A/N: See Chapters 1, 15 and 16 for that which does not belong to me. Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns are property of the National Basketball Association as well.
Chapter 27: Major Surprises, UAE Regroups
Saturday, June 7
8:45 p.m.
Underground Power Chamber
Angel Grove, CA
As all 14 Rangers touched down in the Underground Power Chamber (the Rangers of Aquitar had decided to return home during the celebration), they suddenly found something alarming.
The plasma tube which had housed Zordon's timewarp was no longer there.
"Zordon," muttered Adam
"I don't believe it," said Tommy. "He's gone! No plasma tube!"
"No..." said Kimberly. "This can't be..."
"After all we've won, we've still LOST?" said Trini in near despair.
None of the Rangers present saw Zordon's daughter look over, and see a man step out of the shadows. Only she knew...
"On the contrary, ladies, I'm right here," said the white-haired, short man, decked in all white, who had just come out of the shadows.
Instantaneously, Sabrina raced to greet her father, throwing her arms around him for the first time in thousands of years.
Meanwhile, the Rangers exchanged shocked glances. In the four years they'd been called to the Power, they'd always remembered their Eltarian mentor in his timewarp. To see him out of his timewarp was, for most of the Rangers gathered, quite a shock.
"My God," muttered Tommy. "That's him?"
"It has to be," said Adam.
"Yes, Rangers," said the Gold Ninjetti, shaking, as she looked up from her father's embrace. "This is my father...the man who taught me how to survive...taught me everything I know, and NOT someone trapped in a timewarp by an evil, twisted witch!"
"But...how?" said Kimberly, who, by now, had tears running down her cheeks.
"It's very simple, actually, Rangers," said Sabrina as she pulled Kimberly over towards the Eltarian legend, who embraced both girls simultaneously.
While Kimberly was not of Zordon's bloodline, Zordon had long told most people he knew that he considered Kimberly a surrogate daughter.
"The love of his family, and being exposed to it, brought him back out of his timewarp."
"She speaks truth, Rangers," said Zordon. "Our family, like most of yours here on Earth, is very close-knit, and when one of us gets sidetracked by evil like Sabrina did, it has an effect on all of us. It's not the entire reason Rita put me in a timewarp, but my lack of concentration thinking about my daughter was a reason."
The Rangers just simply watched, all except for Tommy, as he too went up to embrace the Eltarian legend who had given him an opportunity following his time in Rita's service.
"So this IS him," said Aisha.
"The one who taught us everything we know...of what true honor is all about," said Trini.
"The one who saved this planet from total destruction," said Jason. "We'd be mindless slaves had we not been called to action."
"Aye-yi-yi! This is all too emotional for my circuits!" said Alpha 5, as he spun around crazily.
Moon Palace
Same Time
For some time after the final battle between Zedd and Earth's Power Rangers, Rita Repulsa, currently sitting on her bed in the Moon Palace, had been in somewhat of a stupor.
She still was getting over the shock of Zedd betraying her and very nearly taking Kimberly for his own.
As much as Rita detested Zordon, his entire family and their Earth Rangers, she was glad they'd won this fight, as she, too, knew that Zedd would have taken over the Earth by himself had Serpentera defeated the Zords and taken Kimberly.
In addition, she was without any of her four original henchmen (or women) when she started the fight against Earth. Scorpina, obviously, was now no more...in fact, her alter ego, Rita thought, was probably celebrating the greatest victory of her Ranger career as well as ultimate redemption for her past sins.
It made Rita, simply, want to throw up.
In addition, Goldar, once her most powerful warrior and her only warrior besides Scorpina who could stand against all the Rangers at once, was allied with Zedd, and probably would never come back to Rita's service again.
Squatt and Baboo were also gone, having been purified and taken from right under her nose by Dulcea. She actually didn't mind this, as Squatt and Baboo, to her, were incompetents when it came to battle planning
Three things bothered her the most...One was the fact that five of her own previous monsters had entered in an alliance with her bitterest Earth enemies. Secondly, she was going to have to face Dark Specter and her father head on, and she did not like the sound of that. And finally, her attempts to rule beside Zedd had failed.
