Hey, everyone! Guess who isn't dead!

Yeah, my limit of how far I could stretch the "I was writing something else" excuse ran out around the end of February and turned into the "I'm lazy and have no inspiration which is an awful excuse" excuse. So... Sorry!

I'm back now though! Hopefully I'll be able to go back to the once a week updates that'd I'd done previously. I've honestly missed writing, and feel that it's something I need to get back into my life.

Things will be super interesting in the next few chapters, as we have reached the critical stage of losing Tommy temporarily. This chapter is short, as I decided to just do the first part of the Green Candle episodes and get it to you guys before I procrastinated another month away trying to write all of it at once. But the next few chapters should be significantly longer.

I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Ten

Green Candle

Rita was furious. Twice now, she had attempted to use the Rangers' friends to attack them. Both times had failed. Now, they had two allies with extraordinary powers. Powers she had given them! Their most powerful Ranger had been her creation, and the paintbrush she'd foolishly given that underfed brat was causing more problems than she'd thought it would. Four times now, she'd used monsters trying to get it back. But it was too powerful. And in the hands of an artistic prodigy, there was no hope of turning it back to her will.

There was only one thing she could do. If she couldn't rob them of their powerful artifact, she'd have to steal back their most powerful ranger instead. Rita's anger-induced headache began to fade as her evil plan took shape in her mind. The Green Ranger was about to fight his last battle.

Alex was beyond happy. The past few weeks had seen her energy returning as she slowly got her body used to eating normally again. It hadn't felt comfortable at first. She had been starving herself for so long, that eating normally made her feel sick. But her friends were there to help her. They quickly learned when they needed to push her to eat, and when they needed to back off. It would still be a while before she was back to a healthy weight, but they were making a good start.

After some policy-maneuvering, Trini's parents had gained permission to have Alex stay with them. The yellow Ranger was thrilled to have her new friend living with her, and had helped the girl get settled in her new bedroom. There was a twin bed in one corner next to the window that looked out over the back yard which was large and sunny and perfect for an artist to contemplate. There wasn't much else in the room, but that was fine. The corner opposite the bed held Alex's easel, which she set up with her favorite of the paintings she'd taken from her house and proceeded to finish and give to her new foster parents as a thank you gift. It was a scene of the park with the six Rangers engaged in various fun activities together.

The first thing Alex had done after her first day back at school was sign up for Jason's beginner karate class at the Youth Center. Everyone thought this was a brilliant idea, and happily encouraged her in her new activity.

Of course, they couldn't be left to completely enjoy their new freedoms in peace. Rita made herself a nuisance by sending several monsters to try and get them. Alex was able to help by using her brush to take care of/ distract the putties so that the Rangers could deal with the real problems.

Still, the Rangers managed to have lives outside being Rangers. There was a dance coming up at the school, and they were all looking forward to it. Alex was a little nervous, as this would be her first school event where she actually cared at all about going or even finding someone to go with. Tommy was planning on asking Kim, though Zach was having to give him some encouragement. Little did they know that the dance would soon be the least of their problems.

Alex was working on homework with Billy when the blue Ranger's communicator went off with the distinctive six-tone beep. Zordon's voice came through, calling for Billy to come to the command center. Billy hadn't made a communicator for Alex yet, but he informed Zordon that he was with her and to lock onto both of them to bring them in.

Kim was pacing when they arrived, explaining about how putties had attacked her and Tommy in the park and captured Tommy. "Another one of Rita's wicked plans!" she exclaimed, her face etched with worry. "She's gonna try and regain control of Tommy!"

Alex fingered the bristles of the paintbrush thoughtfully. At Zordon's insistence, she kept it at the command center when she didn't need it in a battle. "Even if she did manage to brainwash him again," she mused, "we'd just break it again. There's no point in doing the same thing twice. Even Rita isn't that stupid. There must be some other reason she grabbed Tommy."

"I can't get a lock on him," Zordon said. "Rita must be holding him in her dimensional prison."

"Billy, have you come up with anything?" Jason asked.

"Not yet, I'm still trying to tune into the frequency on Tommy's morpher." Suddenly, the alarm sounded indicating a monster attacking in Angel Grove. They all quickly moved to look in the Viewing Globe and were rewarded with an image of the Dragonzord attacking the city. Everyone assumed this meant that Rita had gained control of Tommy again, but Alex wasn't so sure. Something wasn't right about this. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something seemed off about the zord.

Thankfully, she wasn't the only one Zordon checked the sensors, and confirmed that the real Dragonzord was still in its dock in the bay. But that didn't take care of the current problem rampaging through the city. While the Rangers morphed, and teleported back to the city, Alex swished the brush and changed her clothes into the outfit she'd created as Peinta. She'd adjusted the coloring to be a bit more gold and less black and added a mask over the upper half of her face to protect her identity, but it was the same basic style. Then she created a portal and stepped through it in time to see the Rangers engaged in battle with Goldar and a group of Putties.

As the fake Dragonzord was still rampaging through the city, she began crafting something to help combat it until the Rangers could summon their zords to help. She managed to trap the zord's tail and slow it down just long enough for the Rangers to put the Megazord together and attack it.

Just when they were worrying that they wouldn't be able to defeat it, a familiar sound pierced the air. Six clear notes echoed triumphantly through the air and Alex turned to see that Tommy had teleported to the roof beside her. She was so happy to see him that it took her a few moments to notice that he had to call the Dragonzord three times before it arrived. Once it had arrived though, the two zords made quick work of the impostor, forcing it to reveal its true form before vanishing completely.

They returned to the command center and Alpha scanned Tommy to make sure he was alright from crossing dimensions. He was, but he had some bad news. Rita had created a candle from some special wax she'd enchanted to steal Tommy's powers. If they didn't move quickly, the Green Ranger would soon be no more.