Prelude to a Storm
Victoria Hanson, also known as Tori by her friends and even her teacher, finished surfing on one of the best waves of the day at Blue Bay Harbour beach and ran up the shore to get her stuff. As she bent over to pick up her bag, she could hear a ringing coming from it. She slipped the beeping watch on her wrist and turned off the alarm. Grabbing her bag and taking on last look at the beach, she ran to her big blue van.
Shane flipped on his skateboard and landed perfectly as the crowd around him watched in awe.
"Hey! That was awesome dude!" one of his skater friend smiled as he high-fived Shane.
"Yeah! Finally landed the back flip man!" Shane said, proud of his accomplishment.
"Hey, wanna hit the new rail?" the friend asked. Shane grabbed the boy's arm and looked at the watch.
"Oh! No I can't man! I got to get to class!" Shane said, removing his helmet.
"Class?"
"Uh, never mind man! Catch ya later bro," Shane ran off, leaving his buddy completely confused.
Waldo "Dustin" Brooks landed his motocross jump and finished his race. His sponsor and boss watching his time carefully.
"Lap times are about two seconds off," she told him.
"Yeah I know! My bike's bogging on that uphill!" Dustin answered, a little disappointed. Suddenly he remembered he had to be somewhere. "OH! What time is it?"
"Five after, why?"
"Ohh man, I am so busted!" Dustin exclaimed, running off and leaving the small woman with his big motocross bike.
"Dustin where are you going?" she yelled, trying to support to bike while holing the stop watch and the clipboard.
"I'll call you later! I got to go!" Dustin yelled, making the phone sign with his pinkie and thumb.
"Where are they?" Tori asked herself as she waited for her two friends outside the park in her big blue van. "C'mon!"
Shane jumped over the curb on his skateboard and made it all the way up to the passenger side of the van.
"BOO!" he smiled, trying to scare his friend. "You miss me?"
"Dream on," Tori laughed. Shane got into the car as Tori asked where their third friend was. She looked out the windshield and saw Dustin running up. "Last as usual." Dustin opened up the side door and crawled up to the front between Tori and Shane, giving Shane a high five as he did.
"How can you guys be late every single time? I couldn't pull that off if I planned it!"Tori said as she drove to the school.
"Maybe that's because you're the reliable one," Shane stated, making Dustin laugh.
"What does that mean 'the reliable one'?" Tori asked.
"Look, in any group there are different kinds of people," Shane explained.
"Totally true," Dustin continued. "Think about um... the Power Rangers!" Dustin smiled.
"Power Rangers?!" Tori laughed. "You've got to be joking!"
"No," Dustin said. "Okay so there is always like the mellow like reflective dude."
"And then there is the rich taker," Shane smiled. "The adrenaline guy. That would of course be me!" Shane turned the rear view mirror so it could face him as he fixed his hair.
"And you Tori, you're just... you're the logical one!" Dustin said.
"You guys have to lay off the comic books, seriously," Tori said, a little embarrassed of her friends. "Power Rangers? Whatever."
Tori stopped the van just outside a large forest and the three teens got out. "This place always creeps me out," Dustin stated.
"I heard that bro," Shane agreed, walking into forest with his friends behind him.
"You guys are so lame!" Tori teased. They came into a clearing, jumping over a fallen tree and walked up to the lake.
"It sure is quiet out here," Shane pointed out. "A little too quiet."
As they kept on walking towards the water something zoomed by. Shane turned his head to see what it was. "Did you see that?" he asked his friends. Suddenly a big black blur pushed all three teens to the floor. As they got up, nine ninja appeared out of nowhere. The ninjas got into a fighting stance. Shane looked at his friends before pulling off their street clothes to reveal the same outfits that the ninja's were wearing. Shane, Tori and Dustin split up and each fought their share of the ninjas.
Tori instinctively ran for the lake. To escape the ninjas that were coming after her she ran onto the water and surprisingly she could stay on top of it. The ninja's followed her on the water. They chased her until she came to a sudden stop, looking back to find the ninjas already in the air. They took Tori by surprise and she lost all her focus, and balance, making her fall into the water.
Dustin seemed to be doing better as he fought off a large group that had formed as more ninjas came out to defend their land. The ninjas all went their separate ways underground in attack form.
"Not good!" Dustin yelled, watching the trails the ground made as the ninjas passed under it. They suddenly popped up from the ground and Dustin had to move so that he wouldn't be crushed by them. After blocking several kicks and punches, the lonely ninja knew there was only one way he could go. Seeing as he couldn't walk on water, the lake was out of bounds. He could do something different though. He could go down.
