Author's Notes: This series is dedicated to Greeneyes, who let me use her character Marie Fox for this. This was suppose to start out as a short piece, but idea piled on idea.... and well, this is what resulted. Continuity from the after the Power Chamber was destroyed is well, pretty much moot. Thanks to Cynthia for beta-reading this for me.
"I won't leave you!" she cried, her voice somehow making itself heard above the noise of the surrounding explosions. The air was thick with dust and smog; thankfully her visor could see clear through the obstruction. All around her, people were dying, the smell of blood tainted the air. There had been nothing that she could do for them, but she wasn't about to let one of her best friends die as well.
"You have to!" He took a hold of her hand, "With Zhane gone, you're the fastest one of us left... Hellfires, the only one of us left." The pain in his voice was evident. She knew it was hard for him as leader, to see their friends fall. Dark Specter's forces had been incredibly brutal, ravaging the planet of all it's resources. "Please Marie, you've got to go! Don't make me order you......"
She sighed, nodding in defeat, knowing that he was right. How she wished that he wasn't. Holding up her hand, she cried, "Galaxy Glider, Hang Ten!" A gold colored hoverboard appeared in the air, stopping just long enough for her to hop onboard. She turned back to her friend, "I will come back. I promise."
"I know. Now go!" She saw him head into battle once more.
With a rush of air, she sped away, searching the galaxy for the help her world needed. How was she to know, that she wouldn't be back in time?
Marie woke up in a cold sweat, tears running down her face. Closing her eyes, she ran a hand through her long red hair, trying to calm herself. It had been that dream again. Night after night, the nightmares plagued her, forcing her to relive what had been done three years ago: the day when her world had been forever destroyed at the hands of Dark Specter.
It had taken the Gold Astro Ranger four days to get to Eltar and back. But during that time, Dark Specter's forces had wreaked havoc upon her world. It had been too late when she had finally returned with the promised help. She had returned to a devastated world: cities had been crushed to rubble, and homes had been burned to nothing but ashes. Her friends and family, they were all gone.
Marie had burned many a funeral pyre that night, amongst which had been her fellow Rangers: Kara - Pink Ranger, Reshan - Blue Ranger, Erdric - Green Ranger, and Gwyna - Yellow Ranger. She hadn't been able to find the bodies of two of her other friends: Andros and Zhane. Either they had been so destroyed that she hadn't recognized them, or..... The other thought was too horrible, but there were all kinds of species in the universe, including those who ate dead bodies. No, it had been preferable to think that they were burned to ashes by now, hopefully at peace.
After finding her home lost, she had decided that she would travel amongst the stars. It was the only thing left for her to do. Power Rangers left without a team were often found traveling in space, usually as mercenaries. In the back of her mind, Marie knew that this plan was really only to seek out Dark Specter's people, and make them pay for what they had done. It was the only thing that she could do until her hands found their way around the monster's throat.
Sighing, she finally slid out of bed. The past had to be left there, behind her. One of these days, she would have to face forward, towards the future. Until then....... Until then, revenge is all that I have. A picture on her desk caught Marie's attention on her way to her bathroom. It was of seven people: the Rangers of KO-35. The Gold Astro Ranger ran a finger over it, delicately. "Somehow, I'll make that bastard pay.... one of these days." With those thoughts, she took herself to the bathroom.
She emerged in a slightly better frame of mind, ready to face the day. Walking down the Megaship's hallways, she headed for the bridge. The Megaship was a large ship, one of the finest built by the people of Eltar. Capable of housing many people, it had the technology to make life fairly comfortable: a Synthetron for food, a Simulator Room for recreation and training, as well as it's own medical bay. It was originally designed as a travel ship for merchants, but had been given to the Gold Ranger for her own mission. They hadn't liked it, trying everything short of outright coercion to stop me. But once they knew they couldn't, they decided that it was better for me to be well-equipped, thus standing some sort of chance of doing something against Dark Specter. But this place was no home for her, only an instrument in the destruction of Dark Specter. And she would be the one to wield it.
