Author Notes:
I have to say I've been floored by all the positive feedback this story got on its Prologue Chapter. I didn't expect a single review, much less seven (as of this writing). Thank you all who made this story a favorite, are following it, and especially those of you who left a review. Now, very quickly, let me tell you a few things about this story and myself (as it relates). I'm an old-school MMPR fan, since day one, but I will admit I haven't kept up to date with it. Once & Always dragged me back into the fandom (my cosplay outings aside).
And, this story, while it will make reference to other seasons and characters, its main focus will be MMPR, and, of course, the 2017 movie. Having said that, one example is SPD. I did see SPD (when it aired, so I don't remember it perfectly), but in this AU, while a version of SPD may still happen, it won't connect perfectly. This story branches off after O&A and becomes its own thing. Or at least, that's my intent. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter too, please share your thoughts with me when you get the chance!
Pairings: Minh / J.J. ~ Jason / Trini ~ Tommy / Kimberly
Disclaimer: I don't own Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Netflix's Once & Always, or Saban's Power Rangers (2017).
02: Aftershock
Angel Grove. One Week Ago… In 2023.
She had gotten used to being a Power Rangers, or at least that's what she told herself every time she held onto her late mother's morpher. Her Uncle Zack and Billy had told her stories of how it had been, back in the day, when the team first started out. Tales of her mother's, the great Trini Kwan's, heroic deeds and adventurous spirit. How she was the first to rush into action to save a friend (something that she carried on until the very end), how she'd have a witty remark for every situation and how she served as the team's official translator for whenever Billy got too excited with his heavy exposition and the others were unable to understand half of what he was saying. Or, any of it, as Kimberly would specify.
Minh Kwan had been told so much she would have wished she could have shared with her mother in life, if it were not for Zordon's stupid rules or that monstrous Rita Repulsa, who even after getting outright exorcised, still managed to hijack Alpha 8's body and terrorize the world once more. They had managed to stop her, for good this time she hoped, but at the heaviest loss of all.
But, still, Minh had managed to serve as a decent enough replacement for the Mighty Morphin's team as the new Yellow Ranger. She had received the blessing from the only other person to have ever done these powers, Aisha, currently in space alongside her squad, and once Jason, Kimberly and Tommy had recovered and had gone, as Jason likes to phrase it, "back to action", they too welcomed her to the team… more or less.
It's not she didn't understand it. She was sure her own mother would have been the first to be against of her being given too much, too fast, but…
Minh received the call from her communicator, having to excuse herself from class, and upon answering, was told by Alpha 9 that there was a disturbance in Angel Grove. As in, an actual attack. This wasn't just another training session or practice drill. This would be, after those battles against Robo Rita and her goons, the real thing. So, despite her nervousness, the eager teen quickly made sure she was somewhere where nobody would see her (another of the white face in a dome's rules) and quickly took the call to action.
She morphed, the surge of power enveloping her whole, as the material that made up her costume materializing onto her frame, as she allowed Alpha 9 to teleport her to the coordinates. This… she was less used to. She had teleported to the moon and back before, which aside from wondering how she had been able to breathe there before morphin (which she asked Billy and he gave her a very detailed explanation as to how Rita's fortress has this thing or another that would in theory allow for the right percentages of nitrogen and oxygen to be continuously reproduced and… an explanation which Kimberly had quickly cut short and just uttered "magic!"), but she sort-of realized that it must have been her adrenaline that had kept her laser-focused on her goal. Now? Teleporting halfway across the city in less than a second sort-of made her a little dizzy.
She shook it off a best as she could, as she noticed she was the last one to reach the spot, and she now currently stood in a line alongside the veteran heroes known worldwide as the one and only Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Jason Lee Scott, the Red Ranger and Team Leader, bold and powerful, wielding the power of the Tyrannosaurus.
Zachary Taylor, the Black Ranger, clever and brave, wielding the power of the Mastodon.
Kimberly Ann Hart, the Pink Ranger, graceful and smart, wielding the power of the Pterodactyl.
Billy Cranston, the Blue Ranger, patient and wise, wielding the power of the Triceratops.
Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger and other Team Leader, courageous and strong, wielding the power of the Dragon (among others).
…And then there was her, one Minh Kwan, the new Yellow Ranger, hoping she could be as fearless and agile as her late mother had been, wielding the power of the Sabertooth Tiger.
All six Rangers stood at the ready, facing down what Minh could only describe as some sort of horned skeletal monster who was wielding some sort of glowing dark blade and whose eye… sockets seemed to glow even brighter. A really freaky looking individual, and given how utterly wrecked the surrounding area looked, someone who needed to be stopped immediately, or people would be in grave danger.
"You picked the wrong planet to assault buddy!" Jason called out, pointing at the monster with his gloved hand, his boisterous voice as commanding as always. It made Minh instinctively readjust her posture.
"…No matter the world, there's always a force that intends to get in our way," the creature spoke, and its voice caused Minh to tense up. This thing sounded just as dangerous as it looked. And for a moment it seemed to be looking straight at her. No, past even her helmet. Directly into her worried eyes. "This world will fall like all the others, you cannot hope to stop what is to come… And look at that, one of you even smells a bit too green to be out on the field. Bad call, general, what good is a scared soldier?"
"Don't listen to him," Billy voiced to her, "They always do something like this, try to play mind games and such. You know you earned your place here."
"Yeah, and the one who should be scared is your crossbones!" her Uncle Zack quickly called out, his Power Axe on hand, aimed right at the monster's face.
"Mince your words glorified cop!" it barked back, "You are in the presence of Emperor Gruumm!"
"How many Emperors of Evil are there in the universe?" Kimberly said with a laugh, shaking her head.
"There's going to be one less soon enough!" Tommy declared, signaling to the others, and with a nod, the Power Rangers all charged, with Minh having to force herself to follow suit. These guys really had recovered, because she had trouble keeping up.
