Author's Note: Part 6/8

As the team traveled through a forest, in hopes of finding the sword excelsior, Kaylee couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable. She knew her team didn't blame her for Jordan's death, but it was still haunting her mind. Human or not, she made a mistake that was going to cost her some respect from her music fans. The last thing she wanted to be a bad influence for children who would grow up watching her and doing as she would do. She had agreed to taking the punishment offered by Kelly... but it didn't feel like enough.

"Remind me to send Jordan's family flowers when we get back," she whispered to Dax, walking alongside him with her head down low. Dax smiled sympathetically and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"They wouldn't have wanted him back," he said. "After all, he was a monster... it was either kill him, or leave him to roam the earth with those scales."

"Then why do I feel so bad?"

"He was human... no matter what you say, no matter how far along he was on the mutant scale, he was a human before. Born into this world as a human... killing him was like killing a bystander, who was innocent and caught in the wrong crowd."

"You're not helping..."

"I'm not supposed to be helping," Dax frowned. "I'm supposed to be teaching you a lesson. You were right to take down that monster, or that son of a bitch, but you should have done it a little more humanly..."

"I know... I know, I got the speech from Kelly already."

"And you'll get it until the end of time," Dax smiled. "I'm still proud of you though."

"Proud? I understood Tori... but you?"

"You stood up for her. It takes a lot of guts," Dax said. "I'm glad you choose to look out for your family. Not many people these days would do that... or would go that far to ensure the safety of someone they love... especially someone who is supposed to be looking out for you."

"Tori and I have had a confusing relationship," Kaylee laughed softly, remembering her cell phone was still in her pocket. She pulled it out and began looking through pictures.

"What's that?" Dax asked, touching her arm. Kaylee looked up at him.

"I wasn't always so brave," she told him. "These are pictures I took of Tori and Jordan when they were together. A lot of them show him beating her."

"Why didn't you show these to the police?"

"I was scared."

"You, scared?" Dax laughed. "But you're the Great Green Ranger! You're almost a legend! You're pretty much up there with Tommy and Adam and..."

"I'm not perfect," Kaylee frowned. "I had to learn that the hard way today."

"What scared you?" Dax asked, returning back to his serious tone.

"Jordan..." Kaylee sighed. "I was only sixteen when this happened. I wasn't even a ninja yet. I was afraid that if I ratter Jordan out, he would come after me. So I let Tori take the beatings, until she finally snapped and figured out the truth."

"Those look like they hurt," Dax winced, looking at a picture of Tori, walking out of Jordan's house with several bruises along her arms and on her face.

"They did," Kaylee nodded. "She was suffering for so long, before she dumped him and moved on."

"She's brunette here..." Dax frowned as Kaylee passed by a picture of Tori with brown hair and hazel eyes.

"It was her disguise... she was afraid of Jordan after dumping him, so she took on a different look. That was the first time I really took action in this situation... I bought her the hair dye and the contacts and even glasses..."

"She looks totally different..."

"She was," Kaylee laughed. "She was seventeen here, so she's grown up. She's also changed a lot thanks to the Academy. She's brave and strong, and never lets anyone push her around. I'm proud of her..."

"For changing?"

"Yep, but not becoming a brunette or growing up..." Kaylee smiled. "But for going back."

"Back?"

"Back to who she was," Kaylee nodded. "She only had to wear the costume for a few months before she lost the glasses and contacts and dyed her hair back to blonde. She had the courage to be who she was, even if it meant she might get hurt."

"So, why did you pull these up?" Dax asked, referring to the pictures. Kaylee highlighted all of them, then moved her finger to the delete button.

"When Tori had finally broken up with Jordan, I promised myself I would keep these pictures, in case he hurt her again. I promised I would never delete these until she was safe from him... and now that he's dead..."

Kaylee pressed the delete button, erasing all evidence of Jordan's existence.

"He can't hurt her anymore..."

"Guys... look!" Mack pointed to a statue, where a woman was holding a sword in her hands. He reached out to grab it, but a staff got in his way.

"Should have seen that coming," Ronny groaned.

"Very impressive, Power Losers, but in finding excelsior, you led me right to it!" Thrax smirked, stepping between the Rangers and the statue.

Kaylee cleared her throat, pushing past Mack and Rose as she walked up to Thrax.

