Venus Gowns & Dresses, Mega Mall
Metro City, Canada
June 26th, 2015
10:44 AM

"Rachel Parker"

After Marcus' funeral, Silver told us that he wanted us to go to prom and enjoy ourselves. I guess he figured that since we might all die in the battle against Trojan, that we should have one incredible, not sad or depressing moment to remember.

Even though I was just planning on wearing one of my nicer dresses to prom tomorrow night, Chloe wasn't having it. When I told her that I couldn't afford to buy a new dress that I was probably only going to wear once, she dragged me to Sector 10 and told me she would buy my dress for me.

Before I tell you the story about dress shopping, I want to rewind a little bit to tell you about the conversation Chloe and I had on the way to Sector 10.

"Rachel, in case we die during the battle with Trojan," said Chloe, "I just want you to know that I've been in love with you since we first met."

"Chloe..." I said, my voice welling up, "I'm sorry that I can't reciprocate those feelings."

"It's not your fault," she said, "You can't change your sexuality anymore than I can change mine. I've already accepted that."

"Then why are you telling me?" I asked, "Other than to make me cry and mess up my mascara."

"Because you're the best friend I've ever had," said Chloe, "If it wasn't for you, I never would've become a Power Ranger! I'd still be that selfish ditzy blonde."

Chloe pulled over to the side of the road and we shared a long, emotional hug and didn't break apart until we had both finally stopped crying.

Once we got to the mall, we went to Chloe's favourite store to look at dresses. Chloe reminded me that once I picked a dress, I needed to make sure to tell Riley what colour it was so that he'd get the right colour corsage.

"How about this one?" I asked, holding up a dress in front of me.

"That's not bad," said Chloe, "But I think we could find something better. You want something that highlights Thelma and Louise, but not something that hides them or makes them the center of attention."

"Thelma and Louise?" I asked, chuckling.

"What? " asked Chloe, squeezing her chest, "That's what I call my boobs."

"You nicknamed them?"

"You're telling me you DIDN'T nickname yours?" she asked.

"No! Well, I mean, if I have to refer to them, I just say the girls."

"That's kind of a nickname." said Chloe.

"No it isn't." I said.

"Sure it is."

"You're not going to stuff your bra again are you?" I asked, hoping to change the subject a little bit.

"I don't have to," said Chloe, "That's why they invented the push up bra."

"I doubt Sawyer will really care about how big your boobs look." I said.

"I was so relieved when he asked me to go with him," she said, "I've never asked a guy out before."

"Back up, sister," I said, not sure I had heard her properly, "How can you never have asked a guy out?"

"I've never had to," said Chloe, "I usually just get all flirty or show off my curves and then they ask me out."

"Technically Riley and I didn't ask each other out either," I said, "But I mean, who else was I going to go with?"

"The fact that you and Riley are so perfect together really helped me to accept that you will never love me the same way that I love you." said Chloe.

We really are great together, aren't we? I thought I had been happy back when we were best friends, until we became more than that and I realized that I could actually be even happier.

"I think prom would be the perfect night for two to, um, you know..." said Chloe.

"What?"

"Have sex." she said.

"Really?" I asked, blushing.

"Why not? You're both eighteen. You're madly in love with each other," said Chloe, "Don't make the same mistake I did. Your first time should be with someone that you actually love. It makes it that much better."

"I thought you were still a v-"

"No," she said, "I haven't been for nearly four years now. I never told you about it because I'm ashamed of it. I thought I loved him."

"You were fourteen Chloe." I sighed.

"I know!" Didn't you hear the part where I said I was ashamed?" she said.

"I was actually thinking that prom night should be the night anyway. This very well might be our last chance." I said.

"Well, if you are going to, it should because you want to, not because you feel like you should." said Chloe.

"Does it hurt?" I whispered.

"It didn't for me," she said quietly, "But I hear that sometimes it can. You have to do it a couple of times to get used to it."

The conversation ended when neither of us could think of something else to say. After browsing the racks for a while, Chloe's eyes lit up and she smirked confidently.

"Here," said Chloe, handing me a dress, "Try that one."

