Green with Evil

Rescue Part 2

The moon palace is flickering with a different air – Rita was winning – and celebrating is in order. Rita dances around her throne with her scepter in hand. Her motley crew aren't exactly sure how to handle her positive attitude, but choose to go with it rather than question it. Squat and Baboo dance with Rita and Finster stands in the corner, clapping his hands in the glee.

"Things couldn't be going any better for us!" Rita shouts, twisting and turning about, her minions trying to keep up.

"I couldn't agree more, my Queen," Finster says. Rita stops abruptly, causing Baboo to stop and Squat to run into him resulting in both of them collapsing behind Rita. She turns to look at them and would usually berate them for being so clumsy, but this time she instead lets out a cackle and hunches over in laughter. She eventually gathers herself and saunters over to her telescope.

"Those rangers think they have any chance of defeating me," Rita laughs. She zooms in on Angel Grove City, where she watches as Scorpina and Goldar are combining their powers to severely hurt the rangers. "That Scorpina always brought out the best in Goldar," she says, admirably.

"Yes, that Scorpina is just absolutely terrifying in battle," Squat agrees.

"Really there is no equal in power," Baboo adds, Rita turns her head and gives the blue hobgoblin a devilish side-eye, causing him to squeal, "Except you my liege. You're absolutely the most powerful," Baboo bows his head numerous times out of respect.

"Of course I am, but having a powerful army is part of what makes me powerful, and all of my warriors are doing wonderfully," she cackles.

"And with the Green Ranger tormenting the Red Ranger," Baboo begins and Rita laughs out loud once again.

"My favorite part! My fiercest warrior, the Green Ranger!" she declares. Baboo and Squat exchange glances, knowing that Goldar would surely protest if he were present. "The Red Ranger doesn't stand a chance against the Green Ranger's power. It's only a matter of time before my brave warrior collects the puny human's life, and then the Red Power Coin will be mine for the taking!"

"What would you do with it, my Queen?" Squat inquires.

"It'd be the trophy of all trophies – and one less thing that Zordon would have to use against me," she explains. "Let me check in on things, speaking of which," she turns again to her telescope and adjusts the lens so that she can see into the dark dimension.

The fog is more intense than usual, not just settled on the ground as it normally is. In the center of the circular dungeon, Jason is laying on his back, his hands gripped against the Green Ranger's hand.

"Not much longer now," the Green Ranger says, applying more pressure on Jason's neck. With his stomach wound and the constricted airways, Jason knew if he didn't do something fast he was going to pass out.

How did it come to this? Jason was a good kid. He got good grades. He taught martial. He never used his prowess unless he had to. He had great friends and he was secretly taking care of his mother in light of his father's abandonment. His mother…Jason hadn't seen his mother in some time. Unfortunately in her father's absence she had developed something of an addiction to…many things. She wasn't a bad mother, she was just lost.

Did she even notice Jason was gone? Would she be looking for him?

He shakes his head, abandoning those thoughts and returning the very real reality that the Green Ranger is trying to kill him. Jason's eyes traveled from the Green Ranger's visor, to his morpher, sitting only a few mere feet from him. That' all he needs. Jason used all of the strength he had and threw his knees upward, hitting the Green Ranger in the back and making him flip over Jason.

"What…" The Green Ranger says as he recovers from the roll. He shakes his head and finds Jason having rolled over, retrieving his morpher. "No…" the Green Ranger mutters. "Morpher or not, your life will end by my hand."

"I don't think so," Jason holds up his morpher, "Tyrannosaurus," and it's done, the red light assimilates his body and fades away, revealing the Red Ranger suit. To say that Jason felt 100% better would be an understatement. His wound, while serious, isn't as prominent.

"Let's do this," the Green Ranger says, a green light appears in his hand revealing his Sword of Darkness, now fully bonded with the host.

"Ready when you are," Jason says, standing strong in his place. A strange surge of energy flows through Jason – a sensation he hasn't felt in some time. He was found.