"Okay, I have had just about enough of you," she growled. "First, you break our connection to the morphing grid, then because you did that, my sister and her team of oldies come back and replace us, sending us all into a depression that would make the thirties look like happy hour. Then, you bring back Jordan, of all people, and drive me to the point of killing him. Finally, you step in the way of us and a pretty sword and on top of that, you use an insulting nickname that has been worn out by so many villains before you! Can you not come up with something original? God, is it too much to ask for a new insult every now and again, like Operation Underwear, or Overdrive, Slam on the Breaks? Or something else that sounds funny but wouldn't make sense?"

"After all that, she gets pissed off because of a little tiny insult?" Tyzonn whispered to Will.

"I mean, were you not trapped in a garbage bin or something on the moon for years? That's plenty of time to come up with insults that would be pertinent and original! Save the cheesy one-liners to us. It's a job requirement, and you work on taking over the world, 'kay?"

Thrax growled as he swung his staff at Kaylee. She caught it and pulled it out of his hand, tossing it into the forest.

"You are so predictable," she groaned. "Just like every freaking monster! Hey, I have a staff, let's hit the green one with it!"

"I can't wait until you're out of the picture," Thrax muttered menacingly, causing all the other Rangers to back away. "Then, excelsior will be mine, and it will be the end of the Power Rangers!"

Thrax threw a punch, but Kaylee caught it.

"Okay, one problem with that," she said. "There are, like, fifteen Ranger teams still out there, and we're only one. You would be wasting a lot of time and power trying to locate every last Ranger and destroy them. So, how about you start with something simple, just go ahead and try to get the sword from the pretty stone lady."

Thrax turned to the statue, reaching for the sword.

"My parents were weak, and succumb to goodness, but I will restore their legacy, by destroying the Sentinel Knight by the blade of the mighty excelsior!"

He touched the sword, but there was a bright light that shot him back.

"What's happening?" he yelled, turning to Kaylee.

"Did I forget to tell you that only the warrior goddess can release the sword?" Kaylee smirked.

"Give me that sword!" Thrax yelled, throwing sticks, stones, clumps of dirt, and a hissy fit in an attempt to retrieve the sword. He finally gave up and growled, "If I can't have the sword, then I'll trash your entire planet!"

Kaylee stepped out of his way, giving him access to the path out of the forest.

"Was that not your plan anyway? That's like, pulling a prank, and then threatening to go through with it! It was your intention all along!"

"C'mon guys, why don't we all give this baby a shot?" Will suggested, reaching for the sword.

-----Operation-Overdrive-----

"C'mon!" Dax groaned, pulling at the sword with everything he had. His hands finally slipped from it, throwing him backwards into his friends, who caught him before he hit the ground.

"I bet if we were still Rangers, the goddess would give us the sword," Ronny frowned, wishing she was a Power Ranger once again. She knew even as a civilian she could save the world, but it felt nice to know you could do more than pull on a statue for a sword that wasn't about to budge.

"C'mon, we should tell the others this thing ain't budging," Mack sighed.

"No," Kaylee frowned, standing where she was as the others walked off. "I'm not leaving."

"Kayl, we've done all we could. You tried pulling it, I tried pulling it, there's nothing more we can do," Rose insisted, but Kaylee shook her head.

"There's always something we can do!" Kaylee smiled, putting her hand on the statue. "I'm not leaving here until I can bring this sword back, and we can prove to the others that even powerless, we're the best there is! Who's with me?"

"Might as well," Ronny smirked. "After all, I still have to knock Kira's head in."

Ronny placed her hand over Kaylee's and soon, all the others were standing behind them, their hands on the statue.

Before they could pull, there was a glow from the statue, and the goddess became real. The Rangers all dropped their hands off the sword and jumped back.

"Her eyes are following me," Kaylee whispered to Rose. "Seriously, this time! They move with me!"

"Greetings Power Rangers. I am the warrior goddess."

"Talking guinea pigs, mutant dinosaurs and magic creatures never prepared me for this," Kaylee breathed.

"The unity of you friendship, and the conviction in your hearts, and has proven to me that you are worthy. Excelsior is your now."

The goddess handed Kaylee the large sword, as the rock around it shattered, revealing a shiny metallic sword.

"Ohh," Kaylee giggled, looking up at the goddess, who was not just a statue. "Huh?"

"Never mind that," Will laughed, taking the sword. "We should bring this back."

"Right," Mack nodded. "C'mon guys."

-----Operation-Overdrive-----

Mack held up the sword for the Knight, presenting it to him as a gift, "You should have this, Thrax can't hurt you now."

"Thank you, Mack."

There was a green glow of light as the Sentinel Knight accepted the sword. Suddenly, he materialized.

"Rose..." Kaylee whispered, poking Rose's shoulder. "It's happening again! Inanimate objects are coming to life!"

