Disclaimer: There is a reference in the fic to the Nova Rangers. Those belong to KSuzie.
Power Rangers: Legacy
“Back to Earth”
On a late February day in 2007, two females found themselves standing on one of the sandy beaches in the town of Angel Grove, California. Both women had spent most of their young lives in this town, and part of their adult lives as well. Both had spent the last few years in space, and were now enjoying their first few moments back on Earth.
Both girls were familiar to the locals, yet not. Both came back to Angel Grove stronger, tougher, faster and smarter than before. Both had experiences in space that shaped who they were, that changed everything for them. Now that their adventures were over, both were looking forward to get back to living life on Earth.
The first of these two is Carri Lauren Hillard, formerly known as the Yellow Zeo ranger and the Yellow Ninja Zeo ranger, and still holding her Yellow Panther Ninjetti powers. She was part of the group of rangers that fought the final battle on Earth, the one that purified all of their enemies making Earth safe. Of course Earth had been in danger since then, but that had been none of the former rangers concern.
Carri spent two years after the Zordon wave finishing college. In the spring of 2001 she graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s of arts in communications and a minor in broadcast journalism. Her boyfriend, Rocky DeSantos, also graduated with her. He got his bachelor’s in business, and used his knowledge to open a karate school in Angel Grove.
Around the same time he opened his school, he and Carri moved into a small apartment together. She had just gotten a job as an on location reporter for the local Fox news affiliate. For the next year in a half, this was how it worked. Rocky ran his studio, which became more and more popular with time. Carri was a reporter, whose energy and enthusiasm, plus local ties, quickly made her the most popular reporter in Angel Grove.
As 2003 started, she had heard that the station had huge plans for her. She and Rocky were both excited. Rocky because not only did the woman he love have huge things planned for her professionally, but he was planning on proposing to her. Unfortunately, Carri never found out about the stations final plans for her or Rocky’s plans.
Around the end of January of that same year, Zhane came back to Earth after flying around in space in the Megaship Mark II. The ship technically belonged to Andros, but Zhane was getting a lot of use out of it since Andros was busy settling in with his new wife Ashley on Earth. Zhane hadn’t come for a visit, he had come to share some unsettling news. He wanted to share it with Billy, who still spent some time in the Command Chamber keeping it running and making sure anyone attacking Earth had rangers to fight them. Technically he worked over in Silicon Valley and lived in San Francisco with his wife Trini, but he and Trini both treated the Command Chamber like a second job.
Zhane went to the Command Chamber. Billy wasn’t there so he sat the disk he had which held all the information on it down on one of the consoles before teleporting himself to Angel Grove for a while. He ran into Carri, who had just finished a story and was getting ready to go for lunch. She was surprised to see him, Andros had said he was living on KO-35. But Zhane explained to her that the word around the galaxy was that an old foe of theirs was still alive. Not only alive but contemplating building an army to come back to Earth after them, after Carri.
When Carri inquired to who the enemy was, she wasn’t surprised to find out that it was Callisto. She thought she had turned good with the Zordon wave, but the goddess must have hidden from it. Carri was enraged to find that she wanted to come after her, and told Zhane that she wanted to find her first. Zhane volunteered to help her search the galaxy in the megaship so they could look for answers. Carri went to Rocky that afternoon and told him the situation. She explained to him that Callisto coming to Earth would be her fault, and that she had to find her first.
Rocky didn’t agree, but he let her go, saying he wouldn’t stop loving her. She said she loved him as well, and that she wouldn’t be gone long and that things would be back to normal soon. After telling her parents she would be unreachable as she was trekking around the world, and telling the studio there was a family emergency so she needed a leave of absence for an undetermined amount of time, Carri and Zhane were off.
They spent the first eight months of their journey tracking down leads that Zhane had found. None of the leads panned out, frustrating Carri to no end. Zhane could see the anger building daily, and spoke to Carri of a wise man on KO-35 who could teach her, to help find and defeat Callisto when the time was right. Carri was hesitant but desperate, so she let Zhane take her to him.
The man’s name was Baznos, and he told Zhane to leave her with him, that he would take care of her. He said he would contact Zhane when she was ready. Carri didn’t think it would take too long, and she was in for a surprise.
