Later that night, the sounds of teleportation filled the chamber for the last time that night as the girls returned. They all dropped their twenty pound bags heaving a sigh of relief.
Damon walked in dropping the cupcake he was holding. "Wow! What’d you girls do? Clean out all the stores you came into? Where are we going to put this stuff?"
"That’s nothing compared to when Cassie, and Ashley get back from Christmas shopping. Over ninety-nine percent of the stuff they buy is for themselves." TJ waved it off. "Why didn’t you guys ditch the bags at your home or something? The Power Chamber isn’t really a storage for all you stuff."
"My stuff can fit into my closet on the ship." Ashley smiled. "I just need help carrying it all. They’re the bags Kat, Tanya, Maya, Haramis, and Anigel are carrying. Not to mention the six bags I dropped."
"Ditto for me." Cassie grinned. "We did drop off some of the stuff. Everything Aisha, Trini, and I were carrying is mine. And you won’t have to worry about Kim, Aisha, Kat, or Tanya’s bags..... they’ve already been dropped off."
Kendrix tossed the two bags she were carrying at Leo. "You can drop those off at my room." She flashed a smiled. "We’ve all been carrying enough."
"Chop chop... all our stuff needs to be put away." Karone giggled gesturing to everything else. "You can ditch everything that is not mentioned on the simu-deck, me and Sirena have to sort through it and see who’s is who’s."
Maya giggled also. "If they think this is a ton, man they should have seen how much stuff Kim and Kat got together." She swung the only bag she was carrying. "Even Terra Venture doesn’t have shoes like the ones at Angel Grove Valley Mall."
"See, I would carry my stuff myself b--" Sirena started.
"Good, then carry it." Zhane turned around to finish what he had been doing.
"But...." She added getting Zhane’s attention. "They’re way too heavy and I knew we should have brought along some of the guys."
Antar, Gieve, and Tollo walked in then finishing their check. "I hope most of that stuff belongs to the Earth rangers...." Antar frowned.
Anigel smiled. "Yeah it does, and you freak when I bring in two bags. Amazing isn’t it? I don’t see anyone freaking here besides you and Gieve." Tollo snickered. "But don’t worry, I only got this new dress that was just too pretty to pass up on. Besides, one of the Earth rangers would have gotten it if I hadn’t."
Kim glanced at her watch. "It’s getting kinda late. We’ll leave the bags to you guys to carry away. It’s 8 already and we’d better get to the New Millennium soon or else all the tables’ll be taken."
"Whoa whoa whoa... where are you girls going now?" Jason asked confused. "The New Millennium? Isn’t that the new dance club in town?" Kim nodded. "So why are you guys going there now?"
"Well duh!" Kat rolled her eyes. "It’s *Ladies’ Night* there and we deserve a break. You guys could come if you wanted." She added.
Zack jumped up. "We deserve a break too, considering we’re the ones who’ve been working all day." He was psyched to get to the club. Dancing was his favorite activity and hobby. "Look, why don’t we all go..." He said when he noticed no one else was saying anything.
The Ruwenian rangers looked at each other nervously knowing they wouldn’t quite fit in. "You guys can go. We’ll stay and finish up." Gieve assured them.
Andros shook his head. "You’re our guests here. We wouldn’t feel right leaving you guys to do all the work. Come with us, it’ll be fun, trust me."
"Yeah, and don’t worry about not fitting in. Some of us still stand out big-time, like a sore thumb." Zhane grinned. "Please..."
Tollo turned towards the other two. "I don’t know about you two, but I’d just like to find out how Earthlings have fun. And their social status, think of it as research." He flashed a smile.
"All right." Antar couldn’t help grinning. "So how do we act? What do we do? Is there anything we need to give them as identification we’re rangers?"
"Oh no! We can’t let anyone know we’re rangers. Unless of course, they remember how TJ and Zhane talked us into morphing on top of that building in plain sight of Angel Grove." Ashley said tartly towards the two guys who were trying to give a defensive look. "I like being the center of attention, but not that much."
"Well, we needed to show Kalika we weren’t afraid of her. Even in civilian form." TJ sighed. "How many times do I have to remind you on that? If we just showed up morphed, she’ll think we’re scared to oppose her as regular humans."
Sirena smiled a little. "I wouldn’t worry about them remembering too much. When we were on Earth shopping, I don’t think everyone remembers. Some people were giving us looks, and other just ignored us."
"Anyway, you all have to change into civilian forms. The Ruwenians can go with Andros and Zhane and they’ll find something comfortable for them to wear. And try to dress, err... hip hop stylish if you know what I mean." Cassie shrugged. "I don’t know how else to explain it."
