![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Free Time (Power Rangers Zeo)
Summary: Jason has some free time, now that he's not a Ranger. (Pieces of Gold storyline)
Despite the fact that this falls last chronologically, this is actually the first one that I wrote. It ends during the tag of "Good as Gold".
Free Time
by Estirose
It felt weird.
Jason relaxed by the lake, knowing that there would be no more calls on the communicator he still wore. He was still exhausted from the events of the last few days.
Nobody could really describe what it felt like to lose Ranger powers. He'd gone through it twice, and he sure couldn't. The one before he'd gone to Switzerland wasn't too bad. It was painful, sure, to have his powers transferred to Rocky, but it was more a pain of the spirit. He knew that the change was for the best - he couldn't save Angel Grove if he was busy promoting peace at a conference in Switzerland - but the powers were a part of him, somehow. He could feel their loss.
Sometimes, at the peace conference, he wished that he would have stayed. Sure, they'd accomplished a lot, maybe even more than they expected, but sometimes he wondered if he would have preferred staying in Angel Grove as a Ranger. Certainly it would have been a little more exciting. Sometimes the peace conference could be so boring. But then he reminded himself that his friends and their new teammates could handle things. More than that, they *were* handling things, from what he could tell from the news coming out of Angel Grove.
And then he came back. Back to his home. It seemed like he'd just unpacked when Tommy came to him, requesting his help. He'd listened carefully to what Tommy told him, about Trey, Billy, and the need for a new Ranger. He did wish that Billy had been able to absorb the golden Powers. Billy, after all, was the one that had been on the team the longest. But at least Jason was there to take the powers so they didn't die out.
Jason had taken care to talk to Billy. They had become Rangers together. Not like Tommy, who had come into the team a few months later, or Adam and Rocky, who had replaced the Rangers who went to Switzerland, or Kat, or Tanya. He'd had to get up to speed on being a Ranger again, and there were some prickly things to discuss. He thought that he'd had it bad, being so far away. It must have felt like torture for Billy, spending his time with the Rangers, but powerless, unable to join them in their fight. Billy was quiet about his feelings, but Jason knew that being unable to accept the golden powers must have hurt a lot. To be given the chance to fight again, to come to Earth's defense. Not be stuck watching the battles with Alpha and Zordon.
Jason knew how he felt. It was so exhilarating to be able to morph and fight. Exhilarating to take on the Machine Empire's forces. By the end of his first battle back, Jason had felt better than he had during the years he'd been in Switzerland.
Sure, battling the monsters sent down by their various and sundry enemies was tough, and they were always hurt and tired after the battles. That was always the low point of being a Ranger. Somehow, the good points managed to outweigh that.
Of course, he couldn't stay a Ranger forever. Fate had conspired to remind him of that. He could sometimes forget that he was only holding the golden powers for Trey, until Trey could get himself back together. The rest of the Ranger powers were meant to go with human biology, more or less. His weren't. He could sometimes feel the difference, but it hadn't really mattered.
Until one day, when he found out, like Billy had, that overworking oneself when one had strange chemicals in one's body was a sure way to get very sick. For Billy, it was accelerated aging. For him, his powers had straight out tried to kill him. He'd kind of felt sorry for Billy, with all the aging going on, but he wasn't to know that only a few days latter, he'd be feeling even worse.
And it was worse. Billy, although his illness had progressed fast, could afford to relax. Working in the Command Center was somewhat less stressful than being out on the front lines. His problems had made his powers erratic. He'd hated watching Tommy's powers fade and disappear, and he hated feeling his own go years later.
The worst was the weakness. Collapsing once in the Command Center, and then at Ernie's. Being barely able to walk at the end. He was lucky that he was able to stand up those last few moments required to receive the reunification beam and transfer the power back to Trey before it killed him.
And now he was powerless again. He didn't mind at the moment. Alpha had checked him over, and Zordon had told him to rest. Which was exactly what he was doing. Leaving the fighting once again to the others. It was fun while it lasted.
At least he'd have some spare time. Being a Ranger tended to eat up his hours, and made it impossible to predict whether he'd be able to finish something without being summoned to combat some monster or other.
Yeah, he'd probably regret his loss of power, despite not being able to do anything about it. His newly-found free time would give him time to think about that. But at least he'd be able to date Emily, for the moment.
For the moment. No doubt he'd be needed again, and he'd look upon this free time with fondness.
