Author's Note: I DO NOT own Power Rangers that credit goes to the Gods of Saban but this story is mine, I just borrowed their characters (and the main story line) and added some of my own thoughts to it.
-The Pink Gem
Chapter Nine
"Erica, we need to talk," said Anton as they walked into the study. Erica sat on the couch while Anton took the seat across from her. "Okay, about what?"
"First off…" started Anton, "we need to talk about your curfew. You've been coming home late for the past three days, are you planning to start coming home on time?"
Erica thought for a second, "Nope…" she finally answered.
"You sure?"
"Yup. It's more interesting walking home from school."
"Even if it means getting attacked by monsters?"
"Who told you about the monsters?"
"Erica, you'd be surprised how I get this information. Just like Dr. Oliver gave me a call today, other people do the same thing. "
Erica stuck out her tongue.
Anton shrugged, "If you don't want to meet me when I pick you up from school, that's fine. I can always have Principal Randall escort you from your last period class to the car-"
"How are you gonna get Randall to escort me?"
"She's an old friend. I don't think she'll mind"
"I…did wait for you…today….you didn't show."
"Oh…did I?" said Anton, "that's strange since I saw your brother and I gave him a ride home."
Erica started looking down on the ground, embarrassed.
"Look," said Anton, "Under normal circumstances I wouldn't care about this curfew. Since these strange monsters are after you I figure the safest place for you to be is home. Please can we enforce this rule until this monster business is settled, okay?"
Erica looked up and saw Anton in the eyes, he looked worried. "Okay," she said. "I'm getting tired of fighting those creeps anyway."
"Good, now that settled…now we need to have the other talk. I want to talk to you about your Dino Gem."
"My what?"
"Your Dino Gem, the pink rock that's in your pocket that you carry around everywhere, it's called a Dino Gem."
Four Hours Earlier…
"Thank goodness school's over," said Steven. "How come Japanese class is so hard?"
"Cause its Honors," said Erica as she was putting her books away.
"Oh, yeah," said Steven. "By the way, how did Anton punish you last night?"
"He said something about picking me up after school; he's probably out there waiting right now." Erica started walking in the opposite direction of the exit.
"Hey Erica, the exit is this way," said Steven.
"Forget it. I'm not getting a ride home from Anton; I'm gonna sneak out the back. Care to join me?"
"Why not? It's always fun getting in trouble with a friend," said Steven following her out.
"Erica!" screamed a voice from down the hall.
"I know that journalistic voice…." said Erica as she turned around to face Cassidy. Devin was right behind Cassidy.
"Where is it?" said Cassidy.
"Where's what?" asked Erica.
"The tape! The video of you and the White Ranger fighting each other, where is it?"
"That? Dev, I thought I gave that back to you in Paleontology class?"
"You did but….," said Devin.
"You erased it! The whole fight scene! That was gonna make my career and you erased it! That is a violation of….Freedom of the Press."
"Cass…" said Erica, "the 1st Amendment is so the government can't stop you from publishing anything you want. I don't work for the government hence, I can delete it." Erica walked out of school with Steven following her. "Ugghh," said Cassidy, "why do you like them Devin?" "C'mon Cass, they're not bad…."
"Forget it, let's go get some footage of the Rangers," said Cassidy.
Outside school, Anton was waiting in the car for Erica to come out.