It was the end of 2004 before he finally contacted Zhane. In that year she was trained in fighting, finally becoming what those on Earth would call a black belt. She was taught how to clear her mind to strengthen her body, which was a skill most Karovan’s were taught, one that both Andros and Zhane had been taught. Once she learned to clear her mind, she could learn the telekinetic abilities that both Andros and Zhane possessed. When her mentor felt like she was ready, he contacted Zhane.
Zhane picked her up and explained to her that the same man was his mentor in his youth. He and Andros had both been selected to be rangers, and rangers should be strong according to the Karovan’s. Zhane said that he had finally come across some new information on Callisto that they could follow, something that might actually pan out. As they flew through the galaxy looking for leads, Zhane helped her learn to master her telekinetic abilities. Working closely with Zhane Carri started to feel a connection with him. It had been two years since she had been on Earth, long enough for Rocky to have moved on, long enough for both of them to have changed.
Their connection developed into a physical relationship which thrived for a few months before they both realized that they didn’t love each other, not like that anyway. They were both still very close, but Zhane still harbored feelings toward Karone while Carri still loved Rocky. They were very good friends who worked together and trained together and spent time together.
They would follow leads from one right to the next. They would speak to people, sometimes using their telekinetic powers as a scare tactic. If all else failed, Carri would let it come right down to brute strength. Carri’s training had helped her focus more when following leads. She and Zhane worked leads across the galaxy, right down to the scum who said he heard of a wizard who was on call for Callisto. He gave Carri and Zhane the name of the bar that he could be found and the planet it was located on.
At that point Carri thought she was the only Ninja Zeo in space. Of course she knows now that she was wrong, as the other woman she had just gotten back to Earth with, the woman that was standing there with her on this February 2007 day, was Kimberly Ann Heart. Kim was the former Pink Ninja Zeo ranger, Pink Zeo ranger as well as Pink Morphin ranger, and she still held her Pink Crane Ninjetti powers.
Kim’s story developed a little differently than Carri’s. Kim was in love with a man named Tommy Oliver. Tommy graduated from USC in the fall of 2000, a full year before Kim graduated. He had obtained his bachelor’s of science in geology, and had gotten accepted the following spring to a master’s program at Arizona to study paleontology. They had kept a long distance relationship, but it drove Kim crazy. It didn’t help that the only apparent friend Tommy made down there was a woman named Hayley, a graduate from MIT who was studying in Arizona.
Kim tried not to let it get to her as she finished up her bachelors in marketing. Shortly after she got her degree, she moved to Arizona to be with Tommy. It was a difficult year, as Tommy spent most of his time working on his masters. When they went out, they typically met up and hung out with Hayley. Kim hated it. Not that she minded Hayley, or the fact that Tommy had a lot of school work. But she hated the fact that she never had time alone with Tommy. Even when he was home, he was doing work
Tommy promised that when his master’s was finished it would just be the two of them. Then in the summer of 2002 just as he had finished his master’s program, Tommy came to Kim with what he thought was exciting news. He was going after his PhD starting in the fall, and was going to work with a brilliant man named Anton Mercer. Kim pretended to be thrilled for him, but she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Working and getting a PhD would leave him no time for her. Kim loved Tommy more than anything, and she knew he still loved her. Unfortunately for her the schedule he was keeping in order to get his doctorate had forced him to put schooling in front of her.
That fall, Kim decided to take some time to go back to Angel Grove and visit some friends while Tommy worked on his doctorate. She had planned on hooking up with the former rangers, but never got around to seeing them. As she drove through the Angel Grove desert, she saw a crashed spaceship. Against her better judgement she got out and went to investigate.
She was glad that she did, as Delphine was the alien in the ship. She helped her out and took her to see Billy. The news Delphine brought was shocking. Apparently before they were purified, Rita and Zedd had a daughter. She was hidden by someone who worked for the duo. Delphine couldn’t be completely sure who it was, but she did know this person was training her and getting her ready to one day invade Earth and revenge her parents demise. As far as the creature taking care of her was concerned, her parents were killed the day they turned good.
Kim was shocked to hear this news. She wanted to investigate further. Her duty as a ranger had never left her. She imagined that Zordon always knew she’d take care of Earth, power or no power, from the day he picked her. With her not having a job and Tommy concentrating on school, Kim decided she could best help by going back with Delphine to Aquitar. Delphine agreed, and Kim called Tommy and told him that she loved him but there was something she had to do, and she wasn’t sure when she was coming back. She didn’t want him to worry, he was too busy working on his PhD to be concerned with the potential offspring of Rita. It was for the best as his destiny was forming a path different from her own. Without saying another word to anyone, she took off.
