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

cunning, and cruel, with a mighty arm cannon with enough fire power to slice through steel like a hot knife through butter.

"You summoned me, Onslaught?" asked Holocaust, the red skull on his shoulders glowing.

"Remember, from now on I am Solar!" hollered Solar angrily, "I am neither Onslaught or Monroe, I am my own being."

"So, what is your plan, and how do I fit into it?" asked Holocaust, starting to get impatient. As far as he was concerned, he was Onslaught's ally, not servant.

"My plan is to conquer Otherworld," said Solar, continuing to gaze out into the sky. He turned around when he heard a stifled chuckle.

"How do you plan do defeat Roma?" asked Holocaust, fighting back laughter. He immediately shut up when he saw Solar's fists glow a vibrant gold.

"All I require is the infinite power of the M'Kraan Crystal."

"You mean the gem that transported me to this universe?" asked Holocaust.

"Precisely. The M'Kraan Crystal is the nexus of reality. Within it is the power of the universe! The only thing is, we must unite the entire M'Kraan Crystal, or else its powers will be quite difficult to control."

"How do you plan on getting the Crystal? I thought it was lost for eternity."

"It is indeed lost, but it can be found. If we recover the missing fragment of the M'Kraan Crystal, we will be able to track down the larger piece. And, I believe I have located the crystal's shard. It is on Earth."

"Really?" asked Holocaust in surprise. "Where?"

"It is in the possession of the Power Rangers. Recently, they have been granted direct access to the shard of the crystal, which they refer to as the Zeo Crystal. If we find the Zeo Crystal in its entirety, we will be able to locate the remainder, and finally oust Roma from her throne. I will begin my attack now."

Solar created another interdimensional portal, and immediately stepped through. Holocaust hesitated for a moment, and then followed Solar through the hole. They both rematerialized in a tacky stone castle on the dark side of Earth's moon. The being sitting on the throne stared at the visitors, glowing an enraged scarlet.

"Who dares enter the palace of Lord Zedd unannounced?" asked Zedd angrily, standing up from his throne and grabbing his "Z"

staff.

"I am Solar, soon to be the absolute ruler of the Multiverse. I will be staying in this dimension for a while, and I am in the need of accommodations. Your castle will have to do."

"Excuse me?" asked Zedd in a rage, pointing his staff at Solar. "No one barges into my castle and orders me around!"

With that, Lord Zedd fired a massive bolt of white lightning at Solar, who absorbed it without even flinching.

"I survived the energy blasts of Cyclops, Storm, and even the mighty Thor's hammer! Do you think your petty static electricity can harm me?!"

"What's all that racket?" came a shrill voice from the hallway, "I have a headache!"

"Rita, get in here!" said Zedd furiously. Rita Repulsa stepped into the throne room. Her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she saw Solar and Holocaust.

"Eww," she croaked. "That one with the skull is even uglier than my brother!"

Holocaust snarled at the witch, powering up his arm cannon. Solar put his hand on Holocaust's shoulder. He then turned to Zedd and Rita with a smirk on his face and a golden glow in his eyes.

"I think I'll send the two of you into the Multiverse, to float about aimlessly for a century or two," he said, creating another portal. Zedd and Rita were helplessly pulled into the hole.

"Now," said Solar, making himself comfortable on Zedd's throne, "it's time to take action."

Chapter Five

At the picturesque beach of Angel Grove, California, ten teenagers enjoyed a competitive match of beach volleyball. Aisha Campbell, Rocky DeSantos, Adam Park, Alexis Darling, and Katherine Hillard play against Jason Lee, Tommy Oliver, Kimberly Hart, Zack Taylor, and Billy Mitchell. The sun shone brilliantly down on the teenagers, who enjoy the surprising warmth of February in Angel Grove.

"Okay," says Alexis, tossing the ball to Adam, "the serve was out of bounds. We have serve, and the score's 7-11."

"We're gonna change that real quick!" said Aisha, giving Adam a thumbs up. Adam backed up, and launched a perfect overhand serve. Zack returned the serve with a quick spike, which was blocked by Aisha. Kimberly set the ball, and Billy swatted a powerful spike across the court. Katherine dove for it, setting a volley for Alexis. Tommy returned the volley, but his hit was blocked by Rocky. Both Zack and Jason ran for the ball, but collided with each other as the ball hit the sand.

"Watch where you're going, Man!" laughed Zack, standing up and brushing the sand off his white Adidas shirt and matching shorts. Jason laughed uncontrollably, still sitting on the sand. When he stands up, a white envelope falls from his shorts pocket. Tommy picked it up and looked at the return address.

"Whoa," he said, looking up at Jason, "Rice University! Jay, you didn't tell us you applied to Rice. Did ya get in?"

Jason stopped laughing abruptly, and lifted his gaze to Tommy with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"That's fantastic, Jase," said Kimberly, giving him a congratulatory hug. "What's wrong?"

