Volume I - Genesis

Chapter 6—Resolution

Amy

I was so over this and it hadn't even really begun. All I knew was that was working with Jay and Aaron was going to be way more trouble than it really seemed worth.

I mean, sure, I was a Power Ranger now. A pink ranger, but a ranger nonetheless. Still, wasn't I supposed to become a better person or something? Weren't rangers supposed to be virtuous and team oriented? So why did I find it so difficult just to have a conversation with Jay?

Last night should've happened differently. I shouldn't have let him get to me, right? I mean, he was the one who said I burned bridges. He was the one who said I "ditched" them. I was just doing what I thought was best for me at the time, and I had to help myself before I could them, right?

So why did I feel so awful about it?

I thought about it all last night. Even when I got home and had to lie to my parents about having community service duties, my mind was still focused on the fight with Jay. It was like I just needed him to understand where I was coming from. I needed him and Aaron to not be mad at me anymore. I needed forgiveness.

But this morning started out with anything but forgiveness. In fact, it started off with my mom yelling at me about a dentist appointment next week and being home in time to watch my little brother Tyler tonight from 5 to 7 while she and dad went to Rabbi Weidman's wedding. And then my dad was telling me not to forget about picking up my sister Alezandra from the airport tomorrow morning so she could steal my room for two whole weeks.

Ugh.

Just thinking about it was pissing me off all over again.

"Okay, so…that went well," Grace sighed, watching Jay storm off. "What's his problem, anyway?"

I shook my head. "Believe me, you don't want to know."

Matt cocked an eyebrow. "What, did you guys talk or something? Is jealous I got blue?"

I had to laugh a little. "No, it's not that. He's worried that he and Aaron are bad people who don't deserve the Morphers."

Grace scoffed. "Little late for that."

"I mean, it's true, though," Matt tacked on. "Jay's a dick, and so is Aaron. I don't get why anyone would ever pick them as Rangers."

"Yeah, cuz you're such Grade-A Ranger material," I joked. "Seriously though, I don't get either one of them. Especially Jay. I mean, he says he's worried about being a bad person, but then he goes and does shit like this."

Grace shrugged. "To be honest with you, I'm surprise we were friends with them for as long as we were."

I frowned. "Yeah…but you can't deny we had fun. I just wish I knew how to get them to see they could have fun without making everyone else miserable."

"That's the Code of the Popular," Grace said matter-of-factly. "C'mon Amy, you know that. Always has been, always will be."

"Yeah…" I sighed.

"Let's just meet up at lunch, okay?"

"Fine with me," I replied as I fixed my backpack strap. "Ready for some pre-calc, Matty?"

He groaned. "As I'll ever be."

For some strange reason, though, he was oddly good at math. For the most part. As stupid as Matt could act, I knew he was actually quite the scholar; he had to be, since he was captain of the boys swim team. I had grown closer to him since dating Patrick, as he and Matt had been friends since Patrick moved to Reefside. He was an easy guy to talk to, though, so it didn't really surprise me that he and Patrick were good friends—Patrick loved to talk.

I tried to spend as little time as possible thinking about Patrick. It was a tough situation since we had the same group of friends now. Even Matt could tell how awkward things were between us, and Matt was probably the most oblivious to stuff like that.

And then, like he was reading my mind, he asked me about it. Kind of.

"So…did you and Patrick wanna go see that new Song of Kaos movie with me and Grace tomorrow? I heard it supposed to be even crazier than the first one."

"Eh…I don't know if that's the best idea. We're trying to give each other space."

"Still?" he asked. "It's been like, four months. Can't you guys just be friends?"

I laughed to myself. "I wish it was that easy."

"You'll never know unless you try."

"I could say the same about you and Grace," I said. "You'll never know unless you try."

He glared at me. "That's different and you know it."

"Not really," I argued. "If you just tell her how you feel, couldn't you guys be more than friends?"

"Yeah, right. Not with her always making googly eyes at Aaron."

I couldn't argue there. Grace had always had a crush on Aaron. Ever since she moved back here from England, she'd been trying to catch his attention—especially when we broke up. I didn't care, and I told her as much. If she wanted Aaron, she could have him. He and I made good friends, but we were never really a couple. We didn't do couple things. I could count on one hand how many times we actually kissed in the whole three years we dated. So, breaking up with him didn't really seem like the end of the world to me. It felt natural to want to explore my compatibility with other people, namely Patrick.