"This is the end!" The Green Ranger jumps in the air and brings down his sword, only mere inches away from an unmoved Jason. Just as the blade would pierce the Red Ranger's helmet, he disappears in a flash of light and the Green Ranger lands on the ground in his place, the tip of his sword crashing down on the ground below him. "What?" the Green Ranger looks around him, bewildered.

No. No. No – the singular word going through his head over and over again. The Red Ranger couldn't have escaped, not his watch. Rita was going to be furious with him – he slams his fist down and lets out a scream of frustration. The Red Ranger will meet his end….

The light surrounding Jason fades away and he finds himself in the familiar center of the command center. From when he last saw, it looks 100% better. He turns and sees Zordon's tube still lifeless; a part of him really wished they would have found a way to bring Zordon back by now.

"Ayi-yi-yi!" Alpha all but screams, Jason turns around and finds the automaton running toward him and crashes into him with a hug.

"It's good to see you too, Alpha. You have no idea," Jason embraces his friend and quickly powers down so that Alpha can see that he is hurt.

"Jason, ay-yi-yi!"

"I know, Alpha. Is there anything you can do for me?" the robot takes Jason's hand and leads him to the medical bay. Alpha examines his wounds thoroughly and if Alpha could give a grim expression, it would be right now.

"Jason, you're lucky you made it out alive," Alpha says; Jason doesn't disagree. Alpha grabs a tube and puts a light pink liquid all over his wound. It stings at first, but then just becomes warm and relief starts to kick in. "It won't fix everything, some of it will have to heal on its own."

"I'll take whatever I can get," Jason says. "Alpha, where are the others?"

"They are trying to fight off Goldar and Scorpina…" Alpha says.

"Scorpina?" Jason says, alarmed. "She's free?"

"I'm afraid so, and we're not sure how. Rita had captured two of your school mates, but the rangers saved them from being sacrified," Alpha explains.

"She went after our classmates?" Jason inquires.

"Yes, Scarlett and Trent, I believe," Alpha answers.

"Rita really hasn't been messing around lately…" he says. He then thinks about his wound. The Green Ranger attacked him with his sword and then disappeared. The attack drew blood and…"It was me," Jason realizes.

"What do you mean?" Alpha asks.

"They used my blood to summon Scorpina…"

"Ayi-yi-yi-yi…" Alpha says. "

"Why are they taking them on?" Jason asks.

"Tonight has been a very long, unexpected night. The rangers broke into a military base so Billy could hack the satellites and connect them to the morphing grid to find you," Alpha says this robotically, and non-chalantly and Jason's jaw couldn't drop any lower.

"Uhh…what?" Jason says. "They broke into a military base?"

"Affirmative," Alpha 5 says, "And while that happened, Goldar and Scorpina attacked. Billy went to meet them and then the others followed."

"I have to get out there," Jason starts to get up and Alpha pushes him back down, much to Jason's surprise.

"Not like this, you need to wait a few more minutes," Alpha insists. Jason reluctantly submits and exhales defeated.

"How long have I been gone?" Jason asks.

"A while…" Alpha answers cryptically and Jason realizes he might not want to know the answer yet.

"The Green Ranger almost had me, Alpha. Near the end there, I really thought he was going to finish me. I didn't stand a chance without my power morpher. And I don't know if that would have been enough given my state…" Jason admits.

"Jason, you were chosen by Zordon as the leader and the wielder of the Tyrannosaurs power coin because of your strength, both inner and outer. You will soon realize that the Green Ranger doesn't stand a chance," Alpha's pep talk is also unexpected, but it certainly makes Jason think.

"He's one mean fighter…" Jason adds.

"Ayi-yi-yi. He fights for evil. He's undisciplined and that will be his undoing," Alpha says pretty confidently.

"You seem much more confident than I remember, Alpha," Jason laughs and Alpha looks up at him.

"We can't afford anymore doubt or negativity – it's how Rita wins. We pulled together and found you. Now we will find Zordon," Alpha says and Jason doesn't have it in him to argue. He wants to believe that to. "I think this is as good as we'll get it," Alpha says.

Jason stands up and while he's definitely still sore, it feels much better than before. He follows Alpha to the main control room of the command center and Alpha activates the viewing globe. Scorpina, she's reckless – this is Jason's first thought. Her battle style is so savage, so harsh. Jason begins to understand why she was so hard difficult to resurrect. Whoever put her underground really didn't want her to return.

