Author's Notes: Here we go again. This one is more character driven then action driven. Figured the fighting could be put on hold for a little while. Again I hope you guys enjoy it and thank you to everyone for liking my story and giving me ideas.
Chapter 16: Plot Thickens
Reefside: Outskirts
Ashley and Billy moved into a small clearing; Ashley lowering Billy off her shoulder and onto the ground. They looked around, but saw no one in sight.
"Where's Tommy?" Ashley asked.
"He should be here."
"I'm here Billy." A voice came from the other side of the clearing.
"Tommy? Is that you?"
A person stepped out from where the voice originated. Billy's eyes widen while Ashley had a confused stare.
"Well you're technically right." Said the voice.
"Is that….?"
"The Green Ranger." Billy finished.
"You have to be careful who you talk to nowadays." Green Ranger said as he walked toward the two. "Well enough of the formalities. I'm here to get you Blue Ranger."
"Not if I can help it! Let's Rock…"
Ashley was cut off by energy released by the Green Ranger's weapon. Ashley dropped to a knee, but immediately kicked down by the Green Ranger. She rolled from his attack and got back to her feet, adopting a defensive stance.
"Really? You're going to try and fight me? Alright fine. I could use a little amusement."
Green Ranger ran at Ashley and threw a punch. Ashley blocked it and countered with a sweep to the leg. Green Ranger jumped over her and got Ashley into a full nelson. She struggled to break free. As she break the Green Ranger's grip, he put her into a headlock and proceeded to choke her. Ashley fought him off as hard as she could, but the event s earlier that day had weakened her severely. Things started to go black. Ashley knew she was losing consciousness, but fought it. Green Ranger tightened his grip on Ashley.
"Yes, that's it. Don't fight it. Accept it."
Ashley couldn't fight it any longer. She blacked out completely and fell limp. Green Ranger threw her to the ground.
"Good. She won't bother us for now."
Green Ranger walked over to Billy.
"You're coming with me, Blue Ranger."
Reefside: Industrial District
Eric and Ryan stood facing Merrick. They were relaxed, even after the tough battle they'd just fought.
"What are you doing here?" Eric asked his one-time comrade.
"I go where the wind tells me. And the wind lead me here." Merrick answered.
"So in other words you knew we were having our asses handed to us."
"I wouldn't put it that way, but pretty much."
"Anyways, thanks for showing up when you did." Ryan said outstretching his hand toward Merrick.
"Not a problem." Merrick said as he accepted Ryan hand shake. "Rangers always help each other."
"Speaking of which, we need your help." Eric said.
"What is it?"
"Well looks like some guy is messing around with my old team's stuff from the future."
"He used it to bring a few evil rangers from the past to our time to cause chaos."
"They've got their own megazord and one of the Dino Thunder Ranger team's megazords."
"A few of us are here to help them out, but currently we have no zords to used."
"But now that you're here, I think the Predazord could be a major help."
Merrick stood there staring at the two, taking all the information in.
"Well? What do you say?" Eric asked.
"I'll help you."
Eric and Ryan smiled.
"Great, thanks man."
Reefside: Outskirts
Tommy was racing through the trees as fast as he could. His communicator started beeping.
"Go ahead." Tommy said as he continued to run.
"It's Hayley. I've been tracking Billy and one of the Space Rangers since he showed up, but…"
"But what?"
"I lost Billy's signal and the Space Ranger's signal hasn't moved in a while. Something's wrong."
"Thanks Hayley. I'll be there soon."
Tommy ran with more determination. He knew something was wrong and knew he had to get there soon.
"Wish I had Conner's Power, then I'd be there in no time."
He ran for what seemed like an eternity when he finally reached the clearing.
"Alright Hayley I'm here."
"The Space Ranger should be somewhere nearby."
Tommy surveyed the area and noticed a person lying nearby. He ran over and found a young women dressed in a gray uniform lying unconscious.
"Ashley? Ashley, wake up! Wake up!" Tommy said as he shook her. Ashley wouldn't wake up however. "Hayley, I found the Space Ranger. It's Ashley. She's unconscious. I'm bringing her back to the lab."
"Alright, I'll be ready for you. Any sign of Billy?"
"No."
"I'm sorry Tommy."
"We'll find him."
Mesogog's Lab
Mesogog was in a fury. The three remaining Psycho Rangers stood nearby.
"Another one has been destroyed! You psycho rangers aren't as powerful as I once thought!"
"It's not our fault! The rangers are getting smart!" Psycho Red said.
"Then get smarter than them!" Mesogog said back. "If one more of you is lost then I'll destroy the last two of you myself!"
"You can't do that!" Psycho Red shouted.
Mesogog turned to Psycho Red and ran close to him, his face an inch away from Psycho Red's.
"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do!"
Psycho Red backed away from Mesogog toward the other Psycho Rangers.
"Leave me." Mesogog told them calmly.
The Psycho Rangers left the room while Elsa entered.
"Master."
"What is it Elsa?"
