Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Robbie Chronicles: Origins

Episode 29: Island of Illusions Part 2

"Noo!! I can't do it... I can't!!!"

(We pick up where we left off - A panicked Billy face to face with Rita, a militia of putty patrollers clad in black Mastodon armor and what appears to be the evil green ranger.)

Evil Green Ranger: You're all that's left, blue ranger. And let's face it. There's nothing a weakling like you can do to stop me. Mwahahahaha!

Billy: N-no!


Trini: BILLLLYYYYY!!!

Jason: Billy, no!!

(Unbeknownst to Billy however, the rest of the team, including Tommy, are standing right beside him. Watching him evaporate from the bottom up.)

Billy: Ahhhh...!!!

Evil Green Ranger: Mwahahahahahaha!

(Billy cowers into a ball as he falls out of sight. His screams grow faint and then disappear, dismaying his friends.)

Trini: Nooooo!!

Kimberly: He's... he's gone!

Tommy: Billy!!

Jason: He just disappeared into thin air...

Robbie: He couldn't have...

Zack: Billy!!!!

(Equally troubled, Alpha and Zordon look on at the viewing globe in horror as the StegaMegazord and the Dragonzord simply vanish from their battle with Lokar and Mutitus in downtown Angel Grove.)

Alpha: Aye, ya, ya, ya, yai! Zordon! What just happened?!

Zordon: I do not know Alpha.

Alpha: This is not good, Zordon. This is not good!

Zordon: Please calm down, Alpha. We must scan the earth for matching power levels and return them to Angel Grove. With Rita currently on the attack, there is no telling what she will do.
(Speaking of Rita, it dawns on the empress of evil while standing atop a skyscraper with her goons that she is all alone. The rangers are nowhere in sight and they are free to plan their next move...)

Goldar: We have Angel Grove completely defenseless!

Baboo: We're like a fat kid in an empty candy store. We can do whatever we want to it!

Squatt: Oh boy, how exciting!

Goldar: What shall we do my empress? Shall I instruct Mutitus to launch a full on attack on the city?

Rita: ...

Goldar: Should I get some putties and commence the enslavement of mankind?

Rita: Hmm...

Goldar: Shall I hijack a news channel and inform the public of their impending doom?

Rita: No. We do nothing.

Goldar: Eh?

Rita: We just stand here.

(On her command, Mutitus and Lokar remain perfectly still, looking on a defenseless Angel Grove without taking any action whatsoever.)

Baboo: That'll show em!

(Meanwhile, back in the desert island, after some time has passed, the un-morphed teens continue to look around desperately for any clue as to their, or Billy's whereabouts.)

Zack: Man. Where the heck are we?

Kimberly: I don't care where we are? How do we get back home?

Jason: Well we can't teleport. We can't morph either.

(Robbie stares at the crashing waves of the massive ocean in front of him. He briefly considers a daring escape plan. All the while, Trini sits away from the others on top of a fallen log. She's studies her broken device to try and figure out what went wrong. But with no resources and the rush of panic and adrenaline, Trini is essentially staring blankly at something that she hopes eventually makes sense.)

Trini: (Sighs) ...

(Silently, she wishes Billy were here to bail her out of this mess she feels she created. But on the outside she looks more worried about the sun setting in the sky.)

Trini: It's getting really cold you guys.


Jason: Yeah. We may need to get some firewood to keep from freezing to death.

Tommy: Good idea.

(Jason starts walking into the forested area not far behind the beach. Everyone instinctively follows their leader, but Jason makes it a point to stop Trini from getting up from her seat.)

Jason: No. Not you.

Trini: Huh?

Jason: We need you to fix that thing.

Trini: Oh. Right. Sorry.

Jason: Let's go guys.

(Trini slouches back down as the others walk away. She returns to her meaningless pokes and prods of the device. Robbie trails behind, slowly wandering over to her.)

Robbie: (Scratches neck) Uh... hey.

Trini: Hey.

(He's met with a chilling coldness from a Trini who is so caught up with herself she does not even look up.)

Robbie: Do you... need any help from me? I helped build this thing. Sort of.

Trini: It's okay.

Robbie: Okay. Are you alright?

Trini: I'm fine.

(Expecting her to say more Robbie pauses to let her speak. Instead it only becomes a rather awkward silence as he feels hung out to dry. Eventually, he speaks up again.)

