The Terran Ranger Saga Volume 6 - Heather Ray (read novels website TXT) 📗

said, we're on a trip back through time. You see, there are some...very important people back home, who are extremely sick. They've been poisoned. And the only cure lies in the past, because that energy source has faded over time. Specifically, I'm speaking about the arrowhead of which Tommy is in possession of half."

At that, Tommy stepped forward, reaching beneath his collar to grip his arrowhead pendant. "What...what does it do?"

"It's actually a powerful healing device, which peaks in potential ability at the point of recombination," Rebecca continued. "We have the complete arrowhead in our time as well, but since over 25 years have passed since it has been rejoined, the healing power it has is all but insignificant. And, my father has determined that the whole arrowhead is the only way to heal those people, and that's because of the basis of power."

"What does that mean?" Alexis interjected.

"Both the power that poisoned the sick ones, as well as the arrowhead, emit magical power based on nature," Rebecca extrapolated. "That's impossible to manufacture, and very difficult to even find. But the arrowhead, at its peak strength, should be able to do the trick."

"So, your father figured the only way to heal those 'people'

is to go back in time, and retrieve the two arrowhead halves?" Billy hypothesized, "But, why this dimension? How did he know whether or not we had already rejoined the arrowhead?"

"He was able to home in on the signal of this reality because of the fact that people from our reality had traveled to this reality before," Rebecca responded. "Over time, the Power Rangers have constructed equipment to make Multiversal transit a bit more predictable."

At that, Billy stepped even closer to Rebecca, bending down slightly to meet her deep brown eyes, which were slightly almond in shape.

That's when it dawned on him...just whose eyes they reminded him of.

"You mentioned your father," Billy pressed, tightly folding his hands behind his back as he pondered the best way to work out the inquiry, "is he a Power Ranger? Or does he work with them?"

Rebecca's smile widened. "I think you know the answer to that."

Then, the petite Pink Ranger held out her hand to him. "I'm Rebecca Mitchell. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Whoa..." Rocky whispered, his jaw dropping. All the others, including the Starlight Rangers, displayed similar forms of surprise as Billy accepted Rebecca's greeting with relative calmness, and shook her hand firmly.

"The pleasure is mine," Billy responded, matching Rebecca's warm smile.

"She...she's your..." Rocky stammered.

"Why are you not surprised?" Tanya wanted to know.

"It's hard to explain," Billy answered, turning to his lab assistant, "I just...knew I recognized her. I saw my mother in her." He then turned back to Rebecca, a faint blush rising in his cheeks. "And I may be incorrect in my hypothesis, but I also believe I see features of..."

He left the question hanging, the blush deepening as he worked out the sentence in his head.

Rebecca giggled slightly, before she reached out to touch her father's mind. *Yes, Trini is my mother. And on top of that, I'm a mutant as well...gifted in telepathy and empathy.*

Billy stumbled back slightly in reaction to the mental message, his eyes widening. "Prodigious," he whispered, blinking his eyes.

Adam, who had remained mostly quiet during this surprising revelation, then bit his lip, his eyes widening as an idea struck him. "If Rebecca is Billy's daughter," he began, "then are some of the rest of you...?"

Regina and Anthony cast each other questioning glances, and both turned to the still-masked Yellow Ranger. In truth, all were stunned at Rebecca's impromptu introduction. And now, they were all placed on a spot.

"I...I guess it couldn't hurt," Anthony said, his voice slightly timid. "After all, this isn't really our past. So our world isn't our future. Their knowing who we are shouldn't affect the timestream. Much."

"Right," Regina agreed, turning to Rebecca. "Right?"

"That's my hypothesis," the Pink Ranger answered.

"Then, I guess it's my turn," Brittany said rather weakly, stepping forth from behind her teammates. She slowly unhinged her helmet, and pulled it off. She ran her gloved fingers through her shortly-cropped mahogany hair, and cast her blue gaze around the entire room. She felt a slight chill as her gaze was met by almost naked anxiety from all the Rangers of that time period.

After passing her gaze across the room once, she locked eyes with Jason for a long moment. Jason at first blinked, until his entire body froze upon the realization of what that gaze meant.

"R...really

?" Jason stuttered.

She nodded, a weak grin pulling at the corners of her pursed lips. "I'm Brittany. Brittany Lee."

"And your mother?" asked a clear voice from behind. All eyes turned to Katherine, who shrunk back slightly at the attention. Still, her head remained upraised, and her question stood.

"You probably know her by now. She's Emily Stanton," Brittany answered, a quizzical look on her face as she watched Katherine's reaction.

The Blue Terran Ranger nodded, a brisk and unreadable expression on her face. The others were quick to look away, for fear of making her even less comfortable given the situation.

"I...I don't know an Emily Stanton," Jason answered, turning his head in Katherine's direction.

Once it dawned on Brittany just how much her answer impacted the Rangers, she instantly regretted providing an answer.

"Don't forget," Regina said, quickly taking a stand beside Brittany, who was clearly reeling from the mistake she just made, "we're not from your universe. So much is different in our two worlds, and the changes began months ago. Our presence, or even existence, shouldn't be taken as an omen of the future. I personally doubt your future will look anything like ours, considering how much is different between them." She then kept her dark gaze upon Katherine. "Don't put too much thought into it."

