Oh...you're still here.
Well then. I reward your commitment with another chapter
"Well I guess the cat is out of the bag," Mondo chuckled.
Billy shook his head again, as if trying to focus, and brought his attention back to the rangers.
"Billy, snap out of it!" Jason called to him. "We're your friends!"
"Friends?" Billy scoffed at that. "No, I'm just a joke to you!"
"What are you talking about?" Tommy asked.
"You were all too happy to have me step aside and invite Tanya onto the team. Rocky, how you had no issues dropping red for blue. And how quickly did you think of Jason after I couldn't take the Gold Power?" Billy threw at him. "I'm the weakest link, aren't I? Always in the way? Adam, aren't you looking to push me out of the Power Chamber as well?"
"I was trying to help you," Adam protested. "You've been so tired and working so hard, I wanted to be of use…"
"Billy, you can't really believe all of that," Kat said quietly.
"It's right in front of my face. Why shouldn't I be able to see it?"
"Enough talk!" Rita's voice demanded. "Billy. Attack them!"
Billy put his helmet back on. "Yes, my Empress."
Tommy and Kat both winced, remembering their time under her control.
"What do we do?" Tanya asked. "We can't fight Billy."
"We're going to have to," Jason replied.
"Set up the Zeo blaster to stun," Tommy commanded.
"Won't that just reinforce what he thinks of us?"
"Looks more like you need reinforcements," Kim's voice came clear. They turned to see a light purple ranger, a lavender color, appearing behind them, with a shape in the helmet that matched Billy's Midnight suit.
"What's this?" Zedd demanded- turning to Rita.
Rita was uncertain. "Some kind of trick!" She cried. "Midnight Ranger! Attack them!"
Don't Kim willed her thoughts into Billy.
Billy hesitated.
No, he argued. You attack them from behind.
She felt an urge to listen, but only for a moment.
We will not hurt our friends.
Your friends, the thought was almost like a shot.
Our friends.
Kim thought back to what Polla said.
One cannot truly function without the other. They can bring each other up, to bring each other down. They could even revive each other.
It's just a matter of whose will was stronger.
Her will is pure.
His has been tampered.
She refused to believe that Billy actually felt this way towards their friends. Which means there must be, at his core, his true feelings.
"Ok, Billy. We'll do this the hard way."
She rushed forward towards him, and he started towards her.
She zipped to the side of him and linked her energy with his.
He found himself almost tied to her.
"What?" He swung at her, and she blocked it.
"Kim, you're too close," Adam warned her.
Kim and Billy were locked in a quick hand to hand.
"Now!" She called out, dropping herself down and willing him to freeze, trying to hold onto him.
The Power Rangers took advantage of this and stunned Billy.
He let out a pained cry as he demorphed and collapsed to the ground.
"NO!" Came Rita's shriek as the rangers rushed to Kim and Billy and teleported them all out of there.
"Consider this the end of our truce," Mondo said to Zedd.
At that moment the Cogs turned on the Tengas.
-PR-
"The rangers are returning, Zordon," Alpha informed him.
Suddenly there were multiple colors in the room.
The rangers all powered down. Billy lay,unconscious, on the ground, Kim kneeling by his side.
"Is he going to be alright?" She asked Alpha.
"We will need to run some tests before we know for sure," the little robot responded, honestly.
Kim stood up and felt a rush of dizziness wave over her.
"Kim!" Both Tommy and Jason called out, but it was Rocky who caught her as she swooned.
"Is it from the new power?" Tanya looked to Zordon.
Either that, or it is the connection she now shares with Billy. If one weakens, the other may find themself feeling the effects.
"We need to get them both in the med bay," Kat said.
The others agreed. Rocky pulled Kim completely up into his arms as Jason and Tommy went to Billy's side to lift him up.
Kat watched as they left the room.
"We got Billy back," Tanya reassured her.
Adam glanced over at them.
"Physically…" Kat reminded her. "Reversing the brainwashing is another challenge altogether."
"But we have him here physically to help him," Tanya pointed out.
