For the last ten minutes or so, his mind reflected nothing but pure blankness. The sharp stillness in the air seemed to have captured and erased every frames of memory from his head. Or perhaps it was the silent that formed a new barricade of obstruction in blocking him from remembering anything. Anything that could have given him a crucial clue as to how he ended up of being there in the first place. Never in his life had he hated such silent before and the emptiness in that big room was suffocating him.
Of course, initially he thought it was just a dream. A real bad dream. He thought what he was experiencing was some kind of hallucinations caused by the countless drinks he had the previous night and the hangover was the main culprit for those visions playing in his head. As much as he tried to convince himself that he was in a dreamland, somehow there was something about that room that showed otherwise. He had pinched his arms not once, not twice but for three times simply for the sake of proving that he was not dreaming anymore, that he was one hundred percent sober and whatever he saw or touched was no longer based on any wild delusions but reality.
Yes, weirdly enough the room painted a different version of reality for him.
In a glimpse it looked like any other ordinary rooms but as time passed by, negative vibes had set in motion to grip his heart. His lips were trembling and his hands were shaking. He was not sure if it was because of a change in temperature or the existence of fear beginning to get hold of him. Although he was pulling himself together with whatever courage he had left, yet he did not deny that at a certain point of time, he DID feel fear unveiling itself deep within especially when the atmosphere was getting odder and spookier.
The four-sided walls, bright luminous ceiling and even the floor he was sitting on were all in white. A sudden thought of being abducted gave him more reasons to start panicky in finding a way out. He frantically went on searching from one end to the other for any means of escaping but to no avail. The room did not have any keyhole or doorknob. Not even a single crack line could be seen on those walls and that perturbed him a lot. It kind of reminded him so much of those unexplainable scenes in Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, 4400 and X-Files, where the walls were actually alive and capable of killing people.
Slowly a picture of his body being compressed in between of moving walls, his heart exploded and a sight of blood spurting out with his striking green eyes gushing out from its sockets began to colour his conscious. Sounds of broken bones, ruptured ribs and strained veins appearing on his skin like long pieces of dried worms being glued on him made him sick. Maybe he was being too harsh on himself. Entertaining his boredom and curiosity with those gruesome images as in Event Horizon was definitely not an encouraging idea to start with. It only made his heartbeat to pound twice the normal rate and just as he was about to get everything settled down, he heard it.
Heavy footsteps seemed to come from all directions and they were getting closer. Once again, an image of green-fugly-slimy-two-eyed-saliva-dripping alien kept playing inside his head. How the so-called fugly alien infiltrated through solid walls to get him for their species experimental purposes had certainly taunted his guts.
“Aliens? Right! So now I’m what? Nick? This is ridiculous! That is so his territory! There’s no such thing as aliens… right? No, no! This is just a dream, a stupid dream! How can there be aliens?” He chuckled nervously.
The footsteps became clearer and closer.
“Okay, this is so fucked up! This is sooooo fucked up!” He chanted strongly as he tried to shut the noises out. His heartbeat was racing and his breath became uncontrollably wild with each heavy thumping from outside. The twirling pain of fear tied all his inner intestines into one huge knot.
Maybe he was being too exaggerating or paranoid over the alien thingy knowing how much effect Nick’s words had on him. He remembered the way Nick described those UFOs and aliens in the past made it so real and factual. Oh, he missed that boy already. He missed listening to his little brother’s story telling session every time he caught the little Carter sketching out those fugly looking aliens in his journal. Each alien had its own name courtesy of its original creator and it was none other than Nick Carter himself. The one that remained vividly in his mind was the green-slimey one.
In that split second, faces of his loved ones flashed like a projector sliding shows. One by one those faces came and hit him hard leaving tears in his eyes. How he missed his brothers, family, friends and fans and how a picture of his wife hit him the most. How he missed her sweet scent that used to comfort him whenever he was feeling down. How he missed the way she wrapped her arms around his shoulders as her usual way of telling him that everything will be okay. That everything will be fine.
Fine?
He sighed and shook his head. There was no way things going to be okay or fine. Not from the way he looked at it – being trapped in a room where his life was at a stake. Whether or not he would get out of there alive depended on whoever or whatever it was behind those walls.
Suddenly the thunderous footsteps stopped.
It took intensity less than thirty seconds to fill up the entire room and silent became the sole witness on how vulnerable he was beneath his heavy breath. His wide eyes darted at one corner of the room, strongly believed that it was there, waiting and wanting him. Then the walls started to crack before it parted apart emitting smoke into the room. He was too shaken up to do or think of anything but as smoke moved towards him, he forced himself to walk backwards. Finally his back leaned against the walls and almost dropped down to his knees when he saw a figure piercing through the smoke. The figure was getting closer and by that time, his legs were already rooted to the ground.
