A/N:- 20 pages in Word Calibri size 10... This took... SO LONG! I know, I know I should be working on The Keepers: Rise. I should in fact be working on my AS level coursework... Nevermind that, What I'm curious about was why no one bothered to cross Power rangers and Avatar over before... Yup same thing as the Justice League I guess. See my profile for the disclaimer. Anyway, enjoy and REVIEW! Pretty please?
Eastonia
Long ago the Earth was living in relative harmony. Then everything changed when the Dragons and their minions, the Dragoniods attacked. Only the Beast Lords, masters of the Beast Zords could stop them. And stop them they did, at a terrible cost.
Only a few escaped the slaughter, including the Avatar, the only one who could form a megazord by himself.
A hundred years have passed and Toph awoke the new Avatar, a young boy named Aang. But the Dragons are back and he was the last of his kind.
Was.
Toph, Suki, my brother and I were given the powers of the Beast Zords. We're going to help him. Because I believe, we can save our world.
We are
Power Rangers: Beast Force
Season 1, Rivers.
And so our paths diverge but meet,
Like rivers that dance across the lands,
Never stopping,
Always flowing,
Till we reach the sea.
Episode 1: An Iceberg, a Temple and the Return
This, is Equim, a tiny isle barely the size of Singapore floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
You don't hear about it much, even though it is part of the Commonwealth. In fact, the most interesting thing about it is the dormant volcano next door. Most of the Caucasian faces here are tourists. The vast majority of the population is either the Polynesian natives of the island, or the Chinese settlers from the time of Admiral Zheng He.
Still, the mark of the British Empire was here. It's in the educational system, the way they govern the country and in their national choice of language - English. But, sometimes, you could find it in the very citizens of Equim. You could find it in the members of the devout Anglican Church here. You could find it in Suki, Suki Fang'rl.
Suki's mother was an Equim Polynesian native, her father was a colonial. All in all, she was similar to the baba nonya of Malaysia. It was a bit strange, but it wasn't too noticeable in the tight-knit community of Equim.
Well, part of the reason why it wasn't too noticeable for Suki was because of her boyfriend… Sokka Sayang.
Sokka was… strange in quite a number of ways. He had a tendency to fidget. He was quite inventive (which was actually the thing most teachers loved about him). He also was self-humiliating (for comic relief purposes that only he knew the reasons to). He was also a member of the Haiku CCA. No, seriously, he was. For goodness sakes, he spent most of his time with his only friends, his younger sister and her best friend!
Katara Sayang was different. She had potential, potential to be a lot of things. Unfortunately, all this potential had to go down the figurative drain because she was really, really bossy; or motherly. Whatever you would call it. Let's see some examples….
"Mr Pakku, you really need to stop forgetting where your glasses are. Here, let me get them for you."
"Mr Long Feng, I suggest you take your hypertension tablets if you haven't taken them. See? I have some right here..."
"Mr Bumi, if you aren't going to teach then you better head to the nurse. You look slighty..."
Yup. She'd call it being caring but to everyone else? They thought she was trying to act like their mother...
Surprisingly though, her best friend was her opposite in most behaviours. Toph Bei Fong was an heiress, with a ne'er-take-care personality. She'd sooner laugh at someone's misfortune than help them out. But that didn't mean that she was a mean-spirited girl. No, she was among the first to run forward to help anybody, and while she didn't go out of her way, it's the thought that counts... Right?
The other thing about them was actually, more visible than their conflicting personalities. Toph had huge glasses. Because, technically, she was legally blind. She had just got contacts, but they were thick enough to make her eyes go from a leaf green to a milky pastel one.
But, enough of the descriptions, even their first day of school should be more interesting than this!
Wait…
"Why are we in school again?"
"Sokka, it's your 6th form orientation day…and Year 10 orientation for Toph. Me? I just tagged along because what else is there to do?"
"But, it's just so…boring!"
"Hun, Sokka, the first day of school is always boring…CCAs haven't even started yet!"
"Whatever Fan girl, you have to endure it once. Me? I got to do it twice, the second time with the new students, probably on the actual first day when most people actually bother to show up. Which I don't really understand at all, who comes to this island anyway?"
Okay, school rants, entertaining but not too interesting at length.
Maybe that volcano-next-door is more interesting….
Drakenisle was a dormant volcano; one that hadn't erupted in a 100 years. This would usually mean its safe, but there's a reason why it's dormant and not extinct. An extinct volcano does not have activity within its bowels. And this volcano had activity, lots of it, the kind that make you wonder if there is something under the darn thing. In this case, the conspiracy theorists were right. Something did lurk beneath the surface of Drakenisle Volcano. It wasn't something though, more like someone; actually, more like a whole army; an army of Dragons and Dragoniods.
Dragons, of course, were the rulers of this island. This was because of various vital reasons. The Dragoniods couldn't fly. They weren't as intelligent. They couldn't control fire. Nor did they have the capacity of inspiring a malicious awe in others. They looked like, according to dragons that is, abominations. They were skeletal, and looked mostly like the bones of hatchlings that reanimated themselves into a hideous bipedal form.
You see, no self respecting Draine would keep a hatchling that even remotely resembled a biped. Bipeds reminded the Dragons of the race that defeated them, the species that prevented them from taking their rightful place as the overlords of the surface.
Punish. Finish. Enslave.
Those were the rules by which dragons lived by. It was their creed, if you will. Any that went against it would not be spared. Not even if they were the Drahei, the hatchling of the mighty Drakrone. Not even if he was the Drakrone's only Drake heir. Drafava was greater than enough. The Draine was ruthless. Strong, and she controlled blue, not orange, blue, fire.
She was definitely a better choice than Drahei.
Definitely a better choice than the pathetic excuse of a dragon imprisoned in his own chambers for refuting one of the sub-general's idea of sending mere hatchlings into battle to be massacred. Better than the prince that wouldn't fight. Better than the dragon whose scales could melt. Which self respecting dragon's scales could melt?