"And are there any Power Rangers in your family tree, Regina?" Zack inquired, as nonchalantly as possible. He inched slightly closer to Aisha, and folded his arms over his chest as if bracing himself for any huge surprises.

Regina swallowed, noting the proximity between Aisha and Zack, and the anxiety on his face. "Aisha's my mother," she responded bluntly. "She's the only Power Ranger in my family tree."

Zack licked his lips, averting his eyes as his hands fell from his chest, and weakly hung from his belt. Aisha was quick to catch one of his hands with hers, and grip it tightly.

Regina felt her eyes sting at the display of devotion. It amazed her, especially since her mother and Zack Taylor were never romantically involved. In fact, they weren't even close friends!

"This world is so different..." Regina whispered.

"That's what my mother said," Anthony contributed, his gaze darting to Kimberly. Not surprisingly, Tommy's arm fell upon her shoulder the instant he noticed the attention the Red Starlight Ranger was paying to his girlfriend.

"Your name is Anthony Monroe, right?" Tommy inquired, gently pulling Kimberly closer.

Anthony nodded.

"So I take it you're Trevor and Kim's son."

There was a series of gasps and wide-eyed stares that responded to Tommy's hypothesis, each stemming from one of the Terran Rangers or their assistants. Katherine's nose wrinkled in confusion, as she folded her arms on her chest.

"Then that means...Annie, the woman who came here with Nate a few months ago..."

"...was really a future version of Kimberly?!" Rocky finished, frowning distastefully. "So, why didn't she tell us that?!"

"It makes sense," Billy revealed. "She didn't want to alarm everyone by informing them about the future."

"But...how did you know about it, Tommy?" Jason inquired.

"Annie revealed her identity when we went to the moon, to face Solar," Kimberly responded, her voice weak and distracted. She found she couldn't pull her gaze from the countenance of the Red Starlight Ranger.

She could certainly see it now. She didn't see it before, but once his identity was revealed, she put the features together. He had her hair, the same shiny, full auburn hair she took such pride in. His hair seemed a bit curlier, but that probably came from her own parents. Both her parents had curly hair. And the eyes...they were incredibly bold in their aqua hue. And the soft angle of his face...

There was no doubt in her mind. That was her son.

She felt almost numb, staring at him so blankly. The entire situation felt so surreal, she had trouble accepting it as reality.

"This...this is so unbelievable," Alexis commented, taking a seat at the nearest chair.

"If you don't believe it, you can always do a quick DNA scan," Regina offered.

"That...won't be necessary," Jason said, his hand resting on his chin. "We believe you."

There was a stony silence that followed. The Starlights were quick to regroup, and they watched the Terran Rangers' reaction carefully. For the most part, everyone was stunned. Billy seemed to be functioning well, but something on the computer screen had apparently grasped his attention.

Rebecca found she was quite interested in whatever it was that Billy was examining.

"What did you find out, Dad?" she asked, walking toward him. Once she had realized the word she uttered, her eyes widened in surprise.

Even nearly thirty years in the past, Billy Mitchell was still so mature it was easy to refer to him as her father.

"Call me Billy," he said, smiling in amusement at the Pink Ranger's mistake, "I think 'Dad'

sounds slightly awkward."

He then slid his chair slightly, allowing Rebecca to squeeze beside him. Her eyes widened as she noticed the image on the screen.

It was a close-up image of David Trueheart.

"Where did you get that?" she asked.

"I told you, the computers were scanning the entire area after I had located Goldar. I managed to expand one of the images of the people we're searching for. Who is this?"

Rebecca met eyes with her father. "That's David Trueheart. Tommy's brother."

"Amazing," he said, tapping his chin. He then glanced at the other Rangers, who were still overcome by the surprise of meeting their offspring.

"We'd better tell them," Billy decided. "And the Green Ranger...?"

"I'll take care of it," Rebecca stated, rejoining her teammates. She sighed deeply, nervously toying with a strand of her rich dark hair.

"What's going on?" Brittany inquired, noting Rebecca's slightly troubled expression. It took a lot to make the reserved girl display discomfort.

"We'd better tie up the loose ends to our mission," she whispered, gesturing in Tommy's direction. From their vantage point, the Starlight Rangers noticed Tommy and Kimberly deeply involved in a conversation. "He needs to know about Micah, but more importantly... about David."

"Achem," Anthony sounded, gaining the fluttering attention of the perturbed Terran Rangers, "The four of us kind of figured we should clear the air entirely, while we're at it. So Tommy, there's something you should know."

The leader of the Terran Rangers kept his gaze even as he awaited the revelation he tried to prepare himself for. Something told him it probably had something to do with the arrowhead half, that the Starlight Rangers were clearly searching for.

"Where do I begin?" Anthony whispered to himself, scratching his scalp in a nervous reaction Kimberly recognized as belonging to her. "Uh, I guess we should start with the Green Starlight Ranger."

"What about him?" Kimberly asked, stepping forward. Considering the fact that Anthony was mostly