"I never knew the sword had the power to restore me as well," the Knight smiled, looking over at the Overdrive Team. "Thank you."

"Well, I guess that means it's our turn," Tommy said, turning to his team of Rangers. "I'm sure these guys can hold down the fort while we retrieve Alpha."

"Really?" Kaylee asked, looking at her former mentor. "Really, really? Even without our Ranger powers?"

"After the way you beat up Jordan, I'm not going to worry about you," Adam laughed. "What do you think guys? Can they handle it?"

The Once a Ranger team nodded, while Bridge held out a box. He opened it, presenting the Rangers with their Trackers. The damage had been fully repaired, and they were almost good to go, there were only missing one thing: A connection to the grid.

Bridge took Mack's tracker and handed it to the Red Ranger, "I think you've all earned them. After all, they may not be connected, but they are repaired, meaning you guys are one step closer to returning."

Tommy nodded, taking Tyzonn's Tracker, "Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger."

The other followed. Adam gave Will his Tracker, while Xander offered Dax his own back.

Kelly looked over at Rose and smiled as she presented the pink Tracker to the small girl.

Kira gave Ronny her Tracker back, and ducked as Ronny playfully used it as a weapon, swinging it and aiming for Kira's head.

"I'll be taking that back," Kira frowned, snatching Ronny's Tracker. "For safety reasons... you know..."

Tori looked over at her sister as she played with Kaylee's Tracker. Everyone watched as she handed it down.

"You've always been a Great Ranger, Kayl," she smiled. "I never once doubted you."

"Thanks," Kaylee grinned.

"Make me proud," Tori continued, pulling her sister in a hug. She turned her mouth to Kaylee's ear and whispered, "Because I know you've made mom and dad proud."

She kissed Kaylee's forehead and smiled as she turned away with the others.

"To Angel Grove?" she asked.

Tommy and Adam nodded, "To Angel Grove."

-----Operation-Overdrive-----

"Welcome to Angel Grove," Adam smiled as he and Tommy led the Rangers into a warehouse.

"So, you were saying this robot was trapped in a box?" Xander frowned, pointing to all the boxes in the warehouse. "That only leaves us with about two hundred boxes, and only a couple of hours."

"Let me see if I can help," Bridge smirked, pulling his hand out of his glove and casting a red glow in the air.

Kira leaned over to Kelly and Tori, "Okay, I swear I've seen this guy before."

"Yesterday?" Kelly suggested.

"Ha-ha," Kira frowned,

"Guys, I'm getting some strange energy from right over there," Bridge announced, pointing to a crate.

"Either mice, or foot soldiers," Tori said, just before a group of Chillers appeared. "Yep, so predictable."

"Time for plan Xander," Xander smirked, stepping forward and leaning on a crate to talk with the little monsters.

"G'day, name's Xander," he started. "Let's just talk this one... OOF!"

Xander recoiled in pain as a Chiller kicked him in the stomach. Kira caught him and looked down.

"Didn't work back in Mystic Force, won't work now, or ever," she told him, dropping him to the floor as she jumped over him to fight her set of Chillers.

"Why didn't we get frozen monsters?" Kira asked her former mentor, keeping the chillers away, before screaming. Her ptera scream ripped through the air, shattering the chillers. "My life would have been so much easier."

"Probably because we were Dino Thunder?" Tommy laughed, fighting alongside Adam to get the job done. He bent over, allowing the Black Ranger to flip over his back, knocking down the last Chiller. "Our monsters were usually Dino related."

"What about the ice age?" Bridge frowned, knocking over a few chillers as he flipped backwards. "You know, frozen dinosaurs."

"Bridge, why don't ya just shut-up, mate?" Xander asked, tripping a chillers and rolling under another's attack, as Kelly jumped down from a stack of crates to land on its head.

"I don't really like frozen guys," Tori said, jumping into the air and landing in the splits on a few chillers. "I can't control ice."

She jumped down, knocking her chillers down, and swung at the last one, connecting with his face.

"Then again, these guys aren't too bad."

The Rangers regrouped near a crate with a lightning bolt on one side. Tommy and Adam nodded, as the Black ranger pulled out a crow bar.

"You know, I bet you these two are going to fail miserably," Kelly laughed, watching as Tommy and Adam struggled with the crate. Crowbars weren't as easy to use as they thought. Xander and Bridge tried to help out as well, but even with all that guy power, the crate didn't budge.

Little Kira pushed the boys out of the way and smirked, grabbing the top of the crate and sliding it upwards. The boys frowned as Kira pulled Alpha out.

"We loosened it," they said.