That was when she heard a knock at her door, followed by a "May I come in, daughter?"
"Sure, come on in, Daddy," said Rita as the famed Master Vile entered her bedroom.
Master Vile could immediately see that his daughter had not recovered from the sequence of events earlier that day. His heart broke for both his mother and his daughter...it seemed that the perfect plan had been in place for all of them, and somehow, they'd come up short yet again.
"I can see you're not fully recovered," Vile said, finally breaking the silence after a few minutes.
"I'm not recovered, Daddy," Rita said, "because I FAILED you! I failed...we all did! How in the world could I not see that Zedd, Jason and Dulcea were hiding in the woods, just waiting to break us all up? It's all my fault that those stupid teenagers and those traitors are down there celebrating right now! If I'd have been more watchful, we wouldn't be in this position now! Now we've got a severely depleted army, as my traitor for a former henchwoman is leading those Rangers, monkey-breath is with Zedd, and Squatt and Baboo aren't here as well! And it's all...my...fault!" said Rita as she cried a million tears.
Master Vile chuckled to himself. It was one of the few times his daughter had ever blamed herself for losing a battle, as he could see that this was going to be a pretty harsh blow to the United Alliance of Evil.
"Daughter," said Master Vile, "let me make it clear to you that this was not your fault...not at all. If it makes you feel better, not even I saw this one coming. When your poor excuse for an ex made his declaration earlier today, I couldn't have been more shocked. His loyalty to you was one of his better traits."
"So, now what?" said Rita. "It can't get much worse than this! We're in no position to take on the Rangers right now, and this would be a perfect time to pick them off!"
"Hey, cheer up," said Vile. "It could, actually, be worse. Zedd could have the Pink Crane in his posession, and could be ruling Earth right now were it not for those miserable teenagers. Be glad that those Rangers picked him off, at least."
"Yeah, I guess," muttered Rita.
"I can still sense something else is wrong," Vile continued.
"It's Specter," said Rita. "And Ooze. Knowing what Ooze thinks of me, he'll probably try and get me kicked out of the UAE, and you know how closely Specter listens to him. Specter also doesn't tolerate failure."
"Like I said, you didn't fail," said Vile. "This is Zedd's fault, and the fault of no one else. If Ooze does try to lobby for your expulsion, Rito and I will back you up, and I can plan to destroy Ooze if necessary. Now, come on. Let's go meet our guests."
Saturday, June 7, 1997
9:30 p.m.
Underground Power Chamber
Angel Grove, CA
45 minutes after what the Rangers had already dubbed as "The Zordon Miracle," they sat in the gargantuan hot tubs located on the second floor of their still fairly new underground base, completely oblivious to what was going on around them. Rocky had invited Justin to join the group, and Justin had taken him up on the offer.
Trey was not with them, as he had gone back to Triforia to have Pyramidas recharge.
All they could think about was the recent victory in which they'd used a simple fleet of Zords, along with a bit of help, to defeat Zedd's gigantic battle machine.
"My God, am I sore!" said Trini. "I've held the Power for bits and pieces of four years, and I have NEVER felt that sore after a fight."
"We won, though," said David. "And that's what matters."
"I'm going to make an opinion, just because I can," said Justin, as he sat next to Rocky. "I think Zedd handled that fight poorly."
"Why do you say that, Justin?" said Tommy, as he cradled Kimberly in his arms.
"No obstacles," said Justin. "He didn't send anyone to try to stop me from destroying that pink energy orb."
Rangers one and all looked at each other in shocked silence.
"No Putties, or anything? Really?" said Tommy.
"Putties?" said Justin. "Never saw them around Little Angel's Haven. Only the Tengas stomped around there a few times."
"Zedd's claybrain footmen," said Rocky. "Have to hit the Z on their chests to beat them. He sent none of those?"