The curly haired teen did his little ninja magic trick and a puff of smoke appeared in front of him. The ninjas were amazed and stunned. But once the smoke cleared, they all stood in a circle, laughing, as Dustin struggled to free himself from the ground. Half his body was buried under the dirt and grass that were once under his feet.
Shane smirked as he jumped farther ahead from the three ninjas following him. Then, out of the blue, one of the ninjas did the same motion with his hands as Dustin had done before. But instead of going down, he went up. The ninja was now flying across the forest towards Shane. Shane mimicked the move and he too flew in the air. Both ninjas were getting closer and closer, it was anybody's win. Unfortunately the lack of experience from Shane finally caught up with him as his opponent swiftly punched him in the back, sending Shane to the ground.
"Let go of me, man," Dustin told the ninja who pushed him into a circle of the other ninjas. His friends stood in the middle. He saw Shane's ninja suit was ripped, but overall Shane looked fine. Then the two boys turned to Tori. Her uniform was a-okay, but she was a mess. Her hair was still a little wet from the water and instead of being it's usually straight and shiny, it was dull and messy. The teens turned to the sky as a falcon was heard.
"Oh man!" Shane sighed. The falcon swooped down and transformed into a sensei. Beside the sensei stood another ninja in a black uniform with green outline. The ninja looked onto the teen and their sad faces. She couldn't help but laugh as Dustin tried to get away.
"Told you they were gonna be late Sensei!" the ninja giggled. Sensei turned to her and frowned. She immediately shut-up.
"That's enough for today," the sensei said to all the other ninja. As soon as he did they ninja streaked away, leaving Tori, Shane, Dustin and the green ninja alone with Sensei.
Sensei walked up to the teens, disappointment written all over his face as he said their names. "I will expect a visit from you, so we may discuss your lack of commitment to your ninja training," he walked off to the waterfall, just on the other side of the lake, and disappeared through a portal.
"Well, that wasn't so bad huh?" Dustin smiled, trying to cheer up his friends.
"Are you kidding?" the green ninja laughed. "You three are toast! Well except Tori, she can't be toast because water doesn't cook. So really, Shane and Dustin are toast and Tori is in hot water!"
"Shut-up Kaylee, before I put you in some hot water!" Tori threatened.
After going through the portal, the four Rangers found themselves on the school grounds. Before them was the training ground where all kinds of ninjas were sparring. Behind that stood the tall academy, where previous ninjas spent all their time training to become the best.
The teens met up with Sensei a few feet ahead and they got to talking about the lack of commitment.
"You have been students at the Wind Ninja Academy for nearly a year, and yet you fail to see the importance of punctuality," Sensei said. "I would suggest you find a way to change that before you return tomorrow. Otherwise I will have no choice but to expel you."
"You can't!" Shane said, alarmed.
"You all have great potential. It would be a shame to waste it," Sensei interrupted. "Now go. You must have other studies," Tori, Shane, Dustin and Kaylee, who wasn't really supposed to be a part of the conversation, bowed to their sensei before leaving. As they did, Cameron, the sensei's son, walked up to his father.
"I dunno why you put up with them," he said.
"Well then Cameron, that is why I am the sensei, and you are the sensei's son," Sensei suddenly sensed something was wrong and looked up to the sky as a big black-ish cloud formed.
"What's wrong dad?" Cam asked.
The next day, the four teens were at a little shop called storm chargers where Dustin worked. Dustin was in the back messing with some of the equipment in the sports store as a clocked ticked. Dustin put down the stuff and checked the clock. It read 2:27. Meanwhile Shane was sitting on the couch with Kaylee as Tori brought them some drinks.
"Kick flip 250-50! That's what I got to learn for my video!" Shane exclaimed, watching a professional skateboarder on the small TV. Suddenly the alarm on the clock went off, scaring Dustin. The boy in yellow turned off the clock and Tori, Kaylee and Shane ran for the door.
"Dustin!" Tori called, making sure he was actually coming.
"Yo, heads up!" Dustin yelled to his boss, throwing a dirty rag her way.
"DUSTIN!" she sighed, "You're not going to leave me here to clean up the shop!"
"Have I ever told you what a cool boss you are?" Dustin smiled innocently. "Bye Kelly!" he yelled, running out the door with his friends. Kelly sighed, but then smiled. Dustin could be such a goof.
The radio announcer was talking pointlessly in the van as Tori drove her friends once again to the academy they called school. "Are we on time?" Dustin asked.
"You're early numbskulls," Kaylee smirked. "We could have stayed a few minutes longer to watch some more TV! I wanted to see a skateboarded fall on his butt!"
