The waves lapped gently against the sandy shore in a languid, soothing rhythm. A breeze blew in from the sea, providing a welcome cooling effect to counteract the near-tropical temperature. Had Billy Cranston not known better, he might have assumed that this forty square yard landmass was a barren, deserted atoll in the Caribbean, rather than one of the few surface isles of equatorial Aquitar.
Further down the beach, hands crossed beneath his head as he lay near the water, was the person Billy had come here to see. He was a tall, extremely muscular young man with short, dark-brown hair, dressed in black shorts and a sleeveless black shirt. His shoes and socks were in a heap beside him and most of his visible skin had been bronzed by the sun, a healthy contrast to Adam and Kim's still striking pallor.
As he came to stand over the recumbent figure, Billy noticed Fred's eyes were closed.
"Fred? It's Billy. I'd like to talk with you."
"About what?" he asked, eyes still closed.
"About you joining the Light Rangers."
Now his eyes did flick open, and he abruptly raised himself to a sitting position.
"I'm not joining," he said shortly.
"Hear me out," Billy entreated.
"The war is over; the UAE is finished!"
"Fred, that's because you won the war for us!" Billy reminded him, trying to rein in his frustration.
Once they'd both recovered from . . . from the explosion and after they had gone to see what had happened, Fred had brought Billy to the control room and given him free run of it. Then he had put the information stored in his staff about the locations of each of the Alliance's leaders to incredible use! One by one he went to ambush them, taking them by surprise and then taking them captive. By the time Billy had contacted the GLL and the remaining Light Rangers had teleported to the scene, the entire enemy high command was being held prisoner at the Dark Fortress!
With the absolute authority each leader held over their respective contingent of forces, superseded only by the deceased Dark Specter's ultimate authority as head of the Alliance, the United Alliance of Evil's surrender in such circumstances was a foregone conclusion. The years long, galaxy-spanning struggle had ended not with a bang, but a whimper.
The weeks which had followed had seen a virtual supernova of activity within the Galactic League of Light as they prepared for the trials of the UAE heads, began initial reconstruction and resettlement of dozens of war-torn worlds, and, at Billy's insistence, opened diplomatic relations with and offered aid to Earth, all amid the frenzied, near-riotous celebrations of much of the populace.
Billy had wondered a couple of times if he should go back to Earth, to help reconstitute the United States national government or even push for a one-world government. He had admittedly played an important role in the founding of the GLL; maybe he could make a real difference on his birth world.
Or perhaps not. His GLL work had been intensely focused on alerting people to the imminent danger and uniting them against it. He had no such issue of equal urgency for Earth, and he knew his genius lay in the field of technology rather than politics.
Then, too, he had already made his choice of planets years ago, when he had fallen in love with his wife. Earth was important to him, of course, but it wasn't his home, not anymore.
"Which is why you don't need me," the teenager concluded, his legs pulled up to his chest as he sat in the sand. "Evil has been beaten."
"No, it hasn't," Billy countered firmly. That he could say with absolute, rock-solid certainty, and this truth was the final reason he was needed here instead of on Earth. "When I became a Ranger we were fighting Rita Repulsa. Then it was Lord Zedd. Then it was the Machine Empire. After I left the team took on Divatox, then Astronema and Dark Specter and the Psycho Rangers. It never ends, Fred! There will always be a new threat, and the Rangers have to be ready to meet it."
Fred slipped his sock and shoes back on, then rose to his feet, a couple of inches taller than Billy. "You have Rangers, five of them including you, all with the Great Power."
"It's not enough," Billy said bluntly. "I've studied Ranger history, maybe more than anyone ever has except for Zordon, and do you know one of the things I found out?" He didn't wait for a question, continuing without pause. "The Rangers were always, ALWAYS, at their best when there were six of them."
"Look if I could give these powers to someone else so you could have your sixth Ranger, I would! But I can't, can I?" the large, physically formidable eighteen year-old inquired aggressively.
"No, you can't," Billy agreed sadly. A full examination of the Gold Psycho Ranger, physical and psychological, had been demanded shortly after the surrender had been officially signed. Billy himself had been curious as to how close Fred was to undergoing the same power rejection which had affected Jason, a consequence of the Gold Ranger powers not being intended for humans.
What he'd found was that the Gold Psycho Ranger powers had been altered and twisted to such an extent that they had inextricably bonded to Fred Kelman. They could not be lost, removed or transferred by any known means, and killing him would in all likelihood cause the powers to dissipate and be lost. Like the other Psycho Ranger powers, the Gold powers were having marked physical effects on their host, but to an even more dramatic degree than had been the case with Adam. The Gold Psycho powers were increasing his amount of muscle mass, greatly strengthening Fred's immune system, and, Billy had evidence to suggest, even halting the aging process! Further study and additional tests would be required to confirm that last effect, so it was in any case a conversation for another time. If he was indeed right, though, then time was the one thing Fred had in abundance.
That still didn't mean he could afford to waste any of it sitting around when the Rangers, the galaxy, needed him.
"So put the powers you have to use! Help us defend the galaxy."
"Is that what the rest of team wants? Are they eager to have the murderer of their friends join?" he inquired with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
That shot hit home, and Billy winced at the unpleasant truth. Reaction to the Gold Psycho Ranger joining their ranks had been mixed, to put it generously. Still, he trusted his Rangers to do the right thing.
