Whole New World

By Jeannine Trevizo

Chapter 5: Once and Future Rangers

As soon as the sun was just coming up, Tommy was dressed and moving, walking through the living room and waking everyone.

“Rise and shine. Everyone has ten minutes to get ready,” he said as Jason, Adam and Zack threw off blankets and sleeping bags to look up at Tommy’s rapidly moving form.

“What time is it?” complained Zack as he ran his hands over his face in his attempt to wake up.

“Early. Now get moving.”

“Tommy, what’s up? Why the rush?” Adam asked as he stood and threw on his blue shirt.

“I’ve just got a bad feeling, and I want to get on the road as soon as possible. Jase, go get Kim and Aisha. Zack, you and Adam get our rations from the fridge. I’ll get our directions from James and we can go.”

With that, Jason headed through the house to the bedroom Kim and Aisha were sharing and knocked on the door.

“Wait a minute,” came Aisha’s growl from the other side of the door, before she opened it slightly and poked her head out. “What?”

“We’re heading out. You and Kim need to be ready in ten.”

“Frack!” Kim swore, using the expletive she’d head Sarah use nearly daily the first few weeks they’d been ‘back’, living in the warehouse.

“Get moving. Tommy’s already got us on the clock.”

With that, Aisha shut the door as the two girls hurried to get ready while the guys did the same in the living room. People made quick runs to the bathroom while others got the supplies ready to go.

At the other bedroom, Tommy was waking James. The older man opened the door and saw the look of determination of Tommy’s face. He gave a small grin. This young man was so like the stories he’d heard.

“James, I need those directions.”

“So soon?” asked the old man, his dark eyes watching his recreated ancestor, removed from time.

“We’ve been here too long. We got a ride to downtown. If they track us that far…” Tommy explained and James nodded.

“Understood. Take the jeep back to the highway and go about 5 miles south, then cross West for another 40. The signs for Angel Grove are long gone from the freeway, but take the Riverside exit. Once you go that way, it’s another 30 miles, and you can find it near Stone Valley. On the main streets, go South until you see the demarcation of building damage, and the city limits shouldn’t be far from there then. You know where the Command Center is, yes?”

“I think it’ll come back once we’re in Angel Grove. Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, you just get moving. May the power protect you.”

Tommy started for a moment at James’ words, but then simply inclined his head and turned to join the others. James watched, somewhat sad yet proud as the young future rangers hurriedly gathered together and headed to the door, Jason with the car keys in hand. Tommy briefly stopped to talk with Adam, who had located an old map, which had local cities listed, even though it didn’t show Angel Grove.

Once outside, the team had piled in the jeep, sitting as best they could in the vehicle. Jason had taken the driver’s seat as Aisha, Adam and Zack piled in the back. With no more room left, Tommy and Kim had taken the passenger seat, with Kim sitting on Tommy’s lap. Adam looked at the map, having gotten the directions from Tommy and gave Jason their first route – South to the freeway.

With a quick motion, Jason turned over the engine and jammed the gas, backing the jeep up and heading to the open road at a brisk clip. Tommy’s need to get moving had pushed him to want to put as many miles between them and Bakersfield as fast as possible. They were on the freeway, leaving James’ home far in the distance before very long.

They never knew that barely five minutes later the Black Global Force vehicles turned the corner to Valencia Street, and began their door to door hunt for the fugitive rangers.

-x-

The team had been driving for what felt hours. Freeways had turned to city streets, to lead them to what was somewhat familiar roads for most of them, and home for two of them.

“Stone Valley,” murmured Aisha, looking to Adam and he nodded, noting the city limits sign.

Of everyone in the group, only the two of them had memories of Stone Valley. They knew that being here meant they were nearby Angel Grove where they and their friend and red ranger Rocky had lived. During the weeks in the warehouse, they had all tried to compare notes, see which of them remembered certain people, events and the like. Billy, Trini and Rocky all were names they recognized, although for Adam and Aisha, the memories of Rocky were well established compared to Trini and Billy, and vice versa for the others. As well, there were events that didn’t match with them all. Zack and Jason had their memories stop at the time right before they were to leave for the Peace Conference. Kim’s memories stopped before she was to leave for Florida and the Pan Global Games. While Tommy, Aisha and Adam’s recollections stopped at some undetermined point shortly after Kim’s memories stopped.