The so-called Emperor Gruumm wasn't faced, and upon seeing the Power Rangers charge at him, quickly took out a little ball-like instrument of some sort, which he just as quickly activated it. In no time, the entire block was filled with what appeared to be robotic grunts, all beeping strangely, and all taking fighting poses against the nearby Rangers.
"My Krybots army, kill every last one of them!" Gruumm ordered, signaling at the Rangers with his blade, and in what Minh assumed had been a collective beep of acknowledgement, the army of evil robots charged at the Rangers in turn.
The first unlucky batch of white-colored henchmen were met by six simultaneous flying kicks by the Rangers, sending them flying back and breaking down upon impact. Good thing to know that, in the decades since Rita had first sent the Putty Patrol against them, evil mooks were still decently fragile.
Jason took on about five of them at once, blocking their fists by parrying them at the wrists, and managing to do a double spin kick that took all of his opponents out within moments. To say the Red Ranger was strong would be an understatement. Minh could have sworn she outright felt the kick once it connected, and the poor metal bastards had been sent flying all over the place, crumbling into nothing once they crashed into a solid enough object.
Zack, of course, broke out his trademark, the hip-hop kido style, managing to effortlessly avoid several attack from the drones, and counter each one with perfect rhythm. She honestly loved watching her uncle fight, as he was so majestic (even if he didn't quite agree with that description), and with a few fight maneuvers easily confused for dance moves, cleared an entire area of those mooks.
Kimberly outright flipped right over a few of them, followed by then latching her boot onto one of their chests, then flipping backwards, smacking that guy upside the jaw and sending it to collide with a few others before she landed next to others, where she jumped again and smacked both of them at once with a double spread kick to their helmet-like face. "Gotta love it," Minh heard her say, and Minh just smiled. This woman really was quite a sight to see in action.
"These things are pretty decently complex," Billy noted, effortlessly dodging a few attacks, all the while examining a very offended mook. "I'm guessing these guys are from the Troobian Empire the SPA has been monitoring lately," he added, and without even looking, dodged two swings aimed at his head, before he just took out his blaster, and without looking back, shot the two into scraps, before he just went back to the poor one he had been examining, "Why are they all the way out here?"
"Let's ask him then!" Tommy roared, and like the dragon power he wielded, once the man set his sights on the villain in charge, there was no stopping him. He shouted out a series of battle-cries, something the rest of the team had told her she'd get used to because he did it a lot, and in no time, about a dozen or so of those things were just piles of rubble at his feet, as the Green Ranger was inches from Emperor Gruumm. "Like my partner said, wrong planet, your majesty."
"You die first," Gruumm growled at Tommy, and using the weird blade, slashed at him, only to be met with the Dragon Dagger effortlessly countering him. "What?!"
"You must be out of your mind, Milord," Tommy said with so much sarcasm that Minh could have sworn the skeleton monster thing outright frowned at him, but the Emperor was not done for, as it took aim at Tommy with its free hand, and emitting what seemed to be some sort indigo-colored electricity from the base of its arm, then firing it at Tommy at pointblank range.
Minh wasn't even able to cry out for the Green Ranger's safety, as Tommy of course was able to dodge the attack (somehow), and slash at the villain, managing to get a good cut right across its boney arm, followed by the two locking blades once more.
But, unfortunately, that lightning attack had passed right through the streets, and had blown up a nearby store's front entrance completely. The sound of civilians screaming could be heard at the shattering concrete and glass, signaling that innocents were in hiding there.
"Minh!" Jason called out quickly, and without even looking, gave a solid kick to the enemy soldier Minh had been just fighting, making it look too easy, causing her to pout at the sight, which thankfully the helmet hid. "I need you to make sure those people aren't injured. Can you get them out of here, we'll cover you?!"
"Yeah – Yes! On it!" Minh replied with a salute and all, before she ran towards the nearby building, as Jason proceeded to take out his Power Sword and slice cleanly through an entire batch of those Krybots, all to make way for Minh and to stop them from getting in her way.
Minh quickly reached the store, passing through the debris, and calling out, "Hey! I'm here to help! I'm the –!" she began, but no sooner had she spoken out, than a small group of around six people all came out of a corner, having been shielding themselves from the chaos with the nearby sales counter. Two kids, and four adults, one of them elderly, in need of a cane to walk, she noted quickly. They all cheered, especially the children, at the sight of the Yellow Ranger coming to save them. "It's going to be okay," she assured, "Let's get you all out of – Ah!"
Minh's plan was derailed when she felt a blast hit her back, causing her to tumble to the ground, the pain echoing through her body in moments. But she didn't have time to feel pain, because if something had shot at her, it could easily shoot at them, and this she couldn't allow. She flipped around, still on the floor, and took note of four of those Krybots entering the store, their left arms raised, likely with some sort of blaster on. She took four shots, hitting three of them right on the head, destroying them, but the fourth managed to duck at the right moment. Her blast hit the roof, while it lunged at her. Minh tensed up, feeling the thing take hold of her by the throat, and setting its own blaster right at her face. She desperately pushed its arm away, just in time, as it fired a blast right next to her helmet, creating a small crater on the floor, as she and it struggled against one another, with her locking her leg to push back against its metal frame, all the while it tried to line up a shot against her.
She heard the civilians cry out, and her eyes went wide. There were more of these robots coming into the store. How many were there?! She struggled as hard as she could, because while her suit could tank several of those shots (pain aside), she knew the civilians could not. But… But she wasn't that quick.
But she didn't need to. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, all six Krybots entering the store, and the one currently trying to strangle her, had their heads blown right up, or rather, skewered right through. Minh quickly got up, pushing the lump of metal that had been her opponent away, as she caught sight of her savior.
Kimberly, Power Bow in hand, quickly ran next to her, her hand on Minh's shoulder. "Are you okay?! Did they hurt you anywhere?! Do you need to return to the Command Center or –?!"
