“Man, it sure is crowded in here!” Rocky exclaimed.

“Well, everyone’s obviously enjoying the fact that school’s out… And so am I! I can’t wait until the beach club opens again and I can just lie in the sun and relax.” Kat gave a happy sigh.

“Yeah, well that’s only if you now who leaves us

only.” Tommy reminded them, pointing to his communicator.

“How could we ever forget about him.” Adam said with irritation,” He’s been so quiet lately. The city has actually been normal for the past few weeks…I wonder if he’s just given up.”

“Yeah, well I wouldn’t get too excited… This has happened before… I just wonder what he’s planning.” Tommy stated always with that cautioning tone.

“Well, let’s not worry about that now… Let’s just enjoy ourselves.” Kat stated trying to act like a normal teen.

“Hey Leeza, how was practice?” Tanya asked a bit relieved that Leeza had just walked in the room and collapsed in a chair. She let her dirty blond hair out of a ponytail.

“It was okay. I’m really tired… Ever since I won Regionals, my coach won’t give me a break! But it’s nice to be able to work again… Anyone seen Billy?” She asked.

“He said he was working on something in the Power Chamber… Leeza, you got to get the guy out of there more often… I’m afraid I’m gonna go in there one day and he’ll be one big computer chip!” Rocky stated blankly.

Leeza laughed. “I’m trying, but he just won’t listen to me.

I’ll warn him one more time and if he doesn’t listen all just have to get him out of there by force…And that,” She crossed her arms,” is that.”

“We were just discussing how quiet it’s been lately and if you know who is up to something.” Tommy said as easily as he could.

“I think he’s just given up and gone to terrorize some other galaxy… What do you think about it Leeza? Think he’s up to something; or that he just gave up?” Tanya asked.

Leeza bit her lip. “I really couldn’t tell you, I haven’t been on the team that long, so I really don’t know how this works… But from what Billy tells me he could still be out there plotting his next attack. So all we can do is be prepared and wait.”

“Leeza, too bad you didn’t join the team a long time ago; you would have saved us a lot of trouble.” Adam informed her.

At that moment their communicators sounded. “ Speaking of you know who…Let’s go back here.” Tommy nodded toward their appointed area in the Youth Center for contact with one another.

“What is it Zordon?”

“Oops! Sorry Tommy! I was trying to contact Leeza, I didn’t mean to get your communicator.”

A very embarrassed Billy told him on the end.

“Oh.” Tommy covered up the top of the communicator. “ We’ll let you talk to him alone. Let us know what happens later.” Tommy lightly patted her shoulder and left with the others.

“What’s up Billy?” She asked.

“I’ve got a surprise for you…. Come to the Power Chamber and I’ll show it to you. Okay?”

Leeza thought for a minute. “Okay. I’ll be there in a sec, just let me tell the other’s I’m leaving.” Leeza ended the conversation, wondering what Billy was up to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

Leeza arrived there a minute later and was directed by Alpha to the “project room”. That was the room where she and Billy would work on new ideas to help defend the rangers. When she walked in, there was a section sealed off. Leeza headed towards it. Just as she was about to unveil it, Billy darted in and stopped her.

“William James Cranston, what in the world are you up to?” She demanded arms crossed.

“Well.” He shrugged reluctantly.” You know how every time the rangers go on their Zeo jet cycles, and call on their zords we usually have to stay behind and watch the battle?”

“Yeah, what’s your point.” She asked sounding slightly irritated.

He glared at her.” Don’t get snippy, I’m just explaining it too you.”

She sighed,” I’m sorry I’m just a little tired,” She brushed her hair back,” Go on.”

“Well.” He said pulling the curtain back.” We don’t have to now.” There stood two jet cycles, one peach, and the other silver.” I’m beginning to work on the zord now…I would like to combine our powers and make it one zord… If that’s okay with you.”

Leeza was in total shock. So this was why she could never get him out of the Power Chamber! “It’s fine with me.

There beautiful Billy… I just wish you had told me about this I could have helped out.”

Billy shook his head.” Leeza, the whole point of this was to surprise you, if you had helped me out it wouldn’t have been a surprise…Right?”

Leeza finally agreed. “Right.”

“But, you could help me with the zord… I’ve gotten so used to having you help me out on things that I was lonely building the jet cycles without you. “ He said sheepishly.

Leeza giggled.” You depend on me a little too much Billy… But back to the zord, what do you want me to do?”

“Well, we can’t start on the zord yet. The jet cycles need to be powered up. I already have the energy beam in place. I just want you to connect the final wires and the I’ll send the energy beam. That all right with you?”

“Fine.” She started on the wiring which took a total of five minutes, if that. “Okay, all set.”

“Leeza, you have perfect timing, I just finished setting the program up. Okay, go over by the door and I’ll send the beam.”

