Greetings, readers! As you can see, I have managed to keep my promise from the last chapter and actually have the next chapter out within a week! I have never been so relieved to finish a chapter than I was with this one. And in the next chapter we finally get the answers that Tenstar has been bugging me for since chapter 2.

Hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter Eight

The Return

"Don't let Rita get you, Zach!" Jason called. "Fight it!"

"I don't know if I can!"

Alex gazed down at the Island of Illusion from her spot with Rita and Goldar with an impassive look on her face. Something was wrong. Where had that little guy, Quagmire come from? He wasn't part of the Island that Rita had provided, and Alex certainly hadn't put him there. He just sorta appeared.

That wasn't the only strange thing though. Something didn't feel right. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but when Zach finally managed to keep himself from fading away by remembering a time he defeated one of Rita's monsters, she began to suspect. With Zach free, the Rangers continued on their way only for Kim to trip. Alex had taken special pleasure in crafting Kim's illusion so she watched eagerly, hoping that the knot forming in her stomach would go away.

Kim fell flat on her face after tripping over a rock. She expected to immediately feel hands helping her up, but there was nothing. Pushing herself up a bit, she blinked the dust out of her eyes just in time to see the others disappearing into the trees ahead of her. "Hey! Wait for me!" she called, struggling to get up.

"We're right here, Kim! Are you alright?" Tommy rested his hand on Kim's shoulder and tried to take her hand to help her up, but her movements were making that impossible. "She can't see us!" he exclaimed. "Quagmire! Help!"

With a puff of smoke, Quagmire appeared again. "A toad might fight you to the marrow, but stay your course, straight as an arrow."

"Not the toad creature!" Kim protested. "That was way too gross!" She struggled to push herself up again, but half her body had already faded away. Reluctantly, she recalled the battle with Rita's toad monster. Kim's Power Bow had been the only weapon with the range to attack. Despite the disgusting nature of the monster, Kim managed to fire her bow with perfect accuracy and defeated the monster.

The illusion cleared away and Kim gratefully accepted Tommy's help to get to her feet. "I thought you guys had left me!" she said, hugging everyone as soon as she was back on her feet. "I hate being alone!"

It was then that a thought struck Tommy. Even though it wouldn't be hard for Rita to inadvertently find out about Zach's aversion to snakes, Kim's fear was far deeper than that. Likely, Rita acting alone would have chosen something else entirely for Kim's illusion. But Rita wasn't acting alone. "Alex."

"What did you say?" Jason asked.

"Alex is helping Rita. Who knows what she could've told her. If Alex is crafting these illusions, I don't know if we can really escape!" Those words were all it took to trigger the illusion that had been crafted for Tommy. Rita had done a bit more work on this than Alex had, so when Tommy suddenly found himself surrounded by Putties, they weren't just illusions. Instead of his friends gathering around him to ask what he meant, he suddenly found himself surrounded by Putties standing in their places.

He attacked right away of course but the 'Putties' didn't really attack back. All he knew was that there were too many of them to fight.

"Really, Rita? Putties?" Alex was disappointed. "You took my perfect idea and made him face a few Putties? He can eat Putties for breakfast!"

"Quiet!" Rita barked. "I want to enjoy this!"

Alex backed away, shaking her head. She understood now. She had known all along, but had allowed her anger to blind her to the truth. Rita was just using her. The Empress had given her power, yes, but what had Alex done with it? She had directed years of anger and resentment toward the only people on the planet who truly cared about her. Now they were paying for her mistakes.

Back on the Island, Quagmire appeared to give Tommy a nudge in the right direction. "Dude, don't let Rita steer you wrong. Think strong thoughts. You'll be strong." Tommy knew he was right. He remembered the fight with the Putties on Halloween. The night everything had gone wrong with Alex. He almost wavered at that thought, but a small voice in his ear reminded him to think of how he defeated the Putties not what came after. With that, he managed to keep himself from fading away.

He opened his eyes with a smile, but froze. She was there. She was standing in front of him. He hadn't managed to get a good look at her new outfit before, but now, he could see just how impressive it was. He also noted that she seemed to have copied his colors, though whether that was intentional or she just liked them, he wasn't sure.

"Alex?" he asked. He was vaguely aware of the other Rangers forming a defensive position behind him.

"I'm sorry, Tommy," she said quietly. "I have been angry for so long. I've wanted to do something for such a long time. When Rita offered me the power to change my fate, I jumped at the chance. But I didn't change my fate. I just fell into the same pattern of manipulation that I've been dealing with since I was seven. Rita took all my pain and anger and directed it toward the only people who never tried to hurt me."

Alex looked toward the sky, a suddenly fierce look on her face. "No more!" she shouted. "I refuse to be manipulated by anyone! I know who my true friends are! The ones who stood by my side when I thought no one would ever see me!"

Up in her palace, Rita screamed in rage. She called up her magic and sent it toward the Island. She had feared this day would come. The day when Alex would no longer be able to be trusted. She had prepared for it.

Alex suddenly found herself caught in an illusion more vivid than any the Rangers had been forced to deal with. Her parents towered over her, her mind back in the body of her seven-year-old self, showing them one of her first paintings. It was only a finger painting, but the details were impressive for someone that young. Calculating smiles spread across her parents faces.

Alex knew what was coming. Her fists clenched in anger, but she was holding something. She looked down and saw the ornate paintbrush still clutched in her hand. A grin spread over her face. "You can't fool me, Rita! My language is images, my food is art. I now take your sad attempts and blow them apart!" With a vicious slash of the paintbrush, the illusion shattered. The smiling face of Quagmire appeared briefly before her, but quickly disappeared as the colors of the illusion were replaced by the bright sun of the Island.

Alex smiled at the Rangers. "I think it's time you had these back." She waved the brush in their direction and they all found their communicators and Power Coins returned to them. They all cheered, glad to have their things back. "We need to hurry!" Alex called, cutting off their celebrations. "Rita won't like what I've done!"

She was right. The Rangers barely had time to morph before Rita smashed the Island of Illusion to bits. Alex teleported away as well, landing on a rooftop just in time to see the Rangers return to their Zords. The Dragon Zord and Mega Zord combined to defeat Mutitus, then joined with the Brachiosaurus Zord, Titanus to create the Ultra Zord and fire at Lokar. The giant head was hit, but retreated before they could try again. With the return of the sun, Rita retreated to her moon base and the Rangers won the day yet again.

Once they'd sent the Zords away and demorphed, the Rangers rushed to find Alex. She was waiting for them not far away. She was dressed in a simple black long sleeve, jeans, and her usual converse. Her hair had been returned to its usual state of hanging slightly in her face.

She stood meekly on the corner of the street, like she was waiting for their judgement. They all stood for a moment, just looking at her. Kim was the first to break the stillness. She rushed across the short gap between them and wrapped her arms around Alex's thin frame. "I'm so sorry for lying! We weren't allowed to tell anyone. We didn't mean to hurt you!"

Alex hesitantly returned the hug. "Y- you aren't angry with me?"

The other Rangers gathered around the two girls, each gently placing a hand on Alex's shoulders. "We know you were angry," Jason said gently. "I wish you'd given us a chance to explain, but I understand how you could've felt like we betrayed you."

"Do you think you can tell us what happened that made you act like that?" Trini asked.

"Maybe later. Doesn't Zach have a dance competition to get to?" Alex was stalling a bit, but that was okay this time. She needed to watch Zach dominate Bulk on the dance floor and feel like a normal girl for a little longer before she told the Rangers the truth. Because the truth was very painful, and it was going to take all her strength to face it.