The Terran Rangers/X-Men by Heather Ray (short books for teens TXT) 📕

City skyscraper. Inside this room, which was supposed to be abandoned, slept a young man. But, this was no ordinary young man. In fact, he was a mutant, gifted with the awesome abilities of telepathy and telekinesis. Also, he wasn't even from the world he now lived in. He actually was born, or rather created, in an alternate reality.

About two months ago, Nate Grey lived with his friends the Outcasts, and traveled across what was once the United States of America, helping to alleviate the suffering of those oppressed by Apocalypse, the self-proclaimed ruler of that world. One day, though, everything changed. Two young teenagers from an alternate dimension appeared, and first introduced Nate to the possibility of other universes. Together, he, the two teenagers named Zack Taylor and Kimberly Hart, and his allies Magneto, Forge, and the Shadow, attacked Apocalypse's citadel, intending on reuniting the M'Kraan Crystal, the nexus of reality, with its long-missing fragment, dubbed the Zeo Crystal. During that escapade, Forge, the only father and protector Nate ever knew, was killed by the creature Holocaust.

This drew Nate into a frenzy, and he telekinetically thrust the Zeo Crystal, which lay on the ground, into Holocaust's armor. This act had unexpected, and unusual affects. The energy released from the crystal threw Nate, Shadow, and Holocaust into the Mutliverse, where they eventually ended up in an alternate reality, the same one Kimberly and Zack came from. Nate himself appeared somewhere in Switzerland, where he recovered from his injuries sustained by interdimensional transport, and basically created a new life for himself. His wanderings came to an end when he came to New York. He encountered many mutants that were called the X-Men, but they were far too different from the X-Men of the Age of Apocalypse for Nate to relate to them.

Nate distanced himself from everything and everyone that was familiar to him in his home dimension, and this included Shadow, Zack, and Kimberly. After a few weeks of searching for his best friend, Nate came to the conclusion that he may not have survived the transport. Either that, or he didn't want to be found. And he didn't want to interfere with the lives of the X-Rangers. However, Nate didn't know he didn't have a choice in the matter.

Suddenly, Nate felt a strange tingle, that he was vaguely familiar with. It was Mutliversal transportation.

"What?" he said, sitting up in his bed. He saw the room he was in suddenly bend, and fade into nothingness. He soon found himself lying upon a floor of solid white marble tiles. He rose to his feet, and realized he'd been in this room once before.

"Otherworld?" he muttered to himself.

"Indeed," said a gentle voice. Nate turned around, and saw a woman clad in flowing white robes, with an ebony ponytail, olive skin, and dark, mysterious almond eyes.

"Roma," he said, "why am I here?"

"As you recall, a few months ago, I requested your aid, to help the Power Rangers save the universe."

"Yeah," he said. "So?"

"So, I ask you again for your aid. The Power Rangers will be facing an enemy, one that they will never be able to defeat alone. Tell me, Nathan, do you recall a being called Onslaught?"

Nate's crystal blue eyes widened in shock, and his jaw dropped. "That monster is dead!"

"No," said Roma, "he is not dead. He has returned, and he now has the potential to be an even greater threat than he was before. He must be stopped now, before he can increase in power."

"Tell me what I need to do."
Chapter Three

A red Jeep Cherokee parked in front of the magnificent home of the Monroe family, called the Angel's Palace. Of course, it wasn't a literal palace, but the half-mile of property had a regal air about it. The immense lawn was perfectly kept, even in the wintertime, with numerous bushes, evergreens, and winter flowers decorating the area. On the side of the mansion was a quaint greenhouse, where Kimberly kept her garden. There was also an outdoor pool, tennis court, and numerous pieces of playground equipment for Anthony and his friends. Kimberly, Thomas, and Katherine exited the car and made their way to the front doors. Kimberly knocked once, and a short middle aged Mexican woman opened the door.

"Senora!" said the woman. "Welcome home!"

She held the door for the trio, who all entered the mansion. Kimberly's head jerked just in time to see a flash of green jump on her and give her a big hug.

"Mommy!" he cried, "you're home!"

"Yes, Pumpkin," she said, returning his hug. She then put him down and ruffled his sandy blonde hair. "So, did you have fun today?"

"Yeah, but I missed ya," the little boy cooed, holding onto his mother's leg. "You're not supposed to work on Saturday! Saturday is our special day!"

"I know Baby, but I had to do a favor for Uncle Tommy and Aunt Kat. Did you say hi to them?"

Anthony immediately ran to his surrogate uncle and aunt, giving them both warm hugs. Kimberly turned to her maid.

"Anita, why isn't he dressed yet? I asked you to have him ready to leave."

