The Terran Rangers/X-Men by Heather Ray (latest ebook reader .txt) 📖

the bone regeneration program after Aisha's been taken care of."

While Adam and Billy were tending to Zack, Aisha, and Jason, Rocky walked over to Katherine and Alexis, who hovered along the perimeter of the medical area of the CAC, attempting to keep out of the way.

"Are you two alright?" he asked them. Both girls nodded.

"Have you heard anything from Kim?" asked Alexis, sitting down in exhaustion, "Tommy's time is nearly up!"

"They haven't contacted us," Rocky answered, glancing over at Billy who was while scanning Jason with a pair of X-Ray goggles for internal injuries. "And the scanners are having a hard time picking up any life signs from the Moon at all. All we can register is that the Thunderbird is still parked on the Moon, but we have no way of knowing where Kim, Annie, Nate, and Tommy are."

"I hope they're okay," Kat whispered, sitting beside Alexis.




Chapter Sixteen

Inside the Moon Palace, Kimberly Hart and the Yellow Ranger ran through the tunnels in search of any sign of life. Usually, any intruders would be attacked immediately by Zedd's monsters, or the Viper Putties. However, since Zedd's disappearance, the monsters that usually filled the castle had all fled in fear of the wrath of Solar. Even Goldar and Rito now cowered in utter terror, hiding somewhere on the lunar surface. Kim stopped running abruptly, rubbing her temples with her fingers.

"What's the matter?" asked Annie, turning around to look at her younger self.

"I...I don't know. Something's happening, though. I'm picking up a lot of psychic energy. I think it's Nate! He's in trouble!"

"Well, let's hurry and find Tommy. Then, we can go help Nate."

"Do we even have a clue which way to go?" Kim moaned. "It's hopeless, and Tommy's time is probably up!"

"Calm down, Kim," said Annie, more calmly than she felt. "We'll find him.

Kim subconsciously reached out to Tommy with her mind...*Tommy, where are you?*

She was startled when she heard a weak response...*Kim? Is that you?*

"Tommy!" she cried out loud, turning to face Annie, "I heard him telepathically!"

"Do you know where he is?" asked Annie.

"No, but I can feel that he's close. C'mon, follow me!"

Kimberly dashed through the hallway, with Annie beside her. Annie noticed Kim was practically glowing gold with psionic power, and soon she was airborne.

Well, she certainly is a powerful psi when she wants to be!

thought Annie, following a bit behind Kimberly on foot.

Kimberly rounded a final corner, stopping when she saw a iron door lying on the floor, bent and banged out of shape. Starting to panic, she hurried into the dark room. The only light was a weak red glow, coming from a machine connected to the lab table.

"Tommy!" cried Kimberly, running to his side. She gently touched his neck, and breathed a little easier that she found a pulse, albeit a weak one. She winced when she saw burn marks through Tommy's torn shirt, as well as various other bruises. She stared at the wires connecting Tommy to the machine, and they were still crackling with red energy.

Somehow, he managed to fight off the process long enough to give us time to save him,

she thought, her eyes starting to glass over. He held onto the last flicker of life energy. But how do I disconnect him? And how do I replenish the power stolen from him?

She turned around as the room became filled with bright yellow light. The Yellow Ranger walked in, both her fists glowing and crackling with lightning. She glanced at Tommy, and then at the machine that he was connected to.

"Hmm," she said. "The energy is being siphoned from his body into this machine, so there must be some kind of storage cell for that stolen energy. A battery or something..."

Annie took off her helmet and laid it on the floor. She then looked over the entire machine, and a small gemstone, now glowing with red energy, caught her observant eye.

"Solar must have been transferring the Zeo energy into this crystal!" said Annie, turning to her younger counterpart. "Quick, Kim, we have to re-energize the Zeo shard."

"But how?" asked Kim, trying her best to remain calm.

"Reverse the process! No wait, he may be too weak for that."

"So what do we do?" whispered Kim, biting her lip.

"You know how the energy of the Zeo crystal works, right? Then maybe you can separate Tommy from the crystal telepathically!"

"If I could force Tommy to surrender the Zeo shard, then so could Solar, and he obviously couldn't."

"Okay, then ask Tommy to release the crystal telepathically. You can still reach him."

Kimberly touched Tommy's forehead and closed her eyes. She cleared her mind of everything -- except reaching Tommy. She called out to his subconscious.

