Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie by Heather Ray (beach read book .TXT) 📕

She never wrote the letter.

She never dumped him.

She never fell in love with someone else.

The litany rang between his ears, crashing against his soul like an ocean agitated by a vicious storm. Over and over the waves of ghastly truth struck, chipping away at his resolve, at his strength, at his will. Like a boulder, he succumbed to the barrage of guilt, letting it grind his spirit into sand.

Clenching his teeth, his foot stomped the gas pedal.

The small white needle on the speedometer crept passed one hundred twenty miles per hour.

The world around him began to blur into streaks of vibrant color, bleeding into itself like an abstract painting. Ahead, the road seemed to narrow, lines on the track practically leaping from the asphalt as the howl of the engine replaced the howling of his mind.

He'd fallen into the driver's seat of a racecar under odd circumstances. Immediately after…the "Muiranthian Incident"

… Tommy's world had come to a complete stop. First, the terrible weight of Kimberly's fate, and his own direct culpability, incessantly ate at the very core of his being. He couldn't put it out of his mind…how he could have acted. How he should have saved her.

His face tensed, driving the speedometer toward one-forty.

The constant thrumming of his mind had been unbearable; and without any further attacks from Divatox, the Machine Empire, or even Lord Zedd, he had none of the high-intensity battles he'd come to depend upon for venting his rage.

He'd lost Kimberly; and with her any hope of peace of mind, joy without guilt, or a happy ending.

The only way he could dull the pain was to search for her. For four days straight he'd traveled to Muiranthias after school, letting Red Lightning tear up the jungle as he scoured the small isle for any clue to the former Pink Ranger's fate. So long as he searched, he had something to look forward to. Adrenaline raced through his body. His heart pumped frantically. He breathed hurriedly. He felt alive

.

Without that rush, he was utterly dead inside.

When Zordon finally forbade any further trips to Muiranthias, he'd lost all excuses to Morph. To hide behind molded armor, and let his body act on reflex. Silence the litany of guilt, as he forced his mind to focus on a single, monumental goal.

After grudgingly bowing to his mentor's will, Tommy soon retreated to his favorite thinking spot: his uncle's cabin, sequestered deep in the mountains up north. Only this time, Jeff Rush had been home, taking a much-needed breather from the racing circuit.

Suddenly, the tormented Red Ranger found another outlet. Another means of driving away the haunting guilt, if only for a brief time. To make his heart race, breath heave, and adrenaline flow.

He felt alive again… behind the wheel of a racecar.

It wasn't Red Lightning, but his uncle's car was a magnificent machine. It bent to Tommy's will, figuratively tearing up the pavement as it pressed ever forward.

Racing forced Tommy's harrowed mind into simplicity. With every sharp turn, he risked spinning out of control, or flipping over. His knuckles grew white beneath leather gloves as he clenched the wheel, forcing total control over his own fate.

If his attention… if his control lapsed… he'd be a smear on the pavement.

Behind the wheel, his entire world narrowed into basic survival instinct. When the scenery bled into itself, his heart was forced to stop bleeding.

He knew it was escapism, pure and simple. The adrenaline was addictive, distracting him from his problems rather than resolving them and moving forward; but that was all he could do. If he were to truly move forward…he had to leave Kimberly behind. He could barely bring himself to do so when he thought she'd cruelly dumped him; how could he possibly even consider it when she was utterly blameless?

Instead, he created the illusion of going forward…

..while in reality he only went around in circles.

"Ooo, hey! Look at this!"

For the umpteenth time, Scorpina rolled her large black eyes in annoyance. "What is it now

?" she hissed.

In his typical, insipid fashion, the prince of the M 51 Galaxy completely missed the menace in the lethal assassin's voice. "It's my sister's telescope!"

He held the battered Repulsascope proudly, as if it were a lost treasure. "I'll bet it still works! Won't Sis be psyched when she sees her fave 'scope as good as new?"

Scorpina had long decided it wasn't worth screaming at Rito Revolto. No one could ever get a glimmer of intimidation through his rock-hard cranium. "Fine," she sighed, taking the tone of a frustrated babysitter. "Go…set it up on the balcony."