But Grace missed her chance with Mr. Brooks. It wasn't long after we broke up that he was seen "romancing" with Beth De Piedras—our school's resident "It Girl." It was just ironic because she and Grace were best friends at the time. And at the time, Grace was the Queen B. And even though she swore she didn't care about being dethroned and losing her crush to her best friend, I knew she did. I knew it still bugged her. That's why she was no longer a member of the "popular" kids. She said that once I decided to de-clique myself, she wanted to, too. But it was really because Beth quite literally betrayed her and told all her secrets, and then made up rumors about her.

But that was high school. It was more evil than anything Mesomorph or the Aleph Beyt could throw at us.

Ironically enough, as if on cue, I felt a metallic ball shoot past my head like a bullet. I spun around to find the source, but couldn't see anything other than a group of stragglers running to make it to first period in time.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked, turning around to look with me.

"You didn't see that?" I wondered, glancing out in the general direction from which the ball had been thrown. "It flew right by us."

"See what?"

"Someone just threw some kind of ball at me!" I practically screamed. "It flew right by us."

He looked confused.

I turned back to walk when I saw what had become of the ball.

In front of Matt and me stood about 20 or 30 Gigadroids, the silver and white of their armor glinting brilliantly in the sunlight.

"Oh shit…" I mumbled.

"Seriously?" Matt complained. "Why do we keep getting attacked at school?"

"Attack?" one of the cold metallic voices repeated. Its blue eyes stared at us curiously as it cocked its head. Then, as if it had registered us or something, it decided to correct Matt's statement. "Destroy!"

All of the robotic soldiers' eyes went from the bright neutral blue to their electric green attack mode as they hunched over and sprinted toward us.

Shivers ran down my spine as some previously non-existent entity took over and my body went on autopilot.

I threw my backpack at an assailant, leaping and kicking him in his metallic face with my flip-flops. I didn't think it would do much damage, but when I looked at him, his entire face was caved in and sparking with electricity.

"Whoa…" I muttered to myself.

Matt was taking on several of them at once, easily avoiding their attacks with great speed and fluidity. He spiraled horizontally in midair, and then connected his shin with the neck of a Gigadroid. Its head tumbled off uselessly as Matt landed and faced the others. I had known Matt for at least two years, and I had never known him to use excessive force on anyone or anything; nor had I ever seen him move that fast. It had to be his element. It had to be our Morphers.

"Amy, look out!" I heard someone scream.

I looked to my immediate left where a blur of motion caught my attention.

Jay had speared a Gigadroid, but instead of taking it to the ground, he completely ripped it in two.

He tumbled to the ground and jumped up. "You okay?"

I was speechless as I watched the burning scraps of the Gigadroid fall to the ground. Wasn't this the same guy who didn't want to work as a team? And where the hell did he come from? Dazed, I began to formulate a response.

"Move!" Grace's strong voice ordered.

I was too late to move, though. A Gigadroid kicked me in my stomach, sending me whirling backwards into Jay.

I took a mental note that the Gigadroid was metallic and that getting kicked in the stomach by metal definitely should've knocked the wind out of me at the very least. For some reason, though, I was hardly fazed. Maybe it was because Jay had caught me without even trying.

"You need to be more careful," he said seriously.

"Thanks for the catch," I shot back as I kneed the Gigadroid in his chest, and then punched him across the field.

"Nice one!" Matt complimented me.

I didn't have time to reply. I didn't want a crowd gathering. Surprisingly, no one had seen anything. The bell must have gone off while I was busy getting saved by Jay or something.

"We need to end this!" Grace shouted over the commotion the Gigadroids were making with all their whirring and clicking.

"Well there's about 20 left," Jay said. "Any bright ideas?"

"Just one," she said with her confident I-can-do-anything smirk.

I looked confused, but one minute she was closing her eyes, and the next minute she was gone. No puff of black mist, no swirling energy—she definitely didn't teleport.

"Where'd she go?!"

