Yeah yeah, it's been more than 6 months. I apologize, I have a reason. It's at the end of the chapter so I'll see you down there.
Power Protect You
Chapter 8
"So someone explain to me, why am I doing this?" Xander asked as Tommy strapped padded gloves onto his hands. The 'this' that Xander was referring too was a martial arts tournament being held at the Youth Center.
"Multiple reasons man," stated Jason, who had just walked up behind him, a water bottle in hand and a towel over his shoulder. "One, it will give me and Tommy a chance to observe your style and let us see what we still need to work on. Two, its good practice, and three, it will be a lot of fun.""And Kim signed you up without telling you," Zack chimed in as he and the other four rangers walked up to them
Xander leveled a glare at his girlfriend. "Yeah, remind me to thank you for that later," he muttered darkly. Kimberly just smiled sweetly in return.
Further conversation was cut off as Ernie stepped out onto the large mat with a microphone in hand. "Alright, before we start things off I want to say welcome to everyone, thanks for coming," he paused as a round of applause broke out. As soon as the applause died down Ernie announced the first match and walked out off the mats as the judge stepped out.
The six rangers then wished their friend luck as he walked out onto the mat, his opponent also approaching. "So Kim, why did you sign Xander up for this when you know he hates it when you do that?" Tommy asked as the matched started.
"Simple, too build his confidence in himself," she answered her friend, wincing as Xander took hit and staggered back.
"Not sure that I follow your reasoning here Kim," Tommy replied.
With a sigh she turned her attention from the match to the green ranger. "Xander seems to believe that no matter what he does it's never a big deal. He never takes pride in the things he's done. He saved the world single handed a few months ago and acted like it was no big deal." "Kim, we save the world on a weekly basis," stated her friend.
"Yeah we do, the power rangers, not Xander. He doesn't have any of the stuff we have and he saved the world, and then acted like it wasn't a big deal," countered Kim. "We had no idea about what happened that night, if Xander hadn't been there, we would all be dead right now."
Tommy was silent for a moment as he let Kim's words sink in. "Okay, you may have a point there," he said as realization dawned on him.
"I know which is why I'm doing this. I am going to build Xander's self confidence even if it kills him," stated the pink ranger, ending the conversation and returning her attention to Xander's match just in time to see him land a blow to score the winning point.
The group cheered for Xander as he walked over to them. "Way to go Xan," Kim smiled as she kissed him.
"Thanks Kim," he smiled back as the two pulled apart.
"You were great out there man," Jason said, slapping him on the shoulder. "Keep that up and you'll win for sure."
"Here's hoping," Xander replied with fingers crossed.
Jason's prediction wasn't entirely accurate. After an afternoon of matches and demonstrations of various techniques Xander had managed to come in second in the tournament, a fact that the entire was group was proud of given as it was his first tournament.
"You did great today Xan," Kim stated as she and him walked down the road towards his apartment, Xander carrying the trophy he had won.
Xander grinned back as he looked down at his trophy. "It is pretty cool, what with it being my first tournament and all," he said, causing Kimberly to smile.
Suddenly multiple flashes of light appeared around them which quickly turned into putties. "Shit" Kimberly swore as both of them dropped their things and fell into fighting stances just as the first putties jumped towards them.
Ducking under a kick Xander lashed out with his fist, striking the closet puttie in the stomach and causing it to stagger back slightly, he bit back a curse as pain shot up his arm. Ignoring the pain he followed up with a series of quick kicks and was able to land a hit on the Z on its chest. Pausing a second to catch his breath he was caught off guard as a foot struck him in the back, sending him flying through the air and landing hard several feet away.
"Xander!" Kimberly screamed, flipping her current opponent onto the ground and rushing over to her fallen boyfriend. "You okay?" she asked, kicking an approaching puttie away.
"Yeah, I'm good," Xander rose to his feet and stood next to Kim. "Let's finish this." Kimberly nodded at him and together they leapt at the remaining putties. A short but intense fight later the last puttie fell to the ground and with a flash of light burst apart.
"Well that was fun," Xander said sarcastically as they retrieved their things from where they dropped them.
"Zedd usually doesn't send down putties for no reason." Kimberly stated as Xander handed her bag to her. As if on cue her communicator started beeping, raising it to her mouth she opened up the channel to the Command Center. "Kimberly here."
"KIMBERLY WE DECTECED THE DISTURBANCE, ARE YOU AND ALEXANDER OKAY?" Zordon questioned.
"We're good, just a few putties," Kimberly replied.
"THAT IS GOOD TO HEAR, THE OTHER RANGERS WERE ATTACKED AS WELL. ALPHA AND I BELIEVE THAT ZEDD USED THIS AS A DIVERSION TO HIDE HIS TRUE MOTIVES. BE ON YOUR GUARD."
"Gotcha Zordon," with that the communications line was closed. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she stated.
Xander walked forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. "Its gonna be okay Kim, you guys can take anything that Zedd throws at you."
