Chapter 29- Sam Part 2

Pandora watched Buggglesworth capturing people from a safe distance. She stood on the roof of a building, watching the creature do his magic. She crossed her arms and snickered when he got his first doll. Mora would be proud to now that her creation worked. At the rate it was going, he could have at least a 100 people by the end of the day, more than enough for a few jars of fuel. That was if the Rangers didn't come to interrupt. She suspected they would, their technology was way too advanced to not detect such a threat to safety. Lucky for her, she was more than prepared to take them up on a fight. She desperately craved some action.

As the creature converted its 10th victim, a blast hit its back. Just in time, she thought to herself. It was time to mess with the Rangers.

She had 'borrowed' Morgana's battle suit from Grumm's throne room. She would need protection if this was the alien she would fight with. Bugglesworth was harmless, as much as she hated to admit it. He was good for entertaining kids like Sam and Mora, but when it came to an actual fight she predicted he would end up eating dust and inside one of those containment cards. Her current mission was to keep him away from harm and she didn't exactly complain about being his bodyguard.

Pandora was a daredevil by nature. Devising new plans and strategies to win the war against was her favorite hobby. Seeing her plans in action and actually making them work made her day most of the time. She imagined herself rejoicing over the fact that her biggest enemies were now gone with a big cup of the most expensive wine she could find on the planet. Picturing herself wearing a crown, people bowing to her as loyal subjects of the Troobian Empire… She cherished those scenarios.

By the time the second blast hit him, Bugglesworth was already down on the floor. She rolled her eyes and made a mental note to never let Mora make any aliens like this ever again. She put the silver bracelet around her wrist and pressed the jewel on the center, like Morgana always did in the past, but nothing happened. She rolled her eyes and pressed it repeatedly, wondering if it had broken.

"You know what they say, if it's not broken, break it." In a deliberate move, she tore the bracelet from her wrist and smashed it against the floor with great force. She picked it up and pressed it again. Nothing happened.

She then remembered what she had read about Troobian magic and the ones that had the gift. Whatever object had been blessed with it couldn't be used by people who didn't have the gift. She cursed herself for refusing to learn it when she was young. Oh well, she would have to get her hands dirty. She put the bracelet on her wrist once again and transported herself to the plaza, where Bugglesworth and the Rangers were fighting.

The four Rangers were ready to arrest the alien, showing off their fancy technology. As she had no such technology as theirs, she would have to recur to the trusty staff-blade Grumm had given his general as gift. The staff was long and made out of the finest and strongest silver alloy in the whole galaxy, it had small engravings, such as her brand and details in pink. The curved blade was also made of the same alloy and it was equipped with some pretty high tech stuff she didn't get the hang of, but she knew what it was capable of.

Stepping onto the battlefield, she felt confident. Like she could win without any help. It wasn't like she had anything to prove to anyone, not even except to Grumm. She was already feared throughout the galaxy. Her reputation was that of a very feared warrior. When Grumm first told her this, she knew it was a lie. Up until now, she hadn't one much. But his statement turned out to be true when she went to planet Zora, well known for its arms dealers, to pick up her blade. Upon setting eyes on her, all the aliens, except the blacksmith and her master, ran away like mice being chased by a cat. She had tested out her weapon on a few unlucky subjects on a small pub at Zora, just to prove how ruthless she could be. Aliens were vicious. They underestimated her severely. Originally, the aliens at the pub had thought she was one of Grumm's pretty faces and began staring at her like a piece of meat. Not only did she teach them not to mess with her, but also not to mess with the Troobian Army.

Just like Zora, she was going to win today, no matter what it took. She took her staff and swung it twice, creating two small yet powerful waves of energy. They hit the Red and Green Rangers square in the chest. The Blue Ranger came at her full force. She engaged in a heated hand-to-hand combat battle with him. She may have been more agile, but he was stronger. He had definitely been training a lot harder. She did her best trying to protect herself by adopting a defensive stance. Too bad she couldn't protect her whole body.

