Disclaimer: I do not own the power rangers or any of the weapons and/or original characters from that series. This is the third story in the "Saving the World, Again" series, so any characters from those stories that are mine, might be brought in. I do own the character Ally Jameson as I know she will appear in this story a good bit and I just wanted to let you know that she is my character from the beginning. I also own the characters of Janice Mitchell, Principal McEntire, Mallory Wiggins, David Jackson, Mrs. Thornsby, and Alabaster.
Now, on with the Story!
Billy's POV
As we run through the darkened corridors, we can hear the stifled moans and groans of our fellow Power Rangers coming from somewhere, deeper within this once majestic castle. They are fighting Lord Zedd and Mesogogg, which is something that we did not want to leave them alone to do. They have already been through more by coming into the castle and what we are hearing does not help us any. We all knew that they would be weakened, but it seems to be much worse than we expected.
There is absolutely no telling where they could be in this place and it scares me to know that. I know that we will get there in time, we just have to, especially after coming this many years without losing anyone to either of these monsters. We can not lose someone here tonight. We promised that we would come out of here with everyone still alive and we have not broken one of those promises, yet.
"Jason, we need help. We need the others. We can't do this alone," Kim muttered, as she was slung against yet another, cold, steel wall.
She could no longer tell what direction was which and she just hoped that someone would find them soon. She had tried reaching for her communicator, but she had never had the time to contact Tommy or any of the others. They were just hitting them too hard and too often for them to be able to do much of anything, including communicating with other rangers. If someone didn't find them soon…she shuddered to think of the possibilities of what would happen to them.
"I know but what can we do until they show up?" Jason managed to say as he blocked a shot to the head from Lord Zedd and saw Kim was now in a crumpled heap on the floor, barely able to move to try to fight again. She shouldn't have come in here, but it was too late to do anything about that.
If someone did not get there soon, one of them was going to die or be close to death and he did not like facing that reality, but they had always known that it might happen to them. He just couldn't understand why it couldn't have happened earlier, before they had other responsibilities left to them back home.
"Pretty girl," Mesogogg said, as he picked the exhausted and beaten pink ranger off the floor, like she was a rag doll. Kim would have normally put up a struggle, but she could not find the strength to do that any longer. She just hoped that her doing nothing would keep Mesogogg from sending a direct blow in her direction. She was not sure she could take it. Where were the others? They had to know that they were in trouble.
"We have to be getting closer. Jason's signal is getting stronger," Billy said, although they noticed he did not mention what Kimberly's signal was doing.
This did not sound as if it was good right now and they could only hope that she as out of range, they didn't want to think of the other possibility. There was no telling what it would do to Tommy's mental well being if Kim was injured or worse when he arrived on the scene. It might allow him to destroy Mesogogg and Lord Zedd, but they did not want to lose Tommy in that process. It would be bad enough if they lost one of them during this process.
"Well then let's go faster. We need to get there, it's not going well. We can hear that much, Billy. Has Tommy been able to find them yet?" Aisha asked, as fear was rising in her chest.
They had only caught a few glances of Tommy on the screen, but he seemed to be fine. She just hoped that he was looking for them as well, although he did not have any technology with him. He just had the will to find them, even if it took him all night to do so. He had a better idea of what he would be walking into, they had absolutely no idea but their imaginations were working over time. Each possibility seemed to be more unbelievable, but they had learned to believe in those things that no one thought was possible. They had seen weird things come true in the past and they were sure that they could see something odd when they ran in as well.
"No, but he's closer than we are to them. I just hope he gets there soon. I don't know how much longer they can take it," Billy said, as they quickened their pace. They had left Ashley, Charlie, and Trent to deal with the puddies and keep them from coming inside and distracting them from their goal. Conner had bluntly refused to leave Kira's side and they needed the extra help to try to defeat Lord Zedd and Mesogogg anyway.
"Which one is it?" Tommy asked himself as he looked at each door, while sprinting down the corridor. The noise was getting steadily louder, but he hoped he would reach it soon. He was scared of what might happen if he didn't.
