The Dark Ranger Saga Part 1: "The End of the Beginning."
Bandora moved the lighter down igniting the last of the candles then blowing it out and placing it upon the table. The only light in the room was that of the candles as they flickered and reflected orange and yellow light upon her face. She knelt down onto a purple satin pillow and looked up in almost a tranquil state, attired like a dark priest with blacks and purples interweaving down the robe. Slowly Bandora opened her eyes and looked upon the candle filled table. There on top of a satin cloth were the three captured power coins. With that she closes her eyes and begins to chant in an ancient native language of her people, her voice growing louder as she holds out her arms and opens her eyes to reveal them rolled into the back of her head. The candles seem to flicker with dark power as she speaks the ancient cantations.
Two decks above her in his private office Lord Zedd sits in rest, his staff rested against the wall and his mask removed and placed upon the desk before him. Next to that is something resembling a desktop computer playing a video. It is the footage of the battle in New York, specifically the footage his exterior cameras were able to capture of the moments after the Rangers had evaded him. On the screen he studies closely seeing the unmasked White Ranger as he rises and stares across at the others.
"Pause" his deep voice rumbles "enhance grid 6 by 4."
In response the screen moves in on the facial features of the young man.
"Play. Activate best possible audio."
As the footage plays he hears the Pink one says a name "Tommy?"
"Stop" he orders and then sits back in contemplation.
Zedd walks the darkened corridors of his vessel ignoring the men as he passed them and stopped, entering Bandora's cabin. As he walks into the room he sees her stood and blowing out the last of the flames, artificial light now restored.
"Do you feel more…confident now Bandora?" He mocked her ways.
"I have tainted the coins, they will now respond to souls more willing to see things our way. Now we can begin searching for those to give it to within the Empire" she replied, ignoring it.
"Whatever you say my dear. Let us hope you are correct" he watches her as she walks across the room to the table where the coins sit "I have been reviewing the footage of the battle. You were correct the new Ranger is indeed our creation."
"I thought so. Our scans could all but confirm it but I knew just looking at him" she turned to face him "but he was unfinished. Without his soul…"
"He is still a threat."
"Well…" she picks up one of the coins, twisting in her hand "yes but we have better."
"Better?" Zedd's red muscles move with a frown beneath the metal visor.
"We still have the DNA profile, not to mention the memory duplication we made. We can make a better version of Tommy Oliver, one that will have all of his memories but we can twist him, use his emotional ties to our advantage."
"But the copy was made before he joined them."
"True but his relationship with the Pink Ranger went back far longer, besides we can forge some memories based on the information we have. Of course we will alter facts so as to make his loyalty to us and his hatred for them complete" she places the coin down and looks back at him "all that remains now is to find the last coin."
"I saw every one of them during that battle, he was not among them" Zedd comments "dead or alive I believe he is still in the human city and I will find him whatever it takes."
"And if they have him?" Bandora asks.
"Then we goad them into a battle and finally track them to their hidden base. One way or another their lives will end very soon, the Red Dragon coin will be ours and then we can concentrate on reacquiring the Zords."
The world fades from a haze into view as Rocky opens his eyes. At once he sits up with a start and looks around seeing he is in a bedroom, small and simple but cozy. He brings his hands down and feels himself noticing he is unmorphed and lying between the sheets of a stranger's bed. As he tries to remember how he got here the door beside him opens and a black skinned hand pushed it open. The African American women had mid length black hair and dark eyes, a yellow headband upon her head.
"What…where am I?" He asks in confusion.
"You were hurt" she sits down on the bed next to him "I brought you to my home and was able to turn you back…normal."
"My coin, you removed it! Where is it?"He begins to try and get up but holds himself in pain.
"Hey, lay still!" She holds his shoulders down gently "You were hurt bad and I'm not sure what that thing was or how it gave you that red armor but I had to get it off you to treat you, took me a while to figure out the coin was doing that but…"
"Thank you" Rocky relaxes and finally accepts his situation "if it wasn't for you I would probably be dead right now."
She watches him as he lies back and winces in pain slightly again before deciding to speak "you're one of them aren't you? A 'Power Ranger'."
"Yeah" he nods slightly, obviously uncomfortable with her knowing then suddenly coming to life in realization "what happened? My team…the battle?"
"I didn't see it all; I only saw the rest on the news. Other ones like you arrived, the first ones that showed up last year and managed to fight them off with some white armored guy."
"Did anyone leave with them?"
"There was something about some witnesses seeing two people getting into their big robot thing. An Asian guy and a black women."
