Send in the Clones Series: Chapter Four
Written By: Liz Donovan
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Rocky rubbed his eyes as he walked down the hall towards his locker. He hadn’t slept well at all. He’d kept having nightmares of Kat and him in his car. He shuttered and yawned. He’d left Kat’s house last and had gone home and taken a long hot shower. He didn’t get to sleep until 3:45am, and his sleep had been plagued by awful dreams. He looked up at his locker and saw Adam stand nearby, as their lockers were pretty close to each other. Rocky remembered how upset he had been with Adam last night, but he felt this business with Kat had top be discussed, and he needed to confine it to Adam.
Rocky opened his locker and began rearranging the contents. Adam for the most part ignored him. The teen began to leave his locker after Rocky came, so Rocky placed a hand on his shoulder. Adam wheeled around, dropping into a low stance and brought his arms up to bear. Rocky quickly put his hands up showing he was defenseless.
Adam gave him an evil eye and spat out. "What do you want?!"
Rocky took a safe step back and calmly said. "Cool it man. I didn’t do anything!"
Adam looked him over and dropped out of his stance. "What?" He snorted.
Suddenly Rocky didn’t feel like telling Adam anything. But someone had to know. He looked around, and knew Adam wasn’t going to take well to the idea he suggested. "Can we go somewhere private to talk?"
Adam eyed Rocky, seeing if there was any deceit in his eyes or his voice. Still not yet trusting, Adam lifted a brow and inquired. "Why?"
Rocky looked around to make sure no one was ease-dropping on him, he lowered his voice. "Something happened last night, and I need to tell someone about it."
"Why me?" Adam asked, still searching for a false front, from Rocky’s masquerade.
Rocky sighed. "Listen man we’ve been best friends for…well a long time. I got pretty upset with you and Billy and I lost my cool. It was pretty stupid, but I’ve always trusted in you to keep secrets. So now I’ve got something to tell you, and you might laugh, but I have to tell somebody."
Adam’s face changed at this news. He leaned closer to Rocky and whispered. "Is it serious?"
Rocky shrugged. "It could be…its not about our powers or anything, but its more scarier than some of Zedd and Mondo’s worst monsters." Now Rocky had Adam interest. He was about to inquire as to what it did pertain too, but the class bell rang. The two teens closed their lockers and heads towards class. Both feeling better that they were some what friends again.
* * *
William gasped as someone, or something kicked his side. He rolled over and bolted up. Klank stood in front of him, motioning for him to get up.
"Get up, ya lazy clone. King Monda wants ya in da viewing room. Make haste!" Klank said, turning around to leave. William groaned and stood up, rubbing his side. He ran his fingers through his hair and blinked his eyes. He groggily followed after Klank to the viewing room. There King Mondo, Queen Machina, and Prince Sprockett waited. King Mondo raised his staff and greeted him as he entered.
"Ah, good day my petty mentor! Did you have a fulfilling rest?" Mondo asked. William stood up, and bowed.
"Yes my King." He answered. Mondo seemed delighted. Machina fanned herself again, and patted Sprockett on the head.
"So then, I suggest you are ready for your job?" Mondo questioned. William stifled a yawn and nodded.
"Yes my Lord."
"Excellent! Now, listen to my plan…" Mondo said. William listened to the important parts, but really felt like nodding off. As soon as Mondo finished talking, Klank handed him a bowl of liquid food of some sort, and he was teleported down to Angel Grove.
William tossed the oily liquid away and stepped out of hiding. It was near the beginning of lunch, so William headed for the Juice Bar. Ernie smiled as he saw William.
"Hi, ya, Billy! I haven’t seen you around too much lately!" Ernie said, wiping a Frostee mug down. William sat down at one of the bar stools.
"I’ve been doing a lot of exploration on colleges for next year. It’s fairly extraneous work." Ernie nodded.
"So even though you’re out of school, you’re waiting a year to start up again? How come?" Ernie asked. He set the Frostee mug down and wiped at the counter, listening.
"Well, there are lots of reasons that I’m holding back for next year, but I think the main reason is so I will be in with more kids my age. It’ll be hard enough now, being in higher classes with older people I don’t know. I don’t need to be any younger."
Ernie nodded, remembering when Billy was a freshman at Angel Grove High, he’d been friendless until he met up with Jason, Zack, Trini, and Kim. He realized that none of them living in Angel Groves anymore. Well, Billy seemed to be doing alright without them.