It was with these thoughts that the Gold Ranger arrived on the bridge. The bridge wasn't very big, but it was efficient. In the original design, it needed only five people to operate all the functions of the bridge. For Marie's use though, the Eltarians had reformatted the controls for a single person. That's where DECA came in. "DECA, have the Aquitarians located a suitable source of fuel yet?"
The Digital Encrypted Computerized Automaton, or DECA, was the Megaship's aritificial intelligence, or A.I. computer. She was the first of her kind, created to serve the Rangers like an Alpha droid would. It was she who actually performed many of the functions of the ship, lessening much of Marie's workload. Unfortunately, she hadn't been much help in locating Dark Specter, only his flunkies.
"Yes," the small camera lit up. It was the only physical indication, besides the voice, of DECA's presence, "It should take three days to arrive."
"Alright, thanks," nodded Marie, mentally reviewing her plans for the rest of the week. She was glad that it wouldn't take much longer before the fuel arrived. Four days ago, she had made a request to the Aquitarians for some fuel for the Megaship. Unfortunately, their water-based fuel hadn't been compatible with the ship's systems. So, she had been invited to stay on the planet until a suitable source could be found.
She had opted to stay in her quarters on the ship, but planned to explore the cities of the water planet. Once she had landed, she had been greeted by the current White Ranger, a female named Delphine. She had been pleasant to talk to; a definite leader for her group. To Marie's surprise there had also been a human, Billy Cranston. She had found him quite handsome, with the brains to match his looks. He was also quiet - at least, he never spoke much to her. Upon inquiry, Delphine had supplied a few more details about him: he was from Earth, having been a Ranger there himself once. After having a chance to explore the stars, he decided to remain on Aquitar to continue his studies of space.
But that was all that the White Ranger would tell her. Even with such little information, Marie found herself drawn to Billy. However, after their initial meeting, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him in the past four days. In her mind, there was only one explanation for that: he was avoiding her.
Never one to give up on a mystery, Marie decided that she would find out why he was avoiding her. Leaving the Megaship, she set out to search for Billy. It didn't take long; she found him in the center domes, looking over visuals of the other domes of the Aquitarian city. Quietly coming up behind him, she tapped his shoulder.
"Billy."
He turned to face her, his face registering surprise. "Marie."
Besides being one never to give up on a mystery, she was also never one to putter around an issue. She put her hands on her hips, "You've been avoiding me."
He looked slightly guilty, "No I haven't."
"Billy, I'm the only human on this planet besides you. You'd think that we'd at least be sitting down and having some sort of talk. And, you're the one who's been doing a lot of the searching for possible fuel for the Megaship. Yet, I haven't seen you at all in the past few days," she stared him down, "If you don't call that avoidance, I'd like to know what is."
He looked away, muttering, "Even after four years, it still hurts."
"What?"
"You're a Gold Ranger," he finally said.
She frowned, "What does that have to do with anything?"
"A few years ago," he began, "I had a chance to become a Ranger again. A Gold Ranger......"
Realization dawned upon her, "You....you didn't get the Powers?"
"No, I didn't." He gave a rueful laugh, "If you can believe it, it was because of negative protons. I hadn't even known such a thing existed....... It repelled the powers; my body couldn't take them. In the end, someone else was called upon to take them instead. I ended up in the backseat, watching my friends do battle."
"And me being a Gold Ranger brought that up again....." she said quietly. "Billy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'll be leaving soon anyway; DECA told me that a fuel supply is arriving in three days. You don't have to worry about avoiding me anymore."
"No," his voice was so soft, she almost didn't hear it.
She looked at him curiously, "No?"
"No, don't go just because I've been an idiot," he clarified, "It was a long time ago, and I thought that I was over it. I guess not. But now that I've talked to you, it's a bit better."