"Maybe you should come watch Shane sometimes then," Tori laughed. She then passed by a car that was smoking from the engine. The couple trying to fix it were elderly. Because they were early, Tori thought it would be nice to help them out.
"No way Tor! We can't!" Shane argued. Tori got out of her car.
"We can't just leave them here," she said. Shane turned to look at Dustin and Kaylee.
"She can be very hard headed. She gets that from mom," Kaylee said.
"C'mon, it'll just be two minutes!" Dustin argued, getting his tool box from the back of the van.
"Ohh well, my record isn't stained with a big LATE mark!" Kaylee said, also getting out to help.
Back at the academy, Sensei meditating in the garden, trying to figure out the reason for the black cloud the previous day. "Lothor!" he said, getting up and running to the academy building. He was cut off when a man in a black robe and mask appeared in front of him, followed by two aliens and two women. "The dark energy is strong in you!" the Sensei said calmly.
"It's had time to grow," the man in the mask said.
"It has been a while,"
"Now is the time for revenge!" Lothor said. "Zurgane, proceed!"
"As you wish sir," the alien to Lothor's right said. All of Lothor's minions disappeared.
"It doesn't have to be this way!" Sensei sighed.
"Why would now be any different?" Lothor asked. Suddenly he fired a blast of energy at the sensei, who barely dodged it. The blast continued until it hit the statue behind him, causing a big bang.
The ninjas training in the field away from the garden stopped what they were doing as the explosion went off. Then the four minions that previously stood at Lothor's side appeared.
"Kalzaks!" the woman in pink yelled. Suddenly a bunch of ugly black creature appeared in front of the minions. Just as they had been trained to do, the ninjas started fighting the kalzacks. Explosions came from everywhere as the fight went on.
The teens had just finished fixing the car and said goodbye to the couple as they packed up their stuff.
"Well, what if his alarm clock didn't go off and he doesn't even miss us!" Dustin asked.
"He's a ninja master Dustin! They don't oversleep!" Shane corrected his airheaded friend.
"Don't be so tough on him!" Kaylee teased. "He was right about something. Sensei doesn't miss you guys! Just me!" the young blond smiled, climbing into the back of the van.
Sensei fought against Lothor in an intense battle. Sensei using mostly the art of self defence or as Kaylee would call it, the art of the chicken, and Lothor was constantly attacking Sensei with energy beams from every direction, even the sky!
The kalzacks were also fighting against the ninjas, but it was hand to hand combat. The minions smiled as they saw all the destruction that was being caused.
"Thrash them all!" the woman in pink smiled as she ordered the creature.
"Now Choobo!" Zurgane yelled. The green alien opened up a box that he used as a bag, and giant spheres came out of it, trapping the ninjas.
"Up! Up! And AWAY!" Choobo laughed as the balls flew up into the sky. The academy was even surrounded in a ball. Lothor walked up to the Sensei, throwing one last energy blast to his foe.
Shane, Dustin, Kaylee and Tori appeared through the portal in time to see everything being sucked up into the sky. As they looked over the ruins Shane said, "It's gone!"
"I'm thinking... earthquake!" Dustin suggested as a cause for the school's disappearing act.
"When was the last time you heard of an earthquake sucking buildings and people into the sky?" Shane asked his friend.
"Well, it does suck people into the ground when it creates a giant hole! Maybe here there isn't as much gravity so instead of going down, everything goes up!" Kaylee said.
"Kay, please, just don't talk!" Tori said, pushing the younger girl ahead a bit so they could continue examining the scene.
"But Kapri! You said that once uncle has captured all the ninja schools we would divide earth down the middle!"
"No, what I said was, once earth was under uncle's control you'd get the Arctic Circle and I would get California!"
"Kapri! Marah! Quiet!" Lothor boomed as he entered the main room in the spaceship. "Before I banish you back to your parents!" The two girls lowered their head in shame as their uncle spoke.
"This is why you never work with family," Lothor said to his general Zurgane. Lothor sent the giant orb fill with the balls the ninjas from earth were held in away as his foolish nieces said bye. "Now, where was I?"
"The final phase of your plan sir," Zurgane said.
"Of course!" Lothor smiled. Sitting in his throne, he continued speaking, "Now that the last of the mighty ninja academies has been silenced, the planet is ours," Zurgane tried to listen to his master but Choobo came up and whispered something in his ear.
"Sir," Zurgane said. "It seems that four ninja academy students are still unaccounted for.
"Why would I think ANYTHING could be done right the first time," Lothor sighed. He got off his throne and yelled, "General Zurgane! I want you to make sure the zone is clear! I want nothing left standing! NOTHING!" he yelled.
"Who would do something like this?" Tor asked as the ninjas continued examining the old school grounds.