But not right now.
He smiled slightly as Tommy crouched next to him.
-End
Despite the fact that this falls last chronologically, this is actually the first one that I wrote. It ends during the tag of "Good as Gold".
Free Time
by Estirose
It felt weird.
Jason relaxed by the lake, knowing that there would be no more calls on the communicator he still wore. He was still exhausted from the events of the last few days.
Nobody could really describe what it felt like to lose Ranger powers. He'd gone through it twice, and he sure couldn't. The one before he'd gone to Switzerland wasn't too bad. It was painful, sure, to have his powers transferred to Rocky, but it was more a pain of the spirit. He knew that the change was for the best - he couldn't save Angel Grove if he was busy promoting peace at a conference in Switzerland - but the powers were a part of him, somehow. He could feel their loss.
Sometimes, at the peace conference, he wished that he would have stayed. Sure, they'd accomplished a lot, maybe even more than they expected, but sometimes he wondered if he would have preferred staying in Angel Grove as a Ranger. Certainly it would have been a little more exciting. Sometimes the peace conference could be so boring. But then he reminded himself that his friends and their new teammates could handle things. More than that, they *were* handling things, from what he could tell from the news coming out of Angel Grove.
And then he came back. Back to his home. It seemed like he'd just unpacked when Tommy came to him, requesting his help. He'd listened carefully to what Tommy told him, about Trey, Billy, and the need for a new Ranger. He did wish that Billy had been able to absorb the golden Powers. Billy, after all, was the one that had been on the team the longest. But at least Jason was there to take the powers so they didn't die out.
Jason had taken care to talk to Billy. They had become Rangers together. Not like Tommy, who had come into the team a few months later, or Adam and Rocky, who had replaced the Rangers who went to Switzerland, or Kat, or Tanya. He'd had to get up to speed on being a Ranger again, and there were some prickly things to discuss. He thought that he'd had it bad, being so far away. It must have felt like torture for Billy, spending his time with the Rangers, but powerless, unable to join them in their fight. Billy was quiet about his feelings, but Jason knew that being unable to accept the golden powers must have hurt a lot. To be given the chance to fight again, to come to Earth's defense. Not be stuck watching the battles with Alpha and Zordon.
Jason knew how he felt. It was so exhilarating to be able to morph and fight. Exhilarating to take on the Machine Empire's forces. By the end of his first battle back, Jason had felt better than he had during the years he'd been in Switzerland.
Sure, battling the monsters sent down by their various and sundry enemies was tough, and they were always hurt and tired after the battles. That was always the low point of being a Ranger. Somehow, the good points managed to outweigh that.
Of course, he couldn't stay a Ranger forever. Fate had conspired to remind him of that. He could sometimes forget that he was only holding the golden powers for Trey, until Trey could get himself back together. The rest of the Ranger powers were meant to go with human biology, more or less. His weren't. He could sometimes feel the difference, but it hadn't really mattered.
Until one day, when he found out, like Billy had, that overworking oneself when one had strange chemicals in one's body was a sure way to get very sick. For Billy, it was accelerated aging. For him, his powers had straight out tried to kill him. He'd kind of felt sorry for Billy, with all the aging going on, but he wasn't to know that only a few days latter, he'd be feeling even worse.
And it was worse. Billy, although his illness had progressed fast, could afford to relax. Working in the Command Center was somewhat less stressful than being out on the front lines. His problems had made his powers erratic. He'd hated watching Tommy's powers fade and disappear, and he hated feeling his own go years later.
The worst was the weakness. Collapsing once in the Command Center, and then at Ernie's. Being barely able to walk at the end. He was lucky that he was able to stand up those last few moments required to receive the reunification beam and transfer the power back to Trey before it killed him.
And now he was powerless again. He didn't mind at the moment. Alpha had checked him over, and Zordon had told him to rest. Which was exactly what he was doing. Leaving the fighting once again to the others. It was fun while it lasted.
At least he'd have some spare time. Being a Ranger tended to eat up his hours, and made it impossible to predict whether he'd be able to finish something without being summoned to combat some monster or other.
Yeah, he'd probably regret his loss of power, despite not being able to do anything about it. His newly-found free time would give him time to think about that. But at least he'd be able to date Emily, for the moment.
For the moment. No doubt he'd be needed again, and he'd look upon this free time with fondness.
But not right now.
He smiled slightly as Tommy crouched next to him.
-End