Tommy was asleep.

A moonbeam edged its way around his window shade to caress his peacefully sleeping face and long dark hair. Then the light drifted upwards to his eyes, and the dark lashes twitched fretfully. A nightmare memory wakened, triggered by the silver-white beam pushing on his eyelids, and his peaceful expression became tortured. His arms and legs began to fight with the blankets, and a muted low moaning cry erupted into the shadowed room. Another long night had begun.

In the next room, Tommy's mother lay awake in the dark, listening, watching the small numbers on her alarm clock grow steadily bigger as the sound of nightmares continued. She wanted to go to him, to stroke the dark hair so much like her own and soothe the bad dreams away; but she knew from experience that these demons weren't chased away by a mother's love. Tommy's demons were real - or had been, once.

Her son was a Power Ranger.

Some days that made her so proud she wanted to tell the world; other days it made her afraid, or angry. She was frightened and angry now, lying there, helpless to help her son. Where was his mentor "Zordon" now? Where was the "team" that her son had led for almost two years? Of course, she amended, there was Billy. One word from her - or from Tommy, for that matter - to Billy about the nightmares would have seen the former Blue Ranger indefinitely camped out at the foot of Tommy's bed until the problem was solved; but neither of them would ask that of Billy. Not yet, anyway.

Thinking about the loyalty of her son's best friend cooled her anger quite a bit. Billy was always there when needed, and always occupied elsewhere when not. He had always kept her updated on the Rangers' activities, and continued to do so even now that he was off planet so often - Eleanor suspected that he was turning into some sort of envoy or ambassador and was just too modest to talk about it. He also helped her coordinate excuses for the team when duty kept them away from home for suspiciously long periods of time.

Eleanor still couldn't believe that none of the other parents had figured it out yet; Tommy had told her himself after the Green Ranger incident that had started the whole thing - nightmares included - but she had known something was up long before that. The noise from his room had stopped now, but she knew he wasn't asleep. He would be sitting on the edge of his bed, hair damp with sweat and face wet with tears, trying to cope with the trauma that stole his sleep night after night. No one else, not even Billy, had gone through what Tommy had, and no one who hadn't could fully understand what he was going through now. Or so Tommy said. She sighed and got out of bed, pulling on her robe and heading for the kitchen to make cocoa for herself and her son. Maybe this one time she could, at the very least, convince him just to let her listen.
 

Billy was working in the lab - the computer lab at Angel Grove High School - and heartily cursing his machine for being so slow. "I'm spoiled," he muttered to himself, thinking of the powerful computers and equipment he was used to working with in the Command Center. "And this is supposed to be state of the art. I must be spending too much time at work." Which, he reflected, was why he was here at school; the need to touch base with the "real" world, to talk to someone who wasn't a robot, disembodied, or wearing a silly costume. "Real" people did not wear utility belts and wrist communicators to work, did not communicate regularly with aliens, and did not fight monsters from the cockpit of a giant Transformer that he, Billy, had to do maintenance checks on. Unfortunately, real people also didn't take very long to become tiresome to someone who had done all of the above. Which, he reflected again, was why he was working here at school alone.

Of course, he had made a point of mentioning to Tommy that he would be here this morning, alone, working on nothing very important. Billy sighed. Obviously the hint hadn't been taken. He was worried about Tommy, but he couldn't get him to talk; whatever was bothering him, the Red Ranger was keeping it to himself - and it appeared to be no small problem. It was hard to be patient when he saw his friend hurting, and Billy had a pretty good idea what the problem was; but you don't just go up to someone suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and say, "Hey, tell me about your nightmares," unless you want to get slammed, or lose a friend. Neither option was acceptable ; better to wait for Tommy to open up on his own, in his own time.