Robbie: Don't take it too hard. Billy could have easily made this same mistake.

Trini: But he didn't.

Robbie: Yeah... I mean... l-look at it this way, if Tommy disappears we'd actually be better off.

Trini: Now's not the time for jokes, Robbie.

(She still doesn't look up. And she only appears to get angrier the more he talks. Finally, he turns to the woods and throws his arms up.)

Robbie: Guess I'll go get firewood.

(He shakes his head and walks off. Accepting the fate their newfound relationship has quickly deteriorated to. As he leaves, he mutters something under his breath, but audible enough for Trini to hear.)

Robbie: I tried. Go screw yourself then.

(Meanwhile, back at the command center, Alpha continues to come up empty...)

Alpha: Zordon, I can't find them. I've scoured every crevasse on earth and they're not coming up.

Zordon: They could not have simply disappeared Alpha.

Alpha: I don't know what else to tell you.

Zordon: Begin searching through alternate dimensions. It is a stretch, but if they are still alive, they will turn up eventually.

Alpha: Aye, ya, yai. That's a big "if..."

(Despite his doubts, Alpha dutifully continues his search. Meanwhile, back on the desert island, Jason, Zack, Robbie, Kim and Tommy go out in search of firewood to keep from freezing.)

Jason: (Carrying a load) This should be enough...

Zack: (Carrying a load) Yeah. This is what I can carry at least.

Kimberly: Hey look you guys! Furniture!

(Kim excitedly points out into a curiously hollowed out section in the forest, which seems to be set up like a living room – with a sofa, TV and even picture hanging from trees.)

Kimberly: Does somebody live here?

(The other teens slowly join her, and raise a few eyebrows.)

Tommy: What are you talking about Kim? I don't see anything?

Kimberly: No? Look... What?

(Oddly, she turns back to an image of herself, sitting calmly on the couch. Blankly sifting through a magazine. Her "husband," in full police uniform, enters the home...)

Skull: Hey babe.

Kimberly: Hey.

(The real Kim looks on, appearing confused and slightly troubled.)

Kimberly: What is this?! What is going on?

Jason: What?

Robbie: Is she losing it?

Tommy: I-I don't see anything...

(Meanwhile...)

Skull: How was work?

Kimberly: Fine.

(Kimberly answers monotonously and doesn't bother to even look up from her magazine. Skull, who was fishing for reciprocation, power through...)

Skull: I-I uh... got promoted to captain today!

Kimberly: Oh yeah?

Skull: Yeah! I'm real excited. The boys are already calling me captain obvious.

Kimberly: ...

Skull: Cause I uh... say things people already know.

Kimberly: Thanks. I got that.

(Kimberly... the real Kimberly, appears to be in a full on panic by what she sees.)

Kimberly: (Heavy breathing) Please make this stop. I don't wanna see anymore.

Jason: Make what stop?!

Zack: Kim! I think you might be imagining things... (Gasps) like Billy!

Tommy: Oh no, you need to snap out of it Kim!

(The guys crowd around Kim to try and get her attention. But her eyes remain fixed on her hallucination, which continues...)
Skull: So uh... I was thinking... I could start saving money now and uh... we could uh... have a...

Kimberly: ...

Skull: A baby?

Kimberly: Me? Oh no. I will never be pregnant.

Skull: ...

Kimberly: Not for long at least.

Skull: Okay? I just thought...

Kimberly: Are we done here? I'm bored more than I love you.

Skull: Oh... okay. I'll go start dinner.

(He sulks into a kitchen that doesn't exist, muttering something as he leaves.)

Skull: "Congrats on the promotion, honey."

(Kimberly continues reading her magazine, never once looking up.)

Kimberly: I wasn't promoted. Idiot.

(Next to her, a phone connected to nothing rings. She answers.)

Kimberly: Hello?

(She pauses momentarily as a grin comes across her face.)

Kimberly: (Seductively) Hey big guy...

(On the other side of the call, Bulk appears.)

Bulk: Hey babe.

(Back in reality, a dismayed Kim starts to vanish.)


Kimberly: Nooooo!!!! Please!!!

Zack: Kimberly!!

Tommy: Kimberly, look at me. Please look away! It's not real.

