The Quest for Power

    Kelly looked at Nadira for the longest time. Nadira: "What?" Kelly: "Nadira? Is that really you?" Nadira: "Who are you and how do you know me?" Kelly: "Sit down." Nadira looked at her as if she was crazy. Kelly: "Please." The two of them sat on rocks, facing each other. Kelly: "I met Ransik in a dark ally one night. It was raining. He was searching through a dumpster for food. At first I thought of running, like so many before me did. But when I looked at him, something attracted me to him. I don't know if it was the rain, or the cheep wine, or what, but something made me want him." Nadira: "Ewww!" Kelly: "We went back to my place. After a little talking, we.... retired to the bedroom, and...." Nadira stood up quickly. Nadira: "Stop, stop, stop! I don't want to hear about my dad's sex life!" Kelly sighed. Kelly: "You asked me how I knew you. Are you going to let me finish?" Nadira relutently sat back down. Nadira: "Fine." Kelly: "Well, after that night we stayed together on what he thought was a steady relationship. Truth is, I cheeted on him." Nadira: "How many times?" Kelly: "Oh not to many. Once, twice, 19 times." Nadira: "Da*n!" Kelly smiled. Kelly: "Anyway, I later found out that I was pregnant.... with Ransik's baby." Nadira put her hand over her mouth. She wasn't sure if she could believe what she was hearing.
    Kari, Rick, Cerina, and Niki walked into a diner. One of the few businesses on Stregna. The proffits went right to Vulca's army. They sat down at a table. A waitress came up to them. Waitress: "What'll it be?" Cerina: "Nothing right now, thanks." Kari: "So where can we get the powers." Cerina: "There are five morphers in the lower chambers of Vulca's palace. One night we were talking and she told me she planned to use them some day. They have been handed down throughout generations in that psycotic family. Nobody ever tried to activate them." Rick: "Below the palace? Sounds like suicide." Cerina: "I know its a risk. But we really have no other choice." Kari: "Do you think we can pull it off?" Cerina: "Maybe. If we're lucky." Niki: "At least she doesn't have any warriors to get in the way." Rick: "Right." Cerina: "Hey, can I get some coffee?" The waitress stood against the wall and didn't move. Waitress: "You had your chance." Cerina slammed on the table, got up, and got it herself. She gave the waitress a dirty look as she walked back to her seat. Kari: "You say there's five morphers." Cerina: "Yeah. We need two more people." Niki: "No you don't!" Cerina: "The powers won't work for you. You're too young." Niki: "Shoot!" Rick: "Where do we find two more? Most people aren't brave enough to go against the queen in the first place. Much less walk right into the palace and take a morpher."
    Nadira: "You're my mom?" Kelly: "Yes. When I found out, Ransik knew I had cheeted. He wanted me to leave, but when I told him, he took me back. But he said it was my last chance. I blew it." Nadira: "What happened?" Kelly: "After you were born, I began to miss my old life. Going out when I wanted with whoever I wanted. I couldn't do that with a child." Kelly's eyes began to water. Kelly: "I left the night you were born. I left you with Ransik to fend for yourselves." She stopped and wiped the teers from her eyes. Kelly: "It was the biggest mistake of my life." Nadira: "How could you just leave?" Kelly: "Just like I tried to tell him, I'm sorry." Nadira: "What did he say?" Kelly: "Not much of anything, I guess. He wouldn't even let me talk to him." Nadira stood. Nadira: "I'll bet I can get him to forgive you." Kelly looked up at her. Kelly: "Why would you want to?" Nadira: "I've never had a mother. Guess I just want to see what I've been missing." Kelly stood up and began to walk with Nadira back to where Ransik was. Kelly: "Thank you for this. But I don't think there's much hope."
    Ransik came into the diner and slammed the door. He was clearly upset. Between Frax and Kelly, he was seeing red. He walked over and pulled the waitress off the wall by her shirt. Ransik: "Beer, woman!" Cerina, softly to the others: "Just what that guy needs, alcohol." He took the table behind them. Rick leaned in towards the others and kept his voice low. Rick: "So when do we make our move?" Cerina: "It would be best under the cover of darkness." Niki grabbed Cerina's arm. Cerina already knew what she wanted. Niki: "Can I come?" Cerina: "I wish you didn't have to come, but there isn't anywhere else you can go." Niki: "I can help you." Rick: "If you go with us, just stay out of the way and keep your mouth shut." Kari and Cerina looked at him angirly. Rick: "What? I don't want to get my a*s kicked because of her." Cerina: "Be nice to her, or it will get kicked anyway." They all looked up as Kelly and Nadira entered the diner. Ransik was facing the oposite direction and couldn't see them. Nadira: "Daddy." Ransik turned his head. He stood up when he saw them. Kelly: "You never told her about me, huh?" Ransik: "That was my choice. And I think I made the right one." Nadira saw this wasn't going to go anywhere by itself. Nadira: "Dad, can you just listen to her?" Ransik: "I don't know what she told you, but whatever it was is a lie." Nadira put her hand on Ransik's face. Nadira: "Please, let her talk. For me." Kari looked at Cerina and knew they both had the same thoughts. Kari: "Do you wanna gag first or should I?"
