The Ultra Crystals: Gaiden
Chapter 1: Distress Call
The thrum of the engines below him sent a shudder of anticipation through his body. He wondered if he was making the right decision, leaving the earth in the protection of Liz and the others. However, he knew he needed to reconnect with his inner 'human' in order to face the greater evils he had seen in his vision. Plus, there was the little niggle of actually killing a person and not feeling anything that was the greater issue. His double had been infused with triple the usual magic so the others didn't have to travel to Sydney so often. What had seemed like an over precaution was turning out to be a life-saver; in more ways than one.
Easing the throttle forward, Weihan looked out the main view screen at the cliff in front of him before releasing the brake. The Meteor Masher shot forwards with a sharp jerk and he applied more speed. The Power told him that the Zord needed to be accelerating faster for lift-off to take place. Gunning the throttle, he pushed the Zord to the limit as the edge of the cliff came closer and closer. He would only get one shot at this. Actually, he would get several...but he had to at least make it work on the first try. He owed himself that much at least.
Pulling back on the controls, he felt the wheels of the Zord lift from the ground as the thrusters and underside jets took over. There was a brief moment of free fall before the stomach dropping sensation that always seemed to come with rapid ascent. Flipping the switch to activate the anti-glare shield, he fought with the wind currents to achieve a near vertical position. The brilliant blue sky smiled almost mockingly at him, as if it knew what had happened in the past. Shaking his head, he bit his lip and pushed down on the pedals.
The blue turned to purple, and that purple turned to the inky blackness of space. Turning on the gravity field, the Orange Ranger glanced in the side view screen to the planet below. Somewhere on the blue, green and orange rock lay the woman of his dreams...but he had promised AJ that he wouldn't come for her yet. Bree had proven that she could be trusted to help the others in bringing in Shannon, no matter how much the other girl fought. Of course, she had Scorpireno looking after her and the Powers had melded, so there was no problem there.
Pushing the accelerator forward, he raced to the Moon in a matter of seconds. He could see lights coming from the old Moon Palace that had belonged to Lord Zedd and he wondered how long Xonix and Jabarkas had been there. Sighing, he shrugged the thought out of his mind. That was something to worry about if he managed to get his head on straight. He debated with himself about firing a laser at the Palace to see what would happen, but he chose not to. It wouldn't be right for him to start a battle when he was running from his problems.
After all, that was what he was doing; running and not talking about it. Even though he had told himself that talking would do no good for his situation, there was the persistent doubt that nagged in the back of his mind. The doubt spoke of when he had consoled Twilight with his words after Creeper had forced her to harm her friends and when she had seen innocents killed in front of her. The other side of that argument was that Twilight didn't kill them herself...and feel nothing inside. Maybe Xonix had been right when he said he was turning into a monster. No, he had to stop thinking like that. After all, if he was the monster Xonix has made him out to be, the self-styled Supreme Commander of the TW Battle Group wouldn't have signed him up on the spot.
Thinking of that encounter brought a small smile to his face. In a few years, he would be assembling a team and going on Planet Patrols to see if a nearby planetary system could ever be colonized. Of course, there were rumours that a small group of displaced aliens were running banditry operations there but they didn't have access to the tech 'Frizz' had waiting in the wings. However, he would have to ensure that the Earth was protected against whatever Xonix could throw at them. Well, that was providing he could leave Equestria in one piece. Still, he had no doubt piloting a Meka, as the robots were called, would be similar to a Zord. He supposed he would have to start out in a vehicle first. He didn't know why, but something about the Cobra Hovertank sketch had caught his eye.
Setting the Zord on autopilot, he turned to the screen to his right and flicked a switch. Immediately, information began scrolling across the screen; information that had been taken from Zordon's Archives in the Ultra Cavern. Wherever he would go, he could just hit a button and any information Zordon or his allies had about the sector would be displayed in front of him. It was almost like an information GPS of sorts. How it knew what planets were around him, he had absolutely no idea...but he guessed he didn't have to know for it to work. From what he could tell, Saturn held the remains of many ancient refineries that were held up by powerful anti-gravity jets. They had been harvesting the gases in the atmosphere for some long-forgotten reason and were sending them to another planetary system.
Biting back a yawn, he checked the auto-pilot controls before making a move out of his chair. He had absolutely no idea where he was going, yet still wanted to have some semblance of rest before he got there. He had almost made it out of the cockpit before a siren started blaring. Whirling around, narrowly missing smacking into the closing door, he scanned the consoles to see what was making the racket. Much to his surprise, he saw it was the communications station.
"Please help us! My name is Muitime and my sister and I are in great danger from an uprising!"
Exhaling in frustration, he forced himself to turn around and all bit slapped his hand into the transmission button. He was aware of a slight hardness in his voice but couldn't muster up enough energy to care.
"This is the Orange Ranger; state your position and current situation."
"The Orange Ranger? Why...anyway, I am trapped in the Central Core with my sister and our Rangers. We are surrounded on all sides by an armed uprising and we cannot free ourselves."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
He closed the communication channel and paused. He had forgotten to ask the voice what planetary system they were on but the log would have that information. Bringing up the most recent calls list, he scrolled through the information slowly until he saw the name. He swore loudly and wondered what god had it in for him.
It was time to visit Huran.
TBC...
AN: And so it begins.
