A/N: Chapter 11. Zordon's out of his warp, and he and Zordon's Rangers meet the new members of the legacy.
A/N 2: I own nothing. Power Rangers once belonged to Saban, then they went to Disney and belong to Saban again.
Chapter 11 – Old Meets New
Monday, June 21, 2004
7:10 p.m.
Reefside, CA
As one, every single Ranger, old and new, stared in shock at what they were seeing.
For the older Rangers who remembered November the 10th of 1998, a wave of shock rippled through them all.
The Dino Thunder Rangers were equally as stunned; 10 minutes ago they were standing on the shores of Cabo San Lucas, just beginning their graduation vacation. Just that quickly, they were standing in front of a living legend; their mentor's mentor, the man who had started it all and every single one of his original Rangers.
And to top it all off, they'd gotten their answer on whether their mentor Tommy would get back with his first and only true love.
"I've got to be seeing things," Kimberly muttered in shock. "All I wanted to do was come back here and end the curse once and for all. What the hell did we just do, Tommy?"
"In essence, we just brought the band back together, although I'm not sure I even expected it," Tommy replied.
At that very moment, Zordon interrupted Tommy and said, "I sense that Hayley is in the building. Bring her in here, Tommy. She needs to hear this too."
Tommy nodded, still numb from what had just happened, but he recovered enough to climb the stairs and shout, "Hayley, in here, now! There's something you need to hear."
"All right, I'm coming," Hayley's voice could clearly be heard and moments later, everyone could hear her descending the stairs.
When she hit the lab, everyone saw Hayley's face turn into a frown of confusion upon seeing Zordon's Original 12 and Zordon himself plus the Dino Thunder Rangers, but Tommy immediately took charge.
"Hayley, that's…him, in the flesh. That's my mentor, Zordon, although I'm not sure how he's alive much less outside his warp," Tommy said. "He requested you be here because I think he's got something to say."
"Um, OK," Hayley said as she found a seat.
"Indeed I do, Rangers," Zordon said. "I will explain the long version in a moment, but the cliff's notes version is that the restoration of the Falcon and Crane from their curse restored the Rangers' links to the Great Power as well as my link to this world."
"The destruction of Master Vile and the purification of Rita in 1998 also has enabled me to be outside my warp as I once was, though I can still go in if I need," Zordon said.
"Zordon, what the hell do we have to do with all this?" Kimberly said.
"Yeah, all I really wanted was to find the truth someday," Tommy said, "and I knew that if I did that, I could at least rest easy and go on with my life."
"I feel the same way," Kimberly said. "All I really wanted to know was what happened…to us. If I had known the truth back in 1997, I for sure would not have pushed Tommy away after Maligore."
"Sometimes the best things in life happen to those who deserve it, and come when they least expect it," Zordon said.
"Before I begin the long version of my explanation, I would like to briefly acknowledge what the four newest members of the legacy and Hayley did. Conner McKnight, Kira Ford, Ethan James, Trent Fernandez-Mercer, and Hayley Ziktor; without their accomplishments, none of us would be here today," Zordon continued.
"Um, thank you sir," Conner said; for once, he could think of nothing else to say. "We just…did what we had to do."
Zordon laughed slightly and said, "I'm not sure I've ever been called sir before since getting here, but the real thanks goes to you. Without the destruction of Mesogog none of us would be here."
"He's right, you know. By the way, I'm Jason, the original red," Jason said from behind them, as each of the four newest members of the legacy turned their attention to Jason. "We faced some real tough opponents in our day, and Mesogog was as big and bad as any one of them yet you four conquered him."
"If I may, one last order of business before I address Tommy and Kimberly," Zordon said as he extended his hands and another bright light lit up the room.
"Now this place has the two things that the Command Center always had; first, we now have teleportation capabilities," Zordon said as the light died out. "Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent, I must inform you that teleportation is not to be used and abused. I will teleport you back to Cabo when this is over, but in general this technology is only to be used in emergency situations."
"Understood," Trent said, with the others nodding in agreement.
"In addition, take a look at the center of the room, everyone," Zordon said. The younger Rangers were confused, but the older Rangers almost instinctively knew what was there.
"A new Viewing Globe," Tommy said, turning to his Dino Thunder Rangers. "Guys, when we were growing up, that's what Zordon would use to inform us of new attacks."
