Ninjetti Rebirth
Chapter 1: Lost
Tommy's head was throbbing when he came to. What happened? He wondered. He struggled to get up, having to force his arms to work. Every muscle in his body ached, he felt as though he'd just fought Mesogog again. Man, my body was sore for a week after that one, he chuckled. He slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the brightness of the sun. Carefully he stood and felt his green jacket sticking to his back from sweat, he pulled it off and wrapped it over his head. He looked out over the desolate wasteland. He wondered where he was, and how he had gotten there. "Did the Mystic Mother screw up the transport?" he asked no one inparticular. It was then that he realized he was alone, none of the other Rangers were with him. All he could see were skeletons of, well of things. They looked like animal skulls, but on mostly human bodies. He squinted as the desert sands reflected the sun in his eyes. Tommy carefully began walking across the desert. He was worried, he had no idea where anyone was, hell, he didn't even know where he was, much less what had happened to seperate them. Mystic Mother hadn't told them what exactly to look for, just that they'd find new and more powerful Powers here. He guessed it as where, anyway. He wandered a bit more, and eventually spotted a jungle in the far distance. He looked up a bit and saw a giant, yellowish temple rising up over the canopy. He glanced down at his morpher and the gem encased within it. "Still dead..." He muttered "Not good."
Ryan felt like he was searching for clues about how to stop the demons again. He swore to never set foot in another desert after they defeated Queen Bansheera, but that hadn't gone so well. He'd been wandering around the desert for at least an hour now. When the intense becomes too much for, he thought as he looked at his morpher and still living gem, I'll morph and let the Power lead me. His mouth was quickly becoming dry, if he didn't find water soon he'd keel over. He had already taken his jacket off and wrapped it around the top of his head to keep the sun off. He was trying to figure out they been seperated. He remembered seeing the Mystic Mother, remembered being teleported away...then...blank. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the desert. The more he thought about it, the less it made sense. If they left as a group, then they should have arrived as a group. Right?
He squinted, placing his hand over his eyes to shield them as he looked up. He could have sworn he saw a jungle up ahead. "Is my mind playing tricks on me already?" He asked himself, he was beginning to think the heat may have already gotten to him. Wait a second, he thought looking back down at his morpher. "Tommy, Tommy are you there? Anyone?" He called into his communicator; nothing. No one responded. "I guess the heat must have fried the circuits or something." He tapped it a few times and tried it again. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Dead silence.
Karone pushed through the low hanging tree limbs in her way. She wondered where she was and why she had to land in a jungle of all places. She had already tried her communicator, and tried teleporting. Neither one had done any good. Her communicator had been crushed when she woke up, and when she tried teleporting she'd end up about two feet from where she had previously been. She was beginning to get more than a little frustrated with the trees. Every time she moved one branch out of the way, another was right there to smack her the face. It was as thought they were attacking her on her purpose. "Why can't I remember what happened during our journey here?" She asked, breaking a limb off to move it out of her way. She'd been at this for hours now, it was beginning to serious piss her off.
She stomped through the marshy bottom, spalshing mud all over her leather pants. "Damn it all!" She growled "I just had to land in a friggin' jungle didn't I?!" Karone looked up at the sky that was made of tree tops. She had never like woods, or anything even similar to a forest. It had all started because Darkonda had come running out of the woods behind her old home on KO-35 all those years ago. She rubbed her index finger and her thumb absently over her morpher and gem, cringing at the memory. After Andros and the Space Rangers had saved her from Dark Specter she swore she'd never set foot on KO-35 or go anywhere near a forest of any kind again. It didn't scare her to be alone in the jungle here, just seriously pissed her off.
Eventually she found a beaden path that seemed to go on forever. The trees were maybe six feet apart, she could see littles bits of the clear blue sky now, and the ground was less marshy. I'm still in the jungle though... She told herself grumpily.
Rocky and Adam had found each other in the desert. Adam had been a little ways behind the rest of the group due to his late departure, and saw the red and purple bolts of lightning strike the team as they entered Zega's atmosphere. After hours on end of wandering aimlessly Adam eventually found Rocky and filled him in on what had happened and why everyone was gone. The bolts had seperated them, he saw three head towards to the desert, and one towards what appeared to be a jungle with a temple in the center. "If I'm not mistaken," Adam said "the jungle, and therefore the temple, should be this way." The two then headed west in the desert. Adam had taken his jacket off and tied it around his waist, while Rocky wrapped his over-shirt around his head. The two friends trudged onwards through the desert, eventually spotting the jungle Adam had spoke of off in the distance. "I told you there was a jungle!" Adam said as if he had just won a bet. Rocky's shoulders deflated and he pulled a twenty out of his wallet.
