Disclaimer: The Power Rangers color gag is something that was inspired by Cheryl Roberts's "Pretty in Pink."
The Perseverence of the Green Ranger
Part III: Going Home
by MegaSilver
"Rito, you incompetent brat!" screamed Zedd in the throne room.
"But, Ed!" whined the moronic creature, cowering before his brother-in-law.
"That's ZEDD! LORD Zedd to YOU!"
"You saw that horrible bulky Zord they brought in! I could barely keep my entrails from falling out!"
"You don't have entrails, you dolt!" Zedd screeched.
"Hey!" Rita intervened. "That's my brother, Musclehead!" She stomped over to intervene between her husband and her brother. "I get the right to hurl the insults!" She turned her attention to Rito and glared. "That was your idea of helping out?"
"Hey, I did destroy their powers, didn't I? Come on, gimme a break!"
"Yeah… and in one of your classic inversions you got everyone BUT the Green Ranger!"
"Say!" Rito scratched his head. "Don't you think it's odd that his powers weren't drained with the others? Maybe you ought to look into that!"
Zedd snorted. "Listen, Revolto: a lesson in palace protocol. If you want to be appreciated, you do not speak until you are spoken to! Around here, when I want advice or observations, I ask for them!"
Six columns of light—green, red, black, blue, yellow and pink-streaked white—touched down in the Command Center and gave way to six costumed warriors. Of these, only the Green Ranger was familiar; the other Rangers wore new, sleeker suits recalling the trappings of ancient stealth warriors.
"Ai-yi-yi! Rangers! Is it really you?" exclaimed Alpha.
The Green Ranger de-morphed. The other Rangers took off their helmets. As expected, the skirt-clad warrior in white was none other than Kimberly.
"We made it!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Round trip."
"Yeah, and not a minute too soon, from the looks of it!" remarked Aisha.
"Well done, Power Rangers!" Zordon spoke. "I see you have reached the Ninjetti epicenter on the planet Phaedos and unlocked the ancient power of the Shogun Rangers."
"What an adventure!" sighed Rocky.
"You guys'll have to tell me all about it!" exclaimed the Green Ranger. There was an awkward moment of silence, and his heart wrenched up as he remembered his friends no longer saw him as their buddy Tommy.
The other Rangers all smiled and glanced askance. "Yeah," agreed Billy, and then, changing the topic: "The new Shogun Zords are incredible!"
"Indeed," agreed Zordon. "From the looks of it, they are more than worthy replacements for your fallen Zords."
Kimberly frowned as she fumbled through her wardrobe. She had awoken wanting to wear a flowery dress to school, but everything she pulled out was just too… pink. It was strange: she had always loved the color. Actually, she still did. But so far as clothing was concerned, it just… seemed wrong now.
Finally, she resigned herself to abandoning the floral theme. She'd just make do with late summer abstract. She pulled out a pair of faded denim shorts and a white form-fitting T-shirt. The only problem was that at the moment, she had no clean socks, hair ties or handbags which were not pink.
No problem. Her communicator band was pink, too, so such an accessory accent scheme would work just fine, with the mainstay color remaining white.
My communicator!
Kimberly sighed. She'd have to change that. It just felt… wrong not to keep her Power accessories coordinated with her Ranger suit. But at least she could make it through the day well-coordinated. Hopefully she'd have time to go shopping after school.
Once dressed and beginning to prepare her backpack, Kimberly found herself contemplating Tommy's sudden transition from green every day to white every day upon reception of his new powers. Could it be that the Power Coins triggered a psychological attraction to their respective colors? She'd have to ask Billy about…
No.
She might secretly feel she needed to change her wristband color and wardrobe, but as leader of the Power Rangers, she couldn't afford to hurt her credibility by running off her mouth on frivolities. A month and a half ago she would not have hesitated. Now, though, things were different.
So different, she mused, glancing at her new Power Coin. She smiled at the arrowhead form therein, remembering almost nostalgically the projectilic pleasure of shooting off arrows at enemy targets. She had never been into marksmanship before becoming a Power Ranger, but had taken an instant liking to the sport, and had even accompanied her Uncle Steve and cousin Rémigus on a deer bow-hunting trip to Québec over Christmas break 1994-95.
