Disclaimer: Still don't own Power Rangers.
A/N: Special thanks goes out to all
the reviewers again. You guys are all awesome. This is my longest
chapter yet, hope you like it.
Jason didn't waste any time at all. As soon as Scorpina and Goldar began their charge at him he opened fire with both of the pistols, however as they closed in they began swinging their blades and deflecting each shot harmlessly to the side. They were getting closer and closer, and blocked each blast with ease, so Jason finally stopped firing. Having a considerable amount of skill with the blade blasters by now, he pressed the release button on both of them, and quickly flicked his wrists around, converting both of them to the dagger mode with ease. The two aliens moved in, swinging both of their blades at the Red Ranger, who blocked both with his two daggers.
"So where have you all been hiding?" Jason asked in the middle of the blade lock. He knew Scorpina wasn't usually as stupid, but Goldar sometimes lost control of himself and said things he shouldn't in the midst of battle.
"Making the Yellow Ranger's life a living hell," Goldar answered, knowing the Red Ranger would easily be enraged by such a statement.
Goldar was very right, and was rewarded with a swift knee to the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards. Scorpina pulled her blade back while Jason was busy with Goldar, and delivered a powerful slash to the Red Ranger's back that sent him stumbling forwards. Goldar saw his opportunity and swung his sword downwards at the stumbling Ranger before him. Jason expected it, however, and quickly held the two daggers up, crossing them above his head and stopping Goldar's sword right above his head. He quickly looked up into Goldar's eyes, glaring at him from behind his mask.
"If you've done anything to hurt Trini..." he started, but quickly moved one of his daggers from the blade lock, converting it back to pistol mode. He spun halfway, pressing the dagger hard against Goldar's blade still, while he blasted the incoming Scorpina at point blank, sending her rolling away. Goldar seized that opportunity and slammed his free hand into the back of Jason's helmet, causing him to roll forwards. Jason stood up, pointing the pistol at Goldar, but before he could fire it began glowing a deep blue, and for some reason began burning Jason's hand.
Jason yelled out in pain and quickly threw it aside, and it disappeared before it even hit the ground. Scorpina stepped up next to Goldar, smiling as Jason holstered his own blade blaster.
"What's the matter, Red Ranger?" Scorpina taunted, but Jason didn't even hear her. He was frantically wondering what caused Billy to unmorph.
"Look at him. He's afraid of us now," Goldar's mocking voice snapped Jason back to reality.
"I'll show you fear," Jason said, forming his sword in his hands, but suddenly his communicator started beeping. "Yea?" he quickly answered, watching his two opponents.
"Jason. Something else has come up. Report back to the Command Center immediately," Zordon's voice spoke through it, sounding very urgent.
"Run away, Red Ranger. Run far, far away," Goldar said as Jason made his sword disappear, loving every minute of this.
"Are you calling me the coward here, Goldar?" Jason challenged, preparing to teleport.
"I'll tell little Trini all about how you couldn't save her," Goldar simply replied.
"This isn't over!!!" Jason yelled, and teleported away in a streak of red light, leaving Goldar and Scorpina laughing insanely on the rooftop.
Jason appeared in the Command Center in between Zack and Kimberly, who were still morphed, just without the helmets, so their powers weren't active. Jason quickly took his off, setting it on one of the Command Center's consoles next to the other two.
"Zordon, where's Billy?" Kimberly was saying.
"Billy is in the streets and still needs to find a secure teleportation spot. Rangers, this is getting out of hand. David has now stolen Billy's morpher," Zordon explained.
Zack threw his hands up in defeat, while Jason crossed his arms with a heavy sigh.
"Only three Rangers now?" Zack asked. "This is too much."
"Guys, Zedd has Trini," Jason said, and everyone turned to look to him. "Scorpina and Goldar were down there. I don't know what they were doing, but they told me that."
"Aye, yi, yi...poor Trini..." Alpha commented while working at the consoles.
"Rangers, again I must apologize. This is entirely my fault," Zordon said suddenly, and the three Rangers shook their heads.
"Zordon, everyone makes mistakes. It happens. We don't blame you, so just don't worry about it," Kimberly told him. "We just need to figure out a way to stop him and rescue Trini."
"Billy did a good job on the Dragonzord. Kim and I couldn't scratch it." Zack commented as a blue streak of light entered the Command Center and transformed into the unmorphed Billy.
"Billy!" Kimberly practically screamed and dove into his arms for a hug. "Don't scare us like that."
"Sorry, Kim," Billy said and let her go, looking at Zordon. "He's got my morpher."
"I know, Billy. I know," Zordon told him. "But there is nothing we can do now. I want to analyze this further."
"Can't we cut off his teleportation or even his ability to morph?" Jason asked, suddenly thinking about it.
"The morphing grid acts as one whole unit," Alpha spoke up from a nearby computer. "We can't disable David without disabling the rest of the powers."
