Whole
By Jeannine Trevizo
Chapter 4: On the Down Low
“That’s us,” breathed Kim
in stunned disbelief, looking at the older versions of herself and Tommy along
with the infant they held.
“Kim? Tommy?” Jason queried as he moved towards his
friends, just as Tommy held the picture aloft for Jason to take from his
nerveless hand.
Jason took the faded
picture sealed in heavy plastic and stared at it. Indeed, it looked like Kim
and Tommy with a baby cradled between them. They were at least ten years older
then they were now, but the situation was obvious. It was only moments before
Aisha was reaching for the picture, and then passed it to Zack and Adam to view
as well.
“Married?” Tommy
murmured, his eyes flicking meaningfully to Kim.
“The Oliver line has been
around for centuries. Even when there wasn’t a male born in a generation, the
girls in the family always kept the name.”
“What about the others? I
mean the rest of us rangers,” asked Adam as he handed the picture back to
James.
“A few names survived for
a while. I can’t remember them though. There have been so many rangers and team
since the beginning,” James explained, sighing as he replaced the photo in the
box.
“So you’re a descendent
of rangers. Is that why you’re with the Center?” asked Tommy.
“For me, yes. For others,
it is because they feel that the government has oppressed the populace since
the destruction of the rangers. Not only do we fight to free the people of the
tyranny here, but we want to restore the world as it was. There are those that
fight, and there are those like me that are too old to
fight – we keep the history of the rangers.”
“So, you know why rangers
are outlawed then?” asked Jason anxiously.
“Yes,” James said with a
sigh. “It was a dark time. People, cities, whole countries died. Rangers died.
The world was on the brink of destruction.”
“But how did we, I mean
rangers in general become wanted criminals?” asked Adam thoughtfully.
“Because
the rangers tried to save everyone.”
“Huh?” nearly all the
team said in unison.
“The planet was under
global attack. Fiercer than anything the rangers had been up against before.
The world governments were afraid, having lost so many people; deployed troops
and weapons with little effect. The rangers came to them, pleading with them to
hang back – let them try and save the Earth before they did anything foolish…”
James recalled with sadness.
“What were they going to
do?” questioned Aisha.
“They wanted to fire the
nuclear arsenal into space, where they thought the attacking ships were
located.”
“Oh God,” whispered Kim,
her eyes widening.
“They were going to start
a nuclear war?” Zack queried, stunned by the thought of such a violent action.
James shrugged. “They
were frightened. Nothing they or the rangers had done had stopped the alien
attacks. The world leaders thought the only way to destroy them was to use the
‘big guns’, so to speak. And the missiles were being aimed into space, not at
the Earth’s population.”
“Did they fire the
missiles?” asked Jason.
“No.”
“The rangers convinced
them not to?” Tommy questioned immediately, worried that this was what sent the
rangers into exile – trying to not escalate the conflict, like Zordon had taught them.
“Not exactly,” signed
James. He looked at the young faces surrounding him, visions of his ancestors
and their friends; the original rangers reborn.
The team all looked at
him expectantly. Whatever happened, it had caused what was going on now, and
without understanding it, there was no way to understand who they were
fighting.
“The rangers asked for
one last offensive against the invading army. And they did well. But they lost
half the team in the battle. And they didn’t kill the leader.”
“Who was the leader?”
Adam asked, curious.
“You should remember him,
I think. He’s called Lord Zedd.”
There was stunned silence
in the room, save for Kim and Aisha’s gasps. Kim’s eyes swung to Tommy, as did
Adam and Aisha’s; Those of the team who had memories
of Zedd and his brutal mental and physical attacks on
Tommy. If he had come back, looking to eliminate Earth and the rangers, due to
the original team’s continued defiance of him, then
their previous selves were responsible…
“Zedd
caused this,” said Tommy darkly, feelings and images rushing up from his
previous self’s memories.
“Yes. He offered the
world leaders a deal; the execution and banning of rangers on Earth for the
ability to save the planet. He would be allowed to call the planet his, be
given tribute and the like, but Earth would be spared destruction. They
agreed.”
“Our own governments…”
whispered Aisha, aghast that the rangers could have been sold out like that by
the people they were trying so hard to save and protect.
“The old world ended, and
a new Global Government was created. There are regional leaders for the six
parts of the world that meet and manage everything. And this Global Council reports
to Zedd,” James explained sadly.
“And they’re the ones who
murdered the original rangers who tried to help them,” growled Tommy, as he got
up angrily and paced the room. Jason was nearly there with him, but instead sat
and watched as Kimberly got up and laid a hand on Tommy’s arm, causing him to
look at her, and his anger seemed to seep out of him.
“They are. They destroyed
the rangers and everything to do with the power rangers’ legacy here on Earth.”
“So Angel Grove…”
stammered Zack, realizing that the home he and the others remembered was the
original home of the rangers on Earth.
“Isn’t really there
anymore,” James replied, sending a wave of despair through the group. “Sure,
there are shells of homes and buildings, but… they burned the place to the ground.”
“But the command center…”
Jason asked, sure that Zordon’s haven for them
couldn’t be gone…
“Is
still there, yes. That’s where
you all came from, obviously.”
“The DNA we were copied
from you mean,” Aisha stated matter of factly.