"C'mon Erica, how long does it take to get out of school?" Anton murmured. Just then Trent entered the car on the front passenger seat. "Aww, this is first, you picking me up from school," said Trent. "Trent," said Anton, "Don't you have work to go to?" "I quit that boring job weeks ago. Let me guess you want me to bug off right. Are you waiting for your favorite kid to come out of school?" "Trent….," said Anton. "Erica is in a special situation, she's been attacked after school the past two days in a row, her first two days let me add, by her twin brother." "How did you know about Monday…right you're other half," scoffed Trent. "I give up…" said Anton, "First off, Mesogog is not my other half! We just share the same mind…it was a freak science experiment I performed on myself. Not only is my DNA messed up with dino DNA but now I have to share my life with this monster, and neither one of us are enjoying the situation." "So…you're a part of him?" "In a way, yes, but by no means can we control the other. You only got dragged into this situation because you stole His Dino Gem and I'll be damned if Erica gets involved in this, too." Anton looked at Trent, he was spaced out. "Wait a minute," thought Anton, "does Trent even know Erica has a Dino Gem?" "Trent…" said Anton touching his shoulder. "So…" said Trent. 'Why don't I just join the family business?" "What? No! God damn it, Trent! I'm trying not to get you involved and you want to join?" "For the record," said Trent, 'You've been a cold hearted jerk, always trying to mold me in your business world. And only now when I know the real you. When I want to get into your "dinosaurs taking over" world you're trying to push me back. Why?" "Trent, why are you trying to get involved with Mesogog? Dealing with Mesogog is dangerous, and only I can deal with him. I tried to keep you away from Mesogogs' world for as long as I could. I'm just sorry I couldn't protect you." "Its' way too late for apologies…." said Trent.
There was a long silence between the two of them. "I figured…" said Trent, "she ditched you." "I guess you're right." "On the bright side, you got me, so she should be okay. I can't attack her or anything…" Trent saw that Anton looked grim. "Unless you think something else is going on?" Trent asked. Anton remained silent. "Okay then," said Trent. "Lets' make a deal, either you let me join Mesogogs' team or I go reengage right this second and I may or may not meet my sister, and I don't really have total control of this White Gem so I can't predict how the next fight will end." "Wow…you really missed what I told you, huh?" said Anton. "What?" "You actually think I have control over Mesogog? You're dreaming. The only part I play is when I want my turn with this body. You'll have to ask him yourself, oh and He hates me, so I'd probably be the worse reference you could use." "Well then…" said Trent. "Let's go to work. Your other work."
About a half a mile away from school, Erica and Steven were walking together….
"So…" said Erica, 'how did you get stuck with Japanese Honors? I mean…like you're a good artist so I know why we share Advanced Art class but why Japanese?"
"It's a funny story…okay so my mom fills out the school application and it tells you to put your father's address, right. So my mom gave them my dad's address….in Kyoto."
"Your dad lives in Kyoto! That's so cool."
"Yeah, but the thing is both my parents are American, my dad just moved to Japan because that was where he lived when he was stationed."
"He's in the military too!"
"No, he was in the military you see-"
Just then the building Erica and Steven were walking up to, exploded. Steven grabbed Erica and they fled into an alley. Erica and Steven peeked out to see some monster blasting away at every building. "Oh great not again….," murmured Steven.
"Again! You mean I'm not the only one in this town being attacked by something!"
"Sorry, my bad…okay the White Ranger going after civilians is not normal, I mean he normally goes after the Rangers. You're the first civilian he attacked. On the other hand you have monsters like these who go after civilians pretty regularly or at least the Rangers show up and then it turns big…."
"I don't know about you but I'm not gonna let this monster do any more damage…" said Erica as she walked out of the alley. Steven grabbed her arm, "Not this time, it's not targeting you. There's no point to fighting it! You're still not feeling well, just sideline today, okay?"
Erica pulled away from Steven grip, 'Compromise, I'll only fight this….thing until the Rangers get here, okay?'
Steven sighed, 'Just tell me when you want a break; I bought a secret weapon we could use."
"No problem," said Erica as she ran off to fight the monster.
At the Ranger's Hideout …..
The Black Ranger was typing on the computer while the three Rangers were behind him, "So Dr.O what's the situation?" asked the Red Ranger. "Two monsters and their in different locations, one on the east side of the city, the other in the West side." "Mesogog must be getting desperate if he thinks we gonna be beat by two monsters," said Ethan. "The issue is that we need to attack those monsters at the same time, we can't just focus all our attention on one monster while the other goes on a rampage," said the Black Ranger, "Alright, Conner and Ethan, you take the monster on the East side. Kira, you're with me, and we're going to handle the monster on the West side." "Right," said the Yellow Ranger.
