Disclaimer
I do not own Power Rangers, nor do I own any likenesses to the characters involved in the aforementioned work, for they are copyrighted and trademarked properties of their sole proprietors and their partnered companies. Any likenesses to the characters or characters not previously or futuristically mentioned are expressly property of the author, as are interwoven ideas further mentioned in domains outside of the Power Rangers registered copyrights. This story is purely fictional, nonprofit-based and intended, and for entertainment purposes solely.
Chapter II—Natural Fury, Part I
Spring wind, crisp as could possibly be expected at Lower California University, brushed through the hair of Wesley Collins. He was an ex-Silver Guardians of the highest rank, and his steady, yet upbeat gait, gave way to his cheery outlook on this new portion of his life. A new start. A new life. A real life. He could finally get that engineering degree he'd always thought of getting just for his dad.
He stepped over the threshold of his dormitory, now used to the somewhat dank smell of four males.
"Yo, Johnny, Drake, Brad!" he called out festively, dropping his bag at the small kitchen table.
No answer came.
"Guuuuys," he said in a sing-song fashion, noting the static-ridden TV and the spilled can of soda near the couch, His old ranger instincts began to tingle at the back of his neck, lighting the hairs then on end and causing his stomach to go tight.
He turned off the TV and listened intently, opening the last of the doors in the fifth story condo-style dorm. Then he heard it. A small whirring sound just out of earshot.
"Guys?"
As if on command, a small, spherical object shattered through the window and landed in the middle of the floor. Its pitch was increasing noticeably and rapidly. Without a glance, Wes was through the other window and hurtling through the air. He coughed as he smashed into the ground, feeling his two lower ribs crack in protest. As his vision flickered and stuttered with haze, he could faintly make out a delayed shockwave before fading out entirely.
—II—
"See ya later, Kelly" the brunet employee called over his shoulder as he dug his car keys out.
Kelly, the owner of the action sports store known as Storm Chargers, waved in response as she bid Dustin Brooks farewell.
Before the young ninja master could even get his keys to the door of his car, the ground on which he stood began to tremble profusely. He looked around as he tried to keep himself up, and managed to stumble toward his work place. The second he did, a large portal roughly the size of an Olympic pool appeared in the sky, sucking Storm Chargers in and the surrounding empty cars.
"Kelly!" Dustin yelled after the small building, rooting himself to the ground with his Earth Ninja powers.
Just as the portal began to close, Dustin attempted to sprint toward it helplessly. When he spun around in defeat, he glanced into the horizon at the mountain range hiding his ninja school where large masses of rocks and earth were being slurped up into a massive energy portal.
"No…" he mumbled.
The mountains were gone.
And the Thunder Ninja Academy? He didn't even want to think about what would have happened if Hunter were there. With no other plan, Dustin began to Ninja Streak absently, not knowing where to go. He found himself all the way in Mariner Bay.
—II—
SPD was known for being a herald of good traits, even in the year 2028. Sky Tate made it his goal to embody those traits, and after being promoted to Commander of the SPD Earth Division…well, he was quite law-abiding. With his new team of cadets, complete with an experimental Nova Ranger, Sky was confident in the safety of New Tech City; Both Z and Syd had been promoted—Z being Blue Ranger and Syd moving up to Green—several promising cadets had tagged along as Yellow and Pink, and Bridge? Well…Bridge had been promoted to Red Ranger, unbelievably.
But Sky's red ranger had been acting increasingly strange since his last mission, especially after Skylar, the teams Nova Ranger, had almost been injured. When the commander had finally asked Bridge about it, the Red Ranger simply requested Sky's presence at a café to talk things over.
Naturally, he'd eagerly accepted.
So here he was, 12:30 on the dot, leaving his post at SPD on a lunch break to meet his spastic red ranger.
Not more than 100 feet from the enormous SPD academy, though, Sky felt a powerful force pulling him back. As he pivoted around in confusion, he saw a large, blue vortex sucking SPD into the ground.
"NO!" Sky shouted after the academy's retreating figure. He jumped fruitlessly, diving for the swirling vortex that disappeared like a drain.
He slumped down…defeated. That was when his communicator chimed.
"Commander Tate, go ahead!" he ordered.
