Cody watched in horror as the darkening clouds came closer and closer to their small sea-side town. He heard the panicked noises of cars on the roads behind his house, his sister talking to her barbies inside, and the sound of his parents hurriedly nailing boards over every window. He sat at the doorway of his family’s small house and watched the waves crashing against the small wall designed to keep high tide out of the streets.
“Don’t worry, Cody.” Batman said, “We’ll protect you!”
“We won’t let that storm touch this house.” Robin said.
Cody’s mother and father returned to the doorway and pulled Cody into their innermost bedroom, where his older sister was already settled in. “We’ll be fine here until Tomorrow.” Cody’s father said, “We may have to go to the shelter if it gets too bad.”
Cody was tucked into bed and left to sleep. He lay awake for a long time listening to the sounds of cars passing and strong winds blowing on the boards over their windows.
“Even we can’t fight nature.” Vegeta said.
“We can do this!” Goku announced, “We have to do this! These people needs us!”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t make them evacuate?” The pink ranger asked.
“They would lose everything.” The green ranger answered.
“We can’t let that happen.” The red ranger said, “We’re responsible for these people!”
With a worried heart, Cody slipped into sleep. When he awoke, it was to sirens and panicked voices. “Cody! Veronica! Wake up! We have to go!”
Cody was lifted out of the bed and carried away as quickly his mother could run. They rushed out the back door and into the small family car his father already had running, Veronica fighting with her safety belt in the backseat. Cody looked out the window at the high waves crashing against the wall, and the dark clouds all around them.
Cody’s father pulled the car into drive and Cody watched the back window as the storm attacked their home, defended bravely by his closest friends.
Goku flew into the storm, attacking the ominous spinning clouds. The clouds separated under his assault but gathered quickly. Vegeta fought the seas. He broke the walls of water, spreading them out and away from Cody’s home. But each wall of water was followed by another, and yet another.
The Rangers took their places in front of the house. Their uniforms reflected the lightning flashes. Cody knew there was nothing they could do against the storm. The Power Rangers had no special powers. They had only special equipment that they couldn’t risk in this storm. Small colored lasers flashed into the darkness, blindly aiming to help in the assault.
A stranger stood out against the ocean she was parting. She pushed the waves aside like dancing, pushing the tides away from their little town, and back toward the ocean. The waves hit other waves, pushing the ocean’s force back. Cody watched as the green haired girl’s magic protected their home and swayed the ocean.
The clouds descended from the sky like a wisp of smoke reaching down to whip at the sandy beach. The stranger was struck down. She vanished from sight as the ocean retaliated with all its might.
The darkness covered the back window of the four-door, and Cody could no longer see the battle. Robin’s quiet comforting sounded far away. When the darkness lifted, Cody could see the exit of a tunnel but nothing farther. They had escaped but his heroes had been left at the storm’s wrath. Cody reached for the hand of his fellow sidekick, but found nothing but an old blanket, mangled by the storm that took his childhood.
The shelter, the storm, the crying families. The ravaged streets and lines for food. The children cried for days. When they returned to the scene of the destruction, Cody could see where their house had been. All that stood there was mud. Their things were sitting along the street, washed out by the retreating army of the sea. Cody’s sneakers sunk in the mud as he searched for his friends. There was nothing to be found.
He stood at the front door and looked out into the ocean. The cruel ocean that had destroyed everything. Cody’s father dug a ditch through their lot, draining the remaining water into the street.
The sun caught shimmers of color. Red, Green, and Pink plastic stood out against the dark mud. Cody ran to the riverlets and dug his hands in, pulling out glass and splintered wood as he dug. A pink chest, a red leg, a green arm, a blue boot. He crawled farther down the stream, searching for the missing pieces of what the ocean had taken. Muscled arms, broken armor, a chunk of spiked plastic hair. At the very edge of their lot, stuck to the side of the drainage ditch, he found one small figure. Robin. His cape all but untouched.
