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Disclaimer: The Power Rangers and all related indicia belong to Haim Saban. That which does not belong to Saban, belongs to me. Except for Nancy, the biker barkeep, who probably belongs to Columbia Pictures. No characters borrowed from other authors in this one, strangely enough. The song that Sydney sings to herself from time to time is copyright Chrysalis Records, 1978. (Don't worry, not a song fic.) This is the first story in a three-part storyline within the Earth Crystals saga. E-mail is both welcome and appreciated.
By 7:30 in Angel Grove, the sun had been up for some time. However, where one of Angel Grove's newest, and strangest, residents was currently, the stars were still shining down on the ocean. The 'UAE Lusitania' was moving about the Pacific Ocean, literally going nowhere fast. Jenga had ordered Klank just drive the ship around the planet so as to avoid detection by the Power Station. At the moment, they were headed for the Indian Ocean.
Fifteen year old Sydney appeared in the C-Deck Reception Room in a flicker of pink light. "Hello?!" she called, walking through the empty room. Under her breath, she continued singing the song currently stuck in her head. "One way, or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha-"
"Hey, uh, new girl," Rito called out. Sydney turned her head to the left and saw Rito sitting in one of the wicker chairs with his feet up on a table. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Where are the important people?" Sydney asked.
"Dunno," Rito said. "But Goldar's making us breakfast. You want anything?"
"No thanks," she answered. "I'm just looking for Jenga."
"Oh! The Bridge!" Rito realized suddenly. "She'll be ON the Bridge."
"Thanks," Sydney said. She strode across the room and up the grand staircase, climbing to the A-Deck and then quickly making her way through the lavishly decorated hallways. Sydney wasn't sure she had ever seen a place as empty as the 'Lusitania.'
"Sydney, what are you doing here?" Jenga asked. Sydney turned and saw the red-haired demoness sitting in the first class lounge and eating breakfast with Divatox.
"I was wondering how Klank was doing with his new fighters," Sydney said.
"He's got a great internal mechanism, but we don't know what to make them look like," Divatox answered. "We're thinking insects at the moment."
"Oh. And also, I want a weapon to call my very own," she told them. "You know, in case I need to kill someone real fast. Where's the Weapons Room?"
"D-Deck," Jenga answered.
"Which room on D-Deck is the Weapons Room?"
"D-Deck IS the Weapons Room," Jenga answered with a pleased smile. "Go help yourself to anything you like."
"It's just like Christmas," Sydney grinned, leaving the lounge.
Sydney walked into the room designed as the Dagger Room. The room was filled with shelves lined with daggers of all sizes and types. She didn't have to look more than a few moments before she found the dagger she wanted. Named the Raptor Dagger, it had a simple hilt but a truly magnificent blade. It shone like silver, and rather than a simple blade, it was curved. It almost looked like an angular version of half a fleur di lis, and each blade was sharp enough to cut glass. "Oh yeah," she sighed, stabbing forward with the dagger. "I'll call you... Debbie."
She suddenly paused, glancing toward the doorway. Tucking Debbie into a dimensional pocket, she walked out of the room and looked down the hallway. She caught a glimpse of Astronema stepping into a side hallway. A look at her watch told her she still had plenty of time before school started, and she elected to follow her.
Astronema didn't walk long. She went to the F-Deck and headed for a certain room. Sydney stepped out into the hallway as soon as Astronema was out of sight. She looked around a bit in awe. This deck of the ship had most definitely been altered. Each door was a different color. Ranger colors, to be precise.
She headed for the closest door, which was colored white. Written on the door in tall letters were the words 'Aisha Campbell.' "Wow," Sydney said simply.
The room was filled with photos of the White Thunder Ranger, both morphed and unmorphed. A holographic image of the White Thunder Armor was standing in one corner of the room. She stepped into the center of the room and turned around, seeing Aisha in every conceivable pose and setting. Some photos were those taken by actual photographers, such as class pictures. Others were press release photos of the White Ranger. There were also quite a few from her Yellow Ranger days, and even a few from her very brief stint as Green Morphin Ranger and Pink Turbo Ranger. Images of Zack Taylor were also among the collection, including one set of photos of the two of them that Aisha would not have been pleased to know anyone had seen.
The collage of photos were broken by a white drawer, set into the wall. Sydney stepped up to it and took notice of the small black marker on it. "Genetic Material." As she opened the drawer, fog poured out. Inside were numerous test tubes, some filled with blood and others containing various other genetic materials that could not have been claimed by any manner except the magical prowess of the universe's most evil woman.
"Ovum," Sydney muttered to herself, pulling a test tube out. It was filled with a beige liquid, and she assumed that egg cells leached with magic from Aisha's ovaries were inside. She quickly pushed the drawer shut and turned to leave the room, saying, "If we weren't villains, this would be totally creepy."
She was about to leave the ship when she remembered what had brought her down here. She walked through the hallway, looking for Astronema. Sydney stopped by the silver door marked "Zhane Prescott," and Astronema was inside, staring thoughtfully at the photos of Zhane. "What are you doing?" Sydney asked.
Astronema gasped and jumped to her feet. "Nothing!" she cried. "Just planning how to-"
"Save your breath," Sydney said quickly. "I don't care. I'm just nosy. Crushin' on the Silver Space Ranger, huh?"
"Yeah," Astronema admitted. "It's purely physical, though."
"He's very attractive," Sydney agreed. "Total babe. And he looks like that actor... Justin Something-or-another. Nice, too."
"Well, no one is perfect," Astronema decided. "It's silly, I know. Villains interested in Power Rangers... Preposterous."
"What's with this place?" Sydney asked, walking over to the silver drawer set in the wall. She pulled it open, waved the fog away, and promptly began nosing through the contents.
"Jenga feels that we stand a better chance of defeating them if we know all about them," Astronema explained. "So..."
"And the genetic material?" Sydney asked, lifting a test tube filled with a milky, frozen substance. "Why blood- Augh!" With a scream, she threw the test tube back into the drawer and slammed it shut.
"Jenga just wants to make sure, should she decide to clone the Rangers, she can," Astronema said. "Or something. I dunno. I've long since learned you don't ask questions around this place."
"Your hair is different," Sydney remarked, noticing that she had shoulder-length blonde hair at the moment.
"On Sila Ree Tar, we had to change our hair every so often," Astronema said. Smiling sheepishly, she added, "I kinda liked it."
