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Chapter 10

Alura and Ninjor teleported to the command centre, where the Rangers were waiting for them, all seven of them de morphed. Alura felt more vulnerable in a way, also being de morphed. They all noticed a bruise forming on her cheek, but Alura didn't intend to tell them that Billy had caused it. Ninjor was angry enough when he found out, and she didn't want Billy to get into any trouble.

"Alright, Ranger." Said Tommy, leaning against a bench, his arms folded. "Start from the beginning. Tell us everything we want to know, cos we want answers. This last month has been absolutely crazy, and I want to know why."

"Yeah," agreed Jason. "In the space of about three hours, I've fought a fire monster and Rita, almost died, and become a Ranger again. So, it would be good to know why."

The other Rangers gathered around, all of them with their arms crossed except for Kat and Jason.

"You might want to sit down." She started. "It's… sort of a long story. A very long story."

Rocky was the first one to sit on the floor and make himself comfortable. The others glanced at each other, and then sat down as well. Alura sat with her back against a cupboard, having to remove the large sword she carried on her de morphed back. She set it down next to Ninjor, who was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed at strange angles, as if meditating.

"I guess it started with the Gold Ranger of three generations back. The Lightening Warrior if you like. After the defeat of the Ice and Flame warriors, this Ranger was angry. He became so destructive, that he began to wipe out whole civilizations, trying to gain more power. He had to be stopped, and so he was killed by the most unlikely person to defeat him. His daughter."

The Rangers glanced at each other.

"This female was sensible though. She didn't use the Ranger powers that she acquired. She kept them hidden, out of use, but storing them in her body took its toll. The woman eventually had a baby… which killed her upon delivery from complications."

"This baby was you." Billy chipped in quietly, and Alura nodded, confirming his suspicions.

"She was my Mother. She gave her life to save me before she even knew me. You see, once a person is connected with the Gold Ranger powers, it becomes their life force, much in the same way your powers are linked to your life force. Except in my case, my powers are my life force. I was a weak baby, I should have died at birth, but my mother gave me the powers to keep me alive."

"This is indeed disturbing news, Gold Ranger," said Zordon. "Powers as life force do not last very long on this planet."

"This is why my powers have been fluctuating."

"But," Rocky interrupted. "Zordon said that you had a secondary power source as well."

"I'm getting to that." Alura sighed. "Anyway, here I was, a girl with these powers, practically born with them. My Father was a kind man, and he trained me to control them and use them for good. I grew to the age of fourteen, which was when it all really started. I began to sense power arriving on this planet, both good and bad."

"Rita and the Mighty Morphin team?" Asked Jason, trying to get his head around everything that she had just said. Alura nodded.

"I sensed especially the Green Ranger Powers, as they were evil, and my own powers had its roots in evil."

Everyone looked at Tommy, who continued to stare at Alura, stone faced.

"I knew that, if these powers were given to a powerful recipient, then the Earth would fall."

"Then why didn't you help me?" Tommy clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening.

"I did, Thomas Oliver." Alura seemed sad and angry at the same time. "You have no idea how much I did. I travelled to Earth the moment I sensed the green power coin was going to be used. I knew that the powers were linked with the dragon, and that made them especially dangerous. I tracked your signal, but I was too late to stop you from being chosen. I was so close to saving you, but Rita teleported you away before I could stop her."

"So, how exactly was that helping me?" Tommy was so close to getting up and punching something at that moment. "I suffered for weeks under that spell. Weeks, and you knew about it, and you did nothing to help me!"

"Trust me, Thomas. I did more than you think." She looked at Jason. "I couldn't stop you from being evil; it was up to the Power Rangers to break that spell. Instead, I protected the rest of the world from you."

"YOU protected the world from ME?" Tommy almost laughed. "I find that hard to believe."

Alura raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really? Do you remember the first time you used your Zord, Thomas?"

Tommy froze.

"It had certain reluctance to being used by you, didn't it? Just for a second, but it was still there."