(Meanwhile, in the hallucination...)

Kimberly: Uh... I love it when you call me that.

Bulk: So. (Munches gum) What are you eating?

Kimberly: (Seductively) Nothing...

Bulk: Ugh. So sexy.

Kimberly: You?

Bulk: A ham sandwich.

Kimberly: Oh yeah. Eat it for me baby. Eat it for me.

Bulk: I will...

Kimberly: Eat it for me baby...

Bulk: Oh yeah.

Kimberly: Yeah!

(He shoves the sandwich in his mouth as the real Kimberly screams for her life. The rangers try desperately to save her, grabbing her arms to try and keep her from disappearing.)

Kimberly: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

(Sometime later, the teens find themselves sitting around a campfire. With looks of despondency in their eyes, all for different reasons, they stare off silently into the dark night that surrounds the island.)

Kimberly: ...

Tommy: ...

Jason: ...

Trini: ...

(With Kimberly's episode seemingly behind her, she looks to get the ball rolling conversation-wise.)

Kimberly: So... How's... everyone doing?

(She's met with dagger-like stares however and quickly retreats.)

Kimberly: Sorry I asked...

(She drops her head back toward the floor and allows the silence to take over again. Tommy then sits up and speaks out.)

Tommy: We're gonna get out of here you guys. And we're gonna find Billy. We've survived through worse.

Jason: Have we?

Tommy: ...I uh...

(Stunned to hear defeat from his supposed fearless leader, Tommy hunches back down, deflated.)

Kimberly: Wait. I have an idea.

(Kim perks back up.)

Kimberly: What happened to me was all in my mind, right? It was a figment of my worst nightmares.

"Wait..."

(Robbie chimes in...)

Robbie: That was your worst nightmare? Geez, we really do live in separate worlds.

Kimberly: ...

Robbie: And here I'm worried about the Crips showing up on this island.

Kimberly: ...like I was saying, maybe if this is something that happened to Billy, it could happen to any of us.

(Trini butts in, who looks to be on the verge of tears.)

Trini: Do we really need to dwell on our situation, Kim? I'm sorry I brought you her--

Kimberly: Can I finish?! Is that okay?

Trini: ...

Tommy: Please let Kim finish you guys.

Kimberly: Thank you. My point is, if I was talked down from disappearing. Maybe we can... prevent it, you know? Like a contraception, so to speak.

Robbie: (Snickers) You would know...

Tommy: That's actually... not a bad idea. Maybe we can use this time to open up about what our greatest fear is?

Kimberly: Yeah. And we can talk about how we don't have a reason to fear it.

Robbie: You mean a group therapy session? With you people? I don't think so. I'd rather disappear.

Kimberly: (Mutters) That makes two of us.

Robbie: You expect me, an emotional shut in, to just open up about my life story after a comment like that? Where should I start, Sigmund? Abuse or mental illness?

Jason: You shouldn't make light of those things. You never know who might actually be suffering with them.

Robbie: You mean like me?!

Jason: ...

(The fighting then quickly subsides and falls into silence again. Everyone goes back to their figurative camps to hide out. Yet Kimberly remains determined...)

Kimberly: My parents are divorced. Or they're divorcing.

Robbie: ...

Tommy: ...

Kimberly: And it sucks. I mean, it's not lost on me how fortunate I've been throughout my life. I'm not that blind with privilege. I have it pretty good. But my parents splitting has absolutely crushed me. It made me feel like anyone could leave me at any moment. They were the best couple in the world to me, so who am I to think that any friendship...

(She looks down to avoid looking at anyone in particular...)

Kimberly: Or any relationship for that matter, would survive?

Tommy: ...

Kimberly: I barely see my dad anymore. I mean I love him, but... he's off doing his own thing with another family. That was really tough on me for a while. I felt like I had no one to trust. I sometimes still have to remind myself that I should trust you guys.

(It falls silent again. Tommy is quick to rub her back consolingly as the others begin reflecting on what Kimberly said. They exchange meaningful looks with one another, unaware of these feelings. Robbie eventually speaks up again.)

Robbie: My dad split a couple years back.

(Surprised to hear him speak, everyone remains quiet and gives him the floor.)