Tommy trudged onwards for the jungle he saw. There has to be water in a jungle, he told himself. It was one train of thought that kept him going. He didn't know why his body had been so sore when he'd woke up. He didn't even remember falling asleep. "Oh shit." He said under his breath "Is this another test of some sort?" He looked around but didn't see any type of Ranger suit coming for him, he didn't see much of anything really. His vision was still a little blurry, and the heat wasn't helping any. He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands "Oh man could this day get any worse?" He grunted. As if on cue and sandstorm happened, stinging him as he passed through it. "I had to say something..."
He looked up, after the storm passed, and saw that he wasn't far from the jungle. He even saw two human shaped figures walking towards it. He squinted, hoping it would help him see a little better, but it didn't. Should I risk it? He asked himself. "Why the hell not." He muttered. "Hey!" He called out as loud as his voice would let him, "Hey!" To his surprise they turned around and looked in his direction. He began flapping his arms to signal them on where he was.
He could've sworn he heard Rocky's voice saying "...ommy?...."
Rocky and Adam heard someone shouting "Hey" and turned to see where it had come from. When they turned they saw someone off in the distance waving their arms around and Rocky shouted "Tommy?" The two friends began heading towards the man they thought to be Tommy, and saw that he was headed for them as well. They increased their pace a bit, they didn't want to run and be out of energy in the middle of the desert, so they could reach him a little faster. The sand was becoming unbearably hot, worse than it had been before. They could feel the heat through the soles of their shoes. Adam nearly fell over twice along the way, the sand was also becoming increasingly softer. Finally the three men were only a few feet from each other.
"Rocky? Adam?" Tommy asked breathlessly as he approached the two, stopping to rest. It was obvious that he had ran.
"You either really wanted to see us, or you really want to get to some water in that jungle." Adam said, grinning at how foolish Tommy had been, running in the desert.
"Glad as I am to see you, what are you doing here Adam?" He asked, still trying to catch his breath.
"Tanya told me go on along, that it was okay with her. So I did. Though I think Alpha Six talked her into it." He said with a 'I won' grin on his face.
"Well that's great. Maybe," he paused, having a black out moment "maybe you know what happened to us." Adam nodded and as they began walking back to the jungle he told Tommy bout how he had seen two lightning bolts appear out of nowhere and strike them. He explained that Tommy had taken the brunt of the attack, which is probably why he was sore, and that they couldn't remember it because they hadn't seen it. He then went into detail about how three of them had landed in the desert, and one in the jungle.
"I hope Karone landed in the desert." He said flatly, having finally regained his breath. Rocky and Adam both stopped dead in their tracks and stared at him. "What?" He asked though he were being accused of something. "She hates woods of any kind, and I have a feeling that if she landed in the jungle she's gonne be more than a little pissed."
"Don't you mean scared?" Rocky asked, confused.
"No, pissed. Karone won't scare that easily. But she is easily angered."
Ryan picked his pace up a bit. He had a strong feeling that the others would be headed for the jungle he had seen. He needed to hurry and get there. The sun was doing a number on him, this desert was far worse than the one he had been in ten years ago. He had already seen mirages of Diaboloco and Queen Bansheera. Lucky for him he had been able to tell the difference and was able to keep from beating himself bloody. Alright, he thought as he blacked out for a second, it's time to morph. "Prehistoric Shark Power UP!" he shouted and pressed the gem, but nothing happened. He looked over at his morpher and saw it had a few wires hanging out. Well that's great, he thought sourly, looks like the sun has fried this morpher. Either that or it smashed up when I landed and I just now noticed it.
He continued to drag himself across the desert, getting ever closer to the jungle that lay before him. It was maybe another mile or two away. Another mile seemed like it would take him an eternity though. He was already dragging his feet and having his boots filled with sand. I bet the Mystic Mother set this whole thing up. I bet she's actually the Rita up there on the moon too, he thought with a bit of disdain in his thoughts. He decided to try his communicator again; "Tommy. Anyone, is anyone there?" Still nothing. "Shit."