A hand reached out for him but he had already squatted down, resigning everything to Fate.
“Argh!”
“Kevin?”
He heard a familiar voice calling out his name in the midst of all confusion.
“Kevin?” This time round, it was more distinctive and comprehensible.
“D? Oh my God! D! Thank goodness you’re here!” Kevin stood up and gave Howie a warm brotherly hug, a joy that he could not contain the moment he saw his brother standing in front of him. Somehow the hug was reciprocated merely with short pats on his back before Howie moved away from him.
“Yeah… are you alright Kevin?”
“Yeah, yeah… I’m fine, I’m fine! God! I almost thought I wouldn’t be seeing you again!”
“Me too! Glad that you made it! We thought we had lost you.” Howie said as he placed his hands on Kevin’s shoulders with a smile. Kevin saw the glow in Howie’s eyes but the glow differed from the last time he saw his brother. Even his words seemed to add more confusion in his already baffling mind.
“Lost me? D… what… what are you talking about? Where are we? Where is this place? How come we’re here?”
“It’s a long story Kevin and I think you’re tired. The blast must have hit you hard… but never mind, at least you’re fine and you’re home.”
“Home? Blast?” Kevin frowned as if he was not satisfied with the answers given by Howie. Not that he had doubts on the explanation but to him it was not making any sense at all.
“Yes, home.” Howie said and Kevin continued to frown, still unconvinced by the answers despite of Howie’s reassurance that he was truly back home.
Home?
Yes, he might be having some kind of hallucination and headaches but he remembered what and how his home looked like. It was well furnished with love and affection unlike that room. He felt completely lost in it.
“But this is not my home. I just don’t understand…”
“I know… in fact I don’t know how to explain it to you but trust me, you will soon find out. In the meantime, let me show you to your room.” Kevin wanted to object but Howie was being more persistence in pulling his arms and led him out of the room.
Once outside the room, Kevin could barely believe his own eyes. There were robots roaming around, working and talking to people. Even the animals could speak the same human language and as he walked down the bright corridor, weird-looking humans turned and flashed him a smile as part of their welcome note.
“D… who are those people?”
“Friends.”
“Friends? You mean our friends? Look, you need to tell me where exactly are we… please?”
“Stop thinking too much Kevin, most importantly is that you’re safe here, your home.”
“Please stop saying this is my home! This is NOT my home D! And I don’t know what… what the fuck is going on here and you keep saying this is my home! Now please, if you can… tell me where the hell are we exactly?”
Howie was shocked but managed to keep his composure well knowing how much the blast had affected his friends so it was a natural for Kevin to give such a reaction. Judging from Kevin’s hysteria and compared to the other three who had survived, obviously Kevin was the most affected one.
“We are back at the Galaxy of Sephia.”
“The Galaxy of WHAT?”
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Howie strutted his way towards the huge screen looking anxious and worried. A part of him was all set to fight the evils that had caused such mayhem in the Galaxy of Sephia. It used to be a beautiful home for all residents. A place envied by other galaxies because of its natural power in stored at the heart of the call centre where he worked and fought for since young. He was lucky to be the chosen one to protect the sacred stone with alongside with other gifted rangers. Ever since the whereabouts of the sacred stone was leaked by those traitors, the command centre of the Galaxy of Sephia has had always been the sole target of other wicked forces that wished to possess it for evil use.
That day Galaxy of Sephia suffered the worst attack in its history. Almost one-third of its military force were injured and killed while the civilians were led out to seek refuge at the secret quarters. The five rangers were defeated in a blast and they suffered serious injuries. Their fighting jet planes and automobiles were critically damaged. While they were separated and attempted to find their ways back to the command centre, they were later picked up by the surviving force crew that were scanning the entire place. Everyone was back except for Kevin. In Kevin’s absence, Howie was entrusted the task of building up the Galaxy of Sephia in putting every parts and pieces that was left behind. It was hard at first to be handed such a huge responsibility but he knew he had to do it if he wanted to keep his people alive. His friends alive.
For five days they tried to locate him but it was fruitless and they were about to give up when suddenly the red radar started to beep at the tracking system indicating a new hope.
“Hey Nick!”
“Hey!”
“So… did you get anything?” Howie asked in concern.
“Negative. Nothing yet. The system is still slow, I think they must have planned everything well to actually attacked it from underground.” Explained the youngest ranger as he pushed his chair over to the other tracking system.