"None," said Justin. "I don't think he thought any of the footmen he had would have helped him, and furthermore I don't think he thought anyone would find that energy orb."
"That's VERY surprising," said Sabrina. "Zedd's pretty cocky, but he's usually smarter than that. I'm really surprised he didn't send his Putties."
"Then we got really lucky," said Rocky. "He sends his Putties and that could have been an entirely different story."
"Hell, this could have been a complete disaster," said Trini, "but Sabrina saved us all. This was a miracle if I've ever seen one."
"I never thought I'd ever be the one to be considered the one who saved all of you," said Sabrina, as she shook her head. "This was more than I ever could have hoped for."
"Just what...were you hoping for?" said Billy.
"I would have settled for freeing Kimberly, and just having friendships with all of you. I NEVER expected this kind of experience," she said, surprisingly, with control of her emotions.
"All of you are the best friends anyone could ever hope to have," she continued. "You didn't have to bring me directly into your lives. You could have cast me out into the wilderness for my past transgressions, where I'd have had to do this all on my own. But you made this a lot easier for me by giving me your undying support. It's the biggest victory I've ever had, and I couldn't have done it without each one of you."
"Hey, you're the one that never complained," said Kimberly. "You're one of us now, and I think we like who you are. Because of you, I have a second chance with my handsome Falcon again, here," she said as she planted a humongous kiss on the Arizona native's cheek.
"I've known Kimberly since preschool," said Trini, "and when I heard about that letter, I knew that wasn't the typical Kimberly Hart that I've known for years."
"All the pain, all the trauma, all the agony, for the past five months..." said Kimberly, "all because of an obsessive witch. You know, I could almost thank Zedd for my freedom..."
"Don't mention it," said Aisha. "Ruins the mood."
"How in the WORLD did you come up with that plan?" said Kimberly, "because I can't believe you pulled that off. I mean, when Tommy and golden girl here blew Zedd's plan wide open, it became mass chaos in there."
"That was THE goal, and it was fueled by Tommy and Sabrina," said Jason. "We were wanting to turn them against one another, which would give us an avenue to reach you with. When we heard about the deaths of the Ninjetti parents, that gave us another opening. We used the White and Gold Rangers because they were both Rita's former pawns, and a couple of people Rita's had it in for. They're also friends from when both served Rita, so much so that it's part of the reason it was always Goldar that went after Tommy. I actually had to fake being evil for a while until Dulcea came and got me, and took my place."
"We felt it was the only legitimate plan that could work, under the circumstances," said Tommy. Then, he looked his reborn Crane dead in the eyes.
"Beautiful..." said Tommy. "I'm sorry...For fighting you, but it was the only thing that could be done...Understand that some of those battles were some of the most excruciating fights I've ever had..."
"I understand, Handsome," said Kim. "You cared about me, but the defense of the Earth was more important at the time. I would truly have been disappointed had that not been your number one priority."
"It was why we all were born, I'm convinced of it," said Aisha. "Even when we try to get away from it, it's a part of who we'll always be. We're Earth's defenders, and always wil be."
"Handsome," said Kim, "I was also truly stupefied at how you kept the team together at a tough time for everyone on the team. That had to be truly hard."
"Speaking of being stupefield, what I was really stupefied about," said Jason, "was seeing Zordon out of his tube. And it takes a lot to surprise me. Where is he, by the way?"
"Went to bed, with mother," said Sabrina. "You'll see him in the morning, almost guaranteed."
"It must feel really good for him to sleep in a real bed. How long has it been?" said Adam.
"Ten thousand long years," said Sabrina. "It tore me to death actually seeing him in his timewarp two months ago."
"Yeah, that was really unbelievable," said Trini.
"Not as unbelievable as tomorrow is going to be for all of you, Rangers," came a soft voice from outside the door, as a figure disappeared into the shadows.
"Is it just me," said Rocky, "or did I just hear a voice outside?"
"It's probably just you, Rocky. You and your eating habits," said Tommy.
