A/N: See Chapters 1, 15 and 16 for information which does not belong to me.
A/N 2: Mention of deaths in this chapter. I don't want to do it, but this is what's going to set up the sequel to this story, even though the sequel won't come out for a while. Kimberly's next plan will be detailed at the end of this chapter.
Ch. 22-Specter's Cover Blown
Lunar Palace
Unknown Time
In owl form, Dulcea made her way into the throne room, completely undetected by any evil being who happened to be in the throne room.
As luck would have it, most of the minions, including Lady Chaos and Zedd, had retired to their quarters, and the others were sleeping in the throne room.
Seeing this, Dulcea flew up to Squatt and Baboo and said, "Come with me."
Not knowing who it was, Squatt and Baboo decided to take the risk anyways, seeing as they had nothing to lose. When they'd convened far enough away, Dulcea transformed into her human form.
"You are..." Baboo began.
"Yes. I am," said Dulcea, as she suddenly bent down and gave both henchmen a kiss.
At this, Rita's two henchmen began to feel weak.
"What the...What's happening?" said Squatt.
"You feel weak because I am beginning the purification process which will set you free, once and for all," said Dulcea. "I know it goes against all you've been taught but..."
"No, Dulcea," said Squatt. "You are doing the right thing. I don't think I could handle this much longer."
"And I will be here to help you," said Dulcea. "Together, we shall defeat Zedd and keep Kimberly from his grip."
Saturday, May 17, 1997
10:00 a.m. local time
Underground Power Chamber
Angel Grove, CA
It was 8 days after Justin had made his home in the new Ranger command base, and things had quieted down quite a bit.
No monster attacks had developed in Angel Grove, which allowed the Rangers free time to do what they wished.
A lot of the Rangers had been spending a lot of their time with Justin, although the current Golden Ninjetti was doing a good job of that on her own. To Justin, Sabrina had almost become like a surrogate mother, as she'd done just about everything humanly possible to make him happy.
She, for her part, was glad he was happy. She also had seen how he'd come to live in the shelter, and had no qualms with him as he'd been far too good and too smart to live in a shelter.
Currently, Justin was finishing up getting ready for his day, when he heard a knock.
"Come in!" he said, as he looked to see Sabrina, decked out in a gold tanktop, standing in the door.
"Hey, Justin!" she said. "I was wondering if you'd like to run an errand with me."
"I don't see why not," Justin said. "Where will we be going?"
"Halfway around the world, actually, but only for a short while," said Sabrina. "Through my magic, I've created passports for both of us, and we're going to take a Turbo Navigator with us. It has a translator on it, so we'll be able to communicate freely there."
"Where is halfway around the world?" said Justin.
"We're going to South Korea," said Sabrina, "where Adam was born. I think something suspicious is going on with his parents, and I want to find out what it is."
"OK," said Justin. "I'm ready when you are."
"Let me go tell Daddy," said Sabrina, "and then we'll be outta here."
Sunday, May 18, 1997
2:15 p.m. local time
Gimpo International Airport
Seoul, South Korea
"Well, here we are in South Korea," muttered Justin, shortly after teleporting. "Never imagined I'd see this place."
"We'll only be here for a short time," said Sabrina. Fortunately for the both of them, Zordon's teleportation beams had landed them outside a restroom near where the major front desk was located.
"Here, you watch our back," said Sabrina as she took one of the Turbo Navigators, which was another of the endless things she'd invented along with the Turbo powers.
After going to the front desk, showing the people her passport, and asking about five different questions, she returned to Justin without any major harm done, nearly fifteen minutes later.
"Let's get back to the Power Chamber," said Sabrina. "I think we may have some answers." With that, the two teleported into the air, back to California.
Saturday, May 17, 1997
10:30 a.m. local time
Underground Power Chamber
Angel Grove, CA
"So, what did you find?" said Alpha.