The two-pronged sai that she now wielded as Shogun White was scarcely disagreeable, and at least a crossbow was sufficiently different that she wouldn't be jealous of Adam. Still…
Her glance wandered over to the framed photograph of herself with Tommy at the beach. She lightly touched the frame, a mixture of sadness, guilt and wistfulness welling up within. So many changes…
Come on, get a grip, 'leader.' Kimberly took a deep breath, snatched up her backpack and headed off to school.
Meanwhile, in the Command Center, the stuffy atmosphere was beginning to heat up.
"Zordon, I don't know how much more of this I can take," the Green Ranger complained. "I mean, I don't want to ruin the atmosphere but… come on! I need to go outside! I want to have a life! I'm gonna go crazy living like this."
"I understand," acknowledged Zordon. "Perhaps it would not be wise to wait it out. We will begin searching for a more palatable situation in the meantime. In the event that this situation would involve premises rather distant from Angel Grove, I am fine with releasing you from your duty as a Power Ranger."
"Release me?" The Green Ranger looked up at his mentor, horrified. "I want to use my powers for good! As long as they have them!"
"I understand. I know your power is one of the few remnants you have been able to hold on to. I will not force you to give it up prematurely.
"And… distant? How distant do you mean? How different? Where will I go? With whom will I stay?"
"We will try everything we can to make sure you are in a safe and suitable place. Unfortunately, I do not know what advice I can give that is less vague. Yours is a very idiosyncratic case and with no precedent for such a grave matter, it is impossible to know in advance what can and cannot be contrived. As I have promised, however, we will do our maximum, in urgence."
"Kim!" exclaimed Aisha as her friend entered the Youth Center that afternoon. "Where were you? We've been here for hours!"
"Oh," Kimberly grinned. "Just had to run out shopping after school for some things."
"Aww, mall trip without your best friend?" Aisha swatted Kimberly on the shoulder playfully. "Should've told me!"
Kimberly bit her lip. "Sorry, 'Sha. It was kind of… something urgent." She seemed to be avoiding her friend's glance.
Aisha tried to follow Kimberly's eyes. "Hey, everything okay?"
"Yeah, fine!" Kimberly insisted, smiling.
It seemed forced. Aisha wasn't convinced. "Look, actually me and the guys were about to head out. I don't know if you want to walk home with us…"
"Well, I was kind of hoping to get in a little practice on the beam," Kimberly admitted. "Look, we'll meet up here after school tomorrow, okay?" She turned to look for the other Rangers. "Hey, Rocky! Adam! You guys up for a little more karate practice tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure!" said Rocky.
"You bet!" said Adam.
"I'm a little worried about Kimberly," Aisha confessed as she trotted along the sidewalk with Rocky, Adam and Billy.
"Is it about the mall?" Billy wondered.
"Well, no and yeah. I mean, lately she's just… kind of been a little cooler and… you know, she's training Karate a lot more. I know it's gotta be tough taking on the leader role, but… she's never gone to the mall after school and not at least mentioned it to me!"
"It could have been an emergency, just like she said," suggested Rocky.
"I don't know." Aisha pursed her lips. "I didn't get the truth vibe from her facial expression."
"Don't read too much into it," Billy suggested. "Any number of things could come up. I've known Kimberly for a long time. She wouldn't just skip out on a friend for no reason."
Billy wasn't fully convinced of his own advice, however, so he made it a point to call Kimberly around seven-thirty that evening. "So… how is everything?"
"Umm… fine. Just fine. Why?" Kimberly asked.
"Well, I…" Billy grimaced into the phone. It wouldn't be easy to approach this topic without giving off the impression that he was in cahoots with Aisha and the others… and losing Kimberly's confidence. He found an out and hoped it would work. "Well, you weren't at the Juice Bar after school until late. Just to know."
"Oh, well, I had some errands to run," said Kimberly, a little too fast to be credible.
"Ah, I see."
There was a moment of silence before Kimberly spoke again. "Billy, can I tell you something and you promise not to tell the others?"
Billy sat up straight in the easy chair. "Sure! Of course. What's going on?"