At Mesogogs' lair…..
"I see you haven't had much time to decorate…" said the White Ranger scanning the area. Mesogog grabbed and pinned him on the wall, 'I am only going to say this once. I don't care that you are Mercer's son. If you make one move against me, I will destroy you, do I make myself clear?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever, so long as I get fight whoever I want, you'll have no qualms with me."
Mesogog released him and the White Ranger followed Mesogog.
"Finally she shows up…" said Elsa. Zeltrax and Elsa were watching a screen of the fight between the monster and Erica. "So while the Rangers are busy with one monster we can watch the fight with the girl without interference," said Zeltrax.
"Are you two that desperate for a victory you're sending a monster to attack a kid? You guys really are weak," said the White Ranger.
Elsa and Zeltrax turned around to see the White Ranger behind Mesogog. "My lord, what is the White Ranger doing here?" Zeltrax asked.
"Assisting us by destroying the Power Rangers," replied Mesogog.
"He didn't seem too keen on joining the last time we met," said Elsa pulling out her sword.
"Put it away, as soon as the monster that is distracting the Rangers is destroyed, I sending the White Ranger in to finish the job," said Mesogog. Mesogog looked to the White Ranger, "Do you object?"
The White Ranger shook his head.
"Good," said Mesogog.
"What are their energy levels?" asked the White Ranger.
Zeltrax didn't want to answer, "The monster is at 80, the girl is at 60. No change yet though."
"Change?" asked the White Ranger.
"When your sister was fighting you yesterday," said Elsa, "her energy levels were changing every few minutes, up, down, up, you get the drill. We weren't sure if it was because of you or her, so we're testing that theory."
"How strong is 60 on a human scale?" The White Ranger asked.
"The normal human scale is between 20 and 40, if someone is especially strong, 45," said Zeltrax.
"Oh yea, she's special all right, she gave me a run for my money the past two days." "Which was strange"thought the White Ranger, "it took me half the time and energy to finish the Rangers off."
At the fight…
Erica ran up to the monster, "Hey freak, why don't you go pick on someone your own strength!" The monster turned around, "Oh it's you, I've been waiting for you. Ready to fight?'
"What?" said Erica stunned, "You've been….."
"Yup, my boss wants to see how strong you are since you headed up the attack against the White guy yesterday, you must be made of something." With that the monster shot out an attack, Erica dodged it but quickly hid behind a car. Steven followed Erica, "So what happened, why did you let that monster-",
"It was waiting for me, It doesn't make any sense," said Erica.
"Are you feeling alright?"
Erica shook her head, 'I'm fine, but what that monster said...it got to me."
Steven opened his bag and pulled out a katana, "Wanna double team it?"
Erica looked at him and smiled. Steven and Erica charged at the monster, the monster blasted out another attack at Erica but she dodged it. Erica punched the monster and jumped back to let Steven swipe his sword at the monster. The monster fell back.
"What's the boys' energy level?" asked Mesogog. "42," replied Zeltrax. "Heh, he probably making up for yesterday, he did absolutely nothing. And he thinks waving his sword around is gonna change the odds of this battle," said the White Ranger. "Master," said Elsa. Mesogog, Zeltrax, and the White Ranger turned to Elsa who was watching the other fight. "The Red and Blue Rangers are fighting this monster but I can't see the Yellow or Black Ranger."
"We will see them soon, Elsa, don't you worry," replied Mesogog.
