Power Rangers: First Omega by Comet Warrior
Chapter One: Alpha and Omega
I don't own Power Rangers. I own any original characters of my own design, though.
The multiverse. Long fantasized about by theorists and scientists with nothing better to do than wonder what might be, in reality, it's not that much to write home about. Just your basic black starfield with odd, twisting beams of light, all interwoven into a unique pattern that made the universes possible. Somehow, whatever being had spent their time making sure that no twisting beam of light ever impacted another- there might be some jostling occasionally- sure, Mu was gone now, but who'd remember them in a few hundred years?
'And as long as I keep telling myself that, maybe I won't die of boredom.' Wandering the halls with nothing better to do, the lady Illumina- Grand Sage of Time, the Multiverse, and Everything (she had added the last part herself out of boredom one day)- padded around in an old comfortable robe and pair of well-worn bunny slippers. Being able to take any female shape she wanted was only amusing to a degree- for the last five thousand years, she'd been left alone in the vast complex known for ages as Crystal Forest, so named for the odd crystalline quartz oak trees that grew around the compound. Filled with an odd mix of junk, magical trinkets, technology, and old reading material, Crystal Forest was nothing like it had been back in its heyday.
'Five thousand years since my last visitor, since I last saw anyone at all besides myself walking the halls. Oh, they sure needed me the last time the time streams were threatened, but ever since I collected the artifacts I was supposed to get, nobody apparently wants to spend time with an old fogey like me any more. I don't want to study any more stupid dusty tomes. Even that wizard with his magic coins heading to that duel with Little Miss Nutjob promised to visit once the matter was settled, after he dropped off that extra coin. 'I'll only need five- keep that one for when the time comes.' Phooey. It was just a trinket to keep me busy while he got the heck out of here.
Wandering into a large room, Illumina stared out through a great wall of windows. This was her Observation Room, a place where she could keep watch on the weave of the multiverse, keeping everything in order- and trying to pick up old broadcast signals on her old, aging viewing equipment. But the main focus of the room was a small magical device perched upon a great wooden table. It didn't really look like much, but the Pathway Weaver could tell the condition of any stream in the multiverse, and even plot its further travel. After all, even a timestream took time to get somewhere.
Warming up a cup of her special brew- coffee beans snuck from four different timelines while their original owners blamed wildlife or other people, Illumina booted up the Pathway Weaver and let it go off on its own merry way, scanning the mass of writhing light that she had 'volunteered' for back in the day. It wasn't her fault that she had been a little late to the meeting; having to sort out a crash between a tyrannosaurus and a minotaur when both drivers had insisted they had the right of way until she'd had to use her powers to slam their heads together to get a word in edgewise had simply taken a little time. But the damage had been done. While the others got to go down to the multiverse and actually have lives, she'd been stuck with the position of Sage of Time- and the check for the food, if her memory served her.
Sipping her coffee, she turned on the viewing system and tried to focus in on some transmissions that had bled out of the multiverse. There were precious few today- she ignored most of them, but a certain few caught her eye…
'Hmmm… I haven't seen fashion this bad since someone tried to convince Heaven's Garden the au naturel look was in. Admittedly, it might have looked better had the advocate actually been in any kind of shape to make it work…'
Collapsing into her old chair, Illumina set to the task that had been given her all those years ago- make sure the timelines didn't crash together like a bunch of student drivers and tear apart the multiverse. But after a few years, she'd learned that she was really just here as a caretaker- if they'd simply tossed her a broom and mop, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, but to build the job up as some sort of cosmic grand duty that could spell the difference between universal harmony and endless darkness? That was mean, even for the Defender.
Illumina shrugged. The Defender had disappeared off somewhere, a few hundred years ago. His power signature no longer showed up on her scanner, and she strongly suspected he was lying on a beach somewhere, telling lies to impress the locals for free drinks. That actually sounded pretty good- the multiverse was quiet, nobody's made a move even somewhat threatening in two thousand years, there was something chirping like a bird behind her, the coffee was getting-
The chirping sound continued. A bird wouldn't have survived the emptiness between the timelines, much less had the know-how for travel past the temporal horizon. Grumbling about how Crystal Forest had started to fall apart, she hauled herself out of her old chair and sprinted back to the table, bunny slippers and all.
The Pathway Weaver had started chirping, but this soon escalated into a full-blown siren, getting louder and louder until the force of the noise blew Illumina's blonde hair back with the force. Silencing it with a twist of a dial, she turned on the projector portion of the Weaver- and had to smack it until it focused. Once the picture stabilized, her face grew more solemn as she read the findings.
