Chapter Twenty-one

Jason's Battle

1994

As Jason wove his way through the halls, followed by the growing mob of students, teachers, and various other school personnel sundry, he began to find he did, indeed, have a temper. A rather dangerous one, too. Full of anger, annoyance, no self-control, and an actual imaginary friend named Sven he'd thought up when he was seven.

This is stupid. Why am I doing this? To gain my dignity back? Jason snarled audibly as he passed a group of people, which happened to include Trini. Confusion registered on her face as the whole group simply joined the throng that was closing in on the Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. Tommy and Kimberly were trying to fight their way through the crowd, Tommy grimacing at the presence of so many Ranger-adoring girls in a single group, reminding himself over and over that as long as he didn't morph no one would jump him.

"Red Ranger! RED RANGER! Will you sign this for me?"

"Red! Red! RED!"

"Take your helmet off!"

"Yeah, take it off! What do you look like?"

"Take it ALL off!"

"Kiss me!"

"No, kiss ME!"

"What's the name of the White Ranger?"

"IMPOSTER!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

As random girls (some Jason recognized, some he didn't) began crowding him and pawing at him, he was feeling decidedly claustrophobic. He pressed on, hoping to step into a few more classrooms before they trampled him, but they kept getting closer, reaching out over and over again; no matter how many times he smacked a hand away, another took its place. It wasn't until he felt fingernails biting through his power suit that he quite suddenly panicked and ran. The chatter of his tagalongs rose to a dull roar, the noise pounding through his head.

Pausing a moment at the first commons he encountered, Jason leapt onto a table, if for no other reason than to gain a better vantage point of the mob and escape a few of the more uncomfortably-placed groping fingers; the table was surrounded in seconds. He took a moment to scan the crowd for Billy.

Trini was at the back of the crowd with Tommy and Kimberly, attempting to fight their way through, but not even well-placed knees and elbows will deter frenzied fans once they've become a mob, especially mobs the teenage girl variety. Tommy wasn't trying very hard, anyway; after a moment he yelped and backed away, slouching in the corner with a glazed look in his eye. Kimberly bit her lip, looking from him to Jason, torn about who to go after; after a long moment she sighed.

"TOMMY!" she called, heading over to him.

"Through the park… through the mall… through downtown…"

"Tommy!" she snapped in exasperation, trying to smack at his cheeks as he rocked back and forth and moaned. "Get over it, will you?"

Billy, meanwhile, was in the back of the crowd with Zack, was telling anyone who would listen, "See? It's not me! I'm here and he's up there so I can't be the Red Ranger, see? I'm not a Power Ranger! Especially not the Red one!" while Zack nodded next to him and tried not to laugh.

Jason's gaze locked on Billy and Zack. Zack and Billy. Billy the hallucinating catalyst, Zack the big mouth, the two responsible for the last two weeks of horrid annoyances for everyone. The delusional Red Ranger. All the work hammering out dents in the zords. The truth about Jason and Trini's relationship. Zack wouldn't stop laughing. Zack was always laughing. Zack thought it was funny. Zack thought it was smart to tell reporters Jason was delusional. Zack and Billy. Billy and Zack. Billy had been walking around for two weeks signing autographs in red ink and talking to fans, Jason's fans, answering questions about how he knew the other Rangers and was he really crazy and what was it like to lead the team. Billy and Zack. Zack and Billy. Meanwhile, Zack had been laughing, making dumb jokes, trying to tell Jason to just go with the flow and be thankful that no one suspected that Jason was the actual Red Ranger.

Jason stared at them, his vision starting to blur with fury. And then, at the worst possible second, Zack started laughing.

Tolerance completely snapped, Jason drew his Blade Blaster, pointed it at the ceiling, and fired.

That got everyone's attention; a few even ducked and screamed. Jason swept his gaze over all of his friends. Kimberly cringed, looking nervous, while Tommy stared unseeingly into nothingness, adding a pang of guilt onto Jason's anger. Trini's eyes widened and she suddenly ran off; this caused Kimberly to panic, and she seized Tommy by the arm and attempted to drag him out of the room, figuring that if Trini was making a break for it now was the time to leave. Billy and Zack simply stared blankly forward, covered in dust and bits of ceiling tile—Jason had "accidentally" blasted a hole right over their heads—but thankfully, Zack was no longer laughing.

Holding his Blade Blaster in both hands now, Jason addressed the crowd calmly. "Everyone see this deadly-weapon-shaped thing I have? It's called a Blade Blaster. Watch what it does to that trash can!" Aiming, he fired at the innocent trash can (which suddenly had a very large people-free space around it). It blew backwards, a good third of the side fired-on completely gone, the rest badly charred. Trash rained down like soot. Everyone gaped in disbelief as the remnants of the trash can and its contents appeared to be slowly melting and fusing together.

"See, this little baby has helped me and my fellow Rangers down a monster or two. It's powerful. Really powerful. Power Ranger powerful." Shakily, he pointed randomly into the crowd, watching as most ducked in terror, while others simply stared in awe. "Now," Jason's voice became tight and somewhat frantic, "I would appreciate it if you just left me alone."