"Kimberly! Kimberly! Kim!" Minh embarrassingly called out, trying to interrupt the Pink Ranger, each time sounding less like a trained warrior and more like an embarrassed child. "I'm fine! I'm fine! It's okay."
"You're okay?" Kimberly asked again, softly pressing her own helmet against Minh's.
Minh couldn't help but smile, and she nodded. It made sense to her why this woman wasn't just her mom's work friend as she had initially assumed when she was a kid. Best friend. Sister even. It all made sense now.
"Okay, go ahead, take these people to safety," Kimberly, once she was assured Minh was alright, softly instructed, before she turned back towards the invading army, before she gave pause, and turned back towards the Yellow Ranger. And for the life of her, Minh could swear she could feel Kimberly's glare on her. "And what was it you called me?"
"…Kimberly?"
The Pink Ranger's body language outright shifted, and Minh felt a chill go up and down her spine.
"Aunty!" she quickly corrected, recalling an earlier conversation she had had with her. "I meant to say Aunty."
Kimberly then made a gesture of signaling to her visor with two of her fingers, before pointing them at Minh, letting her know she was "watching her", before she went back out into the battlefield, leaving a blushing Yellow Ranger behind. A Yellow Ranger with a job to do still.
"Sorry about that!" she told the far-off civilians, rushing over to them, and helping the old gentleman to move. She also remembered she needed to stop saying her team's real names when civilians were nearby, as while she was sure these six had not heard her yell out the Pink Ranger's name thanks to all the chaos outside, she couldn't risk it. Shaking her head, she focused. "Let's get you folks out of here, and please, if you can, carry the kids."
Two of the three adults each took hold of each of the kids, as the other adult, a young man not much older than she was, offered to help assist the older man, that way she could have her hands free if anything attacked, which she quickly agreed was a good idea, as she needed to avoid getting caught off-guard again. Minh then led the six through the back of the store, opening the locked backdoor with a solid kick, inwardly apologizing to the store's owner for the property damage, but someone's life always came first. As she exited, she had meant to scan the area quickly, but it wasn't needed, as no sooner had she forced the door open than had she come face to face with another small army of those Krybots.
"Wait here!" she instructed to the civilians, before she quickly closed the door, stopping one of the Krybots from going inside, before she kicked the robot away from it. There were five of them here, and not a single one of them was to go anywhere near the people she was protecting. So… "Power Daggers!"
As soon as she cried out to her trademark weapons, she felt the surge of power materialize onto her hands, as the two yellow daggers quickly appeared, and she took aim. She blocked an incoming attack from one of the Krybots, now sporting a sword it seemed. She parried that attack and another one from another sword-wielding Krybot, holding both of them back with each dagger, but noting how a third attempted to just skewer right through her, thinking she was being held in place by its buddies. 'Wrong call bucket-head,' Minh thought to herself, as she flipped around, allowing the robots own momentum to send them crashing against each other, just as the third ended up stabbing one of its friends. Minh then used her Power Daggers swiftly, slicing one of the mooks at the throat, the other right across its face, before she threw both daggers at the remaining two who had been moments away from firing at her with those blasters of theirs, skewering them both right to the nearby wall. She then grinned, and playfully added a, "Stick around…" for good measure.
Then she pouted. That pun had been good, but nobody had been around to hear her saying, so what was the point? Then she felt a chill. She turned, and she caught sight of a sixth, previously unseen Krybot emerging from behind an industrial dumpster, having set up a clear ambush for her. She inwardly panicked, her Power Daggers still adorning the nearby wall thanks to her prioritizing her gloating over her equipment, but she still reached for her Blaster. It was going to be tricky. Drop, roll, fire. All against an opponent with its finger on the trigger and her facing the wrong way. But, this is what a Power Ranger does…
Only, the Krybot didn't even get its shot out, and Minh was stopped from trying her maneuver when it got shot like five times in a blink of an eye. Minh just stared, before she turned, and noticed a flash of blue walk up to her.
"Bi – Hey!" she greeted, biting her tongue. 'Stop giving away their secret identities, Minh!' she inwardly added, as she looked up at Billy, Blaster on hand, having taken such careful shots at the Krybot despite Minh noting, that where Billy had been standing, by all accounts, Minh should have been blocking his view. And yet, as she saw the robot collapse, she could see how carefully the genius Blue Ranger had shot it. One shot right down the barrel of the thing's blaster-like arm, to stop the shot, another to the wrist, to change its aim on the account it could still fire despite the earlier shot, another to the chest, to push it backwards, and the last two to the face, one to take it down and the other to make sure.
"Are you okay?" Billy asked, and she could tell he was scanning her, making sure she wasn't injured. She blushed, she wasn't a little girl anymore.
"I'm fine," she said, and she inwardly winced, because she had sounded, again, like a child whining about getting gushed on. "I-I mean, I'm alright, don't worry Blue Ranger," she tried to use her adult voice, saluting Billy, before she proceeded to open the store's backdoor, as the civilians all rushed out on her signal. "Just getting these people to safety, thank you for the assist."
"…Anytime," Billy said with a nod, before he turned towards the six others. "You guys follow her instructions and you will be safe in no time, you are in good hands," then he turned back to her. "Go on Yellow Ranger, I've got your back."
"Thanks!" she said with a smile, before she shook her head and signaled to her group to follow her again. She paused for a moment, when she heard Billy clear his throat, and as she turned, he politely pointed to the nearby wall, where her Power Daggers where still stuck to. She blushed harder, bounced back, grabbed them, and went back to her escorting duties. The civilians, if they could tell she was still new at this or not, didn't voice it, which granted, they were probably far more worried about other things than about the new girl on the job. She was still able to guide them safely through the back-alleys until they reached a perimeter that the Angel Grove police had set up, with her only needing to shoot at two random Krybots that had attempted to stop her.
