[Ellen Brand]

..........In an attractive house near Angel Grove Park, Trevor Park had just finished his interview with Lisa Sandowski, the deceased's estranged niece, when screaming outside drew his attention.

.........."Trevor!" his partner, Rick Winslow, yelled. "I think you'd better come see this."

.........."If you've seen one monster, Rick, you've seen 'em all," Trevor remarked, heading for the window. "What's so special about this one?"

.........."I think it's going to kill a Power Ranger."

.........."Shit!" Trevor exclaimed, pulling his gun and racing out the door. He might dislike the Power Rangers, but he certainly didn't want to see one die. In the park, he was confronted with a rather frightening sight. The monster, which looked like the Warp Core of the Enterprise, had the Green Zeo Ranger trapped in what seemed to be a bubble of solid air. The Ranger's struggles were growing weaker and weaker as he ran out of oxygen. Trevor raised his gun, silently praying that the monster had something that he could hit with his bullet.

..........BLAM! Green Ranger heard a shot, seemingly a hundred miles away, and all at once, he could breathe again. He looked up to see his father in a classic shooter's stance, gun trained on the Warpitor.

.........."Freeze, ugly!" Trevor yelled. "Detective Park, AGPD! You're under arrest for attempted murder! You have the right to remain silent. If you refuse the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law!"

..........If his throat hadn't hurt so much, Green Ranger would have laughed at his father's reading the Miranda warning to a monster. As it was, though, he worried about the monster's reaction. Looking around, he spied Rick Winslow, his father's partner, beating on an invisible barrier that seemed to keep him out of the park.

.........."Foolish human!" the monster cried, drawing Green Ranger's attention back to it. "I am above your petty human laws. And when my Lord Zedd takes over your pathetic world, those laws will cease to exist!"

.........."Not if I can help it, Bub!" Green Ranger growled, hurling himself at the Warpitor. The impact caused the Warpitor's shot to misfire, and the bubble of dead air that had been aimed at Trevor Park instead bounced harmlessly off a tree. Green Ranger was slung off his opponent's back, crashing into the ground at Trevor's feet.

.........."You okay?" Trevor asked.

.........."Yes, sir," Green Ranger puffed, getting to his feet.

.........."Where's your friends?"

.........."With your partner, I would imagine," Green Ranger gestured. "Warpitor's put up a field of solid air around this section of the park. Blocks entry by teleport or ground transport. Much as I hate to admit it, you're stuck with me."

.........."At least things can't get worse," Trevor muttered.

.........."Don't say that. Things will find a way," warned Green Ranger.

.........."You can say that again," Warpitor crowed. "Take this, pests!" The monster threw a glowing bubble at Trevor and Green Ranger. Faster than thought, it swallowed them, sending them spinning off into oblivion. The last thing Green Ranger heard before passing out was his father's extremely creative cursing.



..........Trevor Park woke up on something soft, for which he gave thanks. Taking stock of himself, he found all body parts more or less intact, and his.38 lying by his side. Beside him, the Green Ranger began to stir.

.........."Ohhh," the Ranger moaned. "Where's my stomach?"

..........Trevor chuckled, levering himself into a sitting position. "In about the same place as my lunch, I think. What happened to us?"

..........Sitting up, Green Ranger performed a quick status check on his body parts. Finding nothing broken, he looked at Trevor. "He's not called Warpitor for nothing. He sent us through some sort of dimensional warp. We could be on another planet, or another dimension. It's not one of Zedd's, though."

.........."How can you tell?" Trevor asked, looking around him.

.........."Too much life," responded Green Ranger, also examining their surroundings. They had been dropped into a clearing in an incredibly lush jungle. Around them, they could hear small animals rustling in the underbrush.

.........."What can we expect to run into here?" Trevor asked, scanning the perimeter of the clearing. Green Ranger shrugged.

.........."Almost anything. Remember, I don't know where we are, and some of these other planets have some very interesting wildlife. Other than that, it's your ordinary jungle. I don't think it's too different from one you'd find on Earth." Green Ranger looked at his companion and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I dragged you into this. With your opinion of the Power Rangers, this can't be much fun for you."

.........."How'd you know about my opinion of the Rangers?" Trevor asked, his eyes narrowing.

.........."I've heard you mention it. You don't exactly keep your feelings a secret, you know."

.........."Hmm. Well, I wish I was home eating dinner right now, but I could have been stuck with worse. So could you, for that matter. I'm not completely inexperienced with jungle fighting."

.........."Vietnam?" Green Ranger asked casually, curious. His father had never mentioned a military career before.

..........Trevor shook his head. "Too young. Not by much, but too young. No, when I got out of college, I spent a couple years in Delta Force. Anti-terrorist unit. They trained us for almost every kind of fighting. I spent a couple years there, got out and went into the Police Academy."