Rito grinned gleefully, and hauled the gadget to the spacious balcony of Lord Zedd's palace.

Scorpina let her gaze linger on Rito's back. Why Mastervile didn't put that idiot down at birth is a mystery to me…

Sighing yet again, she turned back to the task at hand: sweeping the throne room for any further Machine "surprises."

So far, the weeks of labor unearthed plenty of unexpected presents: the dead husks of nearly a hundred drones, who no doubt patrolled the entire palace during Zedd's absence, a variety of recording instruments, and even organic-sensors, intended to alert the Machine Sky Base the instant a heartbeat was detected.

The spy allowed a cold smirk. Too bad there wasn't a Sky Base to alert.

"What are you doing now?" a deep voice suddenly growled. Scorpina turned away from the mountain of rubble through which she was sifting, and watched the mighty Titan Goldar march into the throne room, dragging half a dozen lifeless Cogs with one hand. His fierce ruby eyes glared at Rito, who was eagerly skipping about his sister's telescope.

"Looking for aliens!" Rito sang, waving Goldar toward him. "Check it out! I think I see something!"

Goldar sneered, marching passed the simpleton to toss the deactivated Cogs onto the lunar surface. "If it's a big blue ball, it's probably Earth."

Scorpina snickered, her dark eyes following the gold warrior as he made his way back in her direction. She rose to her feet, absently tossing her hair over her shoulder as she closed the gap between them.

"How in the Devil's name did you put up with that ignoramus for so long?" she wondered, a chime of humor in her soft voice.

The bold, powerful warrior huffed as he recalled the past few months. After succeeding in imploding the Command Center, both he and Rito were caught in the blast. As a consequence, their minds were completely wiped of all memory, and found themselves stranded and alone on Earth.

For months Goldar lived in the garage of some idiot human, obeying two foolish weaklings like some slave, with no one but Rito for company.

Goldar bared his teeth. "I had forgotten myself, Scorpina," he groused. "Forgotten my strength, my nature. And I see you will not let me forget my humiliation."

Her melodic voice rang with laughter. "Poor Goldar…" she murmured. Her hand rose to his neck, her light touch causing the towering monster's breath to hitch. "Fortunately, our Lord has decided to be gracious to you. He has overlooked this latest humiliation, and sought your service once again. In this new campaign, we will finally rid ourselves of those Rangers."

A sneer folded his blue snout. "And you are certain

Rita won't be joining us. She keeps popping back into our lives, fumbling all Zedd's plans before they are even executed!"

She answered with a mischievous grin. "Well, if Rita did

pay us a visit, surely the sight of the new Queen would send her crying back to Daddy."

The assassin nearly giggled at the naked astonishment on Goldar's face. "New Queen?" he repeated. "Who?"

"Our Lord will inform you in time. For now, our duty is to restore the palace as best we can, in preparation of her arrival."

She let her hand slide away from his bare neck, gliding along his broad shoulder, down his armored arm, and brushing lightly against his hand. For a moment, Goldar's dark ruby eyes watched her saunter back to the task at hand, desperately trying to rein his attention back to the ravished throne room.

"Goldie, this thing is definitely

getting closer!"

Goldar huffed in annoyance…though the fool was a welcome distraction. "What does it look like?" he growled condescendingly.

Rito pulled away from the telescope, his hands miming an object. "You know that…that human thingie that's the same name as a sandwich? You know, the food Bulk liked so much? What's it called…hero? Hoagie? Grinder?"

Scorpina's sculpted eyebrow rose. "Humans name their vessels after food? How bizarre…"

The Titan frowned thoughtfully, and approached the telescope. "You mean a submarine, Rito."

The prince nodded eagerly. "Yep, that's it! A flying submarine! Ain't that a gas?"

"It's strange," he confessed. "Only space pirates use such vessels. What would a space pirate want with Earth?"

A smile slowly pulled Scorpina's lip. "Lord Zedd will be pleased to know she has finally returned."

Both Goldar and Rito exchanged puzzled looks as the spy disappeared down the dark hallway.

Of course, the Emperor of Evil already knew she was approaching.

He had seen her on Onyx, testing out a new weapon