Steven and Erica was breathing heavily, 'Go back to your bag and drink some of that water you have," said Steven, 'it did a wonder for you yesterday. Erica didn't want to leave Steven alone, "Relax," he said, "I know how to run and dodge." Erica ran over to the bag as Steven distracted the monster. Erica took out a water bottle and started drinking it, but she didn't feel anything. "Damn it what was so different about yesterday's fight? I felt weak; I got tossed a water bottle and….wait, I not feeling that pain. I'm just hurt today, it a different pain that the water cures, what causes that pain? Uggh…all right I need to get back." Erica ran back to Steven, "Well," said Steven. 'Better than ever," said Erica giving him a thumbs up. Before Erica could move two steps she collapses in pain, "This is the pain the water cures…but what caused it?" Steven got in front of Erica, 'Can you get out of here?" Erica picked herself up and ran back to the car. Steven rose up his sword. "Look kid, I'm only here to test the girl out so why don't you get out of my way," said the monster. Steven laugh, 'Sorry man, I saw her first, she's mine." "Sorry kid, but you did this to yourself." Before the monster could attack…..
"Brachio Staff Blade Strike!" suddenly the monster was hit by a wind attack. The monster was pushed back by the attack, the Black and Yellow Ranger came to Stevens' aid. "Take your friend and get out of here!" said the Black Ranger. "Oh no, she not getting out of this one!" said the monster. It saw Erica run into the alleyway, "I'm not letting her out until she shows me what she's made of!" The monster attacked with a beam of energy at Erica.
"What's her energy level now?" asked the White Ranger. "85," replied Zeltrax. "How is that possible…." said the White Ranger, "what is she reacting to, that would cause this?' "We thought it was you," said Elsa. "Well I'm here, morons, so I would like to see you two to prove that theory."
"Lightning Beam!" screamed the monster as he shot out his attack. The attack was too big to dodge. "Erica!" screamed the Yellow Ranger as she ran towards her. The Yellow Ranger got in front of Erica when the beam swallowed them. Steven and the Black Ranger screamed "NO!" Steven tried to run into the blast but the Black Ranger held him back. "You can't help them now!"
Elsa and Zeltrax stared at the White Ranger. "What are you two looking at?" "Nothing….," they murmured. "That Dino Gem did corrupt him, how can he stand there so calm?" "You two aren't watching close enough. Elsa and Zeltrax looked at the screen: Y.R: 110 E.M: 100. "They're still alive!" said Zeltrax. "Looks like it," said the White Ranger.
When the smoke cleared, the Yellow Ranger was standing up with her uniform covered in spikes, with Erica on the ground behind her. "Woa….," said Steven. "You said it," replied the Black Ranger. The Yellow Ranger turned around and pulled up Erica off the ground, 'You okay?" asked the Yellow Ranger. "Yeah…I think so." "Good. Now Get Out Of Here!" "Yes Ma'am," said Erica as she turned around and ran away. "You better get out of here too", said the Black Ranger to Steven. "Yeah, no problem," Steven put away his katana and ran out of sight. "Kira, you ready to finish this guy off?" "No problem, just leave it to me!"
Erica kept running until she reached the shoreline. As soon as Erica reached the water she collapsed into the water, "Damn it! What did I get myself into!" Just then Erica heard a voice crying but the sound was coming from the ocean. She stood up trying to figure out where the voice, "Where are you! Say something!" By the time Steven caught up to Erica, he saw her screaming into the water. "Yo, Erica, are you alright?" Erica was staring out to the water, "Can you hear it? Someone's screaming…" "I can't hear a thing," said Steven. "Are you sure?" "I think so." Erica turned around and sat down on the sand. "How did this happen? I didn't expect a monster to target me." "I don't think anyone wants a monster to come after them." Steven saw that Erica was freaked out by this situation, "Okay, fine, you win, I'll tell you." "Tell me what?" "Remember, how I got in Japanese Honors? Well like I said my dad was in the military…"
The Yellow and Black Ranger were up against the monster. "Laser Fire," said the Yellow Ranger. The monster was hit by the attack. The Yellow Ranger charged up to the monster and jabbed the monster about a dozen times. "Dino Energy Orb," screamed the Black Ranger as the sphere of energy hit and destroyed the monster. "One down, one to go," said the Yellow Ranger, "Now let's go help Conner and Ethan." "Yeah but first I need to do something," said the Black Ranger.
