Volume III – The Zeta Arc
Chapter 18—Faith and Light
Aaron
I gently laid Patrick on my bed, his sleeping form more peaceful than I'd imagined. I'd never seen something as gentle as he looked. Sure, he had a temper from hell, but seeing him so vulnerable just…I'm not sure what it did to me. It was weird.
I hadn't really expected to have to fight Rheas to get Patrick out of the hospital, but the stupid blue ogre insisted on trying to capture us at the absolute worst time. Patrick was exhausted after fighting for his life and losing his mom, so I hurried up and took care of the Gigadroids and Rheas, and then brought my guy-friend-thing back to my house.
"What's going on?" my dad's voice came quietly as he leaned in my doorway.
I turned slowly, not sure how to tell him what was going on. "Uh…well…Patrick's mom died. And…I…I'm not really sure what to do."
I could see the conflict of emotions in my dad's amber eyes. I could see his sympathy and compassion. Patrick had gotten to know my family pretty well in the past month, and even helped Corey with her Halloween costume a few weeks back. My parents seemed to love him, but they had no idea he and I were contemplating getting together. We had yet to put a label on our "relationship," but we both knew what we were leaning towards. And now that his mom had died and his world had turned upside down, I knew he needed something solid. I was hoping I could explain it to my dad without giving away too much about my budding feelings for the guy.
But dad knew what I was going to ask before I could even form the question.
"You want him to stay here."
It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah."
My voice was barely audible.
I hadn't noticed it before, but my house was abnormally silent. Usually, there was some kind of chaos surrounding my house; whether it was my sister and her friends running around the house squealing at the top of their lungs, my dad fixing up meals in the kitchen, or my Dyn arguing with his sisters on the phone. There was always something.
"I have to talk to Hunter first…you know that," dad said back, almost just as quiet.
"He's gonna say no, dad, you know that."
"I'll talk to him," he repeated. "I really don't know what will happen, Aaron."
"Can Patrick at least stay here for a minute?" I asked, settling for an immediate solution. "I've got something I've really got to do."
My dad looked confused instantly. "You're leaving?"
"I'll be right back, I swear, I just have something to do."
"Hurry Aaron, I'm not really sure what I can do with a kid who just lost his only parent."
I nodded. "I'll be back, I swear."
I ran out of my room, down the stairs, through the door, and teleported as soon as I reached the outside.
Instantly, I appeared in The Basement.
"I'm gonna need to hurry up and upload you; the others are hardly hanging on against two Guardians," Doc said, hardly sparing me a glance. He paused, then finally looked at me. "How's Patrick?"
"He's…he's hanging in there. He's sleeping at my house right now, but I've gotta hurry and get back. Dad doesn't know if Dyn will let him stay."
He seemed to contemplate my report to him before he swiveled around in his chair and fired up his super computer. "Ready?"
I nodded and took my place in front of the DigiDish. I heard it hum to life, and within seconds, I was digitized, morphed, and teleported to a Zord cockpit.
"Glad to see you made it," Doc Ol's voice came over my commlink. "I took the liberty of having your zord ready for you. I haven't made much progress on the Battleizer, but according to my calculations, you should have enough power to handle the Guardians without using the Tetra Cyber Megazord."
"Gotcha. I'm guessing the Cyber Shotgun: Gatlin Formation worked, then?"
"Of course," he replied wittily.
"Aaron, where are you?" Beth's voice replaced Doc Ol's. "We could really use some help out here."
"Where are you, Beth? My long range scanners aren't picking you up anywhere."
"Scan for their energy signatures." Doc Ol was back again. "You should be able to find them in sector 1-1-3-7-5."
"Hurry, Aaron, we can't hang on much—" Beth's cry for help was cut short by static.
I cursed as I put my Zord into hyper speed. My Cyber Tigerzord was faster than anything I'd ever experienced, traveling at 850 kilometers per hour. Imagine that: 1400 tons of solid metallic alloy rushing at you at almost Mach II. The Fusion Magnetothrusters were an invention by the Eltarians—the originators of the Morphing Grid—that used the constant push-pull relationship of magnets to create a sort of energy that acted as main boosters. Not to mention, the Photometric Particle Shard that acted as the power core of my giant robot. It was what gave this thing life.
