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

on a daily basis.

"Trini," Will said, looking up from the computer, "activate the force-field, please."

Suddenly, a wall appeared around the two sides of the medical area, and connected with the two existing walls. The new wall was the exact color as the pre-existing ones, creating a small room completely sealed off from the rest of the CAC. Tommy glanced up at David, who was standing beside him, holding his half of the arrowhead. Will inhaled deeply.

"Here goes," he said, pressing a single button. The transparent shields surrounding each Terran Ranger vanished, freeing them from their stasis.

"Now what?" asked Tommy.

"Bring the two halves together," Will replied, "and pray."

Tommy nodded, and held out his half. Slowly, the two brothers inched their halves together. Once the halves were about half a foot apart, sparks of white energy began to flash. The closer they got, the more energy was being released, until the sparks of energy suddenly stretched out over the space between them. Finally, the two halves of the arrowhead touched.

A blinding pulse of white light brightened the chamber, causing both Tommy and David to release the arrowhead in alarm. The arrowhead hovered in the air, rotating on a vertical axis, still glowing brightly. Will kept his eyes focused on the screen, watching the life signs of each of the six unconscious patients on a continuum. Both Tommy and David quickly recovered from the surprise, and stared at the arrowhead. Tommy happened to glance at the Terran Rangers, and his jaw dropped.

"What's happening to them?" he called out.

Will glanced up at Tommy's call, and was startled as well. Each of the Terran Rangers suddenly had an aura of light surrounding their bodies, each in the color of their Zeo shard. Gradually, the bright color of the aura died out, until finally there was no aura at all. The arrowhead then stopped spinning, and remained hovering in the air. Tommy reached out his hand, and the arrowhead suddenly fell limp into his palm. The bright white light died out.

"Will?" David asked, turning to his friend. "What's the verdict?"

Will squinted as he read the information off the computer screen. His frown slowly died on his lips, leaving a small, relieved smile.

"I think it worked," he said, looking up at the unconscious Rangers, "but they're not awake yet --"

Suddenly, all six Rangers groaned, and slowly opened their eyes. At once, they all bolted into a sitting position, and looked around as if on the verge of panic.

"What's happening?" asked Zack Taylor, rubbing the back of his head.

"Where are we?" Adam Park inquired, running his hand through his matted curly black hair.

"The last thing I remember was...outer space

," Katherine Oliver recalled.

"The meteor!" Jason Lee shouted, jumping off the cot. "We were trying to destroy a meteor!"

"And everything went black," Tom Oliver said, his voice tainted with concern. He looked first at Will, and then David. His chocolate eyes widened to immense proportions when they locked with an identical pair of chocolate eyes.

"What the...?!" he demanded, his voice dying on his lips. Tommy was startled as well by the experience of looking at himself.

"Ohmigosh!" Kimberly Monroe exclaimed, walking over to the shocked young man. She studied his face carefully, and a smile crept onto her face. "Tommy?"

He blinked, and looked at Kim. She looked exactly the same as she did the last time they met, when she came back in time to search for her husband.

"I...I don't understand," Tommy said, gazing at Kim intently. "Why don't you look different? What year is this?"

"It's 2025," she responded, "sixteen years after I got back from my little trip to your universe."

"But, you don't look any older," Tommy said.

"The Zeo shards inhibit the aging process," Kim explained. "The older you get, the slower you age. It's one of the side-effects of the Power."

"What happened to us, Will?" Jason inquired, glancing from the young Tommy to his friend. "What are we doing here?"

All eyes turned to Will, who stepped out from behind the computer he was using, and locked eyes with each of his friends in turn.

"I've discovered another side-effect to your using the Power for so long," he announced. "And this one is quite serious. Apparently, after using the Power for an undetermined amount of time, somewhere in the decades I'm assuming, it begins to have adverse affects on you. In short, it was slowly killing you."

"What?" Zack exclaimed. "But the Power has kept us healthy and strong!"

"Your bodies can only stand so much of the Power inside you," Will explained. "Remember when you first became Terran Rangers? Zordon told us that by having been Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, you bodies have been acclimated to the Power. A normal human body couldn't take the physical pressure the presence of the Zeo shard necessarily imparts onto it."

"I recall," said Katherine. "So what you're saying is, there are limits to how long we can use the Zeo Crystal, even though were are acclimated to it?"

"Precisely," Will said. "You almost died up in space, but we managed to find a way to cure the Power Poisoning, as it were. We needed the newly-united arrowhead, which meant that we had to travel back in time to get two halves of the arrowhead prior to their unification. The arrowhead proved to be infused with healing magic, but as time progressed, the amount of healing ability it had tapered off."