To Karone the path before her seemed to go on forever. She didn't know how long it had been since she'd found this path, but it had been a while ago. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She was severely pissed off. She hadn't been this pissed off in years. To make things worse, tree branches had begun to hang over on the path. She grabbed and snapped any that got in her way. This had not been a good day so far. As she snapped two more branches two armored figures appeared from the sides of the trees. They were wearing old samurai style armor, though it appeared to be made out of tree bark. Each had a giant ax in its right hand. They grunted and groaned as they followed her. After a few more minutes she stopped. Eyes shifting from left to right she did a back flip over their heads and punched each of them in their heads. Finally! She thought, something to actually unleash this anger on!
They each stumbled when her fists collided with their heads, but quickly regained balance and they swung their axes at her. She jumped over one, and onto the other, landing on it as it were made for her. She then kicked the samurai, her boot knocking his helmet off. She raised an eyebrow as she stared at a wooden skeleton. "Okay? So maybe the trees are attacking me." She jumped of his ax and landed one foot, using the other to kick the other samurai into one of the trees. She then cart-wheeled between the two and stopped behind them, grabbing their shoulders and knocking the heads together.
Tommy, Rocky, and Adam entered the jungle and began pushing through the brush. After entering the jungle they had cooled a bit from being out of the sun, but it became more humid. "Hey, look." Tommy pointed to a small stream running a few feet from them.
"Water!" Rocky jumped and gladly ran over to it, gulping down what he could get in his hands. Adam and Tommy soon followed. They had never been so happy to see water. After they got their fair share of water gulped they began heading in the direction Adam pointed them too.
"Come on," Tommy said "the sooner we get to that temple the sooner we can find Ryan and Karone. I'm positive we'll be able to see everything from up there."
"Hey Tommy," Adam said as he pushed a branch out of the way "do you think maybe that that's where the Power is that Rita told us about?"
Tommy stepped over some thorns and replied "I don't know. Maybe. But don't you think that'd be too much of a coincidence? It's like we're gonna find Ninjor there." He laughed and let his mind wander back to their time in the Desert of Despair. Rito had destroyed the Thunder Zords and their Powers. Zordon had sent them to the Desert of Despair to find the lost Temple of Ninjor. They weren't even positive the Great Power existed, or if Ninjor even existed. But apparently Zordon had known all along and them finding the temple and proving to Ninjor that they were worthy of the Great Power had all been a test. One which they had passed with flying colors.
Thinking about Zordon brought Tommy his memory of, not the last time he saw the great wizard, but the time before that. Zordon had been preparing to leave for Eltar back then, his home planet. He had called Tommy to the Power Chamber to speak with him in private, Alpha Five even had to wait outside. He revealed the exisstence of the DinoGems to Tommy, saying that when he eventually found them that he was to lead the team of Power Rangers that the gems would pick. Tommy didn't know he'd be picked himself by the Black Gem. The reason Zordon had picked Tommy for that assignment, or so he told Tommy, was because he had been the greatest Ranger Zordon had ever known; and that would be his responsility to lead the entire Ranger Community one day. Afterwards Zordon bestowed upon Tommy a little of his own knowledge on how to connect a morpher to the morphing grid, which he then had Hayley help him actually build the morphers.
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like Zordon had been prepping him to lead an army of Rangers into war. Against who, he didn't know. Their current enemies were powerful, but they wouldn't require an army to defeat.
Ryan was at the edge of the jungle, he could smell rainfall on the air. His throat had dried a long time ago and he desperately needed something to drink. He let the smell of the fallen rain lead him, growing up with demons had taught him a thing or two about searching for stuff he needed. He soon came to a small stream and began gulping the water down. He had never really cared for water, but right now the taste of the stream water was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted. It was intoxicating. After he finished he noticed a three sets of foot prints in the mud. "I think I may have just found my team. Unless there's cannibals in this jungle. That could be trouble."
He stood and began tracking the prints. It didn't take him long to catch up with them. "Hey, guys!" He called as he saw three of his friends up ahead a little ways. They stopped and waited on him, when he caught up to them he asked them the question they knew they'd hear at least once more. Adam explained to him about everything that had happened and who landed where. When he finished he asked Ryan where he had landed, when he said the desert a look of pure panic passed over Tommy's face.
That means that Karone landed in the jungle. Oh this is not going to be pretty, Tommy thought as he remembered the last time he had seen Karone angry. It had during the three weeks he spent recouperating after his stupid break in stunt. He had made a wise crack about it and she shot him a look that would've killed him if it could've. I still can't believe she used to be the Queen of Evil, he thought as the memory of her glare put a smile over his face.
"What're you smiling at?" Rocky asked, trying to summon his Zeonizer.
