Volume III - The Zeta Arc

Chapter 19—Enter the Dragon

Patrick

Aaron arrived at the hospital in a flash of white in a secluded area. Driving wouldn't have been optional without my car. Which he didn't have.

My car. The same car my mom had just bought me. My mom. Maybe if she had kept my car for herself and given me her old one, she'd still be alive.

Maybe I would've caught the flat.

From my place in the stairwell, I began to call out to Aaron. But I was silenced by a large hand over my mouth. A large, blue hand.

Rheas.

I immediately began to panic, my body weak from the emotional trauma it had just gone through. I struggled against him, but his 7-foot frame was nearly immovable to my weak human body.

When in doubt, though, use your teeth.

I chomped down on his forefinger and he bellowed in agony and shock, slamming me into the wall angrily.

At that, the people in the hospital noticed my dilemma; a giant blue alien was about to kick my ass. You would think they would help, but they did the human thing: they screamed, and they ran. Even the patients.

Aaron, though, was not a human. He was an Eltarian prince—a knight in shining armor half the time. That thought gave me some sliver of hope.

"RHEAS!" he hollered, catching the brute's attention.

Just as Rheas turned his head in Aaron's direction, the unmorphed white ranger slammed his elbow into Rheas' sternum. I heard him gasp before Aaron displayed an unnatural amount of strength as he literally flipped Rheas over his shoulder.

"Get to safety," Aaron said quickly to me as he ran off to where Rheas had landed.

"Master will reward me greatly for bringing you both back," the blue-skinned alien said, grinning fiendishly.

As anticipated, he pulled a metal orb from his belt and slammed it into the ground. Out popped three dozen Gigadroids.

"These things again?" Aaron sighed cockily.

"Voice identification complete: seize the prince," one Gigadroid said, his armor an ugly gold instead of the dull chrome of the others.

"And…here we go again."

Before Aaron could morph, they charged. Instantly, they were blown back by an emanating light. Their red eyes widened, settling on Aaron's scouring face and crystal blue eyes. Waves of energy circulated around him, his hair waving like he was in a windstorm.

So this was what the power of light could do.

"Let's do this!" he shouted as he jumped forward, kneeing one in the gut.

He punched its face several times, and then swept it off its feet. The others began to jump him, literally; they'd abandoned whatever fighting style they had, and were just mobbing him. But Aaron wasn't going down without a fight, and it was one hell of a fight. White laser beams shot several chromium bodies off him at a time, but there were too many. Finally, the movement ceased, and Aaron appeared tamed. My ears picked up on some sort of humming noise, but by the time the Gigadroids became aware of it, a burst of white energy incinerated all of them and temporarily blinded Rheas. Good thing, too, because he had just started coming my way.

"Don't even think about it," Aaron threatened Rheas, activating his morpher but not yet morphing. "You know you don't stand a chance against me without Mira."

Rheas seemed to be thinking over the situation, halfway to me, but halfway from Aaron. He looked back and forth between the two of us before deciding it would be a bad idea to further piss off Aaron.

"Sleep with one eye open, White Ranger," Rheas spat ominously as he disappeared.

Aaron remained tense for a few moments before he finally took a breath, straightening his hair and walking over to me.

"Hey…" he said at a loss of words, "are you okay?

I didn't—couldn't—reply. I was so exhausted, and so unbelievably relieved that Aaron—of all people—was there. For some reason, his presence just made me feel safer. Maybe it was because he was the White Ranger. Maybe it was because he was the Prince of Eltar. Or maybe it was because I had really grown to care about him.

All I knew was that he was the one person I really wanted at the time.

"Come on…I'll take you back to my house," he said calmly.

—19—

I woke up warmer than usual, with a lot less room than my bed had. I noticed strong arms holding me in place, and that my head was slowly rising and falling in a perfect pattern—to the rhythm of a steady triplet beat. Whatever the surface was, it was soft to the touch, and it tickled the side of my face.

Where the hell was I?

I struggled to open my eyes, peering through the darkness to look at my surroundings. The room, as far as I could see, was enormous—at least 30-by-30 feet, complete with some sort of walk-in-closet, various band and athlete posters, family pictures, a desk, a TV, a computer…everything. But I had seen this room before.