Suddenly, I jerked to a stop. My helmeted head whiplashed and nearly collided with my control consoles in the overhead systems.
Stupid zord.
But when I gathered my senses, my head beat with the fury of a thousand horses, wracking my body so quickly and so brutally that I could hardly make a sound. All my 'experience,' all my 'leadership,' and everything my mind was trying to comprehend just melted away as my head throbbed and my vision became clouded.
"Aaron, what are you doing?" Doc demanded, his voice distant and echoed.
No response.
"Aaron!" I heard Jay yell.
Still nothing.
I couldn't move, despite the horrible scene unfolding in front of me as Kaf and Khaf tried their best to dismantle the Cyber Squad Megazord.
"Aaron, you need to convert to Fighter Mode!" Grace commanded.
But I couldn't. I didn't know what was going on. Suddenly, the entire Zord shook as it was sideswiped, flying through the air before it crashed into a cybernetic wall.
"What's the matter, White Ranger?" Khaf's voice taunted.
"Cyber Saber!" I heard Beth call out.
The Cyber Squad Megazord was all over Khaf in less than a second, pulling her off my damaged Zord.
"Aaron, listen to me. Activate Auto-self-defense," Doc Ol said calmly.
But nothing happened. I think he was somehow able to input the command from The Basement. Everything ran through my head at one time, and then all my thoughts just stopped as I slipped away from reality.
I could see Eltar in the distance, a white-and-light-blue pearl in the darkness of space. I could hear the cries of a baby screaming at the top of its lungs, pain seeming to overcome it. I felt hands in my mind, prying away my memories and my powers. Taking my life from me piece by piece.
Wherever I was, I looked up, my eyes falling on my Dyn's worried face. Next to him, my dad looked away in anguish. The screams of the child grew louder, the surrounding dull grey room magnifying the sound. Waves of energy seemed to float through the air, coming into contact with electronics and shorting them out immediately.
What the hell was going on?
My Dyn leaned in over me and shushed me lovingly. He whispered to me in Eltarian, telling me it was okay. And I believed him. And the screams grew quieter.
And I realized it was me who was screaming.
"AARON!"
I snapped up in my seat. My head pounding relentlessly, my heart blasting through my chest, and my eyes failing to focus.
"Aaron, wake up!"
I shook my head and thought over the situation. The K brothers, the Rangers, Megazords…giant monsters!
"Shit!" I cursed as I grab the controls.
Whatever Twilight Zone I had just drifted into was fading faster and faster, like a dream I kept trying to grab a hold to; but before I knew it, it was all but gone.
I made a note to ask my parents about it later.
Presently, I could tell my autopilot was badly damaged, and the golden areas on my tiger were tinged black from being burned and battered.
"Manual Fighter, engage!" I ordered the onboard computer.
My courage seemed to well in me, like it had just been waiting for me to snap out of whatever stupid trance I had slipped into. I felt my anger overflow and I felt some unknown force take over my body—like it had done this hundreds of times before.
My zord seemed to feed off my energy, the control panels glowing wherever I touched them. It was like I was powering the zord.
It started to lift itself up, standing as its legs retracted and its thighs strengthening into sturdy fighting legs. The tiger arms flipped to form fighter arms, the tiger head forming a chest-mounted armor piece, and a robot head levering up from the back to sit upon strong shoulders.
"Delta Tiger Megazord, online!" I announced, feeling the full power of the White Ranger and…something else filling my body.
"Get 'em Aaron!" Jay cheered.
"You're mine!" I shouted after the Kaf and Khaf guardians.
Their giant heads turned toward me as they tossed the Cyber Squad Megazord to the ground.
"If you want me," they taunted in-sync, "come and find me."
And they were gone.
At least, they wanted me to believe they were gone.
"Initiate subatomic scan on a degree of 50," I told the computer.
I was pretty sure I had never done that before. But it was like second nature to me.
"Subatomic scanners, activated," an androgynous voice replied.
A cyan glow covered the view screen of my cockpit as I scanned the area. They were in plain eyesight. Hah.
"Pulsar Cannon, double fire!"
