This always happens to me. I get counted on and then, well, I screw things up. This intelligence thing is indeed a curse. How do I know I screwed up? I'm dreaming about Thin Mints. Girl Scout cookies; both my addiction and the harbinger of my own doom. And right now, with my eyes closed, I can feel them all around me. For all I know, I'm laying in a pool of Thin Mints.

Billy, you have to wake up!

Why does he have to wake me up? I know I've screwed up. Just a few more seconds.

Billy, I'm not kidding man! I need your help!

Wait, at the risk of popping my eyes open; did the great Red ranger say he needed the blue ranger's help? That runs about the same course as a lunar eclipse. I'm not the helper; Trini is. I'm the guy in the back running the dinoware and being the "team player". Some days I hate being the team player. Why do these cookies feel so mushy?

My eyes pop open to Jason, standing over me wearing that red tank top of his, in fighting position. The shadows and sun cascading off of him in true superhero fashion. Those cookies weren't Thin Mints; heck, they weren't even cookies. We are, of all places, on a rocky deserted beach. The vein on the back of his neck is bulging. I get the vague feeling we're in danger.

Billy!

Jason, what's happened?

I'm not sure, but I think your machine back-fired.

I roll out of the way just in time to see Jason's thick calf muscle bring down a putty. Do we have a beacon somewhere on our morphing coins that they just follow us everywhere?

Jason? Look out! I barrel into one, not yet reacting enough to transform. The weird gurgling noises they make encircle us.

We can't transform, Billy!

What do you mean we can't transform?! Do you remember what happened last time we faced these guys without power?!

Circumstances were different then. And we've got no choice now! I do a nice tuck and roll just like Zach taught me when two putties try and cross my path. Jason is tangled in combat with one holding his arms and two attacking him from either side. I roll under him and dig into the sand, which is great for absorbing shock. He uses the leverage from my back to flip the putty holding him into a shield.

Two putties are left out of the eight or so we started with. Jason uses a couple of well-placed roundhouse kick to distract one and I grab a piece of kelp-encrusted driftwood. Without my powers, I kind of lose a bit of my normal confidence and stature. I wave about the branch defensively and then, when he comes, take the offense and strike his sides. Jason comes from behind him and spins him around; hitting his belt. As always, the Red ranger ends up saving my butt. I guess I shouldn't complain; I haven't been hurt badly yet.

You woke up just in time. We walk along the beach; unsure of the next course of action. I mutter a silent prayer that Zach and Kim are alright and that there's still hope for Trini.

I don't know what happened. I expressly made sure Alpha's grid coordinates weren't the ones used for teleporting us.

There's not much that can be done about it now.

I don't take much comfort in that.

You can't kick yourself man. None of us are perfect. All we can concentrate on is figuring out where we are and getting back to Angel Grove.

That's easy for you to say, I mumble. I'm glad he didn't ask me to repeat it.

Look, there's a cliff with a little cave in it. Let's get out of this heat and conserve our energy for thinking.

I putz around and make a fire; doing my best to not show my own disappointment in myself. It's not very much to resolve for.

Stop being so hard on yourself.

We don't know what dimension we are in or even if there's a way back. We can't transform and only God knows what's happening to the Earth and the other rangers. There's not way I can not panic a bit.

We'll figure a way out. We always do.

You're right. I just have to calm down and think. I toss my coin in my hands and look into the eyes of my emblazoned triceratops. How many times have I let you down?

Billy presses his back into the moss-covered wall and sighs. Jason begins to meditate while Billy tries to reach Zordon by adjusting the frequency on my communicator watch. The spare eyeglass screwdriver I keep in my mini-tool kit has been very helpful. Jason squints an eye from his meditation and watches a bit.

You sure you should be messing with that?

I don't see much of a choice. I figure if I use the codex to realign the frequency and use this cave as...the words don't have time to finish as the wall behind me begins to shiver and the tone of the communicator forces Jason to stumble back. I'm so close that I can barely hear anything except for a low buzzing noise, but I can tell waves of sound are crashing all around me. The wall continues to shiver and I melt into it in a cavalcade of white noise. I feel myself sliding; unable to stop whatever or wherever I am heading towards. Technology can be a fowl mistress. The last word I heard Jason say echoes in my ears, him screaming my name as I fall through the earth.

Billy, you have to wake up!

Concentrate on the Thin Mints. Just a few minutes more; this can't be right. Didn't I already go through this?

Jason! It sounds like Jason, but it doesn't look like Jason. Unless Jason grew black hair, long tusks, and a foul odor. What's happened to you?!

I've become who I am. And I have a few things to tell you that I would have never said before. Like how much of a screw-up you are.

What?

And how much I loathe looking after you like a 5-year old child!

Stop it Jason. The words barely leave my throat; I shriek them in my own mind, though.

And how weak you really are. And how no one really wanted you as a Ranger. You were just lucky. And how much you interfere in my time with Kim. She's the one I really want to hang out with.

How could you? My knees feel weak; in the middle of the cliff with scraggly trees far from the cave; he's finally broken with the truth. Now I know I was right all along. And that Trini never stood a chance. I'm sorry that I can't help you guys. I wanted too so much. I collapsed on this log and the five boar-like Jasons surround me. All I can here is that one voice, sawing through my arteries like a knife. Why tell me all this now?

Maybe I could have said it if you'd been stronger. A real man could have taken it.