“I know but we need to speed up. We can’t afford to let them use the stone or else…” Howie paused and looked at the shattered monitor screen on the walls showing different screen shots of different places in the galaxy and the one that had an image of their dead military crews caught his attention the most.
He sighed.
“Howie? Howie?”
“Huh? Yes Brian? What is it?”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes I’m fine. How’s your arms?”
“It’s only an arm but I can still fight.” Howie smiled at Brian’s enthusiasm.
“Yeah, I can see that! What is it that you have?”
“I managed to fix up the wires but not sure if I can get our Alpha back… everything is almost burnt out.”
“Okay, then what about Zordon?”
“Alex is still working on it right now. So… are you alright?”
“Who? Me? Of course I’m alright!” Howie faked a smile and Brian saw that but did not say a word. Maybe it would be better to just leave it. Nobody would really want to talk about anything except to construct the foundation of the galaxy back to where it was.
“Then… how is Kevin?” Howie was not sure how to put it. While everyone else suffered injuries from scratches to broken arms with bandages all over and yet, he only had a slight scratch mark on his forehead. The one thing that brought upon another curiosity was Kevin’s attire. So far he did not remember of Kevin having any of those outfits. “Howie?”
“Huh?”
“I ask you how’s Kevin?”
“I don’t know Brian… he’s acting a little bit strange don’t you think?”
“Strange? In what ways?”
“First… just look at his clothes, where did he get them from? And…”
“Well, logically maybe he got it from someone else… you know maybe his suit was burnt and torn and-”
“Precisely! That’s my point! You said it yourself, the suit could be burnt and torn and that means he will suffer injuries right? Bad injuries, but he didn’t. That is why I instructed them to put him in the quarantine room, just to make sure he’s not any of those monsters sent by Rita. The smoke got to him and you know how the smoke works right? It could detect and change anything to its original form if they’re supposedly spies or monsters.”
“And he seems to be perfectly fine isn’t it? He didn’t change at all right?” Howie shook his head. “So that shows he is Kevin.”
“But he keeps asking me where he is-”
“Maybe he is suffering from Traumatic amnesia.” Said Nick from behind.
“What?” Exclaimed Howie and Brian in unison.
“Sorry to barge your conversation guys but I think Kevin is suffering from Traumatic amnesia.”
“Any simpler definition on that term?” Asked Howie as he puckered his eyebrow at Nick.
“Well… here… read this… Traumatic amnesia is a result of mild trauma like maybe a slight accident and it might have injured his head to cause him to lose memory of the moments just before the accident due to brief interruption in short or long term memory transfer mechanism.” Nick explained as he read the extracts from the medical book he had.
“Alright genius, in other words, its just some kind of temporary lost of memory? Is that it?” Brian asked.
“Yes.” Nick nodded his head and put his glasses back on the table.
“I think you’re right but…”
“But what?”
“He recognizes me and he even calls me D.”
“And?”
“Brian, he never calls me that… he always call me Howie, remember?”
“So you think he is…”
“No! He is Kevin and I’m pretty sure of that but-”
“You can never escape with the big BUT isn’t it?”
“Howie, come here! Look what I found!” Shouted Alex from far as he waved at them to come over.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin studied the remaining photos that were pinned up on the brown notice board next to the bed. Most of the photos were either totally charred or slightly burnt which made it impossible for him to make out what they were. There was a mixed feeling of fear, worried, lost and confused inside his head as he scrutinized the remaining photos that were left untouched.
There he saw himself posing among the people in the photos with familiar faces standing beside him looking all happy and delightful but he never seemed to have any recollection of having those pictures taken. He did not remember of having those outfits. Not even during any photo shoot-outs. Then something unthinkable struck his head. Could it be his twin? His unknown twin? Could his parents been keeping something from him? His true identity perhaps? That he actually had a twin who worked from those weird-looking creatures? His twin working in an unknown planet called the Galaxy of Sephia?
“No! No! This is impossible! How could I have a twin? Nobody tells me that… gosh! I’m getting more and more screwed up now!” He mumbled to himself. Then he slowly made his way to the messy bed. His mind had already drifted in the empty space hoping to find answers to his endless confusions, doubts and queries.
“Kevin?” He looked up and saw Howie standing at the door. “Are you alright?”
“Right! I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere and what could be alright?” He murmured as he sighed and turned away from Howie. The only thing that connected him to his present reality was the glittering object on his finger. It was his wedding band.
“It will Kevin. Trust me… it will and all we need is you, your leadership to lead us on. Gordon is down and we’re still trying to get Alpha back and we need you-”
“Whoo! Hold it there for a second! Dude, what are you talking about? What leadership? And who is this friggin Gordon? Alpha? Are you talking about the Power Rangers?” Kevin asked sarcastically.