Apparently? Drahei's.
In Drahei's chambers a ten foot long dragon laid sprawl on his belly. This, was Drahei. He was the runt of the hatch and, more importantly? Drakrone said that he was lucky to be hatched. Dragon's eggs take a long time to be incubated. He was hatched within nine months of being laid.
Too soon for a dragon. Too soon to be strong.
His sister, Drafava remained within her egg for 2 years. Not one, but two. Where most dragons took a year and a half, she was in there for 2 years…
It spoke of her strength, the fact that she could be patient, cunning… devious. The length of time within the egg told of the qualities of the dragon.
Drahei… Nine months. Nine months too soon. To have him survive these, near 18 years….
The tenacity of this dragon was astounding. But, no one had seen him in over 4 years. He had been placed under house arrest the day he turned 13… the day he lost half his muzzle.
Now every dragon had a name. They just chose to use titles most of the time because of the power within a name. Dragons only gave their names to those they trusted the most: their mates, their friends and their liege. Drahei had refused to give his name to Drakrone when it was demanded of him. He had attempted to run one of his paws over his muzzle and then, revealed he couldn't manipulate fire. Drakrone in his delight, burned his drake, and condemned him to house arrest, "Until such a time I see fit", for his human actions. For what self respecting dragon would attempt to run their paws through the tops of their muzzles? It was beneath them. It was… human. Aside from that by not revealing his name, he essentially, unknowingly, disrespected Drakrone.
But…
Drahei's name was Zuko.
So with an island like Drakenisle, you would expect it to be completely cut off from the world. In many ways it was, expect for the fact that the brother of Drakrone, Drakwes, was a member of the White Lotus Society. Iroh had turned double agent years before. He was probably akin to the old Chinese dragons of lore. The ones that showered blessings and prosperity on the people they chose to protect.
He was probably the only dragon left that still saw things this way...
He couldn't count on anybody, anyone.
He had to protect the humans, had to protect his nephew.
Agni, his nephew.
The dragon who wasn't as dragon as he should be. The dragon, whom Drakbea and himself worked together to create. Not that Ursa was unfaithful, or that Iroh was willing to forgo the memory of his dead mate and hatchling, but without an intervention, they would have discovered Drahei had been born. Not hatched.
The White Lotus protected him, protected them.
Protected the born-without-a-name and the traitor.
Dragons are hatched with their name known already, the fire instilled in them, and talking in full sentences.
Drahei was born wailing, without fire and talking came in the form of single words, almost a year later.
Drakwes, or Iroh, as we know him, busily scraped a symbol on the cavern floor with his paws, dancing around until the shape of a white lotus flower finally formed. Nosing around his hoard, he found a single tile and with his long, flexible tail, placed it in the middle of the flower. Clearing his throat he cried
"I seek an audience with the keeper of the Beast Gems, Wu."
The tile in the middle of the symbol glowed, and the lines of the symbol soon followed, shooting up into the ceiling as a stream of coloured light before taking the shape of a rather preserved old woman, the type that aged so gracefully that there was a quiet dignity about her entire person.
"Iroh, I'm here."
"Wu, Drakrone, Ozai, he has..."
"What Iroh?"
"He has managed to complete the comet of Sozin, tell the Pegasus Zord to be prepared."
"Iroh, he died a week ago, along with his partner."
"Then..."
"There are no more Beast Lords around. Except me. And the Pine Marten Zord sacrificed herself so I would gain the powers needed for being the keeper of the Beast Gems."
"I knew Ozai was planning something, I just didn't know that he was rebuilding the comet of the last invasion."
He laughed.
"It makes sense that my younger hatch-mate would time it exactly so Equim would be unprotected."
"It does. But all's not lost, if Yue can convince the Five to take on partners, then..."
"They wouldn't be the Beast Lords we know. They would be..."
"Yes Iroh, they would've more power than we would ever know, even with your abilities."
"But if one Gem will not take?"
"Then we hope that the iceberg is activated. Only the Avatar can access the Avatar State."
Dragosl, or Zhao, as he was known to his liege Drakrone, was an ambitious drake. He wanted power. And who was more powerful than the higher tiers? Should one of the drais take a fancy to him, then, and only then, he could settle himself firmly among their caste.
But... Who? Who shall he seduce? The draine of Drakrone? That would be suicide. One of her friends? That would be more likely. Dralee would be easy. But she was too hyper for his tastes. Draai? The one that they intended for Drahei before his imprisonment? Perfect...
He would have to start small. Her nest liege, would only settle for someone of great power and ability... Someone of great favour from Drakrone... If what he heard from the last meeting was correct, then soon, Drakrone would need some dragons to venture out of the isle to obtain energy. He would start working on an energy sucking creature straight away...
Yue was busy...
And that was putting it lightly.
Convincing the Zords to take on partners was not an easy task. Well, it would have been considerably easier for her if the Phoenix Zord wasn't so stubborn. So far every other one of the Zords had agreed to the proposition. If only the Phoenix Zord didn't nearly bond with Kuzon...
She was currently taking a break from the debate between herself and the Phoenix when she heard the soft crooning sounds of his mate speaking with him. It was strange, she supposed, for the Phoenix and the Rinnix Zords to be life-mates already. Normally Zords would wait for their bonded before settling down, usually with the partner of the one they bonded to. Well, at the very least it did happen in the tales of lore of the ancient Beast Force members. The white Falcon and the pink Crane life-mated soon after their bonded wed... To have life-mated before even they met their bonded... They must be so afraid. So afraid that they would be ripped apart by the very bonded that they entrust their powers to. Afterall, there had been very weird combinations of Zords before, example? The yellow Griffin and the red Dragon Zords. The red Dragon Zord bearing an unfortunate resemblance to the vermin they had to beat back. Another example? The blue Dophin and the navy Beetle, not to forget the red Tyrannosaurus Rex and the yellow Sabertooth Tiger...yes... these were the combinations Zords could end up with. At the very least the yellow Griffin and the red Dragon were mystical animals...