What took me by surprise was the fact that I was in Aaron's bed. And judging by the clock that read 2:36 AM, I was spending the night. That never happened. I never slept over. I couldn't even remember getting there, let alone what had led up to us both being stripped down to our underwear.

It was hard to breathe with the way he was holding on to me, like he was afraid I'd disappear or something. And from what I could tell, I was hugged tight to his bare chest. Guess that explained why I was so warm. And why his stray chest hairs were tickling my face. And his triple heartbeat.

Yeah, triple.

But why was I here? Why couldn't I remember how I'd gotten to Aaron's house, gotten half naked, and then fallen asleep in his bed?

Then it hit me.

I immediately sat up, Aaron's arms falling loosely around me.

I felt my chest clench as my breathing sped up, the sudden grief slamming into me like a tidal wave.

My mom—my best friend, my confidant, my only parent—was gone.

"Patrick?"

Aaron's voice shocked me, I think. I'd forgotten what it sounded like, for some reason. His intense eyes were bright with worry. He knew what was wrong.

"I…" I felt my throat squeeze shut, pain and tears choking my voice.

I was so confused. Part of me thought this was a dream. That there was no possible way my mom was really gone. No possible way that Aaron was the one trying to comfort me. No possible way that my life could change so drastically. So fast.

I tried to hold back my actual sadness. I tried to be strong in front of Aaron. I didn't want him to see me cry. I never cried. But why was that the only thing my body wanted to do? Why did it feel like every muscle I had was straining to let my tear ducts flex?

"Let it go, man," he said, seeming to know. Seeming to read my mind.

And I did.

I couldn't hold it in any more, and the first wave of tears came in a pathetic choking sound. I had never felt pain like this before. Not once, in my 18 years of life, had I ever felt so hurt. So powerless. So angry. So lost.

Aaron reached out, his hand rubbing slow, gentle circles on my back. Eventually, he wrapped his left arm around me and pulled me close to him, my face falling into his chest and soaking him. God, I felt so pathetic.

It seemed like time passed so slowly in those few minutes I let myself feel the raw emotions pouring through me. My mind couldn't focus on one thing at a time. One minute, I was thinking of mom. The next minute, I was thinking of the Rangers. I felt like I was stuck between the past and the present, drifting between the millions of memories I had of my only parent, and realizing I was literally crying in the arms of my former enemy.

But so much had changed with Aaron. It was like as soon as he came into my life, I lost my best friend, Matt; and then Aaron seemed to replace him. I was always with him. We were always hanging out. And it honestly felt like we were a couple. We hadn't labeled it, but we were always together. We were always watching movies together, curling up on his bed together, sharing meals together, and sharing our secrets together.

It was weird that in my lowest moment, Aaron Brooks was the one to comfort me.

I sniffed as I felt my tears begin to dry.

I felt weird.

Better.

But weird.

I sighed and laughed bitterly to myself. "Sorry for turning your bed into a pool."

He chuckled and wiped at his chest. "Ah, it's all good. I guess I needed a shower."

I grinned half-heartedly. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be," he said, his sincerity clear in his voice. "I know…I know this is hard. But…I wanna help you. Anything you need, anything, don't hesitate to ask." He paused and lifted my chin so I could meet his eyes. "Okay?"

Granted, Aaron and I were been close. We had fooled around some and shared more of our personal demons with each other, but we hadn't really shown a lot of emotion. We tried to keep our feelings contained for the most part. Probably because we were both afraid the other would change his mind, deciding we couldn't be more than friends.

But this. Just now. Everything he'd done—picking me up from the hospital, letting me stay at his house, letting me cry all over him like a baby, and now this—it was new. Tilting my chin up to look him in the eye? Being so genuinely soft spoken and…honest. It was new.

It was comforting.

"Thank you," I finally said. "You…you don't know how much that means to me."

"I think I have an idea," he said, smiling. "Besides," he added, inhaling dramatically, "that's what boyfriends do, right?"

I tried to fight it, but my eyebrows rose skeptically. I didn't know what to say. So I resorted to sarcasm. "Boyfriends, huh?"

He tried to keep his face confident, but I could tell that he was nervous. His eyes gave him away. "Yeah." Then he added, "I mean, if that's okay with you."