"…How did you know that? I never told anyone, not even Rita."

"I tampered with your Zord Tommy. The Green Ranger powers were evil; your Zord was run by the Green Ranger powers. Therefore, your Zord was evil. Even if the spell on you was broken, your Dragonzord would still have been evil and wreaked havoc on Angel Grove, and the world. It was only evil at that time because you told it to be. It was immediately good after you turned good, wasn't it?"

Tommy had broken into a cold sweat.

"It's true." Jason and Billy nodded to each other.

"Before the Dragonzord could be used, I swam down to it in the water, and I absorbed every single bit of its evil powers."

"You what?" They Rangers shouted simultaneously.

"This in turn," continued Alura, "made me evil. I spent three days at the bottom of the ocean, trying to shake it. But I couldn't." Alura looked down. "I was eventually able to push the evil away from my persona, preventing it from taking me over entirely. But this created a new aggressive personality. The one that introduced itself to you as the power within."

The Rangers shook their heads in shocked bewilderment. Tommy remained still.

"After this, the Power within took over for a while. I was too weak to stop it at that time. That was when I went to Aquitar, and tried to take the Aerovil powers. The Aquitian Rangers were able to stop me before I could get to them, but then the Power Within then set its target on something else. I came back to earth, and I tried to take the Mighty Morphin powers."

"But, you didn't, because I stopped you." Ninjor stretched his arms up. "And that was no easy task."

"Ninjor had me sedated for a number of weeks," explained Alura. "And in that time I developed a link with you Tommy, much in the same way you were linked to Rita through these powers."

"But-"

"You wouldn't have been aware of it though. It was a very subtle connection, but enough for the Power within to be aware of your emotions. I felt every time you were in pain, every time you were hurt psychologically. And I tried to help you guys out. I really did. Ninjor helped me to put up the forcefield."

Jason threw Billy a look. He mouthed the word "Forcefield?" at him.

Billy waved a dismissive hand. "I'll explain later," He mouthed back.

"And you lost your powers, Tommy. The link grew weaker, but it wasn't gone. And when you got your powers back, I tried to help you against Zedd. But I was called back to defend my own planet."

"And then you lost the link completely when I lost my powers again." Tommy finished.

Alura nodded. "I couldn't feel the connection, even though I still had the power within."

Alura hesitated. Ninjor stiffened as he knew that at this point in her life was when she had broken into the Alliances headquarters, but she wasn't going to tell them that.

"Then a few years passed, and I had come back to visit Ninjor, when I heard you guys getting attacked by Wolfbane. By that point, there was nothing that I could do to stop myself being revealed. After all, Mondo had already discovered my Pyramid entering the atmosphere. After that, I tried to leave, but you guys kept getting attacked, and I couldn't just leave you." Alura looked down, her brown hair falling down around her face.

"So, my planet had developed more turmoil while I was gone, and the Alliance noticed this. They attacked me while I was vulnerable, and destroyed my planet."

"But why did you come back to Earth?"

Because this was the Alliances next target, she thought.

"I came here because I knew someone here."

Ninjor raised his hand for a high-five, but lowered it again when he saw no one was going to high-five him back.

"And you know my story from there." She hesitated. "Jason, I'm sorry we ran into Rita, but I had to go into that building. I could hear that child crying, and I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."

Jason nodded. "I... I think I would have done the same thing."

The Rangers stayed sitting, as if absorbing the information.

"That doesn't explain why you were being so secretive." Tommy still had his arms folded, looking stern and rather unsatisfied with the tale.

Alura sighed. "Life itself is short, but it is made longer by misfortunes. I have lived a long life, and I do not wish for anyone to share my misfortunes."

"No, that's not it." Everyone stared at Tommy, shocked that he was continuing the conversation like he was. "I told you to tell us everything. The Alliance came after you, for your powers." Billy began to see where Tommy was going with this. "You said that your Mother gave you the powers so that you could live, so that means that your powers are your life force. And we know that you 'take someone's life force' if you kill them. So that means that, if someone kills you… they get your powers."