Still, she strained to capture the conversations of the red Phoenix and the blue Rinnix.
"Phoenix..."
"I know Rinnix, I know wo de lin, but I gave my word. My honour."
"Phoenix... wo de xin, at least think about it. You vowed to serve Kuzon and his descendants. Please, maybe you'll find someone of his blood to sate your loyalty."
"Rinnix... how did you?"
"Know? You loved him like a brother Phoenix. You guys didn't completely bond but it was obvious that if you didn't then you'll only take someone of his bloodline."
"That's the thing. I partially bonded with him, I'm connected to his descendants. I felt the last of them, barely born, disappear almost eighteen years ago..."
Yue gasped. So that was what his problem was. It had never been the memory of his almost bonded, it had been the disappearance of the one he considered his charge! It all made sense now! She walked back into the dais of the Zord's sanctuary only to find 4 Beasts Gems. Yellow, the Fox Zord. Black, the Wolf Zord. Green, the Bear Zord. Blue, the Rinnix Zord... but no red. Eyes widening, she looked around for the familiar telltale sign of red...
"You will not find him here." A quiet, sorrowful voice reached her. Yue whipped around, the Rinnix Zord perched upon one of the ruins of the sanctuary.
"Why not? Can't you follow that life-mate bond of yours and bring him back?"
"Quiet! No one knows of our bond and we can't annouce it just yet. He's gone on a quest, of which I cannot reach him till he has succeeded."
Yue stopped, considered, and then, with widening eyes she realised.
"He's gone to find the last descendant of Kuzon, he that is the great-grandson of Roku the last accesser of the Avatar State, hasn't he?"
"Yes. But the rest of us are ready. We will choose our bondeds soon"
He was tired.
Tired of the same cavern walls.
Tired of the fact the air was always metallic.
Tired of being imprisoned... in more ways than one.
His body didn't fit him. The sprawl of the dragons was uncomfortable. He felt, clunky. That even though he was already puny, he was supposed to be somewhat smaller.
It was confusing.
He was bored. (He used to fill up his time with learning the human educational syllabus... you can tell how that turned out. If you wanted him to take the AS exams, he'd probably ace them.)
And he wanted out.
He wanted his father to love him, acknowledge him.
But to do that, he'd need to escape first...
Katara, Toph, Sokka and Suki all lived in the same neighbourhood, it was beachfront property. Which was probably for the best as Sokka, Suki and Katara all shared a mutual love of the ocean. Toph's parents just chose that neighbourhood because that was the richest part of the island, and where would the Bei Fong's be seen but in a place of prestige?
No, that'll not be the proper way for any Bei Fong to be seen. Especially since they were the descendents of the first mate of the TanQiuZhe, the first colony vessel to land on Equim, back then known to the Chinese settlers as BaoHu, and to the Polynesian natives as Lindung. Obviously, the Bei Fongs took this concept that they were old money very seriously. Katara and Sokka were descended from the line of the Polynesian chiefs of the island and Suki's father inherited the house they stayed in from their superintendent of a great-grand father. There was also one other house though, it used to belong to the descendents of Captian Zheng, used to, because it was empty. There were stories about this house, how it was supposedly, haunted. Hakoda, Katara's and Sokka's father could remember the lights, the rumbling volcano and the strange sounds that came out of that house, the Zheng family home, nearly 18 years ago.
In fact, there were strange lights coming from the portion of the beach nearer towards the land... And towards their right, the volcano was rumbling again...
Yes, the four could see the volcano on their way back from school; they often took the short cut back home, through the private beaches of their families. Always falling into a formation of sorts, they would start off from school in a straight line, like soldiers marching abreast, then slowly, Suki's pace would slow. This of course would cause Sokka to make a fast drop to the back. Toph and Katara would walk quicker as the young lovers play fought, sniped and do thing that generally wasn't allowed to be done openly in their school. Even if they were in 6th form. Toph would then drift closer towards the land while Katara would go towards the sea, which is why when one of the little nooks and crannies of the beach glowed with a strange rainbow-like hue, Toph, being closer to the mainland of the island spotted it first.
Throwing a glance back towards 'Sukka', as the school knew them as, she could still feel that pang of hurt. She used to have a crush on Sokka you see, and while he let her down easy and Suki was still a very close friend of hers, he was her first love...
Katara catching the look smiled sadly at Toph. She was the first to know of Toph's little crush on Sokka, and Toph was there for her when Haru and she broke up (mutually of course, he didn't have the fire she was looking for and according to him, she always seemed to be somewhere else). So she was not surprised when Toph suddenly spoke up.
"Hey Katara, wanna ditch the four armed, four legged beast behind there and check something out?"
"What out?"
"See that cavern over there that seems to be coughing up the rainbow?"
"Yeah?"
"Wanna try being Irish and find a pot of gold?"
Katara swept her eyes back over to well... 'Sukka' (she couldn't tell where one began and the other ended), and judged the amount of time it would take for them to separate (aka when the sand grew too much to bear).
"Okay, 10 minutes tops"
"Nah, you know that they'll be at it far longer than 10 minutes..."
"10 minutes Toph, they've been at it for at least 20 minutes now."
"10 minutes it is then."
Dropping their bags on the sand, they ran towards the cave, breathlessly giggling the entire way. The light grew more intense as they ventured into the cave.
The eyes of the Rinnix snapped open.
"Yue! It's time!"
The white haired beauty nodded and swept past the council of Zords to a safer location. She watched, eyes wide as one by one, the Zords released their powers into the gems she had teleported to the cavern, then she turned, walked slowly towards the gate which lead to well, what seemed to be more forestry, and laid one hand on one of the two pillars that marked the huge gateway. More specifically, the hand which held the charm bracelet that became hers at birth. Her eyes stared at the black koi fish on the pillar, a perfect match to the white koi fish charm on her bracelet. She sighed and walked through the middle of the two pillars.