The former pink ranger spent the first year of her search on Aquitar, trying to filter any information that came through. Sometimes they would go hunt down other aliens if their names came up in the search. Most of it was useless, anyone they could talk to claimed to know nothing. At one point Kim was starting to feel as though the entire search was useless.
The Aquitarians received a strange transmission one afternoon. It was from Phaedos, from Dulcea. She had heard of Kim’s quest and wanted to help her, so she asked her to come to Phaedos to see her.
Kim took off immediately for Phaedos. She was appreciative of any help that Dulcea could give. She wasn’t aware of how Dulcea was going to help her until she got there. Dulcea wanted to help by being Kim’s mentor, as she had always sensed great things from her and now was the time to put them in motion. She spent the next year working on her protege. She spent some time working on her fighting skills, but mostly she taught her skills that would help her master her animal spirit and put it to its full use. She taught her how to control her mind, and how to become one with the crane. When she was in harmony with the crane, her natural balance and agility is amplified, making her a fierce warrior. Eventually she learned to tap into the crane’s natural abilities, and although she couldn’t technically fly she could hover several feet in the air and maneuver over opponents.
When Dulcea felt like she was finished with her training, she contacted Aquitar to send someone for her. Before Kim left, Dulcea gave her a wooden box which was sealed. Kim looked at the seal, it didn’t look like it would ever break. Dulcea assured her that when the time was right the seal would collapse on itself, allowing her access to the power inside.
Kim thanked Dulcea and returned back to Aquitar, and at the start of 2005 the search was back on for Rita and Zedd’s offspring. She spent that year following multiple leads, until finally something panned out. She learned that the child had two people surrounding her. One had rescued her from the moon and brought her there. The other had come across them in space and wanted the same goals as the child. This person became the new general, in charge of all the operations. This person had recently used their influence to hire a powerful wizard, one who was able to age the girl to twenty years old. At twenty she was a powerful witch, and would be able to work well with her general to bring pain and destruction to earth.
Kim was able to obtain the name and location of the wizard. She wasted no time going to the planet in question. She spent the first ten minutes observing the bar that the wizard was supposedly at. To her surprise, two figures came walking into the bar, both of whom she recognized. She followed them into the bar and watched as they used telekinetic abilities to try and contain the wizard.
The wizard was too powerful and he easily escaped. His apprentice, who was having a drink with him, turned to try and run from the duo that attacked his master. He ran right into Kim, who hit him in the nose causing him to fall back. The two figures looked at Kim in shock. Neither Carri nor Zhane ever expected to run into Kim in this bar at the far reaches of the galaxy, and they could tell she was thinking the same thing.
They worked together to get the young apprentice out of the bar and to some sort of safe location that Kim had set up. Both of their journey’s had led them to the same point. The apprentice confessed that his master had done some work for Callisto. He also said that she was Rita and Zedd’s daughter’s general, and wanted her to be older and powerful so she use her magic to help attack Earth. He even confessed the planet they had been hiding on, as he was afraid for his life.
At that point Kim joined Zhane and Carri on the megaship. The trio swapped stories about how they got there in the first place while they barreled toward the planet in question. Once they reached the planet, they went to survey the scene.
It was just as the apprentice had said. Callisto was there, along with Rita’s daughter who they later found out was named Rhianna. They quickly figured who had saved Rhianna, as Goldar stood by her side. He now served her, and even found himself occasionally forced to do Callisto’s bidding. Although Callisto didn’t call on him often, as she had her own commander, a strange alligator like creature with a mutated fox head. They also found that she had her own warriors, which were clad in black with the exception of the dark purple gloves and boots, and the dark purple bands around their waists and foreheads. They later found out that the commander was named Cratus and the warriors were called Cirranadrones.
They returned to the megaship to discuss what they were going to do. They certainly couldn’t leave Rhianna and Callisto there with their troops there to gain power and come for Earth. After what felt like wasted hours trying to come up with a strategy but drawing blanks, the trio found themselves stressed and fatigued and decided it was time to take a break. Kim wondered back into her quarters and collapsed on her bed. However as tired as she was the former pink ranger couldn’t sleep and started rummaging through her things.
Upon pulling out the box that Dulcea gave her, the seal broke. Kim thought about the power that Dulcea claimed the box held, and she ran to get Zhane and Carri. All three of them stood over the box as Kim opened it, to reveal what looked like power morphers inside. Zhane was surprised. He had heard of the legend of that box and its power and of the rangers it could create.