Everyone appeared to think about this for a second. They looked from him, to the mutilated trash can, and back.

"Are you single?"

"If you're not Billy Craigstein, who are you?"

"Are you really crazy?"

"Are the other Rangers single?"

"Can I have the White Ranger's phone number?"

Jason stared at the last person to speak, amazed that they could still badger him after such an obvious display of power… but before he could puzzle it out, whatever part of him, if any, that hadn't snapped already totally shattered.

She wanted the White Ranger's number. The White Ranger. Jason was the Red Ranger. Jason had led the team up until a couple months ago. Jason looked just as good in a suit as the White Ranger. Jason fought just as well. Better, even. He just didn't have a nifty talking sword with lots of cool powers. He was still way cooler than the White Ranger. He was always picking up the slack when Tommy was late or forgot to do something, which was often. Jason was the coolest. What did she want with the White Ranger's number?

"Leave the White Ranger alone!" Jason snarled. "He's perfectly happy with the Pink Ranger! They've been together for, um, a good while now and they're happy and they're not breaking up so get over the delusion that you'll one day marry a Power Ranger! He's with the Pink Ranger! And I'm not jealous, because after all I have Yellow! So we're not single! None of us! Except for Blue and Black, but you wouldn't want to date either one of them, because after all the Black Ranger is a player and no one can understand a word Blue says and anyway I'm better-looking than both of them! Combined! Now are you gonna leave me alone? Huh? Or would anyone like to see another demonstration? How many of you do you think I can take? I can jump higher, run faster and kick harder than any of you! HOW MANY DO YOU THINK I CAN TAKE? ALL OF YOU! ALL OF YOU STUPID MORTALS!"

Through the haze of red ironically clouding his vision, a blur of yellow seeped in. His eyes cleared just enough to focus on Trini, who was politely pushing her way through the crowd to get to him, muttering "Excuse me," as people gaped at her in awe. She had morphed also, and those she touched to push aside, especially the guys, clutched at the spot on their bodies where her hand touched, awed. Reaching the front of the line, she hopped up on the table and gave him the best glare she could while wearing a helmet.

For a moment, they both attempted to stare each other down. Jason was so happy to be getting his frustrations out that he didn't want to let go of the rage, but Trini had always had a calming influence on him. Trini reached up and gently touched Jason's helmet, fingertips grazing the tinted visor. People began whispering to each other when the Red Ranger seemed to deflate and returned the gesture with his free hand.

"Put the blaster away," Trini said in a soothing, talking-to-lunatics voice. "We help and serve these people, remember? We don't shoot them. We help them. No shooting. Or kicking. Or punching. Come on, put it down…"

Jason jerked back, appearing to shiver for a moment, then waved his blaster threateningly at everyone one last time, jammed it back into his holster, hopped off the table and wandered away.

Turning to the crowd, Trini cleared her throat. "He's really sorry. Red's a real great guy… just… um…" Letting out a gusty sigh, Trini went ahead and said the only thing she could think of. "He's just… he's not well."

With that, Trini whirled around and chased after the angry, weapon-toting Red Ranger.

Present day

More laughter filled the Youth Center than oxygen; the younger Rangers and Ernie were practically in fits and even Jason and Billy had to smile. This was very common with most of the not-so-nifty Ranger moments; the ones who hadn't enjoyed it shuddered a bit when it was first brought up, only to look back on it and laugh once the rest of the gang started the almost-always humorous retelling. Hayley had been a wonderful audience for getting over their past annoyances over the years, as had members of other Ranger teams who sought them out (they laughed the hardest, because, of course, they could relate).

"Oh, that was great," Kira gasped.

"Definitely," Conner agreed. "Did they stop bothering you and Billy after that, Jason?"

"No," Jason said with a heavy sigh. "After that, things got worse."

"And this is how," Kimberly said, grinning and holding up one of Ernie's papers. "The next day, the Angel Grove Sentinel printed an anonymous letter to the editor. Remember this, guys?"

"Oh, yeah!" Zack exclaimed, snatching it from her and beginning to read it aloud. "'While I am forced to admit that Billy Cranston as a logical candidate for a Power Ranger is now questionable, I am shocked to see that the Sentinel hasn't done a better job of connecting the dots between Cranston and Red. You see, I was in the crowd the day of the Power Ranger parade. I heard the Rangers speaking. None of them sounded a day over eighteen. Judging by their voices alone, I'd put them mid-twenties at the latest. However, after the appearance of the Red Ranger at Angel Grove High, I am convinced that he is a high school student. It was obvious that he was there to prove he was not, in fact, Billy Cranston… but why prove that? Why hasn't he tried to disprove all the other candidates for Red Ranger named by Angel Grove's various media sources? Why did he start with Cranston, and why hasn't he been seen since? My only guess is that Cranston asked him to do it, which means that Cranston either knows the Rangers, is one of the other colors, or is actually the Red Ranger himself and asked one of the other Rangers to fill in as the Red Ranger to protect his identity.'"

"See, this is what happens when you get involved with the media," Tommy said to the four laughing teens.