“Yes, but within you is
your original selves - the first rangers. And because of who
you are, who you were, you can return to the
Another round of stunned
silence filled the room. Sarah and Samuel had said they would get weapons,
training and support from the others with the Center. But they’d never
suggested that they could get their powers back.
“How?” breathed Tommy,
shocked by this new turn of events.
“There should be back up morphers in the depths of the
“But we haven’t either,”
complained Kim.
“You have – your DNA
comes from when you held the power, so it’s changed to show you held it. So any
chamber in the
“Wow,” murmured Aisha,
looking to Adam, and then the others. “We really can be power rangers? With all the weapons and everything?”
“Yes. But you need to get
to Angel Grove, which may not be that simple. There’s an old jeep in back I’ve
used for general tasks that you can use to get there. However, I suggest you
sleep here tonight and leave in the morning.”
“Are you sure? We’re
being hunted… us being here could put you in danger,”
Adam commented, quite concerned.
“Which is what Oliver’s
deal with best,” James said, giving a little grin at Tommy. “It’s as safe as
anywhere, and they’ll take a while getting her and finding the place. For now
though, a good night’s sleep is what we all need. In the morning, I’ll give you
directions to Angel Grove, so you can get on your way to helping us all.”
With that, the discussion
seemed settled, and James slowly stood to help settle everyone in for the
night.
-x-
Black armored vehicles
rolled through the deserted interstate as Captain Laurence Dell of the Global
Black Force and his men proceeded towards their quarry. After some severe
beating, that smuggler Dre had given up that he’d
taken six teens to downtown
Once in
He had a job to do, and
these teens, whomever they were, really were a threat.
Which he was well suited to dealing with.
The convoy passed a sign
declaring
-x-
The group had taken up
whatever space James had; the house wasn’t big, so the girls were sharing the
one spare bedroom, while the guys were sharing couches and floor space in the
living room. Adam and Zack had crashed on the couches while Tommy and Jason stood
watch. Tommy peered out the front window, Jason at his elbow.
“It was a lot to take in,
huh?” asked Jason quietly as he looked past his old/new best friend out the
window at the quiet street.
“To say the least,” Tommy
replied softly. “I’m still reeling with the idea that the power is still out
there for us to tap into. Sarah and Samuel must not have know
about it.”
“I wasn’t actually
referring to the powers,” Jason commented pointedly, as Tommy’s head swiveled
to pin his friend with a questioning glare.
“Jase…”
“So, you and Kim were
married,” said Jason with a smile.
“You mean our previous
selves were married. I have to admit, I was just as surprised as all of you.”
“Surprised? Really? I mean, it wasn’t so shocking to me. Everyone knows
how they felt about each other. All of us have some kinds of memories how they
were together. And watching you both now, it’s not surprising at all…”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re with her here,
now, aren’t you? I saw the way you were when we woke up at the house before we
came down here. It was like… you changed overnight. You were more relaxed, more
confident. And you barely let her three feet away from you,” Jason pointed out.
Tommy averted his gaze
back outside. Things with Kim had just started to gel, and with the revelation
that their other selves had been married, it had made him doubt what he, they
were doing for a bit. But the way he had felt himself calm under Kim’s hand
earlier… he couldn’t deny Jason’s observations that he and Kim seemed made for
one another.
“I wasn’t aware anyone
noticed…”
“Please,” Jason nearly
laughed. Zack, Adam and I have been talking about how you could just see the
tension between you two. And this morning – poof, it was gone, replaced by a
look or a gesture that screamed you two had resolved your issues.”
“Everyone knows?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised
if Kim and Aisha were gossiping on how well you kiss right now.”
“We only kissed twice!”
Tommy started to sputter, then saw that Jason hadn’t known about the kissing
the previous evening, and his eyes widened.
“You have kissed her! I
thought so. How was it?” Jason asked smugly.
“None
of your business. Now why don’t
you do something useful like get some sleep or organize the food and water or
something,” Tommy nearly growled, much to Jason’s amusement.
“Yes sir, leader, sir,”
he laughed and turned to the kitchen, leaving Tommy alone with his thoughts,
which bounced between his worry at finding and getting their powers… back, sort
of, to how much he wanted to be the one in the bedroom with Kimberly, with her
body pressed up against his as they slept.
It was not going to be
easy… either one of his dilemmas.
-x-
In the
darkened Global Government Council chamber, the balding, tan man who led the
Council moved to the platform installed at the far corner of the room. It was
their link to he that held them hostage and let them rule. He watched as the
space before him fogged and moved, an image starting to form in front of him
like so much moving pictures projected on mist.
“My lord,”
stated the head of the Global Government Council as he knelt before the
shimmering hologram image of the alien overlord whom he and his colleagues
gained their power from.
“You have
rouge power rangers on the loose,” intoned the voice, ringing through the
chamber, a silver covered finger stabbing towards him from high above.
“We… are
uncertain of their identities my lord. However the Global Black Force is
hunting them as we speak. If they truly are rangers, they will be destroyed.”
“If they
are not, you know the consequences.”
The elder, balding man
nodded and the image dissipated. Captain Dell had to find and destroy the
rangers. If he didn’t, the pact would be forfeit, and they would have only two
options: death, or hope that the power rangers really were the salvation that
the Center believed them to be.
-End ch
4-
Hey, a new chapter! I’m
feeling a bit better about this story now and where it’s going. Hopefully
that’s reflected in the writing and the nearly back to back updates. I just
want to note that in this universe, the