse time, but we're receiving a transmission that appears to be sent by the Zarset Empire." Zordon said.
The four that were left turned towards the globe, where they saw the Green Ranger standing in the middle of the park with her Blade Blaster in blade mode and at the neck...of Jason Scott.
"Dad!" Andrew screamed.
"I'm sure that I have your attention, Power Rangers." Mia said with an air of confidence. "I understand this one is quite important to you. The original leader or something."
The Green Ranger shrugged as she stomped her right boot down on his back, causing him to visibly react in pain. But Jason refused to give her the satisfaction of screaming, so he clenched his eyes shut and tried desperately to ignore it.
"Well, he's just another human being to me. Just another idiot stumbling around without a point. I have a point, Power Rangers- and so does my blade. Hahaha, I crack myself up. So I guess to get to the point- no pun intended that time- either you five come to me, or I'll kill him. And oh yeah, part of the deal is that I'm gonna kill all of you instead, but I'm sure you'll come anyway. Because you're stupid like that."
The Green Ranger laughed evilly as the transmission faded.
"I'm going." Andrew said simply as he reached for his helmet on top of one of the Command Center's computers.
"Wait, shouldn't we wait for Tristan?" Michi asked.
"He's not going to be any help right now!" Andrew yelled at her. "Thanks to a certain Pink Ranger, he might never help us again!"
Ada didn't have a usual snappy comeback, just continuing to stare off into space, silently wiping a tear from underneath her right eye. Jerrelle turned to look at her and then looked back at Andrew.
"Hey, lay off her Andrew." Jerrelle said. "That's family business man, you got no right."
"All I know is that my dad's in trouble and thanks to her 'family business' we don't even have a team to save him with anymore!" Andrew replied. "I'm leaving, whoever cares about stopping the Green Ranger can come with me."
"I'm in." Michi said, reaching for her helmet as well.
"Whatever." Jerrelle said as he put his helmet back on.
The three of them turned towards Ada, still staring off into space. They turned back away and put their hands on their morphers, ready to teleport out, when Ada suddenly reached for her helmet.
"Let's go." she said simply.
The other three nodded, and together they all teleported out.
Mia continued to laugh evilly as she kicked Jason square in his ribs, causing him to cough and gasp for air.
"Aww, did I hurt poor widdle Jason's ribby bones?" Mia taunted him in baby-speak.
"You...bitch." Jason managed to say between gasps for breath.
Mia smiled underneath her helmet as she leaned over and straddled Jason, sitting on his chest and holding him by the top of his shirt.
"Stop it." she leaned over and whispered into his ear. "You're turning me on."
"Get your hands off him, you traitorous bitch!" came Andrew's scream from behind her.
Mia stood up, letting Jason fall to the ground, and turned to face the Rangers.
"I've heard that 'bitch' part before, but traitor?" Mia asked in an amused tone of voice. "Tell me, Blue Ranger, what exactly am I guilty of betraying?"
"The Power Rangers are supposed to protect this planet!" Michi shouted in protest. "You're betraying that vision!"
"I'm not attacking this planet." Mia shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just attacking YOU. And hey, speaking of you, where's the red one? I always thought he'd make the most fun noises when I'm killing him slowly."
Ada suddenly screamed out, almost a primal-sounding yell, that even took the other three Rangers by surprised, and leaped into the air, pulling out her Blade Blaster as she did. She came down with a slash across the Green Ranger's chest...but unfortunately for her, it had no effect, as the Green Ranger's shield absorbed the blow. Mia laughed and grabbed Ada by the throat, lifting her up off her feet.
"Well, that was quite surprising." Mia laughed. "Who knew you had it in you, pinky? Got the hots for little boy red?"
Ada had neither the energy nor the breath to reply, so Mia simply tossed her aside. The other three Rangers finally snapped out of their shock from Ada's outburst and pulled their Blade Blasters out as well, firing them off in Blaster mode. However, again they had no effect, as the Green Ranger's shield glowed with energy and simply absorbed the shots.
"Those pathetic little trinkets can't seem to get past this fine little shield of mine, can they?" the Green Ranger taunted them.
She charged forward, easily knocking away attempted kicks by the Black and Yellow Rangers, and nailed each of them with hard punches that sent them flying backwards, sparks flying. Andrew went for a punch of his own, only to have Mia block it and kick him square in the stomach. The Green Ranger followed that up by extending her palms in a palm strike, catching him in the upper chest. She laughed evilly as he hit the ground hard.