I held it up in front of me and Chloe cupped her hand over her mouth.

"That's the one..." she gasped, "Go try it on properly."

I grinned at her because this was one of the few times where we've gone shopping together and actually completely agreed on something. The dress was a lovely dark blue colour. Not navy, but darker than traditional blue.

It was absolutely perfect. The dark blue colour made my eyes pop. It would be even better when I got my make up done by a professional tomorrow. Chloe picked a winner on her first try! It was almost like I was destined to have this dress.

I walked out of the changing booth with the dress on and got jaw drops from BOTH Oz and Chloe.

"Where did you come from, Oz?" I asked, covering myself up instinctively, even though I wasn't naked.

"I thought we were getting our nails done." said Oz.

"Oh yeah, right," I said, "Our appointment isn't until after lunch."

"Relax Rachel, you can show me," he said, "I've already got three lovely dates for prom."

"I thought you only had two dates?" asked Chloe.

"I did at first," he said, "But, given the circumstances with Marcus, I decided to bring the date I had found for him with me too. She had really been looking forward to meeting Marcus, besides nobody else asked her."

I slowly lowered my hands to show off the dress.

"Oh my god, Rachel! You look amazing!" Chloe squealed, running in to hug me.

"Riley isn't going to know what hit him," said Oz, "Rachel, that dress is gorgeous."

I walked over to him and gave him a hug too. He accepted it and didn't even try to ruin the moment by copping a feel.

"You can call me Rach if you want." I whispered in his ear.

I reached down and adjusted the price tag so that I could see it. This was definitely the dress, but it costs almost $500! Chloe noticed what I was doing.

"I don't care how expensive it is," she said, "I'm buying it for you whether you like it or not."

"What about you Chloe?" asked Oz, "Have you found anything yet?"

"Now it's my turn to play dress up with you." I said.

"Do I get to help?" asked Oz.

"Only if you take it seriously." I said.

Oz held up his fingers and performed the Scout's Honour gesture.

"Scout's Honour." he said.

"Oz, were you even a boy scout?" asked Chloe.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.

"Only boy scouts can do that." I said.

"Is THAT what that means?" asked Oz, "I always thought Scout was the name of the guy that invented that saying."

Meanwhile I had been browsing the racks and had found a couple of pretty dresses. I beckoned Chloe forward and handed her a sizeable stack of them. She scanned through them and handed one back to me with an unimpressed nod.

She handed the rest of the dresses to Oz and then started holding them up in front of herself like I did. Oz was in charge of handing her new dresses and keeping track of each one.

Chloe didn't like any of the ones she had held up in front of her, so she handed them all back to me so I could put them back on the racks

"How about one of these?" asked Oz.

"Those don't look too bad," said Chloe, "Why do you seem so good at this?"

"I've taken girls shopping before." said Oz, simply.

Chloe held out the first three dresses Oz had picked and went through them one by one. Finally, she seemed happy with the third one Oz had found. She held it in front of herself again and it was so perfect that she seemed to start glowing.

"I'm going to go try it on," she said excitedly, "No peeking!"

That last part was directed specifically at Oz.

"Wow this is tight!" said Chloe, "Hopefully my Grandma can loosen it up a bit."

"Or you could also stop getting two burgers anytime we go out to eat." I said.

"Ladies, when I'M the one marvelling at the immaturity, be afraid!" said Oz.

"Okay, I'm coming out." said Chloe.

Chloe looked incredible. Her dress was deep red, almost like blood or a ruby. It was shorter than mine, but it was a style that I couldn't really pull off. She looked a bit like a princess in it.

"Wow, it looks great!" said Oz.

"That is definitely the dress!" I shrieked, "It looks awesome!"

We all went in for a group hug.

"Okay, Oz, now it's your turn," I said, chuckling, "Chloe and I will find you a pretty dress too!"

"When hell freezes over," he said, "I'll be in the food court."

Chloe brought the dresses up front and paid for them without any hesitation. I know that money isn't an issue for her, but still, I don't really feel like I deserved such an expensive dress.