Don't listen to them, Billy! I look up in time to see Jason catapulting in, in this flash of red as the sun begins to set. I won't even bother to ask how he does it; manages to come save the day at the right time, all the time. Heroics can be so dis-heartening for some of us. They fall under his skill like those Putties. I sit, watching, in a faraway world. Billy, we have to keep our cool. Trini, Zordon, the Earth needs us now more than ever.

Yeah, the earth always needs us. You know very well that's not the case.

This isn't you Billy.

Maybe it should be Jason. Just look at you and just look at me. Is it any wonder everything I do blows up in my face?

So what if it does? That doesn't say anything about who you are.

What if it does? What if it says everything Jason? What if I've let him down so many times that...just forget it, you couldn't understand.

What I understand right now is that there are people counting on you. And that we were chosen for this, for this moment.

No, you were chosen. Be serious. I'm not strong, athletic, or any of the things the rest of you are.

And we aren't you. We aren't mechanical. You ask me a trig question. Just go ahead and I'll freeze. But you...

But me what?...Forget it. Those accusatory eyes on my power coin stare back at me every time I see them now. I throw it down in front of me and look away from the burning in my eyes and my gut. The imaginary tears well up and flow.

Pick your power coin back up.

I've never been worthy of it. I followed in because you needed me to make it work.

That's not true. You took a chance. We all took a chance. This isn't light weight, Billy.

I know that.

Do you think the triceratops was a foolish animal? That it just let itself get stuck in a tar pit?

Can't imagine that it would.

But look at me. Look at my animal. It probably got stuck in a tar pit all the time. Forget the fame; triceratops probably lasted a long time after I went.

You're just saying that.

I'm not. You bring something to the group none of us have. Without you...

Without me what?

Don't make me say it.

Jason...

Fine, before I lose too much of my momentum and become a coward. Without you, none of this would have been. So what if you screw up a little? You are the most amazing Ranger there is.

You're being serious.

Completely. I mean, look at me. I'm the courageous red leader. I'm all muscle and charge. But look at you.

I am looking, Jason. This is all I am.

Yes, but look how far you've come and how brave you are. If I had been you, I don't know if I would have taken it. But you did. The triceratops wasn't a fool. I look down for the first time and really see the intelligence, the sincerity, and the honest look of the triceratops. I see Billy in there; in everything he can't see in himself. I see him looking for answers to questions I've asked a million times. I wish I had better answers for him than these. I brush the grit away and kneel before the log; offering him the power back that he deserves. The most amazing thing I've seen is the way you've grown Billy. You've changed me and the others. You are the reason we're still here.

Jason, I have to tell you something.

What? You in love with Kim too?

No. Let me preface this by saying that I worshiped you for everything you were. And I know you pitied me and that's why you always had those questions in your karate class, to try and make me feel important. I'll admit that it made me feel important. And when we became Rangers and things began changing so much and we got so tight and I never had time to breathe except when I was around you.

You've become my best friend, Billy. I don't want anything more than to protect you.

Even from myself?

If that's what it takes. Billy, what was the rest?

You don't want to know.

I'm not going anywhere and this is all just between us.

Jason...I. He grabbed me and held me. I'm stunned for just a moment and I allow myself to really feel him for the first time, all his strengths and flaws. I look into the reflection of the sun in his eyes and the sunset in his hair and for a moment I imagine that this was what I wanted all along.

There. Now we've gotten that out of the way.

You, you...

That's what you wanted, isn't it?

Almost as much as saving Trini.

You dropped this.

You never explained how you found me.

It turns out; your screwdriver trick turned out pretty handy.

Morphinominal. The ground begins to quake and opens up before us. I grab onto Billy this time; determined that we'll land there together. I open my eyes, but this isn't the same cavern we were in before.

How'd we get back here?

We were never here before.

It looks the same to me.

It's not. Look at this crack in the wall. Billy begins to brush away the rocks inbetween the cracks and it glows blue momentarily. Jason, I want to try something. Come over here.

Yeah, just don't fall through without me. I finally got a chuckle out of him.

Precisely. Help me brush away the debris in this crack. As we both touch the crack, blue and red lights shift and phase throughout the cavern and it stands before us, cradled in a hole as the crack parts. A ghostly silver orb that Jason reaches for. Be careful, I whisper.

After everything, he says bemused, this is what you fear the most? I grab it and a hum fills the room. The same bright golden light fills the cavern and I awake staring at Alpha, his beeps slightly comforting.

Zordon, they are awake!

Yes indeed, Alpha. Congratulations Billy, you tapped into the power of the morphing grid and survived.

Zordon, what do you know about what happened?

Only that, as always, the choices we make as Guardians of the light are correct ones. What did you learn on your journey?

You knew about what the machine would do?

No, Jason. The morphing grid uses its power as it must.

Zordon, we received this from the grid.

I never thought I would see that again. You two must have done something wonderful.

Will it help us to save Trini?

More than that, but you must work together to use the Silversaurus orb.

The Silversauraus orb?

Yes. It is used when a grave injustice has been done. It is used to restore balance where it has been disturbed. It must be used on Trini.

What's happened to Trini, Zordon?

Oh, Rangers, a terrible thing has happened. Rita has turned her evil, and the Black and Pink Rangers are having a terrible time.

You must go and use the orb to restore balance. In time, the wisdom will come. Trust each other and the power you have been given. I knew choosing the two of you was one of the wisest things I have ever done.

Billy, you ready to go save the Earth?

Like always.

It's Morphin Time!

Silversaurus!