"Truly pathetic." the Green Ranger said as she looked down at him. "Well, as fun as this has been, I think I'll be finishing you off now."
"Where's the Red Ranger!" came a sudden cry from behind her.
The other three Rangers looked towards the source of it- it was Jason, somehow managing to stand up even after the beating Mia had put on him.
"Yes, that is the million dollar question, isn't it?" the Green Ranger agreed. "Oh well, it's too bad he won't be here to protect you from THIS!"
Mia suddenly raised up her Blade Blaster and fired, catching Jason right in the chest. Smoke poured out as he flew backwards, landing on the ground in a heap.
"DAD!" Andrew screamed as he rushed past the Green Ranger, clearly enjoying this.
"Oh, he's your daddy is he?" Mia asked, amused. "Well, that explains a lot."
The Blue Ranger ignored her as he leaned over his father.
"Dad, dad, are you okay?" he asked, despair clearly in his voice.
"I'll...I'll live, I promise." Jason managed to get out, although clearly in a lot of pain. "You have...you have a job...a job to do."
"We can't win, dad." Andrew said, his voice cracking. "She's too strong."
"Damn right she is!" Mia inserted.
Suddenly, the sound of Zordon's voice came in over the Rangers' communicators.
"Rangers, you need to use your Power Weapons." Zordon said. "They may be the only thing strong enough of defeating the Green Ranger."
"But we can't call on the Power Weapons unless we're all together!" Michi pointed out.
"Please, like a bunch of hardware is gonna help you beat me." Mia snorted. "Hey, wasn't I like killing all of you? Think I should finish doing that now."
"I'm going to bring Tristan here." Zordon said. "I have no other choice."
"If that's little boy red, by all means do it, whoever you are." Mia said, smirking to herself. "One more helmet for my mantle. Which I don't have, but I'm sure after I kill all five of you, I'll get one."
Mia approached the Rangers, clearly ready to finish them off...
"Another sister..." Tristan muttered to himself, almost as if he couldn't believe it. "How could she just not tell me this? All these years, and never mention it? It's just like her."
Tristan took an almost self-pitying laugh as he threw a rock off the cliff he was sitting on, watching as it landed far into the horizon below.
"There's nothing right about this world." Tristan continued. "This world is cold, and it's hard, and it SUCKS. Why was I even brought into it? Huh? Are you out there, mom and dad? Are you watching? Do you know why you brought me into this world?"
Suddenly, the night sky was illuminated by an almost blinding light. As if the sun itself had touched down onto the earth. Tristan dared to stare up into the blinding light, and standing in the very center of it was...well, Tristan could make out that it was a man. All he could see was his shadow. He appeared to be tall, with some kind of cape flowing gently in the wind behind him.
"Who's there?" Tristan called out.
"I am..." the shadow replied, somehow soothing and almost omnipotent-sounding.
"Who are you?" Tristan asked him.
"That is not important." he again answered. "What is important now is that you listen to me, Tristan. I am here because you're losing sight of your true destiny, and it is my job to set that right."
"How do you know what my true destiny is?" Tristan asked dismissively.
"You'll just have to trust me on this one...Red Ranger."
"How do you know I'm the Red Ranger?" Tristan asked in disbelief.
"Again...just trust me, Tristan. You need to listen to me. The other Rangers need you. Without you, they'll die today at the hands of the Green Ranger. You need to go and put destiny on its rightful path."
"What if I don't want to?" Tristan asked sadly.
"Well, then, what do you want, Tristan?" the shadow asked.
Man, I hate it when people answer a question with a question... Tristan thought.
"I want to know who my other sister is." Tristan shouted at him. "I mean, is she even still alive?"
"She is."
"You...you know her?"
"Yes." the shadow replied, nodding. "She is the Green Ranger."
Tristan's eyes went wide.
"Then why...why does she fight us?" Tristan asked.
"She does not know you. Her destiny has been lead astray by another. You must right its course."
"I'll do it!" Tristan shouted.
"Good, because you're about to be called away." the shadow said. "Whatever you do, whatever she says, Tristan...don't allow yourself to falter. Save your fellow Rangers, including your sister."
"I will." Tristan agreed. "Are...are you my dad?"
