THE END
Perfect weather was the general rule in Angel Grove, commonly known as the 'monster capital of the world', or at least of Southern California. Today, however, the general rule was broken, as the skies filled with dark clouds and rain poured down like there was no tomorrow. Most of the citizens were disgruntled by this; it ruined plans for the beach, for long walks in the park, picnics, all manner of things.
Two people, however, were disgruntled by something else altogether: the fact that their most recent date had been interrupted not by the weather, but by one of King Mondo's monsters. The creature, which had declared it's name to be Warpmaker and it's mission to be, as per usual, the destruction of the Power Rangers, had leaped practically out of the Earth at their feet, and started blasting at them. Only by hiding in an alley for a few quick moments had enabled them to morph to deal with this.
"Something's jamming communications!" the Blue Zeo Ranger shouted to his partner, currently blasting at Warpmaker as fast as she could. "We're on our own for this one, Trini!"
"I'm not surprised!" the Gold Zeo Ranger grumbled, stopping firing just long enough to kick the creature in the head in a powerful kick and landed next to Rocky. "Bet you anything we can't call our Zords either."
Rocky nodded, jerking to the side as Warpmaker tried to punch him and tripped the creature as quickly as he could. "We'll have to take it down without them, then."
"Pyramidus sure would be a help right now!" Trini mumbled, spin kicking the monster in the head as it got back to it's feet. And I could deal with this a lot better if the guy I was dating wasn't the other one getting the daylights pounded out of him.
Trini and Rocky's relationship had quite literally skyrocketed the past few weeks. She had no idea just at what point it had happened, but somewhere along the way, she had fallen in love with him. She had been struck by the passion and depth of her feelings for him just the other day, and it had literally stopped her in her tracks when it had.
Ever since their first date, she had known there was something between them, something beyond just a few casual meetings or even the close friendship all Rangers shared with each other. He was handsome, strong, caring, funny, and gentle. But just why all those appealed to her was something she had no idea about.
The Gold Ranger clenched her teeth sharply and wrapped her hands firmly around the Golden Power Staff. I'll worry about my love life later, she thought. Right now, I have to worry about whether or not this thing is going to bite my head off.
She swore rather violently in the four languages she spoke fluently, and was extremely grateful Rocky wasn't near enough to hear any of it as a teleportation circle appeared and deposited what looked like about twenty Cogs, plus Klank and Orbus, obviously ready to enlarge the monster if by some chance the two of them got the upper hand in this fight.
"Oh, man, we really need some help here!" Rocky groaned, running over to Trini as fast as he could. "And if we don't get it, we're gonna wind up as monster toe-jam!"
Trini glanced at the creature, doing what she could to gauge it's weaknesses and strengths. Got the muscles to tear us apart, but not very fast. It calls itself Warpmaker, and these things tend to have descriptive names, which means it could make warps. Just what kind, I'm not sure if I want to know. But it could help to figure out how to beat it.
Almost as if it had heard her, Warpmaker took up a strange stance. "Prepare to lose to King Mondo, Rangers!" it hissed, throwing an arm out towards them. Before either of them could so much as move a muscle, a strange silvery light exploded from it's hand, wrapping around the both of them and enveloping them in a deep, thick darkness.
After several tense minutes, she began to move, opening her eyes and looking at him. "Ohhhh," was all she said at first, but as her mind began to clear and she remembered what had happened. "Rocky?"
"I'm here," he muttered. "I don't know how and I don't know where, but I'm here," he heard movement, and quickly advised her to sit up slowly instead of jerking up as he had. "I think it might have been that monster's fault. We're. ..somewhere. Not home."
A sudden cold laugh echoed all around them, and both of them reached instinctively for each other. Mondo's metallic voice sounded. "You are in a pocket dimension that is under my control," the Machine King grated. "And it is here you will stay until my plan is complete!"
"What plan is that?" Trini hissed, trying to summon the Golden Power Staff. Her eyes widened when she realized it wasn't coming to her! Of course, he said we were in a pocket dimension, which means we're out of touch with our normal universe. No morphing. Wonderful.
Mondo laughed harshly. "I see no reason not to tell you; there's nothing you can do about it. I have sent a message to your fellow Rangers, demanding their surrender for your lives. They have twelve hours to make up their minds. ..but no matter what they decide, I win!"
"You've got to be joking!" Rocky growled. "The Power Rangers would never admit defeat, especially not to you!"
"It doesn't matter," they couldn't see him, though they could hear his voice, and it was thick with satisfaction. "Because the essence of the dimension you are in is purest evil. The longer you are in there, the more it will seep into your souls, until you are nothing but demonic warriors that fight only for me! So either your friends surrender. . .or you become my warriors! Either way, I win! Prepare to serve me, my warriors. ..forever!"
His voice faded away, and the two of them stared at each other, both shaking at what they had just heard. Trini found her voice first. "We have to find a way out of here," she said, shakily making her way to her feet. "He could have been lying to us. ..but I'd rather not find out the hard way."
"Same here," Rocky forced himself to stand. "Think we can teleport out?"
The Gold Ranger shrugged. "Worth a shot," was all she said, reaching for the communicator on her wrist. Both of them tapped the device, but neither was truly surprised to find out it wasn't working. "Looks like we've got to find another way out of here. Any ideas?"