Robbie: I guess he was never really with my mom for him to split. I only got to see him once a month as it was. I used to think he was there to visit me. But really, he was just there to drop off child support and beg for a quickie with my mom. But once a month, I felt like I had a real family. Like on TV. Then one day I talked back to him. And I never saw him again.

Trini: ...

Zack: What was the argument about?

(Robbie waves him off as if to dismiss his reason.)

Robbie: Eh... it's... it wasn't anything serious.

Kimberly: What was it?

Robbie: (Sighs) I don't know. I guess I have this... friend, overseas, okay? You can call her a pen pal. And one day I told my mom I was gonna visit her. She refused, and we got into a fight. I held my ground, she held hers. My dad just happened to stop by and she told him to speak to me. And I laughed in his face.

Zack: ...

Robbie: "I haven't seen you in months," I said. "And you think you can just walk in here and 'lay down the law?' Who do you think you are? Better yet, who are you? Cause I sure don't know who you are."

Jason: ...

Robbie: I walked into my room and locked the door on him in protest. He left eventually and never came back. I never said goodbye to him or anything. He was just gone. I bet money he wouldn't have done this with any of his other kids.

Trini: ...

Robbie: (Shrugs) I guess it's tough to invest yourself in relationships when even your parents split on you.

Kimberly: Yeah... it's rough.

(The pieces to Robbie's puzzle finally became a little clearer to everyone else. Suddenly he stops being the jerk who refuses to play along, but a human with a legitimate reason for his mistrust of the world. No one has anything to say that might make him feel reassured in a matter of seconds. But Jason makes it a point to grip his shoulder, as if to silently acknowledge what he is saying.)

Trini: ...

(On the other end of the bonfire, Trini appears devastated. Her eyes dart all over the floor, as if putting the pieces together. Too caught up in everything being perfect for herself, she neglected to consider that sometimes people won't fit her expectations perfectly, or meet her lofty fantasies.)

Robbie: (Gulps) I guess if I start to vanish. You can tell me how I'm really not all alone. How I have all of you to lean on and give me that unconditional support. (Laughs) Lie to me, I guess.

(Robbie was right when he insisted she didn't truly know him. She had an idea of the person she thought she had a crush on. And the idea everyone else had of him being a hardened simpleton. But he is neither. And her walking out on him suddenly carries a lot more weight than she originally thought.)

Trini: Robbie... I'm...

(But before Trini can get her words out, Jason uses Robbie's shoulder as leverage to stand up and speak.)

Jason: My mom has cancer.

Kimberly: What?!

Tommy: Jason...

Robbie: Oh wow.

Jason: (Sighs) Yeah. She was diagnosed yesterday. An honestly, I feel like I can't get a toehold on life anymore. I just... I feel like I want to give up on everything.

Kimberly: Oh my gosh Jason, I'm so sorry.

Robbie: Let us know how we can help you.

Jason: ...

(And suddenly everyone rallies around Jason, whose pleas for help get answered by his friends...)

Tommy: You guys... (Sighs) I've been having these dreams lately...

Robbie: No one cares.

(Meanwhile back at the command center, Alpha seems to have made a breakthrough.)

Alpha: I've... I've found them Zordon. I think I've found them!

Zordon: Good. Try to pull up an image.


Alpha: Way ahead of you.

(He successfully pulls up an image of the rangers embracing one another around a campfire. The image of their safety is reassuring, but it begs one question...)

Alpha: Yes, it's them! But... where are they?

Zordon: It appears they are lost in the Island of Illusions, Alpha. It is a pocket dimension meant for intergalactic prisoners.

Alpha: That's not good.... Is it?

Zordon: No it is not. Even worse, it is in essence a torture chamber. Meant to drive those sentenced to this island into insanity via their own worst nightmares. It is considered so cruel, that the Interstellar Justice Center has discontinued its use.

(Alpha lets it all sink in as he continues to stare at the viewing globe.)

Alpha: Zordon...?

Zordon: Yes Alpha?

Alpha: Are the prisoners still on the island?

(Back on the Island, the teens go back into the woods in one last attempt to find Billy before it becomes too dark.)

Jason: Billy!!

Tommy: Billy!

Kimberly: Where are you Billy?

Jason: (Sighs) He's got to be here somewhere.

Zack: Don't worry man. We're gonna get him. And we're gonna get out of here. You've lead us through worse.

Jason: Thanks bro.