But before the shadow could answer, Tristan was teleported out, disappearing in a flash of red energy.
"That was amusing." the shadow said.
"You've hurt my plans." came a voice from behind the shadow.
The shadow turned, and saw the Scarlet Ranger, floating in mid-air and fully morphed.
"Sorry, my love." the shadow replied with genuine affection. "But I cannot help them go against their destinies, not this time."
"Maybe they won't need your help." the Scarlet Ranger said. "Maybe even with you helping them in the other direction, they still won't find the path. They are pretty lost."
"Thanks to you."
"Only in part. I'm not making them do anything that's against their true natures."
"Perhaps not." the shadow agreed. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, won't we?"
"We will." the Scarlet Ranger said, nodding. "Now get the hell out of here."
It was the shadow's turn to nod, and the illuminating light disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, the shadow disappearing with it.
Sorry, love...but some things are more important than you and me. the Scarlet Ranger thought to herself before teleporting out.
The Black, Yellow, and Pink Rangers all hit the ground at once, smoke pouring from their chests as a result of the Green Ranger's assault.
"So, which one of you should I kill first?" Mia taunted them. "I'll let you live for now, Pinky, you at least showed me some fire by attacking me like that before. And you other two are too unexciting to die first. I'll just have to kill the whiny little Blue Ranger first."
Mia laughed evilly as she turned towards the Blue Ranger, still leaning over his father.
"'No, daddy, pleeeeeasseeeee don't die!'" the Green Ranger mocked him as she walked towards him. "Honestly, can you get more pathetic? Well, at least when you're a corpse, you won't be able to whine anymore."
But before the Green Ranger could approach any further, she was met with a hard leaping kick to her chest, sending her flying backward. Standing there...was the Red Ranger.
"You called?" Tristan asked the others.
"Ahh, the red one finally shows up!" Mia laughed as she got back to her feet. "NOW it's a party!"
"Tristan, you bastard, because of you my father's-" Andrew began.
"Gonna be fine, Tristan." Michi cut him off. "Look."
Jason disappeared in a flash of white, being teleported off.
"I'm sure Zordon's going to take care of him." Michi said.
"Yeah, let's leave the blame game for later and fight this bitch of a Ranger." Jerrelle added.
"People seem to be calling me that a lot lately." Mia muttered.
"How do you suppose we do that?" Tristan asked Jerrelle, ignoring her.
"Bro..." Ada finally spoke up, having remained silence since Tristan first reappeared. "Zordon said if we call on our Power Weapons, we might be able to beat her."
"Which you couldn't do because I wasn't here." Tristan realized. "I can't say sorry enough..."
"Like Jerrelle said, save it for later." Andrew said. "Let's take care of her."
"Like you can." Mia snorted.
"Fine, but first there's something I have to do." Tristan said, turning away from the other Rangers and walking towards the Green Ranger. He continued to walk towards her slowly, causing her to wonder what he was up to.
"What's this, want to try and take me on by yourself?" Mia asked mockingly. "I beat all four of them, think I can handle you just fine red boy."
"That's not it at all." Tristan said as he reached for his helmet...and took it off.
"What the hell is he doing?" Jerrelle asked in disbelief.
"I have no idea." Ada muttered.
"Do you recognize me, Green Ranger?" Tristan asked her.
"No, why would I?" Mia asked, sounding somewhat confused.
"Because I'm your brother." Tristan said, setting his helmet down. "And she's your sister." he added, pointing at the Pink Ranger.
"What the hell are you talking about, you weirdo?" Mia snorted. "I don't have any siblings! What is this, some kind of stupid attempt at a trick?"
"But you...you're older than Ada, you should remember SOMETHING before we all got taken away..." Tristan trailed off.
"Tristan, how do you know that's even her?" Ada shouted to him.
"I just know!" Tristan shouted back, then turned back towards the Green Ranger. "I know you're my older sister. Why don't you remember?"
"Your tricks won't work on me, Red Ranger!" Mia shouted at him. "Now put back on your helmet and give me a real fight!"
"Tristan, she really doesn't seem to remember." Michi said. "I don't think she's your sister..."
Was he lying to me, whoever he was? Tristan thought.
"Either way, we have to stop her before she hurts someone else, like she hurt my dad!" Andrew yelled.
"We do." Tristan said sadly. "Sorry...if you really are my sister, I'm sorry."