"Blonde is a good color for you," Sydney said, grinning. She glanced at her watch, and said, "Aw crap, I'm late for school. I'll see ya later, Astronema. Try not to work too hard."
"Learn stuff," Astronema added as Sydney disappeared in a glimmer of pink.
After-school found the cheerleaders on the football field for their last practice before Thanksgiving Break. As Coach Carey was quickly finding out, she'd've been better off to have canceled it altogether. No one was paying attention, not even the "good ones" like Ashley and Hallie. Maggie and Molly were paying least attention of all, but that certainly didn't surprise her.
"Girls, and Zhane, how about we just call it quits for the day?" Carey suggested after Molly and Zhane had completely annihilated the pyramid formation by getting a dual case of the giggles. "Hit the showers."
"Molly, can you give me a ride home, please?" Ashley requested. "I locked my keys in my car this morning."
"Sure," Molly agreed. "Maggie is going home with Hallie after school anyway."
"Thanks much," Ashley said. "You gonna change out here, or-?"
"I figured I'd just go straight home," she said. "Okay with you?"
"Yeah, just lemme go grab my stuff."
Zhane jogged into the men's locker room, stopping by his locker and grabbing his duffel bag.
"Hello Zhane," a polite voice called out.
He turned and saw Martin Prince changing at the far end of the room. "Hey Martin," Zhane greeted. "You're on a sports team?"
"I lift weights," Martin said. "Keeps me from getting beaten up."
"Good thinking," Zhane muttered. "Have a good break, man."
"Thanks, you too," Martin answered back.
"Oh shoot," Maggie realized as she set her backpack on the hood of Hallie's car. "I left my wallet in the locker room."
"Want me to wait for you?" Hallie asked.
"No, that's okay," Maggie sighed. "I better hurry before Carey locks up. Just go on ahead, and I'll get there on my own."
"You sure?" Hallie asked again. "I don't mind waiting."
"Yeah, no sweat," Maggie said. "Besides, unless I'm mistaken, Murray is waiting for you at the Youth Center, anyway."
Hallie grinned from ear to ear and agreed, "Yeah, he is."
"Home's close enough to walk from here," Maggie said. "No problem, 'kay? Now don't leave your man waiting any longer."
Carey glanced inside the women's changing room. Seeing no one, she locked the door and then proceeded to the men's room. The door was propped open, and she called out, "Anyone in there?"
"One person!" Martin called back.
"I'm gonna key the lock," Carey told him. "Just make sure to push it shut when you leave. Okay?"
"You got it," he answered. Coach Carey then hurried down the hall, leaving the changing room area of the gym empty.
A few moments later, Maggie darted into the school. She tried to push her way into the women's locker room, only to find it locked. "Crud," she muttered. Seeing that the men's room was still open, she theorized, "Maybe Coach Thomas has a key."
She walked into the men's room and instinctively pushed the door shut behind her, not realizing she had just locked it. "Coach Thomas?" she called.
"Someone's in here!" Martin cried, quickly yanking his jeans up.
Maggie gave a short scream and jumped back a few steps. "Sorry!" she apologized. "I'm just looking for someone with a key."
"They've all left," Martin told her, grabbing his shirt from the bench that ran the length of the room. "Do you mind?"
"Sorry," she said incredulously, turning her back to him. "Wait a minute... They've all left?"
"Yeah," he told her, buttoning his shirt up and quickly tucking it into his jeans. "Why?"
"I just closed the door," she realized nervously. Her face a mask of panic, she darted to the door and tried to open it. True to her suspicions, the door was locked tightly.
"You locked us in?!" Martin cried, running up behind her.
"HELP!" Maggie screamed, beating on the door. "We're locked in here!"
"There's no one around here to hear us," Martin sighed, walking away from the door and back out into the locker room. "Hey, you're a Valley Girl. Shouldn't you have a cellular phone with you?"
"I have eleven brothers and sisters. It's a miracle my parents can afford clothes and food for all of us," she shot back. "You're a geek. Why don't you build us a cellular phone out of deodorant and a paper towel?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Martin said, sitting down on the bench. "It's just that my grandparents have already driven up to Sacramento to be with our family for the holidays, and I was supposed to drive up there myself tomorrow. So unless your family is gonna be missing you any time soon, we're screwed."
"Well, I told my parents that I was going to be at Hallie's tonight," Maggie said. "But I canceled that with Hallie and... I never got around to telling anyone. I probably won't be missed until nine or ten o'clock. Hallie's foster mom is a fantastic cook, so I'm always looking for an excuse to eat there. Mom and Dad will probably just think I'm gonna be staying there. If they even notice. My family is huge."
"So best case scenario, we could be out of here by nine o'clock," Martin said.
"Worst case, our lifeless bodies will be found on the Monday following Thanksgiving Break," Maggie said.
"Jenga!" Divatox cried, running across the open deck of the ship. She practically slid to a stop beside Jenga who was still leaning against the railing, looking out over the ocean.
"Yes?" Jenga asked simply, oblivious to Divatox's excited tone.
"The Dagger of Millegon," Divatox said, smiling from ear to ear.
"What about it?"
"We found it," Divatox told her. "It just came to Earth as a meteorite, I happened to catch it on my Periscope, and I just sent Goldar after it. He found it in a desert in Nevada, not damaged at all. It couldn't have come at a more perfect time, either. The closest planet, Venus, is in its full phase, which is a stipulation for getting it to work." Divatox unrolled a parchment in front of Jenga, showing a detailed diagram and a language written in an ancient tongue. "We can unleash Millegon's Army!"
"You seem pretty worked up about this," Jenga remarked callously.
"Yeah!" Divatox cried. "And I can't believe you aren't. We could really do some damage with those things running around Angel Grove. You ever seen a Hell Snake?"
"Once, I was at a barbecue where a Hell Snake was served," Jenga answered. "Tasted like chicken."
"Are you okay?" Divatox asked. "You seem distracted."
"I'm just distracted," Jenga said. "I don't know why. I think I'm going to go to Angel Grove, hang out, catch a movie. Wanna join me?"
"I'd rather unleash the legions of the undead and damned on Angel Grove," Divatox answered in a sad voice.
"Go for it," Jenga said with a sigh. "I'm not gonna stop you."
"Can I call a meeting?" Divatox asked hopefully, looking for all the world like a hopeful kid asking for the toy in the window.
"Sure," Jenga agreed. She gestured to the newly installed communications system in the Captain's Quarters.