The lunch bell rang, and Billy turned in his stool, waiting for the rest of the Power Rangers to arrive.
* * *
The ring of the telephone woke Billy out of a sound sleep. He lifted his face from the pillow and looked at the phone. He rolled over, snatched his glasses, putting them on, and fumbled around for the phone. He looked at it watch, it read twelve thirty. Thumbing the phone switch on he cleared his throat.
"Eallo?" He croaked into the receiver, he snuggled down in his covers and hopped it was the wrong number.
"Um…hi." The person on the other end replied. Billy smashed his face into his pillow again, closing his eyes, and letting his glasses fall off. "Billy?" The person asked.
"Mmm?" He replied, taking a breath and burying his head again.
"Are you alright? You sound sick." The voice asked. Billy’s eyes opened. He flipped over and sat up.
"You did get my letter in the mail yet, didn’t you?" The voiced questioned. Billy bolted up, he looked at his watch again. It was Friday!
"KIM?!" He squeaked. There was laugher on the other line, and he was standing up in a flash.
"Yup, it’s me. Didn’t recognize my voice or what?" Kim asked. Billy pulled his suspenders up, and fastened them. He picked his glasses up and put them back on.
"No, I…um. I just thought you’d be calling later in the day." He could almost see her smile. He sat down on his bed, his heart pounding. "How...how are you?" He added.
"I’m good. Did you get my letter yet?" She repeated. Billy nodded, and felt his suspender pockets, the found the letter and pulled it out.
"Yeah, I’ve got it right here…" He answered.
"Well then, you know how I am. Not much has changed since Monday." Billy had to laugh at that. His entire world had been turned upside down in the past few days, and she said nothing much happened. "Billy, you still there?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m here." He replied. He became lost in thought again.
"So, how is everyone? Oh! Tell me this deal with Aisha! Is she in Kenya?!" Billy smiled to himself.
"A lot of stuff has changed since you left, Kim. Aisha is in Kenya. She and Tanya switched places. I know its confusing, I’m disoriented as well. Okay, you see…our powers, the powers you and I had, were destroyed," Billy held the phone back as Kim yelled. "I’m getting to that. Everyone in Angel Groves was shrunken into kids…yes, again. But this time I was able to find a way to reverse the effects. Well, the device was stolen and destroyed by King Mondo…no, Zedd and Rita are gone." Again he held the phone from his ear. "King Mondo and Queen Machina…Machina. Like machine. I know, well, they are machines…the Machine Empire. No I’m not kidding. Anyhow, those two came and scared Zedd and Rita away. Yeah, they were the ones who destroyed our powers…well, of course they wanted basically the job Zedd had, and they set about destroying Angel Grove. Right, at the time we were powerless. Now, for a bit some Alien Rangers from another planet came and protected Angel Groves from Mondo, but in time they had to leave…right, everyone was a kid but me. Yeah, lucky me. Well, after the Alien Rangers left, we had to find another source of power. So Zordon sent everyone on a trip to discover their Zeo Crystal. Well, I didn’t go…I guess cause I was old already. But when everyone returned, Aisha didn’t come back. Some girl named Tanya did. Well, to make a long story short, all the rangers came back wit the exception of Aisha, and they all joined their crystals and became the Zeo Rangers. Yeah, they got older too. So what you saw on the news was true…those are the new uniforms. Yeah, there are only five. No, Tanya is one of them. Blue, Red, Green, Yellow and Pink. No, Adam is green now. Tommy…uh, oh he’s red. Tanya and Kat are pink and yellow…Rocky did. I’m not one of them any longer…No, I didn’t…don’t feel sorry…it wasn’t my choice at all…I’m fine." Billy sighed. He hated not being a ranger, and now, he didn’t have any powers. He was silent a moment.
"Billy?" Kim asked. "Are you alright? You keep lapsing into silence."
Billy sighed loudly and felt tears well in his eyes. He blinked them back. "I’ll be alright Kim, just gimme a second."
"Billy, what’s the matter? Are you crying?" Kim asked growing concerned.
Billy wiped his eyes and sniffed. "No, I’m not. I’m fine." Kim remained silent on the other line, listening to Billy trying to stifle sniffs. He blinked again, and wiped the tears that fell.
"Billy…ell me what’s wrong? Losing your powers is a hard thing, but it isn’t the end of everything." Kim tried to soothe. Billy chuckled and more tears fell.
"That’s not what bothers me so." Billy croaked, cursing his voice for giving his emotions away.