The Rangers held their breath as they waited for Alura to respond. Slowly she looked back up and nodded regretfully. Tommy was genuinely shocked to see fear in her eyes, and it almost sickened him that he had caused it.

"You've seen my power." She said. "I try to fight for the side of good, but somehow, bad things always seem to happen around me. Imagine what would happen if the Gold Ranger power went to someone evil."

They were silent, even Zordon, in contemplation.

Kat broke the silence. "What's your name?" Tanya looked over to her, surprised that her generally quiet friend had spoken.

"...Alura."

Kat smiled slightly, glad and slightly impressed that she had got such a straight answer. "What's your last name?"

"Um… I don't have one."

"You can go, Alura." Tommy stood, his face as hard as stone.

Alura knew that Tommy didn't want her here. She stood and went to teleport.

"Wait!" Billy stood. "I'd… like to run a diagnostic on your powers. Maybe I can help them stabilize."

"Thank you, Billy. But that won't be necessary. I don't plan to remain here long enough for them to fluctuate further."

She morphed, momentarily covering the walls of the command centre in gold light.

"Cut the fancy crap." Tommy said angrily. "Just go!"

She teleported out instantly, leaving Ninjor and the seven remaining Rangers in the command centre. Jason shoved Tommy roughly.

"Why did you do that, bro?" he almost shouted. "I wasn't done asking her stuff."

The other Rangers gathered around and began to argue.

"Rangers," said Zordon. "This is no time to argue." But the teens with attitude weren't listening.

A loud crash from behind them made them stop. They turned to see that Ninjor had slammed his fist down on a metal bench, leaving a deep fist shaped mark in it.

"I thought that you were all better than this." He scowled, picking up Alura's large sword and gripping it tightly. "After all that she's been through, everything that she has done for you, you couldn't even thank her!" Ninjor lowered his head aggressively, fixing his eyes on them. "You don't deserve her help."

He took an aggressive step towards Billy, obviously restraining himself from striking the Silver Ranger. "How dare you strike her?" Billy looked at his feet, ashamed that he had hit someone out of anger, especially a girl.

Ninjor, maintaining his aggression, pointed the sword at Tommy, who stared back. "And you, Dragon Warrior. I would never have given you the White Ninjetti powers if I'd known that you would treat her like this! You should go back and work for Rita, that would suit you better!"

Ninjor teleported out in an angry burst of flame, leaving the Rangers in a trance of stunned silence.

"Tommy," boomed Zordon, looking down on him angrily from his energy tube. "This display of irrational behaviour is unlike you."

"If you've got a problem, call my lawyer." Tommy huffed. "She deserved it."

"No, she didn't!" shouted Rocky.

"No one deserves that!" Adam spoke up.

"What's wrong with you?" agreed Tanya.

"You guys wouldn't understand! You don't know what I went through!" Tommy almost screamed at them. "I had weeks of fighting constantly against that spell, and she didn't do anything to help. I thought I was alone! I don't want to be alone!"

Tommy's final sentence echoed around the command centre. He felt a single tear fall from his eye as he ran out.

"I got this." Jason left the Zeo Rangers with Zordon and followed Tommy out into the night.

...

"Tommy, wait!"

Tommy stormed stubbornly across the desert in the direction of Angel Grove. "Go home Jase! I'll see you tomorrow."

"Don't bullshit me Tommy!" Tommy whirled around at this.

"How dare you Jason! Don't barge back into my life like this!"

"You said that you don't want to be alone, so I'M NOT LEAVING YOU ALONE!"

"What does it matter? I'll always be alone. I have no parents, no real family. Heck, I couldn't even keep a stable relationship with Kimberly! I'll always be alone! No one cares."

"That's not true Tommy! I care about you, your friends care about you, Zordon cares about you, and Alura cares about you!"

