The Terran Ranger Saga Volume 6 by Heather Ray (free ebook reader TXT) 📖

and observant, choosing not to participate in the grieving, but rather to separate herself from it. It was also clear that she was putting effort in distracting herself from the pool of sorrow that inundated her. Her empathic senses would surely drown her in angst.

"Where's Will?" Tanya Park said, breaking the barrier of silence, "I thought he was the one who called us here."

Trini rose to her feet and folded her hands behind her back. "He's working on a project at the moment," she explained. "He asked me to fill you guys in on the situation while he finishes up."

"So...what happened?" Micah whispered, his gaze trapped at the ground beneath him. "Are they really...gone

?"

Trini took a deep breath, and paused for a moment as she collected her thoughts. "I'm going to cut right to the chase. We've all seen the news clips, and heard of the destruction of the Megazord. They're all true."

Everyone remained in an icy silence, as all their hopes of seeing their loved ones again shattered. Trini gave her audience a chance to let this information sink in.

"What happened is that the power transmitted into the Terrasword lashed back, frying the controls, and eventually leading to the destruction of the Megazord. Now, you're probably asking yourselves how this could possibly happen, and so I'll tell you. The Terra Zords operate in conjunction with the physical as well as emotional health of the Terran Rangers. So, if the Rangers are sick, then the zords are, in effect, sick. That's what happened."

"The Rangers were sick?" asked Alexis. "What do you mean 'sick'

?"

"Let me explain," Trini stated, activating the screen on the main computer across the CAC by remote. Everyone turned their attention to the image, which was of the day the Terran Rangers first received their powers. While some of these people were witnesses to the historic event, most only knew of it through stories.

"When Zordon, the original mentor of the Power Rangers, first gave them the Zeo Crystals, he explained that the Power would coarse through their veins, by means of the heart, which is where the crystal was kept. The Power protected them in many ways. It gave them the ability to tap into the experience and power of the Morphin Grid, as well as pilot the Terrazords. It also managed to keep the Rangers' cells from deteriorating so quickly, which is why they don't look as old as they are. The problem is, over time, the constant presence of the Power began to have averse affects on their physical health.

"Zordon said that only someone who was a Power Ranger before has the bodily defenses necessary to absorb the power of the Zeo Crystal. He also chose the six Rangers most capable of dealing with the power. But he never intended them to remain Rangers for so long. It began to weaken them, and the Zeo Crystals began to draw on their life force. Having such a power source in one's body for so long has taken its toll."

"So, in the end, it was the very Power that made them heroes that killed them," said Rocky solemnly, "I can't believe it."

"Don't believe it," said Trini, turning off the screen. "They aren't dead. Yet."

Everyone looked at Trini in shock as she lead the group to the location of the med-unit. Lying on six cots were the Terran Power Rangers, dressed in the clothing they had worn before their tragic final mission. Their ageless faces seemed peaceful, as if they were sleeping soundly. Hovering not far away was the completed Zeo Crystal, with all six shards expanded to their full size of about a foot in length.

"Will and I first removed the Zeo shards, and then placed them in stasis," Trini continued. "The stress of the explosion seriously drained their powers. They are weaker now than they've ever been. We had to put them in stasis to save them from dying."

The group crowded around the slumbering Terran Rangers, and looked down at their loved ones with tears in their eyes. Regina turned away, confusion written on her mocha face.

"Is there any way to cure the 'Power poisoning'

, as it were?" she asked.

"There's one chance, although it's a longshot," Trini answered, casting her almond gaze towards a small door along the far wall, "I think Will is really the one to go into this."

As if on cue, William Mitchell, the Terran Rangers' most trusted and depended ally, stepped out of the sliding door Trini had looked at. He passed a white handkerchief over his moistened forehead, and walked through the dense audience without so much as a greeting. He stood beside the main computer, and leaned against the large console for a moment.

"How much did you tell them?" he asked his wife.

"I had just gotten to your plan for saving the Rangers."

Will nodded, and briskly tapped in the commands that brought up another image on the computer screen, showing a rotating stone arrowhead, greatly magnified from its real size. David looked at the digital display in surprise.

"What does the arrowhead have to do with anything?" he asked.

"I've done a bit of research, and I've discovered that the arrowhead that you and Tom rejoined has impressive healing powers. It may be able to cure the Rangers, and restore them to health."

"Great!" said Micah excitedly, "Dad and Uncle David gave me the arrowhead years ago! It's in my room. I'll go get it."

"That won't work," said Will grimly, "I've calculated that the arrowhead's healing powers fade over time. The point of maximum power is when the two halves are joined, but from there the power decreases. It's been over twenty years since David and Tom met, and joined the two halves. By now, the power remaining in the arrowhead probably couldn't heal a paper cut."

