In the Central Access Complex, Jason, Alexis, Zack, Katherine, Aisha, and Billy wait anxiously for any kind of message from Nate, Kimberly, or Annie. Billy works furiously on his scanning systems, trying to find a way to register if there is any human life on the Moon. Zack and Aisha pace around the room in frustration, occasionally checking the Viewing Globe, which now keeps count of the minutes until the one hour deadline. Katherine sits in a corner of the CAC with a grim expression on her face. Alexis stands beside her, with a look of dread as the time ticks down. Jason stands silently in the center of the CAC. He's holding Kimberly's Zeo shard, and is lost in deep thought:
We only have twenty minutes left! What if they don't get back in time? What do I do? I can't surrender to Solar! If I do, the whole universe is at stake. But, I can't let anything happen to Tommy. He's always been a brother to me, and I know that he would do anything in his power to save me if I were in his place. But I doubt Solar would actually return Tommy to us if we give up the crystals-- heck, we've played that game too many times. But, at least Solar won't have a reason to kill him, and then maybe we could send a distress call to Zordon, or the Aquitians, or even the Spectrum Force. But, do we have time? I doubt it...
Everyone is pulled out of their reverie by a bright light shining from the Viewing Globe. Everyone turns around to see Solar's face once again glaring at them, his eyes glowing gold.
^Hello, Power Rangers. As you must realize, your time is nearly up. I don't think poor Tommy will last much longer.^
Solar started to chuckle maliciously, further infuriating the rangers who listened.
^Now is your one and only chance to rescue the Red Ranger. I have sent Holocaust to the ruins of your Command Center above you. Give him the five remaining Zeo shards, and the boy will live. Try and trick me, and he dies an agonizing death at my hand. Oh and trust me, I won't hesitate to kill him. He's been a thorn in my side too long.^
Everyone turned to Jason questioningly, praying he would come up with an answer. Even Billy, who usually accepted the decision-making role, deferred to the acting leader.
"You have a deal," said Jason quietly, clutching Kim's crystal, "We'll be right up."
^Excellent,^ chuckled Solar, and his image disappeared from the screen.
"Let's go and get this over with," muttered Zack, preparing to teleport.
Billy remained silent as he watched his friends depart from the CAC. Everyone had dark, bitter expressions on their faces. Especially Jason.
"Jason isn't a quitter," Billy reasoned, walking towards the communications system, "He's not giving up the Zeo shards. The amount of damage Solar can cause with that kind of power is immeasurable. The rangers are going to fight."
Billy glanced up at the Viewing Globe, which now displayed Holocaust, standing triumphantly atop the ruins of the Command Center. The five remaining Power Rangers were standing there as well, in a row with Jason standing a bit closer to the villain. The look in Jason's eyes spoke volumes as he gazed upon the foreboding monster.
"I'd better get the medical unit ready," Billy decided, " and I'll contact Adam and Rocky. I may be able to use their help if things get rough. Its too bad Tanya is still in Africa with her parents. I could probably use the extra set of hands."
Billy activated the communications system, and Adam immediately responded.
^What's up, Billy?^ he whispered though his communicator.
"The rangers have gone into battle, and it looks like its gonna be a tough one. I need you to come here and stand-by. I'll probably need your help down here really soon."
In seconds two beams of white light landed in the CAC. Adam and Rocky ran to Billy, who was busy prepping the medical unit.
"We're ready to help," said Adam, folding his arms, "in any way we can."
Meanwhile, the Thunderbird parks in a crater on the Moon. Three lone heroes step onto the lunar surface-- one Power Ranger, and two people inside a telekinetic bubble, protecting them from the vaccuum of space.
"We're about a mile away from the palace," said Annie, standing on a boulder, "You can see it from up here!"
The other two floated to the boulder to take a look.
"So, what's the plan?" asked Kimberly.
"We get inside," said Nate, flying towards the Moon Palace, "Now let's go. I can block us telepathically, but I don't know how long the shields will last. Besides, I think Tommy's time is almost up."
Nate carries all three of them inside a telekinetic bubble, and they quickly float over the desolate surface of the moon. In minutes they reach the base of the palace.
"We could enter by way of the balcony," suggested Annie.
