Chapter 19
"You got what you want, now give us back our friends!" Jason shouts
Goldar shuts the lid on the box that the rangers placed their power coins in. "I suppose their is no harm in that now. I will uphold my end of the bargain. Release the humans." Goldar says. Tommy and Kimberly are shoved by the putties they are being held by. Goldar looks at the teens. "Without the power coins, you humans are powerless to stop the destruction of your planet. Say goodbye rangers!" He pulls out his sword and swings it at the rangers. They all dive back to avoid being hit. When they look back to where Goldar was, he is gone. Jason slams his fist into the ground.
"I can't believe this is happening." Kim says.
Zack pulls Jason aside really quickly. "We have Tommy here, and he's not expecting it. Why not morph and capture him?"
"And give away our only two advantages we have in one move?" Jason says. "I'm holding off on morphing for as long as possible, but I do have a plan for Tommy." They walk back and rejoin the group.
"We better get out of here." Jason says to the others. "Without our powers, we're sitting ducks out here. Any minute Goldar, Scorpina, or the Green Ranger could come back and attack us."
"I still can't believe you guys are the Power Rangers." Tommy says. "I mean, that Gold goon said you were when he had me tied up, but I couldn't believe it."
"Listen you…" Trini says lunging at him. Jason grabs her and pulls her back.
"I know it's hard to believe." He says, cutting her off. "No need to threaten him not to tell anyone, Trini. We can trust him."
"What?" Trini says. "Are you kidding me?"
"No, I'm not." Jason says. Trini starts to catch on to what Jason is doing. "That being said, we probably should take him back and have Zordon debrief him."
"Zordon?!" Tommy says, outraged because he thought he had gotten rid of Zordon forever. Realizing his outrage may give his identity away, he quickly calms down. "What's a Zordon?"
"Our mentor." Billy says. "He's the one who gave us the powers in the first place."
"Zordon's back?" Kim asks. "Man, you get captured for one day and miss all the news. That being said, is bringing Tommy to the Command Center the best idea? Shouldn't we get him home to his uncle so he doesn't worry any more?"
"Trust me, this is the right call." Jason says to Kim. He turns to Tommy. "You OK, Tommy. You look a bit nervous about this?"
"Kim's right." Tommy says. "I should go home and see my uncle. He's probably worried sick about me being missing."
"Don't worry about your uncle." Jason says. "We didn't want him to worry about you, so I called him and told him you were sleeping over at my house after the dance. He had no idea you were even missing."
"Oh." Tommy says. "Well, thanks for that, I guess."
"Come on." Jason says. "This won't take long." Since neither Tommy nor Kim has a communicator on them, Jason grabs Tommy and Trini grabs Kim and they teleport away."
The Rangers all land in the Command Center. Kim looks up at Zordon's empty energy tube. "What the heck, guys?" She asks. "I thought you said Zordon was back."
Jason looks over at Alpha. "Alpha, activate the command center's force field!" Alpha quickly presses a few buttons on the computer and a force field surrounds Tommy.
"What are you doing?!" Tommy shouts. "Let me out of this thing!" He tries to break out of the force field but is unable to break it.
Billy run over to the computer next to Alpha and starts to work on. "Let's get to work." He says to Alpha.
"Someone want to explain to me what the hell is going on!" Kim shouts.
The others look at the trapped Tommy. "You want to tell or, should we?" Jason asks.
Tommy glares at Jason, but doesn't say anything.
"Tell me what?" Kim asks.
"Your little boyfriend over there is the Green Ranger." Zack says. "He's the one working for Rita and who's been trying to kill this whole time."
"No." Kim says, in disbelief. "No, no, no! That's not true! That's not possible! Tommy?"
Tommy stares in disbelief. He remains silent. "You son of a bitch!" Kim says, charging at him. Trini and Zack grab her and restrain her. "You lied to me. You lied to all of us. I could kill you!"
"Calm down, Kim." Jason says. "We'll deal with him later, but now that he's been restrained, he's not our most pressing concern."
Kim quits trying to charge at Tommy, and the others let her go. She glares at him, and just shakes her head. "So what's the plan, now. Use Tommy as bait to get our Power Coins back?" she asks.
"Are you kidding?" Jason says. "Rita doesn't care about Tommy."