Howie smiled and for the first time since the attack on Galaxy of Sephia, he had smiled that wide. Looking at Kevin’s confusion simply amused him. Whoever the new Kevin was, he was sure to have a lot sense of humour, he thought.
“Come… I’ll show you something. Maybe that helps you to freshen up your mind.” Continued Howie as he led Kevin out of the room. Kevin followed like a small kid. He made no effort to protest because he knew there was no need to. He trusted Howie, like he always did. There could be something to recall his memory on what had happened and hence he will soon be home.
It did not take them long to reach to the heart of the command centre where Nick was busy in fixing the computer system while Brian was meddling with the wires and Alex putting full concentration in reviving their wise sage from the glass channel. Emotions and confusion that he kept bottling inside suddenly burst out the moments he saw the others.
“Oh my God! I couldn’t believe this! Oh my God! Nick! I’m so happy to see you man!” Cried Kevin as he ran up to Nick and gave him a brotherly hug from behind. Nick was too taken aback to show any reactions or to even reciprocate the hug. Yes, he missed Kevin too and glad to see him back alive but not to that extent.
After giving the youngest member the warmth hugging, he turned to Brian. His cousin.
“Howie, I think he is really traumatized.” Nick whispered to Howie as he raised his eyebrow at Kevin’s unusual actions and behaviour.
“Yeah, I’m happy to see you… too.” Said Brian when Kevin released the hug. “Kevin?”
“Yes?”
“Are you alright?”
“Of course dude! I’m fine! Oh my God Jay! There you are!” Dude? Jay? Without doubt Kevin was getting more and more unusual, they thought.
“Jay? I’m Alex. Do you recognize me?” Asked the small guy in black ranger suit.
“Right! Funny! Of course I recognize you! You’re AJ right?”
“I’m Alex.”
“Dude, you’re weird!”
“I think you’re weirder. Kevin… look I know this sounds stupid but you need help. I mean, big help.”
Help?
Kevin stopped smiling and walked away from the man standing next to him. He turned back to face the others. Howie, Nick, Brian and AJ or was it Alex were looking at him as if they were studying the change of expression on his face. Though he did not say a word, they knew what he was going through and Nick Alex was right. He needed help and he needed it fast because time was definitely not on their side. Rita, the evil Sorceress Rita was actively building up a new empire to destroy their galaxy and if Kevin did not wake up, Galaxy of Sephia will soon be left with nothing.
On the other hand, Kevin had already lost his hope. Hope of getting back to reality and hope of going back home. The four figures that stood and watched him were completely different from his Nick, Howie D, Brian and AJ. It was as if the relationship with the four figures was not closed and tight as brothers.
“I don’t understand… I’m Kevin but this is not my home… this is not where I should be, I should be at home with my wife. Did you see this? This is my wedding band!” Kevin wished he still had his wallet with him but it was gone so there was no other way to prove his real identity.
“Denial is the first thing that hit those who had traumatic amnesia.” Whispered Nick to Howie as his hands hid their little conversation.
Howie nodded his head though deep inside he began to wonder if the one that was brought back to Galaxy of Sephia was really their red ranger, Kevin.
“But you are Kevin right?” Asked Brian.
“Yes! I am Kevin Richardson and you are Brian Littrell, my cousin.”
Brian smirked as he shook his head in amused.
“What is so funny?” This time it was Kevin who questioned Brian and his tone was sterner.
“Sorry but I think you really got the hardest hit aren’t you? I am Brian Littrell but we are obviously not cousins. We were the chosen rangers to upkeep the peace in this galaxy. Don’t you remember any of those?”
“Galaxy! This is full of crap!”
“Alright guys… calm down. Forcing him to remember everything would be unfair to him… come I need to talk to you guys. Kevin… why don’t you take a seat while we had a little discussion.” Howie said as he pulled Nick away.
Kevin rolled his eyes as he watched them walked off and disappeared into one of the rooms.
“I think he’s not our Kevin. There must be some mixed up or something.” Howie said in a serious tone.
“You must be joking! If he is not Kevin then how did he get himself here? You saw his radar beeping, you know and we all know that only rangers had the power to use that button.” Objected Alex.
“But you saw it yourself didn’t you? How he denied everything? How he wanted to go back home?”
“Then explain to me how did he know us? He knows us by name Howie, how do you explain that?” Asked Brian.