"Sky, what happened? I just got this horrible feeling," Bridge said.
"Bridge…SPD is…SPD's gone…" Sky said.
-II-
"Zhane, I'm sorry, but I'm really busy," the Kerovan female known as Karone said sadly.
"Fine, fine," the former Silver Space Ranger, Zhane Helix, replied just as dismally. "I'll catch you later."
He had only wanted Karone to attend Leo's birthday party with him, especially since Karone and Leo were old friends; right? Sighing, Zhane ran his hand through his freshly-cut blond hair and boarded his transport—a Galaxy Glider like vehicle known as a "Jet-Board."
He kicked off the ground, feeling it hum to life and float, and leaned forward to accelerate. He'd just picked up speed when his stabilizer reported massive seismic activity and an unstable energy reading just a few miles north. Right where Leo was. Frantically, Zhane tried to break, but was tossed right off his footing.
"Ah man!" he groaned loudly. "Damn Miranoi and their damn earthquakes!"
But it wasn't just an earthquake. He could see a large swirl in the sky that seemed to be sucking up everything in sight. And it was moving right toward the new Astro Megaship he had built with a bunch of friends.
He flipped his board over hastily, pulling his cell phone out as he did so, and praying against hope he could get in touch with Leo before the young man was obliterated by some monstrosity of a wormhole.
—II—
Leo had always heard birthdays were supposed to be special. Yet somehow, he didn't think that meant they were supposed to be special as in something insanely freakish happened. He couldn't wrap his head around how he'd gone from getting ready for his party with his brother, Mike, to sitting next to Zhane Helix as Deca shouted off the worrying statistics of the planet.
He remembered he and Mike had arrived back at the Astro Megaship II, a giant red ship shaped in the form of the Delta Megaship with no transformation abilities and a much higher Mega Rush Accelerator. They'd gone into their quarters, they'd begun getting ready, and then, out of nowhere, the entire planet was shaking. And Zhane was on the phone yelling in some crazed and frantic manner that he hardly understood..
"Dude, are you listening," Zhane demanded, glaring at Leo's dazed state. "Focus on what Deca's saying!"
"Sorry! Sorry. I'm just kind of…in shock," Leo muttered.
"The planet is being directed to an unknown gravitational pull. It is advised that we lift off immediately. For your safety I have secured all engines and pre-lift off is initiated," DECA chirped in her usual calm tone.
"Wait, what?" Zhane wondered, dumbfounded.
"No! Wait!" Leo yelled, scrambling to his feet. "Where is Mike?"
"I am unable to detect his presence on the ship. I have initiated lift off sequence."
The ship rocked as it began to build its engines, causing Leo to sway as he reached a window. Outside, he could see the trees swaying, cars flying, jet boards tumbling, but no Mike. Once again, Leo had lost his brother.
—II—
Her strawberry blonde hair a blaze in the wind, the young girl floored her gas and merged onto the highway. Freedom from high school was still just a rush of adrenaline through her veins, pumping into her body like some sort of new drug. She rummaged through her visor as her friends laughed loudly in her passenger and rear-passenger seats.
"This news report is mega lame, dude; hurry up with the tunes," her friend Jake complained, pulling down his sunglasses.
Andrea started to laugh before she heard the report more clearly.
"Enormous unstable vortexes have been appearing all around the galaxy. On Miranoi, the Terra Venture leaders report that similar vortexes have sporadically occurred, as well as anonymous gravitational fluxes around the planet's axis. So far, Captain Mitchell of Lightspeed and his science crew have not yet been able to determine a source or a way to stop the portal activity. President Sunday has learned that the safest places are moving objects and suggests that you remain moving until further notice. This has been a breaking report, brought to you by news 7."
Andrea slammed her foot on the brake as she took the nearest exit to return home.
"Whoa, dude, what's going on?" screeched a female from the backseat.
"The end of the fucking world is what it sounds like," Andrea snapped.
—II—
"Okay, so you're telling me this old thing is going to take us back 20 minutes so we can warn everyone in SPD to evacuate?" Bridge questioned.
"Unless you've got any better ideas," Sky answered.
The red ranger shrugged as he watched Sky set up the last protocols for the aged device.