"Then what is wrong?" Kim asked. She wished she could be over there, comforting him, instead of on the phone, miles away. She heard him let out a held breath and waited.
"I…I can’t tell you Kim." Billy replied. Kim sighed.
"Billy, you can tell me anything. I’m here to help…" Kim replied. She wished she could help Billy, but it was impossible to do without knowing what was wrong. Billy sighed and shook his head. There was no way he could tell Kim he had beaten the shit out of Tommy and that as they spoke he was recovering in a hospital bed. She would hang up on him…and he couldn’t live with that. But he couldn’t keep a secret from her either…
"I…I did something…bad," He paused and took a breath. Kim was silent on the other line, waiting. "real bad. And if I tell you, you’ll get upset with me." Billy hung his head, even though she couldn’t see. He wiped another tear away. Kim still remained silent. Billy shuttered and suddenly blurted out. "I…I can’t do this. Listen, Kim I’m awfully sorry, I’m really messed up right now…I…I’m sorry…" And with that he thumbed the OFF switch and removed the phone from his ear. He sat there dumbfounded, his heart pounding in his chest. He wiped his eyes again, and set the phone into its cradle.
He looked around his desolate room, and suddenly had to get out of there. He’d never really been claustrophobic before, but he was a getting a small spell of it now. He threw some shoes on and hurried outside, heading towards Angel Grove High. He needed to talk to everyone, be it they would listen or not.
* * *
Rocky and Adam walked out of fourth period together conversing very lowly. Adams face was drawn white and Rocky was making small gestures and kept nodding.
"I’m serious man." Rocky said. "Dead serious, and I wish to God I weren’t."
Adam slowed walking, he put his hand on Rocky’s arm. He turned from a crowd of kids passing by and whispered.
"This is serious man. Did you notice any attraction before last night?"
Rocky did a head shake. "Well, I mean like in the hospital she was clinging on to me and stuff, but I just figured she was upset over Tommy. I never though she thought of me like…" Rocky trailed off. Adams brow furrowed and the two continued to walk.
"Maybe she thought you liked her." Adam suggested Rocky cringed. "Well, if you were hugging her and stuff…" Adam added, Rocky shrugged.
"But man, if she thinks someone likes her, she shouldn’t go shoving her tongue down their throat and start undressing you!" Rocky cried. Adam put a finger to his lips.
"Shhh, tone it down man." He whispered. "Maybe we can talk to Tanya about it."
"Yeah, I just hope she doesn’t pull anything…" Rocky mumbled, shuffling his feet. Adam quickened his pace.
"Lets get to the Juice Bar and see what happens." Adam suggested. Rocky shrugged and followed after him.
* * *
William turned as he eyed Adam and Rocky walk though the door. Both teens headed for their table on the top step of the bar. They sat down talking, neither noticed William. Ernie approached the two tens, and took orders for lunch and drinks. When he turned, Rocky spotted William sitting merely feet away. He whispered a warning to Adam, who too turned and spied their rival ranger. William ordered a sandwich and Rocky and Adam turned in their seat.
"Man! What’s he doing here!?" Rocky whispered loudly. Adam reached into his backpack and pulled out a notebook and some paper. He absently wrote math problems down. He looked up.
"Who cares?" He mumbled and ran a hand through his hair.
"I thought you guys were friends." Rocky said, confused.
"Not anymore." Adam mumbled, not looking up.
"What happened?" Rocky inquired, leaning over.
Adam looked up at William’s back. Then he glanced over to Rocky, then down at his homework. "Last night, after you and I fought, Billy attacked me. He got me good, but I put up a lot of resistance." Adam looked up at William to make sure the teen wasn’t overhearing his conversation. William was talking to Ernie, so Adam continued. "That is until the Cogs arrived. Billy jumped into their vortex, where ever that leads, and I was forced to ward the Cogs off myself."
"Did you tell Zordon?" Rocky asked, still quiet. Adam nodded.
"I did, but it was so late, and I was beat, literally. Zordon told me to go to sleep, and that he’d notify me if anything happened. I guess nothing has…" Adam answered in an equally low tone.
"Sure something has! Billy’s back isn’t he?" Rocky whispered louder. "That means he was in the Machine Empires vortex and then got ou-, wait a second… Billy attacked you?!" Rocky suddenly realized that Adam and Billy were friends, but now…if Billy had attacked Adam…that changed the story a lot. Adam gravely nodded.