As soon as the civilians all got pass the perimeter, with the local cops all rushing to assist them, Minh allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank you so much!" she heard the woman she had rescued save, and she smiled. She gave the woman a nod, and soon enough the rest quickly all thanked her, including the two kids, who's adorable take on "Thank you Miss Yellow Ranger!" both spoken in unison, was almost too cute for her to handle. She blew them a kiss through her helmet, before one of the policemen approached her.
"Yellow Ranger, thank you, but we have a situation, are you able to assist?" he asked her.
"Of course!" she quickly replied, "What do you need?"
"It's the nearby bridge," he told her, pointing to the infrastructure. "The damage from these monsters seems to have damaged it greatly. I just received a report that it's moments from collapsing on the street below, and we have civilians on and under it."
"Got it!" she replied with a thumbs up, before she quickly began to rush towards the direction of the bridge. She knew she was fast, especially when morphed, but every second mattered, so she went to her communicator, "Alpha 9, do you have the coordinates to a bridge about to collapse in my area."
"I very much do!" Alpha 9 responded quickly, and she smiled.
"Can you teleport the people near it away?" she asked, still running towards it just in case the robot-buddy could not.
"Consider it done!" Alpha 9 replied, and she heard as he pressed a few buttons on his systems, before she saw a series of beams shoot up from the ground and, instantly, fly over her and past the perimeter.
"Awesome Alpha!" Minh said with a cheer.
"Aye-yi-yi-yi-yi!" she heard the Command Center android yell out. That couldn't be good. "There seems to be a family trapped inside their car thanks to the rubble from the bridge that has already come down! I can't safely teleport them out!"
Minh's eyes quickly went to the bridge, which was still a bit far from her, and she felt a wave of panic hit her before she tried her best to shake it off, "Okay, can you –?"
She just barely got her Power Daggers out in time to block a sudden attack from two Krybots who had jumped out at her from a nearby store's glass windows, locking blades with them, before she noticed another batch of Krybots rushing towards her from across the street. She so didn't have time for this!
"Minh! Are you alright?! Do you need me to send an S.O.S. call to another Ranger?!" she could hear Alpha 9 call out to her, his voice muffled by the fact that her communicator was currently inches from one of the Krybots sword. But she still felt slapped, even the robot was babying her. She then frowned, proceeding to kick one of the Krybots, hard, back into the damn store, since if it liked it so much he should at least buy something. She then used her now free hand to slice the other Krybot across the chest, before using the other hand to slash again, leaving a nasty "X" scar across its torso as it crumbled into nothing. She then turned to the small army charging at her, and she took her fighting stance…
…and they all got blasted into smithereens.
Minh's eyes were wide, as that had not been a volley of shots like Kimberly or Billy had done, but rather, she knew that attack well. And she turned to the side, and of course, there he was.
"Uncle Zack!" she said, this time not even bothering to hide her annoyance.
"Just backing you up," the Black Ranger said, his Power Axe still letting out a little smoke thanks to the massive shot it had just used to reduce at least a dozen or so of the Krybots into nothing. "Are –?"
"I'm fine!" she instinctively replied, before she caught herself and breathed. She knew none of them meant any harm in this. So she rephrased, "I'm fine Uncle Zack, I can handle these guys. And I need to go help a family that's trapped by the bridge, can you cover me?"
Zack seemed to look at her for a brief moment, but whatever argument he had, the man knew that arguing against this girl once her mind was made up was the equivalent of trying to convince Trini from doing something, so he relented. He nodded, and she quickly signaled Alpha 9.
"I'm good Alpha, can you please teleport me as close as you can to where that family is located?"
"Of course!" Alpha 9 replied, as she heard him press a few more buttons. "Yellow Ranger to the rescue… right now!"
And she had to steady herself, as one moment she had been looking at her uncle, decked out in his Black Ranger uniform, before a flash of light enveloped her, and in less than the blink of an eye, she was right next to the bridge, mere feet from a collapsed car that had a huge chuck of the bridge on it. She turned, quickly noticing that the bridge up above was motioning dangerously, and she did not like the crumbling sound it was making. Had that skull-faced monster just fired randomly to lure them out?
Minh still rushed towards the scene, reaching the car in seconds, and after scanning the scene before her, she pulled on the car door, outright ripping it off and tossing it aside, before she bent down, towards the family inside. It was a mother, and her young son. The boy had been crying, but his face did lit up the moment he saw the flash of yellow appear next to him. The boy's mother was hurt, knocked out, blood on her face.
"Mommy's hurt," she heard the boy said fearfully. And Minh…
Minh felt her body freeze.
It was just seconds, but in her eyes a thousand of things flashed, and she had to bite down on her own lips to avoid crying. She forced herself to snap out of it, to not compare this to anything else, before she reached out with her hand.
"Don't worry, you'll both be safe, I'm here now," she told the boy, "Give me your hand, and I'll get you out, and then I'll get your mommy out, okay?"
The boy just nodded, still sniffling. He couldn't be older than four, but he was pretty brave, managing to crawl through the wrecked car and take hold of the Yellow Rangers hand. She pulled him out carefully, and rushed out with him. He pressed his face against her chest, likely seeking out her body heat, or the suit's equivalent, and she felt herself melt. This alone was worth every hit she took.
She placed the boy down once they were clear from any danger from the bridge or the invading army, as she quickly ran back towards the car. She reached it in moments, this time taking off the driver's door, and carefully removing the seatbelt that the mother wore, before she took the injured woman onto her arms. Thanks to the suit, the woman was outright weightless, and Minh was able to rush towards where the little boy was without any major incident, just as she heard the bridge begin to give in.
"Okay, your mommy's going to be okay," she told the boy, as she slowly and carefully put the woman down on the ground, before she went back to her communicator. "Okay, Alpha, can you teleport them now, the woman needs medical –"
"Miss Power Ranger," the boy softly tugged at her suit, causing Minh to pause and turn to him. The boy pointed back to the car. "Buddy's still in there."