Suddenly, an invisible force was knocking Gigadroids around left and right.

"She's invisible! She's using her elemental powers!" Matt shouted. "Maybe that's what Doc wanted to tell us about last night."

"You know," I said while tearing through a Gigadroid with my fist, "if Doc had told us he was going to let us know how to use our powers without Morphing, we probably could have stayed to hear him out. I wasn't in that big of a hurry to get home."

Jay jump-kicked a Gigadroid in the face and then landed to sweep it off its feet. When it fell, he scooped it up with his sneakered foot and then kicked its body into two more Gigadroids. "Haven't you learned that he doesn't tell us anything useful until it's too late?"

I looked around and could see the Gigadroids being dominated by Grace, but they were learning her attack patterns. Either that, or they were using their scanners to detect her.

She reappeared when one of them backhanded her into Matt's open and waiting arms. Typical.

"Grace, how do we use our powers?" Jay barked. "Is that what you and Doc were chatting about last night?"

She panted as she recovered from the attack, nodding. "Yeah, just focus. Even when you're not Rangered up, your Morpher can still send data to your brain and body—a lot of your elemental powers can be used in civilian form."

Civilian form? Seriously, Grace…this wasn't an essay.

"Alright, let's see what this Sigma Force life is really about," I said, glancing down at my wrist band.

I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts, and then closed my eyes. Just like being in my Ranger suit, it felt like there was a Heads-Up-Display in my mind's eye, and I could suddenly see all the powers at my disposal. There was almost nothing I couldn't do—I could summon energy blasts, use telekinesis, and build force fields...basically anything! From my eyes, my hands, or my mouth, pure energy would launch forth in a destructive force.

I opened my eyes as the images flashing in my head came to a sudden standstill. When I looked at my hands, they were shining with a radiant pink aura.

I looked up and there were several glowing energy spheres near my head.

"Whoa!" Matt said, pointing at the orbs.

For some reason, though, it was like I was a different person. I was all work, no play, and I was ready to eradicate the Gigadroids from the field. The spheres of energy whirling around my head seemed to almost be talking to me—guiding me. And as I listened to their whispers of advice, I commanded one of them to fly forward like bullets.

The sphere divided into dozens of small pink bullets that hovered readily, and with just a mental command, they shot forward and ripped through two of the Gigadroids surrounding me. With the second sphere, I hurtled it at another two or three, and like the others, they crumbled under the power of Sigma Force.

With my last sphere, I tapped into my power and multiplied its revolutions, causing it to grow in power. Finally, I slammed it into the ground and it burst out in a bomb-like fashion that eradicated the remaining Gigadroids around me.

In a few moments, Jay had learned his technique, projecting fireballs at rapid speed and frying any Gigadroids unlucky enough to be in his path. In mere seconds, he had zoomed around at super-speed—literally—and burned a group of Gigadroids to a crisp.

And then Matt tried his luck, and suddenly he looked like had telekinesis too. That's when I realized that he was actually just shooting out powerful, nearly invisible gusts of wind. With a final cry, he performed a vicious kick that sent a shockwave of air at the Gigadroids, cutting them down to size with razor-winds.

There were only a few Gigadroids left now, maybe six or seven. But they had learned what we were doing, and now they were starting to dodge attacks.

Grace rematerialized next to me in a puff of black haze. "You ready to really let loose?"

I looked at her. "What'd you have in mind?"

"All together!" Grace commanded. "Dig deep!"

I took another deep breath and then threw my hands forward, violet energy flying from them. Matt joined me, tossing a basketball-sized cyclone ball forward. Jay unleashed a torrent of unknowably hot flames from his outstretched palms, and Grace's eyes glowed deep purple as they burst forth with laser beams of shadow energy.

The blasts collided with the remaining robots just as the tardy bell rang, an enormous explosion rocking the ground around us. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of the Gigadroids. Not even a piece of scrap metal.

"Okay," Jay panted, "now that I can get used to!"

"Dude, right?! We rocked that shit!" Matt cheered, grabbing my shoulder rambunctiously.

I grinned at him, looking at Grace as well.

"We did do pretty well, huh?" she wondered, brushing off her black tank-top.