"So you traveled back in time, to where I went sixteen years ago?" Kim deduced.

"Well, I didn't do the traveling. The kids did."

Jason's eyes widened. "What kids? You mean our kids?!"

Will nodded, a smile creeping onto his face. "Remember, you were teenagers when you first became Power Rangers. Regina, Anthony, Micah, Rebecca, and Brittany are all mature enough to handle the Power."

"But you said the Power was dangerous!" Adam objected.

"The Terra powers are dangerous, because they are a more direct connection to the Power," Tommy said. "The team that came to my universe were Starlight Rangers."

Kat frowned. "What's a Starlight Ranger?"

Will smiled. "Perhaps I should just show you. They're anxiously awaiting some news about your condition...and so is everyone else."

"Let's go then," said Adam, hopping off his cot, "Tanya must be worried sick."

Will nodded, and turned on the communicator on the computer panel. "Trini, can you take down the force-field? We're ready to come out."

^Gladly,^

Trini replied, a smile evident in her voice. As soon as the field came down, dozens of ecstatic family members poured in, showering the six Terran Rangers with welcoming hugs and kisses. Tommy stepped out of the way, and was taken aback by how many people knew about the Rangers' identities. He expected spouses would be there, but even young children were present. Tommy smiled as he watched the reunion, glad to see that the Terran Rangers survived. Even though, now that the truth was known about the harmful affects of the Power, the Terran Rangers would likely disband. Still, the Starlight team seemed capable of handling whatever challenges the Terran Rangers were dealing with.

The future was certainly not lacking worth heroes.

Chapter Fifty-Four

She moaned slightly, as the sudden urge to open her eyes invaded the blackness of her consciousness. Emerald eyes fluttered weakly, but she had no desire to move another muscle in her body. So, she remained motionless, staring at the dark ceiling that covered the Central Access Complex.

Faintly, she wondered how many times she would wake up on one of the CAC's cots?

"Whew, you really scared us this time," a voice said, originating from outside Alexis' field of vision.

It was Rocky. It was always Rocky, keeping an eye on her, worrying about her, trying to help her.

She appreciated how much he was trying to support her, but at the same time...it was a bit tiresome.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rocky inquired, after the long silence that followed his previous statement. Alexis turned her head, resting her cheek on the cot so she could face him.

"How's the Eaglezord?"

Rocky averted his eyes, discreetly taking a deep breath. Still, Alexis saw all the signs.

It didn't look good for her battleship.

"It...uh...it's hard to tell at this point," Rocky finally stated, biting his lip slightly. "We did manage to salvage much of the wreckage from the ocean, but we didn't get a chance to determine if it's possible to reassemble the Eagle. Fortunately, there was little actual separation on impact. The main body is more or less in one piece, although the wings have been completely wrecked. That's a sturdy old bird you've got there."

Alexis frowned, rising to a sitting position. On her way up, she cringed as a sharp pain assailed her neck. Rocky noticed, and immediately grabbed a scanner.

Alexis held up her hand to stop him. "I'm fine," she muttered. "You don't need to fix every little ache, you know. I can handle a bit of whiplash."

Rocky frowned, obliging her by putting down the instrument. "Why suffer if you don't have to?" His frown deepened when her gaze dropped from his, focusing on the floor as she rubbed her injured neck. "You were really lucky," he commented, turning to put away the rest of the medical instruments he had left at the ready. "Considering you could've been killed, a little whiplash isn't half bad."

"Here we go," Alexis groaned, scowling slightly. "You're going to give me another sermon about being careful?"

Rocky felt his patience wearing thin, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Obviously, you need it," he muttered. "Why'd you do it?"

"What?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Why'd you destroy your on-board teleporter? Did you even realize what you did?"

"The teleporter was going to kick me out of the Eaglezord," Alexis answered, turning around and letting her legs dangle off the side of the cot, "I couldn't just leave, and let the Zord fly into the face of the cliff!"

"So, it's better to crash into the ocean, and risk suicide!" Rocky countered, his voice rising. "When you blew the onboard teleporter, you made it impossible for us to get you out! The CAC's teleporter unit can't perform a safe teleportation at that speed. To be accurate, we need to patch in to a system that's moving at the same rate as you are. That's the whole point of the onboard system...that you carelessly destroyed

!"

"I didn't want to bail out!" Alexis shouted, glaring up at Rocky vehemently. "That's my whole point!"

"And my point is, you almost killed yourself for nothing! A Zord isn't worth dying for, which is why the emergency teleport protocol exists! It was a stupid risk, Lex, and you can't be making judgements