    Vulca stood with Kitana in the palace. Kitana hadn't said anything in hours. Vulca: "Ya know, I don't know a thing about you." Kitana didn't even bother to turn her head. Kitana: "Keep it that way." Vulca: "What's wrong with you?" Kitana looked over at her. Kitana: "I don't waste my time talking. All right? Just let me do what you hired me to do." Vulca: "Fine." She signaled for Kitana to leave the room. She walked out, slamming the door.
    Ransik sat back down. Ransik: "All right. For you, Nadira." Kelly looked at Nadira. Then took the seat in front of Ransik. Ransik: "Go." Kelly: "As I've been saying, I'm sorry. Leaving you was stupid and I want to make up for it." Ransik: "How much money do you want?" Kelly: "I don't want anything from you! Just a second chance." Ransik: "Why should I? After the he*l you put me through." Kelly: "I want a chance to be a mother to Nadira. And maybe... start over again with you too." Ransik: "So why the sudden change of heart?" Kelly: "I had been seeing this guy for a while now. I thought we really had something special. Boy was I wrong." Ransik began to consider her request. Kelly: "I found out yesterday that all this time, he never really loved me. All he wanted was my money." Nadira: "How'd you find out?" Kelly: "I got a letter from the bank saying that my savings account had been drained. Then Scott skipped town." Ransik put his hand over Kelly's on the table. Ransik: "I'm sorry." Kelly reached into her purse and pulled out a tissue. She wipped the teers from her eyes. Ransik: "I guess I'm willing to give this a shot."
    Kari pointed to the table behind them. Kari: "Hey, what about them? Do you think they'd go with us?" Cerina: "Its not something you just ask somebody. You have to be willing to committ to this." Kari: "And who's to say they aren't?" Cerina: "You can ask. But we're going to look pretty dumb." Kari turned around backwards. Kelly looked back at her. Kelly: "Can I help you?" Kari: "Come over here for a minute. We have to talk." Kelly looked back at Ransik. She wasn't sure what to think. When Ransik stood up, she followed him over to their table. Ransik: "What do you want?" Cerina: "This isn't an easy thing to ask. Or to explain. But here it goes." Niki: "We want to kill the queen!" Cerina: "Uh, that wasn't what I was going to open with, but... yeah." Ransik: "What queen? We're not from around here." Rick: "Vulca. She pure evil. She has turned the population of Stregna into her slaves." Kari: "We need five people to be able to stop her." Kelly: "And you want us to fight her? Why the he*l should we care?" Cerina: "If you're on this planet she's a threat to you." Ransik: "That's true. Since we're stranded here, she could be a problem." Rick: "We want to get our hands on a set of morphers hidden below the palace." Ransik: "Morphers!" Kelly: "That's right. You just volunteered us to be Power Rangers." Ransik: "I'm afraid not." He started to get up, but Rick grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. Kari: "If you don't help us, we'll all be her slaves. Is that what you want?" Ransik: "I'm nobody's slave." Cerina: "Well then it looks like you're out of options." Ransik looked at Kelly. Then Nadira. Ransik: "Fine." Cerina: "Good. We leave tonight. Midnight."
    The group stood on top of a building at 11:00 that night. Rick at Kari stood together talking. Kari: "Only an hour left." Rick: "Yeah." Kari looked up at him. He was looking off into the distance. He didn't move a muscle. Kari: "Scared?" Rick: "No. Thinking." Kari: "About what?" Rick: "Just the future. Like what are we going to do if these powers aren't good enough." Kari: "If they aren't, we'll have to keep fighting."
    Cerina sat on a rail on the edge of the rooftop. Cerina: "Its 10 till. Lets go." She stepped down. Niki came running over to her. Cerina: "I've thought this over and decided you can't come with us." Niki: "Why? I won't get in the way!" Cerina: "Its not that. If you come with us, I wouldn't be focused on the mission." Cerina looked up at Nadira. Cerina: "You'll stay with Nadira." The five of them walked off, leaving the girls watching. Niki: "This is stupid. Just because she worries to much, I can't go." Nadira tapped her nails on the rail. Nadira: "Don't worry about it. I'm sure we can find something to do."