Two huge white energy orbs shot from the mouth of the tiger head on my zord's chest, impacting with a loud bang and even bigger flash. I watched, satisfied, as both guardians them fell to their knees. So much for cloaking.
"Suck on that!" I yelled.
"Suck on this!" Kaf retorted as an energy sphere hit me in my chest area.
My zord recoiled, sparks raining from me like fireworks.
"Beth, get your saber ready so we can get them at the same time!" I said, forcing my zord up.
"Ready!" Beth said back, seconds later.
"Delta Blade, activate!" I shouted.
My HUD blinked, showing me the previous "tail piece" of my Tigerzord had become an Elesfite blade, glowing with a bright blue positron energy.
"Go!" I roared, no sooner had the blade touched my Megazord's hand.
"Cyber Slash!" I heard the five core rangers yell.
"Positron Saber!" I joined in.
Our slashes combined in an X, flying forward faster than the twin guardians could see—let alone react. The X-shaped energy wave was too big for them to avoid, and it collided with their bodies with a thunderous crash. Immediately, I heard them screech in pain as their bodies began to disintegrate. Just like every other time we'd destroyed a guardian, their Aleph Beyt symbols ignited over their carcasses, and then disappeared.
"We did it…" I heard Amy sigh in disbelief.
"Yeah…we did…" I muttered.
—18—
Being dedigitized felt weirder than being digitized. If you can imagine someone sucking you through a straw headfirst and having feet rematerialize before your head…well…then you've just imagined what it feels like to be dedigitized.
"You guys did awesome!" Doc Ol enthused, patting our shoulders.
"Yeah, but Mesomorph got away," Jay pointed out as he got his bearings.
Doc Ol's smile faded. "Yeah, but I mean…if it were that easy to capture him, then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. The important thing is he didn't stay to fight, and you beat two more guardians. Kaf was powerful, but his brother Khaf was a Final, Cosmic Guardian."
"A what?" Grace questioned curiously.
"Aleph Beyt letters are divided into three categories: Archetypal, Existential, and Cosmic," Amy spoke up. "Then, some letters in the Aleph Beyt are repeated if they appear at the end of the word. In that case, the way they are written changes slightly. In this form they're called 'Sofit' or 'Final,' but I had no idea this would have anything to do with their levels of power."
"Well how many Sofits are there?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.
"Five. With one down, we only have four to go. My only question is why they're going out of order," the Pink Ranger noted. "So far, we've gone through the Aleph Beyt pretty steadily…except we started with Beyt instead of Aleph."
"Maybe they don't have an Aleph?" Matt ventured somewhat hopefully.
"No," Doc shot his theory down, "I'm sure they do. They're called the Aleph Beyt, there's no way they wouldn't have an Aleph. We need to figure out why they're holding back."
"They held Dalet, Heyh, Vav, and Zayin back, too," Amy added.
We all seemed to stare at one another, unsure of where Amy and Doc where going with this.
"This is a map of the digital networks," Doc said, changing the topic as he sat behind his computer and brought up a visual screen. "Once Mesomorph is kicked out of one, I'll raise a PowerWall, blocking him out permanently. We've now freed Northern Russia."
"Well wait; if he keeps picking small locations like he's been doing, we'll have the whole world free in a heartbeat," said Beth.
"That's what I'm afraid of, though; if he knows I'm raising PowerWalls, he'll start attacking larger networks so that if he wins, he wins big."
"That's true," Grace mumbled.
"Go home and get some rest, everyone," Doc Ol suggested kindly, standing to stretch. Then he turned to me. "Aaron, I want to talk to you for a minute, if that's okay."
I nodded as I felt the eyes of everyone bore into me. I tried to ignore them.
Once they left, Doc slumped down in his computer chair, hit a button on the console, and watched a tiny panel near the wall extend. Out popped a mini-fridge.
"Beer?" he asked.
I laughed. This was a side of Thomas Oliver I'd never heard. I damn sure had never seen it before, either.
"Uh…sure," I replied lightly.
He cracked one open for himself and passed me one. I waited silently as he took a long draw from it before he finally spoke.
"I want you to know I'm really proud of you."
I stared at him blankly, partly because I felt awkward and partly because I was shocked.