"She's hurting them!" Jason yells, watching the golden-armored villainous throw her signature weapon, slashing through each of his teammates.

"Scorpina hasn't fully adapted to her powers, Jason. She's still trying to recover them. You can wear her out and force her hand to retreat. Rita knows that if Scorpina tries over exerts herself too early, she'll destroy herself. Rita won't let that happen and that's how you'll win this," Alpha advises.

"Not a bad idea," Jason agrees. "But I need to get down there now. Alpha, prepare me for teleport." Jason raises his morpher once again and yelles, "Tyrannosaurus," his suit once again enveloping his body and before he knows it, he's pulled out of the command center with a warm, red light and travels the several miles to Angel Grove and the heart of the battle.

He lands just above the fighting. His teammates scattered across the ground, grabbing at their wounds. Scorpina retrieves her weapon and is just about ready to unleash her attack once more. Goldar stands next to her, gleefully laughing at the destruction around him and the apparent victory before him. Jason's hands clinch into fists.

"This is the end, rangers!" She yells with a venomous glee.

"Not if I can help it!" Jason yells back, he leaps from the building, extends his right arm, summoning his Power Sword and then grabbing his blaster with his left hand. He unleashes several blasts from his laser, which she manages to block with her weapon, however a blast hits Goldar surprisingly in the face, causing him to recoil and cry out venomous slander. Once he lands, he swings his sword down on Scorpina which she meets with his weapon – unaffected by Goldar's pain, but he surprises her with a strong kick to her side, knocking her down.

"Jason?" Trini is the first one to notice, recovering from her injuries.

"What?!" Kimberly exclaims.

"Jason!" Zack affirms.

"Way to go, Alpha!" Billy adds.

Scorpina slowly gets up from the ground, a newfound desire in her eyes – Jason. She smiles a wide, lustful, predatory smile. She looks at her arm and there is a small gash from the wounds she sustained from earlier. She raises her arm and licks some of the liquid crimson from her wound; her eyes rolling to the back of her head in what appears to be some kind of psychotic ecstasy.

"Your blood, is my blood…" Scorpina muses, breathless. "I want more…" her eyes center on Jason and narrow, like a hunter locking onto its prey.

"Okay, and you're just a psycho. Good to know," Jason says point blank.

"Like you have no idea," Scorpina agrees. She slices down with her weapon and Jason meets it with his power sword and her next few attacks, blade for blade. Scorpina's fighting skills are top notch, Jason can't deny this, and causing more concern and worry than he wants to feel. "Feel my sting!" she says, backing up and getting ready to throw her weapon.

"Sting this," Jason retorts, pointing his hand blaster at her chest plate, and blasting her point blank. She cries out in pain and falls over. He takes this opportunity to turn around and get to his teammates.

"Jason…I can't believe it's you," Kimberly says exasperated, she reaches up and gives him a hug so tightly it catches him by surprise.

"It's me, Kim," he replies. Zack approaches and pats Jason's shoulder triumphantly.

"Gang's back together!" Zack says.

"Just in time, too," Trini adds, getting up from the ground. The rangers, now reinvigorated with morale, stand strong behind their leader with their weapons at the ready. Goldar, finally recovered, stands next to Scorpina, growling. His red eyes locked on the arrival of the Red Ranger, almost in disbelief.

"It can't be…" he says under his breath, but not quiet enough.

"You didn't think you were going to get rid of me that easily, did you Goldar?" Jason mocks.

"Your end is still inevitably, Red Ranger. Make no mistake about that…" Goldar says forebodingly.

"Jason, Scorpina is very strong…much more than Goldar…" Kimberly says.

"We don't have to beat her – in fact, I don't know if we can. But we can wear her out. She's not used to her powers. If she's over worked, Rita will surely demand a retreat," Jason says.

"Then we need to move quickly, because I think all of us are at risk of wearing down, too," Zack says.

"I have an idea," Billy begins. He touches his morpher and a blue device appears in his hand. It's small, almost looking like a pager of some kind.