“I don’t know! I don’t know… but I do know and I have strong feelings that… he is not our Kevin. We might have got the wrong person or…”
“Or what Howie?” Nick asked when he saw Howie gave a short awkward pause. “Please don’t tell me that… please don’t tell me that!”
“But what if that is the truth? That Kevin is dead and he might have… met this guy and you heard what Gordon said before this blast that a time will come when one of us will find the one man to save our planet but in return, the ranger will die. Don’t you guys recall that?”
The others kept quiet. All those while they were being too complacent thinking that Rita was only capable of sending small monsters to create havoc at their Galaxy of Sephia and without any much problems, they managed to wipe off those monsters until the blast came. It changed everything. Their present lives and their futures. As much as they were too shocked and a part of them refused to accept the fact that maybe their leader, the Red Ranger was dead but they had to convince Kevin to help them.
“Then what are we going to do now? We can’t defeat Rita without Kevin. He holds the key to the heart of MegaZord remember?” Nick asked.
“Maybe he had given it to that Kevin… and that is why he had no problem in passing through the ultra lights and detector smoke.” Explained Howie in trying to make sense and at the same time to convince them to give that Kevin a chance to help them.
“Maybe… so are we going to use him?” Howie looked up at Alex.
From afar they saw Kevin standing in front of the main huge screen showing different parts and places in their Galaxy of Sephia Command Centre.
“Kevin…” Howie called. “We need to know certain things from you… can we talk?”
“Who… who are those people?”
“Casualties.”
“Casualties? What had happened here?”
“Galaxy of Sephia used to be a very beautiful place. There were flowers and gardens filling up the entire galaxy. This place, where you’re standing is called Galaxy of Sephia Command Centre and was set up by the wise sage, Gordon and his assistant Alpha 5. You see that place? There used to be a sacred gemstone being kept in that glass vessel. Nobody knows about it except for the troopers, the staff and us, the rangers. But things got way out of hands when traitors started to leak its whereabouts to Rita, the Evil Sorceress who has been searching for it and constantly attacked this galaxy until we surrendered the sacred stone over to her. The blast that happened a week ago was our worst nightmare. The whole command centre was down and by the time we were rescued by the surviving troopers, we found that Gordon and Alpha were…” Howie paused as he cleared his throat. “Now, I just need to know what do you remember before you woke up?”
Kevin creased his forehead. The way Howie shared about the existence of the Galaxy of Sephia was both unbelievable and fictional.
“I don’t know… I remember of going to the gents… after washing my hands I saw a figure walking out from one of the cubicle… by that time the lights suddenly went out except for one light he had in hands. I thought he must be drinking but he called out my name… then I walked up to him and out of nowhere he touched my chest and I thought I was going to die. There was like this one huge electric wave like I’ve been hit by electric eels… then I passed out. When I woke up I’m already here.”
Howie smiled as his eyes filled with tears.
“Do you still remember what happen to the guy who touched you?”
“No. He was looking down with blood dripping on the floor. He touched me when I knelt down to help him up. Who is he?” Kevin asked.
“He is our Kevin, the red ranger. The chosen leader of Galaxy of Sephia by Gordon and he looks… just exactly like you.”
“So that is why you guys keep me here? Okay now that you’ve heard it so you have to send me back to Earth, to my home.”
“I will but not now.”
“What?”
“We need your help.”
“Oh great! You want me to what? Take his place and fight that evil sorceress?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks but no thanks! First I’m still sane and secondly I have a wife waiting for me and she’s having my baby right now. You know I’m going to be a dad soon and I can’t do this!”
“Sure! We can send you back now, let you live with your family and while you have great life and good times with your family, more families will die in here. What’s new? When your child is born, hopefully your conscious is crystal clear knowing that at the back of seeing your child being born, more children are dying in here.” Nick’s interruption from behind startled their short conversation.
His facial expression was the same as his Carter’s pissed off look as he gave Kevin a sharp glare and just like his little brother, the boy walking towards them too was given a huge responsibility at such a young age. To fight against evils was one thing, to actually fight against real monster was indeed a big deal.
“Nick, stop it.” Howie said sternly as he gave his ‘stop it right there before I kick your ass’ kind of look while the others simply kept to themselves.
Nick threw his hands in the air and shook his head.
“I’m sorry. Nick is emotional sometimes, you know… every kid dreams to be the chosen one but as for the five including Kevin, I mean our Kevin its not a dream but a responsibility that comes with a price. Well… now that I know and we all know the truth about what had happened to Kevin and… I guess we can’t be selfish as to force you to take Kevin’s place and make you stay away from your family. I’ll get the others to make preparations to send you back to Earth. Don’t worry, we won’t keep you here.” Howie continued as he released soft sighs and gave Kevin a short pat on his shoulders before he made his way out followed by the others.