"And then Zedd has free reign. Man, this sucks!" Zack yelled in frustration. Suddenly, there was a bright green light behind them, landing near the viewing globe. This light transformed into a fully morphed Green Ranger, Dragon Dagger in hand.
"Surprise!" David announced his entrance while pointing the dagger at the group and firing. The four of them quickly dove to the side, and the blast slammed into on of the consoles, sending sparks everywhere.
"David! You must stop this at once!!!" Zordon yelled as loud as he ever had while the Rangers were getting back on their feet.
"Shut up!" David yelled, knocking the three helmets off the consoles, sending them rolling behind him. Now the Rangers would have to go through him to get their full powers.
"David! What happened!? Why are you doing this!?" Kimberly pleaded for an answer.
David suddenly looked over, seeing Jason climbing over a console, obviously trying to flank him and get his helmet. He quickly fired a blast into the console, causing an explosion that launched Jason away.
"We want to be your friends, man! There's no reason for this!" Zack once again tried to reason with him as well.
"There's plenty of reason! There's..." David started, but suddenly noticed Alpha hard at work on one of the consoles.
"Activating Command Center Automated Defense System!" Alpha triumphantly announced, pressing one last button.
Turrets began to pop out of the walls, the ceiling, and the consoles. They all instantly trained on David, opening fire. David managed to deflect only a couple of the lasers before realizing how futile it was, and quickly turned and ran out the door, slowed by dodging the heavy fire on his way out.
"Oh, we got him good!" Zack yelled as the laser fire stopped, diving over one of the consoles and grabbing the red and black helmets, throwing the red one to Jason.
"We got this! Back to action!" Jason yelled as he and Zack put on their helmets, charging out the door.
"May the Power protect you!" Zordon called after them as Kimberly helped Billy up, and then ran for her own helmet.
David stumbled out of the Command Center, rolling down a cliff. He stumbled to his feet, and tried to run some more, but he could hear them behind him. That was a decision he regretted the second he saw all those guns...but he was so close to having them all! Whatever, though. All he had to do was escape and maybe Zedd would be able to finish them off. Why wasn't he striking yet?! This was the perfect opportunity. That fool would eliminate the Power Rangers for him...and then the Green Ranger would be the one everyone looked up to...him alone.
Jason and Zack made a full sprint when they saw David stumbling into a clearing.
"David!!! Stop!!!" Jason yelled as loud as he could, drawing his blade blaster at the same time as Zack. It was too late, though. David disappeared in a streak of green light, sailing back towards the city.
"Dammit!" Zack yelled, holstering his blade blaster as Kimberly stopped next to the two of them.
Kimberly just shook
her head, looking into the evening sky. Why, David...?
The three of them walked back into the Command Center, unmorphing completely. They weren't really worried about David making a return strike, after all, things like that would teach you a good lesson.
"So when did we get those?" Zack asked as he looked to the small entrances the guns had come from, he'd never noticed them before.
"I installed them the last time we had to worry about a rampaging Green Ranger," Billy commented, shaking his head.
"Rangers, I am afraid there is nothing more we can do tonight. It has been a long and difficult day. Go and get some rest, you've done all you can," Zordon said. "Alpha and I will be figuring out what to do about both David and Lord Zedd, as well as a way to rescue Trini."
"Alright, but let us know the second you find out anything important," Jason told him, and Zordon nodded inside his tube.
"Well, I should go and see Tommy. Fill him in," Kimberly said, really wanting to see him right now. He always had that way of making her just feel safe, even while he was stuck in that bed. She couldn't wait until he was out and able to help out again.
"Send him the best for us. I'm stopping by the youth center," Zack commented. He felt like just relaxing with Ernie, and actually hoped Bulk and Skull were up to some sort of crazy antics today. He needed something to laugh at.
"I'll go with you," Billy commented, feeling the same as Zack, really.
"Have fun, guys. I'm going home, I got some stuff to do there," Jason said, and they all nodded.
After everyone said some farewells, the four Rangers teleported out. Zordon and Alpha immediately got to work on how to fix all the problems that were going on.
Jason walked in through the garage door to find his entire family eating dinner without him. Very surprising. Not that they usually ate with him, but the fact that they were still eating made the Red Ranger realize he was actually home early for a change. That was a very rare thing.
"Well, hey there, stranger," Jason's dad, Rob Scott, said from the dinner table. "Grab a plate and join us."
Jason smiled and went to make him a plate. Spaghetti was the meal for the night, one of his favorites. After getting a very large serving, he went and sat down with his family. At the heads of the table were Rob and Sarah Scott, his parents who he had all kinds of respect for, but had to wonder if they felt the same way some times, since he was almost never here. Next to him was his brother, Jim, who was just one year younger than him. Jim was pretty close to him, but they only really saw each other late at night. He was the quarterback of the Angel Grove High football team, a position he had taken from Tommy when he joined the team. Tommy didn't hold it against him, though. After all, Tommy had actually taken the role of quarterback and team captain from Jason when he arrived on the team. Jason now found that whole situation even more ironic. Across from Jason and Jim were Kevin and Nick, their two youngest brothers. Kevin was eight, and Nick was seven. Kevin was the trouble maker of the family, always trying to pick fights with his siblings while Nick was always trying to make an extra friend, although he didn't mind fighting with Kevin in the least.