"Now, it's time to address you two," Zordon said as he turned to look at Tommy and Kimberly. "Dino Thunder Rangers and Hayley, please pay attention as you need to hear this too. Everyone in this room needs to understand the nature of how important this relationship is to this entire universe, and needs to understand that we are up against a force possibly as great as Mesogog, Zedd and Rita were."
"You're telling me our days of Rangering up aren't over, Zordon?" Aisha said.
"Indeed, my fierce bear; far from it, in fact," Zordon said. "As I begin the long version of this story, I have one regret that I have carried with me since 1995. Even after Andros sacrificed me and sent me to the spirit realm, I regretted one decision I made approximately eight to nine years ago, one that had consequences for all of us for nearly a decade."
"My regret, my dear friends, is that I let Kimberly go chase her dream," Zordon said; it was a statement which emitted gasps from all of the older Rangers. "As the older Rangers remember, we all encouraged her to go chase her dream at some point. I made a mistake that affected all of us and caused both Tommy and Kimberly a lot of heartache for the next 10 years. If I had the decision to make all over again, I would have asked Kimberly to stay."
"Zordon, no, I disagree," Kimberly said. "You did make the right decision. It caused 10 years of heartache between us but it's made us better people. I got to compete against the best in the world in my sport, learned to live without Tommy and the spandex, and I have a very successful life that I've built."
"I'm better because of it too, Zordon. When she left, I didn't think I could live without her. Now that we're back together, it would be very tough to be without her again, but I had to learn a lot of things about life in my quest to get her back," Tommy said. "In addition, I've learned to handle things that I can't control better."
"And I will address what you had to go through in your quest in a while," Zordon said. "I don't doubt that it's made you both better. However, I underestimated just how centered the Great Power was around the Falcon and the Crane and those who held its true powers."
"I underestimated this because no one had ever claimed the Falcon powers before. There have been previous White Rangers but my younger sister Selena, who became Scorpina was the original holder of the White Ninjetti powers; her animal was the Tiger," Zordon said. "Hers were Ninjetti and she is the only White Ranger aside from Tommy to hold the Great Power, so Tommy's White Tiger powers weren't nearly as strong as hers. Rita was the original Pink Crane, but she and Selena were only friends."
"When Tommy obtained the Falcon powers, I knew there was something quite different about those powers, but I underestimated just how much. Quite frankly, there has never been anything like the relationship you two held as Rangers. The team was never the same after you two were broken up," Zordon said, next turning to Katherine. "You held the powers of the Crane for a brief time, but I think you know and have always known those are not your true powers. Only Kimberly possesses that spirit animal and always will. The departure of Kimberly and the end of their relationship even had its effects on me; from that point on I knew my end was near."
Katherine readily nodded; she had guessed as much. Though she'd tried to date Tommy for a brief time, she did it with the knowledge she would never have his heart.
"In addition to underestimating how powerful you two were together, I had no idea that Master Vile was coming to join in the fight against Earth," Zordon said regrettably. "If I had known that, I would have asked Kimberly to stay. I'm even convinced that allowing Kimberly to leave possibly gave Master Vile the opening to use the Orb of Doom, which essentially resulted in the end of that era."
"Are you saying…we could have prevented the Orb of Doom episode altogether if Kimberly had stayed?" Adam said.
"I don't know for sure but it's a theory that I have," Zordon said. "In other universes, the Orb of Doom never happens. Most of those universes include Kimberly never going to Florida to compete, and staying on the team to fight Master Vile."
"And maybe most importantly, allowing Kimberly to chase her dream not only gave humans the chance to break up this relationship, but aliens abroad," Zordon said. "And as it turned out, that's exactly what happened. Please observe the viewing globe. Tommy and Kimberly, please behold the individual 100 percent responsible for your breakup."
Everyone turned to the viewing screen and saw a petite, well-built alien whose hair was alive with snakes. Rocky whistled at how well toned her body was, only to get a sharp elbow from his girlfriend; she was complete with gold and silver earrings, a silver gown and high heels.
"There's another face not even a mother could love," Katherine quipped, to which Billy nodded.
"Behold, Adrianna Repulsa, Master Vile's wife," Zordon said. Instantly any joy that was remaining left the room.
"It's like Master Vile and his entire family have the market cornered on being ugly," Aisha added.
"You mean, that bitch didn't have the you know what to come fight us and decided to break Tommy and Kimberly up instead?" Jason said. "That's utterly pathetic."