Billy remembered the first time that Zordon had let him help recharge the highly unstable Green Ranger Power after Tommy's powers had been depleted in battle. He had been so excited, thrilled to be allowed to do something so important that no one else had done; no one else had even been allowed to stay in the Command Center while the power transfer was in progress, much less to help. If Tommy had seemed a little nervous about having him there, he hadn't thought much about it - Tommy wouldn't be worried once he, Billy, had proved that he was up to the task. At least, he'd hoped he was up to the task. He had hovered and fussed over the controls, never taking his eyes off the readouts he was getting until a small, strangled sound from Tommy had brought his head up with a jerk; his friend's eyes were closed tightly, his face was drained of color and his forehead beaded with sweat, every muscle in his body apparently tensed tightly enough to snap - it was obvious that he was in terrible pain. Panicked, terrified that he might have made some horrible mistake, Billy had yelled for Zordon and Alpha; and that was how he'd found out what wielding the green power was doing to Tommy. After that Billy had always made it a point to be there during a transfer - even when he wasn't managing the process himself - just so that his friend wouldn't have suffer alone. He'd never told any of the others about the high cost Tommy had paid to help the team, although he'd wanted to throw it in the face of Jason's superior attitude any number of times. But all that was over now - or, most of it was. He would have to put some thought into ridding the Red Ranger of his green-tinted nightmares…

Billy was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice footsteps entering the lab behind him. When he did hear them coming closer, he paid no attention; he was at school, and he wasn't a Ranger any more, anyway. Just a mechanic, a technician - no one any of the bad guys would be interested in. It never occurred to him that he could be in any danger at all...

Until Goldar grabbed him from behind and stuck something in his arm. Billy felt numbness creeping over his body, and he knew he had to do something to let the others know that Goldar - and probably Rita, too - was back. He forgot that he wasn't a Power Ranger anymore, forgot that he could only be useful within the Command Center or at Tommy's house, and thought only of warning the rest of the team. One of his hands still rested on the keyboard, and he forced his unresponsive fingers to tap out a single word before he lost consciousness. As he hit the last letter his final thought was one, not of fear, but of relief. Mission accomplished. Maybe I'm still a Ranger after all…
 

Tommy was digging in his locker when Cat and Rocky ran up to him. He jumped to his feet. "What is it? My comm didn't signal."

"We think something's happened to Billy," panted Cat, pushing a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. "We've been looking for him since this morning, and we can't find him anywhere! He hasn't been in any of his morning classes…"

"And he's not answering his comm bracelet," Rocky interjected. "That's not like him."

Tommy felt a stab of alarm. "No, it isn't," he agreed. "Billy said something about working in the computer lab this morning before school; let's check there first." And he took off at a dead run with Cat and Rocky at his heels.

The computer lab was empty when they got there. Only one terminal in the room was turned on, and Billy's books were beside it. "He was here," Tommy said, puzzled, and walked over to the patiently blinking terminal. One book had been knocked off the table, and the chair had been shoved aside. "Someone surprised him from behind," he mused. "I'll bet he didn't even notice until they were right on top of him."

Rocky was reading what was on the screen. "Looks like he was working on that paper for biology class," he said. "I haven't even started on…Tommy! Look at this!"

Tommy looked at the bottom line, and his mouth went dry. It said RETA. "He was trying to type Rita," he breathed. "So it must have been Goldar who attacked him. But why? Why Billy?"

"Maybe she doesn't know he doesn't have a Power Coin anymore," Cat offered. "If that's it, she'll send him back…won't she?"

"No," Rocky and Tommy said together, and Rocky added, "She had to have known; she usually tracks us by the energy signature of our individual power emanations." The other two stared at him, and he shrugged, blushing a little. "Billy told me that."

Tommy activated his comm bracelet. "Jason," he said, and the Gold Ranger's voice responded affirmatively. "Get Adam and Tanya and meet us at the Command Center. We have a problem."
 

Zordon was very much concerned when the Rangers told him about Billy. "Good work, Rangers," he said. "Thanks to your quick thinking, we have a much greater chance of finding Billy and rescuing him before it is too late. Alpha, see if you can track his energy signature."

"But Billy doesn't have one, does he?" questioned Jason, puzzled. "He doesn't have a Power Coin; he isn't really…" A sharp look from Tommy warned him not to finish that particular thought, and he shrugged. "Okay; but he still doesn't have a Power Coin."

"The electrical patterns in Billy's molecular structure were altered in the explosion that destroyed the Command Center," Zordon informed him. "His energy signature is almost as distinctive as any of yours, and is easily tracked by sensors. That is presumably the way Rita located him."

"I don't get it, though," Jason said. Adam nudged him hard in the ribs, but Jason ignored him. "Why would she want Billy? Glare at me all you want, Tommy, but I can't see why he'd be a target for her; he's not a Power Ranger anymore."

Adam and Rocky tensed, and even Jason almost took a step back from the black look of anger in Tommy's eyes. But Tommy's voice, when he spoke, was firm, calm, and serious. "Billy will always be one of us," he said quietly. "You've been gone for quite a while, Jason. A lot has happened."