Rocky sighed with relief, glad the rest of his team was okay. What was left of them anyway.
"You knew them?" She asks.
"They were my team before…all this. But if the other team drove them off then it means we won, shame the cost was so high."
"Well…umm…not exactly" she looks away from him.
"What? What do you mean not exactly?"
"Well your friends managed to fight the big one out of the city but there were hundreds more around the world. I don't know where you friends have gone but all the countries accept a few Middle Eastern factions surrendered, and they were wiped out pretty quick. The planet belongs to the alien called Zedd."
"Oh my God" Rocky feels a sense of dread and failure wash over him, looking away and speaking in a defeated quiet tone "how could this happen?"
"There were just too many…even for you guys."
"No!" He snaps "if it hadn't been for Katherine…..that bitch!"
The women stands, backing away from him "do…do you want me to leave you alone?"
Rocky turns to her, anger still in his face for a moment but it then melts as he sees her fear, trying to calm himself.
"No" he shakes his head "it's not your fault. You have a name?"
"Tanya" she smiles faintly.
"Thanks for rescuing me Tanya" he smiles back.
Zack entered the Power Chamber with a deep breath as the turbolift doors pull back. He then sees Diana and a handful of the others gathered around the operations table and frowns with interest as he approaches behind Kimberly.
"What's up?" He asks as he looks ahead of them at the others speaking to Zordon.
"Diana and her team are leaving" Kim replies.
"What? Why? We need them now more than ever!" He protests, getting the others attention.
"As I was just explaining Zack" Zordon speaks "that this is a paramount importance. As of right now we are defeated and it will take all we have to drive the Zedorian's from your planet."
"We need to find the creators" Diana turns to face him "Master Kaku's race. Perhaps they can help us, perhaps even create more weapons to aid us. We also need to know of Zedd's influence beyond our stars, of this Machine Empire and of the many dangers we have now become open to."
Zack nods in understanding "when do you leave?"
"After the service for Joseph this afternoon" Diana responds.
"Then it will just be up to us to take the fight to these alien bastards" Zack said.
"Yeah…and without our leader" Kimberly lowers her head with folded arms.
"What are we just going to give up on Jason now?" Zack exclaims.
"We may have to Zack" Zordon responds"since the announcement of the occupation he has not been the same, he barely emerges from his cabin. And even before that his emotions have been getting the better of him far too often as of late."
"So he's out?" Kimberly looks up at Zordon's holographic projection.
"No of course not. We need him badly, perhaps far worse than he needs us. In time when he comes to terms with what has happened he can once again lead you."
"And in the mean time?" Zack asks.
"The White Ranger was born with the tactical knowledge of two worlds and he is a born leader. He will lead you" Zordon looks over at the White Ranger who is leant back against the rails, arms folded and his face expressionless.
Kimberly looks at him for a moment as Zordon speaks of him but only for a moment. Zack however is not so reserved "so what do we call you? We can't just call you White Ranger and you hate to be called Tommy."
"I think Oliver will do" he replies in thought.
"Tommy's last name" Kimberly says softly without looking up at him.
"Yes" he nods.
"Well I am going to go find Jace, I haven't given up on him yet even if you lot have" with that Zack holds up his arms and leaves.
Kimberly so wanted to follow, she so wanted to speak to Jason but he seemed to be avoiding her lately, avoiding anyone for that matter. Besides if she did speak to him she feared she wouldn't know what to say.
Rocky stood with a stretch, wincing slightly at a lingering pain but he had been in bed far too long. He wanted to get back on his feet, get all the facts and decide on what to do next. He walked towards the door, pulling it open and looking out at the typical city apartment. He saw as Tanya looked up towards him once he entered the main living area with walk in kitchen.
"How are you feeling?" She asked politely, watching him as he walked towards the window.
"Much better thank you" he replied, reached the window and pushing the curtain to see the city below.
The streets were a mess of scorched buildings and rubble and the only moving humanoids below were marching squads of Zedorian soldiers. In the sky above engines of a fighter wined as it passes overhead of them. The golden light of the setting sun giving a misleading beauty to the backdrop.
"This is like something out of a nightmare or a war movie" he commented in a hushed tone.
"Yeah I know…" she came up behind him "do you want something to eat?"
He let go of the curtain and turned towards Tanya before replying "that would be great thanks."
"I'll fix some dinner" she smiled and walked towards the kitchen.
"Tanya" he said as he walked forward and sat at the table "what else has been happening? I want to know it all."
