Greetings!

I'm back! This chapter took longer than the others to do because it's entirely original content. You heard correctly, I made up this entire chapter on my own! You'll finally get to see Alex as the awesome Orange Ranger, and get a small idea of the power that she has. Sorry it took so long!

I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen

The Sting of Doubt

"Alexa!" The sound of her teacher's sharp voice snapped Alex out of her thoughts and she looked up quickly. "Please try to pay attention. Your grades are not the best, I'd hate to have to fail you completely."

Alex nodded, and the teacher returned to the lesson. Zach made a quiet noise to get her attention and mouthed a question, asking if she was alright. "I'm fine," she replied silently, brushing off his concern. She returned her attention to the teacher, trying to ignore the glaring gap in the students sitting ahead of her. Tommy had left town after losing his powers. He still communicated with them, mostly with Kim, but Alex couldn't help feeling like it was all her fault.

Why had she suggested that he give his powers to her? It was so out of character for her to say something so bold. It had seemed logical at the time, it kept their powers out of Rita's hands and it let her join the Rangers as more than just someone who helped them occasionally. She'd solidified her place on the team. But, to do so, she'd booted out the guy who'd brought her to these people and rescued her in the first place.

The bell rang, jolting her from her thoughts again. She stood quickly, gathering her things to take to her locker. She didn't make eye contact with Zach as she slipped out the door, but he was faster than her and caught up not far from the door. "Alex, what's going on? You've been acting off since Tommy left."

"I'm fine, Zach," she insisted, not looking at him. She wanted to walk faster, but the hallway was crowded with students hurrying to put their things away and go home or to extracurricular activities. Zach followed her all the way to her locker and she groaned inwardly. She wouldn't be able to get away from him if he trapped her at her locker.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked gently. Everyone had been so distracted lately that he wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't kept track of how much she'd eaten.

"I don't know," Alex replied shortly, opening her locker door and shoving her things inside.

"Did you eat breakfast? Lunch? I was helping one of the teachers so I don't know if you were there or not."

"I just told you I don't remember!" she snapped, slamming her locker closed. "Just leave me alone!"

Zach followed from a safe distance until she was outside the school then ran forward and latched onto her arm. "We're going to the Youth Center," he announced. "I'm buying, so you get whatever you want."

Alex glared at him, but let him tug her in the direction of the Center. "What I want is to do my homework and get ready for my next karate class."

"I can tell you for a fact that Jason won't let you participate until he knows you've been properly nourished," he told her with a grin. He slung his arm around her shoulders as the Center came into view. "You know we're just looking out for you, right?"

Alex sighed, but nodded and let Zach direct her to sit at one of the tables once they were inside. Nothing seemed particularly appealing, so Zach ordered for them both while Alex pulled out her homework.

Their teacher had been correct; Alex's grades weren't the best. Having spent the first several months in Angle Grove prioritizing painting over school, not having the energy to concentrate due to slow starvation, and then briefly skipping school all together while serving Rita, Alex's grades needed some work.

Alex barely acknowledged the arrival of the food as she bent over her books. With a sigh, Zach set her plate on top of the book she was reading, drawing a startled glare. "Eat," he insisted, lifting his own sandwich to emphasize his point.

Alex snatched the sandwich from her own plate, took a bite, then set it back down and pushed the plate away. Zach let out an exasperated sigh and reached to grab the book away from her. He was stopped by the six-tone beeping that emitted from their communicators.

Alex was suddenly very glad she hadn't eaten more than a bite. She froze completely. That beeping could only mean that Rita was about to cause trouble. If things got dicey, they'd ask her to morph. She couldn't morph! She didn't deserve to!

Zach tugged on her hand as he stood, and she numbly followed him to the entryway where they had a bit of privacy. "Go ahead, Zordon," Zach said as soon as they were alone.

"Rangers, there is a disturbance in the park. You must investigate immediately."

"We're on our way," Zach prepared to teleport, then noticed that Alex was still just standing there. "Alex!" he gripped her shoulder for a moment to shake her out of her daze and she snapped back to reality. "We gotta go to the park." Alex nodded once, and they both teleported to the park in streaks of orange and black.

As soon as they arrived, they saw what the problem was. A group of putties was surrounding one of Rita's monsters that resembled a giant wasp. The two Rangers moved quickly to take care of the putties. Alex's skills were certainly better after all the training and time they'd spent fighting, but she was not the best. The putties soon overwhelmed her and trapped her in their arms, shuffling her toward the monster.

Zach was trying to fight his way toward her, but the putties seemed to be deliberately working to keep him away. He was about to morph, when there was a bright flash. Suddenly, all the putties were gone, along with the monster. Alex was lying on the grass, but she seemed to be moving, so he hurried over to see if she was alright. "Are you alright?"

Alex blinked as Zach helped her sit up. "I feel fine," she replied. "What was that?"

"I don't know. Let's get you back to Zordon and let Alpha run some scans. Alex nodded slowly, and the two of them teleported away.

Alex's mind wandered as Alpha performed his scans. What had happened in the park didn't make sense. She had been trapped in the putties' arms, no access to her Morpher, and unable to break free. Why hadn't the monster finished her right then? "You weren't worth the time or effort." The voice that suddenly spoke in her head was harsh and buzzed slightly as it spoke. A beeping from Alpha's monitor shook her out of her thoughts for a moment.

"What is it?" Zach asked, concerned.