"You're wrong!" Tommy shouts. "My empress cares about me. She will not let any harm come to me."
"Your empress?" Zack asks. "Man, what is wrong with you? You're nothing to her. She certainly doesn't care about you enough to give us back the Power Coins in exchange for you."
"Zack's right, Tommy." Trini says. "Your "empress" never cared about you. You were just a means to an end."
"So, if that's not the plan what is?" Kim asks. "I still don't know what is going on."
"Billy and Alpha are trying to locate the Power Coins." Jason explains.
"How?" Kim asks. "The Power Coins can't be tracked, and I don't they'd be keeping my communicator with them."
"The Power Coins can't be tracked, but the fake one we gave them can be." Billy says.
"Fake one?!" Tommy shouts. He tries to break out again.
"That's right, Tommy." Jason says. "We weren't given much time, but thanks to our friend Jones over at D.E.T.A. we were able to make one fake Power Coin."
"Only one?" Kim asks.
"We didn't have enough time to create a full fake set, plus they give off a very specific energy. If they were all fake, Rita could probably have figured it out."
"You won't get away with this!" Tommy shouts.
The others ignore him. "Find it yet Billy?"
"The box appears to be located in Rita's dark dimension. The coordinates match up where we were to teleport Jason from when he was fighting with Goldar and the Green Ranger."
"Well, now that we know where it's at, how do we get there?" Trini asks.
Tommy laughs. "You're wasting your time. There's no way to get to the dark dimension without Rita sending you there." Tommy says.
"We got Jason out once." Zack says. "I think we can get back there."
"As long as the Power Coins are there, Rita's not sending any of us there." Kim says.
"There has to be another way." Trini says.
"I have been working on teleporter device." Billy says. The others look at him, puzzled. Billy explains. "Knowing that teleportation was possible thanks to Zordon and Alpha, I started working on a device that can take you from one location to another. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, and it certainly wasn't programmed for traveling through dimensions, but it might be our best chance to get there. I've got it back in my lab."
At this point the command center's alarms start going off. "Goldar." The rangers say, turning the viewing globe. "He's attacking downtown Angel Grove." Alpha says.
"He certainly didn't waste any time." Trini says.
"Alpha, are the computers still scanning for Zordon?" Jason asks.
"Of course, Jason. Why do you ask?" Alpha responds.
"What needs to be done once Zordon is found to bring him back." Jason asks.
"Not much." Alpha says. "The computer will show all information. All that needs to be done is have it punched in."
"Trini, do you think you could handle that?" Jason asks.
"Well, yeah, but why?"
"I want Alpha to go with Billy to go get the teleportation device and try to program it to travel to the dark dimension. Someone has to stay here and keep an eye on Tommy, as well as be here to bring Zordon back if we find him." He explains.
"What about me and Zack?" Kim asks.
"Someone has to go with Billy and Alpha and go get the Power Coins out of the Dark Dimension." Jason says. "Plus, I'd be willing to bet that Rita's still keeping her eye on us. If we start working with some device, she's bound to be curious, and will probably send some putties to put a stop to it. I want you two to protect them at all costs. I'm going to stop Goldar."
"Do you really think this going to work?" Tommy says. "Why keep fighting Rita? She's going to win in the end. Why not do what I did and join the winning team?"
"Alpha is there a way to make it so I don't have to listen him?" Trini asks.
"I wish there was, Trini." Alpha says.
"Alright, everyone knows the plan." Jason says. "Let's end this."
The rangers all nod. Jason teleports away, then Billy grabs Alpha, Zack grabs Kim and they teleport away as well.
Goldar and a squad of putties are attacking downtown Angel Grove. "Bow before me, citizens of Angel Grove!" Goldar shouts. "Your precious Power Rangers can no longer save you! The World belongs to Empress Rita!" He shouts laser blasts from his eyes at the surrounding buildings. They start to explode and fall to the ground.
"Goldar!" A voice shouts from in front of him. Goldar sees someone standing in the middle of the road, but can't make out who it is through the flames and smoke. As the smoke clears, he sees clearly Jason walking towards him.
"What are you doing here, Powerless Ranger!" Goldar shouts. "Without your powers, you can't stop me."