"We did," Jay agreed, grabbing his backpack. "But I'll see you guys at lunch, I gotta run."

"Lovely…we get to be late for first block," I realized. "Saturday detention for everyone…"

Grace looked at me, laughed, grabbed her backpack, and began to walk off.

"What, I'm serious," I called after her as Matt and I headed off for math once more.

—6—

As I sat through pre-calculus, mindlessly jotting down notes, I couldn't help but feel more badass than I'd ever felt in my entire life. I mean, I had owned out there. I knew that while morphed, I could fight—it was like some sort of autopilot sequence took over my body when I was outfitted in my pink spandex. Or, as Patrick had told me once, Elesfyree. But without my powers, I still managed to decimate the Gigadroids with the help of my teammates.

Ha, teammates.

That was something I couldn't get my head around quite yet.

Oh, my head…God, did I always have this headache or was this something new? I didn't know if it was because I started paying attention to it or what, but there was this…this buzzing in the back of my brain. Almost like I was hearing people talk through a wall or something. What were they saying? Was somebody talking?

I looked up from my notebook, glancing around the classroom and taking a peek out the window. Everyone except my teacher was completely silent—most of them were asleep. And the hallway outside was completely empty except for the janitor wheeling his cart along.

But the buzz was still there, only now it was getting louder. And no one else was saying anything about it.

This is so boring.

I can't believe he hasn't texted me back yet.

I'm so hungry.

I can see her ass from this angle…

What. The. Fuck.

Was I…was I hearing thoughts?

I panicked.

I mean, if you suddenly had the thoughts of 30-something teenagers and a teacher rushing through your head, what would you do?

I clapped my hands over my ears. Yeah, genius move, I know. As if my ears had anything to do with my brain picking up the thoughts of others.

They were getting louder, now. And faster and more frequent. It wasn't just little things, now. I was getting overwhelmed with jumbled up half-dreams from my sleeping classmates. I could hear my teacher thinking to himself that he hated his job and everything about this school. I could hear the janitor thinking about his sick dog at the vet. I could hear Matt thinking about this weekend with Grace. I could hear him thinking about wishing Patrick and I would get back together.

"STOP!"

Mr. Brannan did. He stopped writing and looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

I had. I couldn't separate my thoughts from everyone else's, and now I could hear them wondering what I was yelling about.

"Can…can I…can I go to the nurse?" I fought to ask. I could barely form a coherent sentence.

"Uh…" Mr. Brannan mumbled, "Is…is eve—"

"No, it's not! Can I please go?!"

"Yes, yes, go."

I took off as fast as I could. I could hear Matt thinking to himself, worrying something was wrong. It was, but I didn't have time to explain it to him. I didn't even know if I wanted to explain it to him. He would probably think I was crazy.

I ran down the empty hallway, my flip-flops smacking the ground rhythmically at the same rate as my heartbeat. As soon as I was out the double doors, in the empty parking lot and away from the classrooms, I could finally breathe. The voices subsided slowly but surely as the same tingling from combat took over my body.

I sucked in as many breaths as I could, leaning on the banister as I looked out at the parking lot next to our football field. I was tempted to just get in my car and go home, but I knew my mom was home. And she was quite honestly the last person I needed in my head.

Maybe Doc would have some answers. This had to be a result of the Sigma Morpher, right? I mean…I wasn't going insane, was I?

—6—

"He's in a meeting at the moment," the secretary, Mrs. Abbott, told me politely. "He won't be free until this afternoon."

"Oh, but he told me to come," I lied. "It's about my community service. I think he was going to squeeze me in between meetings or something."

I glanced at the clock. It was almost 9, so I was willing to bet he had another one coming up soon.

My gamble paid off, because she seemed to take another look at his schedule and confirmed a small gap.

"Alright, dear, you can wait outside of his office."

I sighed in relief, thanking her as I made my way to his office.

So far, so good. No crazy telepathy, no mental breakdowns. Maybe I didn't need to talk to him after all, I started thinking to myself.

And then I heard him. His door wasn't completely shut, and he was standing at his desk and staring at the far wall. I couldn't see who was on the video screen, I could only make out a quarter of his face and a shock of blond hair. Whoever it was, he was letting Doc have it.