"I ran into Mrs. Oliver after lunch. She came into school to talk to her daughter's biology teacher. She invited me over for dinner tomorrow. I said I'd call her back." Billy heard what sounded like a sigh. "I said I'd check and call her back tonight. Honestly… I don't know what to do. I've barely seen Tommy's parents since this all went down except really quickly at the beginning to tell them I hadn't seen Tommy… you know, to give them the hint that he was missing. Billy… I don't know if I can do a whole evening over there and keep up the lie."
Billy swallowed. That was heavy. He offered the standard unhelpful solution to this sort of problem. "Well, you don't have to tell them anything false; you can just not say what happened."
"I know, but it's still not totally honest. I just suck so bad at lying, and I know I have to, but it's so hard if I have to watch them suffer and I know what happened and I can't say anything. I think they'll know. But if I don't go, they'll know something is wrong, anyway. Totally catch-22. And God forbid if they try to have the police harangue me or—"
"Why not talk to Zordon?"
"Are you kidding? With Tom—with the Green Ranger there? I mean, I know it's not Tommy—nothing to do with Tommy except just looks—but it'd just feel way too weird, you know?"
Something about sentence, in particular the interjection about the nature of the clone, didn't seem fully right to Billy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. In any case he could tell Kimberly was speaking very sincerely, and hers was a legitimate concern. He shrugged off his nagging doubt. "Right. Look, how about call them right now and accept the invitation? Then we'll meet up tomorrow and brainstorm."
"Just the two of us," Kimberly specified. "Don't tell the others. I don't want too much input from too many people about something I'm going to have to do alone, anyway."
Before the two could meet up the next day, however, the Rangers found themselves summoned to the Command Center after fourth period.
"Rangers, this latest foe presents a tactical challenge," explained Zordon. "The Griffinazza monster's vital organs are covered in armoured plates, and you must therefore aim the Shogun Megazord's Fire Saber with the utmost precision to break through. Only the heat and the sharpness of the Saber will suffice to take the fiend down."
"So what's the challenge?" Rocky wanted to know. "We've dealt plenty of blows with Megazord swords before."
"The problem is in the wings!" explained Alpha. "The monster is capable of taking flight, and you'll need to bring it to the ground before transforming. Otherwise, the Shogun Megazord is too bottom-heavy to force it within range and it'll just keep shooting thunderbolts at will!"
"This sure ain't the Griffin I was used to!" interjected Aisha.
"The Shogun Zords are pretty bulky as it is!" Adam grimaced.
Kimberly took a step back to face her teammates. "Billy, what's the lightest Shogun Zord?"
"The Crane and the Wolf are about equal," Billy answered. "They're noticeably lighter than the others, but not by much. The shielding on the Zords is stronger when combined."
"Okay." Kimberly thought for a moment. "Listen, guys, try to stay in formation. We don't want to get scattered in case Rita and Zedd send reinforcements. Rocky, you got the hang of piloting the thing?"
"Definitely!" her friend answered confidently.
"The Ape's the logical centrepiece in battle formation, too," Billy offered.
"Okay." Kimberly took a deep breath and cast a steady look into Rocky's eyes. "Rocky, looks you're gonna be leading the charge and battle plan executions, too. I'll call up the attacks, but it's up to you to bring everyone together and see who's where."
"Count on me," Rocky promised, looking a bit too emboldened, perhaps covering up a bit of nervousness.
Kimberly drew a deep breath. She was definitely playing at the confident one herself. She hoped she knew what she was doing.
If only Tommy were here…
To her annoyance, right as she thought that, Rocky blurted, "What about the Green Ranger and the Dragonzord?"
Kimberly had scarcely noticed the unmorphed Green Ranger standing off to the side. It seemed so bizarre to have him there.
"Remember, he does not have much Morphing time remaining," Zordon admonished.
"I'll be here if you need me," the Green Ranger promised.
"This'll be our first field test of five in a long time," Billy remarked.
Kimberly nodded and bit her lip, trying hard not to remember how strange it was to make their great adventure on Phaedos without Tommy guiding them… and suddenly, for the first time, she became conscious of the psychological burden of going into battle without him.
She didn't notice, of course, but the Green Ranger off to the side was suffering a silent but profound psychological burden himself.