The Scott family was in general a very stable and secure family, one that the rest of the team really loved to be around. During her parents' divorce, Kimberly had almost been adopted by this family. She'd spent a lot of time over here, and not just with Jason, but with everyone. Sarah Scott had a soft spot for Kimberly and Trini anyway, and was always wanting to teach them things. She was a little crazy, but the girls figured that was the result of living with five boys. Rob, meanwhile, was always taking every opportunity to tell his boys and their friends what it was to be a man, and other such lectures. Jim was a close friend of the group's as well. He never went to the youth center to hang out with them or anything, but if they were hanging out at the house, he would join in and there was never any problem. Kimberly and Zack were always playing with Kevin and Nick, too. They would wrestle or play games, and the little kids just loved hanging out with what they saw as old people. All and all, the Scott family was a very central and close family. Whenever he thought about the family he had, Jason regretted how he was never home.
"So, how was your day?" Rob asked his eldest son.
"Alright. Kind of boring, actually," Jason lied. He was getting so good at lying to his family that it sickened him. He just kept reminding himself that it was for the right cause. "Figured I'd show up early."
"Well, it's good to actually see you for once." Sarah commented. Despite the fact that they lived in the same house, she rarely got to see her eldest, as well. He was always out and about. She just didn't understand what kept him so busy, sometimes.
"Hey. Shane and Bulk got in a fight at practice today. It was awesome. Coach had to break them up and everything, but the whole team was just getting into it," Jim said with a laugh, looking over to his brother.
"They let Bulk back on the football team? Man, I thought they had learned," Jason commented. He had ended up dropping football while clearing out his schedule. He was packed with karate classes to teach, clubs, community service projects, and of course being a Power Ranger. The coach called on him and the other Rangers every now and then, but they rarely practiced or played anymore. That was one of his biggest regrets in life.
"Jim and I are going hunting this weekend, Jason. You want to come along?" Rob asked, looking up to Jason.
Yes. "No, sorry. I'm busy," Jason said with regret in his voice. It sounded really nice, just getting out of here with his dad and brother...but this was a serious time period. He needed to be on call at all times. "I'm packed all day Saturday with classes. I have to pick up some slack because I didn't teach anything last weekend." His dad just nodded, buying the story completely. Good thing he never really talked with Ernie, because Ernie wasn't even letting the team work right now, he wanted them to have some time to heal and recover still.
"By the way, did you go by the Kwans' house, like I asked, and help them with painting their house?" his mother asked him. She realized they were practically drilling them with questions, but that's what he gets for barely seeing them.
"No, I forgot," Jason admitted, finally not lying to them.
Sarah rolled her eyes in frustration. "It's not much to ask, you know. I know you're busy, but they're going through a really hard time right now, and we need to be helping them out. How could you forget?" she started lecturing.
David. Trini. Zedd. Tommy. Goldar. Scorpina. The American government. Paint the Kwans' house. Sorry. Guess I need to prioritize. Jason thought grumpily. "Sorry," he answered instead.
"You know who you should be more like?" Rob suddenly said, and all four boys groaned, waiting for the usual speech. "The Power Rangers. They all stand up and defend the earth from whatever that thing up in space is. That's a huge responsibility. They're good role models."
"Except that green one. He's a bast- loser," Jim quickly corrected himself when he looked at the younger kids at the table with them, and Jason cracked his first real smile since walking inside the house.
"Can you believe that happened today?" Sarah said suddenly. "What could be in that Green Ranger's head? He's so strange, I don't see why they let him on the team."
"My teacher told me all the other Power Rangers are going to turn on us soon. She says they're tired of this ungrateful city," Kevin said.
"Tell your teacher to shut up," Rob told his son with a firm tone.
"MY teacher told me that he's been a spy for Lord Zedd all this time!" Nick announced.
Jason dropped his fork without realizing it, causing the whole family to look at him.
"Sorry," he quickly said as he was standing up. "I have a headache. I'm going to get some rest."
Rob shook his head as Jason almost ran out of the room. "That boy..."
Jason closed his door and sat down on his bed. He just couldn't get away from it. Could someone go five minutes without mentioning that traitor? He hadn't been lying that last time either. He really did have a headache from all this. He really wanted to call Kimberly and talk with her. She always made things better for everyone. She was with Tommy now, though, so he didn't want to interrupt. He thought back to the dinner he'd just eaten with his family. He hated the way he felt like he was letting them down. He picked up a picture of the original five sitting on the table next to his bed and sighed. He wanted to tell them so bad, but he had sworn the oath. Maybe some day...
A/N: Things are far from over, so stay tuned. Please review!