Kevin was left alone and loneliness struck him with guilt-trips. Nick was right afterall. Though aliens, monsters, evil sorceress were out of his league, yet he believed that things happened for a reason. That his presence in that galaxy was to help them right from the moment the other Kevin found him. Slowly he pulled his shirt and saw a scar on his left chest that resembled the sign of a fiery torch. It was red and fresh. As he touched and outlined the scar, he could feel a new vibe of energy inside him. The energy was totally was beyond explanation but he felt it. Was that the key they were talking about?
“The rangers are here to bring you to the spacecraft. They will send you back and-”
“I’ll stay.”
“What?” Howie asked as he strained his eyes on Kevin, trying to make sure he was not hearing things.
“I said I’ll stay and help you guys out… only then I’ll go back home… to my wife.” Kevin said calmly with a smile carving on his lips. Howie was speechless. His eyes glowed with new hopes as he could not hide his contentment.
“Thank you. One behalf of the Galaxy of Sephia… thank you so much.” Continued Howie in both sobbing and whispering mannered.
Kevin remained where he was, wordless.
“So what are you waiting for? We still have a lot of things to do guys!” Snapped Alex from behind with mechanism equipments in hands and handed over a screwdriver to Kevin.
“Thank you.” Nick said as he passed by Kevin.
“I should be the one to say thank you to you.”
“For?”
“Waking me up I guess.”
“Well, that’s partly my job.” Nick said as he stretched out his hands for Kevin and Kevin took it with love. “By the way, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“If you are not our Kevin… then how… I mean how did you know our names? How did you know my name and why did you call Alex as Jay? Who’s Jay?”
“It’s a long story Nick but I guess, one of the reasons on how I know you is partly because… I think a part of your Kevin is here, inside me.”
“Whoah… well, if our Kevin is inside you right now and if he can hears me, I just want to say I’m sorry and I miss him.” Then Nick stopped with an awkward chuckle. Kevin was not sure whether Nick did that to regain self-control from crying out or maybe the conversation had tickled him in one way or another. When Nick mentioned how he missed their Kevin, Kevin wished he could say the same thing too, to his brother back on Earth. To everyone back at home that he missed them very much.
“I’m sure he misses you too.” Kevin said softly in Nick’s ears as he wrapped his arms around Nick’s shoulders, just like what he always did for his Nick Carter.
After a brief clarification on all of the important information, Kevin was led to the Rangers Training Room as well as the Rangers Spacecraft Centre where their respective zords underwent intensive constructions and configurations. He was given a detailed explanation on how the Zords worked and operated especially the key. Kevin was later told that each Rangers was gifted with a piece of the sacred stones in them and it could be seen with the strange scar marks on their chests.
Howie further explained to Kevin that he had a mark of a dove that symbolized love, Nick was blessed with a mark of waves that symbolized water while AJ had typhoon as his mark that symbolized the power of wind. Brian had a volcano scar mark on his chest to enhance their power with his earthy symbol of the soil they stepped on the Galaxy of Sephia. Then he requested Kevin to show his mark and he found out that Kevin had the same fiery torch mark that signified the power of fire. The torch will be the light that will keep the galaxy alive and without the torch, their lives would always be in darkness.
While they were reconstructing their institutions, Rita the Evil Sorceress was on the verge of building up her new evil empire comprising evil monsters and wicked robots to destroy the entire galaxy and world was their next target.
Time was against the rangers and Howie knew they had no room for any blunder. They had to speed up in teaching Kevin in whatever they could and hopefully Kevin could put everything together into practice when the time came for him to face Rita. Afterall the danger that was exposed to him could cost him his life and if possible they did not want to jeopardize their savior’s life. By deciding to help them to fight against the evil force had made them indebted to him for saving the Galaxy of Sephia.
It did not take long for Rita the Evil Sorceress to launch the first attack on the galaxy in order to destroy everything and everyone. They wanted to captured and used the Galaxy of Sephia as their foundation in their campaign of attacking other planets. Different monsters were sent to destroy the property while their evil soldiers were instructed to kill all civilians.
The galaxy’s emergency alarm started to buzz off. Despite of the injuries sustained by some of the troopers, they took their positions in leading the civilians to safety. Others were either fighting with their lives to save others on the ground while the troopers at the command center waited anxiously for further instructions by their top leaders.
“Howie, the galaxy is under attack! What must we do now?” Asked one of the troopers from the shattered screen.
