Power Rangers: Frozen Star
In the Face of Defeat
Chapter 6
Old Friends
Once they were morphed, they walked into the area where Wes was laying. As they arrived, Kat walked up with the two pieces of the Zeo crystal that were currently in their possession. Just as she was about to ask Tommy what to do next, the pieces of the Zeo crystal started glowing brightly and flew out of her hands, coming to a stop directly over Wes. "What the hell?" she exclaimed
After a brief moment of nothing happening, waves of energy started coming off of the morphed Dino Rangers and started converging directly on the Zeo Crystals. A few seconds later, the Zeo crystals started arcing with lightning in every color of the ranger spectrum, before a bright red beam shot out and hit Wes dead center in the chest. Moments later, there was an extremely bright flash. After clearing their eyes, everyone in the room noticed that the Zeo crystals were now laying on the chest of a fully morphed Wes. More importantly, they noticed that Wes appeared to be un-injured, and for the first time since he was impaled on the sword, resting peacefully.
"What was all that about?" Tommy asked.
"No idea" Kat replied as she pulled out a medical scanner, "According to this the worst of his wounds have healed to a degree, but there is still a great deal of damage that will heal over time, although, I'm certain that he will live now. The real question is, why is he morphed?"
"Last time one of the Dino gems overloaded, I was stuck in morph for a week," Tommy replied "this may be something similar. It may be his inherent ranger powers interacting with so much energy from the Morphing Grid. In truth, we will have to wait until he wakes up to see if he can un-morph on his own."
"Well, as far as I can tell, he should be out of danger, but I would like to get him de-morphed so I can take a look at what remains of his wounds. Beyond that, his energy levels are very low, so he will most likely sleep for the next several days," Kat said.
"I can deactivate his morpher," Jen replied as she reached over the sleeping form of Wes, hitting a series of buttons on his morpher, causing it to power down. "Will he really be ok?"
"He should be fine once the remaining wounds heal, although there is likely to be some residual pain that will last him the rest of his life. The power surge appears to have prevented most of the more serious consequences I was worried about, but he will still need an extended rehabilitation period." Kat replied.
"Dr. O", Jeremy's voice came over the intercom.
Tommy sighed as he went over to the wall, "What is it Jeremy?"
"Sensors have picked up an energy signature heading towards us", came Jeremy's reply.
"Prepare the defenses", Tommy said.
"But Dr. O, it's a ranger signature."
Tommy's blood ran cold at that statement. There was only one ranger that was unaccounted for when Venjix attacked and everyone had just assumed the worst. "Get the Ninja Rangers and take them out to investigate, NOW!"
Richard Evans sat on a log watching his mother taking a walk with Merrick. He knew that they were doing nothing wrong, but he always got a little upset when he saw his mother with men, after all it had only been a year since they lost his father. It had taken them months to come to grips from that because he was a Power Ranger and rangers weren't supposed to be able to die. Katie and Collin Meyers jumped up onto the log on either side of him and looked at what he was watching.
"It's nice to see her smiling again", Katie said.
"But I feel like she's replacing Dad", Richard replied.
"You know that's not true", Elizabeth said as she came over to them.
Richard rolled his eyes as he responded, "Yes, I know that, but what I know and what I feel are two separate things."
"I hate to say it, but I have to side with Rick on this one", Collin said.
"How long do you expect her to wait? She loved your Dad, and we know that, but she shouldn't have to be alone just because he is dead. Besides, she needs a good friend just as much as we do." Elizabeth replied.
There was no reply, as everyone was thinking about everything that had happened, watching Merrick and Alyssa walk and talk.
Finally, Richard replied "I guess you're right, Elizabeth, she deserves to be happy. I just don't want her to go and replace Dad."
Elizabeth smiled a little, and replied "Of course I'm right silly, but if you're worried about her trying to replace him, why don't you tell her how you feel."
"I guess I could," Richard replied, "but I don't want to seem selfish. I guess if I don't talk to her, I have no right to complain about anything she does."
They heard the sound of a throat clearing behind them, and when they turned they saw a slightly annoyed Eric and Taylor standing there looking down at them.
"Mom Dad, what are you doing here?" Katie and Collin asked at the same time.
"We're here because these four children that we know are late for their training", Eric said.
"And the four of you are old enough to know that's it's rude to eavesdrop", Taylor added.
"But, we were…" The kids all tried to say before being cut off.
"Not where you were supposed to be", Eric said sternly, "Now move it."
"Yes sir", the children replied as they started walking back towards the settlement.
Billy was hard at work trying to get the invisaportal system in Root Core operational. He had been having several issues trying to get his technological machine to work with the magic that was keeping the barrier sealed. He made the final connections and turned the power switch on, but instead of activating; it gave him the shock of his life and sent him hurtling into the wall of the old tree. Hearing the commotion Nick rushed into the room to find Billy lying on the floor with a dazed look in his eyes.
"Are you ok?" Nick asked as he helped Billy up off the floor.
"Affirmative", Billy replied as he lightly touched his hair that was now sticking out in every direction, "Thought I would try a new hair style."
Nick chuckled a bit before responding, "I'm sure there are better ways to achieve the mad scientist look."