Kim's screams were falling off and he knew it must be because she was close to fainting or worse. She had not been in any condition to fight a battle like the one she was in now, but he knew that she was going to stubbornly try to fight and didn't even try to talk her out of it, although he wished he would have now. He would at least know then that she had gone on her own will, but right now he was feeling as if she might have thought that he would force her to fight. He would not have done that seeing her in the condition she was in, but she always thought that she would let him down by not fighting. He just hoped that he would make it. Zeltrax had worried him this afternoon, but Mesogogg and Lord Zedd caused him more panic and the thought gave him the extra energy to keep going. They had every weapon at their disposal, Zeltrax had not and look at what he had done.
"You never learned, did you?" Lord Zedd asked, as Jason was now on his knees, barely able to hold himself up, but was still valiantly trying to fight. Kim was lying unconscious, on the floor a few feet away, but he knew she was not dead. She was still breathing, although he could barely see her chest moving anymore, although that could be caused from his own barely conscious state.
They had to get to them soon or they might not survive this. He knew that the only reason Mesogogg had not killed Kim yet was because of the fact that he was in the room, still conscious. He knew he just had to hang on a little bit longer. That was all the time the rangers would need to find them, he hoped.
"Learned what?" Jason asked as he looked at the door, pleading that it would be slung open by one of the rangers, any of the rangers right now. That was the only thing that would save the two of them.
"That we always win," Lord Zedd, before he zapped Jason and watched him fall to the ground, on top of Kim, without a response. Now that they had taken care of two of the rangers, they only had to go after four more and then they would go conquer Earth, without anyone trying to stop them.
"Come, we better find another room. The rangers will arrive soon. We do not want them to catch us in the act," Mesogogg said, as Tommy slung open the steel door and looked down at the floor. The pink and red rangers were lying there, looking to be alive, but barely clinging to that state right now.
Mesogogg and Lord Zedd were going to have to kill him in order to get out of this room with their own lives still intact. He knew that other rangers were coming, but it might just take them a little while to get there. He just had to hold them off until the back up came in. If he could do that, then they would have a decent chance at saving Kim and Jason.
"Too late," Tommy said, as the two of them exchanged a glance. This was the one ranger that they had not wanted to see walk in while they were still in the room with Kim and Jason. Those were the two rangers that he cared about the most and would fight for the hardest in a situation like the one that they were presenting to him. Why couldn't it have been someone else? Like Goldar or Zeltrax to burst into the room with good news for them. "I've already found you."
"Thomas Oliver, we meet again. Did you have a good time finding your wife?" Lord Zedd asked, as Tommy reached behind him for Saba. Lord Zedd might have zapped Kim and Jason, but he was going to have a harder time doing that to him. He now had their full arsenal of weapons to choose from and he was willing to use any of them to defeat the two beings standing in front of him. They had almost killed the two of them, he was going to return the favor.
"Yes, but didn't you know that this day was coming? You knew that I was still a ranger and why wouldn't I still have many rangers at my disposal?" Tommy asked as Mesogogg tried to sneak up on Tommy from behind and was quickly thrown into the steel wall behind them.
Tommy had been honest when he had asked them where she was and because they didn't help, they were going to pay worse than what he had intended for them. He had just wanted to lock them up in a box and throw away the key, but now he felt that death was much more appropriate for Lord Zedd and Mesogogg. They did not deserve the chance to escape, ever again. If they were to escape, there might not be anyone that could protect the Earth from their wrath.
"Of course I did, but you are only one ranger. What will you do against the two of us? Where are your vast reserves now Dr. Oliver?" Lord Zedd chuckled, as he knew Tommy must be lying. He only had four other rangers to help him. Mesogogg stood up, but kept his distance from Tommy, knowing that he needed to do that for his own safety. He had thought he would be able to deal with the white ranger, he was wrong in that assumption.
"I'm not sure, but I know that you will regret ever bringing us here. You should have left us alone. We would have returned the favor and forgotten who you were," Tommy said, as he began to fight against the two of them, somehow finding the extra strength he needed to be able to do that. He had thought all of his energy had been drained by Goldar, but the two bodies on the floor gave him more energy than he needed to do the job.
"Billy, up ahead!" Rocky yelled as he saw light streaming into the darkened corridor and heard the screams coming from within the room. They had been jogging, but they somehow found the strength to run faster and they were not greeted with a pleasant scene when they got to the door.