I rubbed at my face, which was all dried up by now, and then glanced at him. I didn't know what to say! I was speechless.

My emotions were on a rollercoaster ride that had no designated end.

So I kissed him.

"It's about time we had a title, don't you think?"

—19—

I woke up in a hazy state. My head was throbbing, my eyes stung, and my body was on fire. I fought to open my eyes and rubbed the sleep from them, then stretched out. Aaron's side of the bed was empty. He must have already left for school over at Reefside Central where classes had been "temporarily integrated" while our school was being reconstructed.

I groaned uncontrollably and sat up. Last night seemed like a distant memory, but it was still fresh in my mind. I felt the grief pulling at my heart, but I pushed it aside and tried to think of happier things. Like the fact that I had a boyfriend.

That managed to bring a small smile to my face.

But I knew I couldn't ignore reality for long. I knew there were so many legal matters I had to tend to, so many voicemails I'd probably have to answer, details to go over with the school, and I still had to apply to colleges.

I sighed, and threw myself into overdrive. My plan was to shower, head to Doc Ol's to handle my legal matters, and then head to the school to talk to Doc himself. I figured he might make matters easier with un-enrolling.

I needed a job.

Hell, maybe even two.

School was now a luxury I couldn't afford. I didn't have the time.

Especially if I was going to continue helping the Rangers. As much as I hated to admit it, I had become the one thing I didn't want to be: a tech guy. As much as I tried not to be, I was still jealous of Beth's new position as Red Ranger. Especially when I knew I deserved it. All she did was screw Gabriel. And suddenly she was chosen to save the world.

On the other hand, I did have to admit that she had stepped it up a good bit. She was trying her best to be a competent second-in-command to Aaron, and I had my respect for her in that field.

Ignoring that, and in a sort of shaken state, I got up and went to the bathroom. I could hear Dustin downstairs on the phone with Storm Chargers, the Extreme Action Sports company he'd inadvertently acquired. I could hear Hunter pacing around on the phone with someone who seemed pretty important—after all, they were talking to the King of Eltar. Maybe it was Zordon?

I paused and had to laugh unbelievably to myself. I was dating a prince. Not only was he a prince, he was the grandson of Zordon, original mentor of the Power Rangers and first King of Eltar. Wow.

I emptied my bladder and headed back to Aaron's room. I knew I needed to go home to get some clothes, but it just seemed too daunting. I couldn't go home knowing mom would never step foot in there again. I couldn't see all the happy pictures we'd taken, or see her coffee mug sitting out, or her half-read book laying on the couch.

I shook my head and cut off my line of thought.

That was definitely a no on going home.

Instead, I went through Aaron's clothes trying to find something small enough to fit me. It wasn't that I was extremely smaller than Aaron in weight; it was just the fact that he was a fucking tower. While I was only six foot, he had a full four inches on me and weighed about 210 pounds, whereas I was only 160 at best. Okay, so maybe he was a lot bigger than me.

I managed to find a "Pick me, I'm Irish" white-and-green t-shirt that was just my size, and a pair of khaki shorts—they were the only thing that I could get to fit my legs, and I still needed a belt. I really didn't want to steal a pair of his underwear…but…I didn't have any of my own! So, yeah; I took them.

I heard a faint knock on the door and immediately dropped Aaron's underwear back in the drawer, slamming it shut.

"Patrick?" I heard Dustin call from the other side of the door.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, yeah…come in?"

Aaron's dad entered, looking so much like him, yet…so much…not like him. It was funny, because in my head, I could see Aaron towering over both his parents and looking way older than he really was. The dude already looked like he was 21 or so, and if he didn't shave for a couple days, he could probably look older than Dustin.

"Hey," he greeted me. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah," I answered, "yeah, Aaron's bed is definitely bigger and more comfortable than mine."

He grinned. "Yeah, he's spoiled like that."

I laughed.

"So listen," he said, stepping into the room completely and shutting the door, "Aaron talked to me and Hunter last night. And he told us what happened with your mom."

My eyes shifted away from his as I slightly hung my head.

"I am so sorry," he continued. "I know what it's like to lose a parent, and no one should have to deal with that alone." He inhaled largely, much like Aaron had last night. "So…since we have plenty of room here, and you and Aaron are like, best friends and all, we want you to stay with us."