He swept his feet against hers, making her fall flat on her back. She got up and fired and decided that it was time to get the heavy artillery out. She blasted another wave aimed directly at him. Sky was hoping she would do just that. He was taking a big risk, but it was a necessary one.

He demorphed and got a force field just a second before the wave could hit him. He could only imagine if it had. The wave redirected back to her position, with the same original force she had intended it to hit with. She certainly didn't expect did this. Underestimating her opponents had been a mistake. She wouldn't let it happen again.

She stood up. The only thing hurt had been her pride. She wasn't bout to give up just yet, not without a fight. The Blue Ranger was about to know what she was really made of and no weapons were needed to do that. Having dropped off the blade, she walked closer to him. She threw a punch aimed straight at his face. Putting his hand in hers, he stopped it and lowered it gently. He locked eyes with hers as if trying to reach for something deep inside. Soon he realized there was nothing inside. She was not there anymore. Sydney was gone.

He let go of her hand brusquely and did the same she had done. Dodging his punch skillfully, she continued with several fight attempts. As a desperate attempt, she got up on the roof of a car and tried something she never done before. After gaining enough speed, she jumped off and spun in the air at the same time she concentrated on her powers. A bright ball of energy emerged from her hands when Sky least expected it, hitting him in the leg. It had been intended to be stronger, but that was the best she could accomplish on her first try.

Examining his leg, he found just a small cut. He had been lucky this time, but he feared that their next encounter wouldn't be as such. She was testing the waters, he knew. After giving him a smug smile, she walked away. Her figure began disappearing slowly, her form becoming nothing but a bunch of soft pink petals that upon hitting the floor, became as black as night.

The Terror

"Do you have any other toys we could play with apart from the dolls?"

Mora got up from her dresser where she had spent the last hour brushing the imaginary tangles out of Cyndy Sunshine's inexistent head of hair. "Don't you like thm? Bugglesworth got them especially for you."

"I just wish I could play basketball here." He felt guilty for not using the gift his new 'friend' had given him but she wasn't seriously expecting him to play with dolls, he was a boy. Sam sat on Mora's coffee table, carefully picking up a scone from a silver tray. He brought it to his mouth. Before even getting his first bite, Mora casually mentioned, "That's made out of plastic."

Even though he could feel his stomach talking to him at that same moment, he wasn't that desperate. "Why'd you keep it around then?"

"Decoration." Simply said the girl, taking a sip from her cup of tea.

He simply nodded and put his hand over his stomach to keep it down; the last thing he wanted was to be a bother to his new friends. People often got annoyed when he asked for things. When Pandora walked inside, she smiled at the boy. He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing her. Maybe she would understand and take pity on him.

He took the older girl's hands and looked up expectantly, "I'm hungry."

"We'll go down there again. I need your special talents for something." She paused for a second and smiled. "Only if you want, that is."

With no hesitation, he nodded happily. It felt nice to be wanted for something, he thought.

Earth

Since Pandora had already done her part of the deal by buying him a burger at a nearby restaurant, it was now his turn. As they walked through the crowded NewTech square, he wondered on what he was needed for. Never had someone asked him to do anything with his abilities before. Most times, he just used them when people made him angry. He felt superior when they ran away, scared of him. Afterwards, not so much. He'd given up anything to be normal in the past, but now, with his new friends he felt unstoppable.

She positioned him in front of a skyscraper and pointed at it. "Can you make it disappear?"

"I've never tried anything so big. I'm not sure I can."

"You can, just trust yourself." She felt like a mother just by the simple fact that she was encouraging him. Had the ice covering her should and heart disappeared? She doubted it. The child was only being used because of his powers. If It had been any other non-superpowered child, she wouldn't even have given a crap about him or her. She felt just a tinge of remorse for manipulating him. It vanished as soon as Sam walked forth, his hand extended. He closed his eyes and soon enough, the image of the skyscraper began dissolving into nothing. She was proud. Maybe if he kept up the good work and no questions routine, he would be allowed to stay on board.

While Sam and Pandora continued on their wild rampage of making things disappear, the B-Squad was gathered around a table at the Command Center discussing important issues. The most prominent topic that had come up was their powers' origins. It had been on everyone's mind after they witnessed what Sam had done.