“Why do I have to go by the door?” She asked.

“Because I don’t want you to get hurt if something goes wrong.”

“But that means you could get hurt.” She pointed out.

“I’ll be fine I’ve done this tons of times… I just want to make sure you’re safe… Okay?”

Leeza sighed not really wanting to agree, “Okay, I’ll stand by the door.” She mumbled. As soon as she got there Billy started anxiously at the keyboard. A second or so later the Zeo jet cycles started to have their colored lights shine throughout them. But something about the electrical beam frightened Leeza, sending chills over her. And she never seemed to get frightened from things like that. It showed something that she just didn’t trust. And then she followed the beam back to Billy and discovered the problem. It was sending energy up to the console where Billy was working. As she glanced at the scanner monitoring the beam she saw it seemed to be stating some sort of overload within the beam itself. If it overloaded to much… Well Leeza really didn’t want to think about that.

“Billy, I think you should step away from the console.” The tone of anxiety and fear was propionate in her voice.

“Why do you say that?” He asked still anxiously typing at the keyboard.

“I think the beam’s beginning to overload… If it does too much and your still there your in big trouble.”

Billy just shook his head,” Leeza I’ve been doing this for years and nothing like that’s ever happened… You just worry to much.”

“There’s always a first time.” She warned.” That’s why you want me to stand by the door because you’re afraid I could get hurt… Too bad you just didn’t have that kind of concern for yourself.”

“Leeza it’s no big deal! I just wanted to make sure you were in a safe place in case anything did go wrong… But nothing…” Just as he said this a loud beeping began to sound warning of an overload. “ will.” He said softly, and ran to the other console. “There must be something wrong with the jet cycles it’s never done anything like this before.”

“Maybe the wiring inside it, is in the wrong place?” Leeza said walking up to the console.

“I got to see,” Billy said heading for the jet cycles.

“Billy don’t you think you should shut the program off first… That way they’ll be no danger?” The fear so evident in her voice that it made Billy freeze.

“Leeza it will take way to much energy to set the program up again… I just need to fix one thing, I already think I know what the problem is. “ He said beginning to fiddle with the wires.

Leeza just froze. The only thing that moved was her eyes, slowly watching Billy and the console for the overload. With each passing second the beeping seemed to get louder and louder. Each time hitting your nerves waiting for the bomb to go off. Then a voice came out of no where stating complete overload in less the ten seconds. “Billy get away from there!” Leeza screeched.

“Just one more second, and I’ve got it.”

“If you wait one more second you won’t be here to get anything!”

“Just one more,” He anxiously reached for the wire.

“Billy!” Leeza screamed. But it was too late a shock went off from the beam ran through the jet cycles, and than struck Billy. It shook him and flew him across the room, he hit his head on the console and slid, ever so slowly, to the floor.

The period of time it took for this to take place was no more than two seconds, but for Leeza it felt like two years. She stood there her feet glued to the floor. Fear had completely paralyzed her. Movement seemed impossible. Until the smoked cleared and she saw that Billy was not moving. Suddenly feeling returned and she ran over to him each step not seeming fast enough.

Leeza was almost frozen again when she reached Billy and realized he was not moving

at all his breathing was so still it seemed as though life could not be in him." Billy!" She screamed. No movement. The fright continued to shake her. She bent down to him and realized his head was bleeding. "Oh, my God." She whispered. Then suddenly she ran back into the Power Chamber and told Alpha, desperately trying to comprehend what she was saying.

Five minutes later Billy was being examined and bandaged up. Due to her upset Zordon had asked Leeza to leave and go for a walk to calm down. She did so, the sun seemed to shine saying that things were going to shine in her life once more.

She had been feeling a lot of pressure from her coaches lately. It seemed that no matter what she did it was never good enough. The only thing that would make them a little happy would be if she were to win the Olympics. And even then she had her doubts. Skating used to be fun for her now it seemed like something she just did. No other reason for it; she just did it, as though it were her duty. And she was finding herself yearning for college, but if her coaches persisted she would never make it there. She was really beginning to consider quitting.

Just as she finally began to calm down her communicator gave its usual loud, and at that moment obnoxious beep. "Leeza here."

"Leeza its Tommy, we're in the Power Chamber.... I think you should come in here." Tommy voice seemed shaky causing any form of calmness to flee from Leeza.

"What's wrong Tommy?" She asked.

A brief silence remained." Just come in here."

Leeza got up and headed back, knowing somehow…God was with her.

"Leeza," Tommy called.

"Tommy, where's Billy?" She asked on the verge of tears.

Tommy took a deep breath. This was going to be tuff.

"Leeza, Billy's at the hospital. Rocky, Kat, and Tanya took him...

He bumped his head really hard, Leeza.... He-he, fell into a coma." Tears began to form, "I'm sorry." He said quickly and ran out of the room.