"I've fought you without my powers before." Jason says. "I'll do it again. I'm not going to sit idly by while you destroy my city."
"And what of your friends?" He asks "Did they abandon you?"
"I've never needed me friends more than I do right now." Jason says. "They won't let me down."
"I'm not going to waste my time with you." Goldar says. "Putties, attack!" A squad of putties attacks Jason. He kicks one in the chest, and uses it to launch and kick another one in the head. He runs and jumps up, dropping an elbow on another one. He turns around to see what appears to be an endless line of putties still approaching at him.
He jumps and spins towards a line of putties. When he lands, he does a sweeping kick along the ground, knocking the putties down. One of the putties grabs his shoulder, but Jason flips it over his shoulder, throwing it hard onto the ground. He realizes a few are behind him, so he rolls forward, and then kicks back at them, knocking them down.
He gets up and turns again. "Only 3 left." Jason says, catching his breath. He runs at them. One of the putties tries to take out Jason legs, but he hops over it and punches it in the face, knocking it down. The other two grab him from behind and Jason struggles to break free for a moment. He realizes he is stronger than the putties though, and looks over at a nearby building and starts to run towards it, dragging the putties behind him. When he gets close enough he starts to run up the wall and flip over behind the two putties he was dragging. He punches them both in the back and looks around to see the putties all vanish.
"Now to stop Goldar." Jason says. He runs off in the direction that Goldar had walked away.
Billy, Alpha, Zack, and Kim all land outside of Billy's house. They rush into the garage, where Billy's lab is located. The start ruffling through a lot of the items in the lab. "So what are we looking for anyway, Billy?" Zack asks.
"These." Billy says, grabbing what appears to be two blue metal pipes. "It wouldn't teleport you the same way we're used to. It would act more like a doorway. You place these two pipes about 5 feet from each other and turn on the device. Enter the coordinates you wish to go to, and walk through it. Hypothetically, it should take you there."
"That's amazing, Billy." Kim says walking over to them. "So, let's plug in those coordinates and get our power coins back."
"It's not that simple, Kim." Billy says. "First of all, I don't have open space here to set it up. I say we head back to the north side of Angel Grove lake. Plenty of open space to get these set up properly. Then comes the hard part. I designed these to work as a doorway to another point in our dimension, using longitude and latitude. The coordinates for the dark dimension have a third component to it. I'm not sure what it would be called, but I need to figure out how to program the device to go to the right location in the right dimension."
"Can't you just expand the coordinates parameters?" Alpha asks. "If you designed it to use 2 parameters, longitude and latitude, why not just expand those to include the 3rd one?"
"Given that usually the third coordinate would be used to indicate elevation, I'd be worried that extending the parameters to include a 3rd spot would place the person that goes through in midair or underground, and I have no idea in which spot, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc., the dimension competent would go in."
Kim looks at Zack. "Do you have any idea what he just said?" she asks.
"Not a clue." Zack responds.
"Yes, but Billy, the coordinates given did not include elevation. They only included 3 coordinates, which would indicate that if you extended it to 3 parameters it should lead to the correct location. Humans have used the 3rd spot to indicate elevation, but that doesn't mean that your device would do the same."
"Well, we don't have much time. I guess, we'll have to try it." Billy says. "Let's head to the north side of the lake. I don't know how I'd explain working with a robot to my parents if they came out to check on me."
"Finally something I understood." Zack says. "Let's go." They teleport away"
Trini sits in the command center, staring at Tommy.
"Why did you do it?" Trini asks. "Why did you join Rita."
"You wouldn't understand." Tommy says. "It's impossible to explain."
"We've got time." Trini says. "You're not going anywhere, and somehow I got stuck with babysitting you. Go ahead and try."
"I wouldn't know where to start." Tommy says.
"You betrayed all of us." Trini says. "I never liked you very much, but I never would've believed you'd be capable of something like this."
"You have no idea what I'm capable of." Tommy says, sinisterly.
All of a sudden, the computers start beeping repetitively. "They've got a lock!" Trini shouts. "Look like we're getting Zordon back." A sheet of paper prints out and Trini grabs it.
She starts pressing some buttons on the computer, entering the information from the sheet of paper. She stops and stares at the paper. Though it is written in english, it features a technical aspect that is she is unfamiliar with. "What the hell does this even mean?" Trini says.
