Wow I actually got this chapter done in two days! I was quite surprised and pleased. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. I have no clue when the next chapter will be released, but to be on the safe side, we'll say Monday. It might be earlier, but I can't guarantee anything. Read and Review!
Chapter 16 Scrambled Signals
"Aye-yai-yai-yai-yai-yai!" yelled Alpha 5 as alarms blared all around the Power Chamber. Something evil was going on.
"Alpha, pinpoint the location of the attack and bring it to the viewing screen," commanded Zordon.
Alpha began pushing buttons on the consoles in front of him, but nothing worked. He continued the same button sequence as before, but still, nothing. "Zordon, something's wrong. Something's scrambling our transmission."
"I fear that King Mondo has interfered with the Rangers again. I need you to work and continue to try and get through the scrambling. Contact the Rangers and have them go on alert for anything suspicious."
"Right away!"
The simultaneous beeping of a group of communicators alerted eyes to bags, but these eyes were not those of Rangers. The Rangers had gone to the beach for the day hoping to relax and chill. Rocky was the only one close enough to the bags to hear the distress signal. He grabbed his communicator and after making sure no one else was around, pressed the button. "Zordon I read you," he called.
"Rocky, something is amiss. Our sensors indicate some form of evil attacked downtown, but something is scrambling our transmission and preventing us from receiving a signal. You and the Rangers must go on alert downtown and keep an eye out for anymore trouble. Meanwhile, we'll continue to try and fix the transmission."
"Right," replied Rocky.
Tommy was sitting at the water's edge when a feeling of dread overcame him. Something wasn't right; it didn't feel right. Tommy didn't know what it was, but he knew it was terrible. He received a sudden mental image of Kimberly in his mind. The two can't be connected… can they? He thought. However, he dismissed his thoughts thinking it as some strange reaction to the tacos he'd eaten for lunch. He glanced up as Rocky ran over with a concerned look on his face.
"Guys, we've got unknown trouble downtown," called Rocky.
"What kind of unknown trouble?" asked Kat.
"The kind that scrambles the Power Chamber's transmissions," he replied.
"I'll head to the Power Chamber to help out Alpha," volunteered Billy before taking off down the beach.
Rocky turned to the rest of the group. "We're to go on alert downtown and watch for anything suspicious. Zordon will keep in touch."
"There goes our perfect afternoon," joked Adam.
"Let's go," said Jason. "Whatever's going on, it's tough enough to scramble signals and make its cause unknown.
"Right," answered Tanya. "We'd better split up to cover more tracks."
"Good idea," said Tommy. He kept ignoring the sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach. Now wasn't the time for emotions. "Kat, and Rocky come with me. Jason you take Tanya and Adam." The group took off, leaving their beach gear behind.
Alpha and Billy worked tediously together to try and receive their signal. Whatever was blocking it was quite strong. "I can't decipher this," spoke Billy in frustration while working at one of the consoles. The printouts he was receiving didn't bring any help at all.
"Keep trying Billy. Whatever is blocking our signal started only when the attack occurred. I'm sure you will find the solution."
"Right Zordon," replied Billy. "Alpha, are you having any better luck?"
"No, Billy, but I've traced the signal back to its source. We aren't dealing with King Mondo this time."
"If not him, then who?" asked Billy.
"I'm afraid we're dealing with Rita Repulsa," answered the automaton.
"Are you certain?" asked Billy, confused.
"Yes, Billy," spoke Zordon. Back when she fled the moon palace with Lord Zedd, we tracked her escape."
"What does Rita Repulsa want with anything from Angel Grove? She's weaker than King Mondo," said Billy.
"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question yet. We'll find out once we stop her from blocking our signal."
A frustrated Billy and Alpha worked to deter the scrambler, but suddenly the scrambler disappeared and the signal was clear as crystal. "It's suddenly gone, Zordon," spoke Alpha.
"I have a feeling that Rita was using a device to block our signal. She has something devious going on and she didn't want to be detected right away," stated Zordon.
Tommy, Kat, and Rocky were searching near the television station when their communicators went off. Each teen glanced around before lifting the device to his or her mouth. "We read you," said Tommy.
"Tommy, we have located the source of the signal. Rita Repulsa is up to no good. She has been using a device to scramble our signal."
"What's she trying now?" asked Kat.
"We are unsure of that at this moment, but as soon as we find out, we will let you know," responded Zordon. "For now, keep a lookout."
"Roger," said Rocky.
The teens looked at each other for a minute in silence. This was certainly serious, especially if Rita had the upper hand at the moment. Truth be told, the Rangers had thought themselves done with her for a few years, at least until she got back on her feet. Apparently, she came back sooner than expected.
Later that evening, Zordon dismissed the team, telling them that he and Alpha would keep working. Kat and Tommy were walking home in silence. Kat had become accustomed to this; Tommy had grown quieter at times ever since the breakup. He had came out of his depression after a few months, but to Kat the sadness never seemed to disappear from his eyes. "What do you think she's up to?" asked Kat.
"Hmm? Oh her… I'm not sure, but it can't be good," answered Tommy as his eyes focused straight ahead.
"I'm worried. It seems unrealistic that Rita would come back again."
"Yeah…" trailed Tommy. He didn't want to mention that the feeling in the pit of his stomach hadn't gone away. He had tried ignoring it, tried shaking it off, but it was too strong to fight. Tommy couldn't get rid of it, and that made him feel even worse. He had a feeling that all of this had something to do with him.
