AN: And we're back…finally. Minor spoilers for later Ultra Crystals works. Enjoy!
2. Ancient History
Nick stared at the paper again; this time squinting.
The words were still there proclaiming the impossible. The Power Rangers had defeated the evils threatening the globe and had apparently retired. The report skimmed over the countless exploits of the Operation Overdrive campaign and had made various references to the various Ranger teams stationed all over the world. From strange ninjas in Blue Bay Harbour to dinosaur robots in Reefside; even monsters being beaten back by the 'Elemental Dragon Rangers' in Sydney! He heard a soft knock on the door and grunted in response. The door opened to reveal Stephen's concerned face.
"Hey, uh, how are you feeling?"
Waving him in, Nick closed the newspaper and sank back into the chair. He closed his eyes as he heard Stephen sit down and blew out a long breath. He was not looking forward to rehashing the information with Stephen, but his friend had volunteered to brainstorm about the anomalies. Connor and Abby were off doing…something or other and if he looked at any more reports on what he was sure was a badly acted kid's show being real…he would scream out loud. He opened his mouth to speak but his friend beat him to the punch.
"I haven't seen Helen since then. Before…you know what I mean. It's in the past for both of us. Anyway; if she was going to drop in on me, I would have to turn her away. My niece Kimberley is coming for a holiday. She should be coming into the ARC in around fifteen minutes. Her husband will be coming a bit later but they'll be in a hotel by then."
Nick sat up and creased his brow. From what he recalled, Stephen's niece wasn't old enough to fly unsupervised – let alone be married. He had heard that she had been accepted into the Pan Global Training camp but the games were still a ways off…weren't they? He let out a low groan and squeezed his temples as he realised the new world had a lot more surprises in store for him.
"Your niece…the last I knew of her; she had been accepted into the Pan Global Training camp. This new timeline…everything is so different. You can't imagine the changes I'm having to…I'm babbling. You think I'm crazy and…ah, I don't know anymore."
Stephen eyed his friend warily. He was starting to realise that there were subtle changes in the man in front of him and had allowed the idea of a ripple in time to flit across him mind for the barest of seconds. It just didn't add up though. From the press release the Silver Guardians had sent out, time ripples affected everyone except those with a specially created device called a Power Morpher. Seeing as both Nick and Helen didn't have Morphers, their memories would have been changed – even if they were at the epicentre of the change. He would have to have another chat with Kim's husband about the effects of time travel and alternate dimensions. It had been pure chance a few years ago that he had found out that his niece's husband was involved with the Power Rangers. He had accidentally overheard a conversation involving some sort of Battle Group and Zord blueprints. If the reports coming in from deep space were to be believed, the fruits of that conversation were becoming ripe.
"No, it's quite all right. I don't know what happened in…where you came from but everything you see, we've had for years. We haven't talked about it much. Do you want a history lesson? I'll make it as quick as I can."
Nick nodded once and relaxed in his chair. An anomaly could pop up at any time but of these so-called Power Rangers were in the business of protecting the public, they would come running. Why they hadn't come before was a mystery to him but he was sure they had their reasons. As Stephen began speaking, he became more and more entranced by the differences.
"Around late 1996, there was a manned mission to the Moon; the first in decades. NASA wanted to see what had changed and if there was any chance that life was present. The two astronauts found and, against the direct orders of their superiors, opened what they said was a 'giant space dumpster'. The dumpster contained an evil witch named Rita Repulsa along with her crew of aliens. I am not making this up. They set their sights on Earth to conquer or destroy it. A few hours later, their first attack was thwarted by five heroes in brightly coloured spandex that called themselves 'Power Rangers'. Around a month later, Rita created an evil Ranger of her own and used it to attack the others. A few days after that, the Green Ranger joined the 'good guys'"
Nick nodded absently. So there had been a manned mission to investigate the object on the moon. In the original timeline, NASA had used robotic probes to transport it to the nearest black hole. Apparently there were some news reports about minor disturbances in deep space; but he had the anomalies and Helen keeping him busy to give them any major thought. He continued listening as his friend talked.
"After a few months of seeing the Green Ranger in battle, Rita kidnapped the entire town of Angel Grove to force the Rangers to surrender. The Rangers defeated her plot and every year since; the day is known as Doomsday and is a rather macabre public holiday. A few weeks after that, Rita was apparently overthrown by Lord Zedd; apparently her boss and the Rangers had to get a Power upgrade or something. The Green Ranger was stripped of his Powers and a new White Ranger showed up soon after. Then the Rangers were defeated twice in a row by the same monster. The monster was defeated by a new Orange Ranger that showed up in Sydney a day or so later. In the period of three months of attacks, the Orange Ranger gradually built up his team of Ultra Rangers and they defended Sydney for a few years. There were rumours of two other Rangers seen during this time; but they were unfounded."
Nick shook his head in shock. This wasn't just the Butterfly Effect in action, this turned chaos theory and all possibilities of Quantum Mechanics on its head. If he still was in the normal timeline, the Connor he was familiar with would have said it was 'the ripple effect of a tsunami' or something like that. A tsunami was correct…god, he was going to have to relearn everything again.
"So, the Power Rangers have defended the world from their enemies and the Ultra Rangers have fought off against the bigger bad in their area. It's gotten to the point where the Ultra Rangers aren't enough. Other teams under their 'banner' have sprung up; namely the Crystal Rangers and the Elemental Dragons. Meanwhile, in London, we try to deal with the anomalies as they appear and try to ensure nothing is made public. Did you get all of that?"
Nick squeezed his temples yet again and sighed. It seemed that the Future Predator had done more than just erase Claudia Brown and changed the timeline; it had somehow spawned an entirely different world that was far removed from normality. He would have to assign some time in the future to absorb everything in but for now…for now; he didn't know what to do. The alarms started blaring and he blinked out of his despondent stupor. Shooting to his feet, he exchanged a quick glance with Stephen and nodded once.
Power Ranger or not, he still had a job to do.
TBC…