"But it worked for eight years didn't it?" Zordon said. Sadly, everyone in the room all nodded. He was right, and they all knew it. "Adrianna, from what all my sources say, was exceptionally angry when Vile came back to M-51 after failing to conquer Earth. She wasn't angry at him; they actually loved each other very much. She was angry at us; they thought it would be an easy planet to conquer until we showed up."
"She wanted to come back with Master Vile to fight us, but by that time, the Machine Empire had taken over and she knew that she and Vile didn't stand a chance against them," Zordon said. "But you also have to remember this most of all; she doesn't play by the same rules Rita and Zedd did. Rita and Zedd were human and as odd as it sounds, they fought us fairly, at least as fairly as they could while still under service to evil."
"Obviously she's a lot different; Rita, Zedd, the Machine Empire, even Divatox never went that low," Tanya said.
"Adrianna doesn't play by the same rules; she is an enigma, but she will do anything to win," Zordon said. "She couldn't come back and hope to defeat the Machines but according to my sources, she was still mad enough at us and knew how valuable Tommy and Kimberly's relationship was. The Dear John letters are right down her alley."
"Zordon, I have a question, if I may," Hayley said. "There are some among us who think Adrianna was behind Forever Red, and the explosion of the island which almost took Tommy's life. How true is this theory that some of us have?"
Zordon smiled slightly and looked at Hayley closely, then said, "Smart woman; with that kind of knowledge, I may not need to bring Alpha back."
"He's staring at you, Hayley," Conner quipped, which earned him the glare of death from both Tommy and Hayley.
"Ah, young kids; it seems all young Earthlings have hormones or whatever they're called that get out of control," Zordon said which caused everyone to burst out in laughter. "In response to your question, Hayley, you are 100 percent correct. I am almost certain that Adrianna was behind these events. In fact, I will go a step further and say that Adrianna, not Zeltrax was 100 percent behind the destruction of this base."
"So that's what Anton meant when he said he received a coded message while he was Mesogog," Tommy said. "I should have known it was something a little deeper than that."
"How dangerous is she in combat and what is her track record in conquering worlds?" Kat asked. "I don't recall ever seeing her when in Rita's services."
"She is very dangerous in combat, Katherine, and her track record is much like Master Vile's; when she sets her sights on a world, she general conquers it," Zordon said. "Her most dangerous asset is ironically enough her beauty, male Rangers, as she has the ability to use hypnotic spells to hijack your minds. Once she has a male under her control, it is very difficult to break."
"Do you think she will target the Earth?" Trent said. "With all of us in here, I would think that would be a very bad decision."
"It's hard to say; I wish I had a clear answer but as I said, she is an enigma and very hard to predict," Zordon said. "She does have Gasket, Archerina, Goldar and Rito in her services, so she conceivably could launch an attack against us and be dangerous. If I had my guesses though, I think she won't for now because she has something that all of us consider valuable. Please observe what I mean."
The globe then shifted to some dark, dank place; it looked like some sort of dungeon. As soon as the scene shifted, the Rangers could hear the shrill shriek of a woman and the groans of someone else.
"You won't get away with this, Gasket!" the woman shouted. Aisha's hairs immediately stood up on the back of her neck; she knew immediately who the voice belonged to. "Kimberly, Aisha and the rest of the Rangers will come for us and when they do you're gonna be sorry!"
"Yeah, just wait till they get here," a man's voice said. That sent every one of the older Rangers on edge; they too knew who that voice belonged to.
"That's where you're wrong, fools!" a female voice said as Adrianna Repulsa came into view. "As a matter of fact, I hope they come! All of you will be the bait that finally results in the end of your beloved friends!"
"Oh my God, they've got Shawna Hilton," Aisha said. Adam and Rocky shook their heads too.
"That's Ernie too," Jason and Tommy said.
"And Lt. Stone," Tanya said.
Billy then gasped as the picture panned over to reveal another woman.
"Oh my God, they've got Miss Appleby too," Billy said. "I've grown to know her professionally and hate to see anything happen to her."
Tommy's face then nearly lost all color when the picture continued to move to the right. Trent's face went pale too as the picture revealed who it was.
"Oh my God they've got Dad, too," he said.
"They've gone too far; they've messed with us one too many times. Let's go kick their ass," Rocky said as the picture faded out.
"No, Rocky, that's where you're wrong. That's not going to happen," Tommy said. "That's exactly what they want. They want us to rush in there and go get our friends and then something terribly wrong will happen."
"Tommy, that's Shawna in there. I can't watch this," Aisha said.
