Intrepid (Power Rangers)⚡

12.

Once we pulled Billy out of the water and freed him from his bindings, all of us saw that he was unconscious. I performed CPR and tried listening for a heartbeat but couldn't hear it.

"Billy?" I found myself starting to cry.

"He's gonna be okay, right?" Trini wondered sounding emotional as I was.

"Hey, hey," Jason called out thinking Billy could hear us, "You got this big guy. Come on."

"He's dead," I cried as it brought me back to the day Mom died.

Kimberly leaned in and pulled something out of Billy's pocket. I noticed it was a crumpled paper. On opening it, I recognized it as the note from detention about starting a band. Billy had kept it as it meant something to him. 

Kimberly and I moved to try and lift Billy.

"Pick him up," she told everyone else, but no one moved an inch.

"Help us pick him up!" I demanded through tears of pain.

Zack and Trini assisted us.

"Come on!" Zack turned to Jason who joined in to lift Billy.

⚡

All of us carried Billy to the ship as dawn peaked its way. We got to the control room and carefully placed him near the threshold. Alpha 5 turned once seeing us and Zordon had a grave expression as if reading the situation.

"Do something, okay?" Jason demanded as he approached Zordon, "There must be something you can do for him." Zack, Trini, and Kimberly followed Jason while I stayed beside Billy.

"I told you that you were not ready," Zordon stated.

"Zordon, please help us okay? Please."

"There's nothing that I can do for him. We were both reckless with our teams."

I found myself crying softly. My best friend who stuck by my side was gone. 

"No," Alpha 5 sounded bereaved.

"I'm sorry," Jason apologized to Zordon and turned to the rest of us, "I'm sorry, guys. He's dead because of me."

"No, Jason, it was all of us," Kimberly shook her head.

"No, I pushed it. And as usual I made the wrong decision. Out of fear, anger...I don't know. I was just so angry. He's a great kid, you know? And he loved us. He loved being a Ranger."

It was all true. Like Mitch had told me, Billy in his own way got me to associate with everyone else when I usually preferred to not interact. 

"I'm sorry Billy. I'd trade my life for yours if I could," Jason concluded and sat at the threshold next to Billy's body.

"Maybe he traded his life for us," Kimberly stated.

"Yeah. Probably did," Zack agreed and stood up, "I would."

"Me too."

"Yeah. Me too," Trini nodded.

"Me too," Jason glanced at Zack.

"Same here," I wiped my tears with a sleeve.

"It's just the five of us now," Kimberly stepped off the threshold and turned back to the rest of us, "The truth is, whatever we've said to each other, it doesn't matter. This. This is the only thing that matters."

Trini sniffled and nodded, "She's right."

A booming sound occurred all of a sudden.

"Zordon! Zordon! Look at the grid!" Alpha 5 exclaimed as the morphing grid lit up immensely, "This is your time! Do you see it? The grid is open! Step through!"

"Yes, I see it," Zordon replied, "I see it."

The energy from the grid increased that it brought up wind and flashes of light. It got our attention.

"Step through, Zordon!" Alpha 5 called out.

"Hey! Kimberly shouted as what I thought was thunder boomed.

"What's happening?" Zack yelled over the indoor storm.

"The morphing grid is open!" Alpha 5 hollered.

The room darkened as everything went still. 

"Zordon? Master?" Alpha 5 spoke up.

"Where is he?" Kimberly asked.

"He must have stepped through the grid."

"Alpha where'd he go?" I wondered.

"I don't know where he is."

The screen lit up as the pixels flickered, revealing Zordon's face.

"Zordon, what?" Alpha 5 sounded confused on why the former was still in the ship's matrix, "What didn't you step through? That was your only chance."

"I know," Zordon responded, "But only one can come back."

Someone coughed. I turned to find Billy alive as he coughed out saltwater and gasped for breath.

"Billy," I gasped happily as the waterworks from my eyes threatened to pour out again. I hugged my best friend tight and then helped him get back on his feet, "Don't ever go like that."

Billy gave me a confused expression as if wondering what had happened. The others rushed over and pulled him into a group hug.

"Did I die?" he wondered.

"No," Kimberly shook her head.

"Yes," Trini jumped in

"Little bit," Zack added.

"And you guys brought me back to life," Billy glanced at all of us, "I told you we were superheroes."

I smiled at my best friend.

Jason came over to us and hugged Billy.

"Welcome back, my friend," he nodded at the latter.

"Oh, we gotta go to Krispy Kreme, Jason," Billy informed him.

"What?"

"Not for donuts."

"Okay. Let's try this."

All six of us stepped onto the platform and stood at the footprints facing the morphing grid. Each of us felt confident that it would work.

"It's morphin' time," Jason stated as he was the last one on the footprints. 

There was a vibrating hum as the grid lit up. I found myself focusing on the newly established connection with the others. Purple specks started streaming all over me just as the others had specks of their designated colors spread on them. In rapid seconds, all of us had flexible and solid armor on. Although masked, we were able to identify one another.

Right in sync, we charged out of the ship prepared to take down Rita Repulsa for good.