Streaks of Purple Saga Volume Two, Heather Ray [story read aloud txt] 📗

too weak to hold on... I passed out."

She then regarded her hand once again. "Where's the coin?"

"It separated from your body after the Maelstrom," Billy reported, "We hypothesize that the cause for this separation was in fact Tommy's limited powers. His Green Ranger energies were restored, but not to their full power. He ran out of energy during the Maelstrom, forcing it to release rather violently. With all your energies drained, both coins separated from your bodies."

"But your power loss is only temporary," Tommy quickly interjected, "The Power replenishes itself, so the Purple Coin will be fine. The Green Coin had been magically stripped of its connection to the Power behind it some time ago, so it could never be properly restored. "

Alexis frowned. "I'm so sorry, Tommy. I could see how much you love being a Ranger."

Tommy smiled. "Hey, I've lost my powers before. At least this time, it really counted for something."

He extended his hand, clasping hers tightly. "Thanks a lot for your help, Alexis. You'll be a great Purple Ranger."

Her eyes widened. "Really? You guys actually want me to be the Purple Ranger?"

Kim blinked. "Of course! Why... don't want the job?"

"Oh no, not at all!" Alexis stammered, "I mean, sure

I want the job. I just figured I was kinda the default. But now that you have the coin again, you can pick someone who can fight."

"Fighting isn't all there is to being a Ranger," Billy announced with a sheepish grin. "Believe me... I know."

"It's all about heart, Alexis," Zack added, smiling broadly and thumping his chest once, "and from what I've seen, your heart is in the right place."

Alexis felt herself blush at the compliment, her gaze moving along the assembly of her peers. All wore warm smiles, openly welcoming her to join the fold.

"Oh wow..." she whispered. She was too overwhelmed to add anything more.

Just then, Zordon's essence returned to the Transdimension Cylinder. His gaze instantly fell upon the seven youths assembled in the back of the Command Center.

"A JOB WELL DONE, RANGERS," he announced, "I AM VERY PROUD OF YOU ALL."

The Rangers all smiled bashfully, and together they approached their beloved mentor, standing in a row before him.

"Yes!" Alpha chimed in, "Great work! I was really worried there."

"ALSO, I AM PROUD TO OFFER YOU, ALEXIS, A POSITION ON THE TEAM. I MUST ADMIT, THE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE VERY IRREGULAR. USUALLY, AN INDIVIDUAL HAS THE CHOICE TO BECOME A RANGER BEFORE BEING EXPOSED TO THE POWER... BUT THE CHOICE IS STILL YOUR OWN. JUST AS TOMMY DID, YOU NEED TO DECIDE FOR YOURSELF WHETHER YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS WAR."

He smiled gently. Alexis could feel that there was absolutely no pressure on her to either accept or reject the offer.

She glanced once again at her six new friends. They all had reputations at Angel Grove High of being almost perfect. But, amazingly, they even exceeded those reputations. They were an incredibly close knit group... even a family... and together they managed to gather the strength necessary to live their double lives to the fullest. They were exemplary, model students and citizens... balancing all their responsibilities while still managing to save the world on a regular basis.

Did she really have what it took to join their ranks? Could she measure up to all this?

They seemed to have a great deal of faith in her... and that faith made it much easier for her to have a little faith in herself

.

Maybe she really wasn't so weak after all. Maybe her grandmother was right.

All these brave people seemed to think so.

"I'm in!" she declared, her face lighting up with excitement.

Kimberly squealed, embracing the new Purple Ranger as if she were her sister. Alexis marveled at the ease with which the Pink Ranger accepted people into her heart.

In turn, the other Rangers welcomed her personally to their ranks. Alexis felt her heart leap when Jason, now her leader, wrapped his strong arms around her shoulders.

"You'll be great, Alexis," he determined.

"Call me Lex, guys," she suggested with a half-smile, "All my best friends do."

Chapter Thirteen

"Oh gosh..." Alexis muttered, grinding her inline skates into the gravel, "I can't believe I'm so late!"

She had gotten a serious lecture the previous night from her mother for being so late in getting home, and had promptly crashed into bed at two in the morning. Despite the several "naps" she had taken during the exhausting evening, she found her body completely spent.

She bit back a grin. I guess I'd better get used to it! After all, I'm a Power Ranger

now!