Zack: Don't mention it.

Tommy: Yeah, soon enough we'll be back in Angel Grove and you'll be back home with your mom.

Robbie: And let us know if there's anything else we can do to help with your family.

Jason: It's okay. You guys... have done more than enough. Thanks again for agreeing to chip some money together for her.

Zack: Medical care is tough. And expensive. If we can make a dent in it we will.

Jason: Thanks...

Tommy: Hey, if you want I can donate some of my hair to help her through chemo.

Jason: (Grins) No thanks. She's suffered enough.

Tommy: (Laughs) I see how it is.

(Suddenly, they hear a rustling...)

Kimberly: (Gasps) What was that?!

Jason: Billy?

Zack: Is that you, main brain?

Robbie: Billy??

(Again rustling is heard. This time it's coupled with footsteps. Many of them.)

Zack: Something tells me it's not Billy.

Kimberly: I'm scared.

Tommy: Stay close.

Jason: You guys, we stick together.

"Right."

Kimberly: Righ—AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

(Just then, Kim get a furious pull from behind than yanks her toward a hideously thin, wart faced creature.)

"Aha! Fresh meat!"

Kimberly: Tommy help!!

Tommy: Kimberly!!

Jason: Grab her!

(The teens spring in to rescue Kimberly, but just then several more monsters pour out of the woods to surprise attack the boys. Most of them turn around and face their own enemies while Tommy breaks free to focus on saving Kim.)

Tommy: Get back here.

(He leaps over their heads and blocks the creature's path. He let's go of Kimberly to swipe at Tommy but, but he's met with a lightning fast swipe, followed by a double palmed drill to the guy and spinning heel kick to knock him over easily.)

Kimberly: Oh my gosh.

Tommy: You alright?

Kimberly: I'm fine. Thank you.

(Zack squares off with another gremlin and is able to easily outmaneuver him with his hip hop aikido. Completely unable to keep up, Zack finishes him with a bicycle kick. Robbie lands two wild haymakers to an unkempt looking wolf monster who fails to block himself. Robbie then kicks him behind the knee to know him over and punches him in the gut to maim him. Jason takes on several at one time grabbing two on each side while kicking down an enemy in front of him. Then without breaking a sweat he turns to his right for a roundhouse kick, then turns to his left to do the same, but that enemy sneaks away...)

"Naaaaaaah!!!"

Jason: Huh?

(Finding his targets more trouble than they're worth, he rallies the rest of his clan as they hightail it back into the woods.)

Kimberly: That was weird.

Jason: You guys okay?

Robbie: (Huffing) Yeah.

Tommy: I'm fine.

Zack: I somehow doubt they're alone.

Kimberly: He kept calling me "fresh meat." Do you think they were gonna eat me?

Robbie: That's not the fresh meat that I know about...

Kimberly: What do you mean?

Robbie: (Gasps) Trini...

(Suddenly concerned for her safety, Robbie blows past the others and rushes back to the campsite. When he gets close, he exhaustedly falls behind a tree to catch his breath. After a brief respite, he peeks his head over the side to make sure she's okay.)

Robbie: Trini...

(She's unharmed, but appears to be sobbing into her palms. Her teleportation device is thrown on the floor in defeat.)

Robbie: Trini? Are... you alright?

(He slowly steps around the tree to head toward the campsite, but becomes dismayed when an unobstructed view reveals Trini disappearing from the bottom up.)

Robbie: (Gasps) ...!

(In a panic he rushes over to grab hold of her, but falls through her like he were grabbing a ghost. He quickly gets back up and flails his arms worryingly.)

Trini: (Sobbing) It's useless. I'm never getting us home...

Robbie: Trini! Trini, please...

Trini: I'm so stupid. I ruined everything. I'm horrible.

Robbie: No you're not! Please don't go.

(Robbie pleads, but Trini seems to be lost in a cloud of guilt self-doubt.)

Trini: This is all my fault. I put us all into this mess... I'm the reason Billy's gone. I made that stupid invention that I don't even know how to fix.

(She tries to kick the device in anger, but her foot is no longer there.)

Robbie: I-I mean. You'll figure it out. Don't beat yourself up. You just wanted to help beat Rita...

Trini: I wanted to beat Billy.

Robbie: ...