Sawyer was sitting with Oz in the food court when we got there. Chloe hurriedly stuffed her dress deeper into the bag it came with so that Sawyer wouldn't see it.

"Ladies," said Sawyer, "You're only carrying two bags, but yet Oz clearly isn't wearing a dress."

"That joke is getting old, man." said Oz.

"No it isn't," I said, winking, "You're only saying that because the joke is about you."

After we ate lunch, the four of us went to the salon and all four of us got facials. Sawyer didn't want to get his nails done, so he left after that. Oz let the girls do his fingernails, but he wouldn't let them do his toenails.

Once we were all finished at the salon, Chloe took us back to her place where we continued talking about what I had planned for tomorrow night. We also took the tags off of our dresses and tried them on properly, like how we would be wearing them tomorrow night.

Chloe's Grandma did end up loosening Chloe's dress a bit and it ended up looking even better on her now that she wasn't squeezing in to it.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

Tonight was prom night. I was looking in the mirror while fussing with my silver tie. Even though it doesn't make any sense, sometimes it feels like when Trojan took my eye, he also got my hand eye coordination.

"Are you sure it was a good idea letting the rangers go to prom?" asked Jenna.

"Probably not," I said, "But after all they've sacrificed and given up to protect the city, I feel like they deserve to have some fun."

"What's with the tuxedo?" asked Jenna.

"I volunteered us to be chaperones at prom tonight," I said, "That way we'll all be in the same place if Aaron decides to crash the party."

"I suddenly feel underdressed." said Jenna.

"We thought you'd say that." said Chloe, who had just teleported into Headquarters.

Her hair and makeup were already done. Prom started in an hour. She looked magnificent. The deep red of her dress complimented her blonde hair perfectly.

"That's why we picked this out for you at the dress shop the other day," said Rachel, who had also just teleported into Headquarters, "Silver told us what size you were, so this should fit like a glove."

Rachel looked just as incredible as Chloe. Her dress made her eyes really pop and she was wearing her hair down.

After Jenna went and changed into the black dress, we all stood together in the middle of Headquarters.

"Where's Riley?" asked Rachel.

"Oh, the guys are going to meet us there." I said.

"So are we teleporting or driving?" asked Chloe.

"Definitely driving. Mind you, I can't drive as well as I used to, thanks to Trojan," I said, "The school will be so packed that there won't be any safe place that you could potentially teleport to."

"Let's get going then." said Rachel.

"Rachel Parker"

We arrived at the school just in time. Silver wasn't kidding, the parking lot was like a stampede. Students were clambering into the gym. It seemed like a lot of students carpooled though, because there were still plenty of parking spaces.

We parked the car next to Oz's big yellow truck, which is probably what Riley, Sawyer and Oz used to get there. Chloe met up with Sawyer in the parking lot. His jaw nearly dropped when he saw her in her dress.

"You're beautiful. That dress is fantastic." he said.

"I know." said Chloe, spinning so he could see the back too.

Behind Sawyer and Chloe I saw Oz struggle to get out of his truck and hold the door open. One girl stepped out. She was pretty, but I didn't recognize her. After her, another lovely girl stepped out of the truck. She was followed by a third girl. All three of them were holding on to Oz's muscular arms as he led them through the parking lot into the gym.

"We better get in there." said Silver to Jenna.

"See you inside, Rachel." said Jenna, winking at me.

I looked around curiously. I didn't see Riley anywhere. As soon as the thought formed in my head, the trunk of Oz's truck popped open and Riley rolled out of it. He was holding the corsage, but instead of getting one that matched my dress, he got one that looked a tiny bouquet of geraniums, my favourite flower!

"Hi there," he said as I walked over to him, "How would you like to be my date to prom?"

"I'm sorry, but someone else already asked me." I said, snickering.

"Shut up." said Riley, coming in for a kiss.

After we broke apart, he slid the corsage onto my wrist. Then he offered me his arm, which I took excitedly.

"You look absolutely amazing." he said.

Once we got inside the gym, we headed over to the dance floor. I know that Riley isn't much of a dancer, but being a ranger has changed him for the better. There was a time when he would've been too afraid to dance in public for fear of making a fool of himself.

