Powerless II

Summary – [Sequel to Powerless]. The rangers had it drilled in their heads all the time by their parents; don't drink and drive. They should've listened.

01

Zachary Taylor was on a mission and nothing would get in his way when he was on a mission.

Especially when that mission had a party. The light at the end of the tunnel for exam week. The Holy Grail he could only dream of grasping in his hand. His happiness was at stake, having a good time was at stake, everything was at stake.

"And you're sure your parents don't mind us using your family's chalet?" Zack asked Billy, nervously tapping his hands against the top of his desk. He glanced at Ms. Appleby while she stood speaking quietly to Principal Kaplan while the students conversed with each other.

Billy's eyes flickered with confusion as he repeated, "Shallot?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, chalet. That fancy-schmancy humble abode your family uses for skiing trips and Christmas."

At that, a smile stretched across Billy's face and he gently corrected Zack by saying, "Shallots are used as a condiment in Asian cuisine and are sort of like onions, but have a milder flavor. Chalets are a wooden house or cottage with overhanging eaves, typically found in the Swiss Alps."

Zack blinked at him for a moment then said, "Whatever. So, do we have the place or what?"

Jason, who sat behind Zack, started to laugh along with Billy, making Zack grin as well. Hey, he got corrected by the 'Big Time Brain' on almost a daily basis, it was nothing. And, Billy always managed to do it in an endearing way. So much so that Zack always found himself repeating things Billy had said before or regurgited things he'd learned from studying with him.

"I always thought your one-track mind was on girls, but all you've been talking about for this past week was having this party, man," Jason said.

"It's because we need it! We're teenagers. If we don't party, we'll die."

"Actually, if we didn't stop monsters from attacking the city every day, we'd die."

"Whatever." This time, Zack held his hand up in front of Jason's face and turned to face Billy, using the same hand to gently swat him on the arm. "So, do we have it or what?"

Billy smiled and nodded. "My father said we can have the place and use it as long as we want." He lifted a finger in warning before Zack could get too excited. "But we have to leave it the way we found it. Meaning, if we spill something, we must clean it up. If we break something, we must fix it. If there isn't any ice in the machine, we may have to get some. But there's a grocery store nearby. I figured we could have the place for the week and then over the weekend go to the store and get everything we need for the party."

"And since we'll have the cabin to ourselves, and it's a bit out of the way, if there's any monsters that come to fight we can teleport in and out," Jason agreed.

Zack rolled his eyes. "It figures, Mr. Responsibility only cares about the boring stuff."

"There's nothing wrong with being responsible," Billy said, coming to Jason's defense.

"You're right," Zack agreed. He managed to keep his straight face for all of two seconds. "It's just not as fun." He did his best to keep his laugher inside but broke when Jason and Billy laughed as well. Turning his head, Zack lifted his chin to greet Kimberly, Tommy, Trini, and Avalon as they entered the classroom. "Yo, guess what. Billy's got us the hookup! We can use his parent's chalet."

Billy laughed again when Zack made sure to pronounce the word right, over-enunciating as he did so. At the news, Kimberly clasped her hands together. "That's so rad, Billy."

"Yeah, I'm glad your parents trust us enough to use the place," Tommy agreed.

"Not just that, we don't have to worry about any supervision," Zack said. "So we can party all week long!"

Sitting at the back of the room, Bulk folded a sheet of paper into an airplane and threw it across the room. He smirked, watching it arc around before turning to Skull, who slumped over his desk, snoring loudly. With a grin, Bulk formed a fist and slammed it onto Skull's desk, shooting him awake.

"Huh? What?" Skull asked, eyes drooping heavily.

Avalon chuckled as she looked over at her friend. "Just go back to sleep, Skull, you're not missing anything."

"Did we take the test yet?" Skull murmured, rubbing at his eyes.

Bulk rolled his eyes. Reaching out, he placed his hand on the back of Skull's head and forced him back down onto the desk as if he hadn't done anything to wake him up in the first place. Then he lifted his chin to address the rangers. "So, you dweebs are having a party? Is this an open invitation or do can we just show up?"

"You're not invited," Zack said almost immediately.

"It's a private party," Trini agreed. A little more diplomatically than Zack had said, but with a sense of strength all the same. Bulk and Skull exchanged glances and Trini continued with, "We just want some time to ourselves to unwind after being slammed by exams."

"Then you don't know what you're missing," Bulk continued. "Because Skull and I are known to party like animals. Right Skull?"

"Yeah, like animals," Skull repeated. He reached out a finger and wiggled it towards Kimberly, as if he were scratching her under the chin and saying, 'coothcie, chootchie, coo'. "You're going to miss out on a lot if we're not there."

Tommy immediately bristled. "Leave her alone, Skull."