Kim waved her hand across the box as she was going to select a morpher. The red morpher glowed for her and she picked it up. Carri and Zhane watched as its power bonded with her, making Kim the red ranger and team leader. Zhane explained how you didn’t choose the power, that the power chose you. It had been rumored that the person who held the morphers was charged with watching over the powers and they would pass the morphers onto the red ranger when the time was right. Kim was surprised, Dulcea must’ve known all along that she was meant to be the red ranger. During her stay on Phaedos, Dulcea kept saying that Kim had great things in store for her, and now it all made sense. As the initial awe of the powers wore off, Zhane and Carri both took a turn at the box and both were rewarded, as Carri became the white ranger and Zhane became the green ranger.
They used their new morphers to take on Callisto and Rhianna. They quickly found out that with their new morphers came great powers. They were known as the Planetary Rangers, each ranger in the team having the ability to use one of Earth’s basic elements.
Kim was the Red Fire Ranger, having the ability to manipulate fire and use it on her enemies, which came in handy against Callisto’s fireball attacks. Her weapon was the Flame Saber, and she could create fire on the blade slicing it through her enemies. Carri was the White Lightning Ranger, and her abilities involved manipulating lightning and calling forth lightning strikes on her enemies. Her weapon was the Lightning Lance, which acted as a lightning rod, holding a powerful charge and sending volts of electricity through her enemies as they were hit. Zhane was the Green Terra Ranger, having power over the ground beneath them. This gave him the ability to use the land to his advantage in many ways, the most destructive of which was his ability to create earthquakes around his enemies. His weapon was the Terra Axe, which he could use to split the Earth beneath his enemies feet.
With these new powers they were able to engage their enemies in battle and hold them off. After a few months of this they realized that three rangers weren’t going to be enough to hold off Callisto and Rhianna forever, let alone defeat them. Their strategies started to get more intricate and less confrontational, trying to take them out a little bit at a time. Kim and Carri’s training on Phaedos and KO-35 started to come into play.
After a little over seven months of fighting with these tactics, they realized that they weren’t going to be able to defeat them, at least not like this. They had managed to cripple them, but that wasn’t enough. What they needed now was an all out attack. They put out a transmission to any available ranger in the galaxy to come help them defeat the offspring of the evil Lord Zedd and Rita, along with the goddess Callisto. Not only did their future and the future of Earth depend on their ability to defeat them, but the future of the universe did as well.
Over the next few weeks they received responses from all over the galaxy. Some of their help they were familiar with. Kim and Carri knew Lord Trey of Triforia, as well as the Alien Rangers of Aquitar. Zhane had met the Phantom Ranger, who had also come to their assistance. There were several teams that responded from planets they had never heard of, such as the Nova Rangers from Reiga 4.
Once they had enough rangers, they worked on a plan. As a Planetary Ranger, and the Red Fire Ranger, Kim became the leader of the teams of rangers. Several of the male rangers had difficulty with a woman as a red ranger, let alone in charge. Elemi was the Red Nova Ranger, and had never even worked with a female ranger. He was leading the charge against Kim as the mission’s leader. Fortunately with Zhane and Carri plus Trey and the Aquitarian Rangers standing firmly by her side, Elemi and the other teams found themselves with no choice but to take orders from a female red. Soon after Kim led all of the rangers into battle against Rhianna and her forces.
The final battle lasted days, but when the dust was cleared the rangers stood victorious. The empire Rhianna had worked so hard to build had been destroyed, and her and her armies went down with it. The rangers were overjoyed at the destruction. Those who had doubted Kim’s abilities as a leader were silenced, and they now embraced her as a red.
After a massive celebration the teams disbanded and went back to their home worlds. Upon realizing that a four year quest was now over, Kim and Carri asked Zhane to take them back to Earth. He was more than happy to oblige, as he wanted the opportunity to be with Karone who lived on Earth so that she could spend time with her brother and his wife and her two year old niece and infant nephew.
It took a little over two weeks to return to Earth. Zhane dropped Kim and Carri off in Angel Grove while he went to Karone’s. Carri mentioned that the one thing that she missed about Earth was the sand beneath her toes. Kim agreed, and that’s what brought them to the Angel Grove beach that afternoon.