"What's that?" Trini asks, a question the team shared.

"Hard to explain – here they come. Get them close together and give me an opening!" Billy instructs.

"You got it, man," Jason says. "Rangers, keep them off of Billy. Give him as much time as he needs."

"Right," Trini, Zack and Kim say in unison. The three of them follow Jason forward as they charge toward Goldar and Scorpina.

"Excellent," Scoprina says behind her full grin. She readies her weapon, "Are you ready, my love?" Goldar nods his head and she charges forward, her eyes on Jason – ironically, so were Goldar's and the two of them swing their blades at Jason at once, not expecting to be hit by Trini and Zack on either side. Kimberly then fired two arrows, hitting both of them dead on. Jason and Kim moves on Goldar and Zack and Trini take on Scorpina.

Scorpina swings her blades around, hitting both Zack's Power Axe and Trini's Power Daggers, but not making much way in terms of hurting either of them.

Goldar seems entirely focused on Jason, which is why when Kim makes a strike, it takes him more by surprise and his fighting style becomes sloppier with his building frustration. Per Billy's instruction, Jason slowly starts pushing Goldar as close to Scorpina as he can.

Trini leaps in the air and kicks Scorpina, sending her flying back into Goldar. This is the moment.

Billy runs forward and holds the little pager in front of him, pressing a button down and says, "Stega-Stinger!" A cable rope extends out and wraps around the two, bringing them together back-to-back.

"What is this?" Scorpina demands.

"Kim, see that street light over there?" Billy points to a double street light about 20 feet away from them.

"Yes," Kimberly responds, her vocal inflection upward, unsure of where Billy is going with this.

"I'm going to throw this up and I need you to hit it with an arrow and pin it to the light post," Billy instructs.

"Well, that's terribly specific…" Kimberly says, unenthused.

"We gotta hurry, Kim – it won't hold them for long," Billy counters.

"You can do this, Kim," Jason says, placing his hand on his shoulder for support. Kimberly exchanges glances with Jason and the doubt seems to melt away.

"Okay," she says. Billy raises his arm and tosses the stega-stinger device in the air, Kimberly raises her bow and lines up the shot with the street lamp. She pulls back her bow string with an arrow at the ready and lets it fly. The arrow cuts through the air and hits the device, leading and pinning it against the street lamp.

"Morphinominal!" Billy exclaims. The Stega-Stinger then begins to reel in the cord, pulling both Goldar and Scorpina into the air, kicking and screaming in protest.

"Get us down from here," Goldar demands.

"As you wish, Goldar," Jason begins and turns to Billy. "You're a genius, man. I see what you were going for. Alright guys, it's time for the Power Blaster!"

"Power Axe!" Zack yells and throws his weapon above him.

"Power Bow!" Kimberly yells, throwing her weapon into the fray.

"Power Daggers!"

"Power Lance!"

"Power Sword!" Jason leaps into the air and attaches his weapon, the final piece of their powerful weapon and then descends before his team mates, and locks on to Scorpina and Goldar. "Fire!" Jason pulls the trigger and five beams of energy burst and hit the duo on target, causing an explosion of energy on impact and the street lamp tipping over.

Once the dust and smoke clears, both Goldar and Scorpina emerge, albeit in bad shape. Scorpina's eyes are narrow with bloodlust, but her countenance suggests otherwise; her breathing is staggered and the after effects of the battle are catching up with her.

"You think you won here, Rangers," Goldar says. "The only thing you've done is solidified your defeat."

"You can't beat us," Scorpina adds.

"We weren't trying to beat you," Jason counters; Scorpina looks at him confused. And then, light clockwork, a roar of thunder claps in the sky.

"Goldar, Scorpina, return at once," Rita's voice was venomous.

"But my Queen, we have them where we want them!" Goldar retorts back.

"You dare defy me, Goldar? Return at once. You too, Scorpina. The Rangers will live again to fight another day. But not much longer than that." There's a bitterness her voice that the rangers could appreciate; Jason returning to them, Scorpina's energy levels depleting all adding up to Rita's frustration.

"Sleep well tonight, Rangers. You'll be living your worst nightmares soon!" Goldar warns.