"True, but we'll lose the element of surprise!" objected Kim, "Besides, I want to check up on Tommy. He must be somewhere in that palace."
"Do you know where to look though, Kim?" asked Nate, looking up at the balcony.
"Not really," Kim replied, "but I have to try."
"Okay then, we'll split up. Kim, you find another way into the palace, and take Annie with you. I'll barge into the throne room. I think I can feel Solar's presence there. Kim, keep in touch with me telepathically. Once you're both inside, find Tommy, and then get to the throne room. I know I'm gonna need your help."
"Uh, how am I supposed to be able to breathe?" asked Kim.
"Create a TK bubble, just like this one."
"But, I've never done that before. At least, not without the Zeo shard."
"Just relax, and envision an aura of energy surrounding your body. Telekinesis is relatively easy to get used to. Its the telepathy that's hard."
Kimberly closed her eyes, and followed Nate's instruction. A golden translucent shield of energy formed around her body, and stretched out to form a bubble. She opened her eyes, and touched the bubble with her hand hesitantly.
"Cool," she whispered.
"Okay, let's move."
"Right," said the two women in unison, and they both ran along the palace's outer wall, hoping to find an entrance. Nate focused his telekinetic powers to propel himself to the balcony, a good twenty stories off the ground.
It's harder controlling my TK when there isn't any gravity, he thought, If I'm not careful, I could accidentally throw myself into deep space!
Nat>
Amazing, the castle has oxygen and gravity, but there's no field around it keeping the air in.
Nate walks around in the throne room, seeing nothing but thick smoke.
"Nice place," he said aloud, "Show yourself, Solar! I know you're here!"
"Greetings, Nate Grey," came a voice from within the smoke. The smoke dissipated to reveal a throne. Sitting on the throne was Solar, his hand clasped together and a wicked smile on his face, "I've been expecting you."
"How did you know I was here?" asked Nate, completely astonished.
"I knew you'd rush to help your young friends. You're too predictable, Boy. Especially considering that, for a brief time, you were a part of me."
Nate's eyes glowed with energy as he fired a TK blast at Solar. Solar blocked it with his own golden powers and stood up.
"I know you must hate me, Nathan. After all, I killed all your friends. The Avengers believed in you and befriended you, and now they're all gone. Each and every one of them. Too bad you couldn't save them. Just like you couldn't save your home world from Apocalypse. You couldn't save Forge, the only father you ever knew, and you couldn't even find your best friend Shadow. Perhaps he's been avoiding you, Nathan."
Nate's fury began to boil as he fired an even more powerful telekinetic blast at Solar. Once again, he deflected it.
"You always claimed to be the most powerful mutant alive. Well, I am not a mutant. I am the one and only Solar, and you are not match for me!"
Solar forced himself into Nate's mind. He immediately pulls Nate's consciousness out of his body and into the Astral Plane. Nate's physical body collapses to the ground while Nate's astral form takes shape. So begins the psionic battle between two of the most powerful telepaths in the Multiverse.
Jason Scott Lee remains frozen. His body is as still as death, as he stands and watches the creature known as Holocaust. Although he and his fellow Power Rangers have only been on the surface for a matter of seconds, Jason's perception of time is like the flow of molasses. Jason can feel the eyes of his teammates on his back. He knows they are expecting him to make the first move. He is the leader, given the situation, and therefore he determines the plan of action. He could count on his friends backing up his final decision. Although Jason had already made his final decision in the Central Access Complex, he is now once again questioning that reasoning.
If Tommy dies, I'll lose my best friend. Kim will lose her boyfriend, and the rest of the team loses a trusted friend and leader. The entire world will lose a vailliant hero. But what would Tommy think if I jeopardize the universe for his sake? If I give Holocaust the Zeo Crystal, the consequences will be serious for all that exists. Kim and Zack told us all how vital the Zeo Crystal's role is in the grand scheme of time, as a piece of the M'Kraan Crystal. I don't know what all that means, but I do know that evil can't have it. I have to stop thinking like a friend, and start thinking like a warrior...
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Holocaust roared, obviously upset, "Considering your precious leader only has about... twelve minutes left in his life, I would think you would act with a bit more... urgency."
