Chapter Fifteen

'Where are the Power Rangers?' thought Ernie as he looked at the remnants of Angel Grove. 'What happened? How come you guys didn't show?' Ernie looked around. 'Come on guys.' He thought of the former teenagers who used to hang out at the Youth Center. 'Jason...Zack...Billy...Kim...Tommy. I should've said something earlier. I hope you guys are okay.' He thought of Trini sadly. 'I should've told her that I knew when I saw her before the accident.' He remembered Rocky, Aisha, Adam, Kat, and Justin. 'Them too. Where are you guys?' He remembered seeing them at the Youth Center just a couple days before. 'They knew. I hope you guys are safe. And the other teenagers. Not Tommy's students. Power Rangers too.' He looked up at the sky in hopes of seeing different beams of light. He shook his head sadly when he didn't. 'I'm glad I saw you guys again. I hope you're safe.' He looked back at the site of the Youth Center. 'I'm glad I came back. Even if it was for a short time.'

"Where should we go, Bulk?" asked Skull. "There's nowhere to run! Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, Mariner Bay, Reefside. It's all gone."

Bulk looked at Skull. "I saw those putty things head for Reefside. We should go there."

Skull shook his head. "I don't think so. We should just leave it up to the Power Rangers."

"I don't think they're coming. We've got to help them."

Skull looked around at the smoking cities around him. He nodded. "We do."

"We should look for TJ and Carlos first. Maybe they don't know that the world's getting destroyed."

Skull looked at Bulk with wide eyes. "You kidding me, Bulk? How could nobody not know that the world is getting destroyed?"

"And look for Cassie and Ashley." Bulk continued talking as if he didn't hear Skull's words. "And Zhane."

"Hello!! We'll be running into trouble. We've got to find a way out. Off the planet even."

"They were the Power Rangers back then. And we've got to..."

"Can't we just find a way to get to Mironoi or Terra Venture or wherever it is that you went without me?"

Bulk finally heard Skull's words. He turned to him and said, "You overslept that day! And I came back."

"I'm glad you did, Bulky."

"Anyway," continued Bulk. "We should get in touch with Tommy, too. He's in Reefside. That's why we've got to go there. The putty things look like they're heading for him."

"Do you think the other rangers know what's going on?"

"I'm sure they do. We've got to find them."

"But, Bulky, we don't even know who they are."

"We know about TJ, Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie, remember? And Zhane. And Tommy. We've got to find them. And if there are other rangers, maybe they'll come out and fight too."

"Alright. But I'm driving."

"Fine."

"I don't believe this," said Kat as she sat in front of the television.

"Kat, you don't have to watch any of it," said Tanya, looking out the window. "We could see and hear everything from right here."

Kat stood and walked over to the window where Tanya was. "Do you think we're in the starts of a war?"

"But there hasn't been anything in the news," answered Tanya. "I have a strange feeling that it's something more than that."

They continued to look out the window. "What is going on?" said Kat, frustrated. "I hate to think that there are people out there who need our help."

Tanya glanced at Kat and nodded. "We should go down there and help out. Let's head to the hospital. There's no doubt that they'll be swamped with people coming in."

Kat nodded and they grabbed their jackets as they ran out the door.

Justin woke up to a banging at his door. He heard crashes and booms outside his window. He groaned as he got out of bed. 'What do you guys want?' He opened the door and saw everyone on his dorm floor running out.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" asked Justin, more alert now that he senses something is wrong.

"GET OUT!" someone yelled as he ran by Justin.

Justin stuck his head out the room.

"We're being attacked!" someone else yelled.

"The school?" asked Justin.

"No, the city!"

Justin looked around with wide eyes and ran back in his rooms to put his shoes on. He ran out of his room. "You guys, calm down! I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for whatever's going on!"

"No, get out, Justin! We've got to hurry! I heard there's nowhere to run!"

"So where are we going to go?" asked Justin sarcastically. "You guys have got to calm down!" Someone shoved Justin from behind, making him run alongside his dormmates.

Carter Grayson, Chad Lee, Joel Rawlings, Kelsey Winslow, Dana and Ryan Mitchell stood atop a cliff overlooking Mariner Bay, with Captain Mitchell at their side.

"I don't believe this," said Kelsey. "It's destroyed."

"We failed," said Joel. He dropped to his knees. "Mariner Bay...it's destroyed!"

"What were those things?" asked Ryan. "I've never seen them before. Those aren't the usual demon things that we fight against."