And disappeared into nowhere.
Katara suddenly felt static course through her veins. Almost like she was never really alive before that moment and all of a sudden, she was. That feeling continued to grow as she took another step into the #multicoloured side of the room that the cavern's entrance led to.
Toph was in a bit of a dilemma, she desperately wanted to follow Katara towards the multicoloured side of the room (something about that green called to her), yet at the same time her heart told her to turn away from that and walk into the white. She turned away towards the green glow when suddenly, out of nowhere, a force whirled up from inside her and led her towards the white.
It was an otherworldly experience for Toph, for once she wasn't in control, couldn't be in control. Control was how she survived this long with minimum eyesight. Control was everything to someone who was legally blind and yet, she had finally lost control and she found it fascinating…
An iceberg, the source of the glow rose out of the floor of the cave. Toph suddenly noticed that the iceberg was, in fact, surrounded by water but her body kept walking on, surprisingly enough (to her at least) she could feel the earth rising to meet her feet as dry land rose and fell beneath her feet, till she reached up and touched the crystallised water.
And it cracked.
A burst of white light exploded out of the soft glow of the iceberg, splitting it in half. Within it, was a boy and what looked to be a 6 stories tall panda, glowing with that same white glow as the iceberg. She rushed over to the boy as he started to fall, straight into her arms.
The white glow faded and she could finally see him clearly, he seemed to be around her age, and he wore what looked to be fashions that were about 100 years old. A helmet topped the outdated outfit off with a arrow that pointed to a place somewhere between his eyes. As he stirred, he promptly leapt out of her arms, 20 feet, yes you heard me, 20 feet into the air.
"Gyatso! I need to talk to him! Drakenisle, it's going to…"
"Calm down Twinkletoes. What century do you say it is anyway?"
"What kind of question is that? It's 1911!"
"Dude, welcome to the 21st century."
"No, no, no! It can't be!"
The boy turned to the gigantic panda and shouted at it.
"Appa! Appa! Get up! We've got to go!"
"Calm down for a second!"
"Huh?"
"You've probably never heard of it but there's something called 2011 waiting out there, in case you haven't noticed, that probably means this Gyatso fellow is dead."
"No, that's not possible, Beast Protectors live longer than most people!"
"How old was this Gyatso guy?"
"…Around 75..."
"Mhm really? Well the oldest person that ever lived died at the age of 127. She was a woman."
"It's the magic of the zords!"
"Zords?"
While all this was happening to Toph, Katara had walked into the multicoloured section of the cavern. There were pedestals lining the walls, almost like it was some sort of elaborate display in a museum. The multicoloured hues were more separated here, they didn't blend as much so she could tell which source of light came from where. The navy - almost black poured out from a wolf that came to her right, the yellow was a fox to her immediate left. Further up to her left was the origin of the green glow, a sun bear and opposite the sun bear was where the blue was calling her to. She drew closer to the strange statue of a raptor, ice blue feathers blending in with much warmer ocean blues. It was fierce and powerful and…
Well she couldn't find any more words to describe it.
She could see a blue stone in the claws of the bird of prey and all of a sudden realised, there was one in each of the other statues, save the one she saw straight ahead before, the red equivalent of the creature she stood in front of. Wondering why she reached out.
Home. Family. I understand little one…
Almost as if she had being burnt, Katara drew her hand back. Gathering up her courage she reached out again.
Don't be afraid. Heal. Defend. CHANGE.
A wave of cool power flooded through her senses, it was standing underneath a waterfall and under a thunderstorm. It was diving head first into a lake and letting the sea lap at your feet. It was standing against uncountable odds and knowing, it might take some time but that you could, and you would, overcome them. Blue exploded.
Feel vapour. Touch ice. BE WATER.
As soon as it began, the cry of the raptor shook her being and then, it was over. Katara shook herself, grabbed the three other gems and ran out of that section of the cave.
Iroh rushed to Drahei's cavern, the rumbling shook Drakenisle fiercely, it meant that the seal on the top of their lands was opening again, just like it did 18 years ago.
He had a bad feeling that it would remain open for longer than an hour this time.
"Nephew! Are you alright? Are you there?"
The dragon with a melted muzzle raised his head.
"Yes Uncle…"
Iroh breathed out a sigh of relief, and subtly poked at the charms and spells holding his nephew in place. To his delight they weren't damaged.
"Hurry Dragon Heir. We must leave quickly, I've summoned a platoon of the dragoniods, they will assit you in your search in the outside world."
"Assist? The human world? Why the full title?... Uncle, do you forget the charm on my doorway?"
"Your nest-liege has decided that if you can capture the Beast Lord with the power of the Avatar State, more specifically, his or her gem, you may return to normal life in Drakenisle."
"What? After all this time, father still wishes me to return?"
"It would appear so Drahei."
"Uncle, the last Avatar Beast Lord passed over 100 years ago. Avatar Roku is dead."
"Nephew, you understand how the cycle goes. A Water Beast Lord, an Earth Beast Lord, followed by a Fire Beast Lord and then…"
"Air…"
"100 years ago, there were 2 known Air Beast Lords, only one was ever accounted for."
"Then, the Avatar could still be out there!"
Iroh took a deep breath, remembered a 36 year old man and his 30 year old wife, fighting against all odds to protect their newborn, and continued.
"Yes. And you know that Sozin's comet requires either the fuel of a gem that leads, or a gem that possesses the power of an Avatar, if Drakrone wishes to bypass collecting the energy required slowly."
"Wouldn't it be much easier to find the gem that leads?"
"It is your nest-liege's request."
"How and it supposed to leave here anyway? Remember we still have a little problem called the spell on my doorway."
"Ah, all you need to do nephew is step up, and out…"
Suki stopped her, um, activity with Sokka at the rumble. She looked towards the volcano and frantically gestured at her boyfriend beneath her. Sokka stared confusedly upwards at Suki and looked towards where she pointed.
