What Were You Thinking
by Kim Hamilton
Billy crunched loudly on his peanut butter and Hershey chocolate bar sandwich. Hank Cranston stumbled into the kitchen, casting his son a sleep filled glance.
"Do you think you could eat something without sugar in it, sometime?" Hank muttered half heartedly. Billy snapped his father's pack of opened cigarettes with a finger. The sleek package slid across the counter, as Hank caught them, picking them up.
"When you give up the cancer sticks," Billy answered with a grin. "I'll give up my chocolate."
"Ouch." Hank slid his slim form onto a stool, toying with the pack. He didn't smoke with Billy in the same room, but he wanted to spend sometime with his son, instead of ducking into the living room. "Want to talk about what's bothering you?"
"What do you mean?" Billy asked, feigning innocence.
Hank patted his son's cheek fondly. "Whatever is bothering you, talk to someone about it. I don't care if it's me, or Tommy, or even that weird little watch you wear, but if I wake up at midnight to find you eating chocolate tomorrow," Hank warned, kissing Billy on top of his head, "I'll kick your butt. You need your sleep, because if you blow up the garage again because you're sleepy and working on a project, I won't be held responsible for what I do to you."
"Yes, Dad." Billy ducked his head, flushing. "How many times am I going to have to apologize for blowing up the garage?"
"William, not to be a pain in the ass how I keep bringing it up, you burned down half the house, not to mention spreading the garage across the entire town all the way to Stone Canyon." Hank shook his head. "I'm beyond relieved that you and your friends weren't injured in any way, but you blew up our home. That's not like forgetting to take out the trash. So, I am going to harass you about it, until something worse comes along."
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence!" Billy threw a piece of bread crust at him.
Hank laughed, ducking. "I love you, kiddo, but even Einstien's mother would have a cow about blowing up the house," Hank teased. "Try and get some sleep."
"I will. Night Dad." Billy nibbled on his sandwich for a few more minutes, as Hank shuffled off to bed. Billy grinned as he noticed that his Dad had left the pack of cigarettes on the counter. Waiting a few more minutes, he could hear the soft rumbling snores of his father. With a sigh, Billy teleported himself up to the Command Center. Alpha was bent over a panel, reading something. Zordon lit up his tube, staring down at the young ranger.
"Don't you have school in the morning?" Zordon asked with a gentle smile.
"Yes, but a few things are bothering me," Billy admitted, sitting down on the floor before the large glowing tube.
"Such as?" Zordon inquired.
"Why were the ectomorph icons buried so close to Ivan's chamber?" Billy shrugged. "Why weren't they completely destroyed by the young warriors who defeated him?"
"That is a question I would like to not answer," Zordon sighed, "But you have a right to know."
"The battle was not easy...."
* * *
The large brightly colored warriors, fighting Ivan, were losing. Blood streamed from the red ranger's nose in a torrent, as his helmet lay in a shattered pile at his large three clawed feet. The tiny pink ranger, her wings fluttering vainly, landed on the neck of the huge red ranger.
"This is not working. The yellow is down," Pink yelled. Red cast a glance over to the prone body of the small but brutish yellow. The vicious predator had been the second to fall under Ivan's blasts, protecting the small flyer. "What do we do?"
"Zordon instructed us to trap him in that egg," Red instructed again. When near panicked, the small pink lost her train of thought.
"How?" the flyer shrieked, as Red shattered another of the ooze men. Red had never seen men before Ivan had descended on their planet, bring strange new life forms with him. Now the small mammals were breeding like swamp flies. Blue, his large horns lowered for a deadly strike charged behind Ivan. He crashed through the tall purple form, covered with lavender slime. The slime slithered into little puddles, filling his nostrils, dripping into his massive lungs. Blue shuddered, dropping to his front knees. The mauve ooze grew, taking up more lung space, completely blocking his airways. Red screamed, trying to stamp his way to his fallen friend. Pink dove, trying to reach the heaving Blue, when an ooze man grabbed her from the air. They tumbled to the ground in a swirl of rose and violet.
Red reached his friends side, as Ivan slid away. Forming into his normal shape, Ivan watched with malicious glee, as Red found the huge body of Blue lifeless. The large brown eyes were starting to glaze over, and Red felt the rage coming. All were down, only he was left. Black had been the first to fall to Ivan's strange ooze creatures. In the distance, towering over the jungle where he'd been hatched, Red could see the large metal shapes of the scorpion and a hornet. And they were close to completion. So very close. Behind Ivan, the large open egg shaped container beckoned, and Red's eyes narrowed.
With a howl of loss, Red turned his large head towards Ivan. Snarling, saliva running from his huge opened jaws, Red charged Ivan.
"Let's avoid this one," Ivan commented to himself, sidestepping the gargantuan Red. A blur of Pink slammed into Ivan, knocking Ivan and herself into the large open container. Once Ivan was inside the egg, a field came on, pulling at every shifting molecule down into the shallow oval. In a final burst of power, Ivan hit the diminutive Pink square in the chest. She spiraled to the ground in a smoking ruin. Red slammed the egg closed with his tail, walking up to the tiny Pink. She stared up at him, her long face, blackened. Gently he picked her up, waiting for the teleportation by Alpha to take him home.
* * *
Billy sniffled, wiping the tears from his cheeks."So, what happened to Red?"
"He tore apart the morphicons, and and buried them close to Ivan as a snub. So close to complete galaxy conquest, and be trapped forever. Red died soon after. His injuries were worse than I suspected, and he refused to let Alpha scan him. At the time I believed it was him being stubborn again, and so I allowed him to finish first," Zordon rumbled in the tube. "I assumed he was safe. I was wrong."
"I think he wanted to die, Zordon." Drawing his knee's to his chest, Billy rested his chin on his knees. "I don't think you could have changed his mind."
"No, I don't believe I could have. He was very determined once he sat his mind to something." Zordon chuckled with the memory. "I think stubborn is one of the things that is required to become a ranger."
"It keeps us from quitting when the odds look impossible," Billy smiled. "Zordon, do you have any pictures of the first power Rangers of Earth?"
"Will you go home and sleep if I show you?" Zordon asked , instructing the computers from where he was trapped. "Behold the viewing globe."
Billy slid around on his behind, climbing to his feet. He gasped at the picture in the viewing globe, then turned to Zordon. "This is incredible." He touched the globe, running his fingers over the cool surface."This is why the first zords...."
"Alpha built them afterwards. Humans are so much smaller and Rita was known for her huge monsters wrecking havoc." Zordon nodded. "It was a deication to them. They saved the universe. It was the least I could do."
"They don't look anything like the stuff in museums." Billy straightened his glasses, as the picture faded.
"No, they don't," Zordon agreed. "Go home Billy, get some rest, tomorrow is a whole new day."
"Good night Zordon, Alpha." Billy vanished in a flash of blue.
Back in the safety of his room, climbing into bed, he fell into a deep sleep. And he dreamed of the first earth power rangers, as a thunder lizard wore the bright red uniform, with a intelligent glitter in his eyes.
End