"Well," said Justin, "we found that Adam's 'parents' took a flight to Seoul right around the time this whole thing with Lady Chaos supposedly started. But what we also found out is that they never used the flight ticket back."
"Wow...that is strange," said Alpha.
"Adam tells me his parents are pretty honorable," said Sabrina. "I have to tell you...this doesn't sound honorable to me. I think I smell a rat somewhere."
"WHAT ARE HIS PARENTS' NAMES?" said Zordon.
"Sun-Wi and Yang-Li Park," said Sabrina. "At least that's what he tells me. I can try to scan for their bio-signatures, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to find them."
"Maybe if we had their faces, that could be of some help," said Alpha.
"I've got just the thing," said Sabrina, as she pulled out a picture of one family occasion a couple of weeks after the Vice Versa fiasco in the park. "Adam gave this to me the first night he invited me there."
"Great! This will really help us!" said Alpha.
"I'm going to go play some basketball with the guys," said Sabrina. "Justin, you stay and help Alpha."
10:45 a.m.
Angel Grove Park
Meanwhile, all but one of the Rangers were playing a game of competitive basketball in the park. Tommy, Jason, Adam, Tanya, Rocky and Aisha were one team, while Billy, Trini, David, Zack, and Katherine made up another team.
Currently, Tommy's team owned the ball, and Jason was trying to back down Zack near the basket. Unfortunately, he got double teamed.
"Adam, catch!" said Jason as he fired the ball back out to him. Everyone thought Adam would take the shot, but instead, he made an amazing no-look, through-his-legs-pass to Tommy, who made an easy shot.
Zack simply put his hands on his hips, asking, 'How did he do that?'
A voice suddenly said, "Don't jump straight to the NBA, Adam. Michael Jordan has nothing on you," referring, of course, to the greatest basketball player of that era...maybe of any era.
Adam turned to see his golden girlfriend right next to him.
"Hey, Sabrina," he said. "Glad you could see that pass. Where were you all morning? When I got up, you'd left the house."
"Ranger business and family business," said Sabrina. "We'll talk later."
"Wait...what's going on? I know nothing about this," said Jason.
"Adam's parents have been allegedly househunting," said Sabrina, "in Korea. He said they supposedly went to Incheon or Pusan. Problem is, they never came home. I smell a rat."
"You don't think Lady Chaos or Kimberly are trying to pull something, do you?" said Tommy.
"That's the problem. I don't know," said Sabrina. "What I do know is that I smell a rat...someone's sneaking behind our backs, and I want to know what's going on. We've got Justin and Alpha on the case right now."
"Fair enough," said Tanya. "We need another player so we can go six-on-six...we just started. You mind playing?"
"Gladly!"
With that, the 12 Rangers went on with the game.
1:30 p.m. local time
The Youth Center
Three hours later, the Rangers had played a competitive game, had gotten cleaned up, and were at the Youth Center's complex.
Most of them were sitting in groups at tables, eating or reading the local paper. Tommy was sticking close by his best friend Jason and his brother David, and Trini and Billy were holding hands, a romance obviously trying to get rekindled. Rocky was with Aisha and Zack, who were trying to keep him from eating all the food in the outdoor eating complex.
Tanya was currently reading the local ads alone, looking for a sale, while Katherine was reading one of the endless columns from the local paper about the Rangers. The only one who was inside the actual Youth Center was Adam, who was lifting weights.
Presently, the Gold Ninjetti came towards the group which was in the eating complex, carrying some kind of sandwich.
"Well, lookie here," said Rocky, voice lowered. "Seems that Miss Eltarian decided to grace us with her presence."
Aisha promptly turned and slapped him in the face.
"Hey, what did I deserve that for?" said Rocky.
"I swear, Mighty Ape," said Aisha, "that your jokes get worse and worse every day. And last I checked, she's not exactly one to be joking around with."
Presently, she decided to take a seat with Katherine. The two had become extremely close friends since Sabrina had come to Angel Grove because they both had quite a bit in common, and Sabrina loved Katherine's sarcastic attitude.