"And you're sure this is going to work because…?" Bridge let his question trail off.
"Look, this is technology from the future; my dad had it from when Time Force came back in time. If this is future technology, it has to work."
"Well, how do you know it'll have enough energy to get us back?"
"If we were jumping back in years, then that'd be a different story; but we're going less than half-hour. We'll have plenty of energy left."
"Good, because I flossed this morning, but only before breakfast, and I forgot to do it afterwards; so, I think I have a piece of toast stuck between my teeth. So maybe I could tell me to floss after breakfast and then—"
"Bridge!" Sky shouted sharply.
"Sorry."
Sky was about to walk through but Bridge asked, "What about the criminals? And…that guy we were chasing before…he was so powerful."
"We can worry about him when we go back in 20 minutes," Sky snapped back.
Bridge shrugged, but followed Sky.
The males stepped through the reddish holographic portal. Neither of them saw the chronometer reading "Destination Point: 20 years."
—II—
Nike Zeta ran her fingers along the worn paper in front of her. The source of her hope over all these years had been this faded and torn piece of paper that could have been from the future, or could have been a lie.
Nonetheless, it had helped so far. She and her sister, Andrea Zeta, had survived the siege of Eltar and taken refuge on Earth. They'd been lost, confused, and scared shitless. Nike, the oldest out of her and her sister, was hardly in any state to seek out friends or foes. She had no one to trust. No one to run to.
So they did it on their own. Nike's superior Eltarian intellect had led to an easy school life, and when she and Andrea hacked themselves a few million dollars from the Federal Government, they created identities, forged signatures on a house, and set up life. She'd double majored in Biological Psychology and Human Anatomy and Physiology, and then minored in Technical Engineering. Andrea had just graduated high school, but she already had enough college credits to deem her a sophomore.
But the earthly accomplishments meant nothing to either of them. They were what most would call "true Eltarians." From their very hair fibers was the DNA of the two most powerful spell-casters ever to bless the universe. Their father, Zordon, had sacrificed himself in an attempt to destroy all evil. Not only did he fail to get half the evil, but he failed to get the greatest evil. Their mother, Dimitria, had been held prisoner—or killed—by the Chrominites ever since they could remember.
And for as long as Nike could remember, she'd been running—running from them. But here was where it stopped.
Subconsciously, she gripped the piece of paper in her hand as she thought of the miraculous mythological feats she'd conquered. She'd found the legendary Cronus Stone, she'd used her Eltarian genius and, unknowingly, her celestial ties to the very titan Cronus himself, to access the elemental powers buried deep within the great stone.
She'd designed 11 specific Morphers for the predestined rangers—more specifically, 8 for them, and 3 for her siblings and her. The only setback was that she had yet to modify the Morphers so she and her brother and sister could use them. It was like Cronus had known this would happen, and as a final testament to his egotism, he kept the morphers from interacting positively with Eltarians and their psychic powers.
She sighed as she looked over the glistening jewels carved from the Cronus Stone. Her computer was beeping "unfound" in the corner as it attempted to look for the lost Cronus Shard, but she could hardly worry about it. She let her excitement take over. She had finally finished the Elemorphers.
And then her excitement turned to a cold chill as she heard faint thuds on her rooftop.
—II—
"I really don't know how to tell you this. I mean, I do, there's a simple way…but, I'm not sure how you'll react," Ryan Mitchell stuttered.
Carter stared blankly, then cracked a grin. "Ryan, it's not like you're telling me you're dying. C'mon, how hard can it be?" he paused a moment, "You're not dying, are you?"
Ryan laughed. "No, I'm not dying…it's just that…it's a really difficult thing and—"
Sirens cut him off as audible frenzy could be heard. The two rangers grabbed their jackets and jumped in their hummer, ready for action. As they sped toward the commotion, both pairs of eyes focused on the swirling matter above them, that drifted toward the water where…
"The Aqua Base!" Carter yelled, as he saw giant masses of water undulating away from the aqua base.
Eventually, the entire mass of metal, steel, glass, and materials that made up the aqua base, were sucked up into the cloud of blue.
"What the fuck was that!" Ryan screamed as the last of the base entered the portal and the water began to crash back into place.