And leapt up and out.
What seemed to be thousands of bones erupted out of the volcano, followed by a smaller dragon, riding a larger one. As the bones reached the channel they assembled themselves into terrifying forms, like a dragon, but not quite like the ones he could see flying towards them. For one, they stood like humans, biped.
The larger dragon breathed out a large stream of fire that seemed to float upon the water, and the skeletal things started to march upon these flames.
"Oh no.."
"We're screwed, aren't we?"
"Well then mister, we'd better go down fighting shouldn't we?"
After this had been said, Suki sank into a ready stance, her ninjitsu training snapping into place. Sokka followed suit sinking into the boxing stance his father taught him.
And there they stood, ready and waiting, heart and mind against the tide of the skeletons riding the fiery wave.
"Okay. So 100 years ago, there were these… Beast Lords all over the world right?"
"Right."
"And they had control over the 4 classical elements right?"
"Well, there were some that didn't exactly have that, but right."
"And they had these major, kickass, mechs, called zords which were a combination of sentient magic and technology that somehow doubled the time of the aging process right?"
"Right."
"You don't look seven and a half though."
"Didn't quite work the same way on me, I have no idea why. But right, they usually doubled the aging process time, so Gyatso was the biological equivalent of a 30 year old. Other than me, no one could figure me out actually, we stuck around for a very long time..."
"THEN TELL ME, WHERE WERE YOU GUYS WHEN THE 1ST WORLD WAR STARTED HMM? OR THE 2ND? OR MAYBE EVEN KOREA, VIETNAM, AFGANISTAN?"
"…Sorry?"
"Oh wait… 3 years before the earliest one occurred, right."
"Why are we saying the word right so much?"
"BECAUSE, Twinkletoes, I'm confused you're confused and the best way to try and fix the mess we're in is to sit down and see if we have our facts straight."
"Oh… By the way, why do you keep on calling me Twinkletoes? I told you my name is…"
"Aang. Yes I know, but I'll call you whatever I like, understood Mr Beast Lord?"
"Apprentice Beast Force member… The Beast Lords were usually the elders."
"…That does not make any difference."
Suddenly the cavern around them shook. Aang, Appa and Toph glanced upwards towards the ceiling, and took note of the potential threat of the stalactites hanging there.
"Continue this conversation outside?"
"Yes please."
"Toph!"
Toph looked back to see Katara run up to them, stop, take a step back and go
"Is that a Panda?"
"His name is Appa. Apparently."
"Okay then… Catch!"
What looked like a piece of Jade flew at her. She focused, tried to not think about the amount of drool Aang was producing at the sight of her friend, and caught it.
Stable. Listen. Knowing...
She almost dropped it as she felt something inside of her shift and
Expand. You're never alone. Never powerless. NEVER BLIND.
It went unnoticed at first, but without any warning whatsoever she knew. She still saw with her eyes, but every shift of her foot, even through the shoes, she could 'see' beyond. And more. The power was not a heady rush but a steady throb. Always there. Always solid. Ever reaffirming. Her eyes saw green.
Be the mountain. Be the soil. BE THE EARTH.
The snarl of a bear whispered in her and it was over. Aang had finally stopped drooling over Katara, but the boy and her best friend, were staring at her, in shock.
"What?"
"Did you just glow green?"
"I didn't glow white when I received my gem…"
"Why did you glow green?"
"Why did she get to glow and I didn't?"
"Oh my gosh, she glowed green!"
"Why was her bonding so special and not mineee…?"
"GUYS!"
The two spectators turned away from each other and simultaneously yelled
"WHAT?"
"There's something outside… actually it's more like an army of something on the beach… AND SOKKA AND SUKI ARE ON IT!"
"Oh shi…"
"Aang, know a shortcut?"
"Everyone, hop onto Appa."
Katara and Toph clambered onto the colossal panda as Aang made himself comfortable on his head.
"Appa, yip yip!"
Earth and ice shattered as Toph and Katara fought to stay on, while trying to suppress the fright of the panda actually rising into the air and; flying.
Zuko watched from his perch on his uncle (it actually helped that he was about a tenth of his uncle's size), the two humans that were trying to fight off the dragoniods that had landed the beach of Equim. He had to admit, he was rather impressed.
The girl seemed to be holding up a lot better than the boy, but from the various kung fu movies he watched (Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow were awesome. And funny too. Well what else was he supposed to do? He couldn't keep on just doing those CIE exams all the time during house arrest. He did get bored of taking and retaking those tests… Oooh! That reminded him, it was September right? His AS exams for Biology, Chemistry, Maths and… well.. English Literature, were coming up in a month. Hmmm.. better start cramming… wait off point.) She had way more training than the boy.
A blast of white caught his eye and… Was that a flying panda? Burst out of the ground. Clinging furiously to its back were two girls, each holding tightly onto a gem. A beast gem. Seated comfortably on the head of said flying panda (since when do panda fly?) was a boy. From what looked like to be a hundred years ago.
Oh he was dumb. Never mind the straight 10 A*s for IGCSE he had (under the name Zuko Zheng, technically Zuko was his name, Zheng just came out of nowhere when he first signed up to do Cambridge Checkpoint) pinned to his cavern wall (did he remember to pack that? Hope so.) He was dumb.
And so were the other dragons on Drakenisle. The Avatar disappeared 100 years ago. Avatar Roku died 115 years ago. Of course no one considered the possibility that someone just froze the guy! Judging by the frost marks on the panda…
WHY A PANDA?
Didn't Avatars usually receive a Zord closely connected with their element? Right… the Beast of the Mists they used to call it in very ancient China. It worked.
But the girl, the one dressed in blue in particular, drew his attention. She carried unbonded gems. Free gems. Gems he did not have to capture the Beast Lord too to get the full power out of.
