Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS!
Summary: Jack tries to fixes thing on his own, and it blows up in his face; literally.
Rewritten Ch. 2 Last Minute Mend
"I don't know how you did it, Mr. Landors, but that stunt you pulled yesterday with dying all of a sudden and then coming back to life was not appreciated. That is not how a ranger, let ALONE HOW A RED RANGER ACTS." Commander Quentez was furious. "You nearly gave Dr. Bootoo a heartsattack. Not just one heart, but all of his hearts. You could have killed him!"
Jack stood at attention and took the harsh and undue rebuke silently. Like a statue, he stood unflinching, even when Commander Quentez yelled in his face, and finally the commander stopped to take a breath. Quietly he said, "May I speak frankly, Sir?" "What?" Commader Quentez snarled. "I don't either sir, because I didn't do it. I… I had what humans call an out of body experience. These things happen rarely, and are uncontrollable. I only made the joke because I didn't know what to do in that situation. I know now that I was in error, and I apologize." Commander Quentez sighed, his anger gone. "Fine. Dismissed." Jack saluted and marched out of the room.
Once out of the room, Jack went to find Matt, who happened to be in the room they shared together. "Yo man, how it go?" "Not too bad." Jack turned away from Matt, a tear running his face. He and Matt had known each other for over ten years. They were like brothers. Yet even Matt, he was unable to tell.
"Yo Jack, what ya thinking about?" Matt and Jack always knew when something was wrong. "Just about the way we met." Matt laughed. "Man, we had our selves a time, didn't we? You jumpin' in and out of the walls, and me thinkin' you were a ghost. You had me very scared. I almost fell off a cliff, but you saved my life. Then I realized that you were no ghost, and I said yo man, you want to be friends and you didn't know what a friend was." Matt straightened himself up, and looked serious. "I didn't understand that at the time. To not know what a friend was; that was unbelievable, sad, and scary. Now I do."
Jack turned to look at him. He wanted so badly for his friend to be a true ranger. To be a Power Rangers among other Power Rangers that had civilian powers was bad enough, when he did not, was bad enough, but to try so hard and not be able to access his full powers, i.e. S.W.A.T. mode, that was just unbearable. For some reason, whenever Matt tried to activate his SWAT mode, nothing happened. It just would not activate. Dr. Bootoo had checked it numerous times, to find nothing wrong. Still it would not activate.
That settled it. He had to help Matt earn the right to be a Ranger.
"Hey, Matt?" "Yeah man?" "We gotta talk." "About what, man?" "About Schuylar Tate." This startled Matt, who jerked. "Yo man, why'd ya bring that subject up? You of all people know I hate to talk about that subject." "Not exactly about Sky, Matt, but about you." Matt's eyes narrowed. "What do ya mean about me, Jack?"
Jack took a deep breath. "Ok, I'll start at the beginning. You know you were never meant to be a ranger, don't you? No, don't give me that look. I know you do. Rangers that fight wars like us are chosen before we were born. I'm sorry man, but you weren't chosen and you know it. You are nothing but a Police Ranger, and as long as you are, you will never be able to access your full powers."
Matt opened his mouth in shock and then closed it. After a moment, he said angrily, "Glad to know ya feel that way man! I'll be sure to…" Jack interrupted him. "There is a way that you can become more, though. Ever heard of Adam, Aisha, Rocky and Kat, of the Mighty Morphin' Rangers?" "Yeah, duh, man, I learnt about them my first year here. What about them?" "What of Tanya of the Zeo Rangers?" "Yeah, what about her?" "And TJ, Ashley, Carlos and Cassie of the Turbo Rangers?" "Dude, man, where is this going?" "Finally, Karone of Lost Galaxy?" "Yes, yes, I've heard of them, I've studied them."
"Do you know what they all have in common?" "No, what?" Matt said, irritated. "None of them were chosen to be Rangers. They earned it. They were earned Rangers. Adam, Aisha and Rocky saved the lives of Power Rangers as normal people. Kat overcame the evil spell that controlled her, with Goodness and Love. TJ, Ashley, Cassie and Carlos also saved the lives of Power Rangers as normal people. Karone was willing to risk her life to save the Pink Quasar Saber and Powers from falling into the wrong hands, even though she knew that she could die in the attempt, and it could all be in vain."
"If we can earn the Powers, then how? I've tried so hard all my life and yet, nothing?" "You know, Matt, if it was up to me, I'd say that you've earned it over and over. Yet, you do nothing in your own name or that of the Blue Ranger, or even anonymous. You've done it all in the name of Schuylar Tate. You've done enough for him." "Has anyone else from SPD earned the Powers?" "One. Jonathan Tate. However, Matt, you must do it your own way. When you do, you'll know, you'll know it well."
