6Disclaimer: This is a setup chapter, and mostly just checks on the mental states of the rangers, but don't worry, fighting will begin soon enough. I would also like to thank blackcat9517 for being my first ever subscriber. Thanks for waiting so patiently. This is what happens when you start with an idea, and don't know how to proceed from there.
I don't own anything.
Chapter 2: The Quiet before battle
It was early June, and high school graduation was still a few weeks away, but Tommy Oliver couldn't help but feel that a sense of closure was coming to his life. And as he strode down the streets of Angel Grove, his thoughts drifted back to his long history of being a Power Ranger.
Tommy had originally been an Evil Green Ranger, but thanks to the determination of the old ranger team, he'd been freed, and fought alongside Zach, Trini, Jason, Billy and Kimberly. However, due to the efforts of Rita and Zedd, he'd lost his green ranger powers, and their leader Zordon had instead bestowed a White Ranger power on him. Even now, he had power over the Red Zeo powers, but he had a feeling his time as Zeo ranger five was almost over. Zordon had reported that the machine empire's fleet had just retreated from the moon, indicating their invasion of earth was over. If that was the case, it was quite likely his time as leader of the Power Rangers was almost over. However, he then remembered what Jason had told him right after he lost the gold Zeo powers: "When I was running from The Machine Empire, I ran into Rita and Zedd. They might try to return should anything happen to The Machine Empire." If Rita and Zedd were indeed back, this would mean the team would have to beat their old rivals once more. Still, with their new powers, it wouldn't be anything too difficult.
Tommy just hoped that he would be able to fend off Rita and Zedd before he went off to college. He hadn't told any of his friends, but he had secretly enrolled in an accelerated paleontology degree, with his earlier years with the dinosaur zords sparking a renewed interest in dinosaurs and other prehistoric things. He also had a feeling that he'd need to shape up his memorization habits in order to stay on top of all the species, but ever since Tanya had helped him with his voice coaching, he had a new confidence in improving his civilian skills.
Tommy was just about to head towards Ernie's Juice bar, when he suddenly came across Jerome Stone, ex-lieutenant for the Angel Grove police force.
"Hello, detective Stone." Tommy remarked. "Where are Bulk and Skull? I thought they would be on duty."
A shadow crossed Stone's face. "They quit. They said something about a 'secret mission'. I haven't seen them in days, so I assume the left town or something."
Tommy's eyes widened at this. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I kind of miss those two. They'd changed quite a bit since we first knew them in high school. If you see them again, tell them I said hi."
!
Meanwhile, Tanya was strolling through the park, admiring the scenery, marveling that in the short time since she arrived from Africa, she'd not only been assimilated into American society, but become a hero as well.
Ever since Aisha had given her the duty of being the yellow ranger, she'd found that life could be highly hectic yet surprisingly fun at the same time. She had found getting into angel grove high school one of the hardest things she'd ever done, especially given she went in as a senior and halfway through the year at that, but her time as zeo ranger two had helped her adjust. She could always count on her friends wherever she was. She had the intention of going into the professional singing business after community college, since no big name college was going to take some teen that only just recently moved to America, and she'd already attracted the eyes of some talent scouts. However, she held no delusions that she'd have to learn in other fields as her voice would only be able to last for so long. She was just glad Catherine had been so generous to let her stay at Catherine's house until she was able to find her real parents.
Tanya admittedly would miss being a power ranger, as it provided her with excitement. With the defeat of King Mondo, her life would be much quieter. However, with her being at community college, she would be close to home in case any other aliens wanted to invade earth. At this thought, she reconsidered, and internally corrected herself. "No, so long as my record deals don't go well, I'll be able to stay. Otherwise, I'll be out of Angel Grove in no time.
Tanya was just walking up the last hill back towards the main part of town, when suddenly there was a bright flash in front of her.
She covered her eyes for just a second, and found herself face to face with one of the beings she'd seen when she first arrived at the command center. Tanya jumped back, and shouted, "You!"
!
Rocky, Zeo ranger three was up at his father's office building, working on a job application. Admittedly, it was hard for him to get into looking for a job, since he always wanted to be athletic in his activities. Yet all the camp councilor positions had already been filled up, so he would have to look for a summer desk job, before he headed off towards San Antonio for college.
Rocky had originally been a replacement red ranger when Jason Lee Scott left for a peace conference, yet now here he was, the blue ranger. Admittedly, he didn't like this too much, because it meant he would have to live up to Billy's reputation as the smartest ranger around. Yet since Billy had agreed to stay as a tech advisor initially, nobody seemed to bother as much about this, so he warmed up to it. Rocky did find after Billy left that he had to own up to his color a bit more, but with Alpha 5 being so generous to keep up tech support he wasn't asked to be the smartest anymore, just a dependable second in command.
