Disclaimer: Not much to say, other than the series doesn't belong to me…I just wish Power Rangers was Power Rangers again…and not Sentai 2.0…
Into the Darkness:
Grey Winds Howl
"You there, who are you?" A deep voice shouted from nearby.
T. J. Johnson looked towards the voice, having absolutely no idea what was happening. A minute ago he had been on KO-35 at a wedding celebration. He had been talking with Cassie, well actually she had been talking to him, about how amazing Ashley looked in her wedding dress, and now he was waist deep in a thick substance, "Not a pizza again…"
It wasn't pizza this time though, it was mud. It was mud thick with life, he felt something moving beside his leg…the leg of his freshly torn, newly rented tuxedo…so much for that deposit.
"I won't ask you again. Who are you?" The voice shouted again.
"My name is Theodore Jay Jarvis Johnson; I'm one of the Space Rangers from KO-35. I'm unarmed and mean no conflict," sure it sounded lame, but it stated everything up front and laid it out in the open. Of course the biggest reason was due to the new guidelines allotted by the newly formed Space Patrol Division (SPD).
"KO-35?" The voice responded, sounding unfamiliar with the term.
"I'm going to place my hands in the air and step forward," T. J. began walking forward, his hands in the air, palms out.
"Slowly," the voice responded.
T. J. started bogging his way through the mud in the least threatening manner possible. The voice soon had a body to go with it, the man was wearing leather armor and wielding a large lance, his head was covered by a full faced helmet.
"You're human?" The voice responded through the masked helmet.
"Last Time I checked I was," T. J. answered.
"Then you…" the guard collapsed to the ground in a lifeless mass.
"What the!" T. J. went on the defensive.
"He's just knocked out, don't worry, but if you know what's best for you, you'll start running," a female voice sounded from behind the fallen mass. Stepping forward it was obvious that she was a human, a woman actually. She wasn't tall, had dark tan skin and short, and slicked back, black hair. She wore all black, and held a taser-like device, she crouched low to the ground and spoke quietly, "listen there will be more here soon, and you can either stay to face these things, or you can follow me, a human."
"What's goin on here?" T. J. wasn't sure what to do.
"These things, they take humans and use them for sport, so personally I'm getting out of here, and if you wanna follow I'll be more than willing to fill you in on what I know. The choice is yours," the woman disappeared into the nearby covering.
T. J. stood at a loss for what to do. Approaching voices made him quickly weigh his decisions, on the one hand this strange human woman could be telling the truth yet at the same time she did just knock out an armored guard. The voices got closer, and the Blue Space Ranger decided that he looked to be the guilty party and decided to follow the woman…though he wasn't sure if it was the best idea.
Getting low to the ground T. J. went the direction the woman did, not even sure which way she went. Taking his best guess he followed.
The voices found the body of the unconscious guard, and immediately they went on the offense.
Running headlong into the forest T. J. found himself in unfamiliar terrain. He continued along the route he believed the woman had followed. A hand reached out, grasping his ankle, and a sudden pull brought him down to the ground as he managed to swallow the equivalent of a pint of dirt.
"I figured you'd come, now stay quiet, stay low, and watch out for the lizard to your right," the woman whispered harshly towards the Space Ranger.
On impulse T. J. looked to his right, and choked at the sight of the massive, nearly invisible reptile beside him.
"Holy cow, where are we!" T. J. was louder than he had intended.
The woman slapped her hand over his mouth, giving him the most warning look she could.
Naturally T. J. got the message, remaining silent and still.
The two of them remained in close proximity and in absolute silence for what seemed like eternity.
T. J. and the woman in black remained silent and still for a short period longer. Finally the coast seemed clear and the woman motioned to stand.
"Okay, now that's over, how bout you tell me what's going on?" T. J. looked to the woman.
"Not yet, a little further ahead there is shelter. We'll be safer there," the woman began to move again, waving for the Space Ranger to follow.
The terrain remained hilly, and everywhere they stepped there seemed to be mud, but eventually they arrived at a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a large stump.
"This way," the woman moved towards the stump, lifting the top up and sliding into what seemed to be an opening in the stump.
T. J. did the same, though he wasn't sure it was the best idea. For all he knew he was falling right into a trap.
The opening in the tunnel led to a small open spot, underneath the ground. There was a small pit that looked to be used for a fire and a couple of blankets spread across the ground.
"Welcome to the Knothole," the woman said as she motioned towards a blanket, "please sit."
T. J. wasn't sure what was going on, but decided to do as requested, "So what's the deal?"
"It's simple really. Recently there have been a growing number of humans arriving in this world, and the locals of the planet are none too happy. They think it's an invasion, so every time a human appears they try to eliminate them in one form or another. It seems the execution of a human draws in the crowds, so they have been sponsoring coliseum matches, most of which end with a human's death," the woman explained as she sat across from the man.
"Then who are you?" T. J. asked.
"Me? Well I was an escapee, they've been searching for me for weeks, but no luck yet," the woman reached out her hand, "The name is Elsa."
