This is another sort of boring chapter, I think. A lot of PR history here.

Chapter Eight

"Aisha!" Kim jumped and ran to her friend. "How are you? I haven't seen you in so long! What's up? What are you doing here? When did you get back from Africa? How's Adam?"

"Whoa, girl, hang on a minute!" Aisha and Kim hugged. "I've missed you so much!" They broke apart. "Okay, um, where to start?" She laughed. "I'm good. Nothing much has been going on. I was actually on my way back to Africa from a conference in LA and I wanted to stop by Angel Grove since I haven't been here for so long. And I'm not actually back back from Africa. And as for Adam, you could ask him yourself. He should be on his way in."

Tommy pulled up a chair while Aisha went around the table saying hi to everyone. She stopped at the teenagers. "So, I'm guessing you guys are the new ones? Otherwise, why would they be talking to you guys about our teenage life?" She smiled and extended her hand as she introduced herself.

"Second yellow," Kira whispered to herself. She gave a little nod to Aisha as she shook her hand.

"So, what are you guys doing back here?" Aisha looked around the table. "And together?" She looked at Kim with wide eyes while cocking her head towards Tommy discreetly. Kim gave her a smile and winked. She gave a motion with her hand that only Aisha could see.

"Uh...where to start?" began Tommy. He was interrupted by a loud yell from behind him.

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?" Adam yelled across the room. He ran to them and gave each of them a hug. He, too, stopped at the new rangers. Adam gave them a knowing smile and introduced himself. He also pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tommy.

"Hey Adam, guess what," whispered Zack as he leaned forward. Adam raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to listen to Zack. "Tommy, here, is the latest black."

Adam looked at Tommy, who shrugged. He was unsuccessfully trying to stop a smile from forming on his face. He tried to look angry, but was unable to. "Black, Tommy?"

Kim leaned forward in their conversation and said, "And he's their Zordon." This time Adam didn't even try to stop the smile.

Conner leaned forward and said, "So can we start calling you Dr. Z from now on?" Tommy rolled his eyes and shook his head as he smiled. He could tell that the teenagers knew how important Zordon was and he felt pleased that they thought of him to be on the same level, though he didn't feel that way. The others smiled.

Kira laughed. "We should." She looked at the other two. "I think I will."

"Me too," added Ethan. Trent grinned.

"So, Mr. Black Ranger Zordon, what's up?" asked Adam. He glanced from Tommy to Kim.

Kim rolled her eyes and smiled. "We're good. We're all friends here."

Adam smiled. He looked at Tommy again. "So, I interrupted you earlier?"

"Yeah. So, you guys know that I've put together a new team." He gestured towards the teens. "Well, we needed some help so...wait. Should I be prepared that Rocky's gonna come out here or anything? Because, I'd like to tell the story only once more."

"Yeah, you should." Rocky smiled from behind Billy. "Hey guys, long time!" Like Aisha and Adam before him, he went around the table, said hi and hugged everyone, and stopped at the new teenagers, introducing himself. And, he too, glanced at Tommy and Kim, who both rolled their eyes while Aisha leaned over to tell him they were on good terms.

Kira looked at Tommy and Kim. She wondered what was going on between them. She looked at Ethan, who was the only one among the four to not look confused.

"They used to date," he whispered. "Bad break up too. But, I guess they're obviously friends now." Trent, Conner, and Kira nodded.

"So, what are you doing in town, Rocky?" asked Billy.

"I've been visiting my parents from New York. I'm supposed to be leaving today, but I'm on a standby ticket. So I wanted a smoothie and some fries. I'm a little hungry." He helped himself to some food still sitting on the table.

Everyone laughed. "Some things never change, do they?" said Kim. Rocky shrugged. "It's nice being back here again. All of us." Everyone nodded.

"So, what's going on, guys?" asked Aisha. "You sort of look like you're on a mission."

Jason nodded. "Sort of."

"Alright, so you guys know about the newest ranger team," continued Tommy. He again gestured towards the four teenagers. "And I'm the black ranger, Rock."