"Yeah, sure, just help me with this!" Kira groaned, nearly falling over from the weight of the robot. The boys helped her stand Alpha up straight, while Tori and Kelly started giggling.

"We know, we know, Kira's the size of a Munchkin and she could open the crate no problem, while us men couldn't even get the thing to move... ha-ha!" Tommy frowned.

"It's not that," Kelly laughed, putting her hand on Alpha's head, then waving it over Kira's head. "It's taller than she is!"

"Wasn't Alpha a dwarf when he was first made?" Tori asked. Having watched the Power Ranger movies with her sister and Adam the frog, she knew Alpha was supposed to be a short little robot.

Kira glared up at all the others, only to realise she was looking up.

"Shut up," she frowned.

"Do you have the chip?" Tommy asked her. Kira nodded, taking the chip out from her pocket. "Alright, just lemme reach down and..."

Kira slapped the white Ranger on the arm and shoved the chip in his hand.

"One more crack like that and you're losing your knees!" she threatened.

"If you can reach," Xander chuckled.

"You know... I'm sure Kaylee's still PMSing about everything... and she's shorter than I am..." Kira smirked.

The Rangers all stepped back; including Tommy as he put the chip Rose made into Alpha's back, bringing the little robot back to life.

"Ayayayayayay! Where am I?" Alpha asked in his robotic voice as he stood up straight on his own. He now stood even taller compared to Kira, causing the two other girls to giggle. Fortunately, a swift death look from Kira shut them up before round two of insult Kira began. "Adam! Tommy!"

"How do you feel, Alpha?" Tommy smiled.

"That was a wonderful nap, but it's great to be up and running again!"

"We have a lot of catching up to do," Adam nodded. "But first, we need your help."

"Anything for you guys!"

"We need you to repair the morphing grid... the newest team of Rangers lost their connection to Rita and Zedd's son," Adam explained as Tommy pulled out a sophisticated laptop.

"Oh no!" Alpha frowned.

"Think you can do it?" Tommy asked. "We've had Rose look over it once, and we think she's worked out all the major problems."

"And I've repaired any damage to the actual grid," Adam added.

"But we need your power to reconnect the Trackers to the grid. Think you can do it?"

"I can try!" Alpha nodded.

-----Operation-Overdrive-----

"C'mon.... c'mon..." Tori groaned impatiently from the ranger base as she monitored Alpha's progress on the morphing Grid.

"Staring at him won't make him work any faster," Tommy laughed.

"I know... I know..."

"Are you going to repeat everything twice?" Kira smiled.

"I dunno, not sure" Tori shrugged.

"You know, if Alpha just needed to shrink to get inside the grid, we could have sent Kira all along," Kelly laughed, patting her friend on the head as she walked by with a plate of snacks.

"Okay, I get it! I'm short! When Rose and Kaylee get back from their fight, we're all totally going to kick your asses!"

"If you can reach," Tori laughed.

"Yours is pretty big, it'll be hard to miss," Kira smirked.

"Ouch," Xander laughed.

Suddenly, the computer started to beep as Alpha materialized before the retro Rangers. Tori jumped up from her seat and ran to the robot.

"How did it go?" she asked, trying not to sound too eager.

"I hope these are the right ones," Alpha said, holding up seven orbs of light. "When the Rangers take these, it should automatically connect them to the grid."

"Red, Black, Blue, Yellow, Pink, White..." Tori announced, handing the team the orbs that matched their color (well, Xander got blue). "Green."

Tori held her orb tight as the door to the stairs opened.

Kaylee spotted Alpha and giggled as she pointed to Kira, "Look! Alpha's taller than Kira!"

"Shut up, runt," Kira growled. "You're shorter than I am!"

"Look, Alpha's taller than Kira!" Ronny laughed, pointing to Kira.

Kira took a deep breath, squeezing the yellow orb in her hand, hoping it was going to pop.

"So, this is Alpha?" Rose asked, refusing to make a short comment, especially seeing as she definitely was not one to talk.

"Yep, and we all have a little something for you," Tommy smiled, showing Tyzonn the orb in his hand. "Your connection to the morphing grid."

Tyzonn took the orb, placing it in his Tracker. The other Rangers followed, except Ronny who didn't have a Tracker.

"Um, Kira," she frowned.

"Are you gonna kill me with it?" Kira asked.

"No..."

"Alright, but I got my eyes on you," Kira said, handing the Tracker over. Ronny put her orb inside and instantly, all seven Trackers lit up, brighter than ever possible.

"Whoa."

"So, are we Power Rangers?" Kaylee asked.

"You always were," Tori smiled.