When Cruger walked inside with Doctor Manx, all four of them began asking questions at the same time. It took her a couple of minutes but Kat finally silenced them with a loud whistle. They saluted the Commander quietly and sat back down on their chairs, their faces full of embarrassment. Kat ordered everyone who wasn't part of the B-Squad to leave.

Having the room cleared out, she took a seat next to Cruger and sighed. "We have never intended to keep this a secret from you. We are sorry it had to come down to this so we'd get to tell you."

"Back when SPD was in its early stages, we were testing new technologies, such as the ones in your morphers, the Zords…" She trailed off for a second. "And by we, I mean your parents and myself."

Bridge shook his head. "My father knows very little about modern technology. He can't even turn on a computer without assistance, let alone build a morpher."

"You don't give your father enough credit, then." She continued with a mischievous smile on her face. "While we were working on the technology, there were some unexpected results. At first we thought they were nothing since they experienced no symptoms and neither did I. Little did we know that the ones affected wouldn't be ourselves, but…"

"Us." Sky concluded.

Kat simply nodded. Then Z asked what had been on everyone's mind: "What about Sam?"

"His parents worked here too."

"What happened to them?"

Kat sighed sadly, "They were killed while on a mission in planet Zora when Sam was just a little boy. We think it was the Troobians behind the attack."

That made everything clear for Z: Sam's erratic behavior, his willingness to follow Pandora… He was lonely. She could relate more than anyone. It was now she decided to make it her mission to bring Sam back. She intended to make SPD his new home. Jack's voice snapped her out her thoughts. "Are there supposed to be skyscrapers on the beach?"

Kat shook her head and stared at the incredible picture up on the screen. A skyscraper on the beach. Maybe the experiments had affected her after all. She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't just imagining it.

"Go check it out."

"Kat, can you track Sam's location? I think we better split up for this one." Z suggested. After careful consideration, Cruger agreed and opened the doors. She left immediately after locating him out on the diamond deposits on the outskirts of the city, a place she had become too familiar with in the past week. The others went on their own quest to investigate the mysterious case of the skyscraper on the beach. The others followed her lead.

NewTech Beach

After five minutes of staring, Bridge still couldn't believe his eyes. A skyscraper on a beach. His jaw hung open like he had just seen the most amazing thing in the entire universe. As unbelievable and amazing as the picture painted itself to be, they had work to do. Jack saw himself forced to drag him by the collar to the inside of the building. The trance was finally broken upon entering the structure. Sky, sick of Bridge's behavior, began scanning the building's energy levels for anything out of the ordinary. Like always, he wanted to be the Lone Ranger.

The others went on to do their own business as well. Without a conversation between them, the room fell victim to a dead silence. The only audible sounds were the ones coming from their morphers after the energy readings turned out to be negative. It was rather strange that a skyscraper, full of offices, disappeared at the busiest time of day and no one happened to be inside. They investigated further. Bridge took off one of his gloves and replayed some of what had happened. As the images played for him, he pointed to his right side, indicating Sky and Jack to follow his lead.

Bridge had seemingly led them to a dead end. His trace had ended at a large steel wall. He put his glove back on. Sky let out a frustrated 'this-is-pointless-and-I'm-leaving' groan and just as he was about to leave, the Red Ranger's morpher beeped. It was giving off faint readings of human life behind the wall. He couldn't just break the wall. It was time to use his ability.

One of his hands passed right through the wall like if here a ghost. Soon, all his body was on the side of the wall. The sight before him was puzzling. There was nothing but dolls strewn all over the room. Had his morpher been wrong?

Upon closer inspection, he placed his morpher on a single doll; it gave off a human energy signal. "I'll meet you outside, there's something you have to see."

The Diamond Deposits

Z found the boy alone inside one of the warehouses, holding an action figure in his tiny hands. She lightened her mood and smiled at him.

"Hey Sam."