"What does it say?" Tommy asks.
"Like I would show you." Trini says. "Um… I hope Alpha and Billy get back soon. They would know how to enter this information."
"Just tell me what it says." Tommy says. "I'm not going anywhere. Maybe I could help."
"Why would you want to help?" Trini asks. "You work for Rita. You'd be the last person who would want Zordon back."
"Believe it or not, I actually do want you to bring Zordon back." Tommy says. "If I'm going to be trapped here, Zordon might be able to give me some answers to questions Rita wouldn't answer."
The beeps start to get further apart. "Why is this slowly down?" Trini asks.
"You're losing Zordon's signal." Tommy explains. "Wait much longer, and you may not be able to get it back."
"What do I do!" Trini shouts. "Hold on Zordon."
"Calm down." Tommy says. "There should be a red button on the right side of the third control panel. Pressing it should stop the scan from progressing any further. Stopping it at this point will lock in the correct information so that your little robot friend can do the rest when he gets back."
Trini is hesitant, but also doesn't want to lose Zordon. She starts scanning for the right button. She finds it and hits it quickly. The beeping stops. The forcefield around Tommy disappears. Trini turns and sees this.
"You son of a… You tricked me!" Trini shouts.
"I didn't think you'd honestly be that gullible." Tommy says, walking slowly towards Trini. With every step he takes, Trini backs up a bit more. "You think I know a damn thing about your command center or the way the computer system works? You had me trapped long enough for me to study the control panel, and I was able to see that button releases the force field." Trini stops backing up when she hits the control panel behind her.
"I can't believe I trusted you." Trini says. "I should've known better."
"Yeah, you should have." Tommy says. Trini clutches her fists and charges at Tommy. She tries to kick him, but he catches her leg and flips her back down. She quickly hops back to her feet. She gets in a few jabs, one catching Tommy squarely in the jaw. He steps back and puts his hand on his cheek. He realizes that his mouth has started to bleed. He looks back at Trini. "Well, Yellow Ranger, you win this round. I don't have time for this." He quickly teleports away. Trini looks around the now empty command center.
"He's going to stop the others. I have to warn them." Trini says, rushing over to the computers. "Guys, Tommy escaped!"
Billy, Alpha, Zack and Kim are standing on the North side of Angel Grove lake at the top of a hill. Alpha and Billy are messing with Billy's device.
"How much longer?" Kim asks. "Jason's going to need our help."
"Not much longer." Billy says. "I believe it's programmed correctly. Alpha, what do you think."
"This should work." Alpha says. "All 3 parameters are sets to the correct coordinates. Let's just hope your device works the way it is supposed to."
"Let's fire it up then!" Zack says. "I'm ready to get our Power Coins back."
"You'll only have a few minutes to get in and out." Billy says. "If we leave the portal open too long, the device could overheat and blow up.."
"Alright." Zack says. "I shouldn't be long."
Billy and Alpha spread the two legs of the device 5 feet apart. Billy nods at Zack, and then at Alpha. They initiate the device and a portal opens. Zack looks at Kim. "Protect them if any putties show up." He says. Then he turns to Billy. "Don't let the device overheat. If I'm in there too long, shut it down." He takes a deep breath, and then charges through the portal.
The 3 others watch as Zack disappears. Just then Billy's communicator goes off. "What is it?" He asks.
"Guys, Tommy escaped!" They hear Trini shout.
"What? How?" Billy asks.
"It's a long story." Trini says. "I think he's going to stop you guys!" They look at the portal Zack just rushed through.
"Hurry up, Zack." Kim says, nervously.
Zack lands on the other side, in Rita's Dark Dimension. "It worked!" Zack shouts. "Billy, you're a genius." He looks around and sees the box with the Power Coins. He runs over to it and opens it up. "They're all here." He says, excitedly. "Perfect, now to get out of here."
He turns to head back to the portal, but his path is blocked by the Green Ranger. "Going somewhere, Zack?" Tommy asks.
"How?" Zack asks. "How did you escape!"