.........."Well, if you've got that kind of training, I'm glad to have you along, sir."

..........Trevor's eyes narrowed again. Something about the Ranger's voice was bothering him. And why keep calling him "sir?" Suddenly it clicked. "You can't be more than eighteen!" Trevor cried.

.........."Close. I'm seventeen."

..........Trevor's jaw dropped. This kid was Adam's age, and he was fighting monsters? "That's pretty young," Trevor managed. "Are all the Rangers teenagers?"

.........."Yes. I'm not the oldest, but I'm close. It's not so young, really. We can die for our country at eighteen. Why not for our planet?"

.........."Eighteen's pretty young to be facing monsters."

..........Green Ranger laughed humorlessly. "Tell that to the kids who go to war. At least for us, the monsters look like monsters. Out there, they can wear anybody's uniform and anybody's face. Even your own."

..........Trevor was speechless. From the news reports, he'd formed an impression of the Rangers as show-off college-age kids, hot-dogging for the cameras. He had not expected a boy Adam's age, with more wisdom than he ought to have. Sighing, he changed the subject. "Come on. We'd better get moving if we want to find out where we are. I say we follow that stream over there."

..........Green Ranger nodded. "No objections here." Rising, the two slipped silently into the underbrush and were quickly swallowed up.



..........Back on Earth, in the Power Chamber, the Rangers were worrying. They had seen Adam and Detective Park disappear from directly in front of them, and to make matters worse, Warpitor had completely disappeared. Tommy Oliver, Red Ranger and leader of the Power Rangers, was pacing in frustration, muttering vile curses under his breath. Katharine Hilliard, the Pink Ranger and his former girlfriend, was trying to comfort a stricken Tanya Sloan. The Yellow Ranger was trying to deal with seeing her boyfriend disappear right before her eyes. Rocky De Santos, the Blue Ranger, was trying to remain calm, and failing miserably. He was tossing his helmet from hand to hand and spinning it on one finger like a basketball, sure signs of his tension. Rounding out the group were Jason Lee Scott, formerly the Gold Ranger, and Trey of Triforia, currently the Gold Ranger, who were standing in a corner, watching their friends anxiously.

.........."I can't believe he's gone," Tommy kept saying. "I can't believe I let this happen. Not only did we lose Adam, but now we don't even have a genius to help us get him back!"

.........."Someone call for a genius?" a familiar voice said. The Rangers whirled to see Billy Cranston walk out of one of the back rooms.

.........."Billy!" Kat cried. "You're back! I thought you were staying on Aquitar!"

..........Billy smiled. "I am. I've come back to help you find Adam. You don't think I'd let my best friend stay lost between dimensions, do you?"

.........."Of course not," Tommy replied. "Especially not when you could come back and brag about finding him."

..........Raising one eyebrow, Billy turned to his former commander. "Well, now, if someone hadn't lost him in the first place, I wouldn't have to find him, would I?"

..........Tommy's eyes narrowed, but he did not reply.



..........After hiking through the dense jungle for a few hours, Green Ranger suddenly noticed a column of smoke rising above the trees. "Look!" he pointed. "That means people!"

..........Trevor nodded, his eyes narrowing. "But are they friendly?"

..........Green Ranger chuckled. "The odds are pretty good. Rangers are respected throughout the galaxy. Unless we've landed on a world totally under some tyrant's thumb, this Spandex suit should get us through without a problem."..........

..........Shrugging, Trevor gestured for him to lead the way. After a few more minutes, the two crested a rise and saw a village below. The houses, which seemed to be some sort of woven grass, were burning, causing the smoke that Green Ranger had sighted. Men on horseback were riding around, torching the homes, terrorizing the people, and laughing uproariously. Suddenly, Green Ranger stood up.

.........."I can't just stand up here and watch this."

.........."You're not going to barge in there, are you?" Trevor asked. "We have no idea what's going on."

.........."I have a responsibility to protect the helpless, and these people seem to fit. You don't have to come, but I could use your help."

.........."Oh, hell," Trevor sighed, getting to his feet as well. "If you're going to get yourself barbecued, I might as well come along for the ride. What's the plan?"

.........."Well, you're the stealth expert, so I'll distract them, and you take them out. There's only eight of them."

.........."Only," Trevor grumbled, but hid himself to wait for Green Ranger's diversion.

..........Trevor had expected a brush fire, an animal stampede, almost anything. He had not expected the Green Ranger to walk directly into the middle of the camp and announce his presence. That was exactly what the kid did, however. Making his way down the main drag of the village, he yelled, "Hey!" The riders' heads swung around, their attention fixing on Green Ranger.