They hypothesized with Samuel and Sarah that whenever the DNA sample that had created them was taken was where their memories stopped.

Jason drove through the streets of Stone Valley, coming closer to the city limits of where Angel Grove would be. When they reached it, they were all taken aback. The sign for Angel Grove’s city limits was painted over in black. And on the other side of the sign, what buildings were still standing were merely remains.

As the group drove down the old streets, the shell of the city barely there, they couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the residents here. James hadn’t elaborated and none of them had thought to ask, but when he’d said that the Global Government had destroyed Angel Grove because the rangers had lived there, none of them were prepared for this.

They continued through the streets, passing the skeleton of the high school, juice bar, park… all in ruins or nearly unrecognizable. The feeling of disconnect was strong in all of them. Their memories told them what they should be seeing, and the reality was so different, it felt as if they were on alien soil instead of home. Jason turned off the main roads through the city to head for the surrounding rural area to the desert where the Command Center would have stood in the crevices of the mountains bordering the town.

When they finally reached their destination, Jason parked the truck at the bottom of the mountains. Staring up, they all seemed to know where they needed to go – up. It meant a long climb ahead, but there was no other way of getting to their destination except on foot.

“How many times did we have to walk there?” Kim asked sullenly as she let Tommy help her out of the jeep and off his lap.

“Not that many. But enough to remember the way,” Tommy remarked, laying a hand on her shoulder and getting her megawatt smile in return.

Grabbing the water and food, Zack passed it around so everyone could eat and drink before they tackled the rocky mountain. It seemed more hazardous than before. More debris and large crevices in the mountain face littered the mountain side. One wrong move climbing the hill could be a potentially fatal mistake. With that in mind, they teamed up, Adam with Aisha, Jason with Zack and Tommy with Kim as they half walked half climbed the mountain.

The sun was high overhead by the time they reached the top.

“That’s the corner of one of the supports,” said Jason, pointing to a jutting post. Moving closer, they realized that they had found the buried upper most part of the Command Center.

“All right!” exclaimed Zack as every one gave a momentary cheer at the discovery.

“Start looking for a way inside,” urged Tommy.

Poking around the rubble, Kimberly and Tommy found the small shaft that seemed to possibly be to the ventilation system. With Zack and Jason’s help, they were able to clear the entry and noted that they all might be able to fit.

“Me first – just in case,” insisted Kim. “I’m the smallest and I can see if we can all fit, or if we need another way in.”

With a soft kiss, Tommy handed Kim their only flash light, one James had put with the jeep. Moving to the vent, Kim tucked the flashlight in a pocket of her pants and sat on the ledge of the vent. Putting her feet inside, she took a deep breath and then let herself slide down the vent at what seemed to be a 25 degree angle.

It seemed like the slide took forever, but eventually Kim landed feet first inside the Command Center. As soon as she was sure she was standing on firm ground, she grabbed the flashlight and began to look around. She realized that she was in one of the hallways in the main level of the Command Center. And it was clear enough of debris that the team could come down.

“Everything’s okay; the shaft looks big enough, so come on down.”

One by one, they slid down the air shaft to meet Kim in the hallway. She pointed the flashlight to the ceiling, creating a small circle of light. Once they were all inside, they looked around, trying to get their bearings.

“Let’s try this way,” suggested Zack, as he pointed behind Kim towards what probably was West inside the structure.

With Kim leading, flashlight in hand, they followed closely, nearly on top of one another to stay close enough to the light that they could see… somewhat. When they hit another fork, Kim didn’t wait for anyone to suggest which way. She immediately turned left, and within another 20 meters she was standing before a door with a security panel that looked oh so familiar.

“I think…” she began, before reaching to the panel.

Nothing happened, and she mentally cursed herself. There were no lights, which meant no power. Before she could ask, Tommy, Adam, Jason and Zack were moving forward towards the door. As she backed up and pointed the light at the crack between the two halves of the door, the guys slid their fingers into the groove and two pulled one way, while the others pulled opposite them. After a few tries, the door began to give, and finally with a huge effort, they got the door wide enough for them to slip through sideways.

As they entered the room, they all knew they’d found the chamber where Zordon and Alpha 5 had sent them on their missions. Where powers had been given and lost and where they’d seen Rita and Zedd’s destruction on the city occur.

They were in the main chamber of the Command Center. And now all they had to do was see if there really was power left to tap into.