"I'm sorry, Senora, but Antonio refused to wear his suit. Only you can get him to wear it."

"C'mere, Tony," said Kimberly, taking her son's hand. "We've got to get ready for dinner."

Kimberly led Anthony to his room and helped him put on his suit. She then proceeded to her own bedroom, and brushed out her hair. She saw a reflection of golden light in her mirror, coming from the crack of her open closet.

"What's that?" she asked out loud, opening the closet. She found the source of the eerie gold light -- her yellow Zeo shard, which granted her the Terra power of lightning. She picked up the shard from its place in the back of her shoe closet, and examined it in her hand.

"I don't understand," she said, staring at the small yellow crystal. "It's never glowed like this before!"

Kimberly hid the crystal in her palm and ran down the stairs. She found Tom and Katherine talking to Anita.

"Anita," she ordered, "fetch me Anthony's dress shoes please. I can't seem to find them."

"Si, Senora" said Anita, hurrying up the stairs.

"What's wrong, Kim?" asked Katherine.

"This!"

she cried, opening her palm to reveal the Zeo shard. Both Tom and Kat stared at the strange gold beams of light coming from the yellow shard, befuddled.

"Has this ever happened before?" asked Tom, taking the shard and examining it more closely.

"No. The shard doesn't even glow usually -- unless its power is called upon."

Suddenly, the crystal jumped from Tom's hand to the ground. It touched the floor and emitted a single, wide beam of gold light to the high ceiling above. The three friends stood back and watched as a disk of gold light formed on the ceiling, and jumped in amazement when a young man wearing a blue and silver uniform fell to the ground from the hole. He moaned in pain and held out his hand. Immediately, the Zeo shard leaped into his hand, no longer glowing. The young man stood up and ran his other hand through his brown hair, streaked with white. His crystal blue eyes stared first at Tom, and then Kat. His left eye seemed to glow yellow when his gaze fell on Kimberly, who stared at this strange boy who just appeared in her house. He walked towards Kimberly, but she shrunk back from him. Tom stepped in front of the stranger menacingly.

"Who are you, and what do you want here?" he demanded, folding his arms over his chest.

The boy glared up at Tom, letting his left eye once again glow yellow. But Tom didn't flinch.

"Who are you, and what do you want here?" he repeated. The boy's frown disappeared, and he cracked an amused smile.

"I like him," he said to Kimberly. "He's got courage, even though he doesn't have his Zeo shard with him."

The three adults gaped at this remark. The boy just smirked and held out his hand to Kimberly, offering her the yellow Zeo shard.

"Here," he said. "It won't glow gold again. It only does that when psionic energy is focused through it, Kim."

"Do I know you?" asked Kimberly, taking her shard back.

"Not really, but I know you. At least, I've met you. Another you."

"What?!" asked the three adults in unison.

"I'm the X-Man, but my friends call me Nate. Nate Grey. I come from an alternate universe. A couple months ago, my time, I met a girl named Kimberly Hart and her friend Zack Taylor. They helped me and my allies battle an evil monster from my world. We had to retrieve the Zeo Crystal from the moon, to complete the M'Kraan Crystal, and fix reality, but they couldn't access their Terra powers. So, Kim and Zack's power signatures were altered, when someone created a weird kind of bond between us. Kimberly became a telepath, and her powers were basically a carbon copy of my own. Somehow, by gaining power through me, that created a link between us, and that's basically what caused the disappearance of your husband."

Kimberly sank to her knees when she heard that. Tom was frozen in shock, and Katherine stood dumfounded. Nate sighed to himself. This was going to take a while.

Nate helped Kim to her feet, and led her to the couch to sit. He then gave Tom and Kat a telekinetic nudge, causing them to also be seated. Nate himself sat on the loveseat across from the other three.

"I...I don't understand," choked Kimberly. "Why would your giving an alternate reality's version of me telepathic power affect me...and Trevor?"

"I guess I should start from the beginning. I was born in a horrible world ruled by the tyrant Apocalypse. While I was there, Kimberly and Zack fell through an inter-dimensional anomaly. Their Terra Powers were blocked because there already was a Zeo Crystal in that dimension, and there can only be one of each Terran Ranger. So, in order to send them home, and repair the damage done to the Multiverse, Kim and Zack traveled to the moon to find the Zeo Crystal. An all-powerful being named Roma created an energy link between us, so as to create new powers for Kim and Zack, so they could morph and help in the final battle. Magneto gave Zack the power of magnetism, and I gave Kim the powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Since telepathy is such a delicate power, Kimberly's power kind of bonded with my own, creating a psionic link called a rapport."

"That still doesn't explain what that has to do with this Kimberly and her husband," said Katherine quietly.