The red and pink rangers were lying on the floor, unconscious and barely breathing at this point. Tommy was fighting both Mesogogg and Lord Zedd, although it seemed that they had taken some time in between fighting him to insure that Jason and Kim would not wake up any time soon. Billy, upon seeing them, contacted Alpha and had them teleported back to the ship, so that they would be safe from any further harm. He knew Trini would take care of them when they arrived and that was what made it all, all right to him.
"It's good to see you," Tommy said as Mesogogg hit him on the side of the head, but was then thrown by Tommy again. He hadn't been joking when he walked in this room and now Mesogogg knew that. "Will someone please take him?"
"Let's just do our job and get out of here," Aisha muttered, as she knew that they needed to attend to two rangers on the ship right now. She did not want any more people to be added to that list, namely Tommy, who would be worried out of his mind, once the battle settled down.
"Sounds good to me," Zack said as he launched himself at Mesogogg, who was trying to fire upon the rangers with a weapon that he had found stashed in the room. Rocky, however, quickly kicked the weapon out of his hands and caught it in his own and blasted away. Mesogogg emerged from the smoke, a little bit burnt and definitely more battered than before. This was not four rangers and he didn't like thinking about what they might do to them.
Outside
"Where do these things keep on coming from?" Ashley asked, as it seemed that every time they defeated a puddy another one showed up in its place. They just could not catch a break today, no matter what they had done; the puddies kept on coming, as if they were being manufactured in the castle.
"Don't know, don't care," Trent said as he launched another one away from the entrance. They had heard nothing from the rangers since they had gone inside and they prayed that this was a good sign and not a bad one. Trent had learned that silence, generally, meant things were going well, but there was the possibility that things were so bad that they could not find a chance to contact them. He tried to not concentrate on that possibility and just fight the puddies. That was what they had asked him to do. "We have to keep fighting. That's all we can do."
"I wouldn't worry about that one. That is the only choice we have. Otherwise we die," Charlie said, as he slammed a puddy into the wall of the building and then looked out to see what looked like a small army on the horizon. The last thing that they needed was another damn thing to fight, but they were not letting them inside, no matter what harm it might cause them.
"Do you see that?" Ashley asked, as they noticed the army marching towards the battlefield that they had created over the last few hours. She was honestly starting to get scared that these were something else that they would have to fight and there was no way that she could deal with it. She was feeling far too weak to deal with it, even with all of the hours she had put in at the dojo, she had never trained for something this intense.
"Yeah, but we won't worry about them until they get to us. We still have a little bit of time before that happens," Trent said, although he was tempted to reach for his communicator and tell the other rangers, but what could they do? They were inside trying to defeat Mesogogg and Lord Zedd. He could not distract them from that mission, even if it did mean that he was about to lose his father. He understood why all of it was happening.
"Listen well to me, those beings in the bright suits are the Power Rangers. They have come here to defeat Lord Zedd and we are now going to help them achieve that goal," Alabaster said, as he had gathered up as many Aloids as he could after Kim, Jason, and Tommy had left his cave. He knew that they were going to need some help and he thought that the least they could do was help try to get their home back. They had nothing more to lose if Lord Zedd found out about them being alive. "Do not attack them. Let's go."
Alabaster's forces then made their way towards the puddies that were fighting the rangers. For the first few moments, the rangers were not sure if they were helping them or hurting them, that was until the puddies began to fall. The source that had been producing the extra puddies suddenly seemed to stop and they were now able to focus on defeating what was left in front of them. If they could do that, then they might be able to go help the rangers once it was completely clear outside.
Inside
"You did what?" Tommy roared as Lord Zedd had mentioned that he had been the one to cause Kimberly to faint. That had not been a smart admission and none of them were surprised when Tommy dove at Lord Zedd, as a lead tackler might at a wide receiver with the ball.
Many of them had not seen him fight with such vigor since he had been evil, but they could tell Tommy was flirting with that side of himself today and they were not going to stop him. If they did, then they might find themselves being tackled by him. They didn't want to risk their own harm, as he seemed to be the only one making any real progress.