"I know who it is, remember I went to go save her that one other time," Tommy said. "But you're missing the point; us going up there to M-51 or wherever they're keeping these prisoners is exactly what they want."
"Tommy's right; I hate it too, but all they'll do is blackmail us when there," Kimberly said. "Try and get our powers for our friends and they'll never let our friends go."
"Right now, I'm pretty sure she's got the security air-tight," Tommy said. "Who knows what would be waiting for us there. We're going to try to out-think her as difficult as that may be. The worst part about this is all of those people now know who we are."
"That could be a problem, but I'm not as worried about that as I was 10 years ago," Zordon said. "The biggest reason I am not as worried about that is that if we get them back, I can go to each one of those people personally and have them understand who I am and that I made you guys keep your identities secret. In short, I had you all keep that secret mainly because I was in my warp and was limited."
"In addition, if I absolutely have to, I could always call ABC and go on 20/20 and talk about who we are myself, especially if Adrianna decides to launch an attack on the planet," Zordon said.
"I'm actually glad you had us keep that secret, Zordon. The last thing I want is for the federal government to come after us because of who we are," Jason said.
"Yeah, they'll find out about us eventually, but I'd rather it be on our terms," Kat said.
"And that's why I'll take care of that aspect if it comes to that; don't you all worry about that," Zordon said. "Have you thought about a plan of action against Adrianna, Tommy?"
"I have, and I actually think the best course of action is to do nothing for the moment," Tommy said. "I firmly believe she would want us to rush in there un-prepared where she could pick us off. I'd rather us be closer together and better prepared when we finally do come face-to-face with her."
"In addition, my four Rangers have a graduation vacation and I have a Crane I need to become close with again," Tommy said.
"Tommy, you can't be telling me that you don't want to save those guys," Kat said. "I'm kind of with Aisha here; some of those people were the closest to us."
"Affirmative, I hate seeing Miss Appleby go through that much torture," Billy said.
"Guys, you can't save everybody. We can't control that they're captured; Adrianna probably did that in response to me getting closer to getting Kimberly back," Tommy said. "The more important thing is the safety of the planet; if we go up there and get creamed, that leaves the planet open to being run over."
"Sadly, I agree with him," Kimberly said. "Besides, if they can't be saved, we can use that as a rallying cry of some sort. In the meantime, I want to become closer to Tommy and we all need to become closer to each other."
"You have made the prudent, and correct, decision," Zordon said. "The maturity of you both is very obvious. In addition to the reasons given by Tommy and Kimberly, we have a spy up there; this spy has been able to infiltrate her ranks. This spy has been feeding your friends food and drink from Adrianna's home base; thus, despite the torture, they are still in good shape."
"Man, I hate seeing Dad like that though, Zordon," Trent said.
"I assure you that we will get him back, in due time, Trent," Zordon said. "For now though, I think I agree that your vacation should continue. Remember, though, you all could be called on at any time. In addition, I have something you all might want."
The four Dino Thunder Rangers' eyes widened as Zordon went to a black box and opened it which revealed the five gems.
"Those are still just artifacts, aren't they?" Conner said.
"Not anymore they aren't Mr. McKnight. As of now, the Gems have been fully recharged and your Morphers restored," Zordon said.
"But who's going to be the Black Ranger if Tommy's wearing White?" Kira asked.
"I guess you'll have to wait until the end of your vacation to find out, huh?" Tommy said. "Zordon, send them back."
"At once, Tommy; may the power protect you, Dino Thunder Rangers," Zordon said as the four restored Rangers vanished in white, blue, red and yellow shades of light.
When they were gone, Zordon stepped forward and came directly face to face with his older Rangers for the first time in seven years. He looked around the room and took a glance of all his Rangers and saw a mix of emotions; some held relief yet concern over what was to come, some exhibited joy over seeing the Winged Lady and Lord of the Skies together once more, and Zordon could see others who expressed deep regret.
"I'm surprised that there isn't complete joy amongst all of you," Zordon said. "This is a reason to celebrate."
"Some of us like me are embarrassed, Zordon. I received that letter that Tommy got in the Youth Center and I read it, every word. I'm embarrassed to say that I believed every word of it too and that I honestly refused to talk to Kimberly after that, knowing how hurt Tommy was," Adam said. "My actions were reprehensible then, are reprehensible now and I take full responsibility for all of my actions. If I'm being real honest with myself, it almost made me want to turn in my morpher for good."