He may not have any power whatsoever with flight, fire or draconican magic. (He did not count the mind projection thingy he used to sit the exams. Uncle had told him it was an old human technique. Besides, he could never see himself in mind projection form).
But he could time a jump.
Katara felt the smallish dragon riding the larger one coming rather than saw it. She screamed, waved her arms a bit and then…
Not. Good.
Blades of ice. ICE. Were coming his way, they seemed to be controlled by the girl he was well… jumping towards. Oh dear. She was falling… HE was falling. Well, he didn't need another death on his conscience. (The fact he had a conscience at all was part of why his father didn't like him, it wasn't draconican to have a conscience they were taught, it was too, human).
Letting his fall speed a little. (He had way too much time on his hands the past 4 years). He fell underneath the girl and caught her. His forepaws wrapped around her instinctively as he awaited the ground
The world had gone mad.
That was the only possible explanation she had for seeing a 10 feet long dragon wrapped around her protectively and feeling, safe.
She would later swear up and down everything that she did not, snuggle into him in midair.
Is she snuggling?
Zuko could feel his muzzle heat up.
Dragons muzzles are not supposed to be able to… blush.
Funnily enough, when Katara looked back, she should've known right from the start.
Why would a dragon's forepaws feel more like a human embrace?
And no other dragon she could recall had the ability to turn cherry red.
They hit the ground hard. The dragon's body cushioning hers from the worst of the impact, but it was still enough to loosen the grip Katara had on the other 2 stones to let them go sailing out of her hands. And hit Sokka and Suki on the head and chest respectively.
Iroh saw the blush on Drahei's muzzle and suddenly thought In a few years time, he'd have grandbabies!
And he sure was glad the couple thousand spells he and Ursa weaved about him protected him from the worst of the impact.
A dragon saved his baby sister.
Now that was not something you saw every day. Never mind she was actually about a year younger than him. Nor was the fact she snuggled into said dragon escaping his notice. There will be talks.
Something hit his head. A dark stone actually. It looked a bit like Onyx. He picked it up.
Something slammed into Suki's chest as she dealt with another skeleton thingy. Sparing a glance quickly she saw a yellowish stone on the sand. She picked it up.
Intelligence. Deduction. Strategy.
Feel. Empathise. Reflect.
Weak we seem. Helpless we're not. Danger be us.
Learn. Grow. BE THE MIND.
Draw. Release. BE THE HEART.
Twin canine howls echoed through them and they resurfaced through the howl, changed.
"Oh, I see what you mean by going all glowy now."
"What? They went glowy too?"
"Yea-up."
"Oh this is so not fair!"
Great. Just great. All the gems were bonded. Now he had to somehow get the AVATAR to come with him. Great. Just perfect.
Releasing the girl from his (arms, forepaws? He wasn't quite sure saw to think now, maybe the fall rattled his mind) he felt her run stutteringly away from him, towards the boy in navy blue. He raised himself on all four paws. And roared.
"Hear me humans! I am titled Drahei, Son of Drakrone, He that is ruler over Drakenisle. I demand the Avatar to come with me back to Drakenisle. In return we shall leave your presence and withdraw the dragoniods!"
Zuko suddenly felt like he had done something very wrong. The humans, all five of them, we're staring at him with a rather confused expression on their face.
"Sorry, Dragonoids?"
Zuko sighed,
"The skeletal beings you're fighting."
"Titled Drahei?"
"There's power in a name."
"Avatar?"
"Wait… you mean to tell me that you don't know that boy there is the Avatar?"
"I don't know him."
"Me neither."
"For all of the 10 minutes you've been here."
"20 minutes, and Sparky, what the heck is an Avatar?"
"Sparky…? You're stalling me! Hand him over now!"
"Ummm… Big scary dragon verses guy that got Katara and I out of a collapsing cave… Yeah, I'll take Twinkletoes over you Sparky."
"He got my sister out of a crumbly cave? Works for me."
"And me."
"And me."
"And me. We're not going to let you take… What's your name?"
"Aang."
"Right. Aang along with you. Or else my name is not Katara Sayang!"
"Katara…"
"Sorry."
"Well then, I guess I will just…"
Zuko took a step forward.
"Okay! I'll come with you. Just leave them alone alright?"
"I will, upon my honour, if you uphold your side of the agreement."
"Fine. Just…"
Zuko watched dumbfounded as the five humans on the beach disappeared in streaks of colour.
"Where did they go?"
Wu watched as 5 streams of colour transfigured into teenagers and collapsed on the ground, forming a human pile, of sorts.
"Where are we?"
"What is this place."
"It's like some kind of Mayan ruin or something of that sort."
"I don't know."
"It's F.O.R.C.E HQ. Otherwise known as the Temple"
Everyone turned to Aang. He turned back to Appa (who somehow managed to teleport with him but not land on them, thank goodness) and took a deep breath.
"All I know is that this is where the Beast Lords trained. I lived here for a while… And that the F.O. bit of F.O.R.C.E stood for Freedom Organised. Never found out what the rest stood for…"
"Rangers Central Established Headquarters. That's what it stood for Aang."
"WU?"
Wu emerged from behind the statue of a pine marten. Katara suddenly realised that this was a really big version of the cave. Statues and all. Except the statues here were humungous.
"Wu! You got… old."
Wu laughed heartily. Spreading a sheepish grin over Aangs face and smiles over all the other teens faces.
"Well! Not all of us had the benefit of cryogenic sleep to keep us young now did we?"
Her face grew hard.
"But I'm sure you're wondering why you are here. And why you Aang, are one of the few left from the age of the Beast Lords."
"Age of the Beast Lords?"
"The Time of the Beast Lords is over. Passed. A new age has dawned. An age you were more needed in that the last one."
"What do you mean? Twinkletoes has been tripping over his feet trying to keep up with modern slang!"
"I feared as much. The Phoenix is not among you."
"You're being strangely cryptic as you try and explain things to us."