“Kevin, this is your call. What must we do?” Seeing the chaos happening outside the command center and the blasting of bombshells everywhere caused a slight stir inside Kevin’s head. His call? What must he do? Why must him be giving the instructions?”
“Kevin! Are you with us? What must we do now?” Nick broke into Kevin’s daze with his high pitch voice.
“Huh? We…”
“Kevin look! You are the leader now and we’re waiting for your instructions… what must we do now?” Continued Howie as he grabbed Kevin hard by his shoulders as if he wanted to shake off that fear from Kevin.
“Well… seal all exits. Get the troopers back to their position at the main entrance. Fight whatever comes through that door. Rangers… we are ready to fight now.” Said Kevin as the others placed their hands on his shoulders to show their support.
“Yes Ranger, copy that!” The screen turned blank and the communication was abruptly disconnected.
“Here we go… rangers commanding the Zords now!” Kevin flashed the split super device that changed him into red rangers.
Howie changed into white ranger; Nick into green ranger, Brian had his blue ranger suit on and AJ felt great to be back in his black ranger pair. They then slid through different tunnels that will bring them to their respective zords.
While the others were excited to be back controlling and worked together with their respective zords, it somehow gave opened up a new experience for Kevin.
“Welcome back Red Ranger! Please fasten up your seat belt!” Like a magnet, Kevin was pulled back where the seat automatically fastened up the seat belt for him. Kevin saw the gear and unsure if he was ready to hold and command the big zord.
“You can do this Kevin! You can do this!” He heard Nick’s voice deafening the entire space of his Zord. He turned and saw Nick on another Zord showed a thumb up. Kevin nodded his head and saw Howie on his left smiling at him.
“We can do this rangers! Troopers, opened the main gate!” Kevin’s instruction was well noted and by the time the main gate was opened, the troopers charged to fight off the evil soldiers who were then waited to come in.
The war between the goods and evils went on like any other war in the battlefield. There were blood everywhere and dead bodies scattered around. The evils were confident of winning the war because they thought the Galaxy of Sephia would be helpless without the sacred stone that acted as a super power to them. So when they saw the five Zords coming alive, fighting and killing most of the monsters sent by Rita, they were extremely mad.
“WHAT? I can’t believe this! I can’t believe this!” Groaned Rita as she watched her creation, TimeBomb Monster was defeated by the Rangers.
“Please Rita! Calm down!” Said her faithful Squid Monster.
“Calm down? Those ignorant fools have killed all my baby monsters and here you are telling me to calm down? I am going to teach those stupid rangers for messing up with me! This is Rita and with this sacred stone in my hands, they can’t do anything to me! Not even death would dare to come near me!” She said boastfully as she clenched her fists.
“What are you going to do?”
“I am going to kill those rangers myself!” Exclaimed Rita as she grabbed her magic stick and rushed to the exit of her hideout.
“Oh yes! Great job rangers! We’ve killed them all!” Said Kevin as he took a deep breath.
“Not yet Rangers! You may have killed them all but I will be the one to kill you all!” Said Rita as she took control of the monster that resembled a huge elephant with extra legs like spiders.
“Don’t be so cocky Rita! You may have the stone but we have the key to make that stone works! I guess you must have forgotten all about that, aren’t you?” Shouted Howie.
Rita snorted at Howie’s remarks.
“You are such a small ignorant fry! The key was just a myth to confuse me. I have the stone with me now and not only will I kill you but I will kill everyone in the entire universe and the whole universe will be mine!” She continued with her annoying screeching voice.
“Today… I will not only kill you but I will avenge for Kevin.” Nick said as he was about to charge at the huge monster.
“Nick no!” Kevin shouted followed by the others and in less than a few seconds, Nick and his Zord flung back and shook the entire galaxy.
“Ha! Is that all you can come up with? What a waste of time!”
“Its time to combine our powers!” Brian suggested as they pressed a button to combine their zords to become a huge robot called The Optimus Prime.
“Oooh, I’m scared!” Jested Rita as she pretended to be scared with the new transformation. She then pressed a button to turn her already huge monster into a gigantic elephant.
“Kevin, whatever happen… we will still send you home alive. Don’t worry about that.” Said Howie.
“Don’t worry Howie, I’m thinking more about kicking this bitch’s ass!” Kevin said.
“Guys, please remind me to get ice-cream after this crap!” Joked Alex as he chuckled.
“Ice-cream sounds nice, how about a brownie to come along with that?” Supported Nick.
“Eeer… guys… sorry to interrupt the menu but don’t you think we should concentrate on this thing first?” Interrupted Brian.
“Alright then! Let’s get the ball rolling!”