"And this is your hide-out?" T. J. looked around surroundings they were in.
"Yeah, one of many," Elsa answered, "can't stay around in one place too long, like I said I'm a wanted woman."
"I kinda got that," T. J. replied, even more uncertain of the choice he made to follow this woman here. The more he thought about it, the more convenient it all seemed, something was off, but he wasn't sure what, "so how do we get back from…wherever this place is?"
"No clue," Elsa replied bluntly.
"So you're saying...we're pretty much stuck. If I can just find a place to contact SPD, I can get help," T. J. tried to explain.
"No one knows about SPD on this planet, there's no way to contact anyone outside of the planet itself," Elsa started to build a fire, "basically this whole planet seems to exist in a separate dimension…a much darker dimension…"
So she did know of SPD, so that told T. J. that she was at least familiar with some basics of interstellar law. It didn't mean that he had more grounds to trust her, even the criminals in space knew of SPD, and those that didn't were fast learning of them. Whole planets were beginning to develop their own Ranger research divisions; it was a long way from complete. One day though, there would be Ranger teams patrolling the countless planets of the universe.
"Anyway, I told you who I am, isn't it about time you told me yours," Elsa looked at the Blue Space Ranger.
"T. J.," he left the answer there, not wanting to give out too much information.
"Well T. J., I'm assuming you have some other title, since you seem to have a hotline to SPD, but that'll come in due time, I'm sure," Elsa returned to her fire.
T. J. chose to just watch the dark-haired woman in front of him, not saying anything else. Eventually the silence won out, there were a ton of questions T. J. had to ask, but those were for later…provided there would be a later. Elsa curled up into one of the blankets, and seemed to fall asleep rapidly. T. J. chose to remain awake for a little longer, but eventually he couldn't fight of the sleep, and soon he found himself drifting into a sleep, however light it would be.
The night either flew by, or was moving excessively slow, there was no way of telling in the deep underground of the, "Knothole." The sound of scraping against the walls is what woke T. J. It was a faint sound, but a sound none-the-less. Next there came a scream, it was Elsa…something had her…but why hadn't whatever it was approached him, was all T. J. thought.
"Run T. J., get out of here…don't let them get y…" Elsa's voice was muffled.
"Hold on!" T. J. responded. Thrusting out his arms T. J. shouted, "Let's Rocket," and entered in the morphing sequence he had used countless times. Expecting the sudden power boost that usually came with morphing he was shocked when nothing happened. "What the..?"
He didn't have time to try and figure anything out, whatever it was that had Elsa was now heading towards T. J. He had to act on the oncoming attackers, and he acted swiftly. It was a much easier skirmish that he had imagined; he had been prepared to fight off strong, fierce soldiers, not uncoordinated slow fighters. How had Elsa not managed to fend them off…maybe they just caught her off guard.
Elsa seemed to pick-up on the weakness of the attackers as well, immediately she broke free of her captives and planted them firmly on the ground. Reaching for one of the fallen creature's waist she withdrew a bladed weapon of sort and readied to thrust it into the chest of the fallen.
T. J. managed to notice the prepared attack and swiftly ran over towards Elsa, catching her hand mid-air, "Watch it, he's out…we should probably go before they get back up…or others show up."
"But…" Elsa replied.
"But nothing…let's go…" the Space Ranger grabbed Elsa's wrist and pulled her behind him, as he ran off into…well he really didn't know where he was dragging her to.
"Slow down," Elsa pulled against T. J., "you don't even know where you're going."
"Well they're there, and we don't want to be, that's all I know," T. J. replied, not slowing down at all.
"Just give me a second to get our bearings," Elsa stopped in her tracks, "I think there's a way out somewhere…down….this…way." Elsa motioned for T. J. to follow her.
Not really having much other choice T. J. followed Elsa into the darkness. The trip was short before she stopped again.
Pressing against the wall, an opening appeared. Elsa stepped out into the cool night air, the Space Ranger behind her.
"Where are we?" T. J. looked around the area. The night was black, but stars lit the sky. Apparently the sleep had been a short one.
"Near the coliseum…" Elsa replied coolly.
"Oh…," T. J. answered.
In the distance a high pitched shriek sounded, like that of a very large monkey…
"Whoa, what was that!" T. J. scanned the distance in front of him.
"You don't honestly expect the wild to be free of animals, do you?" Elsa snidely replied.
"No I expect that much, but whatever that was…well that was huge, at least huge sounding," T. J. responded to the black-haired woman.
"Then we should probably avoid it," was Elsa's reply.
Either she was trying to be funny, or she was just being blunt…the Space Ranger wasn't sure. So he did what any sensible male would do, he merely smiled and nodded.
Elsa waved for him to follow her as she headed directly into the wooded area that the really large sounding animal had shrieked from. The two moved swiftly and quietly, to the best of their abilities. The path, or lack of path, they were more or less following seemed to move deeper and deeper into the thick foliage.