Billy carefully brought the fine tool down, the wiring of the complicated technology sparking as it touched it. Before him lay open his power coin and he peered into with his glasses upon his nose. It was delicate work and even the slightest mistake could be very bad for him, he did not understand how the coin was connected to him and if it only worked while in one piece but he also did not care to find out.
Behind him the door whirled as it slid open and Trini walked into the room, smiling as she saw him not even look up, so transfixed with his work. Slowly she approached him, leaning down and touching him upon the shoulders "What you working on?"
He jumped at the sound her voice, turning with a shocked expression that quickly turned into a smile "Oh hey! Sorry, I get so caught up when I'm working."
"That looks like your coin" she frowned as she crouched beside him at the desk.
"Yeah, I'm trying to see if I can modify it" he studied it with deep interest.
"Modify it? Why? That could be dangerous baby" she frowned.
"I'm being careful" he replied in a high pitched tone then turned back to it and answered her questions "well I figure since its now gotten one of us killed and three power coins stolen the fact out coins are so open on our belt buckles is a big design flaw. Course I could just armor the morpher but I didn't know what effect that would have, nor how to replicate the material our armor is made of. If I can find a way to modify it to add extra armor around the morpher when morphed we could take away that target."
"Good plan but I would consult Zordon Billy" she nodded.
"I am doing, I just needed some time to study it."
"Well…be careful."
"I said I am didn't I? I just need to make sure to stay away from the multiphase converter and I should be fine…technically."
She raised an eyebrow at him with a bemused look before standing and remembering why she came "anyway I came to get you. It's time."
"What? Oh! Sorry I forgot. I got…"
"I know I know tied up in your work" she grinned at him.
"Well…isn't that why you love me? My brains" he stood with a sigh and placed his arms around her neck.
"Mm among other things" she smiled and moves in kissing him deeply, breaking it and then nodding toward the door "come on."
Each Ranger stood, their arms folded behind their back and their heads lowered as Zordon spoke.
"…He was a hero and he died as he would have wanted; in protection of his planet. And in his name we will recover from this defeat, for his honor we will rebuild and we will rise up to drive evil from this world and out of the galaxy. This man Joseph Peterson will live on in us all as a hero."
With that Kimberly steps forward, a tear running down her cheek as she places a flower on the coffin. The body having been found in the ruins of the battle. As she does so she looks over at the line up and noticing one face missing among them. Jason.
Zedd stands on the Command Deck of Serpentera; around him lower species work to restore the ship to its former condition. He looks up from the operations table as Bandora approaches with another figure behind her. He raises an eyebrow at the sight of the young man. It was Tommy Oliver, breathing as if never dead.
"The cloning worked I see" he comments.
"Better than we could of hoped" Bandora smiles back "I have explained to Tommy here how it was he was killed and how we were able to use his DNA to bring him back."
"I remember" Tommy speaks with a dark tone of anger to his voice.
"Good" Zedd steps around the table toward them "then you know the ones responsible."
"Yeah I do" Tommy nods with a face that could kill.
Zedd tilts his head and nods slightly before returning to the subject at hand "we have been able to remove three of the power coins from their owners, the forth has also seen the light and joined us. You will meet her soon. But for now we need to find the Red Thunder Ranger and complete the set. Go to the coins and see which of them responds to you, if they don't I'm sure Bandora can…"
"Not necessary" Bandora cuts him off, getting his attention "you see my Lord Tommy was not the only thing I was able to back up and copy."
With that she opens her hand to reveal the Great Dragon coin, handing it to Tommy with a smile "We cannot create them of course but being able to replicate them is a start."
"It works?" Zedd asks.
"Oh yes" Bandora nods with pride.
"Good" Zedd also cannot help but smile "go to New York Tommy and find the Red Dragon Ranger, kill him and bring his coin to us."
"With pleasure my Lord" Tommy bows and walks away.
"What did I tell you? Our victory is inevitable" Bandora smiles wickedly.
As he steps down and into the elevator to take him to the hangar bay Tommy holds up the coin in his hand and calls out "Great Dragon!"
Jason sits in the chair in his room among the darkness, his hand cupped and his elbows on his lap. He spends most of his time now thinking, brooding and deciding on what to do. He twitches as he hears the door chimer ring. This had happened many times now and each time he had ignored it, this time however something compelled him to open it. Maybe he was tired of being alone, perhaps he had mulled his thoughts over enough and wanted to speak them aloud or even perhaps he knew who it was. He rose up and walked towards the dark grey door, pressing the glowing blue panel beside and watching as it pulled back to reveal Kimberly. She smiled slightly as she saw him. For his part he merely turned away and walked back inside as she entered.