Jason felt rebuked. He knew that he'd been less than accepting of Billy as a member of the team in the past, and it was something he was ashamed of. He'd learned a lot from the other leaders at the peace conference this past year - leaders much like Tommy and Zordon - but he was having trouble putting some of it into practice. Old habits die hard. "Sorry," he said, and meant it. "You're right; a lot has changed since last year."

"It's okay, Jason," was Tommy's reserved reply; but Cat noticed that only then did he relax his clenched fists. "And that's still a valid question. What does Rita want with Billy?"

"She could be using him as bait," offered Tanya. "It could be a trap for us."

"Or it could just be for revenge," Rocky added.

Jason cleared his throat and cast a sidelong look at Tommy. "Or it could be something else. What if she wants Billy on her side?"

Tommy turned white; he had originally become the Green Ranger because Rita had wanted her own personal Power Ranger and had kidnapped him for that purpose. He looked up at Zordon and asked, in a very shaken voice, "Zordon, what do you think?"

"I do not know, Tommy; it could be any of these reasons, or none. Alpha, have you found anything?"

The little robot nodded. "I have located Billy," he said. "Rita has taken him to a ship some distance away; it is almost out of sensor range, but it is coming closer to Earth."

"Put it on the viewing globe," Zordon ordered.

The misty surface cleared, and the Rangers saw their old enemy, Rita, enthroned in the center of what looked like a control room. Goldar stood to one side, grinning evilly, and at her other elbow was…Billy, standing motionless and expressionless. He was dressed in a dull silver robe and his eyes were flat, blind gray. At a gesture from Rita he moved, zombie-like, to one of the control panels and began to make adjustments.

Tommy felt something inside him twist painfully. "What has she done to him?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the globe. "Zordon?"

"Rita has placed Billy under a particularly evil spell," Zordon replied. "She knows she will never defeat the Machine King with magic alone, so she has caused Billy's mind to interface with her computers. It is her hope that his technical genius can find a sure means of breaching Sprocket's defenses and shutting down his systems for good."

Cat shuddered. "But I don't understand," she cried. "If Billy could beat the Machine King, he would have already done it."

"Maybe not," Rocky interjected. "I remember learning in biology that human beings only use a very small part of their brain, and that even geniuses like Billy are able to use just a little more than the rest of us. If Rita's found a way to make him use even more…"

Zordon nodded. "Exactly, Rocky; Rita's spell has made Billy into the equivalent of a supercomputer." Zordon's attention turned back to Alpha. "What else have you discovered?"

The little robot raised his hands helplessly. "Rita's ship will reach the Machine King's palace on the moon within the hour, Zordon. Ay yi yi! How can we get Billy out of there?"

"We'll find a way," Tommy said flatly. "We have to."
 

While the Power Rangers worked on a way to breach Rita's defenses, Rita herself was busy using her newest tool to do the same thing to the Machine King. "This is so deliciously ironic," she cackled, watching Billy re-calibrate the power output array to an impossibly high level of efficiency. "First he helped the Power Rangers to defeat me, and now he's helping me to destroy Sprocket. I love it. I'll have him disable their Command Center next."

"We can destroy the Power Rangers and take over the Earth!" Goldar roared, shaking his heavy black and gold wings. "No one will be able to stop us!"

"But won't they try to rescue him?" Baboo questioned, and had to duck a blow from Goldar. "But they will," he whined. "I just know it!"

Rita's eyes stayed on Billy. "I thought of that, stupid!" she screeched. "Of course they'll try, but it won't do them any good. Billy is mine, and I've taken steps to keep him that way - forever!"

Oblivious to the horrible cacophony taking place behind him, Billy worked on.
 

Tommy shifted uncomfortably, his eyes glued to the viewing globe. Billy finished his adjustments and straightened, then went back to Rita's side and froze once again into statue-like immobility. Tommy winced.

"Tommy?" Cat came up behind him, concerned that he hadn't moved or spoken in quite a while. She looked up at the globe and shuddered. Again. Those eyes… "Why don't you take a break?"

"I can't." Goldar and Baboo were dancing around Billy, trying to provoke a response. It didn't work, and after a few minutes Rita called them off and sent them away. "It's like he's blind and deaf. He only moves when Rita gives him an order. And he doesn't seem to make any sounds either."