“We need lights and info. Everyone start looking around,” Jason said, as he moved towards where he remembered the control panels to be, the room slightly illuminated by Ki’s one flashlight shining off the ceiling.

As the team walked through the main room of the Command Center, it gave them all a sense of déjà vu. For Kim, she couldn’t walk past one area where she remembered watching Tommy lay as his Green Ranger powers were stripped of him. Others passed where the viewing globe had been, which now was littered with shards of glass mixed with stone rubble. Against the one wall, they all turned to look to Zordon’s warp – which stood empty and broken.

“Over here,” called Zack urgently, as he and Jason pulled at a stack of concrete that had come from the partially caved in ceiling. As they all dug together, the first signs of damaged gold and red appeared.

“Oh my gosh! Alpha!” cried Kim, as Alpha 5’s form was unearthed.

“Do you think he’s operational?” asked Aisha hopefully.

“I don’t know…” murmured Jason, as he looked at the dents and broken pieces of Alpha hanging together by stacks of circuitry.

“Man, we sure could use Billy’s smarts about now,” complained Zack as he and Adam started to try and piece together the circuitry of Alpha that spilled on the floor.

“Without his glasses, it would be a jumble,” Kim remarked as she set the flashlight on one of the consoles and brushed aside dirt and gravel to find reams of print outs that had yellowed with time, which she sifted through as the others looked at her.

“Hey guys – I think we have light,” announced Adam happily, as he flipped a switch he’d located in a wall panel near the door and emergency lights filled the room.

“Awesome! At least we can see now,” Tommy said as he moved to look through the other buttons and lights the emergency power had turned on with the lights along the command console. Beside him, Kim turned off the flashlight to conserve the battery while she continued to look over the printouts.

Adam, Jason and Zack continued to try and patch wires and systems in Alpha while Kim, Tommy and Aisha looked over the console for any recording devises, or records of what had happened and how to get their powers and zords again.

Suddenly there was a spark in the direction of the team working on Alpha, and everyone turned to look.

“Rangers,” came a warbling sound from Alpha’s audio translation device and the team hurriedly huddled around the sentient robot.

“Alpha, you remember us?” Aisha asked, kneeling by the wobbly robot that had only been partially rebuilt.

“Of course. You were the first rangers.”

Everyone broke out into grins at that. If Alpha knew who they were, that meant his memory might be fully intact.

“Alpha, we need your help. Where’s Zordon?” Tommy asked, noting again the broken, hollowed out place their mentor had always resided in.

“When the last rangers… were gone,” Alpha said, not using the term died, “the Command Center was attacked and the warp broken.”

“So he’s…” Kim whispered softly.

“He’s gone,” wheezed Alpha’s voice box, and the whole group stopped as one.

Silence filled the room as they considered their task. They were even more alone now then that had been before. While they’d made it to the Command Center, their guidance by the team’s mentor wasn’t there for them. Whatever actions they would need to take to overthrow Zedd’s control on the planet would have to come from them.

“What about the grid?” Adam asked anxiously.

“It still exists…”

“Can we access it? What bout morphers, zords?” Jason questioned, energized by the news about the grid still existing.

“In the depths of the mountain, Zordon stored the original powers,” Alpha explained.

“Can we get to them? All we have right now is emergency power, and I doubt the lifts are in working shape,” Zack queried.

“There is a ladder within the far right wall behind where the warp tube used to be. If you keep climbing, it will take you to the storage chamber.”

“Jason, Adam, you come with me. Zack, can you, Kim and Aisha keep working here with Alpha and see if you can get the elevator working and find a way out of here once we do?” Tommy ordered, taking on his leader role in an instant.

“No prob boss man,” said Zack.

“Be careful,” Kim pleaded softly as she moved to Tommy, handing him the flashlight and then held his other hand tightly in hers.

“Will do Beautiful,” he replied, and they both froze at his words. Kim’s eyes filled with tears as memories rushed over her, and Tommy reached over to kiss Kim’s lips lightly. Once he pulled away, he gave her a small smile. “See if you can get the elevator working for the trip back up.”

Nodding, Kim watched as Tommy, Jason and Adam all moved to the doorway. The ladder down would take a while, if the powers really were as far down as Alpha made them seem to be. As soon as they were out of sight, Kim turned back to Zack and Aisha who were still knelt around Alpha.