Divatox strolled with long steps toward the silver console just inside the white door of Jenga's Quarters. "Would all members of the UAE please report to the Open-Air Promenade Deck in First Class?"
"Okay, so then I said-," Justin started. He was interrupted as a strange three-toned beep sounded around them. Sydney stiffened beside him and stopped walking. "What was that?"
"My beeper," she lied. She reached in her pocket, and with a quick twitch of a finger, pulled out a black pager. "Ashley Ann must be calling me. Ya know, Big Sister to the rescue, no doubt." She turned and pointed to the Youth Center still in sight. "I'm going to go call home. I'll see you later?"
"Sure," Justin agreed. Sydney took off running, and Justin began for home. However, he stopped after a few steps and turned around, shouting, "I'll call you tonight!" But she was already out of sight.
Heather St. John was not having a good day. She was supposed to be at the studios at four p.m., and given that it was located on the first two floors of her building, that wouldn't have been a problem. But she had chosen today, of all days, to go run an errand before she needed to be there to film her promo for the day, and her car broke down. Fortunately for her, she was near AGHS when her car died.
"Molly!" Heather cried, hurrying across the parking lot. "Molly!"
"Heather?" Molly asked, looking at the well-dressed blonde in the navy blue pant suit running across the parking lot.
"You know her?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah, she's... a friend of a friend," Molly answered. "Something wrong?"
"Car broke down," Heather panted. "Need a ride to the studio. Gotta be there forty-five minutes ago. Ride?"
"Sure thing," Molly agreed. "Ashley, you mind taking a little detour?"
"I don't mind at all," Ashley said. "You're Emily's sister, right?"
"Yeah," Heather said. "You know Emily?"
"We have a class together," Ashley answered.
Pink light flashed between Rito and Goldar, both sitting comfortably on a couch in the open-air lounge. Sydney appeared between them. "Hey," she said.
"Wassup?" Goldar greeted.
"Word," Rito added.
"Glad you decided to join us, Ms. Kwan," Divatox remarked from her podium at the front of the lounge.
"Open hostility," Sydney said. "Threatened by li'l ole me? I can't imagine why. Oh wait, yes, yes I can. I have Debbie." She pulled out her dagger and let it flash in the sunlight.
"You'll know when I'm hostile," Divatox warned. "You'll be too dead to care, but you'll know."
"Stop the fighting," Jenga said, stepping into the room. "Sydney, show a little respect to your elders. She's fifty thousand years older than you."
"I'll be good," Sydney promised, putting Debbie back in her pocket dimension. "Can Divatox?"
"I'm a whole lot older and a whole lot more powerful than you, little girl," Divatox said. "How old are you, anyway? Fifteen?"
"In body," Sydney answered. "See, the difference between you and me is this. You care. I don't. As far as any of you are concerned, that makes me invincible."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Jump me and you'll find out," Sydney said. She climbed to her feet and walked closer to Divatox, pulling Debbie back out.
"Sydney, Divatox," Zedd tried, stepping between them.
"Jenga, would you make the new girl sit down and show some respect?" Divatox asked, crossing her arms across her chest and forcing a bored expression on her face.
"Jenga, would you make the old hag get off my case?" Sydney asked back, slowly turning her dagger from side to side to make the light gleam off of the fatal points.
"Girls, don't make me separate you," Jenga said in a bored tone.
"Mother, they're liable to kill each other," Zedd said quickly. He had tried to stand between the two, but the dagger was too much of a threat to him in his powerless state of being.
"I'm just trying to establish a very simple ground rule," Sydney started. "Show me respect, and I'll show you respect. Can you handle that?"
"Can you?" Divatox asked.
"I am the epitome of respect," Sydney answered.
"Ditto," Divatox said.
"Great!" Sydney agreed, a wide smile crossing her face. She happily put Debbie away and extended her hand. "Can we shake on it? You trust me, don't you?"
Divatox looked at the offered hand for a few moments before reaching out and giving it two, quick pumps. "Please," Sydney said, "resume your meeting."
"Did everyone see that?" Divatox asked, looking around the room. "Who here was just nervous?"
A few hands slowly rose, until the hand of everyone except Sydney, Divatox, and Jenga was in the air. "You shouldn't have," Divatox snarled. "Sydney and I arranged this earlier."
"The Rangers see us as a joke, and it's rubbed off on us," Sydney agreed. "Rito and Goldar, two of the greatest warriors in the universe, and you were both freaked out at the prospect of a knife fight!"
"Astronema, you're Jenga's sister. And Zedd, need I say more?" Divatox asked.
"Rita, you're of the Vile family line," Sydney said. "Try and act like it. Klank, Orbus, you're machines, for evil's sake! What do you have to worry about?!"
"We would have had to clean up the blood!" Orbus chirped.
"Thank you, Sydney, for your assistance," Divatox said sincerely.
"Quite welcome," Sydney returned, sitting back down between Goldar and Rito. "Wimps."
"I heard that," Rito said quickly.
"You were supposed to," Sydney sighed.
"We have a hideous public image," Divatox said. "We can't have that. It's time we scare the hell out of Angel Grove. Anybody disagree with me? If so, get off this ship. I can point you to the railing."
"What's your plan?" Rita asked, resting one hand on her swollen stomach.
"The Dagger of Millegon," Divatox said, pulling a simple, steel knife out from her cape. "We can call Millegon's Army from the underworld with this. But a simple demon won't do the trick. We're gonna shake things up a bit more. I've had Klank devise a simple, electro-magnetic pulse bomb. If detonated in the center of Angel Grove, it should completely and totally destroy every electrical device within city limits. Cars, computers, telephones, electric lights, iron lungs... If it runs on electricity, we'll be able to wipe it out.
"But then it occurred to me. Angel Grove has an average yearly temperature of seventy-eight degrees. No electricity, whoop-dee-do. Big hurt. Of course, with a magic-induced blizzard raging through the city... things'll be a bit harder for the Angel Grovians."
"Grovite," Goldar corrected.
"Grover," Rita said.
"No, I think it's Grovian," Sydney commented.
"Well, I know it isn't Grovite," Zedd added.
"Isn't it just Californian?" Astronema tried.
"Yes, but there should be a proper name for the denizens of Angel Grove," Klank said.
"Maybe it's like... Grovaen, or something that looks cool but is hard to pronounce," Rito suggested. "Or ooh! Maybe they're just called the Angels!"
"It doesn't matter what they're called!" Divatox shrieked.
"She's gonna have a headache," Rita warned in a lowered voice.