"Relax, ponytail," Bulk said with a roll of his eyes. He held up his hand and wiggled them back and forth. "We don't want to go to your stupid party anyway. What are you going to do? Sit around and sew clothes for the homeless? Gather food for the poor? Hold hands and play ring around the rosie?" He pressed his hands to the sides of his face, fluttering his fingertips against his skin. "I'd hate to ruin such a good time. You goodie-goodies are always the same. You don't know how to take any risks."

"I think the biggest risk you have coming your way, mate, is whether or not Tommy or Jason will beat your face in, yeah?" Avalon said. She waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. We'll have our own party when I get back. Sharkie, too."

"Fine. But none of your dweebs."

"You may not like them, but they're not dweebs. Just like you two aren't complete jerks." Avalon turned her attention back to the rangers, who were all staring at her. Her eyes grew wide, shifting back and forth. "What?"

"How can you be friends with them?" Jason asked.

Avalon grinned. "How can you not? They're too goofy not to be."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, can we please prioritize and plan?" Zack asked. "This is probably the only time are parents are actually going to trust us to go somewhere without their supervision. We need to make sure this is the best time we can ever have. And I mean ever!" He thought for a moment. "Would you mind if I invited Angela?"

Billy shrugged. "Like I said, first week we can hang out, after that we can have a really big party. Just so long as—"

"Oh, come on, that's not fair!" Zack forced the corners of his mouth down, hoping to appear as pitiful as he could. "Jason and Trini are inseparable." The red and yellow rangers smiled at each other. "Tommy and Kimberly are just disgusting." Kimberly made a show of sticking her nose in the air as Tommy narrowed his eyes. "And you've got that thing going on with Av—"

Billy's face immediately reddened. "—That's not—"

"I have no one to keep me company," Zack continued. "Not unless you want me to hang around you guys all the time. And, you know, this might be romantic and the perfect place to get my swerve on. The mountains, the lake, the sunsets, sunrises…it sounds perfect to me."

"Ooh, to me too," Kimberly agreed. "So romantic." She turned to Tommy, grasping his hand tightly in hers. "We should have a sunset picnic at the lake!"

Zack jerked his thumb over to the white and pink rangers, using his other hand to make the 'crazy' sign next to his head. "You see what I mean?" He murmured. Jason and Trini exchanged glances and snickered quietly while Billy hid his smile.

Though he didn't outright state it, Zack could tell from the subtle upward twitch of Billy's eyebrows that the blur ranger understood exactly what he meant. "You can invite Angela, that's fine," he said. "Everyone come over tonight and we can figure out what we're bringing, who's driving, and everything and then then Sunday morning we can head up there."

"Yes!" Zack cheered, punching the air.

"I'm glad to see you're so enthusiastic to take your exam, Zachary," Ms. Appleby teased. Zack smiled sheepishly, lowering his back to his desk. "I hope you do as well as you think. No matter what happens, I'm so very proud of what you guys have managed to accomplish this year." She then looked at the rangers seriously. "But there is something that should be noted that Principal Kaplan wants to make sure I bring up to you."

"Is everything okay?" Trini asked tentatively.

"Yes, we just wanted to bring something to your attention. Now that you all are getting older, there are a lot more pressures that are coming your way. Experimenting with sex, drugs, and drinking. And we understand you have a lot of freedom that you want to explore. But I want to express to you how to be safe. If you ever take a substance or drink, please do it responsibly. You're underage and I'm sure you've heard enough of us adults telling you that you shouldn't drink illegally, but the truth is it is going to happen. And I want nothing more than for you all to be as safe as possible." Ms. Appleby looked around the room, looking each student in the eye.

Some squirmed in their seats, looking away from her while others listened, at rapt attention. Finally, Ms. Appleby let out a shaky sigh and glanced at the papers in her hand. "I'm sorry if my timing of bringing this upsets you or makes it difficult to take your tests, but please know I care about my students." She leveled her gaze on Bulk and Skull, who rolled their eyes and looked away. "All of them." She took a deep breath and said with a markedly brighter tone, "Please do your best and if there is anything that confuses you, let me know and I'll do my best to make things easier."

She stepped up to the front desk in the room, Trini's, and handed her a stack of paper. "Please take one and pass it back."

Trini nodded, took her own test, and handed it to Zack over her shoulder before leaning over to start her own test.

Zack gratefully took the paper and started to write as soon as he glanced over the questions. The only thing that stood between him and the start of an amazing summer vacation was this last exam.

He was going to crush it.

A/N: And here's the first chapter to Powerless II. The ones that are named 'Powerless' and a number directly after it, they're stories that are about the rangers as a group. If they're ones that have an actual title, then they're about a specific ranger. But like Powerless I that was mostly from Trini's POV, this one is mostly from Zack's despite it being about all of the rangers.

I hope you guys enjoyed it. Also, chapter 8 to The Wounded Hart is up as well. Please check it out.

~Av