More Than One Bolt From The Blue

“EE-EW!” Kimberly shrieked and covered her eyes as the Prince unpinned the brooch, opened Billy’s shift, and did the same to himself. Billy never took his eyes off the prince, and he smiled up into the other man’s face. He kissed back passionately when kissed, he caressed back when caressed, and arched slightly and gave the Prince wordless permission when the Prince gripped his hips.

“See, my children!?” She called out as the passion built, and the former Rangers frowned as they watched Billy carefully. “This is a Love Binding, and it is smiled on and approved of by the gods! If it weren’t, we all know that the gods would strike the offenders on this couch down and they would die!” She banged her staff on the floor. “For only a Love Binding can be done on this, our most ancient Marriage Bed!”

“What!?” Aisha shouted at the screen as she watched Billy’s body as it moved under the Prince. “That’s so an obvious LIE!”

“Anyone with eyes can tell Billy doesn’t want to be anywhere near that guy!” Kimberly scowled deeply as Billy’s gills rapidly moved in and out, obviously breathing for him, as his mouth continued to be occupied by the Princes. His eyes were tightly shut, and his entire body was slightly on the rigid side, even as his hands roamed, almost aimlessly, over the Prince’s back.

“Um . . . actually, Kim, if one didn’t really know Billy, and if you really aren’t looking for it, then you really wouldn’t know he’s not in love with the Prince.” Tommy said quietly.

“Which is why I bet Zordon showed us what he did,” Rocky said. “You know, him and Billy together.”

“What do you mean?” Jason asked, and Zack nodded.

“I think I get it,” he said. “We saw Billy in love with Zordon, hence we saw how Billy acted when he was in love . . . physically as well as other. Anyone else who had never seen Billy and Zordon together, and known what Billy was really like . . . um . . . which is energetic to say the least . . . well, would think he was reacting as someone in love. When they walked in, Billy stood really close to the Prince, and when he lay down, he smiled at him. He let him undress him with no flinching or sign of embarrassment, which shows familiarity, which means that they’ve been together for a while. It also obviously, in their society at least, means that someone’s in love . . . especially if you’re going to do that in front of well, literally everybody.”

“Yeah. You’d have to have some serious motivation to let someone do that to you in front of the entire planet,” Rocky nodded. “And this culture is obviously motivated by wanting to show how serious you are about the other. I mean, you heard the Queen. Apparently, if you’re lying about being in love, and you do that there, then you’re dead, literally . . . or at the very least, the culture believes you’re dead. I’d say that once you do that there, you’re pretty much trapped with that person for life, so you’d better be telling the truth about being in love.”

“But Billy doesn’t love him,” Kimberly could no longer hide her tears, and she watched as Billy smiled up at the Prince, as he reached his conclusion, and a moment later, Billy closed his eyes, clenched his fists, swallowed hard, and shuddered as the prince brought him to a climax.

It was agonizingly painful to see that Billy had participated in his own rape, and they knew the tears that gathered in his eyes were not the same kind of tears he’d shed when Zordon had loved him, and yet, they were the only ones who knew.

“Congratulations my sons!” The Queen went up to them. “Now, tonight, you shall finish your ceremony, then be on your ship! Go! Win this battle we are facing, and if you bring exceptional glory to the House and Name of Trearyn, you may be allowed to breed and might even be permitted to bring forth a female!” She banged her staff on the floor once more, and in a flash, disappeared.

Cheers, yells, hollers, and whoops of unbridled joy met the two men as they stood and covered themselves, and Billy looked down at the floor as the two of them sat on the dais and were brought food and drink. It was clear to the former Rangers that Billy was almost at the end of his emotional rope, and could barely hold himself together any more. The prince pulled Billy into his arms and pressed his lips against Billy’s ear, and while the gesture looked like two lovers sharing an intimate word, the Prince dug his fingers under the gold armlets, and held them tightly. Billy nodded and a moment later, though it trembled, smiled somewhat as the prince let him go and offered him food . . . just as at every wedding reception everywhere. Billy’s eyes, though, never joined his lips in the smile, and those in the Power Chamber could tell it was as fake as the ‘Love Union’ had been.