"All right, let's go," she said finally.
"May the Power protect you, Rangers," bade Zordon.
"It's Morphin' time!" cried Kimberly.
The five Rangers withdrew their new Power Coins. "Ninja Power, Shogun Rangers, power up!"
The White and Blue Shogunzords reeled from the lightning bolts launched from above.
"Man, I thought pigeons were bad!" the Red Ranger gruffed at the sight.
"You said it!" the Blue Ranger moaned. "Kimberly, you okay?"
"I'm fine!" the newly-minted White Ranger insisted. "Quick, let's get back in formation. Rocky, Billy and I are gonna mount: as soon as that thing swoops back, you guys launch us up!"
"Got it!" the Red Ranger confirmed. "Adam, Aisha, you ready?"
"You bet!" the Black and Yellow Rangers cried out in unison. Their respective Zords came to stand each one off to one side of the Red Shogunzord.
"Okay! Kim, Billy, get into place!"
White and Blue lined up behind the three-strong wall. The Griffinazza swooped by but not particularly low, and before the Rangers could execute their launch plan, another lightning bolt shot forth. Quickly, Red withdrew its shield and blocked the attack.
"Nice save, Rocky!" commented Aisha.
"Whoa, that was lucky!" exclaimed Rocky. "Hey guys, stay together! If he attacks again, I'll cover!"
"Right, but we gotta take the risk!" Kimberly insisted. "Rocky, give me the signal!"
"Steady—now!"
At that moment, White leapt over the head of Red, landing squarely into the hand-pile launch pad Red, Black and Yellow held out, and was sent hurling toward the beast. Clutching its two sai, it tried to scrape at the Griffinazza but missed. No matter: the thing wasn't done swooping. It would be lower by the time Blue showed up to spear it.
Alas, the initial descent had been a decoy, and the monster was ready for Blue. Inside the Zord, Billy felt the structure shake, rattle and roll as the force of a lightning bolt interrupted his projectile and sent Blue hurling to the ground.
"AAAAH!" he cried out from the cockpit.
"Billy!" cried Kimberly.
"That was quite a blow! Locomotive systems on the brink of overload! I've got to cool this thing off before we try to form up again!"
Zedd watched with amusement from the Moon Palace. "Just like that pesky mosquito that flies into your room at night and never goes away!" he snickered.
"Yeah, but ain't gonna do much more than be pesky at this rate if it can't get near the Power pukes!" Rita snorted.
"Oh, stop acting as though I don't know what's going on!" Zedd growled. "Rito! Goldar! Scorpina! Time to enter the stage!"
"Heighty-ho, humans!" came a scratchy, nasty voice.
"Huh?" Rocky focused attention to his left. Goldar was on the approach. "Oh, no! Guys, we've got company! Billy, Kim, get back here!"
Blue was still on the ground. "I'm trying to pull this thing up!" exclaimed Billy. "But I can't risk bypassing the thrust control and overheating!"
"Guys, let's cover him, quick!" ordered Kimberly. Immediately she directed her Zord to run toward Billy's. But before she had taken two steps, she found herself blocked by the blow of a sharp boomerang. "Huh? Scorpina!"
"I don't fancy all this competition for the menfolk, Pinky! Or should I say, Whitey?" Scorpina hissed.
"Billy, I'm coming! Hang on!" called Rocky.
But before Red could even move, Rito's sword cut his path. "Having a nice day, Monkey Man?"
At that moment, the Griffinazza launched another thunderbolt attack on Blue.
"Oh no! I'm down again!" cried Billy as the blows shook his Zord.
White struggled to throw off Scorpina's clutches. "Adam, use your crossbow!" Kimberly instructed.
"Huh? Right!" Adam directed Black to withdraw the bow and aim squarely for the winged beast. The arrow bounced right off its armored body.
Yellow was tangled up in a struggle with Goldar. "Aim for the wing!" Aisha cried to her comrade.
"It's too agile!" Adam complained.
Goldar managed to strike Yellow to the ground and charge toward Black. "That, and you're late for French dinner, frog!" he laughed, striking Black's hand with his sword and knocking the crossbow to the ground.