Everyone had a laugh about that, and continued talking for a while, until Tommy beckoned Kimberly.
"Can I invite Tanya over?" said Tommy. "I think you'll be surprised at just how vibrant she is."
"Sure. Besides, I think I owe her an apology, too," said Kimberly, at which Tommy said, in his leader voice, "Tanya! Over here!"
Seconds later, there was a mild ripple in Tommy's tub, signaling Tanya's arrival.
"So," said Tanya, "this is Kimberly Hart, the former gymnast. Pleasure to meet you, Kim."
"You too, Tanya," said Kim, as the two girls embraced. "Tommy tells me you like to sing. Is that right?"
"I do," said Tanya, at which Kim nodded.
"You know, I was an avid guitar player when I was a Ranger, and still am," said Kimberly.
"Really?" said Tanya.
"Believe me, if I wasn't practicing gymnastics, I was working on my guitar music," said Kim.
"She's REALLY good at guitar, Tanya," said Tommy. "If you put your voice with her guitar, you have one heck of a combo. She even wrote a song for me when I lost my Green Ranger powers the second time."
"Really, now?" said Tanya. "You'll have to tell me that story another time."
"Tanya," said Kim, "Are you OK? After what my monster did to your suit? It did some pretty major damage, you know."
"It's fine, Kim," said Tanya. "The staff here at the base really did a good job repairing my uniform. We got to fight at the school that day because Zordon called our teachers in after we found out you Ninjetti had to live through having your parents killed. We could see there was no other alternative. That's how we got exemptions from graduation, and got to go fight the bad guys when we needed to."
"Good old Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Appleby," said Kim. "Good to see some things never change."
Lunar Palace
Unknown Time
"You summoned us, Master Vile?" said Dark Specter as the ultimate Monarch of Evil took his seat in the Lunar Palace's Dining Hall.
"I did, my Lord," said Master Vile. "We have been having some...problems...on Earth, and we need some help."
"Please inform me of your situation, so that I might know what we can do. I have my own plans, and I have my henchmen and other old friends with me, but I would like to know your predicament first," said Specter, nodding at Vile, who nodded towards Rita.
Rita went into the details of their latest foray to conquer Earth, starting with the plan by Lady Chaos to deprive Kimberly of her dreams and turn her evil through the infamous "Dear John" letter.
"I see. That was a good, deceptive plan," said Specter, nodding at Lady Chaos, who said, "Thank you, my lord."
"Go on, Rita," said Vile.
She next went into the details of how Sabrina had returned to stop their plans, to which Dark Specter nodded. He'd long since known, and disliked, that Lord Zedd had let Sabrina go without a fight following the Vice Versa fiasco.
Rita next went into the details of Lady Chaos' fight with Tommy, and made sure to point out that Lady Chaos had tricked Tommy in order to win Kimberly's services. She also went into the details of how Adam had nearly become evil, and how Jason wound up being the Green Ranger himself.
She also talked about the defection of Archerina, at which Specter nodded casually. He'd somewhat expected that, as he knew Archerina's roots were as a princess of the light. Almost no spells lasted forever, and Archerina was no exception.
"Hmmm. Mondo will want to hear about this," said Specter. "Continue."
She then went into detail of Kimberly's first fight with the Rangers, and how Jason had taken the Zeo Crystal from the old Power Chamber, only to have it stolen back by Masked Rider.
"Hmmm," said Specter. "So they've got the Masked Rider with them. Interesting. Count Dregon is his archenemy but he's been off in another galaxy for a while. I've offered him enlistment in this alliance before, but he's never taken me up on it. Maybe now that he's faced the Rangers, if I call him, he'll change his mind. And you said that Jason somewhat damaged the Power Chamber?"
"Yes," said Rita, who felt a little uncomfortable. "I don't know what happened to it...maybe they've moved bases. They've got a heavy cloaking shield around some of the mountains outside Angel Grove."
Continuing on, Rita described many of the powers that Kimberly's evil side posessed, and how she'd given the Rangers problems for nearly an entire month.