Seven timestreams, only yesterday running through their assigned courses, had deviated from their paths and were now traveling in an ever-narrowing course, intended to bring them together at one point in exactly nine months. The resulting crash would likely reduce that entire portion of the multiverse to dark matter, not to mention everyone crossing their fingers that the entire thing didn't just explode from the residual energy.
Pulling a notepad and a pen from the pocket of her ratty old robe, she made a note of the name of the seven timestreams: Heaven's Garden, Wolf's Watch, Atlantis, Azure Cove, Shell Harbor, Star's Paradise, and Dryad's Arbor. Then she ran, as fast as she had in the last few thousand years, for her private chambers.
As soon as she opened the door, torches sprang into life. They kept popping into life until she could see the table's entirety. Nine inlaid symbols decorated the massive table's top, inlaid against the whitest wood that could have been found. Illumina sighed as she glanced around, memories of the last time the table had been filled to capacity. Yes, she remembered now. The Alpha Ranger, the first one to come out of the Great Power, had assembled a team of warriors from the timestreams to combat the Eternal Darkness, and had succeeded in driving it- and its headquarters- into the event horizon of a black hole, where it had been presumed lost. The others had drifted apart after that, returning to lives left behind, but each carrying the power granted them to make sure their homes would be safe.
She picked up a deck of cards covered in strange symbols- her Tarot of the Multiverse; she called it- and quickly focused her power upon the cards until they flew out of her hands, shuffling in an intricate pattern through the air as she quietly wove her power through the seven wayward timestreams. Searching, seeking, the strands went out- and returned, infusing the deck with energy. The shuffling stopped, and then almost half the deck exploded away from the other cards, settling down upon the table in eight sets of three cards. Catching her breath, Illumina watched as each set in turn revealed their picture sides, a quiet mystical voice explaining the meaning…
'Heaven's Garden, where it all began… the Huntress stalks quietly through the flora and villages, searching for her prey, her dark work incomplete until the death of the one who will lead… against her, the Lotus Fairy dances among the flowers, using its skills to hide the true path and confound evil…'
'Wolf's Watch, bastion of order among a chaotic city… the Doll Master escapes from confinement, gathering forces that have taxed this world's warriors before and return to find out the location of the one who will lead… they are stymied by the wily Rogue, whose tricks, traps and intellect confound the evil of this time… for now.'
'Atlantis, land beneath the waves… the Demon Princess desires a new toy, having her sights set upon the inhabitants of this sacred water city, she looks for the one who will lead, wishing to make him her own… from up in the sky, however, the Queen of the Spires looks down upon her, her allies able to stop the dark forces currently…'
'Azure Cove, a land in turmoil… a Masked Ninja prowls the streets, looking for the one who will lead, hoping to stop the resistance before it even starts… only to keep running into the forces of the Honorable Warrior, who seeks to stop the destruction…
'Shell Harbor, beautiful land of nature… the Dark Priestess's work has created a streak of darkness through this unspoiled land… her forces seek the one who will lead, so she may present him to the one she currently serves as a gift… the Avenging Angel battles her forces as best she can with her comrades, but the fight could go either way…'
'Star's Paradise, a haven amongst the stars… the Ant Queen, her forces growing by the hour, keeps the defenders of this timeline busy, but thanks to the Amazon's great strength and will, they have managed to keep this time from falling to darkness…'
'Dryad's Arbor, land of wood and magic… the Lich battles the forces of light with his dark powers, battering the boundary between mundane and magical with such ferocity that it takes the efforts of a team of magical defenders- and the Wild Sprite- to keep the darkness from claiming this timeline.'
'Crystal Forest, eternal watchtower of the multiverse, the last line of defense against the Endless Darkness that wants to do nothing more than consume the Great Power held within… you must prepare the compound. All focuses upon the Omega- as goes he, as goes the multiverse. Guide him, train him, supply him with the equipment needed to stop the Eternal Darkness… but never forget that sometimes the simplest fight can have the most complex solution.'
The cards clattered to the table as Illumina quietly contemplated the meanings. The seven battles of the timelines had come up before, and she had quit doing the readings simply because she could almost lip-sync, word-for-word, what the deck would tell her. But if the Omega really was on its way…
She quickly rose from the chair and with a thought, changed her clothes from a ratty robe and her beloved slippers into an outfit more suited to a sage- a simple dress with tasteful decorations over it, as well as boots and gloves. Striding with purpose, she walked through the halls, watching as the Great Power surging through the conduits of the complex awakened equipment and technology that hadn't been activated in a few thousand years. Some of it still worked perfectly, but most of it simply gave off error messages, foul-smelling clouds of smoke, or failed to turn on at all.