Cat put a hand on his shoulder, and was surprised to feel him shaking. "We'll get him back, Tommy."

"As what?" was his reply. He turned and looked at her, and she saw real horror in his eyes. "What if we can't undo," he gestured at the globe, "that. What if we get him back and Zordon can't fix him? What then?"

Cat had no answer; but Zordon turned his full attention on the Red Ranger. "We will cross that bridge when we come to it, Tommy. Your observations, however, may be valuable when it comes time to deal with Rita's spell. The more we know about it, the better our chances of breaking it."

"Yeah," Tommy muttered, without enthusiasm, and went back to watching the viewing globe. Rita was moving Billy, positioning him carefully so that he stood centered on a red disk set into the floor. Then she went back to her "throne" and started giving orders. "What's going on now?" Tommy wondered aloud.

Jason came over to watch. "It looks like they're getting ready for something to happen," he agreed, puzzled. "But what?"

"Rita's ship is within range of the Machine King's palace," Alpha declared. "I believe she is about to attack! Aye yi yi! We have to do something!"

Zordon's voice broke through the general murmur of agreement. "No, Rangers," he said. "This is not our battle. For now, we must wait for them to let down their guard - which I am afraid will be after they use Billy to take over the palace. I know that it will be hard to watch, but that is what we must do if we are to seize the opportunity when it arises."

Jason frowned. "What do you mean, hard to…oh!" A laser-bright red light had just exploded from the red disk under Billy's feet. Billy's head snapped back as the light burned through him and up into a receiving sensor set into the ceiling just above his head. All over the surrounding control panels red indicator lights began to flash, and the systems and instruments all activated at once. Several of the control panels began to blink frantically. On the outside of the ship, a laser array swung itself into alignment and emitted a thin white beam; the force field surrounding the Machine King's palace glowed briefly and then disappeared. The second it was gone the array switched to a much wider carrier wave which enveloped the palace in a burst of blood red light. The explosions that followed as Sprocket's computers destroyed themselves shook the palace to it's rocky foundations and scattered machine parts over the surrounding lunar landscape.

Rita barked a command and the red indicators blinked off, one by one. The red disk deactivated and Billy dropped stiffly to the floor, his robes and eyes still glowing faintly with the color of dried blood. Goldar and Baboo pulled him to his feet and dragged him along as they followed in Rita's wake.

The Rangers stood silent, shocked beyond words by what they had just witnessed. Jason was the first to find his voice. "He did it," he said, stunned. "He destroyed Sprocket, and the Machine Kingdom along with him. It's over."

"No, we still have Rita to deal with," Rocky corrected him. "And it probably won't take her long to remember us…Tommy! What…?"

Tommy slowly got to his feet and moved away from the rest of the team; then he morphed. "I'm going," the Red Ranger said, the words grinding out from somewhere deep in his chest. "I know where Rita is taking him."

Adam was confused. "Billy? But how do you know, Tommy?"

The Red Ranger's star-visored helmet did not turn, but they saw his gloved fists clench tightly, painfully. "I've been there," he said in a low, tortured voice. "I've been there before."
 

The cavern was every bit as cold and slimy as Tommy remembered it, having been imprisoned there himself many times when he was the Green Ranger. He whispered into his communicator, "I'm here, Zordon. I think I know which cave she'd put him in."

"Be careful, Tommy," Zordon replied. "If you are discovered, the other Rangers will not be able to help you."

"I know; I won't get caught. Just be ready to pull us out when I give the word."

"Ready and waiting, Tommy," came Alpha's voice. "Be careful!"

"Yeah." Tommy said, and set his comm bracelet to one-way voice activation. He started forward into the maze of caves and passages, glad for the first time that they were all so horribly familiar. It was slow going; once he had to duck off the path to avoid a patrolling Putty, and everywhere were the deactivated minions of the Machine King, now reduced to so much ugly scrap metal. Tommy stepped over them, feeling no pleasure at their demise. He had more important things on his mind, and he was almost there.

The cave he remembered best from his own incarceration was a small one, connected by a tunnel to Rita's throne room - far too close for comfort, in Tommy's opinion. He listened outside and, hearing nothing, went in. Billy was standing motionless in the center of the cave, like a silver statue made by some alien civilization. His gray-blind eyes didn't blink when Tommy approached. "Billy?" he whispered. "Billy, it's me. I've come to get you out of here. Billy!"