"You're a much better leader than even I would have expected. Don't get me wrong, but when the Morphers first chose their users, I didn't expect you to wind up the White Ranger." He paused, tilted his beer can, and examined its design for a few moments before he continued. "In a lot of ways, you remind me of your dad; you have that same carefree attitude about you, but the part of you that's so much like your Dyn won't let it show."
Now I was really speechless. Especially since he'd just used the Eltarian word for "dad."
Somehow, some voice in me managed to speak up. "You notice that, huh?"
He nodded slowly. "It's not a bad thing, Aaron. Both your parents were great rangers in their own respects; just because Dustin was goofy didn't make him stupid or any less important, and just because Hunter was more solemn and in charge didn't make him the best leader in the world. I believe that the reason your parents were so influential as Rangers is that, together, they're virtually unbeatable. Hunter was able to instill some sobriety to Dustin's attitude, and Dustin brought relaxation and lightheartedness to Hunter. And you have the ability to mesh the two perfectly."
I was sure I looked downright uncomfortable now.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Doc…really. But…I'm not so sure I'm the best candidate for being a leader. I'm not that great on instinct."
"You seemed to do just fine today," he said.
I thought about telling him more about my weird blackout session, but I decided not to. I didn't feel like telling him my Autism didn't seem to like working hand-in-hand with my supposed Eltarian powers.
He smiled knowingly. "Aaron, I was the leader of the Power Rangers more times than I can tell you. When Zordon, your grandfather, first gave me the role of leader and I suddenly outranked my best friend…I was scared shitless."
I laughed. "Really?"
He nodded and motioned for me to take a seat across from him. "I had just come back from being evil, then having my powers drained, and then being next to useless and always needing to be rescued. I never expected our mentor to put me in charge. I mean, I had all these questions, like how he knew I wouldn't turn evil again. Or how he knew I wasn't going to get my powers drained again; or even how he knew I wouldn't be rendered useless again. You know what he told me?"
I stared him in the eyes and saw the fire of a Power Ranger blazing behind them.
"He told me because he had faith in me."
I soaked that in for a few minutes. I still couldn't help but feel bad. Especially keeping my shortcomings a secret. I mean, sure, he had to know about my Autism. He was the principal, so I'm sure he had something to do with my Special Needs Protocol used at school. You know, those rules that Madame DuPont was supposed to follow, but never did.
And then he mentioned it.
"But what Zordon didn't know was that I was struggling with Chronic Minor Depression. I'm sure you know what that is, which is why I felt like I was nowhere near fit to being a leader. I was too unstable. But after a while, I stopped looking at it as a curse and started looking at it like it was a gift. It allowed me to be more emotionally in-tune with my teammates. Because I had been at the bottom of the bottom so many times myself, it made me stronger. It gave me a reason to keep fighting. So even when I wasn't fighting the evils of the universe, I was fighting the evil inside me."
I didn't know what to say. But I knew I had to speak up. "I…I don't know how you did it. I…I don't think I'm half as strong as you are in that department, Doc. I mean…that's a pretty serious disability, isn't it?"
"Yeah, and notice that it hasn't kept me from having a completely normal and successful life." He paused. "I mean, aside from the forces of evil always trying to kill me. But you get what I mean."
We chuckled together and I mentioned I understood. Then I took my leap of faith.
"Well it's crazy you say that Doc, cuz…as you know, I'm autistic. Dad says it's not too serious, but… I'm afraid that my inability to like, perform correctly and stuff, will get us all killed one day."
"Aaron, your autism makes you gifted in tons of other aspects that others wouldn't even imagine. Like those with any disability, there are advantages. Anytime someone's handicapped in one field, they compensate for it in another." He seemed to be thinking of examples, and then finally came up with one. "I don't know much about Autism, but I do know that social skills aren't a specialty. On the other hand, people with it usually have an outside-box way of thinking, and can usually excel at a number of things that fall into the category of their interests. Like you. I know you don't want to admit it, but I saw the way you worked that Zord today. You're a techie. Aren't you?"
I burst out laughing.
"How the hell did you know that?"
"Just a guess," he said, also laughing. "You just have to remember that you aren't Autism, Aaron; you just have it. It's a part of you, not the other way around. Remember that."