"Your friend wasn't that hard to trick." Tommy says. "Besides, did you really think I'd just let you take the Power Coins back." Zack charges at Tommy. Tommy takes out Zack's feet, who hits the ground hard, dropping the box. Zack looks around, and spots the box. He rolls over and picks up the box, and stares back at Tommy. Tommy tries to attack him, but Zack is able to avoid his attacks. Zack jumps up and does a spinning kick, hitting Tommy right in the chest. As Tommy is morphed, this attack does very little to effect him. Zack realizes that he won't be able to beat Tommy without morphing, but Tommy wouldn't give him the time to take out his coin, put it in his morpher, and morph. He looks at the portal, behind Tommy. Zack starts to walk to his right, and Tommy starts moving to his right, so that he stays directly across from Zack.
This is what Zack wanted. He continues slowly walking to his right, with Tommy matching him step for step. When they had swapped positions, Zack smiles. He turns dives through the portal, which is now behind him.
"What? No!" Tommy shouts, and charges towards the portal, and jumps through, following Zack.
Zack lands on the other side of the portal, hard on the ground. The others rush to his side. "Are you OK?" Kim asks. Zack nods.
"Billy shut down the portal!" Zack shouts. He opens the box and grabs his power coin.
Billy and Alpha quickly try to close the portal, but they are not quick enough. Before the portal closes, The Green Ranger comes crashing through. The portal then shuts.
"You escaped me once." Tommy says, staring at Zack. "You won't be so lucky this time."
"I'm not looking to run." Zack says, sliding his Power Coin back into his morpher. "It's Morphin' Time! Mastodon!" He shouts, and morphs into the Black Ranger. He stands between The Green Ranger and the others. Without looking, he shouts to his friends. "Guys, teleport Alpha back to the command center." Kim and Billy rush over the box and grab their Power Coins, they then hand the box to Alpha. Then, Alpha suddenly changes to a white light and teleports away. Kim and Billy morph, and run to Zack's side.
"3 rangers against one?" Tommy says. "That hardly seems fair. You may want to call your friends for backup." The rangers don't laugh.
"Your time is up, Tommy." Zack shouts.
"We will stop you." Billy says.
Kim remains silent, glaring at Tommy through her vizor. She pulls out her blaster and charges at Tommy. She fires the blaster as she runs toward him. Tommy pulls out the Sword of Darkness to deflect the shots. He uses the sword to hit Kim across the chest, knocking her down. Billy and Zack each pull out their weapons, and attack Tommy. Tommy blocks each attack from the lance and axe with ease. Kim got back to her feet and pulls out the Power Bow. She repeatedly fires arrows at Tommy. After deflecting a few of them, one finally hits him and sends him flying backwards. He rolls a few feet before finally stopping.
Tommy gets back to his feet."Enough of this." He says. He holds the Sword of Darkness up to the sky, and the sky darkens behind him. Lighting bolts appear from nowhere to charge the sword up. Tommy then releases a wave of energy at the rangers. The blast nearly knocks the rangers out. They struggle and are unable to get back to their feet. "Say goodbye rangers." Tommy says. He holds the sword up high, and is ready to finish the rangers off, but is stopped by a loud noise behind him.
"POWER DAGGERS!" He hears shouted behind him, and turns to see a morphed Trini flying in at from out of nowhere and slices him across the chest. She rolls past him, and he falls to one knee, using the sword of darkness as a crutch from falling the rest of the way. She runs over and helps the others to their feet.
"Guys, Jason needs our help." She shouts at the other rangers. "He's facing off with Goldar and Scorpina!"
"What about Tommy?" Kim asks. "We can't just leave in the middle of a fight."
"If Jason needs us, that's much more important than stopping Tommy out here." Billy points out.
Tommy stands back up straight. "That's right Rangers." Tommy says. "Run away. You know you can never defeat me."
"I say we kick his ass, then go save Jason!" Zack says, starting to charge. Trini and Billy grab him.
"There's no time!" Trini says. "We'll deal with him later."
Zack is disappointed, but knows they are probably right. Saving Jason is more important. "Let's go." Zack says. Billy runs over and grabs his device, and the rangers teleport away. After they teleport away, Tommy falls to the ground, in pain. He reaches for his chest. "What is happening!" He says, moving his hands to either side of his helmet. "I don't have time for this!" He shouts, standing back up quickly. "I have some rangers to stop."
End Chapter 19