"We know what you mean." Zhane put out two thumbs up. "Don’t worry, we will look stupid." He grinned. "Just kidding." He and Andros led the Ruwenians off towards this huge storage of clothes that’s normally kept for visitors.
"I’ll be right back, I need to go get something from my room." Sirena jumped up from her seat on a console. A teleportation picked her up and she disappeared.
Ely leaned against the wall thinking of what to do. Nobody had given him instructions on what to do if Sirena was still alive. He heard footsteps coming and quickly straightened up to look like he was headed somewhere. Around the corner, he bumped in Sirena.
"Oh, hi." Sirena gave a sort of half smile.
"Um, Sirena, we need to talk...." Ely did what he believed Ivan would want him to do. "I’m not very comfortable with you being a ranger and all.... There’s all that danger, and I’m afraid you’ll get hurt. I think you really should give up rangering and come home with me."
Sirena stared at him trying not to shudder. "Geez, this guy doesn’t give up does he?" She thought. "Can we talk about this, daddy?" She asked out loud. "I really like being a ranger and I know it’s dangerous but I like helping people...."
"But I would rather you safe and sound at home instead of doing this dangerous stuff. It’s not like it’s required of you. There are many other guy who can do an equally good job, perhaps even better." He insisted. "You’ll be with family instead of separated so faraway."
"But I like being a ranger. You get to go and see places I never would be allowed if I wasn’t a ranger!" Sirena found herself yelling and getting more frustrated as the time passed. "Being a ranger has been the only life I’ve known! I can’t and I won’t stop now! You can’t make me!"
"Haven’t you ever thought of me or your mother? What if we don’t want you to become a ranger? I know your mother would love to have you at her side always. And your brother needs someone to support him through his many uh.... changes." Ely’s mind whirled as he realized he was actually getting into the role.
Si looked down at the floor. "Well no...... I haven’t met them yet. Do you really think mom would love to have me at her side?"
"I know so.... Promise me you’ll think about it?" He asked.
Sirena nodded. "I will."
"What’s taking Si?" Karone said with frustration pacing around the Power Chamber. "It’s almost time to go." Her communicator beeped in the midst of her complaining. "Sirena?! Will you hurry up?! It’s almost time and we’re waiting of you! And if this is someone else, sorry." Karone said hurriedly.
"Nice greeting....." Sirena commented over the com. "Be glad it’s not Tideus or else you’ll get an earful from him about ‘proper’ greetings. You guys can go ahead without me, Mr. I’m-your-father-which-was-why-I-popped-out-of-nowhere wants me to quote quote quit being a ranger and come home with him." They could almost see her rolling her eyes. "Now I have to quote quote think about it in my room for a while. But don’t worry, I’ll catch up with you guys. Sirena out."
"O-kay......." Kim played with her hair. "So I guess we would be going now then..... She does know where the club is right?"
"Yeah, she’s not that clueless." Zhane muttered. "Can we go now?" He asked spinning in his black dress pants and metallic silver shirt. The others were dressed like him only with their own colors. They all had one thing in common which was taking CWS, Color Withdrawal Syndrome, seriously.
"Umm...... we’re confused here....." Antar cut in. "Who’s Mr. I’m-your-father-which-was-why-I-popped-out-of-nowhere?" He asked. "Is she talking about Ely, one of the 6th Dimension rangers?" He asked.
"Uh....... well....... Dimitria?" Ashley looked up. "Will you explain?"
Each of the Ruwenians looked up at the floating figure in the tube for an explanation. The old sharpness, coldness, and discipline was starting to show again in their faces which had disappeared after a few days.
Dimitria allowed the silence to stretch for a while. "Ely is not Sirena’s father. I, myself was present when she was handed over as an infant. Her father’s name shall be kept as a secret until he decides it is the right time to come forward to the universe. But a few selected people know, Zordon, the Earth rangers, the Galaxy rangers, Sirena also, and me. I will allow you to know that her father is a ranger, but not Ely. One that has been long forgotten and yet still helps the universe behind a mask. Know now, that everything that has been revealed to you shall stay in this room as our secret. I order you to preserve this secret as one of the few."
One by one, the Ruwenians nodded giving their word. Their faces once again changed as Tollo called out. "So are we going to this dance club or not? We need to do this ‘research’ and show everyone else when we get back what we discovered."
Cassie just shrugged. "I guess we could go without Sirena, after all, she’s been there before and she always sticks to her word, even if it gets her in trouble." She commented dryly remembering a few times in the past.
"Let’s just go. A while for Si is just a few minutes." Ashley grinned. "After all, the New Millennium is awaiting...!"