Riley walked out onto the dance floor and held his hand out.

"Think I could get a dance with the prettiest girl at this party?" he asked.

"I guess so," I said, "But what do I do? Stand here and watch?"

I took his hand and let him pull me forward onto the dance floor. The song that was playing was slow and peaceful, so I rested my head on his chest as we danced. It was so great! We danced through five more songs before heading over to the punch bowl to take a break.

Oz and his three dates came over as well. Sawyer and Chloe also came over after a while too. Then another boy none of us recognized came over to the punch bowl. He gave us a toothy grin and reached into his pocket to pull out a flask. It seemed like he wanted to spike the punch.

"Not so fast!" said Silver triumphantly, catching the boy's arm in midair.

"Hello, Stephen," said the boy, "Did you miss me?"

The boy lifted Silver high above his head and then threw him across the gym where he smacked into the wall by the entrance and fell to the ground.

The boy's head rotated 360° to look at all of us, then he began to transform until he ultimately assumed his true form. It was Trojan!

Jenna, who had run over to check on Silver after Trojan threw him, ran over to us.

"Rangers! You have to morph!" she shouted, "There's no way to hide your identities this time!"

We looked at each other and then gathered together in the middle of the gym. Oz shooed his three dates away, telling them to get to safety.

"Ready?" asked Riley.

"READY!" we said, loudly.

Sawyer pumped the clutch on his Digitizer as he said it.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" we shouted.

"RENEGADE, POWER UP!" shouted Sawyer.

Everyone in the gym oohed and ahhed after we transformed. Even though they couldn't see the spectacle that we can when we morph, it probably still looked pretty cool.

Trojan just sneered at us and stood there. Red wasted no time and charged forwards. Trojan leaned out of the way easily and transformed his arm into a whip which he hit Red with, sending him flying.

As Red got to his feet, Orange extended her flail and waved it around maniacally. Trojan dodged every single attack, and then grabbed her flail by the ball and threw her aside.

"I gotta say, rangers," said Trojan, "After your performance in the simulation, I expected so much more from you. But yet, I find myself irrevocably BORED!"

"Drop dead, Trojan!" spat Red.

"What kind of attitude is that?" scoffed Trojan, "I'm just trying to liven things up and keep the party going!"

Trojan pointed at the gigantic electronic disco ball on the ceiling and a beam of black binary code shot from his hand and got absorbed by the disco ball. It transformed into a virus and fell to the ground where it roared menacingly.

Trojan pointed at it again and several more beams of binary shot out of his hand. The virus absorbed the energy and became visibly more powerful as a result.

"Let's get the ball rolling!" snarled Trojan.

The Disco Ball Virus retracted all of its limbs until it looked exactly like a regular disco ball. Then it charged at us by rolling like a boulder.

"Oops..." said Trojan, "Accidental pun."

He snapped his fingers and vanished, leaving us to deal with the virus. We dove out of the way and then whipped around so that we were behind it.

"Rangers," said Silver, walking over to us gingerly, "Be careful. You have to protect the other students too!"

"Can't you and Jenna get them out of here?" I asked.

"We just tried," he said, "There's some sort of force field in the way."

"Perfect." sighed Purple.

Without warning Trojan reappeared right in front of me. I screamed and clutched at my chest, my heart was racing! How could I have anticipated him doing that?

He swung at me, but I managed to duck just in the nick of time. I tried jabbing at him with my sais, but he moved much too fast. It felt like he just better than us in every way.

"Everything was going great until you showed up!" I growled.

"I could say the same thing about the Power Rangers!" cackled Trojan.

In the middle of his cackle, something poked out through his chest, right through the heart! I peered around Trojan and saw that Red had ran him through with his sword.

"Don't you dare touch her, you freak!" he roared.

Trojan looked down at the sword that was protruding through his chest and laughed hysterically. Then he pushed the sword back out the way it in went in. I watched, almost mesmerized as the wound healed seconds later.

"You'll have to try a lot harder than that." he sneered.

He snapped his fingers again and disappeared just like last time. I ran over to the others who were fending off another attack from the Disco Ball Virus.