"Are you two going to make the monster grow?" said the White Ranger to Elsa and Zeltrax. "Don't bother," said Mesogog. "White Ranger, go and help the monster on the East Side, make sure those Rangers don't destroy it." "Finally some action," said the White Ranger as he left. As soon as the White Ranger left the room Elsa was the first to speak, "I don't trust him." "Neither do I," said Mesogog, "but if he's willing to use his power to advance our goal, we will give him a chance."
On the East Side of Town Where The Red and Blue Rangers were fighting the other creature….
"Great we're on the same level with this mutant, how do we beat it?" The Blue Ranger asked. "By taking it up to the next level." Both Rangers powered up to Super Dino Mode and started getting an edge over the monster. Then the White Ranger used his speed attack on both Rangers and they fell back. The White Ranger walked next to the mutant, "Mind if I make this battle more even?" "Trust us, you're gonna need all the help you can get after that last battle," said the Blue Ranger. "I only underestimated you two at our last encounter; I promise I won't make the same mistake twice! Laser Arrows," the Red and Blue Rangers easily blocked that attack. "Is that all you got!" "Look behind you…" "Ionic Beam!" the monster launched an attacked on the Rangers which caused them to demorph out of their Super Dino Mode Form. "I think we need a new plan," said Conner. "Laser Fire," The White Ranger and the mutant were attacked by the Thundermax Saber which blinded them for few seconds as the Yellow and Black Rangers joined their teammates. "Boy, did you come at a good time," said Ethan. "Are you guys ready to finish this creep off once and for all?" said the Red Ranger. The Blue and Yellow Ranger knew what their leader had in mind, they formed the Z-Rex Blaster, at the same time all three said "Z-Rex Blaster, Fire." A blast of energy attacked the monster destroying him. The White Ranger got out of the way in time, "Oh great, I probably should have blocked that attack….I should destroy these Rangers before-"
Before the White Ranger could finish that statement Zeltrax dragged the White Ranger into an Invisi-Portal.
"And afterwards my dad refused a transfer into Area 51, he retired with full honors, and he moved to Kyoto where he makes katana because he believes it's a more "honorable" profession. Well, how was that? Funny, right?" asked Steven looking at Erica. "Your dad turned down a chance to dissect aliens and instead makes samurai swords, wow…." "C'mon, my dad did that so the military doesn't have to pretend he died in some accident or something." "So Principal Randall thinks you speak Japanese because your father lives in Kyoto, people really are dim these days, huh?" A few miles away from their location, a giant monster and a megazord formed. "Cool, now here's the fun part of the fight!" said Steven. "What's the fun part, watching two giants monster destroying the city? People could get hurt or killed," said Erica. "Use your imagination; it's like one of those Japanese movies, where the monster attacks Tokyo, except its real!" "I glad to see you're easily entertained by death and destruction." Just then the megazord destroyed the mutant monster. "Woohoo!" said Steven jumping around, "They did it, they did it, go Rangers!" In the middle of his celebrating, Steven saw Anton; he was standing on the boardwalk looking at him and Erica. "Hey, Erica, does anyone know you're here?" "No, I didn't call anyone." "Well, someone did…." said Steven pointing towards the boardwalk. Erica followed his finger to Anton. He saw that he was spotted so he started walking towards Steven and Erica. As Anton was walking towards them, Erica stood up and started brushing off the sand. "Steven, Erica…." said Anton. "Hi…Anton," was all Erica said. "Let's go, I'll drop you off at your house Steven." "Right…" said Steven.
