Chapter 8

Rangers in Reverse

Several weeks had passed since the wedding and Bulk and Skull's graduation from the Junior Police Academy. A million different things had turned the rangers lives upside down. First, Kim's mom got engaged to a French painter named Pierre and Kim panicked when she found out they would be moving to France. Kim was relieved though when Mrs. Hart told Kim that Kim was staying in Angel Grove to finish her schooling. Mrs. Hart had said that she wouldn't think about taking Kim away from her friends and her gymnastics career. The Hartgroves opened their home to Kim, knowing that Tommy and Kim would be living together eventually in a couple years. Rocky and Adam had a few struggles with Zedd and Rita's creations but managed to get through it. At Christmas, the gang ended up helping out Santa Claus at the North Pole when Zedd tried to take it over. Mrs. Hart had surprised Kim by coming home for Christmas. Tommy might have had a hand in getting them home.

The group had also been shocked when a famous gymnastics coach had offered to train Kim for the Pan-Global Games. Kim couldn't turn down the opportunity. When Kim qualified for the games, she was headed to Florida. That meant the Rangers would be down one member. Thankfully, Jessica had a solution to that problem. A girl in Jessica's Ballet class, by the name of Katherine Hilliard, ended up becoming the newest Pink Ranger. As for Tommy and Kim's relationship, well, that went down the tubes a few weeks after Kim left when she wrote him a letter, returning the ring and saying she had met someone. Tommy had been devastated, but he wanted Kim to be happy and not have the burden of a long-distance relationship on her.

And then there was Master Vile. Rita's father. Yes, Rita had a father, who was the Master of the Universe. He landed on the moon and now he was out to finish what Rita and Zedd started. Ninjor and the Ninjazords had been captured and Zordon had the rangers uncover the legendary Shogun Zords. Unfortunately, Kat, Jessica and Jill were without zords as there were only five Shogun zords. The Falconzord and Ninjor had managed to be rescued, but the rest of the Ninjazords were still under control of Master Vile, Zedd and Rita.

Things were quiet though, for now. Rocky, Tommy, Billy and the twins were helping Ernie with his truck order at the Youth Center.

"Just set the fruit up here," said Ernie. "Thanks for all your help."

"No problem, we're always glad to help out, Ernie," said Jessica, setting a crate of bananas on the counter. At that moment, Aisha and Adam walked into the Youth Center.

"Hey!" said Aisha, coming up to Jill and Rocky. Jill placed a kiss on Adam's lips.

"Hi honey," said Adam. "We got your guys' message, what's up?"

"Yeah, where's Kat? Isn't she supposed to be here?" asked Aisha.

"Actually, it's about Katherine," said Tommy. "Tomorrow's her birthday."

"You're kidding!" scoffed Aisha. "Why didn't she tell us?"

"Well, I don't think she wants to make it a big deal," said Jessica. "The only reason I know is cause when we registered for Ballet classes at the studio, I saw her birthdate on her form."

"Ha, well whether she likes it or not," started Jill, "this calls for a surprise party!"

"Agreed," said Tommy. "Here's what I have planned."

"My father is finally ready to release the plan of the millennium!" cried Rita up on the Moon. "The ultimate force of evil!" Rita cackled.

"Then where is the old coot?" cried Zedd. "I haven't him for days!"

"That's because he's been busy!" humphed Rita.

"Busy doing what?" asked Goldar.

"Yes what?" replied Zedd. "I didn't think anything could be more important than driving me out of my mind!"

"You'll find out soon enough!" said Rita. "Don't you worry!" Rita poked Zedd on his visor and laughed.

Down in the catacombs of the moon, Master Vile was working on his plan.

"Forces darker than the farthest regions of the universe, hear my call!" cried Master Vile holding up his staff. "I command you! Respond!" The ground shook and rumbled. A pink and purple mist rose from in front of him.

"Powers of the deepest evil, come forth!" cried Master Vile. "I command you!" Several loud explosions and flashes followed. "I summon you! Night of the Malevolent Masters, appear before me, and do my bidding!"

As the moon violently shook, Master Vile laughed. "The end of the Power Rangers is only a matter of time!"

At the command center, Alpha was in panic mode.