Kimberly smiled at him as she pulled him in for a kiss. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Anytime."
A little while later the two arrived at Xander's apartment and were greeted by happily barking Cthulhu. Kimberly bent down and began to pet the dog, who eagerly licked her face in return. "Who's a good doggie?" she asked the small dog, who barked in reply.
Xander grinned at this while he set his and Kim's bags down on the small table in his kitchen. "You want something to eat Kim?" he asked as she joined him in the kitchen, Cthulhu trailing behind her.
"No thanks, I'm good," walking over to the table she picked up Xander's trophy and walked out into the living room. Following her out Xander saw that she had put his trophy onto an empty shelf. "What do you think?" she asked, stepping back.
"Not bad," examining the trophy's new spot on his shelf Xander was pleased with it. After a few seconds the teens moved to the couch and got comfortable.
Zedd's Palace
With a sigh of annoyance Zedd broke his gaze away from the Earth as Kimberly and Xander disposed of the last of his putties. Although it was true that he had only sent them down as a distraction for the rangers, he had hoped that his foot soldiers would have been able to injure one of the rangers, or at least the annoying Harris boy that helped them.
Unlike Rita before him he held no personnel hatred for the boy, apart from the hatred he held for all humans. His only reason for wanting him gone was that it would leave the rangers in a weakened state. A blaze of fire that quickly died away to reveal Goldar broke Zedd from his musings and he turned to his servant.
"My lord," Goldar bowed and held up his hand, revealing item held within. "I was able to retrieve the item as you ordered."
Zedd walked over to his servant and took the item from his hands. "Excellent," Zedd hissed out as he rolled the ring over in his hand.
"My Lord," Goldar spoke, Zedd acknowledged him with a wave of his hand. "Why did you have me retrieve the ring? What possible use could a vampiric ring serve toward your cause?" Zedd turned his gaze away from the ring and rested it on the monster.
"Obviously you have no idea of how much power the Gem of Amara holds. By using the power within this stone I can make an unstoppable monster," Zedd replied calmly as he began to pry the small stone out of its setting. "And Goldar, do not ever question my actions again!" Zedd screamed at his servant, his body glowing red with power.
"Yes master," Goldar bowed and quickly fled from the chamber.
Turning back to the gem in his hand Zedd calmly rolled it around his hand, examining it from all angles. With a flick of his wrist the gem went sailing through the air, landing a few feet away. Lifting his staff he pointed it at the small stone. A bright flash lit up the room as a bolt of energy flew from the Z at the top of the staff and struck the stone.
If Zedd had been able to smile he would have been as the stone began to glow a sickly green and quickly began to grow and change shape.
Angel Grove
"So, what else do you have planned for us tonight?" Kimberly asked as she and Xander walked down the street.
Xander just grinned as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "No idea, I've been winging it all day." With a smile and a roll of her eyes she gently elbowed her boyfriend in the side, earning a grunt of surprise from him.
Xander mocked glared down at his girlfriend, who just smiled sweetly in return. It didn't take long for Xander to crack and soon his face broke into a grin and he wrapped an arm around her. "Want to get something to eat?"
The response from his girlfriend was cut off as her communicator started beeping. Looking around Kimberly quickly ducked into an alley and raised the device, Xander keeping an eye to make sure no one got close enough to see what was happening.
"What's up Zordon?"
"KIMBERLY TELEPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTER IMMEDITALY," the voice of her mentor answered.
"On the way," she replied before looking toward Xander and shooting him an apologetic smile. "Rain check?"
"Get out of here," he said with a smile. Kimberly smiled back before disappearing in a flash of pink light. Looking up at the sky Xander noticed that the sun was slowly setting, with a sigh he headed for home.
However before Xander could make it very far he was waylaid by a hand shooting out of the shadows of an alleyway and pulling him in. Before Xander could get a good look at his attacker a fist collided with his face and sent him sprawling into the wall.
"Well well well, what do we have here," a very familiar voice said as Xander regained his footing. "What is the slayers lapdog doing here?"
"Spike," Xander hissed out as he scrambled to his feet and dropped into a fighting stance. "What the hell are you doing in Angel Grove?"
The bleached blond vampire tsk at the young man as he walked back and forth in the alley, "now now whelp, I believe I asked first."
Knowing full well that if it came down to a fight between him and the Master Vampire he would lose, Xander slowly began to make his way to the mouth of the alley, his eyes never leaving the vampire. Before he could it make it very far though Spike rushed him and launched a punch at him.
Reacting quickly Xander was able to dodge to the side, barely avoiding Spike's fist and countered with a punch of his own. His attack didn't exactly go as planned as the vampire grabbed his fist in an iron grip before throwing him to the ground.
"Now that's just rude Harris, trying to run off in the middle of our conversation," Spike sneered, staring down at the boy.
Quickly regaining his footing Xander began to back up, hoping to put as much room between himself and his attacker as possible. Spike just grinned as he watched the boy, knowing full well that the other end of the alley was blocked by high fence and there was no place for Harris to go. "So, Harris, why are you here instead of at the good ol' hellmouth?"