At Mesogogs' lair, the White Ranger was being manhandled by the Tyrannodrones, "C'mon Zeltrax, I had had the Rangers where I wanted them!" "Silence, you had your order from Mesogog 'protect that mutant', that's all you had to do, and you screwed that up! For that you're being put in the punishment chamber." The Tyrannodrones tossed the White Ranger into a large container and closed the door. Zeltrax pressed some buttons on a console and the machine was charging up, when it was done charging the machine emitted electrical shocks at the White Ranger. As he was screaming in pain, mute to the outside of the container, Elsa walked up to Zeltrax. "Why are you only setting the timer for an hour, I thought the minimum was at least three?" "The White Ranger only joined us because he found out about Mercers' identity; he probably thinks that Mercer and Mesogog are one in the same. If Mercer really was in on this, the White Ranger wouldn't have been punished." "So this is a way for the White Ranger to know his place, interesting theory," said Elsa. "How do you know when Mercer comes he won't stop the punishment?" "Mercer has someone else he needs to take care of. When the Black Ranger destroyed the first mutant, he demorphed for a few minutes. He made a phone call to Mercer's cell; we all heard the conversation….."
"Do you two have any idea how I found you?" asked Anton. Erica was sitting right next to him, while Steven was sitting behind Erica. "Nope," said Steven. "Okay then, I received a phone call from a concerned citizen who told me where you were." "I doubt that…." said Erica. Anton pulled out his cellphone, dialed a few buttons and put on the speaker:
You have one new voice message: "Hey Anton, its Tommy. You won't believe this but I just saw Erica and her friend fighting some kind of mutant monster thing. I have no idea what possessed them to do something as stupid as that, but I thought I should let you know. The Rangers got to them in time so their safe, but I just don't think it's the best idea to let them walk home by themselves from now on. I figured if you can get Erica to stop walking home, her friend might follow her example. If you want to talk more you can reach me at the school. Bye.
"Okay..." said Anton, "Satisfied?' "Are you trying to explain to us that out science teacher just watched us get knocked around by some monster?" said Steven. "What did you expect him to do? Pull out a dinosaur bone and start whacking the monster with it?" "You know what I mean Anton. If it was you, wouldn't you have tried to protect us?" "Of course I would have, but Tomm- Dr. Oliver is not a parent, the rules are different." Anton sighed, "Isn't this your house Steven?" "Yeah…" as Steven got out of the car, "See ya, tomorrow." "Bye…." said Erica.
When Anton and Erica reached the house, Erica tried to get out of the car but Anton locked the door, "In the study, we need a talk…."
Erica pulled out her pink rock, "This is a Dino Gem?" Anton nodded, "It's a powerful rock that is said to give the user unbelievable powers." "Not my rock…." said Erica. "Think…" said Anton, "think of every time you felt…different…wasn't the gem glowing?" "I didn't pull out my rock every single time I felt sick…" said Erica. "Sweetie, you need to believe me when I tell you that this gem holds some amazing power for you. Now-"
There was someone banging on the door, Anton sighed, "Trent's back…..Great…."
"So what? Unlock the door and let him in." "No, I kinda grounded him today…..and now he's pissed….Erica can we finish this conversation tomorrow when I'm dropping you off at school?" "Yeah, no problem." "Okay, let Trent in on your way out."
End of Chapter Nine
Author's Note: I spent a lot of time of this, so I hope everyone savors it. This story finally getting somewhere, yay. Some of my thoughts as I was writing…..
First off….okay I didn't go into detail about Anton experiment cause I figure everyone is familiar with the story. If you're not familiar, the episode title is "Copy That", so see the episode, it explains how Mercer turns into Mesogog.
Second I kinda wanted to get into Steven background a little bit because I want his character to be brave and having a dad who's ex-military is awesome. You have to be an awesome (or insane) boyfriend to get into a fight with a monster tag teaming with your girl. The katana is important because that will be his weapon of choice later in the story.
Third, I wasn't sure how to give Kira a big role, so saving Erica and achieving Super Dino Mode seems good enough for me.
Fourth….Ever since seeing the episode "It's a Mad Mad Mackerel" I wondered what the punishment chamber was, so that was my design for it.
Fifth and Last It important to see Trent and Mercers relationship because, we all know Mercer was cold in the beginning and then when Trent turned bad, Trent was able to dish it back out to Anton. So I wanted to show how their relationship was crumbling…..
I'll try to update another chapter next week :)