"It only means one thing. Yue?"
Sokka's eyes widened at the sight of the beautiful white haired girl. Suki caught his eye and glared.
"Sorry."
"It's okay, I'm involved anyway."
Yue said as she held out a metallic sphere. Pressing down on two sides the 5 heard a hissing sound as it opened. Inside were six bracers. No colour, blank features.
"These are your morphers."
"You're kidding right? These don't even look like anything other than jewellery!"
"Hold out your gem Sokka."
"Wait, how do you know my…"
"Hold out your gem."
Sokka held out his gem obediently, and watched as it rose into the air along with one of the bracers and return, settling on his wrist, changed.
It was a metallic black for one. There was an actual clock face on it too with the background of what looked to be a paw print. A wolf's paw print to be exact.
Five more bracers floated out of the sphere before Yue closed it and made it disappear. Turning to the others he noticed four bracers settling themselves on them, each with relatively the same design as his, in a different colour. Aang's and Katara's were slightly different though, while his was predominantly white there were traces of green, red, blue, black and yellow surrounding the watch face, other than that it was nearly identical, right down to the panda paw print on the watch face. Katara's might seem more similar to everyone else's, but, well Sokka didn't know if it was just him but he could clearly see a bird on the background of her watch.
"Woah."
"What happened?"
"Sweet watches."
"They are more than just watches. Tell me, what do you know about the Power Rangers?"
The Phoenix Zord closed his eyes and felt his mate's power transfer into the morpher.
"So the morphers have been released then."
Silently he accounted for each of them. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
Wait… SIX? The gateway for his power had been released? The only way that could happen was if the one who's meant for it is there or… it has gone to seek its rightful bearer.
'Lead on then device' he thought. 'Bring me to my charge.'
"Let me get this straight. You want us to be Power Rangers?"
"Not want to be, you are Power Rangers young Toph."
"She's right you know."
Aang suddenly had all eyes on him. Shifting a little he continued.
"After I found out I was the Avatar, Gyatso told me something: It is not you who chose Appa remember? He chose you."
"What has that got to do with anything?"
"We'll never figure out the reason why, but something in us was worthy of bearing these powers. So the Power chose us."
"Great, that means we don't have a choice…"
"Are you willing to protect your country? Your world?"
"We are."
"When in danger raise your morphers to the sky and cry out 'Beast Force Access' the Power will supply you with the rest."
"But we don't even know how to fight! I mean, Suki knows how and my Dad taught Sokka some boxing but… yeah."
"I find Katara, that your problems should be solved. I shall return you to the beach. May the Power always protect you."
The five teens vanished in streams of light.
Aang found himself once again in front of Drahei.
"A deal's a deal."
They had reappeared in the exact same spots they had left from. Surrounded by Drahei's forces and the dragons.
"Fine. Could I do something first?"
"What?"
Aang glanced back at the other teens. They nodded at him as he raised his morpher up.
"BEAT FORCE ACCESS!"
Zuko watched as the teenagers were bathed in streams of light. He heard the calls of various animals before an entire team of.. something emerged before him. As they hit the ground they struck a pose and called out to him
"Wise Wolf!"
"Noble Fox!"
"Strong Bear!"
"Harmonious Panda!"
"Peaceful Rinnix!"
"Protectors of the Earth, united we roar! POWER RANGERS, BEAST FORCE!"
"…Harmonious…Panda?"
"Oh come on, we just morphed. Right in front of you. And all you can think about is Aang's line?"
"Excuse me, I'm trying to connect the harmonious and the panda bit together. You have seen Kung Fu Panda right?"
"How did a dragon fit in a cinema? I think someone would have noticed."
"Nevermind… Dragoniods! Attack!"
Katara felt frightened. She'd never fought in her life. Sure she did a bit of dancing and a bit of gymnastics but that was all. How was she going to hold up against… these things?
As they came some strange new knowledge flooded her brain and she knew. She knew how to control water. Bend water. Best of all? She now knew how to fight.
His troops were getting creamed. He'd have to pull back. But first…
"Uncle, could you help me grab the Avatar?"
Aang saw the enormous dragon coming for him, he knew the two dragons had been hanging back for now but with them entering the fight, they'd have to end this quickly if they didn't want anything bad to happen.
"Wu! We need my Beast Zord, NOW!"
A portal to nowhere opened up in the sky as Appa flew out of it. The Panda Zord made short work of the remaining standing Dragonoids as the big dragon readied his attack. Aang started glowing an eerie white as his voice thundered, seeming to echo upon itself.
"AVATAR STATE!"
The Panda Zord flipped and folded on itself it seemed to grow in its size until it was larger than the larger dragon. It gained a humanoid form with the head of the Panda Zord making the chest plate. Aang leapt up into it.
"Avatar Megazord, Activate!"
"Air Staff!"
Iroh's eyes widened.
"Drahei there is a time for fighting and a time to make a tactical retreat, perhaps its best to withdraw to find a more established base for us for now…"
Drahei looked back at him and gave a reluctant nod. Iroh began chanting a draconican spell.
They and their troops vanished.
"Where did they go?"
Sokka rushed forward to where the dragons were moments ago.
"Did we win?"
That was all Suki managed to get out before they too, teleported.
"Hmmm…. So Drahei has left the isle and has found the Avatar…"
"Yes Father."
"Good, good Azula… Let your failure of a brother distract these… Rangers… We have a bigger mission to fufill… Remember that Azula."
"Yes Father."
"Zhao!"
"Drakrone Sir!"
"Let them think they have won… Send in your monster in 3 days to begin the collection of life-force energy from those… humans… for the comet."
"Yes Sir!"
"Well done Rangers!"
Wu beamed at all of them as the teens excitedly chatted amongst themselves about the prior battle.
"Did you see THAT?"
"Atta girl Kats!"
"Whoohoo Twinkletoes! Appa has some game!"