"Buddy?"
"Our puppy," the boy replied, and Minh felt a wave of chill hit her very spine. "I couldn't see him after the car got upside down, but-but…"
"I'll get him too!" Minh quickly assured, turning back to her communicator, "Alpha! Send them somewhere with medical assistance, and," she then turned to the little boy, "Send this little one Buddy once I get him, okay?"
"Affirmative!" Alpha 9 replied, and the little boy was able to smile with that reassurance, and in a moment, he was gone, alongside his mother, teleported away to safety.
Minh then rushed right back to the car, the outright pained roar that the bridge seemed to emit, signaling it was moments from coming down, echoed throughout, as Minh searched the entire care for any signs of a little doggie. "Here Buddy, Buddy, Buddy," she called out, before she felt a pair of little eyes looking at her, which she quickly took notice it was coming from under the passenger's seat. She placed her hand under, taking hold of the little animal that easily fit in her hand. Kid had not been lying when he said puppy. This little guy was no older than two months at most. She gently pulled, but the little guy seemed stuck. She frowned, moving to the side, ripping the car door off, again, before she pulled on the seat, revealing the puppy's leg stuck to some wiring. She quickly got him loose, and took hold of him. Buddy was shaking, his little tail in-between his legs, likely very afraid, but she'd make sure he was safe…
…Then she heard it. The bridge gave it, and she looked up, only to see it coming right down at her. She quickly bent down, shielding the puppy with her entire body, in her mind the question of whether or not a Ranger could withstand such force flashing briefly, before she felt… nothing.
She gave pause, her eyes slowly lifting, and the moment part of the concrete that made up the bridge began to fall onto her, a spinning white blade came out of nowhere, slashing all the debris away from her, and floating before her, before speaking, "Are you alright child?"
"…S-Saba?" Minh could barely get out. Then she turned, noticing how an entire section of the bridge was floating above her, inches from her, and it wasn't the Sword's doing. There she saw him. Now sporting his classic White Ranger suit, holding up the bridge with his hands, making it look doable. Making it look easy. "Tommy?!"
"Are you alright Minh?" the White Ranger asked, and she nodded. She deserved it at this point.
"I thought you were fighting that Emperor guy?"
"Jason asked for a switch," Tommy told her, before he signaled to the giant bundle of concrete and iron he was currently holding up. "This is a bit on the heavy side, that puppy okay?"
"Y-Yes! I'll get out right now and get him to safety!"
"Good. Once you are done there meet back up with us," Tommy instructed, and she just nodded. "It's time we finish this."
Minh nodded again, and ran past the debris and back to safety. Alpha 9 quickly teleported Buddy away, sending the little puppy right into the little boy's arms, immediately cheering the tyke up as both he and his mother were being tended to by the emergency responders. Minh then went back to her communicator, asking Alpha 9 if he could get her back to the scene where the evil guy was at, and the robot gave her an affirmative response, and as she got teleported back, she saw how effortlessly Tommy seemed to toss the piece of bridge aside, careful not to set it anywhere where it could hurt anyone, before he and Saba also teleported.
Minh reach the site first, landing right next to her team, currently comprised of Billy, Zack and Kimberly, as Tommy reached a few moments afterwards. The team had taken out all the Krybots it would seem, and Minh just starred in awe as she caught sight of Jason clashing swords against Emperor Gruumm.
"This is the end of the line!" Jason warned the criminal, who seemed to burn with ire.
"As if you could ever hope to – Gah!" the evil emperor got send flying away as Jason managed to flip around, using his sword to pin Gruumm's own blade onto the ground, while at the same time connecting both kicks onto his skulled face. "Curse you, damn it all, die!" Gruumm cursed, as the same electrical current began to form around his arm, as he took aim at the Red Ranger. But Jason was ready. He knew dodging meant more collateral damage, and there had been enough of that already. So when Emperor Gruumm shot his lightning attack at Jason, the Red Ranger blocked it with his Power Sword, locking his blade with both arms, holding it firm, not just blocking the attack entirely, but also carefully sending the resulting sparks into the ground. "W-What?!"
"Tommy! Now!" Jason called out, and before Gruumm even knew what that meant, Tommy had already rushed the scene, using Jason's shoulder as a jumping-off point, and striking down on Emperor Gruumm, Saba first, causing the evil tyrant to panic and attempt to shield himself with his own blade.
"Hiyaaa!" the White Ranger let out his war-cry, and in seconds, broke Gruumm's own dark blade in two, as well as left a rather nasty cut against the creature's own torso, causing him to tumble over.
"Let's bring an end to this!" Jason quickly ordered, and held his Power Sword up high, which gave the other four the cue that it was time to bring their weapons together. Minh outright held off on squealing in delight, as this would be the first time her seeing this in action. She joined the others, as all five weapons let out an electric spark of pure power, before they each called out their own.
"Power Axe!" Zack called out, motioning to his axe as if he were loading a gun, before he threw it into the air.
"Power Boy!" Kimberly joined in, tossing her bow at the floating axe, which connected to it by the cannon.
"P-Power Daggers!" Minh tried to keep up with them, knowing she was next, and just threw her daggers at the conjoining weapons, hoping that that was enough. Evidently, it was, as her daggers connected to the bow, with the handles facing outwards, as if meant to be extra firepower.
"Power Lance!" Billy cried out, as he separated his lance into two (which effectively made it look more like a pair of sais in Minh's eyes) and they also joined the transforming weapon, taking their place right next to Minh's own daggers.
"Power Sword!" Jason concluded, jumping up, and placing his own sword right across the barrel of the Power Axe and the others, amplifying the firepower tremendously. As he did this, Emperor Gruumm got up, and his eyes flared, but despite his power and pride, he still knew. He knew he did not want to be at the wrong end of whatever was going to come out of that thing.