    They walked up to the base of the palace. Cerina: "Was anyone on the balcony?" Rick: "No. Its clear." Cerina walked up to the metal door. She pulled a blue dimond out of her pocket. Cerina: "Good thing Vulca forgot to take my key back." She put the dimond into a small hole and the door slid open. They entered into a long hallway. Kari: "Where's the lower level start at?" Cerina pointed to a door at the end of the hall. It was marked 'Forbidden'. Cerina: "There." That door didn't open on its own. Cerina and Rick grabbed the knob and pulled as hard as the could. It came open slowly. Rick: "Get inside. We can't hold this thing forever." On the inside, the path was lighted by tourches on the stone walls. Kelly: "Its like a cave down here." Cerina: "Vulca never comes down here. So they didn't bother to fix it up." Ransik tore one of the tourches off the wall and carried it with him. As they turned the corner, a light overhead came on. The morphers were spread out on a table in the center of the room. Kitana stood next to them with her sword ready. Kitana: "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"
    Nadira looked over the side of the roof at a store. It had only one street light beside it. Nadira: "Its perfect." Niki came walking over to her. Nadira: "Wanna have some fun?" Niki: "Yeah." Nadira: "Come with me." They walked over to the store. Nadira looked through the window at the one chashier. Nadira: "He's not a very big man. This will be a piece of cake." Niki: "What are you going to do?" Nadira laughed. Nadira: "That's a joke, right?" She saw the kid wasn't joking. Nadira: "We're going to rob the place, of course." She then started going through her coat pocket. Nadira: "Where the he*l did I put that thing?" After a minute, she pulled out a gun and pointed it at the building. Nadira: "Ready?"
    The group looked at Kitana in surprise. Kari: "I thought she didn't have any other warriors." Cerina: "She didn't." Kitana twirled her sword around. Kitana: "I have taken over where you left off, Cerina. And its my first mission to keep you away from the Psycho morphers." She raised her sword into the air. Kitana: "Drika!" The black soldiers appeared out of nowhere. Kari kicked one to the ground. Another threw a punch at her. She ducked. Then threw it down as well. Ransik punched his knee and as he screamed in pain, a gun arose. He watched a group walk towards him. He shot at them, sending them flying into the stone wall. Rick slammed one against the wall and punched it until the helmet had dents in it. Kari: "Man, I think you killed it already!" Kelly slammed two together, then flipped them over. She dropped down and punched them both once they were on the ground. Cerina was left fighting Kitana. Kitana pointed her sword at her. Then attempted to strike her. Cerina rolled out of the way. Kitana kicked her in the side while she was returning to her feet. As Kitana was about to come at her again, Cerina jumped up and kicked her in the face. While she was stunned, she made a move for the morphers. Kitana: "I don't think so." She did a flip and landed in front of Cerina.
    Nadira pointed her gun at the glass door a fired. It shattered, allowing them to walk in through the opening. Then she pointed it at the chashier. Nadira: "Empty the register." The man screamed, but stopped quickly when Nadira hit him in the mouth as hard as she could. Nadira: "Quiet! Do as I say and maybe you'll live." Hands shaking, the man opened the register. Man: "Take it! Ta..take it all!" Nadira: "Oh, how generous." She handed the cash drawer to Niki. Then shot the cashier in the chest. He hit the ground, dead in a instant. Nadira: "And that, my dear, is how you rob someone blind." Nadira took the money back as she put the gun away. Nadira: "Go take some candy or something. There's no reason you should leave empty handed." Niki ran down an isle looking for whatever she could carry. Nadira looked down at the money in her hand and smiled. Nadira: "Who knew stealing from such a small store could be so much fun!" Niki came running back to her with her amrs loaded with stuff. Nadira: "Come on. I'm sure somebody heard the gun shot. The Drika will be here any minute." She looked around one last time. Nadira: "Oh, we can't forget this." She leaned over and took the watch off of the man's arm. Then ran out the door.
    Ransik saw Cerina was in trouble. He ran up behind Kitana and grabbed her. Ransik: "Get the morphers and go!" Cerina grabbed them and threw one to each of them, keeping the white one for herself. Cerina: "Go! Get out the way we came!" They headed full speed down the hall. Cerina shot a blast of white energy from the morpher at Kitana. Ransik let go of her and followed the others out. Kitana watched as the huge metal door slammed shut. Kitana: "Sh*t!"
    When the rangers returned to the rooftop, Nadira and Niki were already back. Cerina looked down at her daughter with a funny expression. Cerina: "Were did you get that candy from?" Niki: "Nadira gave it to me." Cerina: "Oh. Well that was nice of her." Ransik: "I really hope you didn't pay for that." Nadira walked over and put her arm around Ransik. Nadira: "Daddy, you know me better than that." Kelly: "Who'd you rob?" Nadira: "That store down there with the broken window." Kelly laughed. Kelly: "You're just like your dad." Cerina folded her arms in front of her and stared angirly at Nadira. She didn't say a word. After a minute, she slammed the morpher down onto her wrist and walked to the edge of the building. Kelly looked at Ransik, concerned. Kelly: "What's wrong with her?"