"Then it's hopeless!" cried Emily in frustration. "There's nothing we can do!"

"Not quite," said Will. "What we need to do is travel back in time to a specific point, when Tom and David reunite the two halves. Then, if we bring the united arrowhead here, we can save them."

"Time travel?" asked Trevor. "As in through the Multiverse? I know for a fact that humans cannot travel through the Multiverse without some kind of protection."

"That's true," said Will, digging into his jeans pockets, "and we have something."

Will stepped towards an empty lab table, and laid out five gold, circular objects, each about twice as large as a silver dollar, with designs etched in their faces. The outline of each design was in a signature color: blue, green, red, pink, and yellow.

"Oh my God," Alexis gasped, leaning over to get a closer look. "Are those Power Coins?"

"Almost," Will responded, "but they shall serve a similar purpose. A few years ago, when the Terran Rangers were reactivated, I began a full sweep of the data banks. That included running through a detailed history on how exactly the different Power Rangers were created in the first place. I found it very interesting reading, since understanding the power behind the Power Rangers gives me a better ability to restore them if they are ever compromised.

"Now, what I found the most interesting was the original White Ranger, the White Tiger Ranger. Remember, the seven original coins...red, blue, pink, black, green, yellow, and purple...were created by Ninjor thousands of years ago, and the six Ninja Ranger coins were created by Ninjor in conjunction with Dulcea and the Great Power. But the White Ranger was created by Zordon himself, right in the Command Center."

"Really?" Rocky whispered in amazement, "I didn't know that."

"You joined the team after the White Ranger was already the leader," Trini pointed out, "but the original five remember it well...when Tommy was introduced as the new White Ranger. Zordon and Alpha had worked on their secret project for weeks, trying to make a Power Coin that would work with technology compatible with the Power Rangers and their Thunderzords."

"Yes," Will picked up, "Zordon also created the Thunderzords for the Power Rangers after the Dinozords were incapacitated by Lord Zedd. Now, here's the theory I developed after reviewing the history files: Zordon was given the Power Ranger coins and Dinozords from Dulcea and Ninjor, and he in fact helped create them. However, he also had with him the basic plans for a new team of Power Rangers, that included the White Ranger, the Thunderzords, the White Tigerzord, and Tor the Carrier Zord."

"Amazing," Emily muttered in awe.

"Wait, wait, wait," Alexis grumbled, shaking her head furiously. "That doesn't make any sense! If Zordon had the specs for a new Ranger team all along, then why hadn't he ever created this new team of Rangers?"

"When?" Billy challenged. "The original five were fine with the powers they had, until the Green Ranger came along. Zordon's signal with the Command Center was lost, so we didn't have his guidance throughout that ordeal. By the time he came back, we had figured out who the Green Ranger was, and how to stop him. So the five Rangers became six. When the Dinozords were destroyed, the Power Coins were still fully operational. Time was of the essence, so creating a whole new team, with brand new zords, would have taken more time than we had. So Zordon took a few shortcuts, by altering the specs for the Thunderzords so he could use the parts from the Dinozords. Since he used the mainframes of the Dinozords, he managed to link the Thunderzords to the Power Coins, thereby creating this new arsenal much quicker than simply tossing out the coins they already had. When Ivan Ooze came along, Zordon was incapacitated and the Command Center was thoroughly destroyed. He wasn't capable of creating the new team of Rangers... he didn't have the strength, nor the equipment. Instead, he sent us to Dulcea and Ninjor, so we could get a new set of Power Coins. Those coins, coupled with the Ninjetti powers from Dulcea, managed just fine until we were transformed into children. We were too young to be Power Rangers, and since the entire timeline was thrown out of whack, everyone's ages were thrown off. It would have been dangerous to make a team of Power Rangers then, considering time didn't actually move backwards. Instead, we were de-aged. Everyone was especially fragile to magical power, since we were all pumped with enough magic to make us seven years younger. That's why Zordon resorted to calling upon the Alien Rangers. Since the time spell was focused on Earth, the rest of the universe was unaffected. And finally, once we had the Zeo Crystal, Zordon was able to create an even more powerful team of Rangers with that. So the backup team he had planned was never used. Until now.

"Okay, everyone here who was alive during the early 1990's can remember the Power Rangers, and the White Ranger," Will continued. "He looked different from the others. His uniform was different and he had a weapon with artificial intelligence. He was more powerful than the other Power Rangers put together, which is why Rita and Zedd wanted him out of the way more than anyone else. Often he took on a monster all by himself, while the rest of the team did something else. That's because his powers were different. When we became Ninjetti, Dulcea and Ninjor used the template of Zordon's White Tiger Ranger to create the White Falcon Ranger. So, the White Ranger wasn't a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. Zordon never told us this...but the White Tiger Ranger was a Starlight Ranger."

Will then