Griffinazza took advantage of the diversions to swoop down and land another lightning bolt on Blue, which was still writhing on the ground.
"I'm burning up in here!" Billy shouted.
"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi!" wailed Alpha as he watched the scene on the Viewing Globe. "They're going to isolate the Shogun Zords and pick them off one by one!"
"Green Ranger, you must free up the Zords so they can re-enter formation. Make haste, and be careful!"
The Green Ranger nodded. Go into this, he told himself. You're Tommy. If he could remember that, and forget the current predicament that denied him his rightful identity until the end of the battle, he could make it through as though nothing were wrong. "It's Morphin' time!
"Dragonzord!"
La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La… Mi-So-La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La… La-Do-Re-La-Do-Re-Mi-Re… Do-Ti-La-Mi-So-La-Ti-La
The powerful robotic beast raced from the ocean to the battlefield and immediately whipped its sharp tail around to punish Scorpina.
"AAAUGH!" cried the villainess as she was thrust away from White and onto the ground.
"Hey, Rito, take this!" jeered Tommy.
So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So
The drill-bit tail tip of the Dragonzord began gyrating at maximum speed, whipping Rito's sword out of his hand and shocking him into jumping away from Red.
"Goldar, get off him!" Tommy ordered.
Before Goldar could react, the Dragonzord was neatly peeling him off Black.
"You again?!" snarled the ugly golden monkey.
"That's right! I'm a Power Ranger to the end!"
"Guys, Green Ranger's here!" exclaimed Kimberly.
"Awesome! Let's regroup, fast!" Rocky suggested. As quickly as possible, Red, White, Yellow and Black congregated around Blue. Red used its shield to block another lightning bolt from Griffinazza while the other Zords helped Blue to its feet.
"Let's get the Megazord online before they re-form!" ordered Kimberly.
"We need Shogun Megazord power!" the Rangers called.
The Griffinazza could barely ding the massive combination as it got to work warding off Goldar, Scorpina and Rito, but for the Dragonzord, its electrical shocks were more than a little annoying.
"Green Ranger! Use the missiles!" called Billy.
For a moment, the Green Ranger was thrown off from his war field equilibrium. Normally a Ranger would have called him 'Tommy' in battle, no question.
Forget it.
"Right!"
So-Do-Ti-Do-Fa-So
The Dragonzord charged its finger missiles and aimed them into the path of the Griffinazza. The multiplicity of projectiles did indeed make a difference: one of them pierced right through the wing.
Griffinazza screeched horribly as it struggled to make an organized crash-landing.
"All right!" laughed the Green Ranger. "Dragonzord, give 'em some space, old buddy!"
Rito was in the primary obstructive position with respect to the Shogun Megazord. With a quick swipe of the tail, Dragonzord knocked the stupid skeleton off to the side, and the massive Zord was able to begin its charge toward the reeling remnant of the Griffinazza.
"Fire Saber, finishing mode!" called Rocky.
"Once again, congratulations on a job well-done, Rangers!" said Zordon when the team was back and unmorphed. "In the heat of the battle, the enemy stretched you as thin as possible, but your teamwork was irreproachable. Kimberly, you displayed exemplary tactical wisdom, and Rocky, you rose perfectly to the occasion of battle command."
"Well, they did succeed in breaking our formation," admitted Rocky. "We can only count our blessings the Green Ranger showed up when he did!"
"Indeed," agreed Zordon. "Green Ranger, your unflinching charge in the midst of so many travails was no less than what I would expect. We are very fortunate to have you with us."
The Green Ranger smiled. That little bit of recognition, after the last six weeks of pure misery, felt like the world.
But at the same time, it only made him hunger for more, and dread the inevitable feeling of total drain.
Aisha piped up. "You know, Zordon… speaking of that, I can't speak for the others, but I kind of feel bad about him staying all locked up here in the Command Center. I mean, isn't there something we could do? Somewhere he could go?"
"I don't know," Kimberly threw in. "I mean, I agree in principle, but… where would he go? And the Olivers have already reported Tommy missing. Without the real Tommy around, too, how would we ever explain what happened—or even part of it—to his parents? Already it's awkward enough trying to talk to them!"