She skidded to a halt at the base of the stairs ascending to the high school, and hastily tore off her skates to replace them with fresh white sneakers. She then threw her skates into her duffel bag, and hurried into the building.

Thankfully, the hallways were still abuzz with students. She didn't miss first bell after all.

Her grin widening, Alexis made her way towards her locker, weaving through crowds of students.

"Hey girl!"

Alexis turned her head, and threw a smile at Angela, who waved at her from her locker.

"Hi Angela. What's up?"

Angela shrugged. "Nothing. Are you feeling any better? I called you like four times last night, and you never called me back!"

"Sorry. I was just dead tired last night," Alexis responded, "But I feel much better now."

It wasn't a total

lie.

"What was wrong with you? If you were sick enough to get out of Wilton's class, you must've been suffering!"

Alexis shrugged. "Bad headache and dizziness. I guess it was a virus or something, but it's passed."

She then glanced at the large wall clock that hung above the lockers. "I gotta get to my locker. See you in Chem?"

Angela nodded, waving. "Bye, Lex!"

Alexis waved after her, her gaze lingering on her friend for a few moments. Deep down, it pained her to have to hide something so significant from the first friend she made in Angel Grove. But those were the rules... do not reveal their identities to anyone.

Both she and Zack shared the same burden regarding Angela.

She sighed quietly, hurrying toward her locker without giving the predicament another thought.

A smile automatically pulled her lips when she recognized Jason leaning against her locker, glancing at his wrist.

"Hey Jase," she called, stopping next to him. He grinned, pulling away from her locker to give her room.

"Morning, Lex," he greeted, "Sleep well?"

"Like a rock," she reported, rolling her eyes, "but hey... it was great to sleep without being haunted by dreams. Now I feel great!"

Jason chuckled. "Good to hear... but it looks like you've slept in. Billy wanted to give you this, but he had another meeting for his aerodynamics experiment."

With that, he handed her a silver and purple bracelet, complete with a large face with a microphone, small screen, and several buttons along the perimeter.

"Wow," she gasped, staring at the device, "What is it?"

"It's one of our little gadgets," Jason explained, snapping it onto her wrist. He then pulled up the sleeve of his rust red sweater, revealing his own red and silver device. "Billy designed these after we were recruited. We all have one in our signature color. They're communicators, watches and limited teleportation units."

Alexis frowned in astonishment, staring at her wrist in awe. "Billy made these? Whoa... I've heard he was a genius, but... wow!"

Jason smirked. "Yeah, he slapped yours together last night. The original design didn't display the time, but whenever someone asks what they are, we automatically say they're watches. Billy figured it was best to make them watches too, so at least no one's suspicious of a watch that doesn't show time. Anyway, yours has eight buttons. The six colored ones are for one-on-one messages with each other Ranger, the silver one is for the Command Center, and the gold button is for all the Rangers. And this flat button on the bottom is the Express Transporter, which taps into our teleportation system in the Command Center to automatically send you there. If you press the flat button and a colored button at the same time, or if you press the flat button while the communication link is open to another Ranger, then you'll be teleported to the coordinates of that Ranger. And finally, the small screen near the top gives us the digital time. It automatically adjusts for Daylight Savings, by the way."

Alexis nodded, listening intently to Jason's instruction. She then glanced at his watch. "Yours doesn't have a purple button yet," she realized.

"Well, Billy thought the priority was giving you a wrist unit, so you can get in touch with us if an emergency arises. We can reach you with the gold button, since you're in the system, but when he gets some time he'll install purple buttons on all of our wrist units. Oh, and by the way, Tommy's no longer on the all-call command. But you can still reach him if you need to with the green button."

"Got it."

Just then, the first bell rang. Alexis frowned, hastily digging through her locker and struggling to fit her roller-skates into the compact storage area.

Jason glanced toward the hallway, but didn't move. "Hey, you busy after school?" he inquired.

Alexis didn't look up. "Nope. What's on the schedule? Martial arts training? Alien Technology 101?"

Jason smiled sheepishly. "Actually... I had something else in mind."

Alexis looked up, perplexed.

"Well, we never did get those smoothies."

The End

To Be Continued In...

The Streaks of Purple Saga Part Three:

Green to White