When Zordon had informed the team of the Machine Empire's retreat, Rocky was slightly disappointed. Being the anchor ranger three meant he was the person who would support the whole team, and when their duties were done, he'd lose some of his purpose. Yet he also felt relived, since admittedly his time as a ranger had cut into his grades, and having to leave college to fight any incoming monster would be quite annoying. Thankfully, Zordon had said to Kimberly when she decided to leave, "I never intended for your role as Power Rangers to prevent you from having a normal life," and Rocky assumed that Zordon would be gracious to the Zeo Rangers as well. Rocky wasn't quite sure what would happen after high school, but he was sure it would be quite an adventure.
As Rocky was filling out the last of his paperwork, he suddenly felt someone bump into him. He turned around, and noticed a small boy wearing blue.
"Woops. Excuse me," the boy said.
Rocky smiled lightly. "It's ok. Say, I don't think I've seen you around Angel Grove. What's your name?"
"I'm Justin. My father works with NASADA, and he just moved here to work at the Angel Grove office. Since I'm new around here, tell me, does anything happen around here?"
Rocky gave an uneasy grimace. "Where have you been, Justin? Monsters attack here quite a bit. I'm surprised so many people still live here, with a new monster attacking every single week at least. This city's had countless attacks."
Justin cocked his head. "If that's the case, how come the buildings are still standing here, and people are still around?"
Rocky chuckled at this. "Just you wait kid. You'll see soon enough that Angel Grove has its own special protectors. Nobody knows who their real identities are, but everyone around here calls them The Power Rangers."
!
Katherine was doing laps in the school pool. She knew she should be studying for the upcoming finals, but she felt that she had to get a little bit of time in to swim, since things had been so hectic for her of late.
Katherine had once been an evil minion for Rita and Zedd, and had often been turned into a cat in order to spy on the rangers. Thankfully, she was able to turn herself around, and after a while, when Kimberly retired to go to a gymnastics school, she had become the new pink ranger. Now as Zeo ranger one, she found her life was plenty busy, and swimming had become harder and harder to do of late. Thankfully, with Tanya staying at her house, she found that at the very least, she would have a study buddy no matter what happened as a Power Ranger.
Admittedly, she had once been enamored of Tommy, and she still felt a little something for him. However, after seeing how torn up he was when he got a Dear John letter from Kimberly, she realized that with them graduating and going their separate ways in a few months, it would be far better to be just friends with Tommy. She still hoped that Tommy would be able to find a special someone when he got to college, and part of her just wanted him to be happy with Kimberly again, but ultimately, that wasn't under her control.
Katherine suddenly found she was slowing down with her thoughts, and quickly increased her pace. She would have to be fast if she was planning on competing at the college level. She knew her pace was fast, but she'd have to keep up the pace in her time if she wanted to be among the best at Occidental College in Los Angeles. However, as she swam, she didn't notice that a certain being had just entered the pool area, and was rummaging through her new purse. (Her old one had been turned into a monster by Rita. It was a long story.)
!
Adam, Zeo Ranger 4 was training at Ernie's Juice Bar. Despite his karate skills, he knew that he was still one of the less skilled among the other rangers, and even if Mondo was defeated, he didn't trust that his time as Power Ranger was over.
Adam had come to the team with Rocky, and was the one misfortunate enough to be stuck with a black Frog ninzazord when they found Ninjor. He still found it lame that although frogs were deceptive, they weren't nearly as cool as falcons, apes and cranes. Surprisingly, he had been made the green zeo ranger after the command center was destroyed. That actually annoyed him, since he liked the color black much more. It made him feel a bit more unique among his colorful team, and he was sad that his old mastodon coin was probably unusable, lying on his bed at home, with a nasty crack across the middle.
Adam actually had decided not to go immediately to college. Instead, he had asked Ernie if he could stay around as permanent fitness instructor at the juice bar. He also had gotten a job as a assistant soccer coach for the school varsity team, and he found that to be even more exciting, as he loved instructing teens with plenty of talent. At the time though, he was eagerly training himself, trying to fight off the feeling that his tenure as a power ranger was almost over.
He had just landed a solid blow on the punching bag, when suddenly his morpher rang. Quickly moving off, Adam raised his Zeo morpher up and said, "Hello?"
!
Alpha 5, robot emissary for Zordon, frantically talked into the communicating box. "Ay-yi-yi. Adam, you've got to get over here. I think the command center is under attack!"
Dun dun Dun! Don't worry, this story won't be too short. I actually intend for several battles between the rangers and their greatest enemies. (Maybe greatest)
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