"Tommy killed people too, when he first became the Green Ranger," Billy explained, a slight quaver in his voice. His killing of his old friend when there had been no real need was something he needed to deal with on his own time, not on Ranger time. "We didn't blame him because it wasn't his choice; what you do when you're mind-controlled is not your fault and Rangers know that. I'm not saying this will be easy, for anyone, but it will work. We trust you."
"Maybe you shouldn't!" Fred snapped before turning and walking a few angry strides down the beach.
The general reports Billy had gotten from Fred's Mind Healer, Skerranis, had indicated that he was doing well coping with the psychic trauma of the things he'd done. Undoubtedly his youth, resilience and the relatively brief amount of time he'd been part of the UAE contributed to that, as did his action of repentance and atonement in personally bringing to justice the remaining heads of the Alliance. To hear him warning them about not trusting him thus came as something of a shock to Billy.
"Fred, after I deactivated your neural net you could have killed me and stayed with the United Alliance of Evil if you wanted. Instead you saved the galaxy! Why shouldn't we trust you?" the genius asked in genuine bewilderment.
For long moments there was no reply, Fred continuing to face defiantly away from his interrogator. Then, at last, he spoke, so softly Billy almost missed it.
"Because of how I feel."
He turned back to Billy, tears in his eyes. "I've listened to Skerranis, I know I'm not responsible for what I did under the neural net. Or at least I try to believe that," he amended. "But what about now? The net is down, my mind is my own again, and you know what I feel most of all?" Like Billy had, he gave no time to answer the question. "I miss Justin. He killed Karen, he killed T.J., hell, he killed everyone in my resistance cell and raped my damn mind! And yet part of me still misses him!"
The admission affected Billy deeply, as it went straight to his own feelings. From the moment of the explosion on the Dark Fortress, a terrible suspicion had risen up in his mind, one which had proven justified when he examined the items left in the cargo hold of the GLL ship they'd used as a staging point.
In one of the boxes, wrapped in a familiar blue shirt, was a data pad with a brief final message.
Rangers-I'm going with Billy to try to free the last two Psycho Rangers. If you're reading this, then I didn't make it back. Maybe I fell in battle, but it could also have been because I've rigged my power supply to blow if I manually trigger the bomb. I know it's not just my job to stop Justin, but we were exactly the same when I was first created and I owe it to him to do what he'd want. He'd do the same for me, if our situations were reversed; no one knows that better than I do. When they put the neural net on him, though, they locked away the best part of Justin, the one that cared about helping others. I don't think he'll be able to anticipate that I'd do this, not the way he is now.
I want you to know that you guys are my family, and I love you all. I hate inflicting another loss on you, and I hope you'll understand and forgive me.
Justin
"I get that, Fred," Billy offered gently. "Even with his neural net on, Justin was someone special. I miss him too."
"No, you miss the android Justin, the one who never did anything wrong, who sacrificed himself for the greater good! I can understand that, but I never knew that Justin."
"They were both Justin. If you knew one, you knew the other."
Fred shook his head, maybe in disagreement, maybe in simple weariness. "I was never supposed to be a Ranger, Billy. Don't ask me to be one now."
"Fred, what I said about that on the Dark Fortress wasn't true. After you saved the parents of Angel Grove from Ivan Ooze you were on our list for future Rangers and everyone approved it, including Zordon. You were a hero even without powers, and you were always supposed to be one of us."
Billy thought that might have been enough, given the uncertainty on Fred's face, but in the end all he said was, "I'll think about it."
"Thank you," Billy told him, reluctantly conceding defeat, at least for now. He wasn't going to give up; every reason he'd given Fred remained valid, and eventually the younger man would see that. For now, though, he'd said all he could.
He brought his communicator up, ready to teleport back to the Rangers' HQ, but before he could say the words a message for him came over the comm.
"This is Admiral Telan. We have received reports of alien mercenaries, believed to be from the M51 galaxy, attacking Cestus, a world at the western edge of GLL territory. Can the Rangers respond?"
He knew it, he KNEW IT! It had come much sooner than he'd hoped, but he knew the next great threat would emerge in time. And Master Vile was possibly the worst one yet. The mighty sorcerer ruled the entire M-51 galaxy with an iron fist, and had all of its people and resources behind him. The sole time in the past he had briefly directed his attentions toward Earth, he had in short order reduced the Rangers to powerless children, destroyed the Command Center, and very nearly annihilated the entire planet!
"The Rangers are on their way," Billy reported. He hesitated, then continued. "Admiral, I'm afraid these might be only the first pawns in Master Vile's game. We're holding his daughter and son-in-law prisoner; I think he's coming for them."
"Understood," the Admiral replied. "I look forward to your after action report. Telan out."
Once Billy went to teleport, but this time what felt like a steel clamp closed around his wrist.
"Wait," Fred commanded. He swallowed and took a deep breath before releasing his punishingly powerful grip on Billy's now-aching arm. "I'll go with you."
Billy smiled in spite of the pain as the two teleported to the Light Rangers headquarters.
The End
Notes: Now we've come at last to the conclusion of this tale. I hope you liked the ending, but I hope even more that you enjoyed the ride. Until next time!