"Listen, we have to hurry and get rid of them. Tommy's not going to hold out much longer at the rate he's going," Billy said, as he pulled Rocky and Zack even with him. He had made some sort of odd plan and he needed their help to implement it. "Kim, Jason, and Trini are probably not holding up very well on the ship and I'm worried about the rangers outside."
"Okay," Rocky and Zack said, as they noticed a particularly powerful laser beam that had been left out, but they had to get a clear angle on both of the demons in order for it to be affective.
"Come on, you want some more?" Tommy asked, as Lord Zedd bent his head and swung, once again at the pissed off white ranger.
He could not back down from the challenge, but he was not certain he even wanted to take it anymore. Tommy seemed posed to kill and he had seen that look in his eyes a few times before and knew to be wary of it. He had had that look in his eyes while he was evil and he knew of the damage that Tommy did then, now he was about to be on the receiving end of the deal.
"Tommy! Move!" Billy yelled, as Tommy turned to see what he was talking about, but then quickly jumped out of the way, when he saw what he was holding. Billy had the set the laser on Mesogogg already and had managed to slow him down enough that they would be able to defeat Lord Zedd and then move back to him. The laser jumped to life and Lord Zedd was stunned into stillness. He couldn't move or attempt to do anything and felt the life being zapped out of him. He was gone in a matter of seconds and the rangers were now able to place the ray on Mesogogg, who soon followed in Lord Zedd's footsteps.
"Where are Kim and Jason?" Tommy asked, as he could honestly say he had not seen them be teleported out of the room earlier, which was to be expected. He had been so intent on making Lord Zedd and Mesogogg pay that he didn't even know what they had done.
"On the ship with Trini. They're safe there," Billy stated as Tommy gave him an odd look. He didn't know if he wanted them to teleport him back now, or if he wanted to wait until they got everyone else.
"We better go find Ashley, Charlie, and Trent," Tommy said, as they looked at him and could not believe that he was not asking them to teleport him back to the ship. They had actually expected him to demand it out of them, as soon as he figured out that they were gone.
"Tommy, you may really want to go on back. It won't take us that long to find the others and someone needs to check up on them," Aisha said, as she had to admit that she was really worried about Jason and Kim. She was not so worried about Trini, but there were thoughts fluttering around in the back of her mind that made her uncomfortable about her as well. They all knew, except Jason, that Trini should not have fought today. That was enough to make her nervous.
"Alright," Tommy said, as he looked at Billy, who willing contacted Alpha, who then teleported, him onto the waiting ship.
"Ashley, are you alright?" Charlie asked, as she hit the ground and he then looked up to see that all of the puddies were gone, completely gone. The silence that was now in the air was almost deafening and it seemed extremely peaceful, despite the puddies that were lying around. "Ashley?"
"I'm fine, just a little bit out of it," Ashley said as Charlie walked over and helped her stand up. He quickly placed an arm around her and held her tight to his side. He didn't like this at all, but it seemed everything had calmed down. The other rangers then walked out of the castle, looking battered, but pleased with themselves.
"Where's Tommy, Kim, and Jason?" Charlie asked, as he noticed that they were gone and that was not comforting to know.
"On the ship," Billy said, as Alabaster made his way towards him. He did not recognize any of the remaining humans, but he was sure that he owed him his thanks.
"Rangers," Alabaster said, as they spun around to see the man in long tan robes, walking towards them, with a smile on his face. They did not have any idea how grateful he was, but he was sure that the three rangers he had met would tell them the truth whenever they saw them. "I owe you more thanks than you can imagine. My aloids are now able to come out of hiding and live a regular life again. I do not know what I can do to repay you."
"Well, there is one thing," Billy said, as he did not want to waste any more teleportation powers on them right now. If things were not good on the ship, then Alpha might have to teleport some of them back to Earth. "Can you help us get back to our ship quickly? Some of our rangers are hurt."
"Sure, I can get you there, but it is going to feel odd," Alabaster said and within seconds they were standing in front of their ship, rather breathless and completely unsure of their ability to stand. They did not know who the strange creature was, but they were more than thankful that he had come and helped them out of the sticky situation that they were in.
AN: I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter and I will post a new chapter as soon as possible. Thanks so much for your support of this story!