"Hey," said Katherine. "How are you?"
"Great. Enjoying the rest we're getting?"
"Yeah. It's nice to get a rest. I'm feeling quite a bit of pressure though."
"It's OK...that's normal. The best thing you can do is calm yourself. You've had quite enough to deal with in the last couple years."
"I thought being Rita's pawn was bad enough," said Katherine, "but this whole thing of trying to free Kimberly's been even worse."
"Trust me, I've been down that road before, when it comes to being Rita's pawn," said Sabrina, "and so has Tommy. The best thing you can do is accept what happened to you and that it was not your fault, and simply go on from there."
"Yeah, I remember when I lived in the Palace, that Rita always got upset when she heard Zedd talking about letting you go free. Zedd thought you were weak, but Rita still seems to think highly of you."
"Yeah, she always wanted me to do much of her dirty work," Sabrina said, shuddering as she did so, "and she always wished Goldar and I would have wed so she could have had evil children. Scary thing is, we probably would have, but Goldar never liked how I didn't attack Tommy, and he noticed a stark difference in our relationship after I first met Adam."
"You...and monkey-breath? Uh, I don't think so. That's disgusting!" said Katherine. "It's scary to know I almost took Kimberly's life right before she left."
"But you made up for it later. You know, we should start a little group...you, me, and Tommy, the Rita's Pawn club. We could even consider Kimberly a first-class member!"
Both women laughed about that.
"Speaking of Tommy, why didn't you attack him when you were in Rita's service?" Kat said
"While he was in Rita's service," Sabrina said, "he warped Jason into Rita's Dark Dimension. First off, trust me, you don't ever want to be in there. It's really scary. He actually almost killed Jason, but got a bit too far ahead of himself, and Jason escaped. Goldar gave him a pretty good beating for that."
"But I saw potential," Sabrina said, "and in an effort to keep his self-esteem, I talked to him several times before Jason broke his spell. I found him to be extremely pleasant when off the battlefield. We made kind of a pledge never to attack each other unless our hands were forced. That's why Goldar turned on me quite a bit."
"Because he can't stand Tommy," said Kat.
"That is correct, Kat. Goldar feels Tommy usurped his position as Rita's chief warrior when Tommy was in the Palace, and he doesn't like Tommy's cocky attitude. The very fact that Tommy is the leader of the Rangers makes him want to throw up."
"I smell jealousy," said Kat. Both heard footsteps, and looked up to see Adam.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," said Adam, "but Sabrina and I need to leave. Zordon thinks he's found something."
"OK," said Sabrina.
"Kat, you and the rest stay," said Adam. "He just wants she and I there...he emphasizes that there's something tragic going on that I only need to know about for now."
"OK," said Kat.
2:30 p.m. local time
Underground Power Chamber
"So, what have you guys found?" said Adam.
"Adam," said the normally quiet Dimitria of Inquiris, "I am quite afraid that you are not going to like what we found."
"We matched their biosignature with this picture," said Alpha, "and this is what we found."
Adam immediately turned to the main television, and gasped in horrified shock.
He was looking directly at his parents, out cold and lying in a pool of blood.
"NO!" shouted Adam. "This cannot be happening!"
Zordon respectfully bowed his head in respect to the dead, all the while an anger filling his body. He did not like what was going on...not just with the death, but who could be behind this.
"The situation gets worse," said Sabrina. "Take a look at the place they're in!"
She brought up a visual of the outside...to what looked like some kind of spaceship.
"Aye-yi-yi-yi-yi!" shouted Alpha. "That's the Dark Fortress! I can't believe it!"
"Dark Fortress?" said Adam. "Speak English, please, Alpha."
"The home of the UAE's big cheese himself, Dark Specter," said the Gold Ranger, as she pulled herself into Adam's arms.
As the pieces of a horrific puzzle came together for the Black Ranger, his face went white.