"You sure?" Marie wasn't convinced. It would be hard for anyone to get over something like that.
Billy smiled, nodding. "Yeah." He held out his hand, Marie recognized it as a Terran gesture of friendship, "Friends?"
She took his hand, smiling, "Friends."
Over the next three days, the two of humans got to know one another better. They exchanged many stories about their times as Rangers for their respective planets. Billy found out about Marie's mission, while she found out the real reason he had come to Aquitar.
"I wasn't happy," he explained, "It's not that they meant to, but sometimes, I felt like I was an outsider. Even still being a part of everything, it wasn't the same. I just wasn't a Ranger anymore, no matter how hard I tried to make up for it. So, when the Aquitarians offered to have me stay on the planet, I immediately accepted."
"And Cestria?" asked Marie, still not sure how the young female added into the equation.
"What I told my friends was true, though not completely. Cestria wasn't the main reason I chose to stay on Aquitar, although she and I, were in love," smiled Billy, "But for me, it was the Florence Nightingale type." Seeing Marie's confused look, he explained, "It's when you mistake gratefulness for love. And as for Cestria, she fell for me because I was different. It was a kind of adventure for her; she didn't realize it then. After a year, we both realized that it wasn't working, and wouldn't work, no matter what we tried. So, we broke up."
"But why stay on Aquitar," she asked, "Are you happy here?"
He nodded, "Aquitar gets a lot more oxygen breathers than you'd realize. So I don't have to worry about developing gills or anything. And, I'd get to meet a lot more species this way. I have been to other planets, but in a way, this has become a second home to me."
She smiled, "I envy you; you're happy."
When the fuel arrived on the appointed day, Marie knew that her stay on Aquitar was ending. She found herself realizing that she was going to miss the place; she hadn't felt such peace in a long time. And most of that was due to Billy. He's a great listener...... I'd almoststay here, just because of his friendship. But there are other things I must do, and even his friendship isn't going to stop me.
The Gold Ranger quickly fueled up the Megaship, unable to prolong the inevitable. She wanted to say goodbye to Billy, knowing that by doing so, it'd probably be the last that she would ever see of him. He was easily found in the communications room in the Main City. A lot of time had been spent by the two humans there during Marie's stay. Billy was peering intently at a viewscreen; the picture on it looked very fuzzy. Marie could barely make out what it was supposed to be.
"What are you doing?" she asked, coming up beside him.
"Trying to clear this up," he replied absently, typing out commands on his console, "The UAE channels never were the best........"
Marie looked at him strangely. Did he just mention the United Alliance of Evil? "Wait a minute, you're getting this on UAE channels? How?"
"They're broadcasting whatever this is on all levels. Basically, that means that anyone with the proper equipment can receive this. Although why, I don't know," he answered, "It's coming in from the Cimmerian planet. Actually, we've managed to intercept some signals before like this."
Suddenly a woman's voice came in through the speakers, "And then I found the location of the Power Chamber!! And with this little finger, I destroyed them all!!" Billy looked pale, and continued to type in commands. Marie frowned, recognizing the name of the Earth Ranger base. Did that woman destroy the Rangers of Earth? How could she have done that? While it may have been a backwater planet, Earth was well known for having kept off attackers for many years now. To have someone boast so confidently that they had managed what should have been the impossible........ The words reminded her of the destruction of KO-35. So many said that we couldn't be taken down either.
"Come on......" A few pushes of buttons, and the picture cleared up considerably. Marie's eyes widened as she saw what was on the screen.
"Whoa....." whispered Billy, clearly as shocked as she was.
On the screen showed what had to be a Ranger's worst nightmare: a gathering of evil beings. Marie recognized a good lot of them: Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, as well as the Space Pirate Divatox. She was the one boasting, Marie realized. It was certainly the largest group of villains that she had ever seen; it was amazing that they weren't at each other's throats. At the moment, they were all seated along a large banquet table, clearly enjoying some sort of feast. Suddenly, a large monstrosity appeared in front of the group. Simply put, it was a giant lava monster.