"The point, which you idiots just totally ANNIHILATED, is that I'm going to bring a real winter to Angel Grove!"
"Dear, I think you should just concern yourself with Millegon's Army," Jenga suggested. "Have Astronema take care of the winter, and let Klank and Orbus deal with the pulse bomb."
"We can't," Orbus said quickly.
"Even if we are magical, we are bound by the laws of physics," Klank added. "It would temporarily place us out of commission."
"How about Rito and Goldar?" Orbus suggested.
Goldar gave a supportive growl while Rito just smiled and gave Divatox a double thumbs-up. "I'll do it," Sydney said quickly. Rito groaned unhappily and lowered his head.
"Now about the dagger," Divatox said. "To call Millegon's Army, I'll need the blood of a virgin. Where can I get some of that?"
"Well, you could go to Rito, but I don't think he has blood, anyway," Goldar snickered.
"Shut up, Goldar!" Rito shouted, hitting him by reaching past Sydney. "I've got some before!"
"I need human anyway," Divatox said.
"Just use some of the Rangers'," Jenga told her. "We've got plenty here. Just make sure that said Ranger doesn't lose their virginity while those things are running around, or they'll wimp out."
"A Power Ranger, having sex?" Divatox asked with a snort. "Yeah, that'll happen."
"Oh wait, I just thought of something," Jenga said. "You got a vessel for Millegon? He's going to need to come through them, somehow."
"How do I do that?"
"Pure gold... and some precious jewels," Jenga suggested. "Just go to a jewelry store. I tell you what, I'll go, because I'm planning on just hanging out in Angel Grove this afternoon anyway."
Sydney rematerialized beneath a bridge on Interstate 12 that neatly bisected Angel Grove. As luck had it, the bridge was situated almost at exactly the center of Angel Grove. In her left hand, she held a small device. When discharged, it would emit an invisible wave of energy that would stop every electrical device in a twenty mile radius.
"I will drive past your house," Sydney sang, "and if the lights are all down... I'll see who's around..." She placed the bomb against one of the support pillars and continued singing. "One way, or another, I'm gonna find you, I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha!"
She slowly walked down the median in a sultry one-step-exactly-in-front-of-the-other that anyone who had spent anytime around Jenga Xett would recognize as familiar. After about twenty feet, the device "exploded," doing no damage to the structure of the bridge but sending out an intense wave of energy. The air, previously filled with the sound of numerous car engines, became silent as they all shut off. A few squalling tires sounded soon after, but then, drivers resumed control, and save for a few fender-benders, everyone slowed to a stop as best they could. Cars veered to the side of the interstate, some rolling to a stop in the median. One stopped less than a foot from Sydney, but she walked past it nonchalantly. A few of the tractor trailers were having a harder time stopping, but really, Sydney decided, that just made the whole experience all the more exciting.
"What the-?" Molly asked.
"What just happened?" Heather asked, looking out the window. The sudden lack of sound was alarming.
"My car just shut down!" Molly realized. She tried the ignition again, but the engine made absolutely no response.
"Try and pull over," Ashley suggested. "I think everybody's car shut down."
"Pull into the median," Heather instructed. "If the semis just shut down like that, too, they're gonna have a really hard time stopping." Just as Molly roughly guided her car onto the grassy median, a tractor trailer silently rolled past.
Molly threw her door open and jumped out of the car, looking around. "Are you all okay?" she asked, peering back into the car.
"Just incredibly confused," Ashley remarked, climbing out of the passenger side. A few other cars were using their momentum to continue down the road, but for the most part, people were stopping. And they were stopping everywhere. What had once been a busy interstate was now a very disorganized parking lot.
"Hey, the radio," Adam complained. He was halfway to the radio when he realized that his blazer was also silent. He quickly reached for the ignition, but there was no response. Still rolling with momentum, he looked about, seeing that the other vehicles around him were in a similar predicament. He gently applied the brake and eased to the emergency lane. Halfway there, another car rammed into his rear end, but he held his own and came to the best stop he could.
He got out of the car and looked around in disbelief. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked after a moment, hurrying to the car that had just hit him.
"Martin?" Maggie asked. "Didn't you used to have really bad acne? Because it took me like three weeks at the start of this semester to realize it was you in some of my classes."
"I went to a dermatologist last summer," he said.
"They did wonders!" Maggie cried, walking right up to him and placing her hand on his chin. She turned his face to the side and said, "Your skin is beautiful."
"Thanks," he said nervously, turning red. He walked away from her as casually he could and sat on the bench running the length of the room. "So, what were you going to do for Thanksgiving?"
"Oh, my grandparents were going to come over for dinner," Maggie said, hopping up onto the sink to sit cross-legged. "How about you?"
"We were going to spend some time with my aunt and uncle in Sacramento," Martin explained. "My grandma and grandpa are probably driving up there right now. They'll probably get in too late to call home, so..."
"You live with your grandparents?"
"Yeah, my parents were killed in a car wreck when I was in kindergarten," Martin said.
"I'm so sorry," Maggie said sincerely. "That's gotta be rough."
"Well, my grandparents have always been great to me," he explained. "You have a big family?"
"There's fourteen of us all together," Maggie said. "Me, Molly, Ashley, Jesse James, Randi, Sandi, Kandi, Andrew, Autumn, Harmony, Melody, and Wyatt. And I'd be willing to bet my over-fertile mother is gonna have more. I dunno, she doesn't believe in birth control or something. And-" At the precise moment, the lights went out, and the locker room, with no windows, became as black as the inside of a tomb. "Oh yeah, this is just what we needed."
"What is the urban legend associated with the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre?'" Dr. Guy Tanaka asked his advanced Urban Folklore class. "Come on, guys, I know this is probably everyone's last class before Thanksgiving break, but you've got another half hour to go."
"The urban legend is that the entire story is true," one student finally said.
"And the truth," Guy started, "is that the movies are loosely, VERY loosely, based on Wisconsin farmer Edward Gein, a man who did indeed have a penchant for the macabre. He'd go to cemeteries, dig up fresh corpses, and use their skin to make lampshades. That's true. It's also true that he did engage in cannibalism and necrophilia. However, he didn't use a chainsaw, and he also never served human chili at the Texas Chili Cook-Off. That's pure Hollywood, and a fact that got mixed in with a watered-down version of the truth as it was passed from person to person."
"But I've heard on the news that it was true," another student said.