"We missed you at the funeral" she tries to be polite, formal.
"I had no business there Kim" he said as he sat.
"What! What kind of bullshit answer is that?" She snapped at him, staying stood in the centre of the room "he was our friend, our teammate."
"No he wasn't" he shifts to look up at her "you know as well as I do there has always been an attitude between our teams of them and us. I barely knew the guy so how could I morn him! Besides I couldn't show my face in there."
"So are you just going to skulk in here? Bury you head in the sand and ignore your responsibilities? Jason we need you!"
"No you don't!" He stands now with a sharp gesture of his arm "you need and leader and I failed!"
"Jason you didn't…"
"Lord Zedd is in control of our planet! His men line our streets and kill human beings! Face it Kim we lost! Its over! We failed! I failed…" he sat as his voice trailed off.
"There was nothing we could have done. If Katherine hadn't…"
"Don't give me that shit! I planned the attack! I lead us straight into them and got our Zords destroyed and I failed to kill Zedd when we had the chance! Now no matter what we do…we can keep fighting him, we can keep defeating him but no matter how many we kill he will return with more. We can't win! We were doomed from the start…Zedd is not the Gorma. We can't beat him."
Kimberly watches him with a moment, tears in her eyes and a wave of mixed emotions running through her body.
"So you're just going to give up? Is that it? We should just surrender and be executed now? I can't believe this…you're not the Jason I know."
"No you're right" he looks at her again "I'm not. And it looks like Zordon agrees with you. He did replace me didn't he?"
"He had to. Zack and I argued for you but it looks like he was right" she shakes her head in disgust "you're not fit to lead anyone."
With that she turns, holding back tears and leaving the way she came. Leaving Jason in the dark with his thoughts. Alone.
The Green Ranger walked with stride down the devastated New York streets, seeing the Zedorian militant base up ahead. The night was cool but beneath the armor it could have been thirty below and he wouldn't notice. The base was nothing more than a landed cruiser but it was only temporary until the real building could be constructed. But it served its purpose, looking alien and powerful to the fearful humans. Tommy lowered his helmeted head as he entered the airlock and walked up towards the Commander's desk where he was busy with a digital pad in hand, another on the table that he picked up as he put the other down.
"Good evening Commander" he speaks, standing at the head of the desk opposite the man.
"Look, I'm really busy right now so why don't you just…" he stops as he looks up, seeing him and widening his eyes. He instinctively reaches down for his weapon.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you" Tommy smiles beneath his helmet "relax. I'm on your side. In fact I am here to take charge of the Red Ranger search."
"Oh whose authority?" The Commander demands.
"Lord Zedd himself, you can check with Serpentera if you like but I wouldn't want to waste his time right now if I was you. He's on edge lately" Tommy folds his arms.
"No…no that won't be necessary sir" he responds promptly.
"Good," Tommy leans down over the desk, placing his hands upon it "now I would like all the information you have on the fugitive's whereabouts."
"We think we have found him sir" the Commander holds out the data pad "two eye witness reports saying they saw their neighbor take him into her apartment on the east side."
"I see" Tommy browses the report and saves the address to the memory in his helmet, handing the pad back "good work Commander, I will take it from here."
Tommy then nods, turns and leaves.
"My Lord" the Command shakes his head to the solider beside him "now we are working for them."
Zack, Billy and Trini walk now with Adam, Aisha and the Ninjetti Rangers towards the hanger area. Two of them were headed below to the planet, back to their lives as best they could. The Ninjetti were heading out to the unknown of another galaxy. But both were leaving and without them their forces would be much smaller, the place a lot quieter.
"I really wish you weren't going" Billy shakes his head at Diana and Grayson as the others were already heading into their Zords "we need you now more than ever."
"Our desperation is the very reason we are my friend" Grayson responds and then turns to Diana, placing a hand upon her shoulder "I'll contact you after we launch."
"Ok" she nods to him as he leaves and turns back to Billy and Trini "I will miss you."
"I wish it was me going, I'm kinda jealous. You're going to see new worlds, new cultures…" Billy marvels.
"New Dangers" she adds "good luck my friends, we will return as soon as we can."
The two watch as she leaves, Trini placing her hands over Billy's shoulders and hugging him from behind which he embraces with his hand. They then make their way over to where Zack is with the other two.
"If you need us for anything" Adam says.
"We will call don't worry man, you both just get well" Zack replies.
"And don't forget to activate the cloak on the shuttle as soon as you leave…"Billy starts.
"We know Billy" Aisha smiles.
"Well…see you" Adam begins to back away, the pain evident on his face.