Karone pushed her way through the crowds back to their table. She looked at her watch again. It’s been almost ten minutes and she hadn’t seen Sirena come in yet. "Hey, did you guys see Sirena come in yet? I was watching the door most of the time and I thought I might have missed her coming in."
Antar shook his head no. Then he made a gesture with his hands towards the DJ and the speakers than to his ears. Karone gave him a confused look not understanding what he was trying to say. He sighed and then opened his mouth. "This noise is giving me a headache!" He yelled loudly though it was not in his nature.
"It’s music...!" Karone protested. "Sure some of it Earthlings listen to might not be that appealing but it’s still music!" She looked around for Anigel then turned back. "Here, you can’t just sit the entire time!" She grabbed his hand hauling him onto the dance floor. Antar opened his mouth to protest but Karone cut him off. "Everyone pretty much moves to the beat. It’s not that hard."
Several times Sirena had tried to teleport off but found the beam jammed somehow. Not to mention her communicator link had be cut off. "ACTOM! DECA! Are you sure you don’t know what’s wrong?!" She asked for the thousandth time. "I have to go!" She complainged stomping her foot.
"I change my mind, I’d rather get stuck on a ship with a bunch of monsters than with Sirena." ACTOM muttered out loud from his comfy position on the couch. "Can you at least shut up while DECA tries to do something? Or maybe even get out and see if you can fix the teleportation beam or something or do a check up yourself."
"You know I’m no good at that stuff. What happens if I blow this ship up?" Sirena demanded.
If a computer could sigh, now would have been the time. "Have not ACTOM survived with you in charge of repairs for half a year before you met up with the space rangers? If you could do it then, than you can do it now." DECA encouraged. "At least take a look, what if it’s a loose wire or something external and not internal?"
Sirena turned towards the door. "I guess it’ll probably be a lot faster than here waiting for you two to do something." She muttered trying to remember where the teleportation beam would be when the two ships were combined.
"Megadeck 8." DECA said cutting into her thoughts. "And this might not be good news but Ely’s near it. I’m willing to bet he’s done something."
Sirena stared off into space still facing the door her mind now drifting elsewhere. She had felt it, there was no denying it. It was the same feeling that always went through her. And there was no mistake. A tiny part of her brain became more sensitive as the growing awareness around her steadily increased.
*For one who is evil, there is always hope. Should he even care a little, or be moved a little... there is light, and where there’s light, there is hope.........* Zordon’s voice floated around her softly but growing louder and louder. *For one who is evil, there is always hope. Should he even care a little, or be moved a little... there is light, and where there’s light, there is hope......... For one who is evil, there is always hope. Should he even care a little, or be moved a little... there is light, and where there’s light, there is hope.........* His voice faded away.
Sirena shook herself out of her trance. "Was that really Zordon?" She thought to herself. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to ACTOM waving a hand in front of her face.
"Sirena? Are you alright? Maybe you should stay put and let us continue our scans and try and fix the teleportation problem." ACTOM suggested.
"I--I’m fine..." Sirena held up a hand. "I just need to think abut something for a little while...." She muttered sitting down on her bed again. "See what DECA can do about our problem, I’ll do my part in a little while..."
Antar actually began to find himself having fun. Unlike the music of Ruwenia, all the music here had a beat to it. A certain tempo that he discovered made it fun to dance to. He had caught fleeting glimpses of Tollo and Gieve earlier somewhere in the crowd also seemingly to have fun.
"Antar!!!" A high voice screeched loudly in his ear. He felt himself wince. It was Anigel. He turned to see her flaming face. Her hand snatched his arm dragging him away from the dance floor and into a secluded small niche. "Why were dancing with her? You’re suppose to be with me!" She hissed angrily jabbing a finger at Karone who was pretending not to notice but couldn’t help overhearing.
"You weren’t anywhere near...." Antar whispered controlling his anger. "And believe me Anigel, you’re getting very annoying these days. My life doesn’t revolve around you constantly. For your sake and mine, understand that."
The word ‘psych problem’ kept repeating itself in Karone’s mind as she couldn’t help but overhear the coversation between the two Ruwenians. She turned to scan the floor trying to block out Anigel’s voice. Sirena still wasn’t here. Something was definately wrong. It wasn’t like her to be this late, ever.
"She’s still not here...." Andros’ voice trailed off as he appeared beside her also trying to not listen to Anigel and Antar’s conversation. "I’m beginning to get worred. It’s not like her to not call." Andros sighed. "If anyone asked, I went home." He said finally. "I’m gonna go check on her just in case..."
Karone nodded. "Let me know if anything’s wrong. She’s my best friend, remember that."
"I will." Andros pushed his way out of the club to get somewhere where he could teleport without being noticed.