Leeza's face turned as white as snow. she began to loose her balance. Adam ran to her before she fell. "Leeza! Leeza don't faint, please!"

"I won't faint... At least I'll try not to." She said, clinging to Adam, as the tears began to fall. "I just can't believe it! After everything that’s happened... How could this happen?"

Adam shook his head," I don't know, Leeza... I don't know....

Sometimes things just happened.”

He pulled her into a tight hug. "It will be okay, Leeza… I can promise you that.”

“If he had just listened to me… if he had stepped away from the console.”

“Leeza, it just happened.”

“No, it didn’t!!! It could have been prevented!!” She screamed backing away from him.

“But it wasn’t.” Adam said softly.

“That’s my point!! Why wasn’t it?…How much more has to happen?… How, much more.”

She slowly lowered herself down against a console and continued sobbing. Adam approached her to comfort her. “Go away Adam! Just go away!” she shouted in between tears.

Adam just hung his head and turned away. He couldn’t do anything for Leeza, she had to deal with this on her own.

Adam was very concerned himself. He had always been the closest of friends with Billy. Not to mention the fact that over the past few months both Billy and Leeza had helped him out with spiritual his needs… Now that could all be gone.

The one thing that confused him the most was that a few months ago the thing that worried him the most was stuff about the rangers… now that didn’t even seem like real life.

It seemed like a fantasy, what he was learning about now was the real life. Not knowing what else to do, Adam teleported to the hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

Adam found Kat, Tanya, and Rocky waiting in the ICU. The looks on there faces weren’t assuring ones. Adam walked up to them scared to hear the news. “H-how’s he doing?” Adam blurted out.

Everyone looked back and forth from each other. “Not so

good,” Katherine finally stated. “He’s still in a coma… but there’s another problem. “She looked to Tanya.

“He’s weakening drastically…. The doctors say it’s almost as though he has a power source draining it all away.”

Adam’s eyes bugged as he lowered his voice to a whisper.

“The Silver ranger power?”

Rocky nodded. “It has to be… What else would be draining him?”

“We have to find a way for Zordon to monitor him to see what’s going on.” Tanya stated.

“Yeah. You guys head to the Power Chamber… I’m gonna stay here with Billy.”

“Okay…You’ll be alright?” Kat asked.

Adam shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose… Go on, the sooner we find out what’s wrong the sooner Billy gets better.”

“Okay.” Tanya slowly walking away.

“See ya, Adam.” Rocky followed.

Katherine lowered her eyes and turned away. Adam needed to sort things out to be only. She understood that. And yet, yet she was almost afraid to leave him. They’d all been through so much together. This might not be the end of the power rangers, superhuman force saving the world wise… But could it be the end of the power ranger friendship?…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

Two hours later Billy’s problem was revealed. The rangers, had gotten his blood sample and ran it threw hundreds of tests.

They were just about it give up on it when the problem was discovered.

Zordon looked gravely at them. His face appeared sorrowful.

Obviously the news he bore was not good. “Rangers… The news I am about to tell you is not good.” Adam backed up behind Leeza, feeling that if the news were that horrid she may not be able to cope. “When the electrical shock hit Billy it affected his powers greatly…. One of the electrons hit his powers wrong , thus causing him to falling into a coma, and the reason why he is now losing his life energy… If his power is not withdrawn from him within the next hour… He will die.”

The entire chamber was enwrapped by stillness. Could it possibly be true? Could Billy, the energetic, scientific, and all and all great human being possible been gone from this earth within less than an hour? It seemed almost impossible to believe, but sad to say it was the cold, hard truth. Billy’s life was draining from him, and within less than an hour he would be gone.

“How do we get rid of his power?” Leeza asked trying to prevent her voice from trembling.

Zordon lowered his eyes. This was going to be hard on Leeza, with her closeness to Billy. “Leeza, you must remove the power.”

Leeza’s face turned so white, that for a few minutes Tommy thought she was gonna faint. “W-why…me?” She barely blurted out.

“Because you hold the power of the Peach crystal. Even though they are very similar to the zeo crystals, they still have their differences… Which is why you must remove the power….I’m sorry.”

“But, I-I can’t do that… He would be furious, if his powers were taken away without his permission.” Leeza stammered trying to find some excuse not to do it.

“Leeza. If you don’t…” Alpha began.” He won’t be here to be angry.”

Leeza paused. This was gonna be so hard. How could she do this to him? How could she take away his power? It meant so much to him… But then she started to think of what life would be like without him and how much he meant to her… If it was even possible to live without him….She cringed… that was a future she didn’t want to imagine.

“What do I have to do?” She asked slowly.

“You must channel your own crystal’s energy to his and than his power should be removed…If it is not within one minute of your doing so, it will be too late.” Zordon said rather coldly.