There was no response. Tommy got the feeling that something was terribly wrong, something they hadn't anticipated, but he didn't have time to figure it out; a scuffling sound from the tunnel warned him that his time was up. "Zordon," he said, and grabbed Billy's arm…

Billy screamed, the statue coming abruptly into violent life, and Tommy almost lost his hold. A roar came from inside the tunnel, and a thundering noise of footsteps. Time's up, Tommy thought, and yelled, "Zordon, now!" The red rush of light enveloped the two of them, and he saw the vague form of Goldar leap roaring into the cave before the light whisked them away.

Seconds later, Tommy felt the soles of his boots touch the floor of the control room and almost sighed with relief. Billy fell like a string had been cut; Tommy was barely able to catch his friend before he hit the floor. "Guys, help me!" he cried, and the other Rangers hurried to his side and gently moved the limp form to the couch that Alpha pulled out for them. Each time one of their hands touched him, Billy twitched like he was being hit with an electric current. "Stay back, don't touch him again unless you have to," Tommy and Alpha warned the others. The little robot hurried over to his bank of diagnostic equipment, and Tommy went to Zordon. "Zordon, what happened?" he said. "When I grabbed him, it was like I hurt him somehow. What did they do to him?"

"It is as I feared," Zordon intoned. "Billy collapsed when he entered the force-field that surrounds the Command Center, which means that he was still interfaced with Rita's computers. That link is broken now, but she must have had another spell on him as well. Alpha?"

Alpha came up to stand beside Tommy and shook his head. "You were right, Zordon; there is another spell. Rita has infused Billy with evil, so that the touch of the good power is painful to him."

"Isn't he fighting it, though?" Adam asked, puzzled. "Tommy, you were able to fight the evil in the green power once…"

"It's not that simple," Zordon said. "Rita's interface spell has completely overridden his will; the Billy you know is trapped somewhere inside his own mind, unable to escape."

Tommy looked over his shoulder at the still body and gray, unblinking eyes and felt a cold chill. "How can we help him?" he asked quietly. "Zordon…" He choked, and looked away.

Adam put a hand on his friend's shoulder, and Zordon answered the unspoken question. "I know this is hard for you, Tommy; this is much like the situation you faced as the Green Ranger. And I do not know what may be happening to Billy in the place he is trapped in, although I do know that we must release him as quickly as possible. There may be a way…"

"What is it?" the six young people clamored, but Zordon shook his head. "It is very dangerous," he replied, finally. "We must explore all other avenues before trying it."

Alpha and Zordon explored for more than an hour while the Rangers wandered restlessly around the Control Room or sat beside Billy, careful not to touch him. Finally, Zordon called them over to him. "We have no other options," he said without preamble. "You should all go back to Angel Grove, and I will contact you there."

"But, Zordon," Cat exclaimed, "We don't want to leave Billy."

"He wouldn't leave any of us," Rocky added, and the others nodded. "Just how dangerous is this, Zordon?"

"Very," Zordon said gravely. "If this attempt fails, Billy could lose his life."

The Rangers, shocked, could only stare at him; Cat put a hand to her mouth. Then Tommy said, "I'm staying." He turned to the others. "You should all go back - or at least outside - until it's over."

"But Tommy…" Rocky began, and stopped. "You know, don't you?" he asked softly, and Tommy hung his head. "We'll go…outside. Until you call us. Okay?" Tommy nodded, and Rocky clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, guys."

When they had left, Tommy looked back up at Zordon, his eyes glistening with tears. "Zordon?"

"Your conclusion was correct."

"But I thought you said there wasn't any more power!"

"It is very unstable, much as the white power was, Tommy."

Tommy remembered the white power, and the pain. It had been so bad that he had passed out and remained unconscious during most of the assimilation process. The hell he had gone through with the green power he didn't even want to think about. He looked over at Billy and shuddered. "Is there any way I can help?"

"We may need your help to hold him," Alpha said. "Rita's spells are very strong, and Billy will not be able to help us himself."

"But if I touch him…"

"It will not matter," Zordon interrupted. "This will have to be done much more quickly than your assimilation of the white power was, Tommy; the spells will make it impossible for him to escape the pain as you did. It is the only way to save him."

Tommy sighed. "Billy is tough, he'll make it," he said, trying to force the confidence he didn't feel into his words. "I know he'll make it."