"Maybe the students left," Shane said, trying to stay optimistic.
"Yes, because as ninjas we have been trained to run away at the first sign of trouble," Kaylee said sarcastically. Suddenly there was a little rock slide that happened on one of the smocking boulders.
"Who is that?"Shane asked, turning to the boulder as he saw someone trying to get out.
"CAM!" Kaylee yelled, running to the boulder with her friends. They pushed the rocks off the Sensei's son and pulled him out safely.
"Cam are you okay?" Shane asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Cam coughed. Kaylee raised her eyebrows at him. "I am! It's just dusty under there!" As Tori and Shane helped Cam stand, a blast from Lothor's spaceship came down and hit the ground beside them, causing a tiny earthquake. The five teens got up quickly and ran for their lives.
"I guess we do run at the first sign of trouble!" Kaylee yelled as another blast came down. Cam pulled open a secret door and told the other to get in. Once they were all in, he closed it. The door led to an underground hideout which at first was dark, but once Cam activated the security system, it was one of the most highly advanced caves any of the four ninjas have ever seen.
"WHOA!" the four breathed.
"Don't ask any questions because I can't answer them," Cam said sternly.
"What? This is like some big secret?" Shane asked.
"Yes, it is some big secret!" Cam mimicked.
"That was a question and you answered it!" Kaylee smiled.
"There are times where secrets must be revealed Cam," Sensei said, or... what was supposed to be sensei.
"Hey, that big rat sounds just like sensei!" Shane said, amazed.
"Yeah, I know!" Dustin agreed. "It doesn't really look like him though."
"My father is not a rat," Cam said defensively. "He's a guinea pig!" Dustin's eyes widened as he turned to his friends.
"Dude, did he just explain it and I missed it?" he asked. Kaylee patted the earth ninja's head gently and laughed.
"He's stuck," Cam explained for the ninja with the brain of a three year old.
"Stuck?" Shane asked.
"Yes," Sensei said. Sensei, using Dustin's head, jumped to a super computer and showed the ninjas the footage of his fight with Lothor.
"This is Lothor," he started. "Once a great ninja. He was banished from the earth when his hunger for power turned him to the dark side. When our energy fields collided, I was transformed into what you see before you. Now he has returned and had brought an army that would do everything to take our planet for their own. Unless they are stopped..."
"Who is going to be dumb enough to stop them?" Dustin asked.
"That is a good question Dustin," Sensei said. "The morphers Cam!"
"Father! You're not serious!" Cam yelled. "But these guys? I mean them? There, well there..."
"We're what?" Tori asked.
"We're too good for the morphers," Kaylee laughed.
"Now Cam," Cam did as his father told him to and went to the back for the morphers. When he got out he had a circular box with him. He stood before the ninjas and opened it up to reveal three morphers.
"These, are your power ranger wind morphers," Cam said.
"Yeah, right!"Tori said as Dustin and Shane stood in awe.
"See! I knew it dude! I was right! Power rangers are real!" Dustin smiled grabbing the yellow morpher.
"Dustin, child of the earth and true to your heart, you will embody the powers of the yellow wind ranger," Sensei smiled.
"Tori," sensei said as Tori grabbed the blue morpher. "Fluid and graceful like the water, you will become the blue wind ranger."
"Shane," Sensei finished as Shane took the red morpher from the box, "Reaching for the stars, you will command the powers of the red wind ranger. From this point, you will be known as the wind power rangers. Protectors of the earth."
"So what exactly does this thing do?" Shane asked.
"Where's the switch?" Tori said, looking at her morpher.
"Does it have any games?" Dustin asked.
"Why don't I have one?" Kaylee whined.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the defenders of the earth," Cam said sarcastically. The super computer in the background started to beep.
"Rangers! Lothor's army is attacking. You must use your powers by saying Ninja Storm, Ranger Form," Sensei said. As the rangers left for battle, Kaylee walked up to the little house sensei now stood in.
"So... is mine lost in the mail?" she asked, referring to the morphers.
"Kaylee, unlike your sister and the other rangers you are not old enough to become a ranger. In time you will understand why I cannot put you into battle," Sensei explained. Kaylee looked at the screen where she could see Tori, Dustin and Shane having a blast being Power Rangers.
"Yeah, I already get it."
"See I told you guys! I told you! Power Rangers are real!" Dustin smiled as he ran into ninja ops in his ranger uniform with his helmet in his hands.
"You did well this time rangers," Sensei said. "But I'm afraid there will be more battles in the future. Lothor will not rest until the earth is completely under his control, or he is destroyed. The earth is in your hands, Power Rangers."
"No pressure," Kaylee smiled.