"I don't know," answered Carter. "I have no idea."

Dana stood there, shaking her head. "There must be something we could do."

"There's nothing," said Chad. "We don't have our powers."

"Maybe not," said Carter. "But we've still got to help. It's our duty to everyone."

"I don't know what's going on, but we've got to go help!" yelled Cole. Taylor nodded. "Call the others!" He ran outside.

"We don't even have our powers!" cried Tori. "Where are the Dino Rangers?"

"That doesn't matter," replied Shane.

"We've still got to help the people," agreed Blake.

"Where did these things come from?" asked Dustin.

Everyone shrugged. "I have no idea," answered Hunter.

"Kat?" asked Tanya, looking up.

"Yeah,?" answered Kat.

Tanya pointed. "Tell that is not..."

"Oh no. It is. A monster."

"But..."

"It looks like a Zord." Kat looked down and thought for a moment. "General Havoc."

"Who?"

"Divatox's brother. Cassie told me that he had a Zord that pretty much took over the Turbo Megazord."

"Divatox's brother? From our Turbo powers? But Ashley told me that they were all destroyed. She said something about an energy wave and Zordon."

"I guess not."

"What do we do?"

Kat shrugged. "We're helpless without our powers."

"And we still got to help the people."

"That's the only thing we can do."

Justin ducked into a room. He turned the television on and stood in front of it to watch.

"...are destroyed," the newscaster's voice said. "Monsters and unknown beings are attacking. The west coast has already been attacked. Please be open to civilians traveling from that area. Similar attacks have been found in other places of the world."

Justin's eyes widened as he saw the camera view of General Havoc.

"This is footage recorded earlier this morning from England."

"Oh no," Justin said to himself. He got his phone out and began dialing.

"Some of us should go to Reefside," said Carter. "I heard on the news that it's completely deserted after everyone evacuated. Some people might be stuck over there."

"I can't get in touch with anybody!" said Skull exasperated. He put his cell phone down and looked over at Bulk, who was in the passenger's seat. "Nobody's picking up. And I haven't even seen Zhane or Ashley for how long."

"Tommy's not answering either," replied Bulk. "Hmm." Bulk furrowed his brow. "Something must be wrong."

"Hey, Bulky, look." Skull pointed to a headline in the Reefside newspaper on Bulk's lap. "Power Rangers in Reefside. I wonder why they didn't come to help." Recognition dawned on his face. "Tommy's still a Power Ranger. That's why he's in Reefside. And that's why there are Power Rangers there."

Bulk's eyes widened. "Then something must really be wrong."

"Reefside should be coming into view now," said Andros.

Kira, Conner, and Ethan ran to the window.

"I don't believe it," said Kira. Tears started forming in her eyes. "It's completely unrecognizable." She turned away. Kim stood and put her arm around Kira.

"We've got to find them," said Conner determinedly. "The bads won't get away with this."

Ethan nodded. "We've got to."

"Head into the woods," said Tommy. "Try to land near my house." Tommy looked at a screen. "It's that patch of smoke right there. It doesn't look harmed, surprisingly. Hopefully, Hayley's there and can pick our signal up."

"Hopefully, Hayley's not there, Dr. Z," said Trent. "It looks pretty bad. Doesn't look like they would've spared anybody." Trent looked down, with worry creased in his forehead.

"I'm sure your father's fine, Trent," said Tommy. Trent looked up, biting his lip. "We'll make sure he's okay."

Hayley was sitting in the lab with her head down. 'This is hopeless,' she thought. 'Where are you guys? Are you okay? Are you in trouble?' She was distracted from her thoughts as she heard a beeping noise from the computer. She looked up at the computer and saw something big heading near her. "What is that?" she asked aloud. Hayley immediately began to press buttons to figure out what it was. She tried to establish a signal with the mysterious craft. "Come on, come on, just work!" she said, frustrated. "Hello, hello, is anyone out there?" The only reply she received was static.

A bit of explanation regarding Bulk and Skull here: I felt that Bulk and Skull had grown from your regular old neighborhood 'bullies'. And I remembered that they found out the Space Rangers' identities. Wasn't sure if they actually found out about the other ranger identities, but felt that they knew about Tommy's from the way they regarded him with such reverence at the beginning of 'Forever Red'. And the other former rangers won't be in the story that much. This was just to give you guys a look into what the "civilians" saw of the attacks.