Where Ever We Go

The shadows casted on the city of Angel Grove were dark. They moved slowly, eclipsing the sun with such a dark presence that it was as if night had fallen. The screech of metal on metal rippled throughout the city, echoing off the sides of the tall buildings in the business district. From the buildings, civilians emerged to look up at the sky. A collective gasp rose above them as their eyes landed on the large metallic beast flying low above Angel Grove. The rays of the sun that managed their way around the demonic being reflected off the sides of it, a silver and black glint glowing in them. The legs of the flying beast clawed towards the towering buildings, making sure to not make contact with their surfaces. People screamed and ran for cover, afraid of what would be coming next.

A smile pulled at the corners of Empress Rosita's lips from her position of her throne. From her place, she could see all that the beast saw. The reinforced windows before her showed the city; people running, cars screeching out of control and utter panic beginning to rise around them. She did her best to stifle the laugh that had been building in her chest. Yes, she thought. This is what was going to happen now. You fools have no clue what was coming. She drummed her long fingernails on the arm of the chair and thoughts of her parents. The great Lord Zedd and his wife, Rita Repulsa. How proud they would have been of her at this moment. Their only daughter flying their greatest creation, no Power Rangers to stop her now. She had done what they couldn't.

And now Angel Grove was going to pay for what they did to them.

-X-x-X-

Night had fallen and with it, a peaceful feeling across Angel Grove. Rosita had been quiet for the past 24 hours, her attacks stopping almost as quickly as they had been coming. It felt like she had been on quite the streak lately, sending down monsters every few hours. It left us tired, on edge and unsure of how to sort through the information we knew about here in the little time we had between battles. Rosita, daughter of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa had fooled us into thinking she was just their bratty daughter. We were mistaken to think she was going to be easy to take down. We all realized that now as we sat around the table in the kitchen area of the Command Center.

"Alright, guys. I think we should use this time to figure out a plan. We've been going non-stop with her monsters and Goldar's attack. We finally have the opportunity to think." Jason Scott said, standing at the head of the table. The 28-year-old looked tired and worn, his brown hair a mess on the top of his head. His brown eyes held bags under them and he looked as if he hadn't slept in days. The retired leader of the Power Rangers glanced around the room, his red sweat shirt making him stand out against the blue of the kitchen. His wife, Trini Kwan, reached out and rubbed his forearm. She also looked worn out. Her beautiful Asian face looked worrisome and crow's feet were more visible on her face than before. The former yellow ranger gave her husband a supportive smile before glancing at me.

"Jason's correct." Billy Cranston said, pulling out a stack of papers from the bag in his lap. The fluorescent lights above us shone off his glasses but I could still see the same tired feeling in them as the rest of the group. His blonde hair was combed neatly on his head, but he ran a hand through it just the same. On the papers, I could see blue prints of the Zords and the Megazord as well as computer readouts from the control room and medical bays. "I've compiled all the information available to assist us in our endeavors." The reinstated blue ranger explained.

"I wish that stack was higher." Zack Taylor mumbled, leaning forward in his chair. He sat next to Billy, his dark skin taking the same shade of milk chocolate under the lights of the kitchen. He stretched the top of his head, his short black hair cut close to his scallop. Across from him, Rocky Santos nodded, giving the black ranger a small smile.

"You and me both." He agreed. Rocky winced as he shifted forward in his seat for a better look at the plans. The reinstated red ranger had taken several hard hits these passed few days. The bruising was still visible on his arms and shoulders, but he did his best to not show weakness. His brown hair was gelled on the top of his head, him taking the chance to enjoy a hot a shower during the lull of fighting. In the seat next to him, his girlfriend Aisha Campbell placed a small tablet on the table. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a bun, her braids combined into a lump sum.

"Alpha programmed this to pick up the same readings as the Viewing Globe. I figured it would be useful when we were in here." She explained, adjusting her yellow t-shirt. She had come back to join the team as the yellow ranger, taking over for Trini who recently announced her second pregnancy. We deemed it too risky for her to be fighting in that condition, Jason as well. Rocky and Aisha joined the fight, promising to help us protect Angel Grove and the world again.

"Sounds great." Trini said, giving her successor a smile.

"Good thinking, Sha." I said, giving her hand a squeeze. Everyone turned to look at me.

"How's Tommy?" Zack asked, finally breaking the tension in the room. I shrugged, glancing at the door of the kitchen.

"Okay. He's sleeping now. I wanted to let him rest. He needs it." I said softly, my mind travelling up the hallway to the sleeping quarters where I had left the green ranger and the leader of the Power Rangers. I knew Tommy Oliver would be upset that I hadn't woke him for this, but he needed to rest. He had been fighting more than anyone, taking on Goldar and his right-hand man Strasser, alone at every battle it seemed. Though he hadn't been injured, I feared for his safety each time we teleported to a fight.

"He'll come around. It's still the effects of that spell." Jason said, giving me a supportive nod. I returned it, appreciating my best friend since grade school. He turned to the rest of the group. "Rosita is quiet. She must be planning something big right now as a counter attack. I doubt we managed to harm her in the last battle as much as I would have hoped. Goldar, on the other hand, won't be flying much for a while." He casted Rocky a wink who smiled. "We need to take out Strasser and Goldar for good though. Once she loses them, she will have to come out and fight her own battle. She can only have so many monsters in her arsenal."

"Tommy still needs to remain distant from Rosita." Billy said, poking his head forward. "We are unaware of her strength of the spell. She may still acquire some type of control over him if they should come into contact." I nodded.

"He knows. We spoke about it after I brought him back here. Once she shows up, he'll come back here just in case."