"…the minute this happened. The minute he showed up on your doorstep with them, you should have called me!"

"You don't think I tried? You're not exactly an easy man to get a hold of, Hunter."

"Well what about Dustin? One of us should have been notified. If the Alephs know he's the Eyr, it's only a matter of time before they go after him again."

Doc was quiet, like he was contemplating something.

"What is it?" the man, 'Hunter' asked.

"One of the Cyber Morphers bonded with him."

He was speechless now, both men absorbing the silence and the pointed statement Doc had let linger.

"I don't understand how I didn't see any of this…" Hunter muttered. "I've had plenty of visions about his…personal life, but nothing about him being a Ranger. Even my visions of SPD didn't include anything about the Cyber Rangers."

"It's not just Aaron," Doc said, "It's a whole group of my students."

Wait, Aaron was the one the Aleph Beyt was looking for? Why? I felt like the answer was literally right there in front of me…I just couldn't think of it. Aaron, Aaron, Aaron…

Oh. My. God.

Aaron Brooks.

As in the son of Dustin Brooks? Was that Hunter, the King of Eltar in a video conference with Doctor Oliver? How was this even possible? I had met Aaron's parents before when we were dating. He had a mom and dad, not two dads, and I would have remembered meeting a former Power Ranger. Was Aaron adopted or something? Did he even know he was the heir, or 'eyer" or however Hunter had said it?

"How many are active?" Hunter asked.

"Five," Doc responded.

"Five?!"

"It's…it's a long story, but the kids who were involved with Aaron's attack had the physical potential. And they were willing—"

"Wait, you told them about the Morphers, Tommy?"

"What was I supposed to do?" Doc shouted, quieting himself when he realized how defensive he was getting. "They wanted answers, Hunter. They all wanted to know why they were almost killed. So it was either tell them about Aaron or tell them about the Morphers that I never thought would activate in the first place."

"You're forgetting option three," Hunter snapped, "which is turn them over to SPD and let that be that."

"Oh yeah? And how would SPD react to finding out who and what Aaron is?"

So…I wasn't quite sure why, but there was a lot of tension about Aaron. I assumed it was because he was probably some cliché long-lost royal family member with a high price on his head, but…I was getting the feeling there was something more. Something that was so uncomfortable, they wouldn't even talk about it openly with each other.

"You mentioned five were active," Hunter said, sighing, "which ones?"

"Aaron has the Light Morpher, which doesn't really surprise me when I think about it, but all of the Base Morphers are active except for the Alpha Stone Morpher."

"Of course the Red Ranger is missing."

I could sense his cynicism even from outside the room.

"The Alpha Stone Morpher hasn't chosen a host yet, but don't you see, Hunter? This is exactly what we've been detecting in the Morphing Grid. Those spikes in the readings Billy sent you last week? All the sudden activity with the Alephs—that's why the Cyber Morphers are activating now. Something's happening."

Hunter seemed to be thinking.

"You realize that with Aaron's condition, this could complicate a lot, right? Especially with a Morpher as powerful as Delta White. If he—"

"Don't worry," Doc interrupted, "you don't think I'm going to let all this time as his protector be for nothing, do you? Aaron's safety has always been my main priority, that's the only reason I've stayed put so long."

"Yes, and I thank you for that, Tommy, my family owes you a massive debt…But…if anything goes wrong in even the slightest, I'm pulling the plug. We don't know what those Morphers will do to his mind, and…to be honest…I'm not sure he can take much more."

"I know," Doc said quietly, "I know how hard this has been for you and Dustin, and the rest of your family. But we finally have a chance to see what the Aleph Beyt's true intentions are. This is the closest we've ever been in the past 15 years."

Hunter exhaled heavily. "Yeah, but how long do you think it's going to take these kids to figure out how to take them down? Once the Eltarian Council hears about this, they're going to want my immediate abdication and your head on a platter. Then they're gonna want the Cyber Morphers and the Rangers for dessert."

"Can't Zordon pull some strings?"

Zordon? Eltarian Council? This was all a hell of a lot bigger than I'd ever imagined. What was Doctor Oliver thinking giving us these Morphers?

