The Terran Rangers/X-Men, Heather Ray [best fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

MY ASSISTANT, ALPHA FIVE. YOU HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO MY COMMAND CENTER BY MEANS OF TELEPORTATION."

"Zordon!" said Kim excitedly, "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Do you know how to send us back home?" asked Zack.

"Aye yi yi!" shrieked Alpha. "Do you know us?"

"Of course we do!" said Kimberly. "In our reality, you two banded the Power Rangers together over two years ago. I was the Pink Ranger, and Zack was the Black Ranger."

"Eventually, the Power Coins were destroyed, along with the entire Morphin Grid," continued Zack, "so you told us to use the Zeo Crystal to fight evil with. Now we're the Yellow and White Terran Rangers, powered by nature's elements."

"THAT EXPLAINS THE DISTORTION I SENSED IN THE MORPHIN GRID."

"Distortion?" asked Zack.

"YES. I FELT SOMEONE TRY TO ACCESS THE POWER OF THE GRID EARLIER. DID YOU ATTEMPT TO MORPH?"

"Yes!" said Kimberly. "Do you know why it didn't work?"

"IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOUR ATTEMPT TO ACCESS THE POWER OF THE ZEO CRYSTAL WAS BLOCKED, BECAUSE THERE ALREADY IS A ZEO CRYSTAL IN THIS DIMENSION. SO YOUR CRYSTAL'S ENERGIES ARE NULL AND VOID HERE. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE ZEO CRYSTAL IN A DIMENSION. TOO MUCH OF ITS ENERGIES COULD CAUSE PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THE MULTIVERSE."

"So you do know about the Multiverse!" said Zack. "Can you send us home?"

"THERE IS NO WAY FOR ME TO BE ABLE TO DETECT YOUR HOME DIMENSION."

"Excuse me," said Magneto, stepping forward and looking up at Zordon. "If you know so much about this 'Multiverse', perhaps you also know of the M'Kraan Crystal?"

Zordon remained quiet for a few moments. "INDEED. BUT HOW DID YOU LEARN OF IT?"

"The legend of the M'Kraan Crystal is as ancient as the legend of the lost city of Atlantis, or the Fountain of Youth. But it was never anything more than a legend to me until a traveler of the Multiverse named Bishop told me that Apocalypse's empire was never to have existed, that a critical figure in history was killed before his time. That single event caused the domino effect that led to this desolate world in which we live. He told me that the only way to repair the damage done is to unite the M'Kraan Crystal with its long missing shard. It has the power to heal this dead world."

"THE M'KRAAN CRYSTAL HAS INFINITE POWER, MAGNETO. IT IS THE NEXUS OF REALITY, AND IT IS CAPABLE OF UNDOING ALL THE DAMAGE DONE BY MULTIVERSAL TRANSIT. HE WHO OWNS THE ENTIRE CRYSTAL IS MASTER OVER THE IMPOSSIBLE. WHAT IS REALITY AND WHAT IS NOT IS SOLELY UP TO HIM."

"So, what happens if we unite the M'Kraan Crystal?" asked Shadow.

"I DO NOT KNOW EXACTLY, BUT I DO KNOW THAT THE UNIVERSE WILL CHANGE. WHATEVER AFFECTS MULTIVERSAL TRANSIT HAD WOULD BE ERASED. FOR EXAMPLE, ANY TRAVELERS EITHER FROM THE FUTURE, THE PAST, OR ANOTHER DIMENSION WOULD NOT BE REMEMBERED, AND THEIR DEEDS WILL HAVE NEVER HAPPENED."

"If rejoining the crystal is the only way to repair the damage done, then so be it," said Magneto.

"But we have no idea what the ramifications are!" protested Forge. "History would have turned out completely different! We don't even know what changes will be made!"

"No matter what changes this new world will bring, it must be better than living here," said Shadow solemnly. "We must go get the Zeo Crystal, and bring the two pieces together. Perhaps it really can undo all the evil Apocalypse has done."

"YOU CANNOT TOUCH THE ZEO CRYSTAL,"

announced Zordon. "ONLY ONES PROTECTED BY THE POWER CAN WIELD THE POWER OF THE CRYSTAL. THAT IS WHY I CREATED THE MORPHIN GRID -- SO WHEN THE CHOSEN ONES ARE READY, THEY CAN GRADUALLY BE INTRODUCED TO THE POWER. BUT I NEVER SELECTED MY TEAM OF MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS, BECAUSE APOCALYPSE'S ATTACK WAS TOO QUICK AND UNEXPECTED."

"But, Kimberly and I are two Terran Rangers!" said Zack. "We are already habituated to the powers of the Zeo Crystal! Maybe we were sent here to retrieve the Zeo Crystal, and combine it with the rest of this M'Kraan Crystal."

"That makes sense," said Alpha.

Zordon remained silent. "VERY WELL. YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR POWERS, BUT THERE SHOULD BE NOTHING TO ATTACK YOU IN THE CAVES. YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT YOU BOTH WILL HAVE TO FACE YOUR WORST FEARS, TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE WORTHY. ALPHA, SEND KIMBERLY AND ZACHARY TO THE CAVES OF DECEPTION, WHERE THE ZEO CRYSTAL IS HIDDEN. MAY THE POWER PROTECT YOU BOTH."