Jason's face remained stony, as he slipped the yellow Zeo shard, that he was still holding in his hand, into his jeans pocked. He then slowly turned around, and glanced towards his friends. One by one, his dark eyes locked with those of his friends. He silently transmitted his intentions to the fellow Power Rangers, and he received their feedback in a similar fashion. Zack's deep brown eyes displayed sad, yet adamant agreement. Aisha's lighter brown eyes showed little surprise at Jason's change of heart. Alexis' emerald green eyes were supportive. Katherine's crystal blue eyes were at first upset, but then settled into an understanding gaze. Jason was reassured that his friends were in agreement with him. It was unanimous.
"Holocaust," announced Jason, glaring back at the armored creature with cold anger, "we're not surrendering."
"WHAT?!" cried Holocaust, completely shocked, "You will actually let your friend and leader die an agonizing and untimely death, knowing you could have done something to stop it?!"
"If we surrender, we'll give you the upper hand," said Zack, stepping beside Jason, "The whole universe will fall."
"Tommy wouldn't want us to risk the whole universe to save his life," said Kat sternly, also stepping forward.
"There's no way we can trust a villain to keep his promise, and give back Tommy," said Alexis, joining her friends.
"So go back to your boss, and tell him that no one messes with the Terran Power Rangers!!" Aisha finished.
"Its Morphin Time!" Jason announced, "TERRA EARTH POWER!!"
"TERRA WATER POWER!!" cried Katherine.
"TERRA WIND POWER!!" screamed Aisha.
"X-Ranger One!!" shouted Zack.
"Purple Ranger Power!!" Alexis finished, clutching her morpher.
Holocaust's mouth twisted into a smile as he gazed at the group of brave young heroes. "Perhaps you aren't as weak as I thought you were, Power Rangers. No matter, though. In the end, all seven of you will end up dead, and the Zeo crystals will decorate Solar's throne room!"
With that, Holocaust leapt at the rangers. He slammed into an invisible magnetic shield, erected by the Silver X-Ranger, and fell back to the ground. The others immediately lept into action.
"Time to rock his world!" roared Jason, slamming his fists into the ground. The force of Jason's punch caused the ground to crack, and the small canyon stretched under Holocaust. Holocaust lept off the ground and fired a tight plasma beam at Jason. Jason moved to dodge the beam, but he didn't move fast enough-- the beam sliced through the flesh of his shoulder, narrowly missing the bone. Holocaust moved in for the kill, but was met with an explosive flying kick from the Green Ranger. Usually, such a kick wouldn't even make Holocaust flinch, since he wears a mighty exoskeleton. But Aisha propelled herself with her wind power, making an impact like a cannonball. Holocaust was thrown back, and there was a faint crack in the chest area of his armor.
"I'm not through yet, girl!" roared Holocaust, charging up his arm cannon. He fired a very wide, less potent beam, which not only knocked out Aisha, but it also hit Jason, who was trying to recover from his shoulder injury. Holocaust was then struck by a steel beam, part of the imploded Command Center upon which the battle took place. He angrily picked up the beam, and crunched it into a ball. He proceeded to throw the ball mightily at Zack, who had to concentrate to magnetically stop the ball's momentum. While he was momentarily distracted, Holocaust fired his mightiest plasma beam at Zack, penetrating his magnetic shield and striking him largely in the helmet. The helmet cracked with the force of the hit, and Zack fell motionless to the ground. Holocaust smiled and started to laugh mightily.
"Don't laugh too soon!" called Alexis, pointing her fists at Holocaust, "The fun's just starting!"
Invisible streams of ultraviolet light poured forth, striking Holocaust in the chest. Holocaust laughed at her.
"What is light going to do against my inpenetrable armor?" he asked her. Alexis stopped firing and pulled out her Laser Whip.
"We'll see what some concentrated light can do!" she declared, wrapping the whip around his arm cannon. Holocaust smiled.
"That was a mistake," he said, as plasmic energy streamed from his cannon, through the whip, and into the Purple Ranger. She screamed in pain, and fell to the ground.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!! I defeated the Power Rangers in three minutes. Amazing! How on Earth did these puny teenagers manage to defeat evil for so long? Could their usual enemies possibly be any more incompetent than these twerps?"