"I feel the same way," Billy said. "She was my childhood friend and Katherine and I rushed to Tommy's defense too. This was a big reason I left for Aquitar for a while; I couldn't make it work on Earth anymore. I feel like such a coward and we all got duped. If anyone should have known it was a hoax, it's me."
To their surprise, Kimberly walked up to both of them and gave them enormous hugs.
"I forgive you both, believe it or not, and somehow I think Tommy does too," Kimberly said as Tommy looked on, knowing this was a seminal moment in the maturity of this group. "No one could have seen that we would all be manipulated like this; no one. I can't blame you both because I was a coward myself; I pushed Tommy away after the Maligore fiasco too; told him never to talk to me again. There's no way I could blame either one of you for your actions."
"Besides, guys even if you would have stood by me, I wouldn't have been able to see you thanks to my selfish, obnoxious mother," Kimberly said. "Good thing that Tommy's brother will destroy her in court if it comes to that."
"David Trueheart's a lawyer now?" Adam said. "I actually find that sort of amusing; from the reservation to the court room."
"The man we really owe our thanks to is Mr. Technicolor right there," Jason said, earning him the glare of death. "We owe our thanks to him because he was the one out of all of us who had the guts to fight for what he truly believed in. I had my suspicions, but had no idea that evil could stoop this low either."
"Honestly, I couldn't blame any of you for thinking the way you did; no one could have seen that coming," Tommy said. "I wanted so badly to believe that Kim would never do that, and as it turned out I was right but I had to prove it."
"I had to survive Forever Red, a destroyed island, my lab being blown up and then I had to have the stones to go before all of you and wash Kim and I of any wrongdoing. Bottom line, evil's at fault and when we confront them we'll make them pay," Tommy said, then turning to Zordon. "I think they've been through enough for one night too. Can you teleport them back?"
"Yes, I think that will be a good thing. We will work on communicators for you all; in the meantime please keep checking your emails," Zordon said. "May the Power protect you."
As the Rangers teleported out, Tommy looked at his watch and said, "Oh shit, it's already 7:45 and I was going to go out to dinner."
"We can still go out, if you want," Kimberly said. "It's still early enough and I'm starving. I had to go two freaking hours on the freeways dealing with traffic and I could eat more than Rocky right now."
"Well, then, let's power down and let's head out for a good night," Tommy said, as they both powered down into their civilian clothes. "I know a great little Italian place not far from here."
"Lead the way then, oh handsome Falcon," Kimberly said as the two headed up the stairs.
Once they were gone, that left just Zordon and Hayley standing before each other; the man responsible for the beginning of the legacy of the Power Rangers on Earth, and the woman who had been the brains behind the latest operation.
"Hayley Ziktor," Zordon said. "The woman who only wanted to restore her family's good name; I believe you have done that and more."
"It's taken a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice, but for the first time in a while I'm proud of who I am," Hayley said. "My insane step-father's alter ego was Grimlord, the archenemy of the VR Troopers, and ever since then it's been a struggle for me to shake that embarrassment."
"But now you are a vital part of the Rangers success, and a genius at that," Zordon said. "And, you're really cute."
This caused Hayley to laugh; was someone like Zordon really hitting on her?
"Oh come now, Zordon; what would someone who's lived thousands of years want with someone like me? I'm mortal, you're immortal," Hayley said.
"Age matters not when it comes to love, Hayley," Zordon said. "I look at you and I see everything I want in a woman; beauty, brains, and the guts to make big decisions when it matters and to care for those who you believe in."
"Maybe if we beat that Adrianna girl or whatever she's called, when it's all over, you and I can go explore the universe," Hayley said as she cautiously put an arm around Zordon's waist. "I've never been off Earth and inter-planetary travel would pique my interest."
"And there's a lot to see," Zordon said. "In the meantime, you should probably get home. I'll man the lab until Tommy returns."
With that, Zordon surprisingly leaned down and softly kissed Hayley, who found it rather pleasant.
"That was…nice; very nice," Hayley said. "Perhaps we could do that again in the future?"
"I'm sure we can arrange that," Zordon said. "Good night, sweet Hayley, and may the Power protect you as well."
"And you too, Zordon; I hope to see you soon," Hayley said as she exited the lab.
"Oh, we'll be seeing plenty of each other in the future," Zordon said as he went to check to see if everything was running smoothly. Satisfied that everything was running smoothly, Zordon went in back of the lab to secret quarters that he had set up through his magic. That done, he finally lay down to rest and reflect on what had just happened that evening.
Review box is at the bottom. Please leave one if you wouldn't mind.