"They're killing my parents to come after me!" said Adam, anger flashing in his eyes. "How dare they!"
"Anything's possible with Specter, Adam," said Zordon's daughter.
"Alpha, can you find out if Specter and whoever he's with disguised themselves as my parents?" said Adam.
"I'm on it. It will take just a second."
And moments later, Alpha had the information he needed.
"They DID disguise themselves as your parents, Adam!" said Alpha. "You were not speaking with your parents themselves...they were already dead."
"Bingo!" said Sabrina. "I knew something was up!"
"I want to get my hands on Specter for killing my parents," said Adam, "but we don't have time to mess with that right now. We still have to free Kimberly."
"Wait a minute...that's not all," said Sabrina. "I'm getting some readings of some other bodies in the Dark Fortress. I'm bringing them up now."
Instantly, five other sets of parents were shown.
"Oh, my God," Adam said, pointing at the monitor. "That's Mrs. Dumas and her husband from Paris! They're dead too!"
"That's not all," said Sabrina. "I've matched the other sets of parents, and traced them to see whether they had any children. The other sets of parents are Rocky's, Aisha's, Billy's, and Tommy's adoptive parents."
"Yeah, but what could he want by killing those specific parents? What's the riddle here?" said Adam.
"All are Ninjetti," said Dimitria. She'd decided to stop answering in questions around the Rangers, seeing as how they had pretty much handled themselves well.
"Which means..." said Adam, "oh, my God, NO! I won't be able to live if they get Zordon too!"
"I CANNOT GUARANTEE ANYTHING, UNFORTUNATELY," said Zordon, tears filling his eyes as he greatly grieved the dead parents of the Rangers. "SPECTER IS UNLIKE ANY BEING YOU'VE EVER FACED. HE WILL RELENTLESSLY PURSUE WHAT HE IS AFTER UNTIL HE CAN ACCOMPLISH HIS TASK."
"Yeah, but what do you think he wants with us?" said Adam.
"I can only guess," said Dimitria, "that Dark Specter's goal is to turn you seven Ninjetti into his own elite team of warriors. Darkonda, his chief killer and bounty hunter, is above average at fighting, and Astronema is a great battle planner, but Ecliptor tends to have a soft spot when it comes to fighting. He would like to have his own team of warriors, and he has the magic power to do it. He also wants the Ninjetti Power for his own."
"Oh, my God, could this get ANY worse?" said Sabrina, as tears filled her own eyes as well.
Adam was almost afraid to ask, but did anyway. "What now?"
"Specter...has brought back my former self...as an evil clone, with no emotions whatsoever," Sabrina said, tears now raining out of her eyes.
That was enough to send Adam over the edge, as he pulled the age-old Eltarian into his arms and began crying softly as well. The two teleported out of the command base, leaving Zordon and Alpha to stare wordlessly at one another.
Sunday, May 18
7:00 p.m. local time
Underground Power Chamber
Angel Grove, CA
"Why have you called us here, Zordon?" said Tommy, in response to a summons early that evening for the Ninjetti. The Rangers had noticed their parents had gone missing, but hadn't paid it any attention aside from Adam's fiasco.
"I CALLED YOU HERE BECAUSE OF SOME GRAVE NEWS WHICH WAS REVEALED TO US YESTERDAY," said Zordon. "PLEASE OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE."
They all turned, and, in horrified shock, saw the bodies of their parents, each and every one of them, lying in pools of blood.
"Who...who could have done this???" said Tommy, anger beginning to boil inside of him.
"SABRINA DETECTED THE SOURCE LAST NIGHT. THE FORCE WE WILL DEAL WITH IN TIME IS THE HEAD OF THE UNITED ALLIANCE OF EVIL HIMSELF, DARK SPECTER."
"But why would he want our parents?" said Rocky.
"To get to us," said Tommy. "It's the way they all work. I can only guess this Specter fellow wants the Ninjetti power, as well as us."
