Chapter 6: The Command Center
"What are we going to do?" demanded Dustin. The Megazord was totaled. Their morphers were temporarily offline. And they were badly beaten up and bruised. They needed a plan, and fast.
"Isn't there anyway to beat them?" cried Tori. Her hair was in disarray.
"It's like fighting ourselves; what we have, Zurgayne has, only twice as stronger," complaied Shane, sporting a bruise on his right cheek.
"Ah!" Blake cradled his right ribs. "I can't even stand up straight," Tori helped him sit down on the table.
"Sensei, isn't there a way?" asked Hunter. The guinea pig turned and faced his rangers.
"There is always a solution, Rangers," he dictated. Suddenly, the screen on the console turned on.
"Rangers, Power Rangers! If you can hear me, please, I need to speak with you!"
The Rangers rushed toward the screen, Cam typing and pushing buttons to focus on the person on screen. The image zoomed up and sharpened.
"It's Jules!" exclaimed Dustin, a wild smile on his face. Suddenly his face contorted into a frown. "She looks –"
"I know how to defeat Zurgayne's Megazord! Please, beam me up to whatever command center you have, I don't want Lothor to find me again," gasped Jules. With the speakers on full volume, Dustin could hear her labored breath. She doubled over, unable to keep standing.
"We have to bring her to Ninja Ops," said Dustin, turning to his team.
"What! Here?" Shane walked up to him. "Hello? Dude, if she gets in here, she'll know who we are!"
"We'll be morphed," shot back Dustin. "We can't leave her out there," he pointed at the screen. "What if Lothor kidnaps her again?" He looked at each of his teammates, searching for an ally. Each one either looked down or away. Finally, Sensei spoke.
"Fetch her, Dustin, and all of you, morph. Quickly, time is of the essence."
When she awoke, she felt not the forest floor beneath her, but a mattress and a pillow. Her hands weren't bound behind her anymore, and her clothes –
She sat up quickly, realizing that she was wearing a kimono-robe, not the ripped track suit she had on earlier. Like an iron ball, a shockwave of pain forced a gut-splitting howl from her lips. She fell back onto the mattress with a thud, a low moan escaping her throat as she tried to pin-point where the pain was coming from. Suddenly, figures appeared before her. Her vision swam, the walls of the room she saw continuously ebbed like the tide of the ocean.
"It's ok, Jules, you're safe here," said one of the figures. Jules tried opening her eyes, and when she did, she let out a ragged laugh.
"Did I die getting off that ship? Is this for real?" she joked. The pain hit her once again, her abdomen screaming with pain. "Oh fudge, no, I'm very much alive," she answered her own question.
"What did Lothor do to you?" asked another figure. This time it sounded like a girl's voice. Jules forced her eyelids to open.
"The Power Rangers?" she asked, not believing what was before her. "Either that or I'm seeing a rainbow-colored medical staff."
"Yes," said another voice, "We are the Power Rangers. Jules, tell us what happened." Ugh, thought Jules. Can I just doze off for a few hours? But something nudged her awake, and she forced herself to retell the events that happened on Lothor's ship. When she got to the part that she was brutally beaten up by Vexecus when she refused to help them at first, Jules could have sworn the Yellow Ranger clench his fists. After she told the part about Zurgayne gaining a Megazord through her help, she wanted to melt into nothingness. The tears started, the tight-throated feeling of guilt gripped her, intensifying the wounds she sported.
"I'm so sorry, Rangers! I was left with no choice: Lothor was going to sabotage my father and brothers in the X-Games if I didn't help him. He tampered with their equipment before the competitions," sobbed Jules. "I couldn't let them do that! I had to stop Lothor, and so I helped him– " her breath wheezed through her air canal. The Yellow and Crimson Ranger helped her into a sitting position thought it was painful.
"Sabotage the Gailes?" the Navy Ranger's tone was angry. "He's a sick dude," he swore.
"It's ok, Jules," said the Blue Ranger. "We're not angry with you; family comes first, and you did what you thought would save them," she stroked Jules' hair. Suddenly Jules gasped.
"Their equipment! It's been messed with by the Kelzaks!" Jules glanced at her wrist watch. "Their events are about to start; they can't race or they'll be toast!"
"We're on it," said the Crimson and Navy Rangers, and they were gone in a blink of an eye.
"Now, Jules," said the Red Ranger, the leader. "How do we stop Zurgayne's Megazord? Everything we throw at it, it hits us back plus more power, it's like fighting ourselves," he squatted down so their faces were level. Jules could see her reflection on his mask, just like when her father wore his racing helmet. I wonder who's under there? Jules shook her head, getting out of her daydreaming. Hello, girly, you know they have their secret identities; that's part of being a ranger.
"Um," thought Jules, biting her lip. "I saw this episode before, in the Abaranger Sentai series, it's based on the real Power Rangers. Ok," she searched her memory for what had happened in that episode. Suddenly she remembered. "Oh ha! I got it, but I don't think you'll be able to defeat Zurgayne the way they defeated the Goldar in the series. After all, that was tv, this is real life. I remember knocking Nathan with a pillow because he was–" a wave of sadness overcame her, rendering her silent.
"What is it, Jules?" asked the Blue Ranger. Jules turned to her and sadly smiled.
"Do you think Crimson and Navy Ranger got to them in time? I don't want to see them in the E.R," she half-joked, but the other half which wasn't a joke scared her.
"They did," said a different voice. Jules looked past the Rangers and saw a fourth figure sitting in front of what looked like a huge computer console. He was the Green Ranger. "Look, they've managed to convince the judges to reschedule the games until after all the equipments are checked, even for the other riders. We don't know how many the Kelzaks messed with."
"Smart move," nodded Jules. Then she turned back to the Red, Blue, and Yellow Rangers. "Ok, here's the plan."