"Everyone…they're gone…" Carter breathed slowly.
"What do we do?" Ryan wondered.
"Find Tommy," Carter said.
—II—
Dustin skidded to a halt as he became exhausted, exhaling and inhaling deeply and slowly. Gradually, he began to stumble down the deserted street. Even he knew it should have been far more populated.
"Tell me the portal didn't make it all the way here," he said to himself.
His eyes came upon a large crater in the ground where he was pretty sure an entire university campus was supposed to be.
"Whoa…no way…those portals took up the University?"
He gaped in awe, but his eyes diverted to a form not far away. Dustin's eyebrows furrowed as he began to walk towards the male body.
"Hey…dude…you okay?" Dustin asked.
"Who…who are you?" Wes wondered through his spastic breathing and blurry vision.
—II—
The megaship rocked as it settled down in the NASADA hanger where its counterpart lay.
"Why this place?" Zhane asked.
"You know of any other places you can land a big red spaceship the size of a football field?" Leo asked wryly.
"Good point," Zhane nodded.
"Here, let's check and see if there are any jet boards available," Leo recommended.
Zhane nodded again as he followed the now powerless Galaxy Ranger to the docking bay. To their amazement, three boards lay dormant in the docking bay.
"Alright, so game plan is to get a hold of Tommy. If we can find him, I'm sure he'll be rallying all the rangers together," Leo rattled off as he strapped up to his Jet-Board.
"Tommy?"
"Dude, he's only one of the most legendary rangers ever!"
"Psh…whatever. I bet he didn't save the universe like Andros did," Zhane shot back.
"Well…something like that" Leo said.
They began to throttle up the boards when Zhane paused.
"Think we should bring the other one?"
"For what?"
"In case one of ours runs out of fuel or something?"
"Why not?" Leo shrugged.
Zhane attached the boards together with a latch before they took off through Angel grove.
—II—
"Somehow…I don't think this is 20 minutes earlier…" Bridge said slowly.
Sky looked around. He was standing atop a suburban, 2 story house. The house itself was nice; firm structure, perfect white paint, immaculate shutters, pristine gutters, impeccable chimney…wait…where the hell were they?
"Yeah…me either…" Sky replied.
He looked at the chronometer on the machine.
"Date: April 7th, 2008."
"Oh…no…" Sky whispered.
"What?"
"We didn't go back 20 minutes…we went back 20 years!"
"Hey!" a woman shouted through a window a few feet under them. "What the hell do you think you're doing on top of my house?"
"Uh…sorry ma'am…we uh…um…"
"Wait…SPD…" she whispered, half to herself.
"How does she know about SPD?" Sky mumbled to Bridge.
"Maybe she's time-stuck?" he asked, referring to the fact that she may have time warped without a way to return.
"I'm not 'time-stuck.' Get off my roof!" she hollered up to them.
Sky looked around. "Um…how?"
"The window."
Bridge shrugged and scooted down, then slipped through the window. He was followed closely by his commander.
—II—
"Stop!" Ryan shouted as they came across a giant basin where Lower California University once stood.
"Wasn't this LCU?" Carter demanded.
"Was…" Ryan answered slowly.
"Look, survivors!" Carter pointed out.
Dustin waved his hand in the air as he saw the yellow hummer cruising his way.
He heaved the unconscious male up until the other two men arrived and helped him load him into their vehicle.
"I'm so glad you guys showed up when you did," Dustin said thankfully, shaking their hands and introducing himself as they buckled up in the truck.
"I'm Carter, and this is Ryan."
"Are you guys, like, police?" Dustin asked as he eyed their jackets.
"We're with Lightspeed Rescue. We're power rangers," Ryan answered with a faint smile.
"Oh, dude! No way!" Dustin practically yelled.
"That's a first-time reaction," Carter laughed.
"No, no!" Dustin cleared up. "I mean…I'm a ranger, too. I'm the Yellow Wind Ranger!"
Ryan and Carter exchanged looks as Carter eased the brake. Each looked back in amazement at Dustin, then, their eyes shifted to Wes, who Carter then recognized.
"Ryan…isn't that…?"
"Wes! Time Force red!"
"This is just too weird," Dustin sighed.