"That was Dimitria's guess as well," said Archerina, who was standing nearby. "I'm truly sorry to hear of these developments, Rangers."
"We'll get him," said Tommy as he punched a hand into his fist. "We'll get him, if it's the last thing we ever do. He doesn't know what, or who, he's messing with."
"You know what this means, don't you?" said Rocky. "Our cover will be completely blown now, school-wise. I don't know how long we can hold out."
"We're near graduation, anyhow," said Tommy. "Maybe if we're lucky, we can get a break on finals."
"I WILL TELEPORT YOUR TEACHERS HERE IN THE NEAR FUTURE, RANGERS. RIGHT NOW, YOU NEED TO BE TOGETHER AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. FOCUS ON KIMBERLY FIRST, THEN WORRY ABOUT SPECTER."
Park Residence
Same Time
"Are you OK?" said Sabrina, as she lay curled up in the Black Frog Ninjetti's arms.
"I am...doing OK. The question is...are you?"
"I'm scared, double time now," replied the Gold Ranger. "I'm scared to think they'll come after Daddy."
"We can't think about that now," said Adam. "Actually with this news, under the circumstances, it might not be a bad way to free Kimberly, to let her know her parents are dead. Dulcea should know about this if we can get in contact with her."
"I agree that Dulcea should know. We've got two threats to deal with now...Specter and Zedd."
"Yep, Zedd and his obsession with Kimberly could prove to be just as fatal as Specter's plans for us. Thank you for being here for me, by the way."
"I'll always be here for you, Adam," said the Gold Ranger, "in good times and in bad. You'll see this through, and we'll be able to channel your current anger into something positive."
"And I'll help you do the same," said Adam. "Don't worry about your father, and don't worry that there's some clone of your former self out there. We'll deal with both of those in time. Now, I need something."
"And what might that be?"
"I need to kiss you. I've never kissed a girl before, and if there was any time I need it, it's right now."
"Be my guest," said the Gold Ranger. "I'm not going to force anything on you."
With that, the two leaned forward, and locked in a passionate kiss that lasted somewhere between one and two minutes. When they finally broke apart, their breaths were literally taken away.
"How was that?" said the Gold Ranger.
"That first kiss...was positively awesome. I've never felt anything like that in my life."
"Hopefully, we'll live long enough to do more of that," said the Gold Ranger as the two fell fast asleep.
Lunar Palace
Unknown Time
Dulcea, as usual, was present in the throne room, but well out of sight as the lead villains combined in the throne room.
Kimberly was spying on the Earth, with Zedd (who was also lusting after her in his mind), Rita, Chaos, Vile, Divatox, Maligore, Gasket and their henchmen watching closely.
Currently, she was watching the Rangers going between class to class, and an idea was beginning to form in her head.
"Yes! The perfect way to play a little divide and conquer, and a way to get back at that traitor Jason!" The villains had assumed he had gone back to his good self, which didn't matter in their minds, except for Kimberly. This was especially true with Zedd.
"This is the PERFECT opportunity to take them by surprise, and divide them up!"
"Wanting to see how they handle not being a full team, Kimberly?" said Zedd.
"Yes," said Kimberly. "Plus, they are in a public place, so maybe we can tear the school up a bit, and we may even get their powers revoked if they morph in front of those students. I will go with my latest monster, Wolf Watcher, and go as one part. Goldar, you and Rygog will take another part. Elgar and Rito, you will be a third part. Gasket and Bomblinator, you will be a fourth part. Vile, Rita and Zedd will take a fifth part, and Divatox, you'll take part number six. If we can lure them alone, and capture them one, two or three at a time, they will be greatly weakened. Maybe we can even draw that stupid Gold Ranger out and capture her for Maligore to punish. Is everyone clear?"
"Indeed. This is going to be FUN!" said Goldar, raising his sword high.
"Then let's move! We don't have all century!" said Kimberly, as the monsters disappeared.
TBC...