"I live here," came Xander's reply as his hand moved to where he kept his stake. Finding nothing but air where it was usually kept he cursed.
"Looking for this," came Spike's voice in a taunting tone. Looking up Xander saw his stake in the vampire's hand.
"Don't suppose you'd give that back huh?" Xander asked meekly, his eyes already scanning his surroundings hoping to find another weapon.
"Actually," Spike began as he slowly began to close the distance between the two. "I thought I would give you a taste of your own medicine; show you what it's like to have a chunk of wood shoved through your chest."
With his friends currently busy fighting Zedd's monster of the week and therefore unable to help him Xander quickly began to panic as the vampire moved ever closer. Without warning Spike charged forward and raised the stake in a killing blow. With reflexes born of fighting vampires and martial arts training Xander dived to the side narrowly avoiding the killing blow.
Not wanting to give Spike the chance to attack again Xander moved onto the offence and launched a kick at Spike, who effortlessly avoided it. With an amused grin the vampire's empty fist shot out and struck Xander in the chest, staggering him. Pressing his advantage Spike moved in and slammed Xander down onto the ground and pinned him there.
"Game over boy," Spike sneered as he raised the stake for a killing blow. "Any last words?"
"Go fuck yourself," Xander growled at him, refusing to give the vampire the satisfaction of seeing him afraid.
Not wanting to be the last thing he saw to be Spike's sadistic grin Xander closed his eyes and waited for the blow that never came. Opening his eyes Xander saw that the dark alleyway was replaced with the flashing lights of the Command Center.
"Aye yai yai Xander, are you okay?" Alpha asked as he helped Xander to his feet.
"Yeah, thanks for the save, I owe you one," he stated as he dusted himself off and looked around, expecting to see the others there but finding the room empty save for Alpha and Zordon. "The others still fighting the monster?" Xander asked.
"Not exactly," Alpha replied as he shuffled over to one of the computers.
"WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED A PROBLEM," Zordon's voice boomed down at him.
"What's wrong?" Xander asked, a fear for his friends quickly taking over.
"OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE," turning to the globe, it's usually cloudy surface changed to show a large monster. The monsters stood at just over seven feet, its skin was covered primarily in black scales with occasional patches glowing green scales. Its head more or less resembled a human, only it was deformed in a way that seemed vaguely similar to Xander, two large fangs descended from its mouth. Bony blades protruded from its wrists, elbows, and knees and a large crystal sat on its chest glowing a sickly green.
It took a few seconds before it dawned on Xander, the creatures head looked like a vampire's game face. "What the hell is that thing?" he asked; nervousness and fear growing in him.
"IT IS A CREATURE THAT LORD ZEDD CREATED FROM AN ANCEINT ARTIFACT KNOWN AS THE GEM OF ETERNITY, OR MORE COMMANLY KNOWN AS THE GEM OF AMARA," Zordon explained.
"Okay, but where are the guys, why aren't they fighting it?" Xander asked, as he watched the monster shoot a blast of energy at car, blowing it up.
"They have been trapped in a pocket dimension by the monster, the only way to release them is to destroy the gem imbedded in its chest," Alpha explained as the picture on the globe zoomed in on the crystal allowing Xander to see the six streaks of light flying around inside the crystal.
"THE RANGERS NEED YOUR HELP ALEXANDER. YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN FREE THEM," Zordon's voice filled the room.
Xander broke his gaze away from the image of the monster and turned to face the interdimensional wizard. "Zordon, you know that I would do anything to help the guys, but speaking realistically here this thing had no problem capturing the others, how am I supposed to fight this thing?" he asked.
Zordon and Alpha were both silent as finished speaking. The two exchanged a look as Alpha stepped towards the tube. "Zordon?" Alpha asked hesitantly.
"YES ALPHA," Zordon said to the small robot, who nodded at him and turned to one of the computers and began to furiously punch keys. Turning his gaze back to the young man, who was confused at the interaction between the two. "IT IS TRUE THAT PRESANTLY YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DEFEAT THIS MONSTER, BUT THERE IS A WAY," Zordon stated.
"And just what would that be?" Xander asked, intrigued at where this conversation was heading.
"BY BECOMING A POWER RANGER!" Zordon's voice washed over the surprised young man, it's obvious he wasn't expecting that answer.
After a few minutes of shocked silence, Xander was finally able to find his voice, and spoke the only thing that his mind could muster up. "Say what?"
End Chapter 8
So once again I apologize for the long wait in the update. School crap began piling up so I decided to take a break from writing, then when break did come around some other crap piled up and I found I couldn't really find the inspiration to write.
So, Xander's becoming a ranger. Whoever didn't see that coming should leave now, as it was pretty blatantly obvious as it was coming. Anywho, the next chapter should hopefully get done sooner since I have had pretty much the whole thing worked out in my head since I started writing this fic. And remember, reviews will help the writing process along.