Holocaust approached the bodies of the rangers. The Purple one was unconscious, but there wasn't much physical damage done. The Black one, on the other hand, had a nasty injury to the shoulder, and a few other minor cuts through the suit. The Green Ranger, who was thrown back with the blast, had landed on a jagged piece of steel, slicing through the flesh of her side. The X-Ranger lay in a heap, with a severe dent in his silver helmet, and a part of the mouthpiece chipped off.
He's probably dead, Holocaust mused, That's three more Zeo shards for Sol-- wait a minute. THREE?! Weren't there four Terran Rang--?
Before Holocaust could finish that thought, he was struck by a wave of liquid. It instantly hardened, and he suddenly couldn't move a muscle. He was trapped in a frozen heap. His eyes widened as he saw a massive mechanical alligator approaching him menacingly.
^That's my liquid oxygen ray, Holocaust,^ said the voice of the Blue Ranger from inside the Alligator Terrazord, ^Don't even bother trying to escape. No doubt the cold will make your exoskeleton very brittle...^
Holocaust struggled to free himself from his icy prision, by he couldn't. He watched in a red-hot rage as the Blue Ranger leapt out of the Zord and landed gracefully on the ground. She walked right past him and checked on her three unconscious friends.
"Aisha? Jason? Lex? Can you guys hear me?"
Aisha moaned and sat up. She struggled to stand up, and touched the slash on her side. She gasped at the loss of blood, but managed to remain standing. Kat had helped Jason stand. Alexis slowly rose to her feet, and joined them.
"Where's Zack?" whispered Jason, clutching his shoulder to try to stop the bleeding.
Aisha ran as quickly as she could to where she saw the broken body of X-Ranger One. His left leg looked crushed and his helmet was nearly shattered. Red patches of fresh blood stained the pale silver of his costume.
"Billy," whispered Aisha into her communicator, "teleport Zack in now. He's been hurt..."
^I'm on it,^ answered Billy, and Zack disappeared in a flash of silver light.
"What do we do about Holocaust?" asked Katherine, who was still helping Jason stand.
"I don't know," said Alexis quietly, "We certainly can't destroy him. We don't have the power!"
"I guess the question is, should we destroy him?" Kat asked, still holding her boyfriend tightly, "Is he a magical creature?"
Their conversation was interrupted by a muffled scream. They all turned their attention towards Holocaust, whose yellow transluscent exo-skeleton seemed to turn blue. They all saw utter terror in his eyes as even his blood red skull became blue.
"The crack!" squealed Aisha weakly, moving to Holocaust. Alexis, Katherine and Jason slowly followed.
"What crack?" asked Alexis.
"The crack I made in his armor with that kick! The LOX must have penetrated the armor through the crack, freezing Holocaust's organic parts from the inside!"
"I had only intended to imprison him, not to freeze him to death!" said Kat, still surprised.
"But, is he really dead?" asked Aisha, removing her helmet and staring closely into Holocaust's frozen eyes. He certainly looked dead, but one can never be sure.
"He will be in a minute," said Jason emotionlessly, raising his uninjured arm to the sky. The Earth Sword appeared, and Jason painfully clutched the hilt with both hands. Katherine, and the other rangers, stepped back to give the Black Ranger some room. He then focused his energy, and the blade began to glow with black energy. He pointed the sword at the frozen form of Holocaust, and released the pent up seismic power. Holocaust was hit by a seismic force equaling a 7.3 earthquake on the Richtor Scale. The force of the quaking energy shattered the LOX crystal, and Holocaust within it, into billions of sand-sized pieces. Jason dropped his sword in exhaustion, and collapsed to his knees. Both Aisha and Alexis caught him before he fell on his face.
"We'll take him to the CAC," said Alexis, looking up at the Blue Ranger, "You park the Alligator Terrazord and follow."
"Right," said Katherine, leaping onto the snout of the zord. She entered the cockpit, and steered the mighty Alligator back into the Terrazord Hangar. Alexis and Aisha had teleported both themselves and Jason to the CAC, where Billy and Adam were hurriedly working on Zack's injuries. Rocky was inside a storage closet, digging thought a pile of high tech medical tools.