"Tanya's right," Adam said to Kat. "He may not be 'our' Billy at the moment… but we'll get through to him. And it helps that Kim is linked to him."
Kat took his words into consideration and nodded.
-PR-
Kim looked around the dark room. Why was it so foggy here?
"Hello?" She called out, but stayed on her guard.
"Kim?" Billy's voice almost startled her. She didn't actually expect an answer. "Are you really here?"
She turned to see him down in the corner. She rushed over to him.
"Billy!"
"Shhh," he pulled her to him, almost protectively. "They'll hear you and come back."
"Who?" She looked around and then back to him, frowning at the bruises she now spied on him. "Who did this?" She raised a hand to his cheek.
"The others…Tommy, Jason… all of them," he said. "Something is wrong. I must have done something wrong. They turned on me."
"No… Billy…" she tried to reason with him. "It's a spell. This is your mind. It's all in your mind."
He looked at her trying to figure out if what she said was true.
"Isn't this touching," Kat's voice interrupted them.
They turned to see Kat, Tommy and Adam standing before them.
"Come on, Billy. Up for the next round? We need to train and you aren't good for anything else," Tommy practically spat.
Kim looked back at Billy.
"This isn't real," she repeated.
He looked from her to the shadows of the others.
"Then why does the pain feel so real?"
And then there was a bright light.
-PR-
Kim opened her eyes.
"You're awake!" Tommy stood and walked over to the slab that they had placed her on.
Kim sat up and looked around the room. Billy was on the slab next to her, in restraints. Tanya and Alpha were running some sort of test on him.
"How is he?" Kim asked.
"His vitals are normal, though his energy seems to be wavering," Alpha informed them.
Kim stood up.
"Woah," Tommy told her. "Careful, not too fast."
"I'm ok, Tommy," she reassured him. She walked over to Billy and placed her hand on the strap that held his left wrist. She looked at the others, the question reading on her face.
"He woke up briefly," Tanya told her quietly. "He tried to attack Alpha."
"He's still under the spell," Tommy commented sadly.
"It's more than that," Kim said. "I was in his mind, I think. They rewrote the narrative in his mind. He's trapped in a room in his mind and you guys are in there… hurting him…"
"So he sees us as enemies," Tommy realized the picture that was being painted. "This is similar to what Rita did to me. It's not straight hypnotism. It's a reinforced story."
"So how do we break it?" Tanya asked.
"I could be put back to sleep. I can try to help him see the truth." Kim looked down at Billy, whose eyes were tracking under his kids. "Alpha, can you do it?"
"It could be dangerous… having you in his mind…" Alpha said carefully.
"But I'm connected to his mind," Kim reminded him. "As long as we hold the Twilight and Midnight Crystals, we will be connected."
"That's true."
"Why don't we ask Zordon?" Tommy suggested.
"It's either that or I wait until I fall asleep again," Kim looked again at Billy, placing a hand to his cheek. "And with how he was when I left him, I don't want to wait."
-PR-
I believe we can induce you into a sleep so you can try to reach Billy, Zordon agreed with the plan.
Kimberly thought.
"Is there any way that the others can come with me?"
"Into Billy's mind?" Rocky asked.
"In his mind, you guys are attacking him. Hurting him," Kim informed them. "If you guys come to his rescue against these…evil versions of yourselves, he'll see that they are fake."
"Alpha? Is there a way?" Kat asked.
"There is a way we can induce a sleep and use sound waves to match you all on a frequency that can guide your unconscious minds to cross," Alpha answered.
"So we can?" Tommy gave a little smile.
"But do all of us go?" Adam asked. "This would be a terrible time for Angel Grove to be attacked…"
Mondo and Zedd are currently fighting with each other. This would be the best time to rescue Billy from Rita's brainwashing.
"So what are we waiting for?" Jason looked at his teammates.
"Let's go save Billy."
Hope you liked the chapter!
As always, comments are always welcome!
I am trying to figure out how to "end" this one and how I may continue this series.