Kim and Carri stood overlooking the ocean. Carri took a deep breath, inhaling the ocean air. “It’s nice to be back. It seems like it was lifetimes ago that we were here.”
Kim nodded. “I had all but forgotten what it was like to be on Earth.”
It was different for both of them, as neither had been on the planet in at least four years. Things had changed, they had changed. Carri turned her head and something had caught her eye. At least one thing hadn’t changed, not much anyway. She pointed off into the distance and Kim turned to see what she was pointing at.
“The beach club?” Kim asked as she looked toward it. It wasn’t the same as she remembered, but it was still the beach club.
“I think it’s time for some real American food.” Carri said. They had long ago gotten sick of eating from the synthetron. Nothing replaced a good cooked meal.
The two girls headed for the beach club, and when they reached the counter they were greeted by a familiar face. Age had gotten the best of the man standing in front of them, but it was still the same person they once knew.
Ernie smiled at the two girls standing in front of him. It had been years since he had seen either of them, and was surprised to see them now. Both women looked older than the last time he had seen them but both were still beautiful. There was something about the way they stood there, some kind of aura they were giving off. They had changed, yet they hadn’t. “Kim and Carri.” he said with a smile. “It’s been a long time.”
Kim smiled and nodded. “Yes it has.” she replied
“We were looking for a place to get some food. Do you know of any?” Carri asked smiling over at him
“Why don’t you girls have a seat. I think I can help you.” Ernie said gesturing to the bar seats as he walked off
Both girls took a seat on a bar stool. That was one of the things about this place that had changed. Ernie had built an amazing bar out of his outdoor beach club and expanded the initial structure, giving the building itself a completely new look.
“So now what?” Kim asked
Carri shrugged. “We get jobs, a place to live...” she let her voice trail off
“I don’t know about you but it’s not that easy to get a job.” Kim pointed out. It was going to be even harder for them considering they had vanished for four years and neither had an official job during that time.
“We’ll worry about that later. I’ll get a place and you’re welcome to stay with me until you get a job and get on your feet.” Carri assured her
Kim frowned. “It’s kind of hard to get a place without money.”
“Ah but you see I do have money. My dad created savings accounts for both me and my brother when we were kids. He constantly put money in them, making sure there was enough to go through college, get a masters and PhD, and live off campus at any university in the country. Once we graduated high school, assuming we went to college, the accounts were put in our names. That was all the money we were getting for our lives for tuition and housing, so if we blew it on big screen tv’s, we were in trouble. That’s how I paid for the apartment and cell phone in college.” Carri explained
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Kim started smiling at her friend, “but you blew it all on clothes.”
“Dad gave me a credit card, which was my monthly allowance for food, gas, clothes, that sort of thing. And since I went to an in state school, and only got a bachelors, I have enough money left to make a down payment and a few monthly payments on a place and a car. And if I had to I could always get my dad to sign with me.” she finished her explanation. Not that she wanted her dad’s name on anything she owned, but if it came down to it she would cave. She needed a place to live and transportation and was not going to move back to New York to get it.
Kim sighed. “Well that’s one step.” she said. If she could at least live with Carri for a while, that was one less thing she had to worry about. Now there was the issue of a woman who has never had a real job finding one. She didn’t work after college when she was living with Tommy. She looked around, but never found anything solid. It’s been five years since her internship and her bachelors, and she didn’t know if anyone would hire her. Carri at least had a year and a half’s worth of job experience under her belt, she shouldn’t have much problem.
A few seconds later Ernie came back and set two plates of food and two smoothies down in front of the girls. Carri took a sip of the smoothie and smiled. “Strawberry-orange. You remembered.”
“You two were kind of hard to forget.” he said. He was one of the few people in Angel Grove who knew that he owed his life and his town to these two, among others. Even before their ranger days they had been patrons of the Youth Center, and he could never forget them.
“How much?” Carri asked gesturing to the food
“It’s on the house.” Ernie replied as he walked off
Carri let out a sigh of relief as she hadn’t really thought about money before she ordered. She thought she may have some intergalactic currency on her, but she doubted that would get her far with Ernie.
Kim took a bite of her burger and savored the flavors before swallowing. It had been so long since she’d had real food she’d almost forgotten what it tasted like. She turned to Carri who was also starting to enjoy her meal. “It’s good to be home.”
Carri nodded in agreement as the girls finished their lunch. They were glad to finally be back on Earth and put the years of chasing after bad guys behind them.
The End