Finally, as she began to break down in tears, she told of the divorce without documents by Zedd, the defection of Squatt and Baboo, the restoration of five of her old monsters by Dulcea, and the fierce battle that had just taken place hours earlier between the Rangers and Serpentera.
"And you said that Zedd divorced you, and you didn't see it coming?" Specter asked, his eyes narrowing at Rita.
Rita cringed, but still held her ground, as she said meekly, "No."
"Excuse me for a minute, everybody!" said Vile. "I can see this is going to be heated, so I would just like to say something."
"No!" said Ivan Ooze. "Her whole family is worthless! Discard them all!"
"QUIET, OOZE!" roared Specter, as he hurled a fireball at Ooze's head, which he barely ducked. "Go on, Master Vile."
"Thank you," said Master Vile. "My daughter is not alone. What Brain Boy did...I did not see it coming either. His divorce was a total shock to me...I never thought he'd stoop that low. He somehow managed to keep it concealed to all of us until the Rangers blew his plan wide open. Consider that before you put my daughter's enlistment in the UAE at risk."
Everyone in attendance was shocked at what Master Vile had said, as he'd had a known reputation for seeing everything far in advance.
"Are you sure about this, Master Vile?" said Dark Specter.
"100 percent sure, my lord," said the famed warlord of the M-51 galaxy. Specter nodded, and turned back towards Rita.
"I apologize for my actions, Rita," said Specter, ruefully. "None of this is your fault. It is mostly Zedd's fault. From allowing Sabrina to escape without harm, to this latest episode of trying to take the Pink Crane, he's messed up far too often."
At this, Rita breathed a sigh of relief, before saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty. But what about our army? We have to rebuild it, after all! Most of my henchmen have defected, including that traitorous daughter of Zordon! The Rangers also have five of my former monsters working for them, and we are in no position to take them on right now!"
"Yes, you are right," Specter said, scratching his head. "I can see that Sabrina, in particular, has given all of you a ton of headaches. But don't worry about that tonight. We'll work on rebuilding our army another day. Right now, I want to focus all my efforts in making sure Zedd doesn't come back around this area anymore."
Saturday, June 7
10:30 p.m.
Underground Power Base
Angel Grove, CA
Most of the Rangers had gone to bed also, save for a select few. Tommy was waiting for Kimberly to come out of a restroom, at which time the original Power Couple would head to bed.
Tommy, being a Phoenix native, was dressed in a Phoenix Suns jersey, one of the few articles of clothing he owned that wasn't something green or white. This jersey bore the name of Charles Barkley. With this, he was wearing a white pair of night-pants, commemorating this night's victory as the White Ranger.
"What's the matter Tommy? Does the Crane not want to come out of her nest?" said a voice behind him. Tommy spun around and saw Jason, decked out in all green.
"Hey, it's her world, bro," said Tommy. "You know as well as I do that she likes to do things slowly, methodically."
"That she does," said Jason. "Interesting night attire you have on there. Got the Barkley shirt on, huh?"
"Represents the two greatest nights of my life, one from being a Ranger, one from not," said Tommy. "The pants, obviously, commemorate tonight's victory over Zedd. That's number one, needs no explanation.
"OK, the shirt," said Tommy. "You know I'm from the Valley of the Sun, and my adopted parents have held Suns basketball season tickets from before I was born. Four years ago, right before I moved from Phoenix to Angel Grove, when they were playing for a world basketball title, my parents surprised me with a ticket to the sixth game of the basketball finals right after we qualified for it...it was the only time I've ever seen a championship series in Phoenix, and it may be the last time I ever see one. That was one of my first loves along with karate before I ever became a Ranger...was that 93 team. The shirt represents the second greatest night of my life...they said they gave the ticket to me because they could think of no better, more honorable adopted son to have. Rarely do you ever get surprised and flattered like that."
"Well," said Kimberly. "I see you two have been talking up quite a storm. Are you ready for bed, Handsome?"