*Tommy, do you hear me?*

*Kim...what're you doing in my head?*

came the reply.

*I'm a telepath, silly! Listen, I'm here to help you, but you must separate from the crystal.*

*Why?*

*Because we have to restore its stolen energies, and your body is too weak to survive the power transfer. It will be just as excrutiating as when the power was being stolen from you.*

*I don't think I have the strength to command the gem, Kim.*

*Tommy, you have to! It's your only chance! Please, Tommy, try!*

Kimberly could feel Tommy's determination, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Tommy's chest glow a faint red. The red light became brighter, and the Zeo crystal shard passed through his charred skin and floated into Kimberly's palm. She clutched it excitedly and stepped over to Annie, who was examining the machine while still holding the other gemstone.

"If I remember correctly," she thought out loud, "Tommy punched the control panel to free me. It was dumb luck, but it worked. Now, there must be some sort of reversal button here somewhere, or else it wouldn't have worked. Ah, here it is."

"But, what about Tommy?"

"Disconnect him from the machine, and then absorb the crystal into your body. Tommy is too weak to survive the energy transfer, but you're not. We have to reverse the process, and that means the crystal must be inside a person. We can't connect the two crystals directly."

Kimberly mutely obeyed Annie's command. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about, after all. Kim telekinetically lifted Tommy off the lab table after disconnecting him from the machine. After gently lying him on the floor, she held the red Zeo shard on her heart.

"I need Terra Power...NOW

!!" she cried. She gasped when she felt the crystal pass through her body, and suddenly she was wearing the feminine version of the Red Terran Ranger uniform.

"I feel so...strange

," said Kim dazedly, taking off her helmet. "It's like I'm...so much stronger than I ever was before. And I feel so...angry

all of the sudden."

"Well, your emotional state is being manipulated by the Zeo shard," said Annie, placing the other crystal into the machine and helping Kimberly lie down on the lab table. "Fire is symbolic of passionate and strong emotions. You are presently angry about what happened to Tommy, so the crystal is magnifying your current feelings. Now, un-morph, and brace yourself. This is gonna be painful."

Kim nodded and mentally commanded her body to un-morph. She lay mutely on the table, quickly glancing over at Tommy, who lay utterly motionless and pale as a ghost on the cold stone floor.

*Don't worry, Tommy*,

she whispered telepathically to him, *I'll take care of it. You'll be just fine. I promise...*

Kim was surprised and worried that she didn't hear any response from him. She frowned and looked up to Annie.

"Ready?" asked Annie, her hand on the switch.

"Yes. And hurry, Tommy and Nate both don't have much time left."

Annie activated the machine in reverse, and Kimberly writhed in pain as she felt her heart flooded with fire.

Chapter Seventeen

Nate Grey was the mighty X-Man. He was genetically engineered to be the most powerful mutant to ever live, and in some ways, he may be. But now, he faced the creature that had caused him a great deal of pain. Now, on the Astral Plane, the place where he usually felt the most safe and in control, he battled for his very life against Onslaught...and he was losing.

He wasn't battling Solar -- he was actually battling Onslaught. Onslaught separated from the body of Trevor Monroe, causing him to be transported to the Astral Plane, where telepathic powers suddenly became tangible. He was in his astral form, one that looked much like Onslaught's body before Hulk destroyed it -- a towering ten foot tall mass of red and purple armor, massive claws, and soulless eyes.

Nate was also in his astral form -- a shimmering sapphire suit of armor, but even though Roma helped him navigate the Multiverse earlier, it left its toll on his abilities. He had yet to fully recover his strength. As he fought, he knew he wouldn't get the chance.

If I can just keep him here long enough,

he reasoned, Annie and Kim can save Trevor, and Kim should be able to create psionic shields in Trevor's mind, which will break whatever hold Onslaught has on his body. Too bad I didn't get a chance to tell her how to do it!

The battleground was a barren, rocky wasteland, with an orange sky and red clouds. Here, everything could be manipulated by telepathy, including the scenery. Onslaught created this particular image to startle Nate, since it was an image of the Midwestern states of his home world, after a nuclear bomb was detonated there.

"Once I destroy you here," sneered Onslaught, shooting a beam of psionic power, "I shall occupy your body instead of that weak human's! Then, I shall be the most powerful being to ever exist! Even Roma will not be able to stand up to my telepathic might! You and I will