Disclaimer: First and foremost, the Power Rangers belong to Saban, en toto. I own nothing. Secondly, this is a vague people fic. No action, at all. Thirdly, this is the third fic written in the "From the Inside Out" series. However, these fics (or short shorts) are not written in order. I had originally planned to write from the start of the PR timeline to the end, but if I let myself hop around, I'll probably get more written, and it will be better. The fics can be posted in any order, and they can be read in any order. They take place (sort-of) in canonverse, and while they're all in the same dimension, they aren't dependent on the others.

Blue History
by Jeremy Ray Logsdon

It hadn't been an easy decision for Billy to make. He could never say, not in a million years, that there hadn't been good things about being a Power Ranger. The adrenaline rush, the thrill of having someone who was just a hair too close to a fight asking the Blue Ranger for an autograph afterwards, getting to see parts of the universe that few others would...

But there had been bad things, too. He hadn't made an actual date since he had almost destroyed Violet's respect for him. That had been well over two years ago. They had never had a chance to go on their date, though. The Saturday night that they were supposed to go to the movies, Ivan Ooze attacked. And consequently, Billy had found himself on the planet Phaedos.

When he returned on Sunday, he had a lot of explaining to do. His parents chewed him out pretty royally for not bothering to inform them of his "last minute decision to go camping with the gang." All six teenagers had subsequently been grounded. Billy suspected that some of the parents may have been a bit wise to the Rangers in their own families, but no one actually said anything.

And then, on Sunday night at the fireworks display, he had been approached by an extremely angry Violet. He couldn't blame her. He had stood her up once, completely snubbed her during the last week of school, (well, that had been his evil clone, but as far as she knew, it was him.)

Billy had never really dated much before being a Power Ranger. As in, he hadn't dated. So basically, there he was, an eighteen year old who had never really gone out on a single date. He hadn't liked that.

Sometimes, it was just too much. He had been a Power Ranger for far longer than anyone. While Tommy had showed up about three months after the formation of the original team, he had also taken a very long hiatus in which Billy had continued to serve. And besides all of that, he had been the only member left of the original team. He felt like the last link to a passed era.

Geeze, sometimes it felt so long ago. They had fought countless monsters, each one intent on destroying the Rangers so that Rita could take over the planet. He couldn't even remember the names of all of them. Hundreds of battles fought, just so he could keep on fighting.

Admittedly, it had been a spur of the moment decision to step down. As soon as he had seen that look on Tanya's face, he didn't know if it had been the right decision. She looked far too happy to be a Power Ranger, and it hit him, right then. There are a lot of good things about being a Ranger. She was from a time-lost era that didn't even know what a Power Ranger was, but she still wanted to be in on the fight. He later learned that Tanya was almost always that happy, but he didn't know this at the time.

It did seem a bit odd seeing Rocky fight in blue armor. But that quickly faded. The armor did look different, after all, and besides, a triangle? How could that possibly compare to a Triceratops?

That was how Billy had escaped the world of the Rangers. He had been startled to discover that there was an entire world out there, just waiting for him to experience it. And experience it he did. He dated a bit; he even got a bit past second base once with a nice young lady named Deana. They had ended up breaking up after about six weeks, but he still had warm feelings toward her.

It felt incredible to just sit around and ignore that blasted communicator. His still beckoned when Zordon called the troops out, but he no longer had to reply. That was optional, and he often elected to take the option of ignoring it. It felt good to just relax in the park with the sun shining down on his face. In fact, it felt better than piloting a creation of steel and magic into battle. That was something he had never expected to admit. Billy Cranston no longer lived for technology. He was quite content to go enjoy the world as God meant for it to be.

A variety of circumstances pointed him toward Aquitar. He had decided to stay there for a while. The communications system wasn't at full functioning capabilities when he told them that he was going to spend some time with his good friend, Cestria. He had given them a good shock when he shown up two weeks later.

He had also nearly busted a gut laughing when he realized that they had expected him to stay on the water planet for good. He was ichthyophobic, after all. Blindly terrified of fish, in other words. He was somewhat better now. He could go fishing, and he could walk in Long John Silvers without having a spaz attack, but living on a planet where the only intelligent species of life has gills? Nope.

Things kept on changing in the world of the Power Rangers. After Turbo, he didn't even know any of the Rangers. Zordon was gone, there was a new Alpha, and Billy Cranston was officially cut out of the Power Ranger family. But he was okay with that. So were all of the other Rangers he had grown up with. And then, one day, the Rangers were victorious. He hadn't had a hand in the victory explicitly, but if he hadn't been one of the originals, the Earth would have fallen long ago. So he felt that he and the Rangers he had served with were allowed to share in the victory.

The Earth is quiet now. Any disturbances on it come from other humans, not evil space aliens. It isn't anything that the world's various governments can't handle.

It had been great being a Power Ranger. But it was great not being a Ranger, too. Billy knew that if he was given the choice of having been an ordinary teen or a Power Ranger in his past, he would've picked the latter option. But if he was given the choice of being a Power Ranger for the rest of his life or a powerless human, he would choose to be ordinary Billy Cranston, engaged to a wonderful young woman.

"Billy, I'm gonna go for a jog in the park. Wanna come with?" Kimberly asked.

Billy turned from his seat on an old chest and closed the scrapbook in his hands. He slowly stood up, placed it back in the chest, and then turned to her. "Yes," he said with a warm smile. "Yes I would."

Being a Ranger was great, but being a human with an active, love-filled life was so much better.

End