The monsters were after him again, hideous monsters like nothing he'd ever seen before. Billy couldn't seem to get away from them; they kept grabbing him, holding him, and the pain made him scream in spite of himself again and again. Even the pain-control techniques he'd learned from Tommy didn't help. And to make it worse, he didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten there. Or how long he'd been there, for that matter.

Billy didn't like not knowing - about anything - but there didn't appear to be much he could do about it here. He had called for Zordon, Tommy, Alpha, and the others, but he really had to wonder if they even knew he was missing. Wherever he was, it was all featureless white. Except for the monsters, and even they seemed rather vague…until the claws caught his arms again and, again, he screamed.

The claws tightened their grip until Billy was sure they were trying to tear his arms off. He could feel himself weakening, and he knew that he couldn't last too much longer.

As if in answer to his thoughts, a small light suddenly appeared against the blank whiteness, like a violet in the snow. It flickered a little, then pulsed more strongly…beckoning? To him? Billy couldn't be sure if that was good or bad, but he was sure of one thing; it couldn't be any worse than what he was already experiencing. Unable to fight his way free of the monster holding him, he called out desperately to the light. "Over here! You have to come over here!"

The light flickered again, then steadied, swelled, and exploded towards him. As it engulfed him, the monsters disappeared and the claws loosened their hold. Billy took a deep breath and blew it out, relieved. He'd been right…

The light intensified, pushing in at him, and his ebbing fear returned in a rush. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Frozen in darkening purple ice that was beginning to pulse insistently with the rhythm of his racing heart, forcing it's way inward like a million searing lightning bolts, bent on invading his body, he knew he'd been wrong, wrong…

Billy screamed again.
 

Tommy winced, wishing he could wipe the stinging sweat out of his eyes, but he didn't dare let go of Billy's arms to do it - Zordon had told him to keep his friend as still as possible, and Billy was stronger than he looked. As tired as he was, though, Tommy was glad the others weren't there to hear Billy's agonized shrieks as the purple power warred with Rita's spells, to see his face growing paler around those horribly blank wide-open eyes; it was hard enough on him, and he understood what was happening. Or thought he did; he was starting to feel like the whole thing was just another endless nightmare. "Alpha? How's it going?"

"It's hard to tell, Tommy," the robot replied, but he was obviously worried. "Rita's spells were very strong…"

"They were stronger than anticipated," Zordon said. "We should know one way or the other very soon now. I am afraid Billy cannot take much more."

Tommy felt a cold chill. "I know," he murmured. "One way…or the other." Please God, no, his thoughts whispered, Not the other. He thought of all the times Billy had been there for him, all the times they had been there for each other. "Don't do it, Billy," he pleaded softly. "Don't give up."

"Zordon!" Alpha exclaimed suddenly. "Something is happening!"

"Tommy, get back…" Zordon didn't get time to finish his warning; there was a bright purple flash, and Tommy was thrown backwards hard. "Alpha, we must balance the power levels! Are you all right, Tommy?"

"Yeah." Tommy picked himself up off the floor slowly, dazed. "He morphed," he whispered, amazed. "It's over, he morphed." He drew closer, staring. The uniform of the Purple Ranger was a dark silvery gray offset with deep purple. The shield that covered Billy's chest and shoulders held the stylized image of a bird of prey, as did the streamlined helmet above it. "Power of the…Hawk?"

"Yes, Tommy," Zordon replied. "The Purple power is very strong. It is not as stable as the White, but slightly more stable than the Green."

"What does that mean?" Tommy thought he had a pretty good idea, but he wanted to hear it from Zordon - out loud. "What kind of problems will the purple power cause him?"

"The morphing process may become increasingly uncomfortable for Billy over time; we will have to monitor him carefully, and only call on his powers in time of greatest need."

It was the answer he had expected, sort of. "I understand." Yeah, I understand, Tommy thought bitterly, but I bet it won't work out that way,. It didn't for me, and it won't for Billy, either. I know him. "Is he all right now?" One of the gloved hands twitched. "Hey, he moved!"

"Remove his helmet," Zordon ordered, and Tommy and Alpha didn't hesitate. "Billy," Zordon said, "Can you hear me?"

There was no response, but Tommy thought he saw one eyelid twitch ever so slightly. He leaned over his friend and shook him gently. "Billy, it's me. It's over. Billy?"