I deadpanned.

"What?"

He laughed. "Well, we don't want you to have to go through this alone. And you're a good kid. You're a blast every time you come over, and you're the first friend Aaron's ever had that he was honest with; Hunter and I don't have to lie about who we are with you here."

I was still in shock, but I managed to pull on a smile. "I…I don't even know what to say!"

"You don't need to say anything, dude," he continued, still laughing. "You're more than welcome to anything here. There's food everywhere, because Aaron, Corey, and Hunter eat like there's no tomorrow."

"Is that an Eltarian thing?" I wondered. "Cuz I noticed Aaron eats like, three-times as much as a normal human being. Even for his size."

"Yeah," Dustin nodded, "definitely part of their alien genes. Their metabolism is super-fast or something like that."

"I see," I said, then turned gracious. "But seriously…I can't thank you enough."

"You're more than welcome," he said.

I couldn't help it. I pulled him into a hug, trying to express my gratitude. There was just no way I could capture it.

"If you need anything," he started as we parted, "seriously, just let us know. I mean, I'm sure you've heard Hunter on the phone…guy's brutal with legal stuff and loves tying up loose ends. And, I know I come off as kinda slow, but I do have a degree in psychology. So if you need to talk…I'm all ears."

"I might take you up on that," I said, smiling.

"Alright, well just let me know," he said. "But, uh, yeah; I'll let you get to your showering and…stuff," he noted, motioning toward my towel. He opened the door, and then turned back to say, "And like I said, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask. I know Hunter can seem scary but he's really just as big a goofball as I am."

I gave him a small smile, thanked him again, and then he was gone.

I sighed and plopped down on Aaron's bed.

Emotional rollercoaster much? How did I end up this way? I mean, Aaron Brooks had been my least favorite person in the world two months ago. Now, he was my savior in so many ways—especially his family. It was like everything I had once known was just gone, but replaced by something that could be just as good.

It just seemed to ironic that Aaron seemed to be the Light in my darkest hour.

—19—

When I made it to Doc Ol's, it was close to noon. I hadn't expected him to be home, but his black jeep was parked in the drive way. And from the looks of it, it hadn't moved recently. But I was sure it was a school day. Doc had to have a reason for being home.

I made my way up to the door and let myself in with the key he'd given me. Well, he'd given all the Rangers a key and made me an "honorary member" of the team.

I ignored the insult to my pride and headed toward The Basement.

I was greeted by a weary Doc Ol, who was stationed in front of his super computer. I soon found out he only looked weary. He was super alert—almost jittery—and was practically bouncing off the walls. I blamed the several mugs of coffee that lined the console.

"I finally put the finishing touches on your design," he was saying as he looked away from the screen, "it should work perfectly with Aaron's light powers; and with luck, it should give him control over the weather. It'll be the perfect weapon once we start dealing with the Existentialist and the Cosmics."

"True," I said slowly, trying to keep up with his accelerated speech, "but do you think Aaron could handle that kind of power? I mean, remember what happened to the Wild Powers? Weather's a lot to handle."

He nodded knowingly. "That's because I didn't factor in his Eltarian psychic powers."

"Yeah, but Aaron's powers are dormant."

"What?"

I looked at him, stunned. "You didn't know?"

"No…I had no idea."

"He…" I paused. I couldn't tell Doc Ol why Aaron's powers were dormant without revealing the Autism factor. At the time, I had no idea Doc already knew. "He's a late bloomer; like Hunter," I lied.

He bought it easily. "Damn."

"Back to the drawing board?" I asked as I pulled up a chair.

"Back to the drawing board," he sighed in defeat.

For a few hours, we worked on Project Zeta—a Dragon-based Battleizer I had drawn that would give Aaron immense powers in addition to his own. It would increase his powers exponentially, since the Battleizer itself was equal to the strength of all six rangers; it even came with new weapons, including a spiral energy blade and another extendable saber that doubled as an energy pistol.

"Wait, what's this for?" I asked Doc Ol.

He glanced over at my schematics.

"GrElsfZ?" I read to him.

"That's weird…I don't remember programming that in there."

I rewrote the code by deleting it, but it popped right back up.

"Why won't it go away?"