“Oh, damn,” Aisha looked down, and tears gathered in her eyes. “He’s nothing more than a slave . . . and a sex slave at that. And did that queen say they would be allowed to breed?”

“I don’t even want to know what that means or how it’d be accomplished,” Jason said.

“I hope it never got that far,” Zack swallowed. “If only for Billy’s sake. The last thing he’d need would be for a child to witness that . . . that farce.”

“Man, we’ve got to do something,” Rocky scowled, and Tommy held his hands up and looked helpless.

“But what?” He asked. “Billy’s on some planet we have no idea where it is, and even if we did know, we couldn’t get there . . .”

“And how can we help anyway?” Adam voiced the one thought they all had. “We’re not Power Rangers anymore, and we’re not the ones people know as the Power Rangers.

“End of transmission, Zordon. Again, we beg you to accept our most sincere apologies,” the Aquitians voice interrupted them, and they looked back at the screen as Zordon spoke again, and sounded infinitely sad.
“I was unable to do anything about this until Andros freed me from my tube, and my life energy was allowed to sweep, unfettered, through the universes. I know where William was as of a year ago, but do not know anything more, as I needed to build up the strength to call on you and ask you to take one more mission as Rangers.
“I ask that you take on the mantle of Ranger, once more, as per the Morphers you have, for I know that none of you have rid yourself of them, even if they were no longer working, and go rescue William.

“Tommy, Kimberly, Aisha, Rocky and Adam, you have an advantage over Jason and Zack, in that you are still Ninjetti. You went on a personal quest, and were bestowed the power of Ninjetti upon your persons as well as on your Morphers. You were never told that, as I had no wish to keep you from your personal destinies once your obligations to me as a Ranger were over. However, the Great Power does not leave you, though you were allowed to leave it. If you will concentrate, you will know that, and be able to call forth again, as always, the power of the Ninjetti.

“Zack and Jason, you need to quest, exactly as the others did, for your spirit animal, though a trip to the Desert of Despair is out of the question. Remember Rangers, all things are possible with the Great Power!”
“The Great Power,” Kimberly smiled wistfully. “Wow. I haven’t thought about that in years.”

Tommy shook his head and looked doubtful, though hopeful at the same time. “I just didn’t think . . . I mean, I thought once we turned over our power coins, that meant we were done, forever, as Rangers.”

“We all did,” Rocky nodded, and blinked. “I mean, maybe that’s part of the reason I recovered so fast and so fully from that fall I took . . . the one that made Zordon turn over the Blue powers to Justin. I still had the Great Power in me.”

“It makes sense,” Adam nodded, and tilted his head. “I bet that’s part of the reason this old Morpher worked . . .” he held up his Morpher. “Well, sort of, for a brief moment, but it was just long enough to help Carlos. I mean, if the Power truly was in me, The Morpher wouldn’t control the Power, I did, but because I didn’t know that, then it makes sense as to why it would fizzle when I tried to save Carlos. “

“And why I was able to fight, after a while, the influence of that Monster that Divatox brought to life,” Kimberly blinked, and smiled.

“We’ve always had the Power, we just didn’t know it,” Aisha looked up at Adam excited. “Adam, if we could wake the spirit animals . . .” she grinned. “There’s nothing we couldn’t do!”

“Wait a minute,” Zack frowned. “Just pretend, for a moment, that I don’t know what you’re talking about, because I don’t, how do I go about getting one of these Spirit animals?”

“Or me, and I do know what you’re talking about,” Jason said, and the others grinned and looked at one another, obviously very happy with their new discovery . . . and it didn’t occur to any of them in the room to doubt the validity of what Zordon had said, simply because it was Zordon who said it.

“Watch and learn,” Tommy grinned, and for a moment, they all looked at one another, and Kim finally spoke.

“Well, so, who goes first?” Kim asked, and Aisha grinned.

“Adam, alphabetically, you’re first. Give it a shot?” Aisha said, and Adam smiled.