War of the Hidden
Disclaimer: Nothing that you can google belongs to me.
A/N: Please give me some kind of comment so I won't keep posting if no one likes it.
Ch. 5
"What's here in this house?" Nick asked as they dismounted the bike. It was 3:00am, and the two of them were worn out from their constant travel in the past two days. Nick didn't understand why they were stopping at this house in the middle of nowhere. Whoever the owner is, they obviously didn't like neighbors, or people, especially strangers that showed up in the middle of the night…right?
"It was our old house," Maxi replied, leading the teen up the steps and to the door. She dug into her pocket and fished out her keys, slipping the right one into the lock and turning. The door swung open to reveal darkness. Maxi stepped inside and Nick followed reluctantly.
"You guys didn't sell it when you moved?" he asked.
"Are you serious? With the Dino Lab as the basement? No way! How could we risk that?"
"Then what do you do with this house?"
"Hayley drops by to use the computers downstairs. She kinda house-sits…permanently."
Nick laughed. Maxi went back to the kitchen and opened the fridge as if she wasn't coming back to the house after moving away for two years, but was just returning home after a long day. Home. In all the places she had lived in, for some strange reason, Reefside felt like her true home. Maybe because it was the place where Tommy had brought them after the adoption had been finalized, making it the first house she lived in with a family.
"You hungry, Nick?" she called over to him.
"Uh, sure, what do you have?"
"There's bread and plenty of cold cuts. We can make a sandwich."
"Okay," Nick said, joining her in the kitchen, flicking on the lights as he entered.
"Man, this place has more food than it did when we lived here," Maxi said, tossing the sandwich ingredients on the island.
"You sure we should be eating this stuff?" Nick asked hesitantly, looking at the food. "I mean, it doesn't belong to us."
"Fine, if it makes you feel any better, we'll leave them ten bucks. That's more than enough for two rough sandwiches."
Nick agreed, saying that was fair, but before they even touched the bread, someone came in and prepared to attack. Luckily both had good instincts and jumped away in time.
"Whoa! Trent?" Maxi gasped when the lights flickered on and she saw who it was. A Latino teen was standing in the doorway, his black hair messy and his white clothing wrinkled. Obviously, he had been sleeping not too long ago.
"Lian?" he asked upon recognizing the little girl. "What are you doing here?"
"I can ask you the very same question," Maxi replied, her heart rate slowly decelerating.
"I live here now," he answered simply. "I emailed Dr. O….And knowing him, he probably forgot to tell you," Trent added when he saw her shock.
"He probably forgot to even check his email," Maxi replied and Trent laughed. All of Tommy's old teammates and Maxi liked to joke and harass Tommy about how forgetful he was. Maxi's dad was a fun man to bug, and she never got into trouble, he liked to give threats but he never really punishes anyone, Conner was the perfect example for that. If he had, the red-clad soccer star would be rotting under his grave by now.
"So what are you doing here?" Trent asked Maxi again as the three of them relaxed and took seats at the kitchen table.
"Well, I'm not just visiting, if that's what you're asking," the little girl replied.
"You're moving back?" Trent asked excitedly.
"Not exactly."
"Then what?"
"Let's just say, Dad needs to learn that you can't escape from being a Ranger, no matter how far you go."
After their little snack, Maxi and Nick finally got some sleep. They awoke at 11:00 by the sun creeping in through the blinds. Maxi couldn't believe how good she felt after a nap in her old room. There was something about this house that just relaxed her. She woke up her two friends and the three of them headed into town to find the others. Well, actually, Trent called them and told them to meet at Hayley's Café. Ethan had taken up a job working with Anton at Mercer Industries, some kind of electronic thing that his friends didn't understand. Conner had a soccer club for kids. Kira, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh right, she's touring," Trent remembered.
"Touring?" Maxi asked.
"Yeah, she's the opening act for this one famous singer, uh, what's-her-name," Ethan told her.
"There's a singer called What's-her-name?" Conner asked incredulously. Everyone sighed in exasperation. Ethan smacked him upside the head.
"I think her name was uh…Tanya, I think. Tanya S-something," Trent said.