Rocky swallowed. He laughed. "Your black?" He said between breaths. Everyone else laughed at his reaction.

"How many colors have you had?" asked Trent.

"Well, he started out as green," began Kim. "Turned white."

"Red when we got the Zeo powers," continued Rocky.

"And now he's black," finished Zack.

"Oh...no wonder." Trent laughed too. "Continue."

"Now that everyone's gotten the whole 'I've had four colors' thing out of their system, let me continue," said Tommy. "So first of all, do you guys have to be back so soon? Can't you guys stick around for a bit? I mean, around Angel Grove. Or stick around us for a bit. Wherever we may go."

"Probably," answered Aisha. "It's not too bad if I don't get back right away."

"Same with me," said Rocky.

"Me too," said Adam.

Tommy nodded. "Good, cuz guys, we need all the help we could get. So where was I? Oh...newest ranger team. Them. Mesagog's the bad. He's pretty much nearly destroyed us all."

"And we believe that he's teamed up with the bads of the past," continued Jason. Tommy nodded.

"So I asked Jase for some help. And he came with them."

"And since the past bads are back, that means Zordon and Alpha are back!" said Kim.

"Really?" the three asked simulataneously. Kim nodded with a big smile.

"He's supposed to be calling us whenever he and Alpha extract enough power to teleport us to wherever some new power source is."

"You guys want to help?" asked Tommy.

"Of course," answered Aisha. Adam and Rocky nodded.

The rangers and former rangers sat there for a bit, talking amongst themselves, and catching up on old times.

"So, wait. You guys didn't finish from earlier," said Ethan. "You, you, and Trini left. You three came in. What happened then?"

The former rangers and Tommy looked at each other.

"We fought bad guys," answered Rocky. Everyone laughed. "You know the usual in a ranger's life. I got a bit addicted to that Pachinco machine over there." He pointed to the games area.

"A bit addicted?" asked Kim. "I seem to remember you got a little bit more than a lot addicted."

"I concur," added Billy.

"Whatever. It was the spell, not me."

"Yeah, right," said Aisha. She laughed and looked back to the teenagers. "Zedd turned us into kids."

"He tried to make me his queen of darkness," added Kim. "Ughh. And he put me, Tommy, and Rocky into my favorite childhood book."

"Kim also fell into a time portal and he tried to make her stay there. In like, 1880, or something like that," continued Adam.

"He seemed to have a strange fascination with her," said Billy. "He also captured you in that weird dimension, didn't he?"

"Ew. Don't remind me," said Kim. "He was one disgusting...thing. But he was married to Rita, though."

"He's evil," said Tommy. "I don't think that would stop him from having his strange little fascination with you." She gave him a disgusted look. He shrugged. "I don't blame him." She made her disgusted look even more grotesque. He smiled and shrugged again.

"So, then you left, right?" asked Kira.

Kim nodded. "And I gave Katherine my power coin." She looked around. "Kat?" The others looked at her in confusion. "What? Everytime we mention somebody new, that person shows up." They looked at each other and nodded.

"I highly doubt that Kat'll show up, Kim," said Aisha. "Tanya just told me that she's busy with ballet in London, still. I talked to her yesterday."

"So I gave Kat my power coin," said Kim.

"More bads and we got turned to kids again," said Rocky.

"We also lost our powers," said Billy. "We had to undergo a series of separate quests. In the end, we found the Zeo crystal."

"And we got Zeo powers," said Tommy. "And some new enemies. The Machine Empire."

"Yeah, I remember that in the video," said Kira. "We wanna know the stuff outside the video."

"I found my brother. That outside the video enough for you?" At this, Kim looked at Tommy.

"Yeah, that's good."

Kim raised an eyebrow.

"I was having these weird dreams," he said mostly to her. "There was this Native American exhibit and I gave Sam Trueheart a ride home. When I was there, I saw this guy who looked almost exactly like me. I went on this sort of quest and found him to be my brother. You know that arrowhead that I always wore?" Kim nodded. "He had the other half."

"Wow, that's pretty cool," she said.