"I have no idea," he mumbled, frowning slightly. "Maybe we should call it a day on it for now. I'll send an email to the technicians on Eltar to see if they can figure anything out."

"Sounds good," I said, pushing away from the computer. "I actually had a question for you."

"Sure, fire away."

"Um…I have…stuff to do with the school," I started slowly, "like, notifying them of my unexpected emancipation. Plus, I'm not sure what to do with our apartment or how to arrange things for the fu—"

"Let me take care of that," he cut me off.

I blinked. "What?"

"Patrick," he addressed me, turning in his chair to look me in the eyes, "you're way too young to be doing this on your own. I, on the other hand, have been through this kind of thing before. So let me help you out, okay?"

For the second time in less than six hours, I was astounded by the kindness of the adults that surrounded me.

"I…I dunno what to say," I managed to stutter out. "Thank you. Just…thank you. You don't know what this means to me."

He smiled and patted my shoulder as he stood. "You should probably check your voicemail, since I'm sure you haven't done that yet. If you've been contacted by the hospital or things of that nature, let them know you're in the process of emancipation. I've already motioned to have a new lawyer appointed to attend to all your mother's legal matters, but you have to authorize it. Let them know they'll be handle by Mr. Hunter Bradley."

I looked up at him, the confusion on my face plain as day. "What?"

Doctor Oliver smirked. "We ex-rangers talk."

"You…he…why?"

"Because we care about you," he replied earnestly. "And because your place on this team is more important to us than keeping Aaron's ranger identity a secret from his parents. I told Hunter."

I was literally speechless. I had absolutely nothing to say and all I could do was keep myself from crying yet again.

—19—

My mother's funeral was probably the hardest thing to get through.

But after scattering her ashes into the ocean and into the skies, part of me felt better. Part of me felt energized. I had to live for her. For both of us. I had to make sure I was all that I could be. I had to push myself harder and farther than I'd ever dreamed. But a big part of me was just so lost. I had no idea how to even begin living without her.

Aaron did a good job of guiding me, though. Him and his parents.

It had been a week or so since the funeral, yet I already genuinely believed I could make it through the greatest loss of my life. As long as I had Aaron.

Presently, we were watching a movie, curled up in his bed with a giant bowl of popcorn resting on his perfectly flat stomach. His arm was tucked comfortably around my shoulders, and his other hand rested lightly on top of mine.

I was starting to doze when his morpher beeped excitedly.

"Aw, shit," he groaned, glancing at the white wrist band. He turned his head toward me, his eyes apologetic. "Mesomorph's newest Guardian is on the loose near the lakeshore. You gonna be okay if I leave you here?"

I nodded to him, yawning. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

His disbelief was obvious and he was making no attempts to hide it.

"Seriously," I assured him, "go. You're the team's leader, and the team needs you more than I do."

He continued to stare at me skeptically.

"Go!"

He offered a small grin, kissed me, and then hopped out of the bed. "I won't be gone long. Tell my parents for me, 'kay?"

I nodded. "Be careful!"

In a flash of white, he was gone.

I had my good days, where I felt like I was doing great for the odds I was up against. But I had my bad days where I just felt so powerless and pathetic.

Today was a bad day.

As much as I tried to will myself to take a nap until Aaron returned, the thought of him going toe-to-toe with any of Mesomorph's Aleph Beyt freaks made me anxious. Nervous. Scared. What if something happened to him? What the hell would I do then?

He had only been gone five minutes before I was running out the front door, shouting to Hunter and Dustin that I was going to Doc Ol's to monitor the battle Aaron had just teleported to.

Doc's was empty. It was relatively early still—only 3:45 in the afternoon—so I figured Doc was still at school. With all the work he'd put into helping me, it was a wonder the school board wasn't asking why he'd missed so much school. I guessed he was making it up today.

I rummaged through my pockets and fished out my spare key, then headed into his house and made my way to the Basement. The only trace of activity was the glowing computer.

"PROJECT ZETA, COMPLETE," the screen read.

I hesitated, wondering if I should double check Doc Ol's work while he was gone.

I brought up the Battle Network on the monitor, a fierce fight between Beth and Mira filling up the screen. I changed angles until I could see Aaron, barely keeping up with a wicked female warrior with technologically advanced gladiator armor covering her body. It looked like the other 4 Rangers were battling tons of Gigadroids, unable to help out their leader. And I could see Rheas was about to join the fight and double-team Beth with Mira.