"Tanya Sloan!" Maxi exclaimed.
"
Yeah, that's right," Trent nodded.
"I never saw you as a music person," Nick said to the little girl. "And I work at a record shop."
"Tanya's more than a singer," she replied. Then she laughed. "It's kind of ironic Kira's opening for another Yellow."
"Wait," Ethan said, lowering his voice. "Are you saying that Tanya Sloan is a…is one of us?"
"Zeo Ranger II—Yellow," Maxi answered. "When Aisha, the second Mighty Morphin Yellow found the Yellow Zeo Sub-Crystal in Africa, she decided to stay there to work with the animals, so she passed on the Ranger powers to a young girl there: Tanya." The guys were staring at her wide-eyed. "Why do you think there's no background information about her? She just showed up out of nowhere. Kat, the second Pink Mighty Morphin and Zeo Ranger I—Pink managed to persuade her parents to adopt her, to give her a place to stay."
"Wow," Conner said after a short silence.
Maxi nodded. "If Kira's with Tanya, then that means she should know. Uncle Jason said he was going to contact Zordon's team…but if you guys didn't know about Tanya, then she may not know either and then Tanya might not know about Kira…" Maxi trailed off and looked at Trent. "Can you call Kira? She is your girlfriend after all."
"All right," Trent agreed, fishing out his cell phone.
"Tell her to reveal herself to Tanya and follow her to Briarwod, we'll meet her there."
"Right," the White Drago Ranger nodded.
"Why are we going to Briarwood anyways?" Conner asked while Trent spoke to their missing teammate.
"I'll tell you later, I don't want to repeat myself too many times."
They nodded and remained silent. After finishing up with Kira, the five of them spoke to Hayley, Anton, and Elsa, telling the adults what they were doing and asking them to be on the watch for anything new. The three agreed, wished them good luck, and watched the teens head out of town.
Reefside wasn't far from Briarwood and they made it there in good time. They rushed off to Rootcore, not bothering to stop and check in with Rock Porium before running through the tree. As expected, everyone was already there, gathered around the large table. Nick's eyes grew wide, never had he seen so many people in Rootcore. If he didn't know better, he would've asked how they had all fit. Non-surprisingly, Tommy was in the front of the gang, literally pouncing on his daughter upon seeing her.
"Maximilian Lorelai Oliver!" he roared, lunging at her. It took three men to wrestle him down.
"Better start talking, Lori," Jason panted. He was practically sitting on top of Tommy. "I can't keep him down for long."
Looking down at her dad's face, Maxi swallowed nervously and quickly retold her tale to everyone present. They stared at her for a long time after she finished.
"Do you know what problem we're about to face?" Kat asked in her Australian accent. Maxi sighed and shook her head.
"Who teleported you here?" Tommy asked. He, Jason, Rocky, and Zack were sitting on the floor after their tussle. Maxi turned to him. That was one question she did know the answer to, one that she was absolutely sure about.
"Alpha."
Zordon's Rangers stared at her in shock, jaws hanging open. Adam was the first one to break the silence.
"Alpha? Are you sure?"
"Positive," Maxi nodded. "I can recognize that voice anywhere."
"But Alpha's--"
"On the Astro Megaship Mark II," Maxi answered, cutting off her dad, "Currently stationed on KO-35."
"We best call Andros then," Tommy said to the others. "See if he knows anything."
"You're right," Jason agreed, nodding. "Andros is usually the first to get the answers."
"Maybe it's because he's the one who shattered Zordon's energy tube," Rocky said.
"Or maybe it's because he's an alien," Zack added.
"Can we focus here?" Kim more or less demanded.
"You guys didn't contact Andros?!" Maxi exclaimed.
"I thought you were going to," Jason replied defensively. "You told me to get Zordon's Rangers and that you would get the rest."
"The Space Rangers are Zordon's Rangers! They spent their whole quest searching for him!"
"But they weren't picked by Zordon," Jason argued. "The rest of us were."
"I thought you understood the phrase 'round up the rainbow'?"
Trini sighed, shaking her head as she smacked her husband upside the head. "You should've contacted me instead," she said to Maxi.
