Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers, Saban does. I do, however, own the character of Corporal Tracey Hillard. I am not getting any money or anything else for doing this. I have also obtained permission from Mele to use some the events in her stories "Strangers with Familiar Faces'. It would also help if you had read my other story "All in the Family'.
Time: Zeo Rangers, just after Jason has returned but before Billy has left and like many others, in my little world, he never will.
Angel Grove Youth Centre
The Rangers were gathered around there usual table at Earnie's, busy checking their packs and making sure that they had enough supplies as they were off on a hiking trip in the Angel Grove Woods for the weekend. They were only waiting on Kat to arrive as they had agreed to meet at the centre, it being central to where they all lived. Kat came though the doors, a huge smile on her face, practically skipping over to where they were all waiting for her.
"G'day everyone." Tanya raised an eyebrow at Adam, she had rarely, if ever, heard Kat speaking like a typical Australian, even though her accent confused Tanya sometimes. Adam had explained to her that sometimes when Kat gets excited, her Australian vocabulary came to the fore with a vengeance. Billy looked up from checking his pack; no one wanted to bite the bullet so he would.
"You seem most cheerful today Kat. Any particular reason?" She smiled at him, grateful that he had asked. She knew that sometimes she could be a bit over enthusiastic.
"I got home last night and there was a letter from Tracey waiting for me. She's coming back to Angel Grove tomorrow. Turns out that when she left here about six months ago she and her unit ended up training American troops in the everglades in Miami. Apparently, conditions down there are similar to the swamps we have up in Queensland, back home. Anyway, they have finished their stint down there and she is on leave for the next two weeks, which she is going to spend here, with me!" The guys smiled but Tanya and Jason looked confused. Adam noticed this and spoke.
"Tracey is Kats cousin from Australia. She's a solider who accidentally discovered who we were when she was here about six months ago for a karate demonstration match. She's pretty good too. Zedd sent Goldar to try and capture her and she took him on, no powers or anything, and fought him pretty well until we could step in." Tommy smiled in remembrance.
"Yeah. She was really good. In the matches we fought the next day, she fought me to a standstill."
"She must be good. Especially to fight Goldar"
"She is Jase." Tommy turned to Kat, "When does she get here tomorrow?" Kat looked excited.
"She arrives tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. at Fort Grove. She wants me to pick her up from there. So I will have to cut the hiking trip short tomorrow, if that's okay with you guys?"
"Sure it is Kat, right guys?" A chorus of okay's greeted Tommy's question. "Well then, lets get going." Laughing the seven teens walked out the door to enjoy their weekend's hiking trip.
Next Day, Fort Grove
Kat stood on the tarmac, Billy beside her, waiting for Tracey to get off the troop carrier that had just landed. She had asked Billy to come with her as he and Tracey had hit it off really well over the couple of days that she was here last time. She turned to the former Ranger, her eyes sparkling with delight.
"I can't wait to see her. Her last letter said that she was having fun training the American troops, but couldn't wait to get back to some fellow Aussies." Billy smiled, Kats joy was contagious and to be truthful, he was looking forward to seeing her cousin again. When she was here last time they had ended up have a long conversation about the morality of war and both their hopes for peace. He had asked her about her time with a peacekeeping force with the UN and she had told him things that she was unable to tell her more naive cousin. That discussion had changed his attitude towards soldiers, he had always thought that they were gung ho gun freaks who got a kick out of fighting, but in Tracey he had found an articulate, thoughtful person with definite views on war and suffering and that had depths that he didn't know that a solider could have. When he had told her this she had laughed and blushed saying that a thinking solider is a bit of a novelty sometimes and hadn't said any more. Just then the back of the troop transport opened and the soldiers started piling out. Four soldiers stood out from the American troops, distinguishable by the very Australian slouch hats they wore. One of them looked up and spotting Kat and Billy standing there waved madly. Kat waved back as Billy grinned. The solider and her companions changed course to join the two of them. As they got closer they noticed that two of them had bandages on various appendages. One of the men had a bandage on his forehead and Tracey had her right hand bandaged but seemed in good spirits. They stopped when they reached the two friends. Tracey dropped her bag on the ground and gave Kat a huge hug.
