Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Heather Ray [manga ebook reader txt] 📗

This is dedicated to Trini Kwan, one of the most endearing, most under-appreciated characters to appear on "Power Rangers."

Thuy Trang breathed life into this reserved, intelligent, selfless character, and she, and the Ranger she brought to life, will be missed.

The Power Rangers belong to Saban Brands, though I tend to borrow them on occasion. This is probably the only, or at least, one of the very few, Trini/Tommy fics ever written. It was inspired by the episode "Welcome to Venus Island."

I saw him too, that day.

It was over seven years ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. Sleek muscles, straining beneath bronze skin as he moved. Flawless face, set in a frown of intimidating concentration as he spiritually prepared to fight the reigning champion of Angel Grove.

I watched him warm up, his body sliding so effortlessly in a kata designed for stretching. I noticed the faint gleam of sweat on his skin, the only evidence he’d already bested three of the other fine artists in the competition. His chest heaved gently, hardly winded from the three overwhelming victories.

I saw him... and I was impressed.

Now that means a lot. I’ve never been really into guys. At least, not like other teenaged girls tend to be. Sure, I’ve been attracted to a few, and I’ve dated a handful. Nothing serious ever developed, though; the immaturity factor of high school boys is off the scales. Plus, most boys tend to be intimidated by me. A girl who could speak her mind? Assemble a desktop computer? Render a full grown man unconscious in four seconds?

Believe me... I’m no Barbie doll.

And that’s what I was like before

I became a Power Ranger. After Zordon called us, placing an impossibly heavy burden on our young shoulders, none of us could ever be considered "normal" again. Once I stared death in the face, I grew even more alienated from most of my peers.

It's difficult for a girl to spend her afternoons fighting tooth and nail against a seven-foot armored blue monkey, and then go home, paint her nails, and gush on the phone for two hours about the latest Hollywood "hottie."

Anyway, that left my romantic prospects limited. Of course, I was well aware that three of my best friends were attractive, reasonably mature, intelligent young men. But, they were never really prospects. Jason had been my friend for far too long to be anything other than a brother to me. Zack, for all his energy and charm, was simply too animated for my taste. And Billy... sweet, shy Billy. I adored him. But I knew I couldn’t love him in that special way. A trusted friend, a confidant, a fellow "nerd"... but as strong as my affection for him ran, it never changed in nature.

I’m not saying that when I first met Tommy Oliver, I fell in love with him. Love at first sight is a ridiculous concept; despite his grace, gravity, and physique, I knew nothing else about him.

No, I didn’t fall in love with him at the Martial Arts Expo. I fell in love with him later.

I can’t pinpoint the precise moment it happened. There wasn’t a noticeable transition in my feelings... from appreciation, to attraction, to something far deeper. But I do remember when I realized my feelings.

When my neighbor Haley was kidnapped by Lord Zedd, and taken to his private island. Ironically named for the Roman goddess of love herself, Venus.

Zordon’s words had chilled my blood when he explained the magical isle. An entire body of land, that appeared on the physical plane only when summoned by Lord Zedd himself. If the island were to disappear before Haley was rescued, she would be permanently corrupted by the ancient evil.

It was obvious that capturing Haley had been a trap designed to force us onto a battlefield of his choosing. Yet we were ignorant to his true purposes when we went charging onto the island blindly.

In those days, Zedd was fixated on turning Tommy into his faithful servant. Tommy walked a line between good and evil- never able to completely purge himself of the darkness that first drew Rita to him, yet forever brightened by the light of the love his friends and family offered. He could never be one, or the other. But that didn’t stop Lord Zedd from trying.

Once we arrived on the island, Zedd created a monster from one of the giant flytraps that lined the shores. He called it the Invenusible Flytrap, and true to its namesake, it lured the unwary close, and snapped its lid shut, swallowing its prey.

Tommy and I were knocked out of the way; Tommy by design, myself by coincidence. The Flytrap swallowed Kim, Jason, Zack, and Billy at once, and laid Zedd’s ultimatum: either Tommy surrendered to the darkness of the isle, or the Flytrap would hold the Rangers until they were digested.

A gruesome, torturous death. The supernatural powers of the Flytrap included an industrial strength digestive system that would eat even through the impenetrable armor of our metamorphosis.

Tommy was eager to fight, to force

the Flytrap to release our friends. But the battle waged too long, slowly weakening the dwindling Green power.

Left with no other option, he and I retreated to the Command Center to seek Zordon’s wisdom.

I had never been alone with him in such an emotionally charged situation...

The moment we materialized in the Command Center, the Green Ranger’s knees buckled. On instinct I clutched his arm tightly, lending him my strength as his own had been depleted.

"Aye yi yi, Tommy!" Alpha squealed, hurrying to help us. He held Tommy’s other arm, and once we were both steady, helpfully took our helmets.

"I’m sorry, Zordon," Tommy gasped, his breath heaving from the fight, "I couldn’t get away."

It wasn’t the first time Tommy had pushed himself past the limits Zordon set upon him. Despite his Power Coin’s weakened state, he refused to be a "part-timer." He determined to stick with the Rangers as long as he could, enduring the constant leeching of his own energies by the Coin as it tried desperately to hold the imperfect Morph.

His stubbornness exasperated our mentor, as well as our leader. But instead of being upset, I was awed.

I knew that he would fight Lord Zedd with his bare hands, if it meant the lives of his friends.

"THAT IS ZEDD’S PLAN,"

Zordon informed us. "HE WANTS TO WEAKEN YOU, AND DRAW BOTH YOU AND HALEY INTO HIS EVIL WORLD. OBSERVE THE VIEWING GLOBE."

I turned around to the smoky globe behind me. Something in my stomach knotted as I watched Haley, the girl I baby-sat for years, lying unconscious beneath a grid of furious red energy.

Had I not taken her to the beach that morning, Zedd never would’ve even glanced at her. I foolishly placed her in danger, by letting our enemy learn the existence of another innocent I cared about.

"IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO RESCUE HER BEFORE THE ISLAND SINKS INTO THE SEA, SHE WILL BE LOST TO HIS EVIL WORLD... FOREVER."

It was a credit to my years of kung fu training that I was able to hide my torment. I wanted to vomit, my shame and guilt seizing my body.

"That can’t happen, Zordon," I murmured, restrained tears causing my voice to waver. Unconsciously, I maintained my tight hold on Tommy’s arm... only now, I was leaning upon his strength.

That wasn’t the first time someone I loved... someone completely incapable of defending herself, had been kidnapped to use against me. First, my little cousin Sylvia was attacked by Rita’s clown monster, who cast a spell turning her into a two-dimensional statue. True, Billy’s dependable brilliance broke the spell, but it always gnawed at the back of my mind... she never would’ve been endangered had I never accepted the Yellow Coin. And there was no way to discern whether the spell had any permanent effects Billy simply couldn’t predict.

Then, that anguished afternoon of Parent’s Day, when Rita kidnapped my mother and father, as well as all the parents of the other Rangers, and every other family that had attended the festivities. With tears in even Jason’s eyes, we surrendered our Power Coins to Goldar, only to be betrayed as the gold monster laughed in our faces, and proclaimed