"It is as I feared," Zordon replied. "Alex has fallen victim to the sting of Rita's Doubt Wasp monster."

Just then, the other Rangers teleported into the Command Center. They'd been trapped at the school, unable to assist. Trini and Kim hurried to Alex's side, while Billy began checking the monitors and Jason looked up at Zordon to ask what was going on.

Zordon repeated his previous statement, and then began to elaborate. "The Doubt Wasp preys on the mind. It strengthens any doubts you have about yourself and amplifies them so that you will be rendered incapacitated by them."

"Well, it clearly failed," Alex said, drawing everyone's attention. "I'm fine. And I can still move and stuff." She hopped off the examination table to demonstrate her point. "And I need to go do my homework. After all, we can't be saving the world all the time." Before anyone could stop her, she pressed the button on her communicator and teleported away.

Alex took her homework to the park to avoid the others. She managed to get through most of it before she was interrupted again. The sound of the putties was distinctive, and she immediately stood to confront them. They were gathered a little way away, harassing some kids on a playground. Alex began to run, but was brought to a screeching halt when the buzzing voice sounded in her head again. "You aren't strong enough to take them on! You're still recovering. No way can you hold that many off until the others arrive!"

Alex shook herself and took off running again. Even if she got caught again, she couldn't just leave those kids to face the putties on their own! She leapt into action, attacking the putties and urging the kids to run as soon as they were clear.

Her martial arts skills were still not the best. It didn't take long before the putties began to overpower her. She reached for her morpher, wondering as she did so where the others were. Before her fingers could close around the device, the buzzing returned, "You don't deserve to use that. Tommy should be the one here, not you. How dare you presume to use his power?"

It was in that moment that Alex realized what was going on. Zordon had been right. The voice she was hearing belonged to the Doubt Wasp. Hearing it from an outside source, not from one of her friends, made her realize how stupid she was being. Tommy had willingly given her his powers. He'd been happy that she could be a ranger now that he couldn't. Just because he was having a difficult time being sidelined, didn't mean she didn't deserve this. She'd worked hard to get to this point. She'd trained and pressed on, determined to prove that she could be of use. She wasn't going to let this overgrown bug take her down.

Alex kicked a putty away from her and turned, scanning around to find the Wasp. And there it was; dancing around like it had already won. She broke away from the crowd of putties and ran toward it. "I think I've had just about enough of you!" she shouted as soon as she was in range.

"I think it's too late for that, little girl!" the Wasp replied. "You can't even morph. You have no hope of defeating me now! You're just a pathetic little girl, hoping someone will come to rescue you."

Alex smirked. "Your strategy needs work, Bug Brain." She reached back and grabbed her morpher. She'd seen the others morph enough times to know how to do it. "It's Morphin' Time!"

Jason and the other Rangers had just arrived when they heard Alex shout the iconic phrase. The light from their transport had barely faded before they were almost blinded by a bright orange flash as Alex shouted, "Dragonzord!"

When the light faded, they couldn't do anything other than stare for a few moments. Alex's suit was designed similarly to their own in that it consisted of a snug jumpsuit tucked into boots and gloves with a helmet and decorated with large diamonds across the chest. The main color of her suit was a beautiful, pumpkin orange, and the helmet looked almost exactly like Tommy's had. She also had Tommy's golden shield over her shoulders. However, the similarities ended there.

Where the other rangers all had white accents, Alex had gold. The diamonds across her chest were bordered in black, but mostly glittered a brilliant gold. Her boots and gloves were black with bands of gold and orange diamonds around the tops. Her helmet was a total work of art. While the visor and mouth resembled Tommy's dragon helmet, there was far more detail in Alex's. A gold pattern covered the orange helmet like scales. Just the edges were represented, but it was effective. The eyes that had been red on Tommy's helmet were now the deepest black and more pronounced.

The five other rangers ran up to gather around Alex and pat her shoulders and exclaim over her suit. It didn't last long before the Doubt Wasp demanded their attention again. Jason and Alex worked together to battle the Wasp while the others finished off the putties. Alex certainly had more power now, but her skills still weren't the best. Even so, she was good at following the subtle guidance of the Morphin Grid to summon a beautiful dragon staff to add to the Power Blaster when they were all able to turn their focus to the Wasp. The monster exploded in one giant blast, the flames from Alex's staff twisting around the main shots from their blaster to strengthen it and destroy the monster before it had a chance to grow.

The rangers transported back to the Command Center still morphed so they could talk to Zordon. Alex's dark hair cascaded down her shoulders once she'd taken her helmet off, and Trini and Kim stood on either side of her, complimenting the costume.

"Well done, Alex," Zordon said, smiling down at them all. "I'm very impressed with how you shook off the Doubt Wasp's influence."

"It made the mistake of trying to shame me for taking Tommy's power," Alex explained, running her fingers gently over the scales of her helmet. "But hearing it from someone other than myself made me realize how stupid I was to think that. Tommy gave me his power willingly. To not use it would disgrace him. I don't want him coming back to find that I'd wasted his gift."

Jason squeezed her shoulder. "He'll be proud to hear what you did today, Alex. He always believed in you." Alex nodded in agreement.

Zach was the one to break the solemn atmosphere, "Anyone hungry?"

They all laughed, "I could eat!" Alex agreed happily. And it was true. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt hungry. She smiled even bigger at the thought. Things were definitely getting better.