“Alpha, where are the controls to the elevators?” she asked, thinking about her love and her friends climbing into the unknown.

-x-

After what seemed hours, and with a few places where a ladder rung or two had been missing, Tommy, Jason and Adam arrived in the starkly lit chamber at the bottom of the shaft. It was huge, and in the emergency lighting they could see metallic shapes. Six distinct shapes filled the cavernous space, and it didn’t take any of them long to figure out what they were seeing - auxiliary zords.

“We’ve got zords!” Jason cried out ecstatically, thumping Tommy on the back, and then high-fiving Adam.

“What ‘bout morphers? Tommy questioned, looking around the space before seeing doorways to an area in the wall behind them.

The three moved carefully to the huge room adjacent to the Zord storage area and found what could only be described as a vault. Inside, they walked the metal lined walls, and found large storage units built inside. They opened the compartments, finding spare communication equipment, food, water, laser guns…

“I found the morphers!” called out Adam, as he stood before one of the wall safes that had popped open at his touch and a metal slide had pushed from the wall to show six morphers lined up on the metal slab. But they were missing a key element - coins.

“We’ve got uniforms too,” announced Jason, as he opened a set of doors at the far end of the room to find all six uniforms hung inside a wall rack.

Tommy smiled; zords, morphers and uniforms were all helpful. But without their power coins to connect them to the Morphin’ grid, they weren’t powered. Continuing to look through the room, Tommy laid eyes on a small square, safe like metal opening along the wall. He moved towards it and pressed his palm to it, hoping to pop it open like they had the other storage units. Instead, the metal glowed green, then white and nearly dissolved from his touch.

Inside the exposed space, there was simply a box. Yet as he started at it, Tommy realized that he knew this box. He recalled how he’d gotten this box; taking it from Goldar’s hands as he retrieved the rangers ransomed power coins. He couldn’t believe that possibly…

Reaching out, he put his hands on either side of it and eased it out. Then he gingerly opened the lid, and just like before, within the velvet confines of the box sat the power coins. But this time, there was an added one – his white ranger coin. It was as if Zordon had expected that one day they might need them again and left them here for them to find.

“Guys,” Tommy said softly, but both Jason and Adam heard him, and turned to see Tommy holding up his coin.

“Yeah!” yelled Jason and Adam as one as they rushed to Tommy’s side to look at the coins.

“Okay, we have our gear, now what?” Adam asked as he picked up the Blue Ranger triceratops coin with some trepidation.

“We find a way to get the zords out of here and get everyone together so we can connect to the grid again,” explained Tommy.

“And then?” Jason questioned.

“And then we let Zedd know that his days are numbered,” Tommy nearly growled.

Before either Jason or Adam could reply, they heard a sudden grinding sound and raced to the doorway of the vault to see huge hanger like doors begin to open at the far end of the zord chamber. The sun was setting and twilight could be seen. Just then the doors to the elevator opened, revealing the rest of the group.

“You asked for a lift?” joked Kim, as she, Zack and Aisha exited the restored elevator.

“Well, yeah. Climbing back up the ladder was not looking appealing at all,” replied Tommy, and he smiled at Kimberly.

“You found our gear?” Aisha asked, as the new arrivals noted the zords in the bay behind them.

“Yup – we’re all set,” Adam said, moving to greet her.

“So, now what?” asked Zack as the team all circled around Tommy.

With that, Tommy handed the box to Zack, who looked in and saw the coins. Taking his, he handed the box around the circle until everyone had their coin. Adam, who had already gotten his had gone back into the vault and picked up the morphers and was handing them around. Once everyone had their equipment, Tommy gave them a tight smile.

“Alright everyone – time to suit up. It’s time to give Zedd his wake-up call.”

-x-

The populace of what had been Southern California were almost as one as they looked to the skies above them. Above them was a sight all of them had never seen. Some had heard rumors but the massive metal structure cutting through the sky hadn’t been seen in centuries.

Silvered steel interplayed with white, pink, red, blue, yellow and black across the giant robot like ship. People pointed and gasped, others cowered in fear. And even more felt their hearts leap and skin tingle.

The Power Rangers had returned.

And with them… hope.

-End ch 5-

Hey! So the team is back, and now it’s time to get Zedd out of the picture. But the Global Government might not be so supportive… Also, one slight acknowledgement to Shawn and Cheryl Roberts for their depictions of the hangar bay for the zords in numerous stories.