"Ai yi yi, this is the worst possible time for everything to go wrong! Zordon why did you have to deactivate yourself?! I can't do this all alone! I need you! This was no time to take a vacation!" Alpha furiously pressed buttons on the console.

"Calm yourself, Alpha, I am here," said Zordon, floating up in his tube.

"Thank goodness, my instruments have been completely decalibrated by the Moon's gravitational pull!"

"I am aware of the situation, Alpha," said Zordon. "I have been monitoring it from my chamber. Have you been able to pinpoint the cause of the disturbance?"

"No Zordon, and I have a terrible feeling something awful is about to happen!" said Alpha.

"I share your concern, Alpha. I can only hope for the sake of the world and the power rangers that we are both wrong."

"Guys, where are you taking me? I don't understand?" asked Katherine. She could hear screams of joy all around her as the other Rangers led her to her surprise party while she was blindfolded. Well, sort of.

"Well we wanted to make sure your first birthday in America was a special one," said Billy.

"Yeah, but I don't know whose going to have more fun, you or Lexie," teased Jessica as Rocky pressed a finger to his lips to show Lexie not to blab where they were.

"This is gonna be great, come on!" said Tommy, and the group led her to the entrance. Tommy pulled the blindfold off and Kat turned around.

"A carnival?!" cried Katherine. "Oh, you guys! This is wonderful! I'm so lucky to have friends like you."

"We feel pretty lucky too," grinned Jill.

"Momma, Daddy, bear!" cried Lexie, pointing to someone walking by with a gigantic teddy bear from a game booth.

"Whoa!" cried Rocky. "Don't worry, princess, mommy and daddy will get you a bear! Not that big though."

"Come on, let's go!" said Aisha excitedly, dragging Billy by the hand and the group followed.

The group rode several rides, played some games (in which everyone won a prize for Lexie to her delight), and munched on fair food. After going down the super slide, Kat grinned.

"That was so cool!" said Kat.

"Yeah, you guys want to do the rollercoaster?" asked Tommy.

"I don't know, I'm still kinda full from those Chili Dogs," groaned Rocky, rubbing his stomach. The group laughed. Before they could go anywhere else though, their communicators beeped.

"Typical," muttered Jessica. "Always when we're having fun."

Tommy led the group over to a safe spot away from the crowds and spoke into the communicator.

"This is Tommy, we read you Zordon," said Tommy.

"Power Rangers, prepare for teleportation to the Command Center immediately," said Zordon.

"Right," said Tommy. The rangers teleported and landed in the Command Center.

"What's going on, Dad?" asked Jessica as she placed Lexie in her makeshift play area that had been setup in the Command Center.

"Thank goodness you're here," said Alpha. "Ai yi yi, this is just terrible!"

"Rangers, we have a serious situation on our hands," said Zordon. "Master Vile has summoned the darkest force in the universe, and is preparing to unleash it on our planet."

"I don't get it," said Aisha. "What force?"

"The Orb of Doom, a treacherous crystal. When placed at the proper latitude and longitude, it will stop the Earth's rotation and reverse time."

"Great, then what?" scoffed Jessica.

"If Master Vile succeeds, the world as we know it shall cease to exist," said Zordon.

"But if we know the exact location Zordon, we can intercept it and stop Master Vile before he plants it.," said Billy.

"It could be risky, but it's our only hope," said Zordon. "Alpha's computing those coordinates for you now."

At that moment, the alarms blared.

"Ai yi yi!" cried Alpha. "Rito has materialized at the north end of Angel Grove! He has the Orb of Doom!"

"We gotta stop him!" cried Jill.

"Remember Rangers, once the orb is secured, it cannot be removed." said Zordon. "Billy, your coordinates are printing out now. Good luck, and may the power protect you."

"Guys, we need to hurry," said Billy as he looked at the coordinates.

"It's Morphin time!" cried Tommy.

"White Ranger Power!"

"Black Ranger Power!

"Pink Ranger Power!"

"Blue Ranger Power!"

"Yellow Ranger Power!"

"Red Ranger Power!"

"Purple Ranger Power!"

"Orange Ranger Power!"

"HIYAH!" cried the Rangers as they appeared at the coordinates.