"This world should not have defenders this strong!" he called out, before he activated a device near his wrist. "You've not seen the last of me!"
Then, just as Jason landed next to his team, all ready to fire at him, the Emperor teleported away, leaving the battlefield entirely. Tommy, having stepped back to avoid getting caught in the blast, clenched Saba's hilt tightly, glaring at the vanishing villain.
"Did he just bail before we finished?" Kimberly just asked, as the once chaotic streets were now utterly silent. "…Rude."
The Power Rangers all just stood by, as they turned to Billy, who after giving the surrounding a scan, noted that he had in fact gotten away. Not that it changed their priority. Jason then instructed the team to search out for any more civilians, before they were to return to their new Command Center. The team all gave the affirmative, and Minh followed suit, which resulted in a very brief search and rescue mission, as, fortunately, nobody else had been caught in the crossfire, and soon enough the police was on the scene, and the Rangers were able to teleport away…
/
Back at the Command Center, right underneath Billy's company, unknown to any who was not a Ranger themselves, the team of six were currently debriefing the situation at hand.
Minh, after having a little trouble removing her helmet (damn thing got stuck to her hair), listened in, as Billy explained who the likely culprit was, and how the technology he had used to teleport in and out of Earth was new to him, but not to others, which was why the six gave their other teammates a quick video call.
"Did you say Emperor Gruumm?" Aisha said through the monitor, as she, alongside Adam and Rocky, stood by with their SPA uniforms. "That tyrant made it all the way out there?"
"He did, and caused quite a lot of damage while doing so," Jason affirmed.
"I was able to catch a very brief signal of the teleportation system he used to get in-and-out of our planet," Billy noted. "I'm hoping to conjure up some type of device that could theoretically block his signal, but it's going to be a bit tricky with what little I've got."
"We'll send you all the info we have on this guy," Adam added, motioning to a nearby screen of his, "As well as the collective as a whole. If the Troobian Empire is already setting its sights on Earth, then we best be all on the same page."
"And, hey…" Tommy quickly cut in, "We never quite got to thank you guys for saving us from Robo Rita."
"Yeah! You guys helped us heal from her toyfication or whatever it was she turned us into," Kimberly added, offering the trio on the far ends of space a smile. "And especially you Rocky, love the new outfit by the way."
"I had to take all my vacation hours, plus a leave of absence back at the fire station just to join these two across the cosmos," Rocky proudly boasted, showcasing his new work attire. "I mean, how am I to say no, after all, they'd be lost in space without me."
"Right, we just asked if you wanted to come along and you jumped at the chance," Adam said with a grin.
"Show a man a spaceship and he's five again," Aisha added, side glancing Rocky knowingly, who just lifted his arms as if saying "can you blame me?", all with a knowing grin plastered all over his face.
"I have received Adam's report," Alpha 9 quickly told Billy, signaling to their systems.
"Amazing how we can receive entire files light years away in an instant but a light rain knocks our internet right out," Zack playfully added, which caused the rest of the Rangers to just grin and shake their heads. "What? You all know it's true."
"Anyways, thank you for all of this, and all that you did, as Tommy and Kim have said," Jason said, turning back to the trio. "May the Power protect you guys."
"And you guys as well," Aisha replied, smiling, before she turned to Minh, "And aren't you quiet, everything okay, sweetie?"
"Oh… yes, I'm fine, no worries," Minh said, nodding at the woman who she felt probably deserved the Yellow Power Coin more than she did, but she had her blessing, so she wasn't about to start going over that now. Still, with information and well wishes exchanged, the Rangers soon ended the communication, allowing Aisha, Adam and Rocky to continue on with their work, as they then would tend to theirs. But, first, the five elder Rangers all felt a pout being aimed their way, courtesy of one Minh Kwan, and… they kinda suspected they knew why. "…So, anything you guys need to tell me?"
"Um…" all five of them seemed to voice in unison, which really left no doubt on just how deep their friendship was that even their words and body language was so similar at times. Too in-sync. "…I take it you noticed a little, excessive backseat Ranger-ing today?" Jason managed to ask, as the team all stood besides him, all of them with their eyes on Minh, including Alpha 9. The girl in question just nodded, and Jason tried his best, "Yeah, about that. Far be it from us to make you feel we don't know what you're capable off. You helped save half of us, and plenty other Rangers, after all. It's just…" he gave pause, turning to the team for a moment, "…that when I sent you to assist the civilians, well, Kim…"
"…I understood he meant me!" Kimberly quickly added, as soon as she noticed Jason begin to talk more and more with his hands, which usually meant he had no idea what to say next. "Which is why I went in there, since I didn't know you already had things in order, and, that…"
"…Quite," Billy then said. "As per my own interjection, I was following the group of those Troobian Empire robotic henchmen who had sneaked off from the battlefield, and I came across you taking care of business, and I only jumped in with the last one, not because I was worried you wouldn't get your shot off first, but just as a precaution in regards to the civilians on the other side of that wall. Once I was sure you were good, I returned to the others and told them you had everything handled out back –"
"Back!" Zack quickly interrupted, clapping his hands together as if given a freebie all the sudden. "Billy here said you had things covered out back, but I understood that he had said "Zack", so I rushed over thinking I was the one who needed to go assist. Had I known you were there I wouldn't have bothered at all."
"…And that led me to… to…" Tommy tried, but Minh just raised her hand and gave a little wave.
"Guys, I'm not mad, and I… understand," she admitted. "You each saved me or helped save the civilians, at each point that I could have realistically come up short. So I'm not mad or calling any of you out. You all have been doing this far longer than I have, evidently."
The five all stared, each of them seeming to struggle with what to say, before Tommy outright let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, cause I really had no excuse," he admitted, with a laugh, before Kimberly smacked him on the shoulder.