"Just because it's on the news doesn't mean it's true," Guy said. "People don't like to hear it, but it's a fact. The press is just as likely to believe an urban legend as the average person not trained in urban folklore." He was about to move on to the next subject when the room darkened.
"Of course we'd be in a room without windows," someone commented.
"Afraid of the dark?" another voice asked, snickering.
"No, I'm afraid of WHO'S in the dark," the first voice answered, earning a few laughs from the classroom.
"Hold still, everybody," Guy said. He walked to the doorway and looked out. Pitch black. Even the emergency lights weren't working. "If anybody has a lighter, feel free to let me borrow it."
A flicker of fire suddenly appeared near the center of the room, and the student with it slowly made his way toward Guy. After about ten feet, he hissed and extinguished the light. "Burned myself," he said apologetically.
"Did we blow a fuse?" Guy shouted down the hallway.
"Entire campus is out!" another professor shouted back.
"All right, I guess class is dismissed," Guy said with a shrug. "Don't forget about the paper due."
"Just how are we supposed to get out?" a female voice asked. "We can't see."
"I'll light the way!" the student with the lighter volunteered, flicking his Bic back on.
"Don't burn yourself, genius," another female voice laughed.
"Everybody gather your stuff," Guy suggested. "If all of campus is out, who knows when we'll get power back."
A faint bluish light suddenly came streaming down the hallway. Guy looked out, seeing that someone had opened the door to the stairwell, which was filled with windows. "Man, even my Indiglo isn't working!" someone cried.
"My watch is dead, too," another student said.
"Mark my word," Guy started, "in a few weeks, practically every student on this campus will have a story to tell about how they were in a room with no windows when the lights went out. And THAT'S how urban legends spread."
"Sort of like how there are a reported 15,000 people who claim to have just missed sailing on the 'Titanic,' right?" a student asked as she walked past Guy.
"Very good; you get an A in the course," Guy smiled at her.
"Ernie, the light in the fridge just went out," Adelle said as she came back to the bar with her arms full of fruit.
"The lights in Angel Grove just went out," Ernie told her. She set the crates of fruit down and looked around, seeing the Youth Center mostly darkened. Only light streaming in the from the windows illuminated the room. "Must be a power outage."
"Hey Ernie, can I use your phone?" a teen asked after running back in the building. "My car won't start."
"Nobody's car will start!" a girl behind him shouted. "They're even stopped on the street!"
"My walkman is dead!" a guy on the weight machines complained.
"The clock even stopped," Adelle observed, pointing to the battery-operated clock above the bar.
"Okay everybody, just stay calm," Ernie started, "this isn't a big deal. If you want, you can go ahead and walk home, feel free to leave your cars here."
"The pay phone isn't working either!" someone called.
Adelle picked up the phone from beneath the bar. "Dead, too," she remarked. Sighing and putting her hands on her hips, she said, "At least the monster alarm isn't going off."
Jenga had just stepped out onto the sidewalk when the jewelery store darkened. She zapped the small grey bag of jewels and metals to Divatox aboard the 'Lusitania,' and then set out on foot toward the Youth Center.
She was already under a bit of a disguise. Her hair looked basically the same, but the blue streaks lay hidden under an invisibility spell. A confusion spell allowed her face to look the same, but anyone who looked at her would be unable to 'place her face.' The woman who had just waited on her in the jewelery store asked if they had gone to high school together.
The streets would have been filled with pandemonium had people been able to go faster. Instead, clumps of people were slowly gathering, trying to figure out what was happening. A policeman on a bicycle just wheeled past her, going somewhere in a hurry.
"I wish I had thought of this myself," she mused, looking at all of the darkened buildings. When night fell, the place would really be going nuts. Few people had ever seen a city in the dark. It wasn't a very fun place to be. And she intended to have a front row seat for it.
It didn't take her long to reach the Youth Center. It was pretty centrally located. Teenagers were standing in front of it, some trying uselessly to get their cars to start. Another was beating on the pay phone. She walked in, seeing the place mostly empty. Ernie, Adelle, and Nancy, their new barkeep, were still behind the counter, Brooke Hillard with her shoulder-length, shiny, red hair sat by the bar with her chin propped up on her hand, and Lt. Stone was standing near them.
"Is this place still open?" Jenga asked.
"Well, we aren't open for business, but we're an official emergency and monster shelter until ten p.m.," Ernie told her.
"Pull up a bar stool, stranger," Adelle greeted.
"Millegon, I call thee!" Divatox cried as she thrust the dagger into the ground.
Astronema looked on in silence, waiting impatiently. Then, the dagger was pulled under ground. For a moment more, nothing happened, and then, within the confines of the circle of blood, a whirling red vortex appeared. Divatox threw her hands up in the air and whooped happily.
A molten, golden form began to rise from it, slowly taking shape. As the golden appendage rose from the vortex, it began to resemble a human more and more. And then, the golden human was standing on top of the warped, glowing ground. He was male, and every aspect of him, his skin, his short hair, and his armor, was made of gold. His eyes opened, and the two sorceresses saw that they were composed of the two sapphires they had placed in their offering for him.
"Millegon?" Divatox asked, stepping toward him.
The demon shifted his eyes uncomfortably. "Why is my body not flesh?" he asked in a soothing, pleasant voice.
"The spell wouldn't allow it," Divatox told him. "You are Millegon."
"No," he said.
"Then who are you?" Astronema asked, her eyes narrowed.
"Where is Millegon?" Divatox growled angrily.
"He's been called elsewhere," the golden man said. "In a different dimension. I'm his replacement to you."
"I don't want a replacement!" Divatox shrieked. "Go back-!"
The golden man put up a hand to silence her. "The underworld works like a mail order catalog," he explained. "If you don't get what you ordered, you'll get a substitution of equal or greater value. And I am far greater than that Hell Snake, Millegon." He stepped off of the swirling vortex of red light. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he transformed, changing from gold to flesh and color. He was a Caucasian man with short, dark, brown hair. "Much better."
"Then who are you?" Astronema asked again.
"Duran," he answered. "I'm not from your dimension, but I have dealt with some of your Rangers before. I think we could be quite beneficial to each other."
"Is that your nose?" Maggie asked.
"That's my nose," he said. "So, can you tell what my face looks like?"
"Uhm... no, not even a little bit," Maggie said. The two were kneeling in front of each other in the pitch black locker room. Being in the dark for several minutes had prompted Maggie to wonder what it would be like to be blind, and before Martin knew it, she was feeling his face, trying to determine what he looked like with just her hands.