"We need a plan!" grunted Orange as she strained against the virus.

"I have one, but I'm not sure if it'll work," said Red, "Last time I faced Trojan he powered me down from Phoenix Armour mode. It was almost like he stole it from me."

"He can't steal your powers like that," said Jenna, "All he did was drain that particular manifestation of it."

"Good to know." said Red.

He held out his hand and pulled the lever on his Digitizer.

"PHOENIX ARMOUR, ACTIVATE!" he shouted.

The familiar fiery explosion erupted from his Digitizer. When it subsided, Red was decked out in his fancy armour.

"Just hold the virus still for a minute guys," he said, "I've got this."

Trojan reappeared again and ran towards Red. Purple ran after him.

"I'm not going to let Trojan drain Red's armour!" he hollered, "You'll have to hold off the virus without me!"

I looked over my shoulder and saw that Red was charging up for what I would imagine is his finishing move. Purple made it just in time and was now doing everything he could to buy Red more time to charge up the attack.

"Any minute now, Red!" I groaned, as tried desperately to hold the virus still.

"Almost there..." he said nervously.

"Am I man enough for you now, Purple?" asked Trojan.

"What are you talking about?" asked Purple.

"Oh that's right, you don't remember," said Trojan, "Back when you were the Renegade, I offered you a chance to join me and you threw it in my face, calling me coward."

"I've got it!" shouted Red excitedly, "INFERNO STRIKE!"

"NO!" roared Trojan, breaking free from his encounter with Purple, "You can't just destroy that virus! I put all the codes I had left into it!"

He ran towards the Disco Ball Virus as if to use himself as a shield to protect it. Red's sword was covered in flames as he leapt into the air and brought the sword crashing down right on top of them.

It was a direct hit. Trojan and the virus were hit not only by the burning sword, but also by the fiery explosion that the attack created. Red sheathed his sword, which also extinguished his wings.

We all gathered together and watched as the Disco Ball Virus and Trojan were momentarily trapped in an orb of flame. When the orb finally burst, the virus was gone, and Trojan was sprawled on the ground.

If I didn't know any better, it looked as though he was defeated! He was writhing in pain on the floor of the gym. I found it hard to believe that though, if we had really defeated Trojan, that had been significantly easier than I ever would've imagined.

Before too long, Trojan got to his feet and transformed his hand into a claw and sliced at what appeared to be thin air. Even though he didn't actually hit anything, strange claw marks appeared in front of him and lingered there.

He used both of his hands to pull at the claw marks to make them bigger. It looked like he was tearing something open. Once he was finished, we could see that he had there was a giant, gaping hole in floating in midair.

"My god..." muttered Silver, "He just ripped through the interdimensional barrier that separates our world from Cyberspace!"

"His power level is beyond anything I would have ever thought possible." muttered Jenna.

Trojan stuck his hand through the tear and then gritted his teeth as millions upon millions of different streams of binary flowed out from the tear and into Trojan's body. His body seemed to pulsate and tremble, as if it was about to explode at any minute.

"What's he doing?" I asked, horrified.

"He's absorbing Cyberspace!" wailed Silver, "He just converted an entire dimension into digital energy and is now absorbing it!"

"As if he wasn't already strong enough..." sighed Red.

After what felt like hours, Trojan finally finished absorbing Cyberspace. He looked at us curiously and then made a fist.

Without him even needing to do anything, five bolts of electricity came from out of nowhere and shocked us. We were flown back a few feet and all of us de-morphed.

"He's so powerful..." wheezed Oz.

"Rangers!" Trojan shouted, "Tomorrow at noon, I will slaughter every last person in this city! And there's nothing that you could possibly do to stop me now! I AM A GOD!"

Unlike the last time, this time when Trojan snapped his fingers, there was a massive explosion of binary code.

Shortly after Trojan left, the other students returned to what they had all been doing before Trojan showed up.

"You might as well enjoy the rest of the night," said Silver, "Because tomorrow, Trojan will likely kill us all."

Roughly two hours later, after prom was over and we were all danced out, Riley and I went back to his house and got into his bed together for what would probably be the last time...