"Still… Minh, your observations are not untrue," Jason said. "Last thing we want to be is helicopter mentors. It… It takes time for us to get used to this, to this new dynamic, and one that…" he paused, looking briefly around at the group, "We will have to continue getting used to as it evolves further, but rest assured, we are grateful that it is you donning the Yellow Power Ranger suit, and we fully believe in you. I do hope you can believe in us when we say this."
And Minh did, every word, but it didn't actually make her feel all that much better in the larger scheme of things…
/
About an hour or so had passed, the Rangers had unmorphed, and Billy had (or course) managed to do the impossible task of reading and compiling all the useful information the SPA had sent them and was currently explaining it all to the rest of the team. It was… a bit harder to do so without Trini around, they all inwardly noted, but they pressed on. Duty and all of that. The adults all had to resist the urge to tell Billy to stop and bring Minh in, since she was pretty good at speaking his language, but none of them knew how to ask without offending Billy (who was trying his best to keep the technical talk to a minimum) or Minh (so she wouldn't feel they called out to her only for translations), so they stone-faced it.
Minh, waiting for the meeting to conclude, sat on the floor of the inactive training room, her eyes on her mother's morpher. She had not meant to sound as bratty as she knew she had sounded. The team had been nothing but supporting, and not one moment had they intervened that she had not needed them to. Still, her frustrations were less about them babying her, and more, well, her not being good enough where they felt they needed to. So much for living up to her mom's legacy and all that…
"I know that look," she heard a voice speak up, and she quickly raised her head, meeting Tommy as he walked into the arena. "Man, Billy really outdid himself. This looks ripped right out of a comic book."
"You read comics?"
"I was a kid in the 80's," Tommy explained with a laugh, "The X-Men were my guys, no lie," he explained, as he motioned and took a seat right next to her. "Didn't think I'd turn out to be a superhero when I grew up though."
"Same," Minh replied, "I'm a bigger Supergirl fan myself. Oh, and Stephanie Brown as either Spoiler or Batgirl, and of course…!" she continued, getting overly excited, before she caught herself, cleared her throat, and decided to try and change the conversation, "…But what was it that you just said, about my look?"
"I've sported that same look in my eyes, asking myself over and over if I am indeed worthy or not of being on this team. Of being a Ranger," Tommy expressed, and Minh's eyes couldn't be wider. Was he serious? Him?
"Are you serious?" she couldn't help but blurt out, "You are Tommy Oliver, the greatest Power Ranger, in like, ever. Heck, you are The Power Ranger. You've lead entire battalions of other teams, each with capable leaders, and they follow your every command without any hesitation. You are their best fighter, excellent tactician, and –"
"And like you, I wasn't chosen by Zordon," Tommy interjected, and when Minh gave pause, finally understanding where he was coming from, he smiled. "I've heard all those praises being flung my way, and other than making me increasingly nervous because I need to then try and live up to those expectations, I still don't fully agree with it. Every team I've led have been exceptional, and they have managed just fine before me, and just fine afterwards. And our team, these guys, I couldn't replace a single one of them."
Minh looked on, as Tommy signaled to the room where all the others still remained.
"I know Jason and I have had our rough patches at times," Tommy explained, "And our fight record, much to my frustration, remains officially at a draw, and while I may be a good leader, that man, I would follow to the outright dark realms if he just says the word. Because I trust him with my life, and I know that if I come up short with a plan, he'll have one, and it'll work. Plus, the only reason I am even here is because, to be frank, he did sort-of kicked my ass back in the day. So world's best Ranger? He could easily put that claim to the test."
"I-I wow," Minh could only say. That sounded very genuine. Too much even.
"And it's not just him," Tommy added, "The amount of times we would have been screwed if Billy didn't come up with gadgets I can't even begin to understand how they work, much less how to make them, are a number I'm sure only he can count up to. The man is a genius without compare, and to this day, there he is, outright schooling us on what's to come and how to prepare. And your Uncle Zack? Did he ever tell you, that before Rita chose me to be her Green Ranger, she had originally wanted him?"
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah," Tommy said with a nod, "She had wanted to play on his insecurities, the fact that he was just a good a fighter as Jason, yet wasn't the Team's Leader. Any lesser man would have fallen to her spell, like I did, yet he didn't. The mental fortitude that takes I can't even begin to comprehend, and when a young girl needed him, he didn't think twice in dropping everything to take care of you. Because that's what true heroes do."
"Yeah," Minh was no smiling, "He's great."
"And Kim, man, Kim's…"
"Aunty," Minh quickly corrected, "I'm afraid what she'll do to me if she catches me calling her anything else."
"See, that's who she is," Tommy explained. "Even in the heat of battle, while all of us are with our backs to the wall, her positivity and witty remarks never failed to lift the mood. A quirky comment, a corny joke, a little laugh, and a hopeless fight didn't seem so hopeless after all. She's, much like her name, the very heart and soul of our team. And I wouldn't have been able to break free of Rita's spell without her."
"Hmm…" Minh voiced with her lips shut. She had heard a thing or two regarding the past relationship between Tommy and her Aunty, and she would give anything to hear all the details, but she refrained.
"And everyone else, there all here for a reason," Tommy continued, "Rocky, Aisha and Adam assisted us even before they got their powers, and look at them now, still assisting us, out in space, and ready to answer the call whenever it is needed from them, no questions asked. And Kat, well, what could I possibly say about her that you didn't see for yourself?"
"She's awesome," Minh noted, "And you two fell for each other almost at first sight, right?"
"I did," Tommy admitted, "She… had other intentions, more or less, but there was also a little common ground for us there. Which goes to show you how, even at breaking free of evil's control, I'm far from the only Ranger to manage that," he explained, before he turned towards the Sabertooth Tiger morpher on the floor. "…And your mom, Trini, she went even beyond any of this. I want to say, with utmost certainty, that I truly believe, that everyone who wears, or has worn, a Ranger suit would lay down their life for a comrade without a second though. And I hope I can do the same if the situation ever calls for it… But Trini, she didn't just say it, she proved it. Before Jason, Zack, Kim or I could even react, she saved Billy from Robo Rita, and I cannot think of a more heroic deed than that…"
"Well," Minh tried, her voice slightly cracking. "I-It is mom after all."