"I'll see you soon, Red Ranger…" Scorpina says with a lecherous grin. Both of them then disappear with a flash of golden light, leaving the Rangers and Angel Grove to recover.

"Jason, I - " Zack, like everyone, is at a loss for words. All of the rangers are gathered at the command center, in their civilian forms. Alpha walks around, tending to individual wounds as needed, but all are focused on their returned leader. Hearing Jason's testimony regarding his recent experience is chilling. It could have been either of them, and who knows if they would have made it like he did. Jason drinks through a bottle of water that Alpha provided; this alone feels incredible to Jason, who was deprived of all sustenance during his capture.

"He has to be stopped..." Trini says, this surprises everyone, given her stance on wanting to save the Green Ranger before, likening his situation to Daniel's. "I'm not saying I'm happy about it, but he's too dangerous. And they came really close to taking one of us out."

"And Scorpina just came out of nowhere. Her attacks are brutal..." Zack says.

"And Jason's blood freed her?" Billy asks, all eyes on Jason.

"Yes," Jason says, starring at the ground. "It was my blood that freed Scorpina. They used my blood during my captivity. And she's blood-thirsty, that's for sure."

"Obsessed, even," Trini adds. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Let's not forget that Rita's not our only problem," Kimberly says, all of them look at her funny. "You guys forget already? Not to spoil the moment but the government...they're reproducing monsters."

"What?" Jason asks, flabbergasted.

"Oh yeah," Zack recalls, "Our corrupt government."

"You guys snuck in to NASASA - I still can't believe you guys didn't get caught," Jason says.

"Well, that's not completely true," Trini says.

"Yeah, some guards found us while Billy was trying to reroute us. And let's just say…" Zack says with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh wow," Jason says, stunned.

"Yeah, it was really crazy actually. But we got through it with Billy and some new, crazy gadgets that he made us," Kimberly adds.

"Oh yeah," Jason says, remembering the battle, "What did you use to detain Scorpina and Goldar?"

"The Stega-stinger," Billy replies.

"That's awesome, man," Jason says.

"Thanks – I'm working on more. We're going to need a lot of fire power with what the governments up to."

"What do you mean?" Jason asks.

"I don't know what's going on. We saw them with remnants of King Sphinx, Terror Toad and some others. Like they were in tanks, they were hooked up to computers. They were being experimented on," Zack explains.

"You can't be serious..." Jason says.

"It kind of makes sense; government officials have made it clear that they feel very threatened and unarmed against the presence of Rita and the Power Rangers," Billy deduces.

"So, they're doing this why then?" Kimberly asks.

"To try and get an upper hand," Zack says.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. They can't control those monsters! They're pure evil!" Jason exclaims. "We have to shut that down."

"I don't know that we can..." Billy says. "The government has been very against the Power Rangers for a while now. If their project suddenly becomes terminated, they'll probably blame us and become more of a problem."

"If they recreate King Sphinx and he levels an entire military facility, that wouldn't exactly be good for us either," Jason counters.

"Why can't things just be easy..." Kimberly says, shaking her head. Noting the change in morale, Jason clears his throat and makes an attempt to clear the air.

"There's nothing we can do about it tonight, but we should try and look into this further," Jason says, looking at BIlly mostly.

"Affirmative," Billy says.

"Look guys, thank you so much. I'm sorry this happened, but you guys...you made me so proud to be part of your team. You've kept the world safe. And you guys risked your lives breaking into a military base to save me. Rita wanted me gone and we didn't let that happen. We also stopped Goldar and Scorpina tonight. This is a win for us. We need to revel in it. Because from now on, I feel like things are only going to get harder," Jason says.

"Yeah, today was really tough, but we did it," Zack agrees.

"Zordon would be so proud of you all," Alpha 5 adds.

"Zordon..." Jason laments.

"We're working on that..." Billy replies, sounding defeated.

"I know you are. If anyone can do it you can. He's in good hands," Jason says. He then holds out his arms and pulls everyone into a group hug. "We're gonna be okay, guys." For the first time in a little while, things felt alright and okay for all of them and that's all they needed.