"How was I supposed to know? Dad gave me this thing, but he never told me how to use it! I just pushed a button and Uncle Jase answered!"
Trini whirled around to glare at Tommy. He gulped visibly and backed away, raising his hands in innocence. "I forgot, sorry!" he cried.
"Seriously Tommy, this forgetfulness of yours," she replied. "It's like you've got young-people Alzheimer's or something."
"Dr. O's not that young," Conner pointed out, earning him a glare from his former teacher and a smack upside the head by Kira. Maxi had to smile at that, as did Ethan and Trent. It was good to have her back.
"Focus!" shouted Kim, Zack, Adam, Aisha, Kat, and Tanya. The bickering friends shut up at once and looked over to Maxi, who for some reason was being seen as the leader in this mission. Well, if that's how they felt, she might as well seize it.
"All right, Adam, contact the Space Rangers. Trini, Justin, Cam, Ethan, can you guys figure out how to teleport them here? Man, I wish we brought Hayley along."
"Hey, why'd you choose Adam?" Jason asked.
"He's the closest one to them besides Justin, who I need for something else," Maxi answered. "And no offense, but he's the most reliable one out of any of us who know the team personally."
"Thank you," Adam smiled.
"And don't forget to also contact the Galaxy Rangers on Mirinoi," Maxi reminded him.
"Right," Adam nodded and stepped aside to speak to the far away Rangers. Maxi sighed.
"It's a shame Billy can't leave Aquitar, we could sure use him now," Kim said, trying to figure out what the four geniuses were doing and coming up with nothing.
"We can call him for help though!" Maxi cried, just realizing. "Wes! Eric! Your computer please?"
The co-Commanders of the Silver Guardians smirked. "I knew it," Eric said, swinging a silver case onto the table and opening it (he knew it was only a matter of time before their source of future technology was called upon; he even made a bet with Wes to see how long it would be before they do so). They took out the rods and set it up beside Udonna's crystal ball. They pressed several buttons to start it up and stepped aside for Maxi. The little girl wasn't exactly a genius, but she did know what to do to contact the alien planets, Andros had taught her to do so; thanks to Justin, she had become very close to the Space team. In the beginning, Andros and Ashley were going to adopt her, but then it was discussed and decided that they should be married and that Tommy made a better choice because he was more financially stable and just a tiny bit older than the others two.
It took her a while, not being used to the future technology, but eventually, Billy's face appeared on screen. They filled him in and he said he would be there whenever they needed him, then he proceeded with helping Trini, Justin, Cam, and Ethan with the teleportation system. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the Space and Galaxy Rangers finally arrived in Rootcore.
"So what do we do now?" Cassie asked after they had been filled in. Everyone once again, turned to Maxi. She, herself, turned her back on them and looked up to the sky.
"Now, we wait."
Their wait wasn't long. Almost as soon as the words left Maxi's lips, the sky began to rumble. All 57 of them rushed outside to see what was happening. The sky that had been blue just a minute before was now completely covered with black clouds and blue lightning bouncing off them.
"Look!" several of them yelled, pointing upwards. They all looked…and gasped. There was a face there, in the clouds. When he spoke, the ground shook and thunder rumbled.
"Power Rangers!" he boomed in an almost sneering kind of way, "how nice of you to have gathered together. Now it saves me the time of hunting you down, one by one."
Maxi opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Luckily, now was the time her dad stepped in.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Tommy demanded.
"Me? I am Lord Atirdezz Asluper, your worst nightmare! I am here to destroy the Power Rangers and take over the world."
Jason smirked. "Do your worst!"
"Be careful what you wish for Rangers…" and the image faded. The black clouds followed and the blue sky reappeared.
"Well, at least he's normal," Tommy said.
"Yeah, not like that freak Mesogog," Ethan added.
"Hey!" Trent cried. He got defensive sometimes because his dad had been that villain's alter ego.
"Guys, I think we've looked over one very important detail," Justin said.
"What's that?" Danny asked. Maxi answered for Justin, for she had noticed also. When she spoke her voice was small, but grave.
"Atirdezz looked…human."