"Mmm." Billy opened his eyes, and Tommy saw with relief that they were back to their normal pale blue and trying hard to focus. "Tommy? Wha…what happened?"

He tried to sit up and couldn't, and Tommy stopped him from trying again. "No, you need to rest for a while; you've been through a lot. You were captured by Rita and put under a spell. Don't you remember?"

Billy frowned. "Bit's and pieces. They came after me in the computer lab, and then everything was all white…until the monsters came. They kept grabbing me…and then the purple light came and it was worse. What did she do to me?"

Tommy and Alpha looked at each other, and Tommy swallowed hard. Zordon said, "Tommy, go out and tell the others that Billy is all right. Alpha and I will explain what has happened."

Tommy nodded, then patted Billy's shoulder reassuringly. "Get some rest," he said. "You need it. I'll be back in a while."

Billy watched him walking away. "Tommy?" Tommy turned back around. "Thanks."

A tired smile. "Anytime, Billy."

Once Tommy was out of earshot, Billy looked back at Alpha and Zordon. "So tell me," he said, worried, "What happened to Tommy."

Alpha cocked his head and said, very softly, "Memories."
 

Tommy went outside, where one look at his pale, tired face elicited a frightened shriek from Cat. "Oh God, is he…"

"He'll be okay," Tommy said shortly. He sank down on a rock and rubbed at his eyes. "Man, that was the longest afternoon of my life."

The other five Rangers looked at each other in shock. After a moment, Jason stepped forward and cleared his throat. When Tommy took no notice, he got down on one knee to look him in the eye. "Uh, Tommy…" No response. Jason glanced back at the others and saw that they all looked as frightened and helpless as he felt; he gestured for them to come closer and turned his attention back to his friend. "Tommy," he insisted, and was rewarded with a puzzled look from a pair of very bloodshot eyes. There was no easy way to say it, but Jason spoke as gently as he could. 'Tommy, that was…yesterday. It's eight o'clock now…eight o'clock in the morning."

Tommy just stared at him as the words slowly penetrated his exhaustion-fogged mind. Then he put his face in his hands and burst into tears.
 

The five Rangers stood in a loose semicircle before Zordon, helmets under their arms, looking tired. "That wandering Putty patrol is taken care of," Jason stated. "I think Rita's made them better this time around, harder to take down."

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "I'll be glad when our team's back up to full strength; I'm going to feel some of those hits I took tomorrow morning."

Tanya shook her head, wondering. "Seven Rangers," she said. "Just think how great it's going to be to have everyone back in action."

"But only in an emergency," Cat reminded her. "We can't waste Billy's powers."

"He'll be our ace in the hole," Rocky agreed. "Power of the Hawk."

The sound of a heavy door sliding open made them all turn around. Billy came out of his workshop and dumped the silver robe next to the door, looking only a little the worse for his ordeal. "Thanks for the change of clothes, Rocky," he said, crossing the floor to join his friends. "That robe just wasn't me."

"It was a pretty radical fashion statement," quipped Cat, and everyone laughed, the tension broken. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, how are you?" Jason queried stiffly, and Billy swallowed a chuckle; Jason legitimately trying to be nice was something that would take some getting used to. Among other things. "Better now," he answered. "Do my parents think I'm at Tommy's?" Tommy's mother, being the only one of their parents who knew the true identities of the Power Rangers, was what Adam and Rocky called their permanent alibi.

"Out on an overnight hike with him, as a matter of fact," Adam reassured him. And she says come home for dinner with him tonight, if you're up to it. Are you ready to get back to town?"

Billy smiled and shook his head. "You guys go on ahead," he said, settling himself on the floor beside the couch. "I'll wait for Tommy." Reacting to the sound of his name - or something else - Tommy tensed and grimaced in his sleep. Billy put out a comforting hand and he relaxed again. He looked up at Jason, who was staring at him fixedly. "Okay?"

"Okay," Jason said. "We'll be at the gym." He followed the others out without another word, but that look stayed with him, a cold lump in the pit of his stomach. It was a haunted look, one he had often seen in Tommy's eyes as well, a reflection of a memory to awful to remember. It was the same look that was in his dad's eyes when anyone talked about Vietnam, and it reminded Jason eerily of a quote his mother often used, one that he had never understood on a personal level - until now: There, but for the grace of God…go I.



The End…or maybe, just the beginning?