"I’m not too happy about that. I’m sorry for yelling at you, but I really thought Billy was just frustrated…maybe he still is, but he strikes without warning and inflicts serious damage…" Adam added, gently patting his stomach, where under the army green shirt lay a black bruise.
Rocky cringed, never really thinking of the nerd as a fighter, but realizing that under his brains, a thick compact set of muscles waited, pent-up with stress. Ready to attack at any moment.
--Damn. Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of those…--
He thought, as Ernie arrived with their food. Adam took his drink and sucked on the straw, while Rocky glanced at William and then took a bite out of his sandwich.
Tanya and Kat entered the Youth Center together, Tanya spied Rocky and Adam and began walking over to them. Kat held back, a nervous look in her eyes. Tanya turned to her.
"Hey girl, what’s wrong?" Tanya questioned. Kat looked around.
"I, I’m not feeling well…I think I’ll sit outside today…" Kat muttered. Tanya frowned.
"Kat, what’s the REAL reason?" Tanya asked, growing concerned. "You’ve been acting up all day."
Kat shouldered away and headed out the bar, Tanya followed her. Tanya turned her around, but Kat just started walking backwards. She kept looking to Rocky and Adam, and then shaking her head.
"Kat…Kat? Answer me, girl. Kat? Kat, look out!" Tanya cried as Kat backed into Billy. Billy stepped aside and Kat turned around. Billy smiled at her and Kat cried.
"Oh, no." She put her hands up, afraid that Billy would strike her again.
"Kat, shhh, its okay." Billy soothed. Kat whimpered, and Tanya glared at Billy.
"Billy, stop it! You’re scaring her! Get out of here!" Tanya ordered. Billy flashed a glance at Tanya, cool, calculated and calm. Kat stepped away.
"Alright…I will…" Billy slowly backed up and left the center. Planning on returning within minutes. He headed to the parking lot to cool off.
* * *
King Mondo grumbled from his space station throne. He was keeping an optical sensor on William constantly, and now that Billy had entered the picture, he was growing concerned. The two couldn’t see each other, and the other Zeo Rangers couldn’t find out the clone existed…he had to do something.
"KLANK!" He bellowed. The humble robot approached, and knelt before his master.
"Yes your sire?" He asked looking down. Mondo rose off his throne and moved to the viewing room. Klank followed faithfully.
"Take Orbus and a group of Cogs down to Angel Groves. Distract those pesky rangers. Keep them away from Billy. I’ll send down Pyroflame if things get rough. Go." Mondo ordered. Klank bowed an acknowledgment, and quickly left the room. Mondo whirred happily.
* * *
Klank, Orbus and six Cogs appeared in Angel Grove park. They didn’t do much damage, but their presence startled many patrons and they fled screaming. The Cogs moved about roboticly, waiting for the Rangers to attack. One up turned a trash can, and the rest scattered the trash. Klank began running around over turning trash cans, and letting the Cogs rampage through the debris. He laughed and Orbus chuckled. The Cogs began to uproot plants and flip picnic tables as well.
* * *
Rocky’s wrist alarm buzzed with the warning signal, and he and Adam got up. William turned around at the sound. The two other teens forced grins and the three silently walked to a darker area in the Bar. Rocky clicked the receiving button.
"We read you Zordon." Rocky spoke into the watch. Zordon’s voice answered.
"Teleport to Angel Groves Park. Klank and several Cogs are causing trouble and vandalizing the park equipment. But be careful, I fear this may just be a lure into a trap. I will contact Tanya and Katherine if you request help." Zordon finished.
"Right Zordon." Rocky replied. The three stepped back. Adam nodded and called out.
"It’s Morphing Time!"
"Zeo Ranger III! BLUE!"
"Zeo Ranger IV! GREEN!"
"Zeo Ranger V! RED!"
* * *
The three teleported to Angel Grove park. Klank looked up as he spied them.
"Ah! It seems our ranger friends have decided to join us!" Klank called as the three took up fighting stances. Orbus laughed.
"You’re going down, Klank!" Rocky called as he broke the Ranger stance and charged at Klank. Klank grabbed Orbus and swung him around, and then threw him at Adam. Rocky fell to the ground, and the other two rangers broke formation and attacked the Cogs. Rocky quickly got up, and kicked Orbus away. Klank grabbed his small friend and slung him over his shoulder.
"Attack!" He called. A purple vortex opened and several more Cogs bounded out, heading for Rocky.
"Ah, man!" He jumped in kicking Cog butt.