Karone sighed as she turned and returned to their table. Zhane was already there enjoying his drink as well as taking a much needed rest. Karone gave a small smile as she set her head down to think.
"Sirena still not here?" Zhane asked taking a guess.
Karone lifted her head a little. "Yeah... I hope she’s all right."
"This is Sirena we’re talking about.... of course she’ll be all right? You’ve never seen her take care of herself?"
"I know.... I know.... it’s just that you know this feeling you get whenever you feel as if there’s something wrong and there normally is....?" Zhane nodded. "Well I’ve got that feeling that something awful is about to happen. And I don’t mean awful as in just a small thing, something big...."
"We all get these feelings once in a while... but they sometimes turn out to be nothing..... Besides, if anything happens, Sirena can take care of it and so can we." Zhane casted a small smile.
Karone opened her mouth to say something but was stopped by Andros pulling the two of them up. "Get the others....." He said in a shaky voice. "We’ve got a problem and it’s not nice." Karone managed to catch a look at his face which was deathly pale. She felt the bottom of her stomach drop out.
Once everyone was gathered, Andros had them teleport to the Power Chamber where the Magna Defender, Phantom Ranger, Dimitria, and Tideus awaited. On the viewing screen was an image of the Megaship but there was something going on in the background which was hazy and unclear.
"Rangers, a dire situation is in the process. Most of you have not ever fought Scorpina and Goldar, but those of you who have know how strong the two are once their powers are combined. They have never been destroyed by a ranger team before and it was Zordon’s energy that wiped them out. But Ivan Ooze is apparently attempting to bring them back to life. The gateway you see in the background of the Megaship is what he is trying to unlock, a doorway to the past. But he will need to sacrifice a tremendous amount of power in order to do so. Our scanners indicate he has plans that include the Megaship to open the gateway. All communication and transportation between Earth and the Megaship has now be jammed and an invisible shield covers the ship, keeping our scanners from penetrating." Dimitria informed them.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa wait.... Ivan Ooze is trying to bring Scorpina and Goldar back? He’s worked with Goldar before and knows that Goldar would betray his own mother in order to destroy the power rangers. And with Scorpina helping him... they probably could do it if they had the perfect plan." Jason said his eye brows furrowed in concentration.
Karone stood by one of the scanners. "Sirena’s still on the ship...!"
Underneath the armor, Daurius felt himself stiffen. The Magna Defender immediately set a hand on his arm... trying to calm him down. He wanted to relax, he really did... but the thought, just the trickle of thought that entered his mind scared him of what could happen.
"I suppose this would be a test to see if you are all up to this...." Tideus muttered dryly. "I remember when I was younger my teacher would frequently give tests like these pretending they were real and when he generated them, boy did they feel real...." He said shaking his head. "Now we’ll see if you rangers are up to this or not."
Cassie contained herself to walk up and slap him. A test!? She thought.... This was real life! Almost deja vu for her and her team. If they lost a team member again or err... almost again.... She just didn’t know what she’d do.
"Couldn’t someone teleport on the ship, or Sirena and ACTOM teleport off?" Zhane asked.
"Hello? Were you listening to what Dimitria said? ‘All communication and transportation between Earth and the Megaship has now be jammed.’ This meaning no one can get on or off the ship and communicators and communication systems don’t work." Kim said quoting Dimitria.
Justin spoke up. "Me and Billy could probably build something to get through the shield and jamming system."
"Billy and I." Billy corrected. "It would take time, and I’m not entirely sure we’ll have the time to design and build one, calculate the power and intensity, and test it to be sure of its working condition."
"Okay, you and Justin get to work building something and the rest of us can work on finding another on the ship, or stopping Ivan from bringing Scorpina and Goldar back." Tommy said reverting to his leader-mode.
Sirena peered around the corner of the open door stepping into one of the glass rooms on the Megaship. Encircling the ship was a net-like mesh of purple and pink. She gasped slightly taking a step towards one of the large picture windows. Outside, she could see a swirl of black that looked as if it was swallowing everything coming towards it.
"What is that?" ACTOM whispered softly behind her stepping into the room also.
"I’m guessing something not good....." Sirena muttered. "I just wish I knew what was going to happen."
"Um.... can we like go find the teleportation beam projector is located and fix the thing, then get rid of the net and floor the ship out of here?" ACTOM asked. "Cause that hole looks like it’s getting bigger and it’s also kinda close."
Sirena nodded backing out of the room. "C’mon, let’s go. You lead the way and I’ll watch our backs."
ACTOM bent massaging his legs painfully. "Can’t wait to be a computer again. I think I like watching from the sidelines better. It’s safer, and more entertaining."
Sirena rolled her eyes.