As the two of them wave a final time and head for their shuttle the three others watching them with despair of their own.
"I can't imagine what it's like for them. Their power ripped away from them and now they have to watch all of this powerless to do anything" Trini shakes her head.
"Yeah…which makes what's happening with us even worse" Zack adds.
"If only we knew where Rocky was we would have some good news at least" Billy sighs.
"You hope" Zack says and heads to the turbolift.
Billy and Trini look at each other for a second of understanding before following.
Jason watches from his cabin window as he sees the Ninjetti Zord's take flight and heading out into the unknown, each shimmering out of view with the cloaking technology that had been installed on them. Jason lets out a sigh as he lowers his head, looked back up and then heading for the door. He knew what he was going to do, he had made his choice and all that was left was to tell Zordon and the others.
He made his way over the room and pressed his communication panel, setting it for station wide.
"Everyone please meet me in the Power Chamber."
Each of them stood, even Oliver, in the Power Chamber. A couple of them were discussing what they thought this was about but Kimberly and Zack stood in silence, merely looking over at each other for a moment.
"Thanks for coming" Jason starts his voice low, Zordon looking down at him intently "I have called everyone here because I have come to a decision."
He lets out a deep breath before continuing "over the past few months things have gone from bad to worse and they have got really hard, its effected all of us but for me it made me unstable, I started lashing out at everyone and making stupid choices. Then what happened the other day…happened and I realized that I had failed. I failed you and I failed myself. Therefore" he puts his hand in his pocket and takes out his morpher "I have decided to resign from the team and give up my power coin."
The others react in shock, their eyes widening and their jaws dropping. At once noise starts up and Zack is the first to speak over it "What the hell are you doing? Jason this is bullshit! You're not thinking straight."
"No Zack" he looks up at him "for the first time in a long time I am thinking straight."
"But you're our leader…"Billy shakes his head in disbelief.
"No Billy I used to be!" He looks directly at him with intent eyes "but under my leadership we lost everything…"
"Jason perhaps you require more time to dwell on this" Zordon speaks "you and your coin are connected in a way I do not even understand. To part from it would be painful and to abandon your role will be far worse on you I fear. You are stronger than this."
"No alien…I promised myself I wouldn't even listen or speak to you" he looks down, shaking his head and playing with the device in his hands "I have nothing to say to you."
"Then perhaps you should listen…"
"No!" Jason shouts and shoots a look of anger at the projection of the being "don't you understand? The only reason Zedd found this planet the only reason they want it is because of you and these stupid coins and I don't want any part of it anymore!"
"Jason…" Kimberly steps forward.
"No Kim shut up!" He snaps at her and turns back to Zordon "thirty seven million people are dead because of you! Because you came here!"
"It was not deliberate" Zordon seems to not comprehend Jason's emotions.
"It doesn't matter! If you have just rebuilt your ship and left then those millions would still be alive! Joey would still be alive!" he points at Oliver "Tommy would still be alive! Our families would still be fucking alive!"
Jason stands shimmering in his rage and hate, letting the emotions and the thoughts of the last two days pour out of him.
"From the moment you came into our lives things have gotten worse and worse" he speaks quietly now "you have destroyed our lives and you and this Power Ranger crap are responsible for millions of human deaths."
"Lord Zedd operates on a much larger scale, many more have died under his tyranny. He needs to be stopped" Zord responds, no emotion in his voice.
"Well I don't want any part of it" he reaches down, taking his power coin from the morpher and throwing it hard towards the table, a burst of red energy shimmering as it impacts on the deck.
Jason then turns, looking back at Kimberly for a moment and then heading up the steps towards the turbolift.
"Jason wait!" Zack calls out, halting him and turning back to Zordon "I have never doubted Jason and he is my leader and my friend. If he isn't in charge then I'm out to."
Zack takes out his own coin and throws it to the ground besides Jason's. Zordon looks down at it and then back up at Zack who heads up to meet Jason and both men enter the turbolift, door closing beside them and leaving the Power Chamber in deadly silence. Kimberly walks forward looking down with great sadness as the two coins, both glowing, both seeming to call out to their owners like a lover.
In the elevator Jason and Zack begin to clutch their chest, feeling the pain of departure from the coins all over their bodies like they were on fire. Steadily is slows, calms and is gone.
"Ok…that's not fun" Zack winces and then straightening to look at Jason "where are we going?"
"We?" Jason raises an eyebrow.
"Hey dude, where you go I go" Zack smiles.
Jason brings up his hand to slap Zack's shoulder "we find a way to drive off these alien bastards and we do it without its help."