The Cogs surrounded William and Adam, and the two were forced to defend each other, back to back.
--God, if Billy turned on me now, I’d be history…--Adam chillingly thought.
William struck out and electrified a Cog into nothingness. Adam took a deep breath and just hoped Billy wasn’t working with the Machine Empire. William realized that Rocky was in trouble, and darted away from Adam.
--Shit, shit, shit!-- Adam thought, thinking Billy was leaving him again, like he had last night.
Rocky was on his knees, clutching his chest. Another Cog came at him, and he was able to stand up and kick it into oblivion just in time. Another one came from behind and knocked him to his stomach. Just then, a maroon blur leapt forward and pulverized the Cog behind Rocky. William bent down and pulled Rocky up. They too fought back to back.
As the Cogs began to get the upper hand, two flashes came down, one yellow, one pink. Tanya and Kat had arrived. The two girls faithfully helped their comrades.
Two Cogs came at Tanya from the front and knocked her flat on her rear. Before she was able to get up, they punched her down again. William and Rocky came quickly, Rocky helped Tanya up, and William defended any Cogs from attacking. Adam and Kat worked back to back, as four Cogs circled around them. They looked at each other and then both did high double legged kicks, each hitting two Cogs. All four blasted back to Mondo and the two high fived each other, and then ran to help Rocky, Tanya and William. The five worked as a team and quickly finished the Cogs off. They turned to Klank.
Beside the small robot, a red and blue flame shot down, and a huge buff monster stood looking down on them. He opened his mouth, full of pointy teeth, and let loose a raging fiery inferno on the rangers. They ducked and covered their faces from the scalding blaze. William stood up as soon as the blaze stopped and yelled.
"Try that again, and I’ll kick you’re pathetic fire retardant ass!"
The monster seemed mildly surprised and the other four rangers recovered behind William. He stepped towards Pyroflame and held his position, challenging the beast. Pyroflame glared down at him, ready to burn the maroon colored Ranger to cinders.
Pyroflame advanced and William dropped back a few steps. The other rangers warily watched. William and Pyroflame began to gradually circle each other. Without warning, William launched himself at Pyroflame, knocking the monster off his feet. The monster quickly recovered and threw a punch at William. Because of the monsters immense size, William had plenty of time to deflect the blow and counteract it. He then set a flying kick at the monster, making it stumble back. Pyroflame growled in outrage and drew a sword that blazed with inner fire. William swore under his breath and rolled aside of the burning sword.
Within seconds he has his small metal sword in his hand, ready to defend himself as best he could. Pyroflame two-handily attacked William, while the teen tried to parry the monsters excellent hits. Their swords became locked together, Pyroflame’s blade melting William’s blade. Both were strong, but Pyroflame was gradually over powering William. With his last ounce of strength he whirled away, and ducked as Pyroflame’s fiery blade came crashing down. William collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. Before he knew it, the other rangers were over at Pyroflame, finishing him up. Kat quickly pulled William out of the line of danger, checked to see that he was alright, and then charged back in towards the monster.
William slowly got up and watched Pyroflame struggle against the four other rangers. Klank stood helplessly by, watching unsympathetically. He shot a glance at William who instantly looked away.
William turned to the ongoing fight and angrily drew his battle sword. Rocky and Adam fell back as he approached. Pyroflame stopped attacking and looked up spying William, his massive black eyes quivering in fear and defeat. William raised his sword above his head and quickly brought it down upon Pyroflame. The monster was severed in half without a cry, and exploded instantly. Klank quickly teleported out, and the rest of the rangers cheered. William put his sword back and turned around. The other rangers watched him, growing quiet. He walked several meters and then turned around again.
"Do you still hate me?!" He cried. No one spoke. William wished he could tell them everything. That he was a clone, that he was forced to work for the Machine Empire. But he couldn’t. Mondo would kill him if he did. And death was something that scared him terribly. He just hoped it instilled an equal fear in Mondo. Because soon, Mondo would be the one with his life on the line.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and William smiled behind his helmet. The other four rangers looked at each other, to William and then to the sky. They quickly unmorphed.
"We’ve still got school!" Rocky realized. The four teleported out in their blaze of colors. William left shortly after, but his duty was to Mondo. His adrenaline was thrumming though his veins. He’d defied Mondo, and he knew the Machine Man would be furious. William kept his rage pent-up ready to show Mondo his allegiance was to himself, and no other.
The dawn of the Machine Empire’s fall was near, William could sense it.
The End