Alpha nodded, and the two rangers vanished in streaks of light, leaving Nate, Magneto, Forge, and the Shadow in the Command Center.

Kimberly and Zack found themselves inside a dense fog, within a dank cave. They could look outside the mouth of the cave to see the barren surface of the moon.

"It's funny," said Kimberly, "I kinda expected to see Rita and Zedd's palace up here."

"In this dimension, they never attacked Earth," said Zack, "and I can see why. This planet is really a mess."

"I'm certainly glad our Earth isn't like this," said Kimberly.

"And it's up to us to make sure it never does. Let's go."

The first few minutes were rather uneventful. Kimberly and Zack walked cautiously, side-by-side, through the tunnels. Then, there was a fork in the road.

"Which way?" asked Zack. Kim frowned.

"I guess we'll have to split up," she said, "I'll go left, you go right. Good luck!"

"You too," called Zack, as she disappeared in the fog. He continued in his path, until he saw a dark shadow approaching. He stared at the shadow curiously, and his eyes widened when the form that cast the shadow peeked out from around the corner. Zack yelped as his eyes fell upon a huge, hairy spider creature, with eight legs each about six feet long. Zack turned to run away, but he noticed that the path he just walked down was no longer there. He was trapped in a small square room with a huge spider monster.

"I HATE

spiders!" he moaned, leaning up against a wall. He tried his best not to scream in panic as the monster came closer, its fangs dripping with venom. Zack closed his eyes, and remembered what Zordon had told him:

YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR POWERS, BUT THERE SHOULD BE NOTHING TO ATTACK YOU IN THE CAVES. YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT YOU BOTH WILL HAVE TO FACE YOUR WORST FEARS, TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE WORTHY...

This must all be a test!

he reasoned, trying to see whether or not I can face my fears! Well, I'm one step ahead of ya, Slimey!

Zack opened his eyes, and walked towards the apparition confindently.

"I'm not afraid of you!" he declared to the monster. "The only spiders that size are Rita and Zedd's monsters, and I've trashed enough of them not to worry!"

The shade vanished, and a pathway appeared for Zack to advance.

Not too far away, Kimberly reached a step in her path. But it was about five feet up, and she couldn't hop over it easily. She tried to climb up, but she couldn't get a grip on the slick surface.

"Need a hand, Beautiful?" came a voice from behind. Kimberly turned around in surprise, and saw Tommy Oliver leaning against the stone wall with a smirk on his face.

"Tommy?" she asked warily. "You can't be here!"

"Oh, can't I?" he said, walking up to her, "Why not? After all, someone needs to be here to help you out! Without me to save your tail, you would have been dead years ago!"

Kim frowned angrily at that statement. "I know you're not Tommy," she snapped. "He'd never talk to me, or anyone else, like that!"

"Are you sure?" he asked her. "Maybe I'm just tired of you! Always getting into trouble! I was glad to see you leave last summer! I was tired of always having to check twice, making sure you didn't need help!"

Kimberly's fury knew no bounds, but she tried to calm herself before she flew off the handle -- and before her foot flew into her tormentor's face.

Easy, Kim, you know that's not Tommy. Zordon said we'd be tested, and that's all this is! Tommy would never say that anyway, and you know you're not a liability! You're not the toughest fighter, but you do well enough, and you've saved the guys every now and then!

"Go away!" Kim yelled. "You're not shattering my self-esteem, buddy! I can get past this obstacle without you!"

With that, Kimberly stepped back, preparing to leap up to the higher plane with a running start. But when she began to run, she noticed the step wasn't as high as she had first thought. Rather, it was only about a foot off the ground, and Kim passed over it without breaking her stride. She looked back, and saw that the Tommy apparition had vanished.

"That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be!" she said as she continued. As she walked, she saw another form, clad mostly in white, standing in front of a large stone wall. Kim approached him slowly, and tried to wave away the smog that occluded her vision.

"Zack!" she said. "Is that you?"

"Yup," he said with a smile, "I guess both pathways lead to the same place."

"How do we get by?"

"I was hoping you'd have a suggestion."

"Well," said Kimberly, "the monsters are fake, and even some of the walls are fake. Maybe this one is too?"

"Couldn't hurt to try," said Zack, holding up his hand. His hand passed through the wall effortlessly. Zack smiled and stepped through, with Kim right on his heels. They emerged in a large chamber, where a shining gem that looked like a large, jagged diamond stood upon a pedestal of pure white marble. They both approached it cautiously.

"Is this the Zeo Crystal?" asked Kimberly. Zack shrugged.

"I never saw the whole thing," he said, "but what else can it be?"

"Can we touch it?" asked Kim.

"Only one way to find out. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

Both teens laid their hands upon the crystal, and as soon as their skin made contact, they vanished.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Inside the Command Center just outside the crater that at one time was the small city of Angel Grove, William Mitchell, who was better known as the mysterious Shadow, waited with his teammates Forge and Nate Grey, as well as his former mentor Magneto. About half an hour ago, two young teenagers much like himself traveled to the barren surface of the moon in order to retrieve the Zeo Crystal, which had been revealed to be the missing