I cringed as Lamedd, the Aleph Beyt Guardian of the week Aaron was fighting, brandished a spiked, bladed whip that slashed across Aaron's chest. The straps of armor along his torso spat out sparks with each crack of Lamedd's whip across his body, Aaron's mouth giving way to several tortured screams.

He rolled away, finally, and pulled his Delta Magna Edge. But as soon as he turned to attack her, she was gone, cartwheeling behind him and wrapping his entire body in an ensnarement of her whip. She cackled venomously as power began to radiate from the whip until she unraveled Aaron in a massive explosion of dark purple energy.

Aaron's powers flickered away in a burst of light as he fell to the pavement.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn't watch. I couldn't bear to think that Aaron would be joining my mom on the other side in a matter of seconds. I couldn't let him die.

Anxiously, I looked at the other monitors displaying Amy, Grace, Jay, Matt, and Beth's suit stats—they were all running critically low on power. And there was nothing I could do.

"Project Zeta," I said half to myself, sitting down to see if I activate it without Doc Ol's help.

I typed furiously into the holo-keyboard, but it kept bleeping at me angrily, like it didn't want to work.

"Execute!" I yelled at it in frustration.

Still nothing.

I couldn't handle my own frustration and aggravation. I was supposed to be the Tech Guy. I was supposed to come up with some last-minute-save-the-day-device in the most cliché form of Deus Ex Machina. But it was like I couldn't even do that right. It's not like my responsibilities were hard. It's not like I was a Ranger. I had the easy job. And I couldn't even do that. I couldn't save my mom, and now I couldn't save my friends.

I swore loudly and angrily as I slammed my fist into the tactile portion of the console in pure agitation. Immediately, the monitors began to shift into jumbled static.

"Oh fuck!" I shouted, realizing what I'd done. "Oh no, oh no, oh no…please don't do this!"

The screen flashed and began to flicker back and forth between static and clear pictures. I knew I had just screwed up the one last-minute-save-the-day-device we possibly had because I lost my temper and threw a tantrum like a four-year-old.

Why?

Why was this happening?

I heard the monitor fizzle out, and silence enveloped the room.

I sighed.

And then I heard something. A low humming, no louder than a whisper. And it was getting louder. And louder. Until suddenly, it seemed like a concert was humming in my ears. I turned around, looking for the source of the sound, but everything seemed fine.

At least until a stream of electrical energy shot out of the console and slammed into my forehead.

My body flew across the room, literally, but the string of electricity never broke contact. If anything, it spread and strengthened. I gasped for breath as my body began to seize, green electricity wrapping my entire body in a cocoon of static that finally made its way completely through me. It permeated my blood, my bones, and my muscles, taking its sweet time to painfully wrack my body in agony. I was sure I was screaming bloody murder, but for some reason, I couldn't hear anything. It was like my screams were deafening.

Finally, at long last, the remainder of the energy filtered into my eyes.

Seconds—maybe minutes, possibly even hours—later, I slowly stood up, feeling even more disoriented than I had before.

"Where am I?" I muttered half to myself.

"Doc Ol's basement," I then answered.

Wait.

Was I seriously talking to myself?

I shook my head, hoping to clear it from what I hoped was temporary insanity, and then I began to make my way back to the computer. But something was ringing in my head, like a constant roar. It was like that humming had left the Basement and invaded my mind. And now it was blasting in brain like a song I couldn't get rid of.

And then I stopped moving.

I stood still, no longer wanting to go to the computer. I wanted something else.

I wanted revenge.

Why?

But I told myself that I longed for fulfillment: something to replace the gap I now felt. A way to be able to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I felt the gap that had been formed from my weakness slowly shrink, power suddenly surging through me.

My thought process was all chopped and screwed, but the one thing that made sense was that I could have prevented all of this.

If I had simply been a Ranger.

I needed power.

I glanced in the reflective surface of the computer's darkened monitor and saw my eyes flash from their normal grey to a freakish green. A split second later, they were back to grey. And suddenly, everything was clearer.

"Power..." I mumbled slowly, glancing at my hands as I saw electricity course over them. "Power..."