Forgotten Samurai

Disclaimer – I don't own these characters or claim any right to them, I mean duh. Obviously. If I did you wouldn't be reading it... you'd be watching it :P

The night was cold but the chill without was nothing compared to the chill within. The man standing on a rise overlooking a small city – compared to the ones he knew and had once defended as much as he was defending this one – felt the chill run deep. There wasn't much stopping the Nighloks from returning. The final battle was looming, but for the lone Samurai Ranger overseeing the gathering troops from above... he prepared himself for a fight that would test everything that he was.

And everything that his team was.

"It's time."

Alex Drake turned in the direction of the soft, kind but somber voice – her eyes filled with determination. As much determination as he felt. They had been Rangers once before. One day – their children would carry on the tradition. So it was written. And so it would be.

He turned his eyes back towards the now rapidly setting sun, searching the sky with his eyes as if they could hold the answers to questions even he didn't know. Which was saying much considering all that he did. To be alone was something – despite his lonely self perception and the distance he kept firmly between himself and others – wasn't, deep down, something that he wanted. Somewhere – out there in the stars – could be someone he would share his life with.

It wasn't Jen – though he had for a time believed firmly that it would be. He had pulled himself out of a dark time in his life, reminded by a few that he would soon lead that he had more to think about than just himself. And though he feared retreating into that pit of depression and returning to quarters in a time devoid of companionship... somewhere out there in the stars, somewhere far – far in the future – was hope.

He would have a son and that boy would bear his last name. That boy would become a man – far faster than he probably should – and become the next Samurai Ranger. He would wear his colors and while Alex had yet to see him, to hold him in his arms or to know him – he was already proud.

Who he would father that child with was an unknown to him. For all that he had seen and all the secrets that he kept and shared, as the Commander of Time Force, there was still much he didn't know and didn't have answers for.

Alex turned to Cassie and gave her a curt nod, not sparing a single moment. They had a war to wage – the final battle was near and looming. It was time.

His feet barely made a sound on the dry grass and autumn leaves as he followed Cassie back to their base of operations. For nearly a year now – they had fought on. All from different times, bound by a legacy – sworn to protect, just as every Ranger before and after them had done and would do so again. They – unlike others – would be a footnote. For this wasn't even modern times. Not hardly.

Though they had modernized equipment, brought to them mostly by Alex and prepared ahead of time, they were very much in Earth's distant past. Very late Feudal Japan to be exact. Nearing the end of the era. A new age was dawning and so there's was ending. Alex would never have thought he would have missed his isolated existence before... but he missed home. And while his new allies had become family, and friends, in ways especially after the Time Force 'accident' had occurred – he never thought would be possible.

He hadn't exactly been leading from a sane frame of mind at the time though, driven perhaps by a jealousy and a pain that he would have been better to have left in the year three thousand. But old ghosts and past mistakes or questioning his failures was not something he needed to be doing. Now wasn't the time or place for it. He'd changed as a person. More than he'd ever thought possible. The past year had forged them all anew. And now... it was time to finish it. It was time for them all to go home.

The built in sensors around the repaired and modified Japanese temple and dojo where they were staying allowed them to enter with seemingly no difficulty. Walk measured steps into thick and dense foliage and an apparently abandoned area, come upon a temple – moderately sized but not too large to defend and protect – slide open a seemingly fragile bamboo paned door and Alex was home. But it was only that easy because the sensors scanning for the bio scans of the Rangers ensured it to be. Anyone Nighlok related or unknown would trip alarms and alert them accordingly – before they could come close.

"Alex," Trip said, looking up from where he sat at a vast array of computer screens – his face a mixture of trepidation and tightly controlled anxiety. Alex had known Trip from before, the only ally among the Rangers that he had known from the start, and knew all too well the tell tale signs of alarm.

His jaw tensed, he quickly started forward, putting a hand on his shoulder as he bent over to survey the computer screen, "What is it?"

"Nighloks. I don't know how I didn't notice them before but... they're amassing. And heading this direction."

"In untold numbers." T.J said somberly from where he stood, arms crossed, from the other side of the room.

Alex let out a sigh, low and thoughtful, and looked back at the screens, "No."

"No what?" Wes asked, drawing nearer and holding out a hand. "Alex there are hundreds of them. We need to act or do something. Prepare at least."

A shadow shifted from the darkest side of the room, and the lone figure gave a soft sigh, "He's right... but something doesn't feel right." the Green Ranger said. Alex knew he didn't talk often, not loudly either and when he spoke, it was with conviction.

"I agree. On both accounts." Alex said, "I suspect an attack from another area. Master Xandred isn't this obvious. He's far more devious than something so blatant."

"What do we do?" Wes asked, looking up at him with a seriousness that was easily conveyed through the usually bright and optimistic eyes that were unsettling in the ways they were so much like Alex's. Wes had once been a Red Ranger himself and Alex could admit far less grudgingly now – a great one. To get to the point to ask him of all people what to do was something that hadn't come easy. But Alex admired and envied him a bit for how he had managed that internal process.

"Cassie and I spotted a number of troops amassing from the east." Alex shook his head, "But there wasn't enough. It was almost as if it were a display."

"A trick." Cassie said flatly.

Alex nodded, "Yes." he quickly reached out for his Morpher, "And we fell for it."

Alarms suddenly began to sound, the temple headquarters alarms flashing a bright red. Alex gave a glance around as everyone tensed and reached for their own Morphers, turning back to Trip and the screens ahead of him. "Where?" he asked sharply.

Trip gave him somewhat flustered and helpless look, "Everywhere!"

And it was true. Every single sensor alarm around the Temple was going off – blazing its fierce warnings of intruders unseen. But it might as well be alerting them to ghosts.

"Trip there's nothing on the screens accept Moogers coming from that direction-" T.J said, pointing to the screen in the corner.

"Those are the real targets. All the others have to be decoys. Disregard them." Alex said, flipping his Morpher open, "And suit up!"

Trip quickly stood, Adam left the shadows to join them, T.J stepped away from the computer and so did Wes. Cassie wasn't far behind but as they prepared to draw the ancient symbols and call out their colors – everything exploded in a flash of light, brimstone, and sparks.

Cassie cried out, her arms going up to protect herself from the explosion. They tried to do the same – some had no choice – all of them thrown back. Alex felt his back connect with the wall on the far side of the room and then the floor was immediately followed.

Alex struggled against the stars spotting his vision and forced himself to his feet, just in time for all of them to see a behemoth of a Nighlok lumber into the room through the hole where the wall once is.

"Oh shit." Wes grimaced.

"Something like that." Alex agreed.

"Power Rangers." the Nighlok rumbled, glowing red orbs for eyes pinning them down with a ghostly stare, "Your end is now."

~TBC~