"Can you tell anything?" he asked.
"Well," she said, gently running her fingertips across his skin, "I can feel some stubble, so I'm guessing you have a five o'clock shadow right now."
"I do," he said.
"I can tell you have a really solid jaw," she told him, running the back of her fingers down the slope of his jaw. "You can touch my face, if you want."
His fingers gently touched her cheeks, fleetingly. "Well?" she asked.
"I can tell that you're just as beautiful in the dark as you are in the light," he answered boldly.
"That's so sweet," she said gently. Her hands suddenly became stronger on his face, and before he could ask what was happening, he felt something soft, wet, and warm touch his lips. He sat there unmoving, and realized after a few moments that his eyes were open wide, even though he couldn't see a thing. Entirely too soon, the sensation left, and Martin still found himself unable to say anything. "Martin?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
"What- What was- Did you just kiss me?" he asked in disbelief.
"Don't you know what a kiss feels like?" she asked him, her face close enough that he felt her breath on his skin.
"Actually, no," he admitted.
"Do you mind?" she asked softly.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Can- can I try kissing you?" His stomach was rolling suddenly, and his entire body was filled with a weird energy.
"Yes, please," Maggie told him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer.
"Adam!" Ashley cried, hopping up and down and waving her arms.
"Ashley!" he called, steering his bike into the median to stop by their car. "You all know what's happened?"
"Not a clue," Molly answered. "Where'd ya get the bike?"
"I'm comin' home for the break, so I had it strapped to the back of my blazer," he answered. "Thank goodness, huh?"
"Can you give me a ride to KBKO studios?" Heather asked desperately. "Oh, you don't know me. I'm-"
"I know who you are, Ms. St. John," he told her with a friendly grin. "Besides, I'm a friend of Jason Scott. I'm Adam, by the way. How far are we from the studios?"
"About three miles," she answered. "But it's VERY important than I be there. I was supposed to be there to film a promo nearly an hour ago."
"If you don't mind sitting on my handlebars," Adam told her, "then I can get you there."
"I knew I wore a pant suit today for some reason," she muttered. "I REALLY appreciate this Adam."
"My pleasure," he said, helping balance her as she hopped up onto the handlebars.
"You're just one man, Duran," Zedd said. "Millegon had an entire army. What good can you do?"
"I have my army," Duran told them. Behind him, a cluster of golden energy gathered. From the cluster appeared a small, golden scorpion with ruby eyes. His tail darted forward erratically, threatening to spear anyone who got too close. "And of course, they come in all sizes. As many as you like."
"These things surely have weaknesses," Rita realized. "What are they?"
"Heat," Duran answered quickly. "Aren't you going to make it winter?"
"Give me half an hour," Astronema requested. "And I can make it snow."
"So we wait half an hour?" Duran asked.
"No, we'll start now," Divatox said. "Just to see what all we can manage. Duran, do you need an escort to Angel Grove?"
"Regrettably, we do not have our own personalized fighters yet," Klank said apologetically.
"Those two," Duran requested, pointing at Goldar and Rito. "Can they fight?"
"Among the best," Goldar growled.
"Let's go," Duran said simply.
"We can't teleport," Justin realized. "Even our communicators are wiped out."
"You think whatever put the electricity out was evil in origin?" Kimberly asked.
"If it got our communicators, it had to have been," Billy said, tapping the blue device on his wrist.
"I'll morph and run to the Power Station," Justin volunteered. "It won't take me long to get there."
"You should get Emily to go with you," Billy told him. "Just in case."
"We should try and get everybody gathered," Kimberly said. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"I just had a bad thought," Justin said. "If we are attacked, and all of the electrical appliances in Angel Grove are out of commission... the monster sirens won't work."
"Kim and I are Senior Members of the team," Billy said suddenly. "And we're calling this an emergency."
"There are monster sirens in Stone Canyon," Kimberly realized. "I'll morph and take a Zord there."
"You think the Zords will work?" Justin asked nervously, looking at Billy.
"They're magic-based, aren't they?" Kimberly asked.
"They do have some electrical components," Billy said. The three Rangers looked at each other nervously and then ran through the house, emerging in the backyard, already morphed.
"NinjaCraneZord, power up!" Kimberly cried. "Pterodactyl DinoZord, power up!" She waited impatiently for a few moments before turning to look at Billy and Justin. "Oh God. I'm on my way to Stone Canyon." She darted out of the yard, quickly accelerating to the fastest speed a non-Turbo Ranger was capable of, around forty miles an hour.
"I'm going to the Power Station," Justin said. "I'll see if I can get teleportation online." He promptly flipped out of the yard and turned into a blue blur that quickly disappeared.
"Thanks a lot, Adam," Heather said sweetly. She kissed him on the cheek, smiling warmly. "I really appreciate it."
"I'm glad I could help," he grinned.
"Get my number from Emily and give me a call sometime," she offered. "Okay? I'll repay the favor."
"Okay," he agreed, starting to blush. She ran toward the building and disappeared into the lobby.
Still smiling, Adam picked up his bike and pointed it toward the sidewalk. Before he could push off, however, a dog-sized golden scorpion skittered up to him and stabbed forward with his stinger. Adam shouted and jumped off of his bike as the scorpion knocked it away. "Aw crap," he muttered as he summoned his Zeo morpher. "Green Zeo Power!" In a green flash, he turned into the Green Zeo Ranger, the only difference from true Zeo armor was the Power Morpher as his belt buckle.
He pulled out his PowerBlaster and fired at the scorpion. It promptly melted, turning into a puddle of gold. However, before he could be too happy in his victory, it solidified into numerous balls of gold that reformed into more scorpions. He then noticed even more scorpions scurrying down the street, their golden feet clicking against the pavement. "Dimitria," he said into his wrist, "what are these things?" There wasn't an answer, and he realized he couldn't even pick up the static of an empty channel.
Heather hurried into her office, backstepping when she found the note taped to the door. She pulled it off, reading it quickly. 'Heather, we have to go to our sister station in Silver Falls to do our broadcast. We've got a chopper on the roof waiting for you. Please hurry. - Andre. P.S. - Sorry, but the elevators aren't working either.'
"Son of a-!" Heather blurted. "Augh!" She beat her fist against her forehead. The roof was 62 floors up. She reached for her tattoo to teleport to the roof, but after pressing the spot several times, she couldn't get a response. "Geeze." She twisted her wrist, producing her green Thunder Morpher with her new Power Coin carrying the image of a Lion. "Green Thunder Power!" she cried, morphing in a green flash.