"Think of everything we could do! Listen. We're superheroes! Awww… Think of what we could do for the tourism! Sokka, Suki, Katara, Toph and Aang… The beast Force Power Rangers!"
"No!"
The five teens turned surprised that Wu would shout at them. She looked at them all and sighed.
"There are rules to the power. I'm sure you know the phrase, with great power comes great responsibility. So you must understand. You must never use your power for personal gain. You must never use your power to escalate a fight, unless you are forced to do so. And, above all else, you must never reveal your identities to the general public without good reason. If you break any of these rules, you will be discharged from the morphing grid."
"Awww…"
"Toph."
"No really Sugar Queen. I'm enough trouble with my parents for taking part in Kung Fu tournaments. Keeping this secret from them? Well…"
"Nothing the Blind Bandit can't handle though, right?"
"Right."
"You, you people in?"
"I'm in."
"Me too."
"Count me in."
"I don't know…"
"Sokka! Please!"
"The helmets give me a serious bad hair day… I don't think I can do it…"
"Sokkaaaa…!"
The other four teens whined as one. Suddenly his expression changed and he grinned madly.
"Just kidding, of course I'll do it!"
Piling their hands on top of each other they jumped.
"POWER RANGERS!"
"It's not fair."
Zuko paced around the cavern with statues of various animals inside as his uncle watched.
"They were dancing circles around me! How am I supposed to keep up if I'm… this."
He raised a paw and tried to gesture to his whole body. And failed to. Great, another human-ism. Was his uncle going to burn him like his father?
"Drahei, my name is Iroh."
Zuko froze, his uncle gave him his name! He still believed in him. Trusted him! Even after all of that!
"My name is Zuko."
"Zuko, there is a way to become more agile, more flexible than you are now. But it involves becoming a biped."
"I don't care. I need this uncle."
"Fine, then Zuko sleep. A man needs this rest."
"A… man?"
Was all Zuko managed to get out before he went unconscious.
Zuko woke up and stood, feeling smaller, lighter and well, if his posture was any indicator, sorely more comfortable. Looking over at the piece of reflective material his uncle had hung (along with his IGCSE Results, good he remembered to pack it), he saw a 6'4" tall figure standing there. The posture was very… human but he felt at ease. Taking a step forward he stumbled as he attempted to walk.
"Careful nephew! It takes months for human babies to learn how to walk. Years for adults in rehabilitation."
"I don't have years!"
"Fine then, there is a way Zuko, to learn how to walk quickly."
"How?"
"Mind melding."
"The human magic thing? No, I am a dragon! I'm supposed to be able to do…"
"Drahei! Name me a dragon that can use human magic as you do!"
Zuko fell silent.
"I see you brought your television and computers along."
"There were the only things that kept me from boredom during house arrest. I had to mind project to use the computer though."
"Through mind melding, you would be able to download from the Internet pretty much anything you want to know into your head."
"Like basic necessities of a humanoid creature? Or maybe Kung Fu?"
"Again with the Kung Fu Zuko?"
"It's… interesting I guess."
"Maybe you ought to download some social interactions as well…"
A few hours later Zuko was walking around the beach, testing out his new biped form. Iroh didn't know mind melding had a limited number of uses, so after downloading basic needs (which for some reason also included bookkeeping, doing chores and cooking) and mixed martial arts, ninjitsu, southern shaolin style kung fu and acrobatics into his head, he used up his entire life supply of mind melding. Oh well he thought, when am I going to interact with those humans anyway?
He continued to move around, getting used to the new body and armour that came with it was hard work. He saw a glint in the sky.
"Oofh!"
A flying metal object smacked right into him, clasping itself around his wrist.
"What is this?"
"What is this?"
The Phoenix Zord looked down at the one the morpher had determined to be his charge. A dragon. A biped dragon but a dragon nevertheless. He tried to glare at the morpher before he closed his eyes.
"KUZON!"
The Phoenix Zord opened his eyes and stared… right at the dragon.
"How can Kuzon's grandson be a dragon?"
The Phoenix Zord nosed through the draconican magics and found…
"It's him! But, how? Nevermind. I've found my charge. It is my duty to bring his inner self out to the surface."
A gem followed the bracer that attached itself onto his forepaw. A beast gem. A gem that felt so familiar that it rang in its power. An unbonded beast gem. It felt different, somehow to the unbonded beast gems earlier. More like the Avatar's beast gem than… He picked it up.
Loyalty. Honour. You are more…
Was the gem… bonding to him? Impossible!
Achieve the impossible. Uphold. Understand. LEAD
This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be happening. It was happening! It was… Power. Fierceness. A fire burning deep within his soul. He was burning and a summer's day all at once. Red enveloped him.
Justice. Protection. Be FIRE.
The call of a raptor echoed in his ears as he stared down at the gem before it and the bracer disappeared.
"Oh no…"
Toph sighed. It was the true first day at school and she was bored. All she had heard the whole day was IGCSE this and IGCSE that… She KNEW! She didn't have two friends in 6th form and a friend in a year above her for nothing. They had run through this before with her!
"Class we have a new student lets try and give him a warm welcome okay? Say hello to…"
"Aang!"
"Toph!"
Toph beamed. Male version of the school uniform? Check. White watch just like hers? Check. Little embellishments like the white skull cap with the silver arrow that the school allowed? Check.
Tutor room had just got interesting,
She smirked.
"Zhao! Is your…. monster ready yet?"
"Yes sir!"
"Send…it…in…"
To be continued…
Next time on Power Rangers: Beast Force!
Episode 2: Kyoshi, Bumi and Freedom.
"Aang can't be the only one with a Zord right?"
"Seek Bumi, he was one of the protectors of the Zords…"
"Bumi? I knew him"
"Aang my friend, your friends are on a quest…"
"What quest?"
"My name is Haru."
"We've got to free them!"
"How?"
"Fake earth bending…"
"Kyoshi Warrior Slash!"
Next time on Power Rangers: Beast Force!