"Exactly," Tommy assured her, smiling. "Thirty years on the job, and Trini still showed us all what a hero looks like. So, Minh, the fact that we tend to worry about you a bit more than we should I know can feel annoying, but it's not that we don't trust you, rather, we have such high expectations of you that we all want to make sure you get to reach that potential, no matter what. And rest assured, that if you feel that living up to the legacy your mother left behind feels impossible at times, rest assured," he expressed, and signaled to himself, then to where the others were, "You're not the only one struggling to match it."
At this she smiled, deeply, and few tears ran down her cheeks. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Tommy assured, then, he seemed like he wanted to add something, but his communicator beeped, and he didn't even need to look at it, as it seemed he knew what it meant. "Say, can I introduce you to someone?"
"Oh… sure?" Minh voiced, confused, as Tommy got up and assisted her up as well. She took her morpher, and followed him back to the main area of the Command Center. She tilted her head, puzzled, as if he was going to introduce someone to her here then it meant it was another Ranger, no?
Then, in a flash, two people teleported to the Command Center. One of them she didn't need to be introduced to.
"Kat!" Minh quickly went in for the hug, as the woman, quickly took the girl into her arms.
"And there she is, how's it going sweetie? How's our great Yellow Ranger doing? I saw the news, they were singing your praises," Kat told her, and she just blushed lightly. When she asked a soft, and embarrassed, "Really?" Kat quickly added, "There's a little boy and his little puppy very happy to share with the world how you saved him, his mom, and the puppy. And I could not be prouder."
As Kat then proceeded to brush Minh's hair back, causing the girl to just stammer in place, wanting to say she was already too old to continue getting treated like this, but she also enjoyed the head pats, so she said nothing.
"The news say anything about me?" Tommy asked, laughing a bit, as Kat pretended to have to think up something. They shared a laugh, then a quick kiss, which made Minh's blush grow (she was already seventeen, the same age her mother had been when she had gotten her first boyfriend, but that was still a topic that still got her flustered), but then she remembered that two people had been teleported in. The other person, a young man, whose age seemed to be close to hers, was busy looking around the Command Center, staring at everything in awe. "Hey, come here for a sec," she heard Tommy say, and she realized he wasn't talking to her, but to the boy. The boy turned, and she instinctively bit her lip. Who…? "This is our son, J.J. Oliver," Tommy introduced, and Minh eyes went a bit wide. Of course, that made so much sense.
J.J. offered her a smile, and Kat quickly motioned towards him, her hands on his shoulders.
"He's here for a little tour and for a few other things, but, while I know you both have technically already met when you were kids, I mean, you did go to her sixth birthday party after all," Kat explained, and it seemed neither Minh nor J.J. recalled seeing each other there, "But it's important you guys get an official introduction to one another. J.J., this is…"
/
Angel Grove. Two Hours Later… In 2017.
"Minh Kwan?"
Minh raised her head, having been struggling not to throw her broken phone to the ground out of frustration. She had ended up in a makeshift medical area made up of tents and trucks, all set up for this emergency that the government itself seemed to have never faced before. Everybody was shocked at the presence of giant monsters and stone men and colored superheroes and their dinosaur mechs. Minh had found her way here after whoever these new Rangers (if they were even Power Rangers at all) had appeared and had managed to deal with the golden monster and its minions.
She had been there, amongst a sea of people, all looking as the five Zords had fought the rock monsters, then attempted to fight the golden giant, before they had somehow merged into what she assumed was a Megazord (again, she wasn't sure, because she only got a good look at it briefly, and she couldn't tell where each Zord connected to the others). Then the Megazord had danced, much to the cheers of the crowd, and to her confusion. Were these guys that juvenile?
Still, after arriving here, finding out that during her tussle with the rock things her phone had gotten busted up, and asking around, getting more and more worried with each response she got, she had all but given up when she heard someone call out to her. She got up, grabbed her few things, making sure she had her morpher tucked away, as she approached the lady asking for her.
"…Yeah?"
"Oh! Are you Minh Kwan?" the lady asked. She had a very big smile on her face, which Minh had a hard time noting if it was genuine or not. She was also dressed in a professional outfit with the name "SAMARITAN" on it.
"Yes, that's me."
"Oh, excellent, we found you, quick," she then instructed towards the side, where Minh saw what seemed to be an entire film crew with her. "Get the cameras ready. We have to get the moment on tape… you don't mind do you dear?"
"I… What?" was all Minh could say, utterly confused.
"We are dedicated to bringing families and love-ones together and capturing those moments to keep the spirits here in Angel Grove up!" she said very enthusiastically, and Minh just slowly nodded. "And, with your permission of course, we want to capture this special moment, just so we can show everyone here in our precious little town that things are going to be alright!"
"Oh… sure," Minh said, "B-But, who's here? Who's asking for me?" Minh asked, feeling hope for the first time. Had her team finally managed to track her down? Was Uncle Zack here? With Billy's help she was sure there was nowhere in the world she could be transported to that he wouldn't find her. But… the response she got utterly baffled her.
"Your boyfriend of course!"
Minh froze in place.
Her eyes wide.
"…pardon?"
"Your boyfriend has been worried sick about you!" the lady said, as she had to pull Minh towards wherever this mystery boyfriend was waiting for her, all the while Minh was currently short-circuiting. Was this joke? What was happening?! Someone, give her answers, now! Still, a nearly petrified Minh was outright pulled outside the tents, and came face-to-face with her… "boyfriend". "And here she is!"
It was J.J. Oliver.
END OF CHAPTER