"Are you sure we're not being followed? I keep hearing something," T. J. whispered in Elsa's direction.
"Probably, that's why we need to keep moving, we shouldn't have too much further to go.
By, 'too much further,' she meant an indefinite time. The night seemed to fade into dawn rapidly. The bleak sun of this planet hardly seemed to drastically change the appearance of things. Elsa moved in silence, T. J. moved right behind her…ultimately ending in a clearing.
"Yes, this is the place," Elsa whispered, finally breaking the silence.
"Not the liveliest place on Earth…or wherever this is…is it?" T. J. looked around the clearing.
"Not for much longer anyway…" Elsa smiled as she spoke.
"What's that supposed to me…" T. J. started.
"Now!" Elsa screamed at the top of her lungs.
A dark hole seemed to open in the mid-air. A huge, lumbering creature appeared from the hole, crashing violently to the ground. It was easily 10 feet tall, its hide was thick and jagged, its face, elongated with two prominent, downwards canine teeth. It was like nothing T. J. had ever seen…and he'd seen a lot…the creature seemed to have no eyes, yet it seemed to be able to see, or sense its surroundings. It focused immediately on T. J., and wasted no time in heading for him, slamming its fists strongly and fiercely into the ground, flailing rock and debris into the air. T. J. barely was able to dodge the attack.
"You tricked me," T. J. realized that Elsa had led him directly into a trap.
Elsa smiled and laughed as the massive creature attempted to attack the Space Ranger again, "You think? General Goldar will be pleased," she laughed wickedly as her appearance began to change.
"This is not good," T. J. dodged another attack, but knew that he wouldn't be able to dodge many more, the creatures was slow, but eventually if it didn't score a hit the flying debris would.
The attacks continued, and the creature seemed to not tire. T. J. on the other hand wasn't as lucky, without his powers working he was tiring much faster, and in an unlucky moment he found himself tripping over something, then being blasted upside the head with a flying rock. He was on his back, and could barely move, and in his last moments he saw one of the creature's massive fists flying right towards him.
The blow never came…
A strong shrieking noise echoed throughout the surrounding forests as a large, bipedal creature leapt in front of the falling fist. The creature was only about seven and half feet in height, but its musculature was very apparent. It had long arms, and a long tail…its legs seemed to be shorter, but equally powerful. The appearance of the creature, even apart from its size, was shocking. It looked like a type of massive ape, but it seemed only partially organic, and partially mechanical. It was an amalgamation of technology and biology. The creature had a gray coloration to it, and moved with large amounts of speed and agility.
"What in the world?" Elsa screamed as her well-planned trap was falling to pieces in front of her.
T. J. was equally confused as he watched the massive ape creature fighting against his monstrous attacker. He wasn't sure what was going on, but needless to say he wasn't complaining. The two titans continued to battle, more of the land was destroyed, but neither seemed to be giving in to the other. The ape, despite its size disadvantage seemed to be making the most progress; it was as if the larger creature couldn't get his hands onto the ape.
In the confusion, Elsa thought it best to disappear before she got caught up in the aftermath of the battle. She leapt in to the dark portal in the sky, vanishing into its blackness. The portal sealed itself, and vanished.
T. J. remained watching the two monsters fighting, though from a safer locale. Yet some reason he was unable to turn away from the events. Finally after several more minutes things changed. The ape managed to get onto the larger creature's shoulders, wrapping his legs around the neck and his tail around the broadness of the creature's shoulders (it was as if the tail had grown longer) the ape raised both its massive arms into the air, howled loudly and crashed both fists into the creature's head.
The creature let out an agonizing cry, as the ape repeated the attack. Once again the creature cried out, this time falling to its knees. Again the blow came, the creature fell forward, face first to the ground. The ape broke free its lock on the larger being and retreated backwards. The larger creature lay still on the ground…occasionally twitching, but for the most part unmoving.
T. J. stood silently watching, expecting the ape to return to the forest. Instead the ape came towards the Ranger, but T. J. was not afraid, in fact he felt calm as the ape approached. Stopping in front of the human, the two locked eyes.
"Thank you," T. J. spoke, feeling a type of connection with the ape.
The ape grunted a reply; it then seemed to nod its head in response to the appreciative comment. In a sudden change of attitude it raised back his head, howling loudly and pounding its chest. The breath of the creature covered T. J., but he was not afraid.
Quite the opposite, he felt stronger. Closing his eyes T. J. saw a massive battle, two opposing sides in conflict, and then he saw five figures standing amidst the chaos. When he opened his eyes he felt different. Then he saw why. He stood before the ape not in the muddy and tattered clothing he had been in, but in clean, grey uniform with black sleeves, and an odd marking on the front of the uniform. At his sides were two daggers, one longer than the other, and about his head was a headband, adorned with a grey stone.
The ape turned his back to the newly awoken Grey Ranger and walked away slowly. Though T. J. somehow knew that if the need ever came the ape wouldn't be far away.