"Oh, nothing. Just the way Karone gets sometimes. Hey, Rocky, what're you doing?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
Rocky grunted and his shoulders slumped. "Well I was trying to summon my Zeonizer. But it appears to be broken."
"Or you lost it." Adam quipped.
"Alright smart guy, try summoning yours."
"Gladly." Adam flicked his wrist several times, but to no avail. His Zeonizer just wasn't showing up. "Well that's weird."
"See, not so easy anymore."
"Oh right, it's been so long since I used one." Tommy commented "I forgot you guys had to flick your wrists to summon them."
"Whatever happened to yours?" Rocky asked him, trying again to summon his.
"Oh, it blew sky high when the island I was on did." Tommy answered nonchalantly.
"What? You were on an island when it blew up?" Adam, Rocky, and Ryan all asked.
"Oh. Yeah. I thought you guys knew about that?" They shook heads, and he said "Oh, well it started like this..." Tommy then went into detail about how Mesogog had attacked the island he was on and how in the end it blew, destroying his Zeonizer in the explosion.
"So how did you guys summon your DinoMorphers? I still can't get over that, you and Dinosaurs. Again." Adam laughed.
"Oh, we had these gold bracelets that held our DinoGems in them, we summoned our morphers with those." Tommy replied, mind getting swept away in the memories of the DinoThunder team.
Ryan listened and laughed to Tommy's stories about the DinoThunder team before interrupting. "Oh hey," he reached into his backpocket "I forgot I brought this with me." He pulled his Titanium Morpher out and strapped it on. "I could always try morphing and run ahead to find Karone and bring her back without wasting any energy."
Tommy thought for a moment then said "You better not. We don't know anything about this place, and you could easily get lost. Better we stick together." Ryan nodded, but kept his morpher on just in case he needed it.
Karone continued to battle the samurai's, it was like a game of tug of war. She'd have the upperhand for a bit, then they'd have it, etc. Most of her frustration had already been vented in her first few attacks though. She was beginning to tire. She landed a kick on the other samurai's face mask, knocking it off. When both of them came after her she quickly ran up the closest tree and jumped onto the helmetless one's shoulders. She reached down and grabbed his ax out of his hand and stuck it in the top of his head. She pulled it out and jumped off, flipping him onto his back in the process. "He's just a piece of wood! A friggin' puppet!" She cried as she quickly stomped his head off of his shoulders, then took the ax and sliced the other's head off. She sighed and began trying to catch her breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw both of them beginning to stir. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" She yelled. Karone didn't have the energy left to put up a good fight, so she instead opted to run.
The boys were beginning to run on empty again, it had been hours since they'd found the stream. Rocky and Adam still weren't having any success in summoning their Zeonizers. Tommy had told to quit trying, that they had obviously lost them somewhere. But the two refused to give up on it. Ryan was still offering to run ahead and find Karone, and Tommy continued to tell him no. As they wandered through the jungle they heard heavy footsteps next to them. Together they turned to their right and found a clearing where the ground wasn't as marshy and there was about a six foot space between the trees. They began walking along the clearing rather than the mud that they had been trekking through. It was then that Karone rushed by Tommy and Ryan and turned around. "Hey," she squealed "glad I found you! But I have a bit of a situation on my hands." She pointed behind them at the two headless wooden samurai that were quickly closing in.
"Titanium Power!" Ryan shouted, and in a silver light the Titanium Ranger took his place. together the five of them began fighting the samurai's. Tommy kicked one in his already slightly smashed stomach, crumbling it even further while Adam punched its backside, creating a hole through it. Ryan, Rocky, and Karone fought the one with the splintered head. Rocky kicked the rest of its head off and asked Karone what happened to it, and she admitted to stomping it into splinters. Ryan kicked its legs out from under it, and punched it in its stomach.
Tommy and Adam kicked their samurai back and forth, crumbling him a little more each time. "Look!" Adam pointed behind Tommy, who turned and looked. "It's the temple!"
"I've got an idea, follow my lead!" Tommy yelled. He ran for the temple, and the others followed. The two samurai also followed. Tommy increased his speed the closer he got. 'Now break!" he yelled as he jumped and ran up the temple a little, kicked off it, and kicked each of the samurai into it. They splintered as they hit the stones.
"Well," Rocky said "we made to the temple."
"Yeah," Adam said cautiously "but how do we get in?"
"Like this." Karone walked up and kicked the temple as hard as she could. But when she looked she didn't even leave a crack in it. "Damn it."
Tommy sighed and shook his head. "Come on. Let's walk around the base and see if we see an opening."