Like flashes of lightning piercing through the dark sky and clap of deafening thunders, the Rangers and evil Sorceress fought in a fierce battle. Both refused to give up despite of suffering injuries. When Rita launched a strike from the back, Optimus Prime jumped like a warrior and gave a high kick. When Optimus Prime released their missiles, Rita shielded it with her invisible bubble.
Suddenly their energy system started to buzz off for emergency and immediate attention because of the damages that they had. Most of the wires were on fire and even the rangers were wounded themselves.
“How are we going to defeat her like this?” Asked Alex, almost breathless.
“Let’s get up guys… we can do this…” Howie tried to encourage the others despite of his own injuries.
“Howie… didn’t you say the rangers symbolize different nature powers that Zordon has brought from Earth?” Kevin asked.
“Yes… why?”
“Maybe we can use that power to defeat her.”
“But how?”
“We need to combine our inner powers… then we will shoot it not at Rita or the monster but straight to the sacred stone.”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say the sacred stone has the power to destroy anything?”
“Yes… so you mean…”
“Yes.”
“But how to get that inner powers?” Brian asked.
“We just need to concentrate and focus. Concentrate and focus guys, only then we will be able to overpower the evils.” Kevin suggested. The others turned and looked at Kevin who was closing his eyes, channeling all his energy into focusing. It was not how Kevin focused his mind into it that caught their attention but his words. Those were the same words that were last said by their Kevin before he went missing.
Then they saw Kevin glowing as if he was circled by fire. Howie knew what it meant and started to do the same followed by the others.
While everyone was focusing on channeling their energy to combine their inner powers, Kevin then inserted the one key that was secretly inserted into his pocket by the stranger he found on the floor. He was puzzled by the existence of the key but after listening to Howie’s explanation, he then understood the purpose of that key.
They were not sure how long or what really happened but Kevin’s suggestion worked. When their nature powers combined, it darted straight to the sacred stone and within seconds the monster exploded into thin air and Rita dropped dead on the ground. She was charred and smoky. Right from that moment too, they saw a bright light shone above them and darkness that once loomed over the galaxy had gone.
“Finally… its over…” Said Brian.
“Look… isn’t it beautiful?” Nick said as he pointed to the colourful rainbows in the sky. It was indeed one breathtaking scenery for them, at least after what had happened to their beautiful galaxy.
“Thank you Kevin… thank you for saving this galaxy.” Howie said as he turned to Kevin.
Kevin did not say a word but behind the mask, he was in tears. He was both grateful to be given a chance to see it with his own eyes and of course he was glad to be able to save the beautiful galaxy from falling into the evil hands.
That was the last time he saw them but the memory and experience of being a part of the rangers remained vividly in his head.
A few days living with them at the Galaxy of Sephia has changed his life even though the others claimed that he had passed out only for a few hours when one of them found him lying unconsciously in the middle of the washroom floor. He shared with them his incredible journey to the Galaxy of Sephia, the fight with Rita the evil Sorceress and even his task of being the Red Ranger but everyone simply gave him a weird look. He knew nobody believed him anyway and the fiery torch mark on his chest had disappeared to support his attestation. Some said he was too drunk at the time he passed out while others argued that maybe he was robbed or knocked out by someone else but to Kevin, only he knew the truth.
So each time when he saw bright stars shining on the dark sky, it never failed to remind him of his stay in one of those beautiful galaxies.
“Still remember the Galaxy of… Sephia was it?” Kristin asked from behind as she wrapped her hands around his waist.
“Well… to be honest yeah, I still do.” Kristin smiled. “What?”
“Nothing… its just I notice… ever since you left the Backstreet Boys, you’ve been watching too much TV you know…”
“Yeah maybe…” Kevin whispered as he pulled Kristin closer to him and planted soft pecks on her cheeks before he bent down closed to her bumping stomach. “How’s the little power ranger doing inside there?”
“Well… the little ranger is tired and waiting for daddy to come to sleep.” Kristin said as she shook her head, smiling at her husband’s action.
“Alright then… you go ahead… I’ll be in shortly, promised.” Without any protestation Kristin made her way in while Kevin continued to admire the beauty of the night at the balcony.
Then he suddenly saw an image of Optimus Prime in the dark sky waving at him. He wanted to call Kristin to show her the image but later decided to just keep it to himself as he smiled and waved back at his new friends from the Galaxy of Sephia in the sky.
“Honey, are you coming?”
“Yes, yes… just give me a second… see you around guys!” He muttered before he shut the door behind him. It certainly felt good to be back home, he thought as he walked towards the master bedroom.
- actual picture-