Both of them took a long look around before either even considered answering that. This pocket dimension looked to be fairly expansive, stretching out to all sides of them. The sky overhead was pale and starless, and the few blades of grass that poked up from the soil were thin and gray. There was no sign of habitation or life anywhere except the two of them. "Nothing," the Blue Ranger groaned quietly. "Let's pick a direction. . .and do a lot of hoping."
It seemed that was the only thing they could do.
"We don't have a lot of time," Adam flipped through a stack of readouts and muttered. Mondo had contacted them almost as soon as they'd gotten to the Power Chamber after rendering Warpmaker to scrap metal, and told them, with a malicious glee, that unless they surrendered within twelve hours, the Gold and Blue Rangers would be destroyed. "Any luck, Billy?"
The Red Ranger shook his head a little. "Nothing yet. I'm still looking for a full dimension signature on where they were sent. Without that, I can't find them."
"And if we don't find them," Kat let the sentence fade; they all knew what their choice would be if they didn't locate Rocky and Trini. As much as it would pain them, and as much as it would hurt the world, they would have to surrender to Mondo. Everyone shuddered at that though.
BE BRAVE, RANGERS, Zordon told them. YOU MUST NOT GIVE UP. MONDO CANNOT BE PERMITTED TO WIN. BILLY, HAVE YOU CHECKED DIMENSION SUBSECTION THIRTY-SEVEN C TWELVE? THAT HAS BEEN KNOWN TO BE USED BEFORE AS ONE OF MONDO'S PRISONS.
As Billy put the information into the computer, Kat looked up at their mentor. "How could Mondo send them to another dimension anyway? I didn't think they did magic."
THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO ACCESS OTHER DIMENSIONS, KATHERINE. MAGIC IS ONLY ONE OF THEM. MACHINE SCIENCE HAS TAPPED INTO OTHERS, BUT IT IS VERY DIFFICULT, WHICH IS WHY WARPMAKER WAS THE ONLY ONE OF HIS KIND. AS FAR AS WE KNOW, HE COULD CREATE WARPS TO ALMOST TWO THOUSAND DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS.
"Hey!" the cry came from Tanya, who was trying to track down their communicator signal. "I think I've got a lock on their signals! I don't think I can teleport them, but we should be able to locate them!"
Billy practically ran over to her station and looked over her shoulder. "I think this is it, Tanya!" he grinned, checking over the data. "There's two communicator signals coming out of this dimension here," he quickly ran the dimension co ordinates through the computer, and went pale. "Holy. . .," his voice failed to even complete the exclamation. "He sent them to some place that literally oozes with evil. If they spend much longer in it, they're going to become evil: irreversibly."
YOU MUST CONSTRUCT A WAY TO GET THEM OUT OF THERE, BILLY. THE SAFETY OF OUR FRIENDS, AS WELL AS THE PURITY OF THE ZEO POWERS, DEPEND UPON YOU.
Billy nodded, going over to the computers and starting to punch in more data and scenarios. And they say this is a no-pressure job. . ..
She took a long look at him, letting a smile play about the corners of her lips, despite the seriousness of the situation. He was handsome, charming, witty, strong, caring, compassionate, loyal, and she loved him. She wouldn't let another moment go by without him knowing that. The feelings she had thought she had for Billy were nothing compared to this. This was real. This was solid. This was, she hoped with all her heart, returned.
Rocky looked at her, and saw a wry smile on her face, and her eyes filled with a laughter and a love that no one, not even Mondo and his threats, could take away. She was beautiful, kind, generous, passionate, warm, honorable, and he loved her. He wasn't going to let this chance pass him by.
"Rocky," she breathed quietly, reaching out to take his hand. "No matter what happens to us. ..I want you to know. ..I love you."
"And I...love you," he replied, stepping closer to her and leaning down. Their lips were only moments from touching, when a sudden white flash of light like the one that had sent them to that dimension sparkled between them. Both jerked away, looking around, ready to morph if necessary to deal with whatever was going on.
"You did it, Billy!" Katherine's voice cried out as the sparkles faded from their vision and the two of them could see again. They were back in the Power Chamber. .. and still holding hands. "And I think we interrupted something!"
Both Rocky and Trini blushed at that, as Zordon welcomed them both back. YOU MAY THANK BILLY AND TANYA FOR YOUR RESCUE, the old wizard declared. TANYA LOCATED YOUR COMMUNICATOR SIGNALS, AND BILLY CREATED THE DIMENSIONAL FLUX DEVICE THAT BROUGHT YOU HOME.
"Thanks, man," Rocky smiled, clapping his friend on the back. "We owe you one."
"Just what I do," Billy chuckled, a faint blush stealing across his features when he saw they still hadn't stopped holding hands. I wonder if they've finally admitted it. ..
His inner thoughts might well have been answered in the next moment, when Rocky turned to Trini and pulled her closer to him, into a deep, tender, passionate kiss that she was obviously returning with every bit of her own feelings for him. They didn't stop, even when the other four Rangers quite literally applauded for the newest couple of the Power Rangers. Once again, a pair of hearts had linked forever.