Trini: It was vain and stupid attempt to be perfect at everything. I wanted everything, and I just messed up everything. Now everyone hates me. You hate me.

Robbie: No I don't, Trini. You can't go. Please. I-I can't do this without you. Please. Don't go.

Trini: (Sniffs) Huh?

Robbie: Please. I... I need you here. We all need you here. But I need you here.

Trini: Why?

Robbie: (Exhales) Look, I don't know if you don't know this. But I wouldn't be on this team if it weren't for you. I would've quit a long time ago. (Shrugs) That, or wound up in jail.

Trini: (Sighs) Now's not the time for jokes, Robbie...

Robbie: I'm not joking. Since day one you've had my back. I'll always appreciate that. You're awesome Trini. Don't ever forget that.

(As quickly as she once tried to forget why she felt so compelled be around him, his redeeming sincerity reminds her.)

Trini: I don't know. Thanks. I guess. I'm still not where I'd like to be. I'm not as smart as Billy. Or as good at martial arts and Jason...

Robbie: That's crap. You're an awesome fighter and incredibly smart. Alright, you're not Billy. But who is? Billy's insane. That guy makes MacGyver look like a chump. Regular people should not be like Billy.

(She smiles at him as the slow progression of the transparency halts. In a moment of panic, Trini's finally able to put the pieces together and figure out why she could like somebody like him. To him, she's more than just the quiet girl with annoying causes. She matters.)

Trini: You're not mad at me for before? I'm not like your dad for walking out on you?

Robbie: Please. You're way cuter than he ever was.

Trini: (Smiles) ...

(Without realizing it, Trini's fully reappeared before him. Upon figuring it out, she rushes over and locks Robbie in a tight, meaningful embrace.)

Trini: Thank you.

Robbie: No, thank you.

"We... miss something?"

(They get suddenly broken from their bubble by Jason, Tommy, Zack and Kimberly who are all oddly staring back at them. Meanwhile back at the command center, Alpha appears to be frantically working on a new device.)

Alpha: I've got the hardware ready based on Trini's schematics.


Zordon: Good work, Alpha.

Alpha: I just need to synch up the software that Robbie was working on. I'm loading them now.

(Alpha pulls up a screen image on the viewing globe of what Robbie was working on, which only they can see.)

Alpha: Oh my...

(Confused, Alpha turns his head sideways.)

Alpha: Zordon, what's a "hentai?"

Zordon: Quick Alpha, delete the search history.

(We fast forward to the next morning on the Island. As Alpha and Zordon face a setback, it leaves the rangers stranded for another day. The teens appear to have slept where they once sat surrounding the now extinguished bonfire. The sound of the high tides crashing into the surface wakes them up slowly. A grim realization sets in as they're slow to get up.)

Zack: We're... still here.

Jason: Yep.

(Jason gets up and surveys the area.)

Jason: Seems like it.

Kimberly: I was hoping this would be some kind of bad dream.

(Defeated, Zack sits back down onto the log and throws a seashell in his hand.)

Zack: This is turning into a nightmare.

(Robbie peaks his eyes open. He finds himself next to Trini, who's resting on his shoulder with her arms wrapped around her knees.)

Robbie: Hey... wake up.

(Robbie gently nudges her awake.)

Trini: Oh! Oh hey.

(She perks right up, wiping her mouth.)

Robbie: Thanks for the bath, by the way.

Trini: God, how embarrassing...

(She gets up, looking to make sense of things right now. But she doesn't get much time...)

"Rise and shine."

Trini: (Gasps) ...!

(She instinctively goes into a fighting stance, as she's met with the green ranger standing behind her. He's surrounded by an army of the same monsters from before who inhabit the island, and several more.)

Robbie: Whoa!

Kimberly: Tommy!

Zack: Do you see what I see?

Jason: I see it.

Tommy: Now, prepare to die! Mwahahahahaha.

Jason: Something tells me this isn't an illusion...

(Meanwhile, back at the command center...)

Alpha: I've got it! Zordon, I've uploaded the software. I just need to lock into their coordinates.

Zordon: Good. Please hurry Alpha. I sense the rangers are in grave danger.
(Back on the Island, the rangers indeed stand across imminent danger, still unbelieving of what they see.)

Tommy: Look what we have here boys. Fresh meat for our prison.

"Grrr..."