"Kat. It's good to see you. You to Billy. How are you both?" She released Kat and stepped back, grinning.
"Fine thanks Tracey." Kat motioned to her hand, "What happened to you hand?" The other soldiers laughed and Tracey glared at them. She picked up her duffel and they started walking towards the gate. The three other soldiers falling in behind them, they had their transport waiting for them at the front gate. They were going back to Australia later on that night by a commercial airline and were headed out to Angel Grove International Airport. The senior officer, feeling for Tracey, thought he had better explain.
"The Sergeant and Corporal Hudson here were demonstrating the fine points of grenade usage in swamps when one of the GI's miss timed his throw and it exploded to near the bunker they were sheltering in. Corporal Hudson got some shrapnel in his head and sergeant here, copped some in the hand. Nothing to serious though, but you should have seen what she did to the GI." They all laughed at that, Tracey blushed slightly. Kat turned to her cousin.
"You didn't tell me you had been promoted?" The officer that spoken before laughed.
"She only got promoted two weeks ago, youngest sergeant in the Australian Army."
"That's great Tracey. I'm happy for you." Tracey blushed even harder. Just then they reached the main gates and an army jeep was waiting for the remaining Australians. Tracey dropped her duffel again and turned to salute her lieutenant. He returned the salute, as did the others.
"We'll see you when you get home in a fortnight Sargent."
"Yes sir." The two other soldiers grinned and gave her a quick slap on the arm as they followed their lieutenant to the waiting jeep. Billy picked up Tracey's duffel and led the way to his car.
"So Kat, how goes the rangering these days." Kat smiled as they climbed into the car and headed back towards town.
"Good. Although there have been a couple of changes since you saw me last. I didn't want to write about them, you know, just in case." Tracey smiled at Kat from the back seat.
"I told you before Kat, I understand security measures. So, what changes have happened?" Kat looked over at Billy, as if the gauge his reaction. He noticed her look and glancing at her he smiled.
"It's okay Kat, you can tell her. I don't mind talking about what's happened." Kat layed her hand briefly on his arm to say thanks.
"Basically, about six weeks after you left, Zedd launched a devastating attack. Suffice to say that we lost our powers, went on a quest to recover a new power source called the Zeo Crystal. Recovered it from all around the world, got new powers, Aisha stayed in Africa and sent her cousin Tanya in her place and Billy retired as an active Ranger. He now works in the command centre. We got a new enemy called the Machine Empire and over three-quarters of our victories are attributed to Billy's genius. We recently got another Ranger called Jason, who is the Gold Ranger. About eight weeks ago Billy and Tommy got kidnapped by King Mondo and replaced by evil clones, luckily Jason sussed something was wrong and we discovered it just in time to prevent the command chamber being blown sky high. That was only three weeks ago. Things then settled down for a while and then I got your letter saying you were coming back and that about sums everything up." Tracey looked stunned, she was staring at the floor and then she looked up at Billy, seeming to sense that Kat left something out of her story, but she decided not to ask.
"So, basically, you got new powers, called Zeo powers. Got two new Rangers called Tanya and Jason, Billy is no longer a Ranger, more like tech support, both he and Tommy were kidnapped and replaced by clones and only got back two weeks ago. Is that right?" Billy looked ahead, concentrating on the road. Tracey had just summarised in two sentences how empty his life had become since giving up the powers. Kat knew, from her and Jason's talk with Tommy and then afterwards Billy, that it still hurt Billy to talk about losing his powers. She glanced back at her cousin who was watching Billy though narrowed eyes and then she seemed to come to a realisation. Quickly, she leaned forward and placed her hand on Billy's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Billy, I probably just made it sound like something trivial, it must have taken great courage to give up what you did. I'm sorry if I offended you." Billy smiled at her though the rear mirror. "I won't ask about it again. So Kat, what are the plans for this afternoon?" Kat seized on the change of subject quickly.