"Dark Specter....." Marie gasped as she saw the face of her old foe.
"Welcome," the gravelly voice said, "Today is a day of great achievement!" A hologram appeared on his right. She heard Billy gasp beside her. Marie immediately recognized it as Zordon, or rather, Zordon stuck inside a tube. "Today, I hold captive the great wizard Zordon!!" Laughter and cheers punctuated his statement. "His power shall be a great addition to my own!"
"A toast! To Dark Specter!!" cried out Lord Zedd. Each of the villains cheered, and raised their glasses. Another large cheer sounded, and they all greedily drank their lava juice. As the goblets were set back down onto the table, everyone noticed that one remained full. All heads turned towards the end of the banquet table, where one being sat, cloaked in a brown robe.
Divatox sneered over at the stranger, "What are you, too good to drink with us??"
"Who are you?" demanded Queen Machina, standing up.
The stranger simply responded by standing up and removing it's cloak, revealing.....
"Andros?!?" gasped Marie, seeing the Red Astro Ranger standing proudly at the end of the table.
Billy looked at her strangely, "You know that guy?" She barely nodded, continuing to stare at the screen.
The villains meanwhile decided that a Ranger intrusion had to be dealt with. And if capture was possible, so much the better. Putties, Tengas, Cogs, and Piranatrons were all sent to deal with the intruder. But the Red Ranger easily kicked, clay, feathered, mechanical and fish butt. However, he didn't teleport out after the battle was over; he just stood in the center of the room, completely still.
Laughter sounded from the far end of the banquet table. All eyes were turned to a young woman, who was standing up from her seat. She was very beautiful, with purple curls falling down her back, and piercing blue eyes. Her silver armor shone against the tight black leather underneath. As she held out her left hand, a large silver staff appeared. Smiling, she walked over to the still unmoving Red Ranger.
"As you can see Dark Specter," she said, her voice smug, "My Red Ranger is more than a match against their flunkies." She waved a hand to indicate the now useless foot soldiers.
"Did she say what I thought she did?" whispered Marie. She gripped the edge of the console as she felt her knees go weak. She couldn't believe it, Andros, working for Dark Specter? It had to be some sort of trick. If not, then he was being coerced into doing so.
"Very good Astronema," Dark Specter's voice indicated approval, "This was an excellent demonstration."
"Demonstration?!?" exclaimed Divatox, "For what?"
"I am sending down Astronema to Earth," announced Dark Specter, "She will be ensuring the Alliance's claim upon the planet. I do not want any more Rangers appearing there."
Divatox began protesting, but Dark Specter shot her such a dark look that she immediately shut up. Astronema, still smiling, turned to her master and bowed.
"Thank you for this honor." With that, the screen went blank.
Marie had heard enough. Turning on her heel, she began marching out of the room.
"Where are you going?" asked Billy.
"You heard where Dark Specter ordered her!" She continued to walk out of the room, "That bitch has Andros, and I'm going to get him back!" She would've made it out the door, except for a restraining hand on her arm. Looking behind her, she saw Billy, with a concerned look on his face.
"I'm coming with you."
She twisted savagely out of his grip. "No you're not. This is something I have to do alone." She began to walk away again.
"You can't do this alone," argued Billy, coming up beside her, "You need someone with you. And frankly, I'm the best person for the job."
That was such a ridiculous notion to her that she stopped, turning to look at him. Folding her arms across her chest, she asked, "What makes you say that?"
"I'm a human from Earth," he replied reasonably, stopping along beside her, "And easily the most qualified of anyone you'll find from here to Earth."
She shook her head and sighed, "You have no idea what Dark Specter is like!! Billy, I don't want you getting hurt..."
He looked her straight in the eye. "I won't get hurt," he said quietly, "I've got too much Ranger in me for that. After all, once a Ranger, always a Ranger, no matter what the cause."