Leeza nodded.” Okay…. I better head there now.” Without another word Leeza teleported away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

Leeza arrived in Billy’s hospital room. At the point she was at she really didn’t care if anyone saw her come in or not.

She was still torn apart about what she was about to do. She walked up to his bed. His face was very pale. She closed her eyes tears beginning to stream down. She took Billy’s hand and began to focus on her crystal energy. After a couple of seconds she stopped and began to see some silver energy coming from Billy. After a little while it stopped and the Silver crystal was in Leeza’s hands. At that moment Billy’s vital signs started climbing , and the Silver crystal was teleported away.

Five minutes later Billy began to stir. Slowly his eyes began to open. Before him everything was a great blur. He focused on the figure before him. As the fuzziness cleared he realized it was Leeza. “Hey.” He faintly whispered.

“Hey,” Leeza said softly.” How yea feeling?” She leaned closer towards him.

He moved around and made sure everything was working okay.” Alright I guess….What happened?”

“You didn’t step away from the console like I told you too… and got electrically shocked… We were worried you weren’t gonna pull through. But you did.” As tears began to form again.

Billy gave a faint chuckle. “Guess it surves me right for not listening to you… You always seem to know more than me.” He closed his eyes.

“Billy?” Leeza’s voice beginning to tremble again fearing perhaps he wasn’t okay.

“I’m just resting my eyes…. Why do I feel odd? I can’t explain it… It’s kinda like when I lost my powers a year ago….

Weird huh?” He asked, unaware he was answering his own question.

Leeza knew it was time to tell him._ This gonna be so hard._ She thought, _ Jesus, help me! I don’t know how to do this… Speak for me in what I’m about to say._ She prayed. “Billy,… You did lose your powers.”

Billy shot up.” What do you mean? “ He demanded.

“Calm down….The electrical charge, and your powers repelled… If I hadn’t removed them… You wouldn’t be here… I’m sorry.” Her voice choked as she turned her face away from him.

Billy gazed up at her with love in his eyes. “Leeza… If it had been you I would have done it within a second… You know that.” He let out a small sigh.” Just another down in the ride of life, huh?”

Leeza laughed. Something which she had earlier thought might have been impossible for her. “Now what do we do?” She asked after a small pause.

Billy shrugged.” Well, you go home I get some sleep… And we work from there.”

“Okay… See yeah. “ She gave him a kiss on the cheek assured that he would be fine and went and told the other rangers the events.

His Silver crystal was being regenerated by a charging device. But as the days past. The power began to drain from it.

Zordon realized that it must be re-infused within someone or the power would be lost forever… The only problem was, Billy was still too weak to accept it. Someone else must do it. This angered Billy very much… But realizing he had no choice it was to past. The next day Jason would arrive and receive his power.

Billy paced angrily around his garage, Leeza had to practice late at the rink so she wasn’t able to be there with him that night. He found himself more angry than he’d ever been in his life. Even when he had to give up his blue ranger powers. This was different, he was more angry, something within him couldn’t take it. After several hours of pacing he realized why… He hadn’t known Christ than, it was understandable. He knew Him now… Wasn’t He supposed to protect him from all this and allow good things to happen, not bad? So far all it had been was 80% bad and 20% good…. Of course the fulfillment Christ gave him within his soul was remarkable… But still… He had held on, had been faithful… Why were all these things happening to him? Why was he being put through so much? It just didn’t seem fair.

To calm himself he decided to put on a 4HIM tape. He wasn’ t even sure what album it was, he just threw it in the player and pressed play. It was The Ride album, on the song, “Ride of Life”. The irony from it was unbelievable! He started fiddling with some of his gadgets, rather angrily… The song stopped… Than the opening notes of a new song began, “ AS LONG AS MY HEART KNOWS IT’S YOU”. Billy stopped and slowly took the words in,

God only knows how he must have
Felt
Out on the mountain where
Abraham knelt
Though deep in his heart I’m sure it
Hurt to obey
Still he offered his son as if to
Say, I’m

Willing to live
Willing to die
Willing to make any sacrifice
I’m willing to go
Willing to stay
Lord, there’s no price too high for
Me to pay
Any struggle that might come my
Way
I’m willing to go threw
Just as long as my heart
As long as my heart knows it’s you.

How many times have you called
For me
When my heart was willing but I
Was so weak
What I would give if I could only
Believe
That when I’m tested by fire I’ll
Always be

Willing to live
Willing to die
Willing to make any sacrifice
I’m willing to go
Willing to stay
Lord, there’s no price too high for
Me to pay
Any struggle that might come my
Way
I’m willing to go threw
Just as long as my heart
As long as my heart knows it’s you.

As the song came to an end Billy still did not understand why this had happened… But he was willing to let this happen, and anything else God may want to come his way. As long as he knew it was Him.