"Pandora told me not to talk to strangers." He replied.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to be your friend." Sam decided to avoid her at all costs. She was dangerous according to Pandora. She alleged that Z not only wanted to hurt him, she also wanted his powers for herself. She might have also lied about her being involved with 'dangerous' people he didn't want to get involved with. He stood up and turned his back on her. He began walking to another location with the girl on his tracks.

She sighed and made a replica of herself to corner him. He gasped once he saw the girl that he had left behind in front of him. He turned back and saw her standing there. He laid eyes on the replica again. It just wasn't possible to him, unless…

"You have powers too?"

She smiled and walked up to him once he was calmer. "This is what I've been trying to tell you. My friends and I, we all have powers."

"What do you want with me? You have friends already. You don't need me." He was being evasive again. Before he could walk away, she took hold of his hand and looked him straight in the eye. "Because I used to be like you when I was twelve, Sam. I was also called a freak by the kids at my school because of my powers. I used to cry every night at home when I was growing up. I know how much it hurts. This is why I want you to come with me. I want to help you and be your friend."

Maybe Pandora had been wrong. Z seemed liked a good person to him. He began to wonder if anything that girl had told him was actually true. As he began retracing his steps in his mind, he noticed that she always asked for him to use his powers for her own personal gain. His mind then shifted to Bugglesworth and Mora, had what they told him been lies too?

He was starting to believe they were. He smiled at the girl and just before taking her hand, a bright light engulfed her. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, a plastic doll was in her place. Bugglesworth appeared out of the blue and giggled. He snatched the doll away from him and handed it to Pandora, who entered the warehouse a few seconds later.

"I've always wanted a doll of the Yellow Ranger." Pandora smiled at the creature and back at Sam. By the look on his face, she knew he was disconcerted. The smile vanished from her face. "I thought I told you not to talk to strangers."

"She was not a stranger; she was my friend." She scoffed and stood up. What had first seemed as an easy task was no proving to be daunting. Her patience level was decreasing every waking minute she spent with the little kid. Slowly, Pandora was showing her true colors. The blonde found herself lying on the floor a few minutes later. The creature arrived to help, but was also attacked by a blast. Sam looked around for the mysterious stranger who had helped him out only to find out it had been none other than Z.

He stared at the doll. "They got one of my replicas."

She apologized for leaving him alone and stood in front of him when the villains rose from the floor. Pandora nodded to the creature after whispering something in his ear and proceeded to attack the Ranger. She didn't to leave Sam alone to face one of his captors, but she couldn't get away from the battle or her opponent would take control of the boy once again. She needed to be quick and precise. She spotted a crate on the side and decided to use it as a distraction, knowing the other would take the bait.

Z hoped her plan would work. She lifted the wooden crate up to face level with ease, as it contained nothing but small diamonds. She took a deep breath and threw it straight at Pandora. The villain grabbed a pellet of steel from her bag and placed it on her palm, wrapping her delicate hands around it. Z witnessed as her whole body transformed to pure iron. Sky had been right, this wasn't Sydney anymore. This was someone entirely different in her friend's body, which only made her madder.

Before the crane could hit her face, Pandora smashed it into nothing but splinters with her fist. She spotted Z with a smug smile on her face. She blasted the girl with everything she had, making sure she wouldn't get away. She expected the body to ground afterwards, but instead of that happening, the image simply blurred and disappeared. Pandora had been tricked. It didn't happen often. Taking care of the Yellow Ranger was now on the top of her priority list. She smashed another crate to decrease her anger and then returned to her normal state. She stomped through the building, looking for her opponent and the little boy that had defied her. No one defied Pandora and survived to tell the story.

Her eyes searched the room for her prey. She was ready to pounce and attack whoever got in her way. It wasn't like she cared who got hurt in the process. It was good not to be a regular humans with those things they called feelings. She felt much better this way.

Z later found Sam on the other side of the warehouse. The alien had his weapon lifted, ready to turn him into a doll. She reached for her blaster and aimed it at his hands. Her purpose was to make him drop his weapon. Just as he lowered his staff, she aimed. Being a creature created with a childish character, Bugglesowrth began making sounds she took for crying. The closer she got, the louder the cries got. Apparently he had the hidden talent of wanting people to stay away from it. Sam didn't seem too annoyed. He went to hide behind a pair of wooden crates. Z came out of hiding and glared at Bugglesworth. She was tired of playing this game. She would finish this now.