"Well, I thought that we could drop into the youth centre and you could say G'day to the guys, meet Tanya and Jason and then we'll go home and get you settled in. Mum and Dad have planned a Barbie for tonight, all the guys are coming over as well. They haven't experienced a real Aussie Barbie." They both laughed at that.
"Did Uncle Vic dig out the cricket set?" Billy looked confused, he had never heard of cricket.
"Yeah he has."
"Maybe we can get a game going, show these yanks a thing or to about a real game." Billy looked at the two cousins laughing hard and just shook his head, he was sure that they would explain it to him later.
Machine Empire's Sky Base
King Mondo watched the three of them driving along the road, thinking about how he could use the pink Rangers cousin in some evil scheme or other.
"Klank, get in here!" He bellowed. His faithful helper arrived in record time.
"Yes, yur Majesty?"
"Klank, I want you to check into the pink Rangers cousin, she's some sort of solider. I want you to see if there is anyway we can make use of her. I want you to check our arsenal out and see if there is anything that we can use to turn her to our side. If we can capture her and turn her against her cousin, she can destroy the Rangers one by one."
"I will start checking immediately my lord." He quickly left and Mondo returned to his contemplation of the earth.
"One day, it will be mine."
Angel Grove Youth Centre.
The other Rangers were sitting at their table waiting for Kat and Billy to come back. Earnie had been over and they had ordered their smoothies and were proceeding to polish them off quickly. They were talking about the hiking trip that they had just gotten back off when the others arrived. Jason looked up at Adam's Åthere here' and gasped in shock. Billy and Kat entered and the person walking between them must be Kat's cousin. She was still in her army fatigues and slouch hat but still managed to look stunning. She moved with the grace of a dancer but the fluidity of a martial arts expert, and to top it off, she was attractive as well.
"Hi guys. Jason, Tanya, this is my cousin Sergeant Tracey Hillard." Tracey held out her hand to both of them, the unbandaged one.
"G'day. Nice to meet you both."
"Hello Tracey."
"Hi." Was all Jason managed to get out. Her crystal clear green eyes captivated him; it seemed to him that they were older than she looked. She broke the contact first, looking around and shaking hands with the other Rangers. He looked up to see Kat and Billy watching with speculative eyes, smiles on both their faces. He tore his eyes away and listened to what Tommy was saying.
"Have you been promoted Tracey?" She laughed and Jason decided it was a pleasant laugh.
"Yeah, for my sins. Only a couple of weeks ago though." To his surprise Jason found himself speaking.
"What happened to your hand?" She laughed again and shared a look with Kat and Billy.
"Some idiot GI got it wrong in grenade practice down in the everglades the other day. I ended up with some shrapnel in my hand for me trouble. Should have seen him though when I got through with him." She smirked and then shaking her head she laughed. Kat placed her hand on Tracey's shoulder.
"Come on guys, we've got to be getting to my place, my folks will have the Barbie going by now."
"Great. Lets go guys." Tommy jumped to his feet, the rest following. Billy turned to the two Australians as they left the youth centre.
"I just have one question, what is cricket?" They looked at him, then each other and bursting into laughter they linked there arms though his.
"Don't worry Billy, we'll explain it to you." At that, the whole group of them burst into laughter.
Youth Centre, next day.
Billy teleported into the hidden area behind the youth centre, checking automatically to make sure he wasn't seen. Satisfied that he wasn't he went around the corner and practically ran into Tracey.
They both laughed as they picked themselves up off the ground. Tracey dusted herself off and smiled at Billy.
"Well, we both know how to make an entrance don't we?" He laughed with her and she noticed that it didn't seem to reach his eyes. She decided that maybe now would be a time to try and talk to him. When they had talked back when she had visited six months ago Billy had intrigued her. She had never met someone as intelligent as he was, yet shy and gentle, not someone who fought evil space aliens and monsters practically every day like he did. She had realised then that he was an extraordinary person and she really wanted to get to know him better. "What are you up to at the moment Billy?" They turned and headed towards the youth centre.
"I was actually just coming in to get some lunch before heading back to the power chamber to do some more work. It's nothing urgent but it gives me something to do." Tracey looked at him though the corner of her eye, she decided something as she turned to face him.