"Guys, I've been thinking, about the future. Y'see, most of us are graduating this June, and from there, we may be going on to college. What'll happen to the Power Rangers? I mean, the Zeo shards supposedly can only be wielded by the person destined to be a Terran Power Ranger. Without Zordon here to guide us, we have to make the decision on our own."

"I've given that problem a lot of thought," said Billy. "Originally, we believed that each Zeo shard can only be wielded by one individual. However, Aisha managed to absorb the essence of the green Zeo shard without any apparent side-effects. I've been studying this phenomenon, and although I haven't reached any concrete conclusions, I know for a fact that anyone who ever wielded a Power Coin has sustained sufficient bio-chemical changes to harbor the Terra power."

"That doesn't help too much, Billy," said Katherine, "Jason, Tommy, Rocky, Kimberly, Alexis, and Zack are graduating this year, and the rest of us will be graduating next year. By the end of next year, we all will have gone our separate ways."

"Well, guys, what plans do you have?" asked Tommy.

"I'm going to Drexel University in September," said Rocky quietly. Adam and Aisha turned to him in shock.

"And you didn't tell us?" asked Adam.

"Well, I was going to," Rocky said meekly.

"Where is Drexel anyway?" asked Zack curiously.

"Philadelphia," he said, glancing at Alexis. She smiled at him.

"Drexel's campus is side by side with the University of Pennsylvania," she said, "I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other next year."

"Wanna be roommates?" he asked with a smirk. Alexis rolled her eyes.

"Okay," said Tommy, "I planned on taking a year off before going to college. I wanted to explore my Native American heritage a bit. After all, I still have this arrowhead, and its supposed to lead me to my destiny."

"I enrolled in Angel Grove University," said Zack with a smile. "The Zack-man ain't goin' nowhere!"

"What about you, Kim?" asked Tommy quietly. "Are you going to move to Paris with your mother?"

"Well, I'm staying with my uncle Steve through the summer, until I start attending class at Stone Canyon Fashion Institute. I'll probably live on campus or get an apartment, which means I'll be getting a job come summer."

"And you, Billy?" asked Adam. "You've already graduated! What plans have you made?"

"I've been admitted Early Decision to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but since I am no longer an active member of the Power Rangers, it shouldn't make any difference."

"Billy, you're an essential member of the team," said Aisha. "After all, you're the behind-the-scenes man who makes sure all the weapons and Zords are in working condition. What would we do without you?"

"Good question," said Tommy, concern etched in his voice and expression.

"I plan to remain in contact with you while I'm in school," started Billy, "and I've been tutoring Adam on the workings of the Zords and the other equipment in the CAC ever since he lost his powers. He should be a excellent replacement, and if you still need my help, just contact me."

"Wow, bud, you really thought this through!" said Zack. Billy just shrugged.

"And you're going to Texas, eh bro?" asked Tommy.

"I...I'm not sure. I may go to Notre Dame instead -- they're trying to recruit me for football. Or I may attend a closer school..."

"Jase, don't let being a Power Ranger hold you back," said Tommy, clapping Jason on the back, "After all, sooner or later we all will have to give up the Power. We'll have too many responsibilities to continue being on call 24 hours a day."

The conversation was interrupted by a loud whistle coming from Billy's communicator.

"What's up, Billy?" asked Adam, looking at Billy's wrist.

"That's the remote CAC alarm. Lord Zedd and Rita must be up to something."

"Then you guys better get going," said Rocky quietly.

"Yeah," said Adam, nodding his head, "see ya."

Immediately, Tommy, Jason, Billy, Alexis, Zack, Katherine, Kimberly, and Aisha teleported in streaks of colored light to the CAC, where Billy ran to his personal computer system without delay. He began typing a few buttons, and an image appeared in the Viewing Globe of a red-skulled creature encased in a powerful yellow-gold exo-skeleton.

"What is that?" gasped Alexis. "It doesn't look like one of Zedd's usual monsters."

Alexis turned to Kimberly, who was staring wide-eyed at the globe. She noticed that Zack wore a similar facial expression.

"Kim? Zack? What's wrong?" she asked finally.

"Holocaust," whispered Kim incredulously. "He's here -- in Angel Grove."

"Who's Holocaust?" asked Jason, scratching his head.

"Kim and I fought him in the Age of Apocalypse a couple months ago," said Zack solemnly, "Man, that guy's bad news! I thought he died in an explosion when we attacked Apocalypse's palace! How did he get here, and why?"

"I'll try to figure that out," said Billy, madly typing on his keyboard. "But in the meantime, he's attacking Angel Grove Plaza."

"He's attacking the mall?" asked Aisha in shock. "That's so sick!"

"It's also good strategy," said Tommy. "He's putting hundreds of innocent civilians in danger, and he's not giving them a chance to escape. He's trying to get us out there. So, let's go!"