Marie rubbed a hand against her forehead, and sighed in defeat. She really couldn't do without him, that much was obvious..... but could she allow someone else in on this mission of hers? Perhaps, but only if they were properly equipped. "Alright, you make a good argument. As much as I hate to admit it, yeah, you will be good to have along. Well, if you're going to come with me, you might as well go prepared."
He looked confused, "Pardon?"
"Follow me." She led him inside the Megaship, down the hallways, until they finally reached a vault. Opening it up, she went inside, taking out a large box. Slowly, with great care, she opened up the box. Billy could see inside, there were five devices. They looked similar to the Zeo morphers his friends had used before. Marie handed him one of the devices.
"What is it?" he asked, taking the cell-phone like object into his hands.
Marie smiled softly, "It's the Silver Digimorpher. It belonged to the Silver Ranger of KO-35, Zhane. He was one of my best friends, and a great fighter. I know that he would be proud to have you wear his color."
Billy's eyes widened, "Um..... thanks. I'm honored."
"Try it out," suggested Marie, "The sequence is 2-5-8-0." She hoped that he would be able to accept these powers. The Astro powers were different from Zeo technologies, but there were no guarantees that they wouldn't react to Billy the same way.
She knew that Billy was having similar thoughts; taking a deep breath, he punched in the sequence of numbers. There was a flash of silver light, and there stood the Silver Astro Ranger. Marie smiled with relief, glad that Billy was able to take on the Astro Powers. Billy took off his helmet, smiling. "Never thought I'd wear one of these again."
"It looks good on you," Marie replied softly. "Well, at least I feel better about letting you come. We'll make our goodbyes to the Aquitarians, then leave."
Within a few hours, the two Astro Rangers were ready to leave. Billy wasn't sure how the Aquitarians would take to his sudden departure. After all, he had been living on the planet for the past four years. It was odd, but during that time, it had become a home for him. But Earth, his real home, was in danger; he had to help.
"It is a shame that you will be leaving us Billy," said Cestro when he heard the news. "But as you said, it cannot be helped. Your world is in danger; you would not be a Ranger if you did not want to help."
"Yes Billy," agreed Delphine, "We will all miss you, but you are needed elsewhere now."
"Thank you," smiled Billy, hugging each of the Rangers in turn, "Thank you for everything that you've done for me." He turned to Marie, "We ready to go then?"
She nodded, "Your stuff is packed on the Megaship. I don't see why we couldn't leave by the end of the day." To the Aquitarians, she said, "I want to thank you too. Without you, my ship would be coasting on fumes now."
"It was our pleasure," smiled Cestro, "And you will return?"
"Of course," assured Marie, as she hugged each of the Rangers herself, "We will return, one day."
The next few days passed by uneventfully for the Gold and Silver Rangers. Most of that time, Marie spent with Billy, showing him everything about the Megaship. He was a quick learner, as Marie found out easily. He was able to master each system within a few short hours of her teaching them to him. Along with that, the two were busy training on the Simu-Deck. You couldn't tell that Billy was a few years out of practice by the way he continued to kick monster butt.
"You're doing pretty well," approved Marie, watching as Billy took down another set of monsters. As the last one 'died', the training grid vanished, leaving the two Rangers in the small room.
"Thanks," he replied, breathing a bit heavily, "I kept up some of my training while on Aquitar. Never really thought I'd actually use it again though."
"It's always better to be prepared," said Marie as they headed up to the bridge. "You tend to save more lives that way."
"Approaching vessel detected," announced DECA as soon as the two Rangers arrived on the bridge. They looked at each other in surprise.
"Well, I'm not expecting any visitors," Marie said, as she checked her console, "Are you?"
Billy shook his head, "Not as far as I know." He checked his scanners, "Well, this is interesting, it's a NASADA shuttlecraft."
"Na... what?" asked Marie, confused.