"Listen, Kat and the others don't get out of school for ages and I am left to my own devices for a few hours, how about you and I get some food and go to the park or something?" Billy looked up in surprise and he could see the determination in her eyes, she wasn't going to take no for an answer. He admitted to himself that it would be good to get out of the power chamber for awhile. Zordon had been bugging him again to take some time off, and, he admitted more privately to himself, Tracey looked really appealling in her shorts and green t-shirt, her long dark hair hung loose down her back, with one curl continually falling into her eyes. It made her look stunning he decided.
"Okay, I would like that. We could go down to the lake."
"Great. That sounds fantastic. I haven't been to the lake yet." She smiled and they entered the youth centre to get some lunch.
About an hour later they were sitting down at the lake, haven eaten all the sandwiches Earnie had made them. They had been discussing her recent duties down in Miami and how she had gotten hurt. She turned to Billy who was watching the ducks float along the top of the lake.
"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"Huh?" She stared into his troubled blue eyes. She reached out and placed her hand on his arm.
"Billy, Kat told me last night about what happened to you and Tommy, and how you have been unhappy since giving up your powers to Tanya. You have given so much, and suffered so much for the Rangers that I can't begin to say that I understand what you have gone through. What I am offering is a friendly ear, someone who has nothing to do with the Rangers, that you will be able to talk without the fear of your involvement with the Rangers being discovered." He looked at her stunned, her vivid green eyes were intense, but it was with worry for him. He was surprised but then he thought about it and realised that he really would like someone to talk to, that wasn't involved in the Rangers. When he had been captured with Tommy and held prisoner by Mondo, he had talked to Tommy about why he had been so unhappy and thought he had come to terms with the loss of his powers. But lately, again he had been feeling more and more like a mechanic again, especially since leaving High School early. He reached out and clasped her hand on his arm.
"Thank you Tracey, I think I would like to talk to someone." She smiled and settled back to listen to him. "I don't know if Kat told you but we were both tortured while we held in Mondo's dungeon. I still have nightmares about it and I know that Tommy does as well. We talked about it while we were there and I realised that I had placed too much importance on the actual power aspect of the Rangers, not to the importance of what we were doing. When I gave my crystal up to Tanya, I felt so empty, like I was only around for my brains instead of being part of the team. But Tommy made me realise that I was just being silly, no, silly isn't the word I would use. Maybe it was that I was placing too much importance on the actual powers themselves, instead of what we were doing, Tommy made me realise that, and I have sort of come to terms with that fact. But every time the guys go into battle I am afraid that something will happen, they'll come to me for help and I wont be able to save them. It scares me more than I care to admit, at least to the others. I haven't even told Adam this, and he is my closet friend!" Tracey winced at the pain in his voice, amazingly she knew how he felt about seeing his friends in battle. It was how she felt all of the time she was in combat zones and situations.
"Billy, I do understand what it is like to watch your friends fight, and being unable to help them. I haven't told Kat this, haven't told anyone this. Do you remember when I was telling you about my tour of duty with the UN peacekeepers? I was attached to a unit made up of Australian, American and British soldiers. We all got on really well, had a go at each other, mucked around, generally having fun, as much as you can in a war torn country. Anyway, I had become a really good friend with one of the female American soldiers and the two of us had become really close to a couple of British soldiers. One day, we were all scheduled to go on patrol into the outer suburbs, intelligence had told us they suspected a rebel base to be in the area. They wanted us to root them out and bring them in for questioning. There were twenty of us in the patrol, including the driver of the APC. You have to take into account that I was two weeks away from my twentieth birthday and a newly promoted corporal to boot. But I knew what I was doing, I had been a solider for over two years and did have some combat experience but nothing prepared me for what happened." Billy looked over at her, squeezing her hand in encouragement. Her eyes were full of tears and he could tell that it was going to be hard for her to talk about it.
Machine Empire's Sky Base.
"Yer Majesty, yer Majesty" Klank came running into the throne room, excited with what he had found. King Mondo looked at his Major D'omo with barely disguised impatience.
"What is it Klank?"