"We'll take that orb Rito!" cried Tommy.

"Hey! Who invited you?!" cried Rito.

"You can't win! Give it up!" cried Tommy.

"You guys are getting on my nerves," said Rito.

"Good, give us the orb and we'll leave," said Jessica.

"Whatever your game is, you'll lose!" said Rocky.

"Really, then maybe you should play a little "Tail on the Tenga!" cried Rito as he summoned several Tenga Warriors.

"Whoa, here come the Featherheads!" cried Tommy. "Everyone spread out!"

"Rawr!" said a Tenga as another group of Tengas appeared. "Let's head for the carnival!"

As they took off, Adam groaned.

"We gotta protect those people!" said Adam.

"Let's split up, four and four," said Jill.

"Right!" chorused everyone. Adam, Billy, Aisha, and Jill headed towards the carnival, while Rocky, Jessica, Tommy and Kat stayed to fight Rito and the other Tengas.

"Okay you birdbrains, you're mine!" cried Jessica. "Sig-Hiyah!"

Jessica leapt into the air and collided with a Tenga. She knocked the Tenga back into Rito.

"Whoa! Hey no fair!" cried Rito.

"Hand over the orb!" cried Jessica as the others fought the other Tengas.

"Come and get it!" sang Rito teasingly.

"With pleasure!" said Jessica.

"What is it with you superheros? It's always the same line!" moaned Rito as Jessica started to fight for the orb.

"You won't get away with this!" said Jessica. Four tengas tackled her while the others were being held down.

"No! Stop!" cried Jessica.

"Let's see, four paces south," started Rito as he walked away while the rangers were being held down. "Oh, which way is south? I'll go this way."

"No! He's getting away!" cried Rocky.

"Three, four, ah this must be the spot!" said Rito. "Here goes!" He slammed the orb down and a beam of dark light rose out of the orb.

"SHIT!" cried Jessica. "We're too late!"

"Ooh!" said Rito staring at the light as dark clouds began to appear in the atmosphere.

"You mean that's it?" asked Rito. Just then the ground shook. "Whoa whoa whoa!" The tengas released the rangers, spooked by the earthquake.

"We gotta stop it!" said Rocky.

"It's too late, the damage is done," said Jessica as Rito disappeared. "Come on let's get back to the carnival."

The four of them ran down towards the carnival where the others were still fighting the remaning Tengas. The Tengas disappeared with the next earthquake.

"Guys, you okay?" asked Tommy as he came up to them as the others demorphed.

"What happened?" asked Jill.

"We were too late, Rito managed to plant the Orb," said Jessica. "We're doomed."

"We gotta do something, maybe we should head back to the command center," said Katherine.

"No we can't leave everyone here," said Tommy. As lighting and thunder clapped. Jessica noticed that all of the carnival rides stopped as they headed back into the carnival.

"This is it," said Jessica as they pushed through the crowd staring at the Orb's storm. She turned to Rocky.

"Whatever happens, I just want you to know I love you," said Jessica.

"I love you too, Baby," said Rocky, kissing her. "Oh god Lexie. What if she..."

"My baby,"whispered Jessica. "I'm going to kill those sons of bitches if it's the last thing I do..."

The next thing the Rangers knew, everyone around them had turned almost seven years younger. Well, everyone except the twins.

"Zordon was right," said a now ten year-old Tommy. "But look, Jessica and Jill are still their normal age!"

"We need to get to the Command Center," said Jessica. "Come on. Dad will explain everything I'm sure."

"You guys look!" cried Tommy, pointing to the clifftop as people around them scattered for cover. Zedd, Rita, Rito and Goldar were up there celebrating.

"Billy, can we still morph?" asked Young Rocky.

"We can try," said Billy.

"Wait a minute! Two of the Power Brats weren't affected by the orb!" cried Zedd as he caught a glimpse of the rangers. "Impossible! How can that be?"

"Let's try it!" said Billy. "It's Morphin Time!"

"Purple Ranger Power!"

"Orange Ranger Power!"

Jessica and Jill were the only ones able to successfully morph. The others stood in shock.

"Oh no! The rest of us can't morph!" cried Tommy.

"Don't worry guys, stay back and we'll take care of those creeps!" said Jill. "Come on Sis!"

