trans_9 | Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

How could Billy have missed this heart-wrenchingly familiar structure on all his prior trips to the City?

On a test flight of the RADBUG's improved engine, he'd happened to turn his head just the right way and spot the unmistakable scroll-like tops of a building that had been his second home for so long. The second it was spotted in the distance, he changed course and brought the car into a descent. Moments later he parked just outside the ground-level entrance.

So the only confirmed remnants of my world are myself, my Zord, the RADBUG, and the Command Center. Perhaps Tenaya as well, but her world seems to be radically altered. I highly doubt that Zordon and Alpha are inside waiting for me, but I need to investigate.

It pained him to admit it, but he was afraid of what he would (or wouldn't) find. But a Ranger never backed away from a potentially tricky situation. Even if they had to call for backup, which Billy decided would be wise when entering an abandoned building. In seconds, a quick note was typed out on his omnicom and posted.

As Billy studied the exterior he hadn't seen in what he guessed must have been almost a year, he turned his Power Coin in his palm. It seemed to feel more charged than usual. Likely to be a low-key reaction to its location, he thought.

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Stephen wasn't too worried about the light, because of his goggles, but he took Billy's advice anyway. He was pretty sure the last thing he needed was to be laid up for a while with lightning burns or Tesla knew what else might happen.

Still, this phenomenon Billy was about to invoke was fascinating. He was going to stay just outside the "might be dangerous" radius and watch, that was for certain!

Once Stephen was far enough away, Billy smiled and took his stance.

"It's morphin' time."

A second later, he extended both arms and thrust the morpher out in front of him.

"Triceratops!"

As soon as the voice activation phase completed, the Power Coin flashed with a blue-white light. Small bursts of blue light crackled from the morpher and into the gem before they focused on racing up Billy's arms. As the lightning intensified, Billy swung his arms down and his entire body was engulfed by a humanoid-shaped blue-white light.

When it faded, a being in a strange blue and white spandex-esque uniform with an even stranger helmet stood before Stephen. This blue and white creature shrugged, the helmet tilting up as blue grid lines in the walls suddenly lit up and raced out of the room.

"Well, we've had one side effect so far." Yes, it still talked like Billy.

"How interesting," Stephen murmured to himself. He hadn't seen many transformations in his time, though he'd known at least a few...unique people. Idly, he wondered if he could preserve that particular data. Probably not in time.

He hoped he'd have the chance to witness it again. It might be worth it for Billy to have that information set.

"Well, at least that still works." Stephen paused. "Though it would probably be very bad for our cause if it didn't."

Billy fought down a faint blush. Even after all this time, it still felt strange to morph in front of people. That experience had been the team's shared secret for so long that he wondered what people felt when they watched.

Plucking the helmet off to assure Stephen that he was still himself under the costume, Billy agreed. "I didn't have access to my powers for a few months after I awakened. I wondered if they still worked, but apparently there's enough of the Grid or a Grid-like source left to power it."

Still thinking, he walks back over. "So the Command Center still responds to my presence. I don't think I can give it any more of my own power, but with an external source obtained from somewhere it may be possible to restore this place. Perhaps I'll find something on one of the planets we visit."

"I still have to get my place running, but I'll wrap my head around the problem and see what I come up with. Preferably something as akin to what you once used as the original." After all, it wasn't that Etherites couldn't use perfectly normal technology. Uncommon, not impossible.

Stephen blinked at Billy's revelation that he hadn't even had his powers for a few months after he woke up. "Billy...you're a braver man than I am, my friend." He had no clue what he'd do if he woke up and found his abilities just...gone.

"If I can be of any assistance to you, please let me know." Stephen deserves a favor in return. It's that simple.

Scratching his neck with his free hand, he blinked. "I felt uneasy without them, but it wasn't too terrible of a hardship. We'd always been taught not to rely on our powers and to learn to fight without them. That's something I'm still striving for. And whenever we did run into a threat that needed to be fought, my morpher was returned to me. To be honest, I miss teleporting most of all."

Oh, how convenient that was if he was running late for school and could sneak out of sight. Not that he ever abused it for personal gain, nope.

"I will. Mostly it's going to take a lot of clean-up, and then building computers and stuff." And the clean-up is really only going to take him using the Matter sphere to tweak things.

"I suppose I shouldn't feel so weird about it. It's never a guarantee that, shall we say 'my kind', gets 'powers'. I learned to do a couple of things without them. Like shoot a gun. And the Aikido I learned has nothing to do with them." Stephen shrugged, then blinked at Billy from behind his goggles.

"Yeah, if I had access to that, and then didn't? I'd miss teleporting, too."

"I can build a computer, but there are others who could do a better job than I could. I'll recommend them to you."

Billy nodded. It all made sense. "It sure was convenient. But about your kind---what happens to the ones who don't get powers?"

Ah, there goes his curious brain again.

"They end up normal humans, I guess. There are theories that they can potentially be forced into getting powers--or Awakening, as we like to call it--but it's never been seen as a good thing. Like if you're meant to, you do, and if not, you don't. Sometimes it's better not to. It's certainly less dangerous," Stephen admitted.

"You probably know how enemies seem to just come from the woodwork when you aren't normal any more.

"I think I know what you mean," Billy agreed, still studying the gem. "As soon as we took up our morphers, our families and friends were at risk. They would have been in trouble no matter who was chosen, but our enemies liked to turn us against each other. Those were always the worst times."

Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

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