"I have been checking our arsenal as you requested and have discovered that this human would be perfect to become a Doom Warrior." King Mondo sat straight up in his throne. He had only had to use the Doom Warriors twice before, when he had found suitable candidates on two separate worlds that he was trying to take over. Both had been destroyed by the planet's defenders but at the cost of those defender's lives, allowing him to take over the planets easily. He hadn't thought of using the Doom Warrior for Earth as he thought that humans wouldn't provide suitable candidates, so discovering the pink Rangers cousin was came as a surprise.
"Klank, send down a patrol of cogs to capture her and the Rangers brainy buddy, we can use him as leverage to make her do our bidding."
"Yes, yer Majesty."
Angel Grove Park.
Billy had listened in silence as Tracey had related to him the events that had ended up in the deaths of her three friends. He was shocked as he realised that he had been lucky so far, his friends had been injured, but luckily not fatally, but here was a solider that had been in his position and had lost friends, yet still managed to maintain a positive outlook on life.
"How do you do it Tracey? How do you still stay sane?" Tracey laughed out loud at his question. Squeezing his hand, which had held hers through out her talking she smiled at him.
"I just remember the good times we had. We were really close to those two American soldiers and had planned to have our leaves together. But you, you have the advantage that your friends are protected by the power and have armoured suits. Me, I have to depend on kevlar vests and uncomfortable helmets." He laughed at that. "So, instead of me listening to you and help you, you've sat here and listened to me and helped me."
"I was glad to Tracey, and you have helped me. You have made me realise that I will always worry and be afraid that my friends will be hurt, but hey, I am only human after all." She laughed and she could tell that her story and listening to him had helped him, there was no longer a shadow in his clear blue eyes. "You know, for an old solider, you make an uncommon amount of sense."
"Watch the old solider bit mate, I am only 21 you know!" They both laughed and just then Billy noticed some uninvited guests heading their way.
"Cogs!" They both leaped to their feet, taking up defensive stances. Kat had told Tracey last night about the cog attacks by King Mondo but she wasn't prepared for how menacing they looked. Out of the corner of her eye as she ducked under a wild swing by a cog she saw Billy raise his watch to his mouth. "Zordon, this is Billy, cog attack in the park. Get us out of here!" Billy struck out at a couple of cogs attacking him, watching Tracey out of the corner of his eye. She was holding her own, using her formidable fighting skills to fight off the cogs. The cogs were just about to grab the pair of them when Billy felt the familiar tingle of teleportation.
Machine Empire's Sky Base
King Mondo wasn't happy, the cogs had failed to get the brainy Ranger and his companion. He turned to Klank.
"Klank, make plans to get them. We'll wait until they are alone and then send them to Briasex. Contact and tell them to make ready for them, they can turn the girl into a Doom Warrior and do whatever they wish with the brat." Klank nodded and left. Mondo returned to his brooding, watching the earth.
Power Chamber.
Kat had told Tracey about Zordon and the Power Chamber but nothing prepared her for the immensity of it. One moment she had been fighting Cogs and the next she was standing next to Billy in the power chamber. She looked around in amazement; she was literally lost for words at her surroundings. She looked up at the sound of her name.
"Welcome Sargent Hillard to the power chamber."
"Thank you. You must be Zordon?"
"I am. I know that I don't have to impress upon you the importance of secrecy in relation to the rangers?" Tracey smiled at the giant head in the tube.
"No, you don't Zordon. As I have told Kat and Billy, I understand more than any body the need for secrecy and security. Some of my duties have been classified so secret, I'm not even allowed to remember them!" Billy laughed at this; Tracey turned and winked at him, so he knew that she was okay with what happened and meeting Zordon. She then realised that her hand was hurting a lot. Hitting those cogs hadn't helped her injured hand any. Billy noticed her nursing it and went over to the medical table.
"Alpha, can you get me the portable scanner please?"
"Right away Billy." Tracey watched as the little robot bustled off into the medical room, smiling she looked around the chamber and thought that she could detect Billy's handiwork in a lot of things.
"So, Zordon, what did those cogs want with us? I have no powers, so was he after Billy or what?"