The next morning, when Jack woke up, Matt was dressed and gone. Taking a glance around the room, he noticed that all of Matt's belongings were gone. Puzzled, Jack got ready for the day and went to Morning Training. Matt never showed up for Morning Training. Commander Quentez never said a word about it, though he seemed distracted the entire time.
Finally training was over, and Commander Quentez lined them up for dismissal to showers and breakfast. Instead of dismissing them immediately, he brought them to attention. "Rangers, immediately after you finish your breakfast, you are to report to the Command Room. I have a very disturbing announcement to make. Understood?" "Yes, Sir," came the reply. "Dismissed." The Rangers saluted, turned in line and ran to the showers.
At breakfast, Bridge asked, "Hey guys, where's Matt? I haven't seen him all morning." "Maybe he's on some kind of secret mission. Maybe that's what the announcement is about," Z suggested. "No. He's not on some secret mission, but I do think that the announcement is about Matt," Jack said as a sinking feeling of guilt came into his stomach. Bridge, Z, and Syd looked at him with looks that plainly said, just what do you mean by that? Jack sighed. "When I woke this morning, Matt and all of his belongings were gone." "What?" Bridge and the girls said, startled. "Do you he was…" "No, he alone works the hardest. It couldn't be that. Jack?" "I don't know."
Later, when they entered the Command Room, a C-Squad Cadet that Jack recognized as Roger Kran was already standing there. He came to attention when the Rangers marched in. Commander Quentez was not in the room yet. Jack looked to Cadet Kran who wore a black Cadet uniform; very unlike the Full Color Uniforms that Jack's Squad wore, showing that they were Earth's main defenders. "Cadet, at ease," Jack ordered.
It wasn't long before Commander Quentez and Dr. Bootoo came into the room. "Attention," Jack ordered his squad and Cadet Kran. "At Ease. Rangers, and Cadet, I have ordered you here to make an announcement. Early this morning, well before any of you even woke up, Mr. Longton came to me. He had not slept all night. He handed in his morpher, and told me he didn't belong here, at least not right now. He also said that he may or may not be back, but has to do some soul-searching, whatever that means.
"He cleared out and left this morning, leaving his morpher. As you know, that leaves you without a Blue Ranger. I have chosen Cadet Kran to step up and take that position for the time being. His belongings are being moved to Mr. Longton's former living space at this time and you will find your new uniform in your closet. Mr. Kran, do not celebrate too soon, I expect you to participate and participate well in the three-grueling three-a-day training sessions. The other rangers will tell you that now isn't a happy time to be a B-squad Ranger, Main Defender. And this may last but a day, or may last the normal length. Take your position among your new teammates." And like that Matt was gone. Jack never spoke to him again.
Several weeks later, just after dinner, Jack's team was called to the Command Room, only to find out that the Dark Sky Ranger was attacking. They were about to move out, when Matt appeared on the Screen. He was talking to Sky, begging him to be good again. He told him of all the good things of the past that they had experienced together. And the Dark Sky Ranger struck him down. Suddenly the Blue morpher began to glow with a blue glow and vibrate. Roger nearly dropped it. "What is going on with this thing?" He cried. Jack stared at the screen mourning the friend who had become like a brother to him, and said quietly, "He has earned the Right to be a Power Ranger, he has truly earned the Powers, and if he lives, he will be able to fully access his powers."
Then and there Matt did something that shocked Jack. He gave the two things that meant the most to him, his very life and his powers that he had worked so hard for. He sent them out swirling into Sky and showed him the truth. The effort killed Matt, but was enough to free Sky from evil, and restore him to good.
Suddenly everyone looked up and heard a beeping to the left. Dr. Bootoo looked at it confused, and then looked up alarmed. "Security Breach in the Zord Bay! Krybots have broken in and placed a bomb in the fuel compartment and the timer reads a minute. That's not enough time to-." The alarm went off. "Evacuate! This not a Drill! Evacuate!" Commander Quentez screeched.
Everyone fled the room, and started running toward the stairs. The floor shook violently all of a sudden, and the ceiling fell in front of the Rangers. They turned to run the other way, but an explosion of fire burst through the open doorways. They were trapped and the heat was intense. The shockwave slammed the Rangers back into the rubble. The last thing Jack saw and heard before losing consciousness, was the form of Commander Cruger and his voice saying, "Now is the time to act, Jack! Alpha 5 is on his way!"
To Be Continued… Next is Ch. 3: Final Briefing