Kat and Tommy parted ways a few minutes later. Tommy was glad. Kat seemed to be getting close to him, too close. He knew she only wanted to be a good friend, but he couldn't help but fend her off. He felt that if he let her advance too much, get too close to him, then she would try to become his girlfriend. Tommy couldn't handle that. He may have moved on, but he was not ready to date again and he certainly did not want it to be Kat. She was a good friend, but she was also the pink Ranger, and that brought back memories in itself. Not to mention the fact that she wore pink too, just like her. It was one of those small things he simply could not handle.
That night, as he lay in bed, Tommy pondered over the day's events. It came naturally to him now to do so; back when he'd first became leader of the team as the white Ranger, he had forced himself to reflect and question battles, tactics, moves. He wanted to try and prevent mistakes from happening again. He knew there was no perfection to the way the team went into battle, but he at least had wanted to prevent something major from happening.
Tommy kept trying to figure out just what it was that Rita was up to. Why would she come back? Why now? Is she here temporarily or here to fight side by side with the Machine Empire? Tommy seriously doubted that she would fight alongside the Machine Empire. No, she must have had a reason for doing what she did. The only question is what? What did she want from the Rangers so badly that she'd scramble the signals in the Power Chamber just to keep from being found out a little longer? It was frustrating Tommy to no end.
As he glanced at the clock, Tommy realized that it was late and he really needed to catch some sleep. Tomorrow was Sunday and he knew a busy day of Ranger duty was ahead of him. He tried to relax his body to prepare for sleep, but sleep wouldn't come. It simply eluded Tommy. He spent the entire night tossing and turning, trying to force sleep to come. Finally, at six, he was able to drift off into a light sleep. When his alarm clock went off at nine, it was all he could do to keep from throwing it clear across the room and into the wall, the way he'd done with many of his previous alarm clocks.
Alpha and Zordon had spent the night searching for answers to questions they knew the teenagers would ask the next day. Alpha was able to receive past video from the time the signal was blocked out, but it took him hours to retrieve all of the data necessary to project the video. Billy showed up around eight thirty that morning to assist Alpha in the process. Between the two of them, they were able to have the video up and running in less than a half an hour.
"Play the video, Alpha," commanded Zordon.
"Of course," answered Alpha, pressing a few buttons to activate the viewing screen.
The video began with a young woman in a wheelchair, glancing into a store window, before a group of Tenga warriors appeared behind her. The three watched as the woman was attacked and injured before being taken away by the group of Tenga warriors. All three were in silence for a few moments after the video had finished playing.
"Who was that?" asked Alpha.
Billy couldn't believe it. It couldn't have been, yet it looked so much like her, at least what was shown of her face. When had she returned? And what was wrong with her? The wheelchair couldn't really be hers, could it? "Alpha, you don't recognize who that is?" he choked.
"Alpha, that is our Kimberly being attacked by the Tenga warriors," answered Zordon.
"But Kimberly wasn't in a wheelchair when she left," answered the robot.
"Alpha, something has happened to Kimberly that we are not aware of."
Billy was still silent. He knew Kimberly had cut off all forms of communication shortly after Tommy received the letter. It was as if she didn't exist any longer. Every so often, someone would bring up her in idle conversation, but the subject would quickly die if Tommy was around. No one wanted to create bad feelings. So instead, Kimberly's name had pretty much disappeared. Billy thought of her often. How could he forget one of his first friends? She had befriended him so easily, even though his vocabulary confused her greatly. To see her stuck in a wheelchair, having Tengas attack her, just made Billy's blood boil.
It took Zordon awhile to answer. He seemed to be interpreting everything he'd just seen. It put Billy on edge. What was the mission? What were they going to do? What was Rita going to do with Kimberly?
"After much thought, I think this mission is going to take special consideration. It's going to take some careful planning on our part so that we can get Kimberly back safely," spoke Zordon.
"What must we do?" asked Billy.
"First we must decide who is best suited for the mission. I don't believe it will take all of the Zeo Rangers."
"Then?"
"We plan our strategy. Rita has something vile up her sleeves and is taking every precaution to keep us off her tail. When she used that scrambling device, I realized that she had used nothing like it ever before. She has thought over this plan. Even the Tenga warriors she used were different."
"They seemed more functionally intelligent," added Billy. "Not to mention the weaponry."
"These Tengas are not the same as they were in the past. These Tengas have been modified to have more intellect. They also carry a new weapon on their claws. It is something to watch out for. It damaged Kimberly easily."
"Zordon, shall I teleport the other Rangers to the Power Chamber?" asked Alpha.
"No, not yet. I believe it is best for now that only a few of them know. It is time to decide who to send on the mission. I believe both of you will agree with the Rangers I have chosen," declared Zordon. Billy and Alpha simply nodded in agreement.
As you can see, we still don't know who the Rangers are going to be for the mission, so contest still on! For those of you who don't know, the contest is to guess what Rangers and how many will be sent to rescue Kimberly. If you guessed last chapter, you can still guess again if you want to change your vote. I will say that one of you is close, so close you can taste it! But no one has gotten it completely correct yet. Keep guessing!
Next time on Windmill into the Fall: Zordon announces the Rangers he will be sending to rescue Kimberly. The combination seems a little odd, but Zordon has confidence in the team he's chosen. And what has been happening to poor Kimberly since we saw her carted off by the Tengas? Find out next time in chapter 17!