"Right!" cried Jessica. "Sig-HIYAH!"

The twins ran towards Zedd and Rita.

"Oh no! ZEDDY! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" cried Rita. The four disappeared before Jessica and Jill reached them.

"Good get out of here!" cried Jessica. "Come on, sis, let's get the others and head back to the Command center!"

"Rangers! Thank goodness you are alright!" said Alpha as Jessica and Jill appeared in the Command Center with the others wrapped around them.

"Dad! Jill and I weren't affected by the Earth's reversal!" cried Jessica. "We can still morph!"

"How is this possible?" asked Jill. "We grew up on Earth and aged just like everyone here!"

"Not to mention the last time Zedd reversed time, we de-aged for the day," said Jessica.

"I had a feeling this would happen," Zordon said.

"And what about Lexie? Is she-" started Rocky.

"Lexie is just fine," said Alpha, pointing to Lexie, still over in her play area.

"Thank god," whispered Jessica as she went over and hugged Lexie.

"If my calculations are correct," started Zordon, "the three of you were not affected by the Orb because of your Eltarian genetics. Jessica, Jill, I have reason to believe the two of you have begun to receive your full Eltarian powers. The same with Lexie despite the block remaining on her. You are not from this planet, and any time reversals from now on will not affect your age. Zedd's first attempt affected you because his intention was to simply put the world into a specific time-period while the Orb has just simply reversed the Earth's rotation.

"Are our parents still married?" asked Tommy. "Richard and my mom that is."

"Yes Tommy, Richard and Sharon are still their age if the Earth's rotation was normal. I am afraid some explaining is going to have to be done to them about the situation however. It is still 1996, but the majority of the population on Earth has been turned into either a young child or a teenager."

"You mean we're going to have to tell them, aren't we?" asked Jessica.

"I was afraid this day would come," said Zordon. "But we have more pressing matters on our hands. With the Earth now vulnerable, Rita and Zedd can take over the Earth."

"Not if we can help it!" said Jessica.

"Zordon, can't you give us any powers?" asked Tommy.

"That is a risk we cannot take," said Zordon. "I'm afraid Jessica and Jill are the world's only hopes."

"Dad, what about the Aquatian Rangers from Aquitar?" asked Jill.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that!" said Jessica. "We can contact Cestro and Delphine!"

"The What Rangers?!" cried Rocky.

"The Aquatian Rangers," said Jessica. "Aquitar is a few galaxies away, and the planet is made up of nothing but water. Dad told us should anything happen to him or Alpha and we lost our powers, that we would contact them for help."

"I too have thought of this," said Zordon. "But they are dependent on creating energy from water to function."

"They're our only chance," said Adam. "With only Jessica and Jill able to morph, there's no way they stand a chance against Rita and Zedd themselves."

"Adam's right," said Jessica. "We don't stand a chance. And Jill and I don't have zords. How are we able to control all the shogun zords at once?"

"If the situation were reversed we would be helping the Aquatians in a heartbeat," said Tommy.

"Yeah, remember Edenoi?" asked Rocky, referring to Alpha's home planet. "When Dex was in trouble, we were there."

"Jill, prepare a galatic alert transmission," said Zordon.

"Right," said Jill, heading to the console. "I'll aim the beam in the direction of Aquitar."

She pressed several buttons.

"Go for it Dad," said Jill.

"Rangers of Aquitar, I, Zordon of Eltar, call upon you. The people of Earth are in grave peril." Zordon finished speaking as the transmission was sent across the universe to Aquitar. Moments later, the viewing globe came on.

"Hey, they're answering!" cried Jessica.

"Oh I just knew they would!" said Alpha as the Aquatian Rangers came into view.

"How are those pesky Purple and Orange rangers not affected by the Orb?!" cried Master Vile to Rita and Zedd.

"They must not be human!" said Goldar. "They stayed the same age!"

"Oh they're human alright," growled Zedd. "They just aren't from Earth! That means the red and purple power brats' child is also half-earthian, half-whatever!""

"Alien rangers?!" cried Rita. "You mean the Purple and Orange rangers aren't normal?"

"Whoever Jessica and Jill truly are, I intend to find out!" said Zedd.