"I am unsure of Mondo's intent in this attack on you both. Many times he has tried to stop Billy from aiding the rangers, but hasn't succeeded yet. This may have been another attempt to get at him." Billy turned and walked over to Tracey as he spoke.
"I don't know Zordon, it seemed to me that they were going after Tracey more than me, like I was incidental or something. Is there anything special about Tracey that Mondo might be able to use to his advantage?"
"I am unsure Billy. Just a moment while I check."
"Tracey, give me your hand. This will check to see how bad the damage is." She held her hand out to him, smiling at his gentle touch.
"Thank you Billy, it doesn't hurt that much." He ran the scanner over her hand, studying the readouts in silence. Just then Alpha looked up at Zordon from his console.
"Zordon, incoming communication from Aquitar." Billy looked up in surprise and then a huge smile appeared on his face as Delphine appeared in the viewing globe.
"Greetings Zordon, Billy. I hope you are all well?"
"We are Delphine, how may we assist you?" Billy was suddenly struck by a premonition that something bad was about to happen, Delphine looked afraid.
"Zordon, we have intercepted a communication from Mondo to Briasex. He plans to send Kathryn's cousin and Billy there. It is our belief that he intends for the Briasexans to turn Kathryn's cousin into a Doom Warrior. We thought it best we let you know as soon as we broke his code."
"This is a very unsettling development. Thank you for notifying us Delphine."
"Until next time Zordon. Remember, you can call us if you need us." The viewing globe faded and Billy turned to Tracey, a stricken look on his face. He was surprised to see calm acceptance and determination in her face.
"Zordon, what's a Doom Warrior?" Zordon sighed, he had hoped against hope that no-one on Earth would be able to be turned into one by Mondo, but it looked like his hopes were unfounded as he looked over his results of checking into Tracey.
"Zordon, please, I need to know."
"The Doom Warriors were created by the people of a planet called Briasex. Mondo conquered them eons ago and has since used them only twice to conquer other planets. He finds someone who can handle the immense powers that is takes to create one and then unleashes it on the unsuspecting world. Both times he has used a Doom Warrior; the Warrior was destroyed, taking the planets defenders with them. It is my assumption that he intends to use you as a Doom Warrior Tracey. Your spirit energy is of the type used to create them. Once a Doom Warrior is unleashed, there is nothing to stop them except total destruction, and the Zeo Rangers are not strong enough to stop a Doom Warrior." Billy looked stunned, this was the first he had heard of them and he was frankly scared out of his wits by what Zordon had implied. He turned and looked at Tracey, to see how she was taking this. Amazingly, she looked calm and accepting. She took a deep cleansing breath and then looked up at Zordon.
"Mondo's not going to stop until he captures me, is he?"
"No, I'm afraid he will keep trying and trying until he has succeeded."
"I thought as much." Tracey stared at the floor for a long moment, trying to focus on what Zordon had said, trying to keep it all together but she was a solider, she'd been in tough spots before. She would handle this, like she has handled all the other bad situations she had been in. She looked up as she felt an arm go around her, Billy stood next to her, offering what support he could. She could see the fear and worry in his eyes for her. She managed to muster a weak smile for him and was rewarded with one in return.
"Zordon, is their anything we can do to protect Tracey from this happening?" Zordon looked thoughtful for a moment.
"There is one small possibility to protect her. It involves great danger and most likely an even greater sacrifice." Tracey looked up at the Eltarian, grim determination on her face.
"What ever it is, I am willing to face it."
"Alpha, I want you to call the other rangers, they all need to hear this as we will have to make a very big decision."
"Right away Zordon." Billy squeezed Tracey again and looked her in the eyes.
"Are you going to be okay?" She mustered another weak grin.
"Yeah, I will be. Hey, I'm a solider, I'm used to being in tight spots." He was about to speak when the multi coloured lights of the rangers arrived, he gave her arm another quick squeeze and then dropped it before the others could ask to many embarrassing questions. Tommy stepped forward as the others look at surprise at Tracey being in the power chamber. Kat came over to where Tracey and Billy stood. She could tell that something bad was happening, by the way Tracey looked so afraid. She had never seen her older and braver cousin look afraid at anything, ever.
