Once a ranger always a ranger

Chapter 35 Billy's fast aging part 1

I noticed them as they came in. "Ariel, what's going on? It sounded really urgent." Jason said. "What happened? Just look!" I said. That's when Billy turned to face them, but they didn't really recognize him at first. "Who's that?" Katherine asked. "Don't you recognize me Katherine? It's me, Billy." Billy said. "Billy, how did this happen?" Tanya said. "Well, remember back in elementary school when we were doing a pretend spy mission?" Billy said. "Yeah, I remember that." Kaitlyn said. "Same." John said. "Well, I stopped in the middle of it because I thought I saw some kind of coin but I didn't exactly know that they were power coins until we got into fifth or sixth grade." I said. "She got the coins over to me and they gave off some strange power thing. Turns out that being that close had some side effects, but it took years for them to show up." Billy said. "It's speeding up Billy's aging process. He's getting older every minute." Alpha said. "Zordon, is there any way that I can reverse it?" I asked. "I'm afraid the answer to that question remains unknown Ariel." Zordon said. "Well, this is kinda my fault. I shouldn't have brought the power coins over to Billy. I should've just taken then with me so that I could keep them safe until either I became a power ranger, or until I find out what they were." I said. "Wait a minute. I've got an idea." Billy said before he started to walk out. I followed him. "What's your idea?" I asked when we were out of earshot from the others. "Let's look through the lost and found at the youth center. We might find something there that can help us." Billy said. Meanwhile in the machine empire Prince Sprocket was talking to King Mondo. "Here's what happened daddy. Gasket and Archeria showed up. They tried to take over your empire while you were away." Prince Sprocket said. "I'm not surprised. Just wait until I get my hands on that wayward son of mine. I'll teach Gasket a thing or two when I find him." King Mondo said. Prince Gasket somehow heard all of that. "Drat! My father is back and he's looking for me." Prince Gasket said. "I suggest that we retreat to our own planet for now." Archeria said. "Agreed. We'll come up with a new plan. If my father catches me I'm dead meat." Prince Gasket said before he left with Archeria. Meanwhile at the youth center Billy and I were looking through the lost and found. "So, have you ever lost any devices at the youth center before?" I asked. "I don't think so but we've got to check all the possibilities." Billy said. "It doesn't look like we're gonna find anything." I said. "Yeah, I think you're right. Somebody lost their purse." Billy said as he took it out. "Katherine mentioned that she was working on a purse for her art class. I wonder if that's hers." I said as I grabbed it. Then he found a whistle and blew it. Somehow Rita heard it. "I hate it when they scream." Rita said. "Might I have a moment of your time your royal badness?" Finster said. "What is it? Make it snappy. You're interrupting my snooping!" Rita said. "I've completed a new staff to make monsters with." Finster said. "It's about time Finster. King Mondo is back in town and we've got to keep up with the joneses." Rita said. "I dare say that this staff is much more powerful than anything you are accustomed to my queen." Finster said. "It looks the same to me." Rita said as she took the staff. "Yes, but it's completely different. It will give you the power to do things you've never thought possible. Shall I tell you?" Finster said. "I'd rather you don't tell me. I want to be surprised." Rita said. "Alright, but remember, if your target is on the earth above you, you must drive the RV fast enough to match the target's location and velocity. That's the only way the staff will work my queen." Finster said. "Let's not waste time talking about it. I'm gonna turn that do-gooder Ariel into a monster." Rita said. "Sound like the perfect plan. Tommy Oliver and John Mitton will never destroy her. The others could but they won't while they're around. Come everyone. Let's get rolling." Lord Zedd said. They all got into the RV. "Go Zedd, go! Faster Zedd, we almost got her." Rita said. Meanwhile at the youth center I noticed that Billy was getting older at an accelerating rate. "Billy, you're getting older. We better get back." I said. "Right." Billy said. We got up and headed back to the command center. Meanwhile on the moon Rita knew that she was close to her target, which is me. "She's almost within range." Rita said. Then Rito and Goldar started to fight over a seat. Their argument caused Rita's aim to be off and the power beam hit the purse that Katherine made. We must have left it there. "I dropped my staff." Rita said as Lord Zedd stopped the RV. Rito noticed the new monster. "Great monster sis." Rito said sarcastically. "A purse monster? What kind of monster is that?" Rita asked. Meanwhile at the command center Billy and I made it back. "Any luck?" John asked. "No, we couldn't find anything." I said. "Bummer." Kaitlyn said. "Well, we might have found the answer. They're teleporting in now." Rocky said. Just then Delfine and Cestro teleported to the command center. "Delphine, Cestro." Billy said. "Welcome back rangers of Aquitar." I said. "How do you know them?" Tommy asked. "That's not important." Cestro said. "What is important is to get Billy back to normal." I said. I knew this was going to be hard, I just didn't think it was going to be as hard as it was going to get. "Billy, is that you?" Delphine asked. "Yes." Billy said. "Tommy told us about your problem. I constructed a regenerator device that should return you back to normal." Cestro said. "That's great because I'm not getting any younger." Billy said. They tried to use it but it didn't exactly work. "The explosion destroyed the teleportation unit." John said. "Can you and Alpha fix it?" I asked. "We'll try." Alpha said. Meanwhile in the machine empire Clank told King Mondo that Rita and Zedd just made a monster from a pink purse. "A purse monster? That's so last season." Prince Sprocket said. "If Rita and Zedd are successful they'll destroy the rangers for you." Clank said. "Ludicrous! No one defeats the rangers but me. I'll take my greatest monster to earth and destroy them myself." King Mondo said. Back at the command center I was taking a look at the device. "The teleportation unit is not the only thing that is destroyed, the regenerator is damaged as well. We're going to need very fresh water to repair it." I said. "Well, how about Angel Grove falls. That's the closest fresh water around." Kaitlyn said. "You can take the zeo jet cycles. I was tuning them up just before this all started." Billy said. "Delphine and I will need help to repair the generator." Cestro said. Just then the siren went off. "Rangers, the machine skybase and Rita and Zedd have both sent down new monsters." Zordon said. "You guys go ahead. I'll stay here and help them." Jason said. "You got it Jason. It's morphing time!" I said.

"Zeo ranger six purple!" I said to morph. "Zeo ranger seven silver!" John said to morph. "Zeo ranger eight white!" Kaitlyn said to morph. We got onto the zeo jet cycles and started go find the monsters that were just sent down. "Stay alert, I know they're around here somewhere." Tommy said. That's when King Mondo's monster named Cog changer saw us. "Out for a little afternoon ride power rangers? I've got something that'll take you places you've never been before." Cog changer said before doing something to our zeo jet cycles to make us lose control. "What's wrong with the bikes?" Tommy asked when he noticed that he was starting to lose control. "Does anyone have control of their bikes?" I asked. "I'm trying but everything is going haywire." Katherine said.