"More than ready, Beautiful," said Tommy, as the two walked to bed, arm-in-arm.
"Good for you, tonight, Bro," muttered Jason, as he headed for bed. "Good for you. You and lil' sis have a great night."
Sunday, June 8
5 a.m.
Dining Room, Third Floor
Underground Power Base
Angel Grove, CA
While the Rangers slept in their beds, they were not aware of what was going on behind the scenes.
At this very moment in time, 10 to 15 of the Rangers best friends from high school were cooking up a fantastic breakfast meal for their friends.
In the back, the Rangers' high school diplomas stood waiting, as well as various other awards that the little group had cooked up.
"Man," said Mr. Kaplan, "I can't wait to surprise them all!"
"I wouldn't put it past them to figure something out," said Justin, who had been taught on the fly how to cook, and was doing a bang-up job. "Sabrina's with them.
"She doesn't know, Justin," said Dulcea. "They can't escape our surprise."
"I just can't believe six of their parents are dead," said Ms. Appleby.
"I just can't believe I treated...Kimberly...the way I did," said the voice of the legendary gymnastics coach, Gunther Schmidt. "Had I known she was a Ranger, I never would have let her inside Florida state lines. That's part of why I resigned. I felt...so ashamed of myself."
"Don't be," said Zordon. "You couldn't have known. They deliberately kept it a secret from you so they could protect themselves."
7:15 a.m.
All was quiet in the Rangers command base early the next morning following the Rangers victory.
Until a voice started blaring over the loudspeaker.
"ALL RANGERS, REPORT TO THE DINING HALL IN 45 MINUTES! I REPEAT, ALL RANGERS REPORT TO THE DINING HALL IN 45 MINUTES!"
"God," muttered Tommy, "leave it to Zordon to remind us it's right back to the grind."
"Yeah, but we're Rangers, it's what we do," said Kimberly. "Come on, move your ass so I can go get a shower, Handsome."
"You're the one that's here with me, Beautiful!" said Tommy as he tickled her back mercilessly. Kimberly squealed and somehow fought her way out of it, after which she managed to reach the closet with Tommy chasing her. Kimberly was able to breathe for a minute, until Tommy pounced on her from her blindside and continued his tickling pattern.
"Don't try to get away from me, little girl," smirked Tommy. "It's useless to struggle!"
"Says the Rainbow Ranger," said Kimberly. "How many colors do you own now, boy?"
"More than you could ever hope to have, Beautiful," said Tommy. "Come on, let's go get ready."
8:00 a.m.
"Here they come!" said Shawna.
"Everyone, hide, now! Justin, be ready when they come in!" said Dulcea as everyone in the dining hall scrambled for hiding places. They did well to find them, as, with all the food and other stuff, there was not a whole lot of room.
Meanwhile, the Rangers outside fast approached.
"I'm not sure I like this, you guys," said Sabrina. "Something's going on that I definitely don't know about, and I hate when I get surprised. Keep your eyes peeled, everyone."
"Second that," said Kim.
"Let's go, guys," said Tommy, as the group of Rangers all headed for the dining hall, and reached the door in a matter of moments. They all peeked in to see the light was on, there was a ton of food (which, to no one's surprise, made Rocky salivate) and no one was in the room that they could see.
"Man, someone's pulled a big one on us, you guys," said Jason. "I didn't even KNOW we had this amount of food in the Chamber!"
"You're right, Jase," said Adam. "I don't like being surprised either, but the fact is we gotta go in there for our sanity."
"I agree with him, 100." said Sabrina. "I hate being surprised, but we gotta go in there."
"Let's go, guys," said Zack. Instantly, the color coded Rangers walked into the room. When they did, they heard a pop, and streamers fall around them.
"SURPRISE!" came several voices all at once. Instantly, they turned to their right... to face their friends, allies, and, in one case, family.
"No way," said Jason.
"They're here?" said Kim.
"Not real," said Tommy.
"UNBELIEVABLE!" said Aisha.
TBC...