Then, running as fast as she could, she darted to the back stairwell and leapt from one landing to the next five above it. A few seconds later, she reached the final landing, and as she stepped out onto the roof, she demorphed in a subdued green flash. A helicopter was indeed waiting on the roof, as was an impatient Andre Ferguson. "Heather!" he cried. "Where have you been?"
"Long story," she said. "I-" Before she could continue, the far-off whine of the monster alarms in Stone Canyon sounded. "Oh Lord. The Angel Grove ones must not be working."
"Hey, you guys!" the chopper pilot shouted. "There are some gold things climbing up the building! Let's get a move on!" The blades began to turn.
"Andre, I can't go," she said simply.
"Excuse me?" he asked. "You have to go."
"I'm needed here," she told him.
"You're needed to do a telecast in Silver Falls," he said.
"He'll be with you in a moment!" Heather shouted to the pilot. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of sight with her. "I can't tell you the whole story, and if it wasn't for the fact that I trust you with my biggest secret, I wouldn't be telling you this."
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"It's morphin time!" she cried. "Green Thunder Power!"
"Oh Lord," Andre sighed. "Why haven't you told me this before?!"
"There are rules," she said, "and I just broke the biggest one. Now please, don't expect me to go, because I can't."
"All right, just be careful."
"I always am," she promised. "I- Go!"
"Wh-?" he asked, turning around slowly. A giant pair of ruby eyes set in a golden insect were peering at them from the edge of the roof. "Come on!" she screamed, taking him by the arm and running toward the helicopter. "You better not leave yet!" Turning to Andre, she shouted, "Has the building been evacuated?!"
"Not yet," he huffed as Heather practically shoved him into the helicopter.
"GO!" she screamed at the pilot, stepping back as the helicopter hurriedly lifted from the roof.
The scorpion promptly thrust his tail up into the air, trying to hit the helicopter. Heather pulled out her ThunderBlaster and pointed it at the tail, firing a green blast of energy. It struck the barbed tail, large chunks of gold falling free. As he turned his ruby eyes toward her, she fired a shot at each eye, shattering the rubies and sending several large fragments on the roof. The scorpion promptly let go of the building and fell sixty-four stories to the ground below.
Heather walked up to the roof's eave and pointed her Blaster at the scorpion scaling the next building over. She fired and struck it in one of its ruby eyes. It gave a bellow of anger and fell to the street below. "This town is screwed," she muttered.
"I say we walk home," Molly said, getting her backpack out of the backseat. "Nobody is gonna be able to get anywhere."
"You're right," Ashley agreed. She glanced at the communicator on her wrist, and said, "I think Cassie was supposed to be out here too, so I'm gonna see if I can find her."
"Be careful," Molly told her as she set out for the steep, grassy embankment that led to a residential street.
Ashley promptly ran down the highway a short distance, stopping when she reached the bridge. Crouching behind a pillar, she pressed her communicator and said, "Dimitria, Alpha, come in."
She realized that there wasn't even any static at about the same time she heard the far-off whine of Stone Canyon's monster alarms. Crouching down even further so as to stay hidden, she twisted her Power Morpher. "Yellow Space Power!" And then, she was off running.
Grunting, Justin and Emily pried the outer doors to the Power Station open. "It's pitch black in here," Emily said warily as she hurried to the inner doors. They opened easier, and she was able to slide them back herself.
"Any systems online?" Justin asked, hurrying in behind her.
"I don't know this new system yet," Emily admitted as she walked into the very dim inner sanctum. "Neon columns are lit... Alpha's out. I don't see Dimitria."
"She's there, just... unable to communicate," Justin said.
"What exactly happened?" Emily asked, walking over to Alpha Five.
"I think some kind of electromagnetic pulse was flashed over all of Angel Grove," Justin said. "Fortunately, the Power Station is self-preserving, so if I can get the main reactionary system back online, the rest will follow suit."
"I thought the Zords were magical," Emily remarked.
"They are, but they do have some electrical components," Justin told her as he turned his Turbo Headlights on. Emily followed suit, adding a bit more light to the room. "The only thing that is purely magical is our Ranger powers and weapons. Everything else is at least a bit grounded in reality."
"Is there anything I can do for Alpha?" Emily asked, looking at the silent automaton. "It's so sad seeing him so... still."
"There's a compartment on his back," Justin told her. "Just open it and reboot him. That might kick-start him."
"And I do that how?" Emily asked, moving behind the robot. She opened the compartment, and then said, "Oh. I guess I push this big button that says Reboot, huh?"
"Alpha Five wasn't made by Microsoft," Justin commented. "He's very user-friendly. But it'll take him a few minutes, if it works."
"Okay, I've done that," Emily said. "Now what?"
"Hold your breath and say a prayer," Justin answered.
Suddenly, red, black, and blue light flashed before them, producing Billy, Jason, and Zack, already morphed. "We're here to get the Zords working," Billy announced. "You guys, now is a good time to get four Ranger prospects on their way to Phaedos to become Turbo Rangers."
"I've only come up with two people," Emily said. "Hallie Burquette and Murray Wilson. Pink for Hallie, obviously."
"We could use another computer expert around here, and the best way to do that is to invite him onboard as a Ranger," Justin announced. "Martin Prince, namely. He's smart, and he's in shape. I don't think he knows how to fight, but... he could be taught."
"One more then," Emily said. "And a girl, for yellow."
"A male Ranger could be yellow," Jason said.
"We've got limited facilities," Justin suddenly announced. "Teleportation is secure, now. And I've found Martin. He's with... Maggie Hammond, of all people. Hey, she could be yellow."
"I like Maggie, but that girl is not Ranger material," Emily said.
"I think Maggie and Martin are stuck together," Justin mused. He moved over to the communications console and chose Aisha and Kimberly, the two Rangers closest to the high school. "Could you guys please go to AGH? I've got two people locked in the men's locker room, Martin Prince and Maggie Hammond. Try and separate them, because we need Martin to be a Turbo Ranger."
"I'm on my way, Justin," Aisha answered.
"Me too," Kimberly said.
"I've found Hallie," Justin said next. "She is stuck in traffic. And Murray is... he's home."
"Teleport them here, Justin," Dimitria advised. It took a moment, but after a few seconds, two streaks of white light dropped into the mostly darkened Power Station. Emily took off her helmet and hurried over to calm them down.