"Zordon, what's going on and why is Tracey here?"
"Rangers, I have some disturbing news. Billy and Tracey were attacked in the park by cogs but we teleported them out before the cogs could get them. The Aquatian Rangers then contacted us. They told us that they had intercepted a transmission from King Mondo to a planet called Briasex. It turns out that he intends to turn Tracey into a Doom Warrior and then use her to destroy you all, and take over the Earth."
"We can't let that happen Zordon. We just can't. Is he doing this because she is my cousin?" Kat put her arm around Tracey's shoulders, she could feel Tracey shaking slightly through there close contact.
"I agree Kathryn and there is a way to protect Tracey from becoming a Doom Warrior. That is why I have called you here. It involves great danger and could involve an even greater sacrifice." Tommy looked at all the other rangers, he knew what they were all thinking and he spoke for the team.
"Whatever it is Zordon, whatever the danger, we will face it."
Zordon felt immensely proud of his young charges, he had definitely chosen well the protectors of Earth. They had stood up to difficult challenges time and time again, and had come out stronger for each struggle they went through.
"The only protection against becoming a Doom Warrior is going to Briasex and obtaining the Nagal Stone. Legend has it that whom ever touches the stone, who has a pure heart and the potential to be a Doom Warrior will be forever protected against that threat. It is not an easy journey, as the entire planet will be watching for the arrival of Tracey. But there is hope, a small rebel force has survived all these eons of occupation and they will be able to help you reach the Stone. The journey is hard, dangerous and will be filled with peril. Tracey, if you want to be protected you must take this journey."
Tracey studied the face in the glass tube watching her. She then looked at her cousin and the other rangers. If there was a way that she could stop becoming something that could destroy her friends and family, then she didn't have a choice, she had to go.
"I'll do it." Zordon was relieved. Apparently, courage ran though the entire Hillard family. Jason, Tommy, Billy, Kat, Rocky, Tanya and Adam all stepped forward and said as one.
"I'll go to." Tracey was stunned; this was her danger, her fight. She didn't want them to get hurt helping her.
"No. I can't let you do this. You all have to stay here and protect earth." Kat turned to her cousin.
"We can't let you go on a dangerous quest like this alone. I won't let you; you're the only member of my family that understands me totally. I am not going to sit idly by and watch you get hurt." Tracey hugged her brave cousin hard. She had really matured in the last six months, and now took her responsibilities to heart.
"You are both right, but I will not allow you all to go and leave the planet unprotected. Two rangers will accompany you Tracey." Tracey looked up at Zordon.
"Are you sure about this Zordon? I am trained to look after myself in all sorts of situations and conditions, I might not be the easiest person to get along with in a combat situation, I tend to take charge a bit."
"I am Tracey, you will need the extra protection plus the creditability that the rangers will give you when you reach Briasex."
"Who will go with her Zordon? Because I would like to go as well. No one has more experience with alien planets than me. I know all the old legends just as well as you, and I think that I can be of a real help to Tracey." Zordon frowned inwardly. Billy was needed here on earth, but would be of great use out there. His trip to Aquitar to help them had ensured that he had a galaxy wide reputation, it would help them. He sighed as he made his decision.
"Okay Billy. You shall accompany Tracey, Jason and Kathryn." The other rangers looked disappointed but understood Zordon's choices. Tracey turned to the two rangers and the ex blue Ranger.
"Are you really sure you guys want to do this? I don't want any of you to get hurt on my behalf." Kat stepped forward and took her cousins hands.
"Tracey, I have lost track of the amount of times you have been there for me over the years. It's about time I repaid the favour." Jason and Billy placed their hands on top of Kat's and Tracey's.
"Were all a family here Tracey. We stick together, though thick and thin." Tracey smiled at the Gold Ranger. The other rangers placed their hands on top of the others, smiling at one another they all chanted
"Power Rangers!"
The End.for now.
Authors Note: in case your wondering, cricket is a national game played in Australia, England, and a bunch of other countries. How do I know this? Haven't you worked it out yet, the author's an Australian.