But before she could morph, one of Pandora's blast hit her hand and knocked it out, therefore leaving her powerless. She hoped to have more tricks up her sleeve. Pandora nodded to the creature and grabbed Z by the arms. Bugglesworth grabbed its magical staff and pointed it at Z. The weapon vanished. Soon, the three heard something breaking. Sam came out of hiding. Seeing as she was now useless, Pandora tossed the girl to the floor and walked over to the little boy. She didn't get very far.

The three other Rangers appeared and blasted her before she could react. If she stayed, this wasn't going to end well. It was time for her to abort the mission. As soon as the Rangers began firing again, she grabbed another pellet from her bag, one made of steel this time to deflect the blasts. She closed her eyes and began walking to the doorway as quickly as she could in her transformed state. The temporary distraction allowed her to exit. Bugglesworth came running behind her, still being shot at by their weapons. She would take no prisoners. No Sam also meant no Bugglesworth. He was useless now. She returned to her normal appearance and attacked him with her staff. In her mind, he was just another of Mora's obsolete creations. She felt no remorse or any feelings about leaving him behind at the mercy of the Rangers. At least the Rangers were giving him something, it was more than Grumm or the rest the Terror's tribulation would give him. She dissolved into nothing but blackened rose petals.

The rest was history.

After arresting Bugglesworth and reverting the dolls they found back to normal, the Rangers, along with their new friend, gathered in the Rec Room. Everyone was surprised to see how warmly Sam was welcomed by the rest of the cadets. To Cruger, he was not a valuable addition to his team. Sam was the son of two of his students and he intended to keep him protected at all costs. There was nothing he cherished more than someone like Sam, who valued his powers and wanted to do more to help out, event though he was small.

"We're so glad you're here." Z took the boy in her arms and hugged him like he was her own son.

"We know there aren't a lot of things you can do around the Academy. Unless you like playing with mud, which you can do at the mud course, the gym is also fun, but very tough at first, you can also go and play with the computers at the Command Center, but I don't think Kat…" Z hit Bridge's shoulder and cleared her throat.

"What Bridge wants to say is that we've got something for you." She rephrased and stepped back, revealing a basketball and a bicycle with a big red bow in the handles. Sam grinned and thanked everyone before getting on his bike and taking it around the Academy for a small drive. After he left, the Rangers sat at the couch.

"Why did you feel the need to go after him alone?" Bridge asked casually.

She inhaled sharply and recalled her painful past. "When I was about the age of Sam, I was also harassed at school because of my abilities. I was 'Freaky Z' to the kids. Even the teacher hated me. I was so sad and depressed that one day, I decided to run away."

"There I was, on the park all by myself after creating a replica of myself at school so one would suspect I was missing. As I walked through the park to clear my head, I accidentally bumped into an alien. I was wearing a necklace my parents had given for my birthday; he grabbed it and ripped it off my neck. Before I could do anything, a cloaked figure stepped in and attacked the alien. I never saw the creature or my necklace again."

Then something surprising happened. Cruger stepped out of the shadows and requested Z to extend her hand and open it. She did as told and before she knew it; her golden Z necklace was back with her. She stared at the Commander with tear-filled eyes. She put it back on almost immediately. "Thank you Commander."

"I'm sorry it took this long, Cadet Delgado." She offered him a kind smile.

"You don't need to apologize, Commander. You were only trying to protect me." He shook hands with his Cadet and left for a meeting afterwards. She sat down again and marveled at her necklace, smiling like an utter fool.

"It's a piece of art." Bridge mentioned casually. This represented an advance to Z. It was small but it was better than nothing. At least he had complimented something that belonged to her. Unfortunately, it hadn't been her face or her body. Was her crush pointless? Would Bridge ever understand her feeling toward him? She would just have to wait and see for herself. That was if the wait didn't kill her.