"If there are any strings left to be pulled, you can bet my dad will know. Just be careful, Tommy. SPD is gonna be all over you and your Rangers, so I suggest you work fast."

"Don't worry, I've still got a few friends in SPD."

"You still have friends?"

"Very funny."

"I'll keep you updated with the Council," Hunter said in parting, "but please keep an eye on Aaron until I can get back there. Dustin's a great dad, but he doesn't have a clue of what's going on with all this. And I would hate for him to have to find out the hard way."

"You have my word," Doc said sincerely. "Take care, Hunter."

"You too, old friend."

Doc's screen went black and Hunter's shock of blond hair and laser blue eye disappeared. I heard my principal take a steadying breath as he sipped his coffee and turned toward his door.

Oh shit.

I jumped back, taking a seat in one of the stiff chairs just outside his office.

"Amy," Doc greeted me, surprised, "what are you doing here?"

I tried to sound natural, but I was still caught up in all the talk of Eltar and Zordon and some weird conspiracy about Aaron.

"Oh, I, uh…"

"Have you been waiting long?"

Now, that, I could tell, was a loaded question. He sounded like he didn't mean anything by it, but that was because he was Doctor Oliver. He was slick with words and interrogation. I knew he was trying to find out how much I'd heard, if anything. But I wasn't dumb.

"No, I just got here," I said, "I came by because I need to talk to you about…" I paused and quieted my voice. "I need to talk to you about my Morpher."

He nodded slowly, pulling his lips in against his teeth. "I was afraid of this."

"What? You mean you know?!"

He opened his office door and beckoned me in.

"Did you have a telepathic event?"

"Event? Is that what you call those? It was more like an outbreak. Why didn't you tell me this thing came with a mindreading curse?"

He suppressed a laugh. "Well, I didn't think it would happen so quickly. That means the Morpher is taking to you quite quickly."

"I'll say. It's been going haywire ever since we fought those Gigadroids this morning."

"Wait, what?" he asked, doubling back. "What do you mean?"

I nodded. "Yeah, like 30 of them jumped Matt and me on our way to Pre-Calc. Jay and Grace, luckily, were nearby. But we learned how to use our elemental powers, so…yay us."

He shook his head. "I don't understand, they shouldn't be here."

"Uh, yeah, ya think."

He frowned. "I've got to get to work on a way to keep them from approaching the school grounds…"

"So, about this telepathy," I said, trying not to be rude. "Is this gonna happen all the time?"

"No," he answered distractedly as he pulled up a small computer screen. "No, the first one is always a random burst. I was going to warn you yesterday, but it was late and you were all exhausted. Plus, like I said, it usually takes a little longer to complete the bonding process."

"So, can I control it?"

He looked up at me over his glasses, like he was trying to read my mind. "Why?"

"I don't mean it like that," I said, chuckling mostly to myself, "I only want to know how to shut it off. I don't want to be in anyone's head ever again. Not after today."

He seemed satisfied with my response, because then he turned the computer screen toward me. "This is what we'll be working on later today. These are Eltarian Psychic Inducers, training programs designed to help you use your telepathic abilities to open yourself to psionic energy and to repel psychic attacks."

"How is a computer going to teach me that?"

"We'll go over that tonight," he answered. "Now, you need to know that using your telepathy has its drawbacks. For example, while entering someone's mind, it is possible for a trained psychic to enter yours—so always be careful when engaging an enemy with it."

"Like I said, Doc, I don't think—"

"You'll need your telepathy, Amy," he said sternly. "Not now, but eventually, you will. It is a part of the Morpher, and repressing it will only limit your progress as a Ranger."

I sighed. "Okay…fine."

"Don't worry," he reassured me, "You're a telekinetic first and foremost. Your telepathy is just a secondary ability. Like I told you all before, these Morphers are Eltarian in nature, and all Eltarians have at least a faint form of telepathy."

"Ah," I nodded, "that makes sense, I guess."

I wanted to ask him about Aaron, to find out if the Eyr knew anything about this whole telepathy thing and how to get around it or control it. I wanted to ask a hell of a lot more about Aaron in general, but I bit my tongue. I dunno why. It just didn't feel right to ask until I knew I had my facts straight. So I kept my mouth shut and waited, biding my time for the right moment.