Eventually, she reached a massive, ornate door that was bound by a seal… as she watched, pure, amorphous morphing energy flowed into the seal, making it shimmer all colors of the rainbow… and the designs started to flow inside it. It passed through the nine runes Illumina had seen on the table, ending upon a curved letter she had never seen. After some thought, she realized what it was- her Greek wasn't as good as it had been in the past, what with no reason to practice it…
It was the symbol for Omega.
Creaking open, the door opened for the first time in five thousand years. Everything was covered in ankle-deep dust, but light slowly started piercing through the dirt and refuse. Seven recessed areas spread around the circular room revealed strange and eldritch equipment, as well as some mundane things. But Illumina's attention was drawn to the massive chunk of crystal hovering in the air above the room's center. She saw flickers of fire within, streaks of orange and red and other colors that filled the crystal until it looked like it was almost alive…
With a groan, it dropped to the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces, the strange rock vanishing into the darkness as it rested upon the ground, away from the figure that had apparently been inside it. It groaned, sat up, and scratched… his head, yes, it was definitely a male. He wore simple clothes- a shirt and a pair of light shorts, but nothing more. He stood up and stretched, wiping the sleep from his eyes, until his brown eyes caught sight of Illumina.
"Uh… what's going on? I was having a pretty good dream before somebody just upended me and dropped me here…" he sighed, as Illumina simply shook her head.
"Child, you're here because you're needed. Have you any idea of where you are?"
The young man on the floor closed his eyes and tried to gather his thoughts. It took him a while, but he managed to piece a few things together.
"…it's starting again, isn't it? The Darkness has risen again, and he's got a few plots past us while everything's been turned off. "
Illumina quietly grinned to herself. At least this one actually remembered some of his training from inside the Great Power.
"What name were you given, young one? I am called Illumina, Sage of Time and the Multiverse. I guess you could say I'm the one in charge of this little operation. Now, hurry up, out with your name. We have much work to do."
Dusting himself off, the young man ran fingers though his short brown hair and smiled.
"…it gave me the name of 'Sean'- I don't know why, but it might have had some meaning for someone on the other side…"
Illumina rolled her eyes after she turned around. They'd have to pick the name of the Alpha. It must have been for simplicity's sake, she realized- most of the old equipment and databases- those that still worked, anyways- would answer to anyone with that name.
"Well, Sean, there's no time to explain. We're on a time limit- if we don't solve this in nine standard months; we're looking at half the multiverse ceasing to exist after reality's worst traffic accident. We need to get to work finding the others."
Sean quirked an eyebrow. "Others? I'm not doing this alone? "
Again, Illumina rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't last a second against the hordes arrayed against you if you went alone. Trust me. I'm a Sage, and I'm saying you need to find the other seven Celestial Rangers. Only then do you have a snowball's chance against the Eternal Darkness. So just relax and let's get going. The first timeline that needs saving hasn't really been targeted yet, so hopefully we can save it without too much trouble. You'll meet your first team in Azure Cove."
Half-dragging Sean over to a table on the west wall of the room, Illumina shook the dust off a leather uniform- a bodysuit accented with orange and a small symbol of a setting sun. It faded away as she pressed it to Sean's chest, and then she grabbed his arm and attached a small device around his wrist.
Immediately, Sean fell to his knees, a wave of nausea threatening to wrench his empty stomach as memories and skills seemed to flood his brain, backing themselves up to his mind like some kind of mystical zip drive. He found himself with the sudden urge to get outside and get to the beach, or ride his board.
"…I see they never explained to you about the 'personas' you'd be assuming… pretty much, there have been records created in all of the timelines for you- just in case this happened, we can easily breach the temporal horizon and get you set up there, such as we're doing now."
In the alcove, the back wall suddenly started shimmering, and Sean could see a small park through the glimmering crystal.
"In this timeline, consider yourself a student of Twilight Ninjitsu. I am your teacher, Sensei Dawn. You're the last of your kind, but I'll teach anyone you think could help us- I just hope you don't get yourself killed out there. You'll know what to do when the time comes."
She gave a gentle nudge to Sean, and he walked forward, stuck his hand through the crystal, and then yelped as he was sucked through, transformed into a beam of light as he streaked across the emptiness and slowly breached the temporal horizon of the stream known as "Azure Harbor".
Illumina, standing in the room with the window wall, quietly watches Sean's energy disappear into the light of the timeline.
"…and so it begins. Find the Honorable Warrior, Sean. Only with his help will you overcome the Masked Ninja."
Author's Note: Well, there's the first chapter. Feel free to ask me anything, but try not to spoil anything if you think you know the direction the story's going.