"Aww, don't be sorry for dying." Mia replied mockingly. "After all, you're only human."
"Come on Rangers, let's do it!" Tristan yelled, leaping backwards and landing in front of the other four Rangers. "Power Weapons!"
The Power Sword, Power Axe, Power Lance, Power Daggers, and Power Bow appeared in the hands of each respective ranger.
"Not bad..." Mia said. "Pretty cool looking, but they won't save you!"
She suddenly charged towards the Rangers, intent on attacking before they could get to use their new toys.
"Jerrelle!" Tristan shouted.
Jerrelle nodded and moved his axe back into blaster mode and fired. Unlike the Blade Blasters' shots, the Green Ranger's shield didn't fully absorb the blow, and sparks did indeed fly as the Green Ranger momentarily paused, damaged a bit by the blast.
"Michi! Ada!" Tristan shouted again.
Michi and Ada each leaped over one of Tristan's shoulders, Michi tossing each of her daggers at the Green Ranger and Ada shooting off several arrows on their way down.
The arrows and daggers hit the Green Ranger hard, sparks flying once more as she hit the ground.
"Andrew!" Tristan yelled.
"Been waiting for you to say that." Andrew said as he ran around Tristan and charged, swinging his lance. Mia managed to catch one side of the lance as she stood back to her feet, growling, clearly no longer amused.
"My turn!" Tristan yelled as he ran forward and leaped over Andrew's head.
Mia, too busy holding onto Andrew's lance, couldn't stop Tristan from leaping to the other side of her and slashing across her back with his Power Sword. As she reacted to the blow, sparks flying, she let go of Andrew's lance, and Andrew swung it hard, connecting across her chest and head and sending her to the ground.
"Now Rangers, while she's down, let's bring it together!" Tristan said as he and Andrew leaped back into place with the others.
"Power Axe!"
"Power Bow!"
"Power Lance!"
"Power Daggers!"
"POWER SWORD!"
Tristan leaped into the air, placing his sword on top and completing the Power Blaster. He landed in front of the other Rangers in that familiar formation, and fired the Power Blaster just as the Green Ranger was getting back to her feet.
Mia screamed out in pain as she was hit with the full power of the Power Blaster, sparks and smoke pouring out of her shield as she fell to the ground. She demorphed a few moments after she hit the ground, and then laid there for a few moments, the power still causing sparks to fly around her, before disappearing in a flash of green energy.
"Is...is that it?" Michi asked. "Did we really win?"
"I don't know." Tristan admitted. "I just don't know."
Ada, meanwhile, turned her head away, staring at the ground. Because when she saw the face of the demorphed Mia, even with the burns and the bruises, she knew.
She knew...that Mia is their sister.
"This isn't supposed to happen like this!" Mia shouted in a rage as she threw a lamp at a nearby wall. She and the fully morphed Scarlet Ranger were standing inside of a closed furniture store, of all things.
"That was a nice lamp." the Scarlet Ranger said.
"Shut the hell up!" Mia screamed. "You said I was so much stronger than them, then why did I lose?"
"Because you were still missing something." the Scarlet Ranger replied.
"What is it? What am I missing?"
"You're missing...the true evil." the Scarlet Ranger said. "The true power."
"Give it to me."
"Are you sure?" the Scarlet Ranger asked. "When I say evil, I mean evil with a capital E. This thing's power is routed in pure, malevolent evil. Whatever good you have in you will be corrupted as long as you wield it."
"That's nice. I still want it."
"Just had to make sure you knew what you were dealing with." the Scarlet Ranger said simply. "Take it."
A flash of darkness went off, and when it disappeared in the Scarlet Ranger's hand was that long, curved sword.
The Sword...of Darkness.
She handed it to Mia, who raised it into the air. Suddenly, the burns and the bruisers were gone, and in a flash of darkness, she was morphed into the Green Ranger once again. And she felt stronger than she ever had before.
"Thank you." Mia said, and let out an evil laugh.
The sad part is, this IS her destiny... the Scarlet Ranger thought.
Yes, it is. the voice in her head agreed. It's what you want her to do with it, that isn't.
Then her destiny is unachievable. the Scarlet Ranger replied. Evil can only be used for evil.
Who are you talking about, my love? Her...or you?
We'll just have to see, won't we? the Scarlet Ranger thought, and then joined in with Mia in her laugh.