Purple

Homecoming Woes Part Five

Moments Ago.

It seemed like they had been walking for hours. They were tired. They had to make many stops just to catch their breath. Usually they were at peak fitness, but whatever was in this dimension was sapping their energy, making them less than effective humans. But before long, the coins started glowing, shaking as if they were trying to tell them something.

And then they hit a wall. Literally.

Billy walked up to the cold, wet stone and reached out, running his hand down it. When he did so, his coin glowed its brightest. And when he stopped touching it, it immediately dimmed.

"There has to be something to this..." Billy said. He was the only ranger still morphed, as the others had slowly faded and demorphed during their journey to these outer walls. Again. That energy sap. It was no joke. He'd wondered how Jason had lasted so long, since to him it felt like weeks. Maybe he was just very strong willed? Or maybe it really had only been a few hours and it was just his body reacting in the most extreme of ways. Still, each time he touched the wall, his coin glowed a bright blue.

Jason hobbled over beside him and did the same. Though he was demorphed, his coin gave off a dim red glow. It wasn't quite the same as Billy's but it still reacted.

"God. What does this fucking mean?!" Jason hissed, albeit weakly, as he collapsed his weight against Billy's ranger form. It was then that his coin started beaming with red energy. He blinked a few times as Billy helped him regain balance. He stood on his own and broke contact for a moment, then watched as the color faded from the coin. Then he reached out to him again and the same thing happened. More glowing.

Zack joined. Same response. Then Kim. Then Trini.

"U-uh guys I'd appreciate it if you stopped... that." He said. Billy was never big on touch. Unless it was Jason.

"But this is happening when we touch you. Maybe it's because you're still the only one morphed?" Jason said, handing him his coin. As soon as he did, it was like the coin sunk into his suit and suddenly the piping of his right arm turned from white to red. Billy looked at it while flexing his hand a few times.

"Fascinating. I-it's like we can combine our abilities to make a super ranger. Sort of." He said. He reached forward with little ceremony, yanking the coin from Zack's hand and ignoring his 'Hey!' while he watched the piping of his left arm change to black.

"...together we are more..." Billy whispered to himself the motto that Zordon would always tell them. Until then he figured it was just some colloquialism that Zordon really liked. But it did have some meaning before. They didn't have access to their full power until they bonded. And now it seemed the phrase had literal meaning. If their zords could combine, why couldn't they?

Kim and Trini handed him their coins as well, with Kim stumbling back and leaning against the smaller ranger. Billy's leg piping changed to pink and yellow, and the diamond on the center of his chest had all five colors with blue in the center. Kim smiled weakly at him.

"You getting any inspiration? We're... I don't know how much longer we're going to last here." She noted, draping her arm over Trini's shoulder for stability. Billy reached out and touched the wall and his hand went through it. Jason raised an eyebrow and did the same but he was just met with cold, wet rock.

"I have to get us out from the outside I think..." He said. He clenched his fist and smirked as his mask drew back, revealing his face once more to the others.

"I-I think I got this. Together we are more." He nodded. He moved to disappear through the rock wall before turning to Jason. It was strange. It was as if he now contained the confidence of his teammates, no matter how brief it might be. So he reached out to the red ranger and kissed him before pulling back with a smile.

"...together we are more." He said. Then his mask closed and he jumped through the rockface.