"It doesn't sound that bad," Conner said.

"It gets worse," Billy said dryly.

"Trust me, guys," Tommy said, "learn from others' mistakes, so you don't have to make them yourself."

"Anyway," Zack said, and continued. "'Cranston is hailed as the smartest student to ever hit Angel Grove High, which would add to the conclusion that he planned Red Ranger's visit. Besides, whoever was in that suit, they have to be a student or faculty member at Angel Grove High, as that young lady who spotted him first says he emerged from the janitor's closet and the high school's security reports no visitors to the school that afternoon.'"

"Ouch," Ethan said sympathetically.

"I had to go visit every other person they suggested of being a candidate for Red Ranger," Jason moaned. "All twenty-nine of them. They just kept adding to the list. It wouldn't end! I mean, I single-handedly took out the Channel Six News building. I thought that would be the end of it. But no. The Sentinel, Channel Two, Channel Eight, the high school paper…"

"You took out a news building?" Trent asked incredulously.

"Did I say that? I meant I accidentally knocked a monster into it with my Dragonzord. I didn't mean to—"

"Uh-huh," Tommy said dryly. "You're lucky no one got hurt."

"Everyone got really good at evacuating long before then," Zack said fairly.

"So… how did you get it to stop?" Conner asked. "Did you get it to stop?"

"Eventually. About a month and a half after the zord wreck," Jason said.

"How?" Kira asked eagerly.

Jason hesitated. "Well… the Sentinel was the most persistent, you see…"

"Interviewed every friend Billy had," Kimberly grumbled. "I was so terrified. I mean, me and Trini were pretty much his only close female friends at the time, and me always wearing pink… they interviewed us before Jason blasted that hole in the cafeteria roof, and that was nerve-wracking but fine… but afterwards…"

"It was all about 'are you a Ranger' using sneaky reporter tricks," Trini said. "I told them I dabbled in martial arts and the next thing I know it's three hours later and I'm still talking to the guy."

"There were a lot more reporters around our battlefields, too," Tommy said, jerking his head at the picture of him and Kimberly hugging in morph.

"Until Jason 'accidentally' almost stepped on a news crew from Channel Four with his zord," Zack said with a laugh.

"I was never so happy to be in that zord as when we fixed it and I could scare a couple reporters," Jason said with relish.

"But how did you get them all to back off?" Ethan pressed.

"Well," Tommy said slowly, "Jason's breakdown wasn't quite over yet…"

1994

"Hey," Jason called, hurrying over to Trini during the break before last period. "Where were you all day?"

Trini sighed. "Another reporter."

"Again?" Jason made a face. "Aren't we old news by now?"

"Apparently not. I think the school is milking it for the publicity."

Jason slid his arm around her shoulders and pecked her cheek. "What did you tell them?"

"Nothing. They latched onto the fact that I take martial arts, but I handled it well. I think." Trini sighed and gently pushed him away. "I've got to get to class. I was so busy re-checking the zords' computer systems last night with Billy that I didn't get to finish my homework. Between that and the interviews, I'm way behind."

Jason watched Trini walk away, anger burning within him. They were all very tired. Their schoolwork, family obligations, martial arts classes, extracurricular activities, and so on were enough on their own, and Zedd had been sending down a lot more monsters, apparently pissed off about their blatant disregard for tradition in that battle with the foul-smelling Viking pig. Jason and Trini's relationship was definitely suffering from the lack of time; not only did they have their respective duties, but Trini was still working out a few kinks in the now-repaired zords with Billy while Jason was taking time to visit every last possible Red Ranger named by the news. (There were far too many crazy people who knew how to fight in Angel Grove.) Not only that, but it seemed like every time they got together, someone interrupted them; the others had taken a special interest in "spying on the lovebirds," especially since Jason and Trini hadn't quite been able to finally admit that they were together, though the others now had very little doubt.

"Hey, Jase!" called Zack, walking up to him with Kimberly and Tommy. "What's going on?"

Jason's eyes narrowed as he took in Tommy and Kimberly's joined hands. They weren't having issues. They didn't have to fix computers or visit insane martial artists. They were having a grand old time making out like they were during the last battle when Jason had to cover for Tommy yet again and Trini, Zack and Billy had been forced to pilot the Assault Team without Kimberly. Yes, Tommy and Kimberly were happy, and Zack was probably laughing on the inside, and meanwhile Jason's girlfriend wasn't in the only three classes she had with him because she was off insisting that he wasn't a Power Ranger to some evil reporter.

"It has to end," Jason growled at them all, and stalked off.

Tommy, Kimberly and Zack looked at each other. "Um… that can't be good," Zack quipped.

"I'll see if I can catch him," Tommy said.

"I'll try and steal his morpher like last time," Zack added.

"I'll go get Trini," Kimberly said quickly. They had become far too used to these sorts of moments with Jason in the past few weeks.

"Ah, life as a Ranger," Zack joked, and they split up and ran off.

End Notes: "Jason's Battle" is also a subtitle from one of the "Green with Evil" episodes. Next chapter up soon!