"It's an Earth designation," explained Billy, "NASADA is a space organization based in the U.S. on Earth. This is one of their shuttlecrafts; it won't pose any danger to us. Heck, the Megaship is at least ten times more advanced than that shuttle."
"What about whoever is inside it?" Marie wasn't about to take any chances, not when she was well on her way to getting Andros back. "I don't want to bring that ship inside until we know for sure that it's not a danger. I'll find a place we can tow it to." Checking her console again, she quickly found what she was looking for. She brought it up on the viewscreen, revealing a planet made up mostly of red rock, and with a breathable atmosphere. "Let's take it there. We'll meet with whoever is inside, morphed."
Billy frowned, clearly thinking that she was being over-cautious. But he nodded, "Alright. Setting the tracker beam, now." He pressed a button, setting the energy beam onto the shuttle. With a small smile for her victory, Marie ordered DECA to head for the planet.
They had taken refuge amongst the stars, hoping that somewhere they would find the help they needed. But there was an air of depression and disappointment surrounding the four teenagers inside the shuttlecraft. T.J. could feel it clinging to him like a shadow. Looking at the others, he could see that they were alone with their own thoughts; the events of the past few hours were finally catching up to them. The Power Chamber......gone. Blown away in a single blast by Divatox. It seems, impossible. Some leader I turned out to be. Couldn't even keep our team longer than a year. And Alpha..... He turned to look at the little robot, now really nothing more than a mess of wires and plating.
A shrill alarm interrupted his thoughts, bringing all the Rangers back to reality. Out of the main windows, they could see a large ship looming over them. Clearly not of Earth design, it was unlike anything that any of them had seen. Carlos and Ashley immediately scrambled for the controls, trying to figure out what to do.
"Someone want to tell me just what is that?" asked Cassie, a worried look on her face.
"Wish I could tell you, but I have no idea," replied Carlos, shaking his head, "But they just locked some sort of beam onto us. We're being pulled.... somewhere."
"It looks like onto that planet," said Ashley, reading from her instruments. "Doesn't look inhabited. Of course, it doesn't look very hospitable either. But, it's got a breathable atmosphere."
"There's nothing we can do then until we get to the planet," said TJ, "Let's just hope whoever these guys are, they're friendly. The last thing we need is another villain breathing down our necks."
The others nodded silently; hope and dread warring on their faces.
The landing came sooner than expected for the four ex-Rangers. Much to their relief, the large ship had brought them down gently on the planet's surface. Now they could only wait for the owners of the ship to reveal themselves. They didn't have long to wait; within a few minutes, the ship's doors had opened, and two figures walked down the ramp.
TJ could feel his jaw drop, "Rangers?" He couldn't believe his eyes, two Power Rangers - Gold and Silver - right before his eyes. It was practically a miracle!
"Whoa," whispered Cassie beside him, "This was something unexpected."
"Well, let's go out and greet them!" said Carlos, already pushing pass them to get out of the doors.
Marie was relieved to see that it had been humans occupying the shuttlecraft as she watched four teenagers exit from it. They were young, each dressed in a dominant color. They're clothing was full of holes and rips, as if they had gone through a major battle, and lost. The four approached carefully towards them. Finally, one stepped forward, dressed in red. He took a measuring look at her and Billy. Marie immediately guessed that he was the leader.
"You're Power Rangers, right?" he asked. Marie nodded, since that much was obvious. He looked visibly relieved. "We need your help. We are - were the Rangers from Earth. I don't know if you know about this, but Divatox destroyed our base there. We're without powers now."
"So you need help to defend Earth," said Billy, nodding. He looked at them carefully, "I thought I knew the Rangers of Earth, yet you do not look like them. How is it that you came into your powers?"
"We were chosen for it," replied the young man, "The previous Rangers, they were retiring, so we took their place."