..........Trevor could not understand what the men were saying, but one word that they kept repeating obviously meant "Ranger." The leader silenced them with a wave of his hand. Turning back to Green Ranger, he said something that obviously translated to "What do you want?"

.........."As a holder of the Black Morphin Power and Green Zeo Power, and as a Ranger/Apprentice to Zordon of Eltare, I hereby order you to leave this place and these people in peace."

..........The leader's only response was a growl. It was unintelligible to Trevor, but the Ranger seemed to understand it well enough.

.........."If that's the way you want things, fine. I will make you leave this village, if necessary. I hereby challenge you to combat. One on one, your men don't interfere." The leader seemed to consider this. "Unless you're afraid," the Ranger needled.

..........The leader's face hardened. He barked at his men, obviously commanding them to stay back. Then he turned back to the Ranger and dismounted, a twisted leer on his face. The two began to circle each other, looking for openings.

..........Trevor wasn't worried about the kid; he knew Green Ranger could take care of himself. It was the seven goons on horseback that held his attention. If the Green Ranger dropped the leader, the seven would attack. If not, the men would return to sacking the village. Either way, he had to take out the leader's back-up while they were preoccupied with the fight. Luckily, they had dismounted to watch more easily. He estimated that he could take out three before they spotted him. That left four that he might well have to fight hand-to-hand. He could only hope some of the villagers would join in.

..........Making his move, Trevor sneaked up on the closest goon, quietly pulling him back into the underbrush. A few quick blows, and the man was unconscious before he could make a sound. A couple of handy lengths of vine trussed him up nicely.

..........Three more fell to similar tactics. Trevor was beginning to get disgusted with his enemies' lack of alertness when one of the last three spotted him and cried an alarm. The three rushed him at once, actually doing him a favor. They were so clumsy and unable to work together that they got in each other's way, making his job easier. He knocked out two, but found the third a much more proficient fighter. Behind him, he could hear villagers cheering, probably for Green Ranger. Finally, in a last desperate strategy, he fell to the ground in a move Adam had taught him, placing a foot into the solar plexus of his charging opponent and flipping him over. The man hit the ground and did not move.

..........Rising, Trevor saw that Green Ranger had also finished off his opponent, and was now tying the unconscious man up. Several villagers were binding Trevor's sparring partners, and still more were dragging the other four out of the brush. Looking at the eight men's dirt-spattered uniforms, Green Ranger cocked his head.

.........."Red, white, green, black, blue, purple, yellow, and pink. Oh man." Kneeling, Green Ranger pulled a medallion from around the leader's neck. Faintly, under a few years of dirt and grime, was an engraving of an ape. "They were Rangers," he breathed. "Rogue Rangers. I think I'm going to be sick."

..........Trevor knelt near him. "How do you know they were rogue? I mean, the Green Ranger- the other one- wasn't he put under a spell or something? I'm pretty sure I remember that from the news."

..........Green Ranger shook his head. "If they were enspelled, they'd still have their powers. The powers that be only strip Rangers of their powers when they've done something awful, broken the rules of their own free will. Gone rogue."

.........."I don't remember a Purple Ranger," Trevor commented.

.........."We didn't have one. Purple was the one color coin we didn't have. I'll explain later. Here comes the headman of the village." Green Ranger stood, brushing grime off his hands. Trevor could no more understand this man than the last one, but it was fairly obvious that he was thanking Green Ranger for coming to their aid.

.........."It was my honor, sir," Green Ranger responded. "I was glad to help."

..........The man spoke further, and in reply, Green Ranger shook his head. "No thank you, sir. We can't stay, I'm afraid. We're lost, far from the world we live on. Is there a wizard or Morphin Master around here who might be able to help us?"

..........The man spoke at great length, at one point bringing a scroll from his hut and showing the Ranger something. When the Ranger nodded, the headman gave a sharp command, and two of the younger men brought out what appeared to be backpacks, stuffed with equipment.

.........."He says that there is a place of great power, the Maze of Shilratha, to the south of here. It's marked on the map," Green Ranger translated. "Although their shaman senses no evil about it, no one who has entered has ever returned. This could mean that inside is a gateway to somewhere else. Maybe we can use it to get home."

.........."And the packs?" Trevor asked.

.........."Repayment for our services. They contain the food and equipment necessary to reach it. Apparently the maze is several days' walk from here."

.........."Great," Trevor groaned. "And Eileen- that's my wife- was going to make meatloaf!"

.........."She makes good meatloaf?"

.........."The best. You should see my sons put it away. It's the only food that Adam can eat six servings of."

..........Green Ranger chuckled and turned back to the headman to make their goodbyes. Then, loaded with the packs, Trevor and Green Ranger began to hike towards the Maze.