"Everybody," Justin said over the radio systems, "I am looking for someone to be our fourth Turbo Ranger. Any suggestions?"
After a brief moment of silent, Jason said, "I know of someone."
Maggie's hand rested on Martin's chest, two fingers inside his shirt and idly stroking his skin. "There will be a Christmas dance soon," Maggie said. "You can ask me to it."
"I've never been to a dance before," Martin admitted.
"They're fun," Maggie said. "I love to dance."
"You really want me to ask you?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Be- did you hear something?" Martin asked.
Before Maggie could answer, the door burst open. Martin and Maggie both leapt to their feet as two Power Rangers ran into the room. The eyes of the tiger on the White Ranger's helmet were glowing with bright lights, dispelling the darkness of the room. "We're here to escort you to safety," the White Ranger said. "There's been a massive attack on the city."
"What?!" Maggie cried. "Why didn't-?!" She stopped in mid-sentence and looked at her hand. "I don't live far from here. I'll run home." Without waiting for approval for the Power Rangers, she darted from the room. She stopped suddenly, ran back up to Martin, took his face in her hands, and kissed him full on the mouth. "Call me sometime, Martin." Flashing him a smile, she then turned and ran off again.
"Where's the nearest monster shelter?" Martin asked woozily.
The Pink Ranger looked at the door in confusion and then turned back to him. "Actually, Martin, we have a proposition for you."
Guy Tanaka was waiting with some colleagues and students on the first floor of the Fine Arts Center on the AGU campus. He walked away from the main lobby. The noise was getting to him. He couldn't fathom how everyone could be so talkative with the city under siege. "I've been away too long," Guy realized as he headed down a darkened corridor. The sun was setting, and fast, and there was just the briefest hint of light streaming in through the tall, narrow windows in the hallway.
He stopped by a window nestled securely in the corner. If he strained, he could just barely hear the monster sirens in Stone Canyon. It seemed odd not to have Angel Grove's sirens ringing in his ears. It also seemed odd for the fight to have gone on this long without the Rangers calling out their Zords. Then again, while he had been on his little world tour, there had been several very long, drawn-out fights. Apparently, that trend wasn't over.
He turned to go back to the lobby to wait with the boisterous students, but as soon as he stepped away from the window, he found himself practically face to face with a female police officer. "Gah!" Guy shouted, jumping back. "Geeze, you scared me!"
"Are you Dr. Guy Tanaka?" the tall policewoman asked.
"Yes," he answered.
"Dr. Tanaka, my name is Dulcea, and I work with the Power Rangers," she said. "They request your assistance."
"Divatox," Klank called, "I noticed that the Power Rangers are slowly getting the Power Station back online. It just so happens that we have one more pulse bomb in our arsenal."
"They're planning to go to Phaedos," Zedd said. "I used the new RepulsaScope and saw Dulcea propositioning a young man."
"I'll do it right now," Astronema offered. "I need to go make it winter anyhow."
"Hurry!" Rita shouted. All turned to see her peering through the eyepiece of her RepulsaScope. "I just saw Dulcea and some guy teleport there now!"
"Gone," Astronema quipped, disappearing in a purple flash of light.
"I have a question," Sydney said, holding her hand up. "If these things out there are so powerful, then how is it that the ones big enough to knock down skyscrapers can be defeated with one of those little guns they carry."
"They're made of gold," Divatox explained. "Susceptible to heat. As soon as it starts snowing, they'll be considerably tougher. By the time we hit zero, little below, they'll be practically undefeatable."
"I hope my mum doesn't worry," Brooke sighed unhappily.
"She'll assume you're in a monster shelter like everyone else in the city," Jenga assured her, patting Brooke on the shoulder.
"I had best get out there," Lt. Stone said. "Ernie, this place is official now. Get downstairs."
"On it," he said.
"It'll be dark down there," Nancy commented. "At least up here we have the moon to light us."
"We have Coleman lanterns," Adelle told her. "You must have a phobia of the dark."
"And storms," Nancy admitted.
"I didn't figure you'd be scared of anything," Ernie said, escorting Brooke through the darkened bar. Jenga looked around, and then opted to follow them into the "monster shelter." Adelle lit a lighter as she descended the steps to the basement.
"I'm kind of new to Angel Grove," Jenga said. "What's the standard protocol in a monster shelter?"
"We wait," Brooke answered.
"You aren't likely to have any homicidal madman down here, are you?" Nancy asked nervously.
"Did something happen to you in the past?" Ernie asked.
"You could say that," Nancy said, looking around. "I used to bartend in the Caribbean. And... something happened there. Last summer, ugly story. Nobody wants to hear it."
"See, we have a lantern," Ernie said, hurrying to light it.
"And we just stay here, and wait?" Nancy asked.
"Well, we usually have a t.v. to watch, but there's no power," Adelle said.
"Why on Earth did I move back to Angel Grove?" Nancy sighed.
Guy, Martin, Hallie, and Murray stood in a group together, talking quietly as Dulcea helped Justin ready the teleportation system. They were trying to determine who would end up with each color. Hallie, obviously, had reserved herself as pink, but the others couldn't establish a color for themselves.
"Are you ready?" Dulcea asked suddenly, looking at the group of four.
"We're ready," Hallie answered for them.
"Hurry back," Justin said just before he hit the controls. It took a second, but the group of five quickly brightened the room in five columns of light, one silver and four white. With a sound not unlike that of a fuse lighting, the light overwhelmed their bodies, and they streaked out of the Power Station.
They had no more than disappeared when the few systems that were online shut down, plunging the room back into darkness. "No!" Justin cried, looking around in a panic.
"What just happened?" Emily asked, putting her helmet back on and starting her headlights.
"We just lost everything again," he sighed. "Hopefully, I can get it back online."
"Can I help, or should I get out there and fight?" Emily asked.
"It's a one-man job in here," Justin said. "Hopefully. Go fight."
"Be careful, Justin," Emily said, patting him on the shoulder and then running out.
A dark sky waited for her on the other side of the opened outer doors. She also realized that it had gotten colder. A lot colder. Before she took off running at top speed, a single, white snowflake drifted past her field of view. She extended her hand and caught it on one fingertip.
"Snow," she whispered in disbelief. The snow began to fall quickly, already dusting the floor of the desert. She watched for just a moment, trying to come up with a rational explanation for how this could have happened. Then, she snapped out of her revelry, and raced off through the desert. After all, she had to try and save the world.