"I cannot fathom what went awry", Billy said as he tucked his hair back into its ponytail.
Maybe instead of configuring the machine to work with our magic, we should configure our magic to work with the machine", Nick Replied thoughtfully.
"That is a very astute observation", Billy replied.
"I'll go get my Mom", Nick answered before he left the tree.
He found his mother Udonna playing with Anna in the woods. Anna smiled brightly and ran up to Nick throwing her arms around him.
"Hi Daddy", she said affectionately.
"Hey Baby Doll", he said as he gave her a hug back, "I need to borrow Grandma for a little while, so I need you to go see Mommy and Aunt Vida at the playground."
"Maybe they will let Oscar and I go on a nature walk", Anna said as she ran off to find her mother, aunt, and cousin.
Udonna blew a kiss to her granddaughter before turning to her son, "Bowen, what seems to be the trouble?"
"Billy is having trouble getting the system online. It has issues working with our magic, so I was wondering if we could make our magic work with it."
Udonna furrowed her brow slightly as she considered it, "It's not impossible", she said, "Come, let us go see his machine."
Jeremy, Shane, Tori, Dustin, Blake, Hunter, and Cam arrived in the old central square of Angel Grove. Even through the visors of their helmets they had to squint momentarily as the adjusted to the sun. Jeremy pulled out a portable tracking unit and started heading toward the direction of the power signature.
"Alright guys", Shane said, "Keep an eye out for Venjix forces."
"Look at this place", Tori said as she picked up a tattered doll from the ground.
"You should have seen Reefside", Jeremy responded, "They bombed it straight off the map."
"How many people lost their lives here?" Dustin asked.
"A lot", Jeremy said, "Across every town from Reefside to here, we only managed to save a few hundred out of at least a couple hundred thousand."
"This has to be the greatest ranger failure of all time", Tori said as she put the doll down, "We lost so many people."
"We did the best we could", Shane said as he surveyed the ruined town, "We were outnumbered ten thousand to one."
"But we should have done more", Cam said.
"Enough", Jeremy said with a hint of agitation in his voice, "I realize that you have all been rangers for a long time and that I have never really served on an active team, but in the last decade that I have been part of this world I've never seen rangers so overwhelmed by a force such as this. There is really no point in beating yourselves up over something you could not control."
"He's right", Blake spoke up, "We should focus on the mission at hand.
The others nodded as they all walked down the ruined streets of the city. After about twenty minutes they stopped to rest briefly. Tori opened the front of her helmet so she could take a drink of water as Cam and Jeremy were going over the readings from the tracker. They saw the blip of the ranger signal, but weren't sure whether or not to believe what they were seeing.
"It can't be this easy", Cam said.
"I don't get it either", Jeremy replied, "There's not even a grinder registering."
"Alright guys", Cam said, "I think that we may be walking into some kind of trap, so keep your eyes open."
Tori closed her helmet as they returned to their trek across the Angel Grove wasteland. About an hour later they arrived at the ruins of the old youth center.
"No doubt about it", Jeremy said, "The signal is coming from in there."
They entered the ruined building and began climbing through the rubble of the collapsed roof. Once they got into the main area that saw a middle aged man wearing a black suit sitting at what was left of the bar trying to eat something that vaguely looked like dried meat. Next to him on the bar was a black helmet that had been stained with dirt.
"Zach", Jeremy said slightly unsure of himself.
The man got up off the stool, "Tommy?" he asked at the person clad in the Green Ranger armor.
Jeremy removed his helmet and Zach dropped into a fighting stance at the sight of an unknown person wearing his friend's uniform.
"My name is Jeremy; we met once or twice about eleven years ago after Dr. O… I mean Tommy gave me his green powers", Jeremy said trying to placate the clearly upset Black Ranger.
"I thought I was the only one left", Zach said as his stance softened, "I haven't seen anyone since we scattered after the Hartford stronghold was attacked."
"And the Overdrive rangers?" Jeremy asked with a sense of dread coming over him.
"No word in weeks", Zach said, "We had picked up a faint message from Tommy several months ago, but didn't have the power reserves to respond. After we were attacked, we scattered and I have not seen or heard from anyone since."
"Man", Tori said, "That's rough."
"What about some of the other teams?" Zach asked
"Most of Zeo and Astro are off planet as well as the Galaxy Rangers. According to what we know the Lightspeed rangers were all killed when Venjix found their base not long after the initial attacks, Eric and Wes from Time Force teamed up with the Wild Force rangers when their red was killed. The Wind and Thunder s, Dino and original team are at the Command Center, Wild Force is at the Animarium, and the Mystic Rangers are sealed in a magic forest", Jeremy said solemnly.
"Wow", Zach said just as his suit began to arc with energy and he collapsed to the ground.
The rangers rushed to him as Cam looked at his morpher.
"His powers are destabilizing", Cam said, "Probably from being in morph for so long."
"Let's get out of here", Jeremy said as he helped Cam pick Zach up off the floor.
Tori grabbed his helmet and they made their way out into the street. Once they had enough clearance from the building Jeremy entered a command into his communicator and an invisaportal opened in front of them. Tori put Zach's helmet back on him and they all held him stable as they entered to return to their base.
A/N: Here is chapter six. Please read and review.