"Power to the portal has reached the half way mark. The psychos are performing at a higher level than I expected."
"How much longer will it take to fully power the portal?"
"Only three more battles with the rangers. Two if they use their spiked form and one if the Red Ranger uses his Battlizer."
"Excellent. What of the Green Ranger? Have you been keeping track of him?"
"Yes but…"
"But what?"
"He disappears every now and then. I can never track him when he does it."
"Try harder. We must know what he is up to. It looks like you were right about him Elsa. We cannot trust a ranger."
Unknown Location
Billy awoke in a dark room. He started to stand and realized he had no trouble standing. His ankle surprisingly was healed. He looked around, but nothing else was in the room, at least nothing he could see.
"Hello. Anyone there? Hello!"
Billy continued to look around.
"Hello Billy."
Billy turned around and was faced by the Green Ranger. He swallowed hard, not knowing what to expect.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to help me."
"Why would I help you?"
"If you don't help me, then you can say good bye to your precious friends. I can do worse then what I did to the other ranger."
Billy stepped back. He considered fighting his way out, but he was powerless and out of practice plus the Green Ranger had already taken down an active ranger.
"Fine. What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to fix these."
The Green Ranger pointed to his right. Large flood lights sprang to life, illuminating the area. Billy could now see the area more clearly. The room he was in was full of rubble and wreckage. Judging by the debris, Billy suspected it used to be a hanger of some sort. Billy then looked at what the Green Ranger was pointing at.
"You found those!" Billy said as his eyes widened.
"Yes and now you're going to make them operational and under my control."
Reefside: Tommy's House
Hayley was busy at the monitors, trying desperately to locate Billy's signal. She expanded the search beyond Reefside's city limits.
"Where could he be?" she said to herself. She expanded the search radius to Silver Hills. "Well that's where all these events started. Might as well try."
Tommy came into the lab through the vehicle bay. He dismounted his ATV and picked the unconscious Ashley up toward the small bed that was previously made up for Trent.
"Hayley, could you give me a hand."
Hayley walked away from the computer and helped lower Ashley onto the bed.
"Is she alright?"
"I think so. She's just out cold. Whatever it was that got Billy, did quite a number on her."
Tommy demorphed back to his civilian form and took a seat nearby. He was panting heavily.
"The question is are you okay?" Hayley asked.
"I'll be fine. Just exhausted from the constant battles these past few days."
"Well you should probably get some rest soon or you're going to burn yourself out."
Before Tommy could reply, his communicator started beeping.
"Go ahead."
"Tommy its Jason. Is everything fine? Did you find Billy?"
Tommy hesitated. He knew he had to tell Jason, but wasn't sure how he'd react to one of his oldest friends being missing.
"I'm sorry Jason. He wasn't there. Someone has taken him."
"Damn it!"
"It's alright Jason. We'll find him. Head back to the lab and we'll debrief."
"Alright. Me and Wes are on the way."
Tommy lowered his communicator and turned back to Hayley.
"So how's the search going?"
"Well…"
"Not good huh?"
"I'm sorry Tommy, but so far there is no trace of Billy. I'm expanding the search, but the farther I make it go, the longer it will take to scan the area."
Tommy lowered his head. Hayley moved closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey. Don't worry, we'll find him. It's not like it's the first time a ranger has been kidnapped."
Tommy gave a little laugh and looked up.
"Are you trying to say I'm old?"
"What? No. What would give you that idea?"
"Maybe the fact I've been on three other teams and have dealt with rangers being kidnapped before."
"Well… I… Okay. You're old. Deal with it. But think of it this way. With age comes experience, so I'm sure you'll figure something out with all your experience."
Tommy laughed a little. He knew Hayley was right. She always was. Maybe that's why she was the brains behind everything the Dino Rangers have.
"Thanks Hayley."
"Not a problem. Now, back to business."
Reefside: Downtown
Trent, Conner, Ethan and Kira were demorphed and walked away from where they had finished Psycho Black. They tried to make themselves look inconspicuous, dodging civilians and clean-up crews.
"Well that was… not as hard as I thought it would be." Ethan said.
"I know, me and Kira easily took down that Psycho Ranger." Trent said.
"Speak for yourselves. I had a tough time with the red one. Would have been a goner if not for Super Dino Mode." Conner complained.
"Well then maybe you shouldn't be so cocky during a battle." Kira quipped.
"Me cocky? Please, why would the Red Ranger be cocky?"
"You just answered that question yourself."
All the teens expect Conner laughed. Conner stopped walking and stood confused.
"What? I don't get it?"
Mesogog's Island
Mesogog was still talking with Elsa about the Green Ranger. As they spoke, Mesogog was overlooking his time portal.
"There must be something we can do to keep the Green Ranger in check."
"Perhaps we could send him back to his time and deal with the rangers using the remaining Psycho Rangers."
"No. The portal still does not have enough power to send an individual through time. But that does give me an idea on who to bring forth next and I no longer need a life signature for it."
"It is good that portal has enough power to do that."