She's talking to my parents. The Green Ranger tensed up a bit. What are they saying…? Then suddenly, an idea came to him. It was a long shot, and he'd have to play along with the other Rangers in this stupid identity game, but it was a good compromise. And maybe even, with a bit of time…
"Wait!" exclaimed the Green Ranger. "What if—I mean, just temporarily, until we find the White Ranger… what if I went with the Olivers? I mean, as a decoy. It'd allay suspicions, too, of the mission…"
"But then what would you do when we finally found Tommy?" Kimberly wondered, looking a bit off-put by the suggestion.
The Green Ranger tried to force himself not to be off-put. "At least then we could explain… one way or the other. Make a switch and then… I don't know, but there'll be a way!"
In truth, he did not at all want that day to come.
Kimberly grimaced and shook her head. "I don't know. Look, I guess it's between you and Zordon, but… can you really see yourself integrated into a family that's not exactly… yours?"
Billy piped up. "Well, technically, as a clone, he's an offspring of Tommy. So from the biological point of view, he is technically a part of the family."
"Yeah!" exclaimed the Green Ranger, happy for this little in. "Plus, I know they're nice people. The Wizard—he copied all of Tommy's memories into me to make it easier to trick you. I remember everything!"
"Everything?" Kimberly looked like she was trying very hard not to scream.
The Green Ranger felt as though daggers had pierced through his heart. He knew Kimberly hadn't meant to, but for him, the look she had just given was equivalent to totally denying every single precious moment they had spent together.
"Rangers, I will need to speak with the Green Ranger about this in private," explained Zordon. "Please stay close by until I give you the signal. In the event that we take action, we'll need your help." Once the other Rangers were gone, he turned his attention to the clone. "Green Ranger, Tommy, do you understand what you are asking?"
"I'm asking to get out of here!" the Green Ranger exclaimed. "I can't stand this another minute. I have to leave! And I'm leaving. And you won't stop me!" Certainly he joked not. He would never have thrown such a defiance to Zordon of all people had he not really been at the end of his rope.
"No, I won't restrain you if you do leave," promised Zordon. "But please hear me out first, and then I will let you go.
"I know you would love nothing more than to be with your family and friends once again. And that if you cannot find recognition from your friends you at least want to be with your family. It is a perfectly natural sentiment.
"However, you must accept the consequences of doing so. If you assume the social identity of Tommy Oliver, the other Rangers will most certainly attempt to take to the defense of the White Ranger Tommy with respect to his family if you appear to intend to settle into this identity permanently. You must accept that the fallout for you, for your family, for the other Rangers and for our mission could be disastrous."
"But maybe if the others see me living just fine with my family, maybe if they get used to me remembering and feeling everything, they might… with a bit of time…"
"That is not a possibility I would recommend counting on."
The Green Ranger sighed in frustration. He'd figured Zordon would say something like that.
"More than even before, you will be leading a double-life. The psychological pressures and the long-term consequences of this choice could be much farther-reaching than you might imagine."
"Or maybe not!" protested the Green Ranger. "But if so, then so be it! I'll deal with it then!" He was breathing hard. "Look, maybe there's a price to pay. But this risk has to be a price worth paying if it means I stop paying what I'm paying today, because I can't! I just can't anymore!" Gritting his teeth, he pounded the inert metal casing on the rail in front of the computer console. A tear ran down his cheek.
"I know," said Zordon. "I concede that, given my age and my distance, it is sometimes easier for me to take a long-term view of things, even perhaps to the point of neglecting the feasibility of the short-term actions that are required to get there. The price to pay for a secure future may be impossible, and in any event none of us can tell what the future holds. Sometimes we must live for the moment.
"Moreover, perhaps what you are doing is a mistake, but no being can grow or learn without experiencing trial and tribulation. If there comes a tipping point, it is often necessary to act to alleviate an impossible pain.
"Therefore, I will give my blessing to your project, on the condition that you tread as carefully as possible with respect to the other Rangers."
The Green Ranger looked up at Zordon and nodded, very deliberately and rapidly. "I will," he said. "I'll do good."
He didn't even know what it would mean to "tread carefully." But he didn't care. Right now, only one thing mattered.
I'm going home!
TO BE CONTINUED…