Tommy and Jason breathed heavily, their faces twisted in rage. Tommy sat heavily in the sand, bringing his knees to his chest.

"For what it's worth," Jason sat beside him. "I think of you as a brother."

Tommy nodded. "I know."

They looked across the desert together, and then up at the sky. "I wonder which one of those stars she comes from."

Jason turned his attention back to Tommy. "Listen, bro, I feel really bad that this is happening to you while you're the Red Ranger. I know that it can be tough being leader and I wish that I could take some of your pain, but I can't unless you tell me what's going on."

Tommy glanced at Jason.

"Come on, Tommy, I know you too well. What's going on?"

Tommy looked at the ground, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"I just… I just can't believe that someone like her couldn't have stopped my pain sooner. She had the power to do it."

"But she said that Ninjor had her sedated for weeks after the Dragonzord incident, she couldn't have. Even if she could have, it would have cost her a lot, her identity, her power resources, and possibly her life. And she was right, only we could have broken your spell. Besides," Jason said, "I'm sure that she felt every moment of your suffering."

"I wonder what she feels like when the power within takes over her?"

"She probably felt like you did under your spell. Maybe she's aware of what she's doing, and she can't stop it."

Tommy followed a different train of thought. "And when you got hurt, I was so angry with her…"

"Dude, that was more my fault than anyone else's. Besides, I'm sorta glad that it happened. It means that I can fight for the earth with my fists rather than words." Jason smiled a bit. "We all know that Power Rangers aren't very good with verbal negotiations."

They were silent as they contemplated this thought, both smiling to themselves for a moment. Tommy made the mistake of showing his inner emotions on his face, and when Jason looked at him he couldn't help keeping back a laugh.

"Tommy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you… Y'know?" Jason raised his eyebrows at Tommy, who returned it with a look of confusion.

"Do I what?"

"Do you… like her?"

"I think she's a good fighter, and-"

"Nah, bro… I mean, do you 'like' like her?"

Tommy stared at Jason, wide eyed. "What?"

"That's why you're upset! Your still cross with her, but you don't actually want her to leave!" Jason punched him on the shoulder, and Tommy looked extra annoyed at him.

"Don't be stupid Jase!"

Jason was laughing, but stopped when he saw the look on Tommy's face. It was of regret and sadness, two emotions which Jason had hardly ever seen on his face at the one time.

"Sorry, bro."

"It's all good, man." Tommy lay down on the dirt and looked back up at the sky, his hands under his head. Jason joined him.

"I wonder where she'll go."

"Y'know… it's not too late, Tommy. I bet she hasn't left yet. You could-"

"No," Tommy cut him off. "I couldn't. Even if I did see her again… what would I say to her? I was so rude and selfish. And after all she's done for us-"

"Well, what's the opposite of rude and selfish?" said Jason. "Sorry and thank you. Come on, it's easy! All you have to do is find her, say sorry for being rude, and thank her for what she's done."

Tommy smiled, thinking that it sounded easy enough.

"And then ask her to stay."

Tommy sat bolt upright. "What?"

"Well, the rest of us don't want her to leave, and you don't really want her to leave, so why is she going?"

"She wouldn't stay on earth anyway."

"You'll never know if you never ask her."

Tommy sighed. "You're a born leader, aren't you, Jase?"

"I try my best."

Tommy lay back down, wiping a bit of dust from his eyes.

"Even if she did feel the same way… it would never work."

"Why not?"

Tommy raised his hands in an exasperated gesture. "Dude, she's an alien!"

Jason grinned.

"Bro, sometimes you've just got to believe in the impossible. If you don't dream it first, then how will it ever come true?"

Tommy glanced at him. "Someone's been paying attention in Philosophy."

"Nah, the UN taught me that." Jason grinned then sat up. "Well, why are you still here? Go get her, Tiger."

And there was yet another reason why Tommy was glad for Alura's help. She had bought his best mate back to the team.