Mesogog nodded in agreement and looked back at his portal.
"Thanks to those rangers, I can now summon who I please. And I have a group already picked out."
Unknown Location
Billy was busy looking over and fixing what the Green Ranger wanted. He was not sure where to start and just fixed what looked to be broken.
"How did he find these? Better question is how did he move them?" Billy thought to himself.
Nearby in a different room, Green Ranger looked over Billy. He slowly paced back and forth, keeping his gaze on Billy through an old monitor. The room he was in was as bad as the other, littered with rubble and debris. Old support beams had fallen through the ceiling and were now braced against the floor.
"I'm surprised this place is still standing." The Green Ranger thought. "Even some of the old viewing screens work. Looks like that explosion I was told about didn't completely cripple this place."
Billy was lifting off a panel when something caught his eye. He put the panel down and walked toward something on the wall. As Billy got closer he could make out the details a little more. It was an old sign bolted nest to a door, which was sealed off by large piles of debris. He saw what looked to be lettering on the sign. Most of it was covered by dirt and dust.
-e- -o- -a-g- -y
Billy went to wipe away some of the dust when a voice boomed through the area.
"Don't think of even touching that sign or else you won't live long enough to find out what it says!"
Billy backed his hand away and stepped back.
"Why won't he let me know where I am? It's not like I can contact Tommy." He thought.
Billy thought about it for a moment, but decided to not worry about it just yet and went back to work.
Reefside: Outside Tommy's House
Wes and Jason had arrived in front of Tommy's house. They stopped by Wes and Eric's truck to take a quick breather.
"Forgot being a ranger takes a lot out of you." Wes said, leaning against his truck.
"At least you're semi-active. I haven't been a full-time ranger for eight years." Jason said with a small laugh.
"Yeah, you old timers need to keep up." Wes joked.
"It may be old school, but it gets the job done. Anyways Tommy wants to speak with us inside."
"Alright, I'll be there in a second."
Jason walked into Tommy's house while Wes went to the back of his truck. He opened it and reached for a small briefcase. Opening it, Wes grabbed what looked to be two small antennas. He set them up and instantly a small screen appeared between them. After a few seconds, a video feed came through. On the screen was a man wearing a white jumpsuit. His hair was green and he had a small gem in his forehead.
"Wes? Hey, how's it going?" the young man said enthusiastically.
"Things could be better Trip, but I've got a problem."
"Does it have something to do with time portal?" Trip, the Green Time Force Ranger, answered in a more serious tone.
"It does. Maybe you could fill in some blanks for me."
"Alright. Time Force has been noticing some deviations in the time line."
"What kind of deviations?"
"Well since people are being pulled from the past into the future, events in the past have been proceeding much differently than how they should be."
"Okay, but how come we haven't noticed these changes?"
"From what we can gather, the time portal being used is very unstable. With each person brought through it a new variation of history is formed."
"In other words?"
"An alternate reality."
Wes froze for a minute, processing what Trip had told him.
"So you mean there is a world where no evil green ranger existed?"
"And a world with no Psycho Rangers. We've done experiments to see if we could visit these realities. We succeeded and saw how different these worlds are from our own."
"How different are they?"
"Well the one without the Psycho Rangers is pretty much the same expect for the first Pink Galaxy Ranger never being killed."
"And the one without the Green Ranger?"
Trip didn't speak. He tried to avoid not talking about it.
"Trip? What about the other reality?"
"We… don't really know…"
"What do you mean?" Wes started to become nervous.
"Everyone we've sent there… never came back."
"What do you mean never came back?"
"Two separate teams were sent to the reality. The first one was a research team, to document and examine the world. We lost contact with them two hours in. The second was a search and rescue team to try and find out what happened. They found the other team… there were no survivors. As they were about to head back they came under fire from something. We couldn't see what was going on, but from what we heard over the comms, it didn't sound good. Captain Logan shut down the portal to that world to stop whatever was on the other side from coming here."
Wes was horrified and saddend to hear that.
"I'm sorry Trip."
"Thanks Wes, but you have to stop whoever is using that time portal."
"We're working on it. I've got to go now Trip, I'll try to contact you soon."
"Alright Wes, see you around."
"And Trip…"
"Yeah."
"Tell Jen…" Wes was starting to break down. It hurt him to bring up Jen, especially after she went back to the year 3001 a second time. "…tell her I miss her. Can you do that for me?"
Trip could see Wes was barely holding it together and gave a firm nod.
"No problem."
The video feed cut off and the screen disappeared. Wes slammed his fist onto the back of truck. He missed Jen and felt horrible since they couldn't be together. Wes shed a small tear before regaining his composure. He packed up the communication device and headed for the lab.
Author's Notes: Another chapter down. Some of your questions have been answered and now you probably have a few more. The answers to those questions will be revealed…. when the time comes so be patient. Please Read and Review. Your thoughts and ideas are welcomed. The more I could add to the story, the better it could be. If anyone has ideas on what rangers I should bring back other than the ones I have established, it would be appreciated.
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