"And there was a new ranger wasn't there?" asked Ethan.

Aisha nodded. "Tanya. She took over after me." Everyone looked around. Aisha laughed. "Tanya's in London with Kat. I think she's recording over there."

"And Tommy turned evil again," added Rocky. "But no long term effects. We turned him back."

"I believe I moved to Aquitar around this time," said Billy.

"And I came back as gold," said Jason. "Not for long, though. Only long enough for Trey--the actual owner of the gold ranger powers--to regenerate energy."

"Then?" asked Trent.

"You guys ask a lot of questions. It's a good thing that we have almost all the time in the world, waiting here. And that the bads haven't made a sound since that last attack in Reefside."

"Hey, I didn't watch the video. All I knew about the rangers was that Dr. O--I mean, Dr. Z (everyone laughed)--was evil before turning good and becoming a ranger."

"Fine." Jason turned to the other three. "Then you three ask a lot of questions."

"Can you blame us?" asked Conner. Jason smiled and shook his head.

"So, where were we? End of the Machine Empire." Jason looked at the others.

"Turbo powers," said Rocky.

"New ranger, right?" asked Ethan.

Rocky nodded. "I got hurt practicing for a karate tournament and Justin Stewart (Rocky paused while everyone looked around) hid in my hospital room while the others teleported away. I sent him in my place with the new turbo powers. I think he's in the middle of midterms or something."

"And with turbo brought Divatox," said Adam. "She wanted to marry this nasty thing called Maligore."

"Shortly before that, she captured me and Jason while we were snorkeling," said Kim. "We came back for the tournament. And turned us evil. The usual. Tried to kill them."

"Dimetria became our new mentor," said Tommy. "Then we-me, Adam, Tanya, and Kat-passed our powers on to TJ, Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie. They later went into space and teamed up with Andros, a ranger from K0-35." Everyone looked around again. "And that's really all we know. That's what we've been a part of. Everything else after that, you guys saw in the video. And that was all that I knew." Trent waved his hand. "Oh, sorry. Those five told Angel Grove who they were when Astronema was taking over. The rest of the city also said they were power rangers. That's when Andros destroyed Zordon's energy tube to kill all the bads, who all probably came back. I know that there were some rangers after them who protected the galaxy and Andros' sister, Karone, became the pink ranger for that team. Then I believe some demons were released and the lightspeed rangers were hand chosen. Then the time force rangers came back from the future to save the past because they followed a fugutive from the future to the past. And then there were the wild force rangers and ninja storm. Then you guys."

"Thanks," said Trent.

"No problem."

"So what's this about that mission on the moon?" asked Conner.

"Andros called me and told me that the old generals of the Machine Empire were digging up Serpentera, Zedd's evil Zord," answered Tommy. "I called up the past reds and they all accepted. Went on the moon to fight them and won."

"Wow." Ethan looked incredulous. "I love being a power ranger." He looked at Billy. "Can we do a blue mission?" Everyone laughed.

"So, are you guys Ninjetti, also?" asked Kira.

Adam, Aisha, and Rocky nodded.

"I'm the Ape," said Rocky.

"Bear." Aisha held up her hand.

"And I'm a Frog," said Adam.

A familiar tone rang through the air. The teenagers looked confused. "Who's ring tone is that?" asked Conner.

Tommy pointed to the communicator. He motioned to the door. Everyone filed outside and stood in a giant circle, huddled around Tommy. "Come in, Zordon."

"Good news, rangers. We have found the source of the power. Return to the Command Center immediately."

"Right away." He looked at Aisha, Adam, and Rocky, then at Billy. "If they each hold on to us, would they teleport?"

Billy nodded. "They should be able to. Especially since they used teleporters in the past."

They nodded. Aisha stood next to Kim, Adam next to Zack, and Rocky next to Jason. They all grabbed onto their arms.

"I guess we're not visiting family today," said Jason.

Tommy nodded. They each disappeared in a beam of light.

I couldn't sleep tonight and just decided to hurry up and get these out there. Hope you like!