"Their names and colors please?" asked Billy. Marie understood what the Silver Ranger was doing; he was making sure that these teenagers were who they said they were. Even if it was unlikely that they were lying, they had to make sure. There was too much at stake.
"Tommy Oliver - Red Ranger, Tanya Sloan - Yellow Ranger, Adam Park - Green Ranger, and Katherine Hilliard - Pink Ranger," the young man replied promptly, "Justin Stewart, he was the Blue Turbo at the time, and continued with us. He remained on Earth when we had left to find Divatox."
Suddenly, the young woman in yellow charged up beside the leader. Placing her hands on her hips, she said, "Look, are you going to question us all day? We don't have time for that! There are people on Earth that need our help! Without Rangers, they're just sitting ducks. I mean, who knows when the next villain will decide to plummet Angel Grove? And Alpha, he needs our help too...... he's very damaged."
"Alpha?" Billy's voice registered surprise, echoing Marie's. There weren't many people outside of the Rangers ever knew of the Alpha droids. That could only mean one thing - that these people were telling the truth.
The young woman nodded, "Yeah, he's in the shuttle."
"We'll load the shuttle onto the docking bay," said Marie, having made up her mind, "You four can rest up inside the Megaship. We'll tell you everything we know then."
"You'll help us then?" asked the young man.
"Yes," Marie replied softly, "That's what Rangers do."
"He isn't the same one that I knew," he said, presenting the ex-Rangers with their friend, "But the mechanics are pretty much the same. His voice chip was damaged beyond repair, so I replaced it with a new one."
"Ay, yi, yi, yi, yi! Thank you Silver Ranger," exclaimed Alpha, happy to have himself functioning properly again.
Billy chuckled, "No problem. You sound a lot like my old friend Alpha 5 now." He then turned to Marie, pointing lightly to his wrist. Almost imperceptibly, she nodded.
The Gold Ranger turned to the ex-Rangers. "You've trusted us with your identities, it's time that we do the same for you," she said. Raising her hands to either side of her helmet, she flicked open the latches. In a single sweeping motion, she took off the helmet, revealing herself.
"You're human!" exclaimed Ashley, eyes wide with surprise.
Marie's mouth quirked a little, "Not all humans were born on Earth. My name is Marie, I'm from KO-35."
Billy then took off his helmet, "I'm Billy Cranston. I am from Earth."
T.J. took a careful look at him, "You were the first Blue Ranger!" At Billy's surprised look, he explained, "I went through some of the history profiles of the previous Ranger teams. Yours came up as the Triceratops Ranger."
"Yes," Billy replied, a shadow darkening his eyes. But as quickly as it came, it left. "Those were good times." He shook his head, "But right now, we've got more things to worry about than my past."
"Exactly," said Marie, bringing out a familiar box. Billy suspected that she had taken it from the vault while he had been repairing Alpha. "Here," she handed each of the teens a morpher, "The code sequence is 3-5-2." Obligingly, they each entered in the sequence. In flashes of blue, pink, black and yellow, they each morphed into their respective Ranger suits. Smiling faces were revealed as each of the new Rangers took off their helmets.
"This is awesome, truly awesome," breathed Ashley.
"I'm a Pink Ranger again!" laughed Cassie.
"Styling Black for me," grinned Carlos.
"You look good in Blue TJ," said Billy, when the new Blue Ranger didn't say anything.
TJ turned to look at Billy, "You don't mind?"
"Not in the least," assured the Silver Ranger, "I mean, look at the color I get to wear now!"
TJ chuckled, looking relieved, "Then I'm happy in my color."
"You've got a full team again Marie," said Cassie.
Marie smiled softly, "Almost."
Billy put his arm around her shoulders, "We'll help you get Andros back, I promise."
She nodded, already feeling better. In a burst of inspiration, she put her right hand out. Billy followed, putting his hand on top of hers. TJ was next, followed by Cassie, Ashley and Carlos. As one, they all jumped up, crying out an age old verse.
"Power Rangers!!"