"Until then, we're going to have to keep on attacking Goldar and Strasser with everything we have. How's the Megazord coming along?" Jason asked, glancing at Billy. Billy took off is glasses and cleaned them on his blue knitted long sleeve shirt.

"It's functional. All the operating systems aren't working yet. Another day or so and it will be capable for assisting us in our efforts." Jason frowned, not happy about the answer. Not fighting with us was getting under his skin. I could see that each time we came back from a fight. Sitting around here "doing nothing" as he liked to put it was getting old for him. He wouldn't chance fighting though. It would be too risky for him and he couldn't dare think about leaving Trini a widow with two children to raise without him. "Aisha, Trini and I will continue to work on it as quickly as possible." Billy added, sensing his emotions. Jason nodded, removing his frown.

"Just let us know as soon as it happens. I wish I knew what she was planning right now." Jason said, cracking his knuckles.

"Hey." A voice said behind us from the door way. Turning, I saw the slender figure of Tommy Oliver standing there. His clothes were ruffled, his green tank top and black sweats looking slept in. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to fix the dark brown locks. "Did I miss the invite?"

"I figured you could use the sleep." I replied, giving him a small smile. He nodded, walking over and sliding into the chair next to me.

"Thanks. What'd I miss?" He asked.

"The Zords are almost ready to use again." Rocky replied, smiling at Billy. "And Aisha and Alpha made this cool tablet thingy that works with the viewing globe."

"Oh. Cool." Tommy replied, eyeing the tablet on the table. "Anything else?"

"Just trying to figure out what Rosita has planned." Jason replied. "Tommy, is there anything you can remember from your time there? Something she was hiding?" Tommy thought for a minute, trying his best to remember.

"Something about the basement, I guess. She wouldn't let anyone down there except Strasser. I always assumed those were his quarters because he was never on the Seventh Floor much." He offered, referring to the seventh floor of the Tricotta Hotel. It was crazy to think that just a week ago, I had checked in there for the high school reunion. My only worry at the time was facing Tommy. If only that was the worst thing to happen since we all returned home.

"Do we have a scan of the basement?" Trini asked, leafing through the papers on the table top. She found the maps of the hotel we had obtained after completing a whole scan of the building. The basement was the only one that wasn't fully outlined. It had been heavily cloaked, masking whatever was down there.

"From what we could tell, it looked like nothing was down there." Aisha said, opening the electronic blue print on the tablet. It projected the image into the air above it, letting us all see it. Frowning, Billy stood up and bent closer to the image.

"There seems to be a magnetic field surrounding the area." He stated, pointing at the black mass. "It is blocking the computer's electronic signals. It would interrupt the radar's imagining function."

"What's down there she's trying to hide so bad?" Zack asked, casting a side glance at Jason who shrugged.

"I don't know. It's too late to try to get in there and figure it out now. She has the whole place locked down and she isn't afraid to use the hotel guests as leverage." A silence fell over the room as we all looked at the basement reading floating in the air.

"Our best plan of action for right now is to get some rest. You guys have been going non-stop for days now." Trini said gently, standing. Her black maxi skirt and her yellow tank top flowed in a comfortable manner around her body. "And I mean everyone." She eyed her husband who gave her a small smile.

"Trini's right. Let's get some shut eye while we can. Zordon and Alpha will keep an eye on things while we do. We will all regroup in the morning." Jason grabbed the papers off the table and wrapped an arm around Trini's waist as the two of them walked out of the kitchen. Zack followed them, Rocky on his tail. Since Rocky and Aisha had joined back up with the team, a friendship had blossomed between the Rocky and Zack. The two had never served together before and they were relatively similar in personality it seemed. Aisha had her hands full trying to handle the both of them. Billy walked with her, them both talking in a hushed tone about something. I heard the words 'Zord' and 'Megazord' as they passed by. Once everyone was gone, Tommy stood and pushed his chair under the table.

"You should have woke me up, Kim." He said, leaning against the kitchen counter. I shrugged, standing as well.

"You haven't slept since we came back from the Seventh Floor. You needed it. Your body can't function correctly without it."

"I'll survive. I need to be involved in these meetings. I know the most about Rosita and her army. I could provide information we may need to defeat her."

"And you will give it to us. For now, you need to take care of yourself. It's only been 48 hours since you were under her spell. There are still some left over magic in your body. You know what Zordon said-."

"Yeah. I get it." He muttered, running a hand through his hair. Though the spell seemed to have been broken after I smashed the green globe controlling Tommy, Zordon had found traces of her magic still in Tommy. He felt that he would still need to be purified after Rosita was destroyed, leaving him with the evil spell somewhat still inside of him. Zordon had suggested sleep to help the rest of his powers to rebuild their strength to control the spell. Tommy hadn't been happy with that answer.

"Look, Tommy. I know this is hard for you. We're going o beat Rosita and purify you. We need you to be at the top of your game though and you aren't if you aren't taking care of yourself when you can." He scoffed.

"You're one to talk. You haven't slept since we came back either."

"Yes, I have. I slept in the repair chamber after Alpha teleported us." He squinted at me, raising an eyebrow.

"That was a coma. That isn't the same thing as sleep."

"I wasn't awake, was I?" I asked, giving him a small smile. He shook his head, folding his arms across his chest. "Killing yourself isn't going to change what happened that day." I said softly. His face hardened as he pushed himself off the counter.

"I'm going to get a training session in. Get some sleep." He kissed the top of my head before sweeping out the room.

"Tommy…" I whispered, watching him leave. hing him leave. /span/p