"What happened to Jason?" asked Billy, sounding exhausted.
"He has a severe shoulder injury," answered Alexis, sitting the unconscious Black Ranger on a chair against the wall, "Don't you have another bed?"
"Just a minute," said Billy, activating one of the various healing devices attached to the medical unit Zack was lying on. He immediately reverted out of costume, and a soft blue force field surrounded his injured leg. A beam of white light was focused at Zack's head, where his injury was.
"Adam, keep an eye on Zack's EEG readings," ordered Billy.
"You got it," said Adam, focusing on Zack's brain waves on the small screen.
"Well, Zack's leg should be healed soon," said Billy, wiping the sweat off his forehead and approaching Jason, Alexis, and Aisha, "but he has slipped into a coma. He's lucky to have survived such a blow to the head. Help me with Jason."
Billy was examining the gash slicing through Jason's shoulder. "I need to get him out of this uniform in order to treat him," he said irritatedly, "It was so much easier to un-morph you guys when you had morphers. Now that the Zeo crystals are inside your bodies, I can't very well take them away. The med-unit has an automatic un-morpher, but since its being used at the moment... Rocky, hand me the negative-proton ray? Its the one that looks like a rifle."
Rocky searched for a few minutes, and then jogged across the room, giving Billy a machine that looked like a rifle. He held it in two hands, and fired a beam of blue light directly at Jason's heart. In a flash of black light, the Black Ranger uniform vanished, leaving Jason in his street clothes. He then put the rifle-like machine back in his desk and typed some commands into the teleporter, making a cot appear next to the chair Jason was slumped on.
"Too bad we only have one med-unit," muttered Billy, as he and Rocky gently lifted Jason onto the cot, "This cot will have to do. Zack's injuries are more life-threatening."
Aisha slumped into the chair Jason was sitting on, pressing her side discreetly with a towel.
Suddenly, the Blue Ranger appeared in a flash of light blue light.
"How are they?" she asked, immediately un-morphing.
"Zack's been stablized, and Jason should be fine," said Billy, finishing cleaning the cut on Jason's arm. He then wrapped the arm tightly in bandages, and attached a small machine onto Jason's arm above the bandage.
"That ought to stop the bleeding, but the flesh has to be re-generated," said Billy, standing up straight and stretching his back, "I'll have to wait 'til Zack's healed before I can put Jason on the med-unit."
"Aisha!" Rocky cried suddenly, staring at his friend in shock, "You're bleeding!"
"It's nothing," she said weakly, "I'll be fine."
Billy shook his head and once again typed commands into the teleporter. Another cot appeared, near the one Jason was resting on. Rocky helped Aisha lie down while Billy picked up the negative-proton ray to un-morph her. Once that was done, he began to scan the cut.
"You were cut by a piece of rusted metal," he said sternly, "That's very dangerous, Aisha. You could have gotten a serious infection. Rocky, get me some more bandages, please? And that antibiotic ray?"
Once again, Rocky ran to the closet. Billy ran some other device over Aisha's injury. Rocky handed both items to Billy. Billy first ran the warm blue beam over the length of the cut, and then unwrapped the bandaging.
"This'll need stitches," he said, wrapping Aisha's wound, "But I can't regenerate the flesh until Zack is out of the danger zone. Adam, how are his brain waves?"
"He's out of his coma!" announced Adam, "but he's still unconscious."
Billy ran to the teleporter, and in two beams of bright light, Aisha and Zack switched places. Zack was sleeping peacefully on the cot, while Adam started running the flesh regeneration program on the med-unit, which immediately starting closing the horrible gash on Aisha's side. While Adam kept an eye on Aisha, Billy turned to Zack, and examined the formerly broken leg.
"Its still a little tender," he mentioned, "I'll finish the second stage of 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.
Inside the Moon Palace, Kimberly Hart and the Yellow Ranger run 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 fill the castle have all fled in fear of the wrath of Solar. Even Goldar and Rito now cower in utter terror, hiding somewhere on the lunar surface. Kim stops 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, "Its 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 airborn.
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 transfering 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 femenine version of the Red Terran Ranger uniform.
"I feel so... strange," said Kim dazedly, taking off her helmet, "Its 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 being filled with fire.
