POWER RANGERS
Aura Defenders

CHAPTER ONE
Aura Activation Part I

LIGHT STREAMED THROUGH the open window and a gentle summer breeze fluttered the curtains of the apartment. Stirring slightly from his spot on the couch where he'd fallen asleep the night before, the young man rolled over and fall with an "OOMPH" to the floor.

"Ugh…" he groaned, straining to open his eyes. Using the lounge as a support, he pulled himself to his feet and ran his fingers through his messy black hair. Yawning, he looked around and happened to spot the clock reading 8:53am.

"GAH! I'M LATE!" he yelled, running into his bedroom to get some clean clothes. He got changed at record speed, grabbed his bag and keys and dashed out the door.

"Chris, you're late!" a voice scolded as the young man darted through the front doors of the college about 10 minutes later. Chris skidded to a halt and turned around to see an irate-looking young lady whom looked to be about 20 years old.

"Um…hi Emily," he replied sheepishly, placing a hand behind his head. "Sorry, slept in." Emily rolled her eyes and poked him in the chest.

"You should really learn to set an alarm clock!" she scolded, smirking slightly.

"Yeah, that might help," replied Chris. He hugged his girlfriend, and then the two of them headed down the corridor towards the room where their class was being held.

In the classroom, their teacher, Ms Andison, hadn't arrived yet. As Chris and Emily walked through the classroom doors, a voice called out to them.

"Chris! Emily! Check this out!" Nat called, a brunette about the same age as Emily. Her hair was shoulder length and wavy, and it went well with the yellow top she wore. She was standing at the back of the class holding a newspaper. Emily waved to Nat as she and Chris headed towards where she stood.

"What's up Nat?" Chris asked, taking off his backpack and placing it at his feet. He took off his jacket and laid it over his bag then brushed his blue shirt off with his hands. It had fluff over it from the inside of his jacket.

"That meteor that hit last night near the old ruins west of town?" Nat replied. "There's no trace of evidence to suggest that it hit there, yet the whole town shook. It's all over the news!" She then showed Chris and Emily the paper. It was then, when Emily took the paper, that Ms. Andison walked in the classroom.

"Ok everyone," she said loudly. "Please take your seats. We have a lot of work to do today, exams are less than 2 weeks away and, from what I've seen so far from most of you, we will need to do a fair bit of revision." Chris, Nat and Emily grabbed their things and sat at the back of the classroom, pulled out their books, and began to copy what Ms. Andison was writing on the whiteboard.

-----

A young man, not more than 22 years old, darted in between the trees of the woods, carrying with him a small, ornately carved wooden box. Behind him, pursuing him, were creatures not of this world. They were gray in colour, with a face that looked like a faceless mask. They had no visible eyes, yet they seemed to be able to see the young man clearly.

Suddenly, the running figure found himself cornered in a circle of cliffs, and backed up against the cliff face whilst seeing the faceless creatures come closer and surround him.

"So, Lore" said a voice. "You're trapped now. Just hand over the box and we'll be on our way."

"Like I'd give this to you, Corvis," replied Lore, a snarl in his voice. Lore threw the box up in the air and clap of his hands, knocked down a group of the creatures with a shockwave. He then caught the falling box and held it under one arm whilst holding the other one up for defence.

"Come come now Lore," replied the ruffian. "It will be a lot easier on all of us if you just hand over the jewels." Corvis' minions began to slowly advance on Lore as he backed up as far as he could against the cliff-face.

"If you think that I am just going to give up and hand over the Oris Crystals," snarled Lore "then you have another think coming!" With that, Lore quickly opened the box, pulled out a small wand-like stick and three different coloured crystals – one red, one blue and one yellow. Glancing at Corvis and the Arthnids briefly, Lore threw the three gems into the air, held up the wand, and the gems began to glow brightly. The three of them were then sucked into the wand in three coloured beams of light, and the wand began to glow a golden colour.

"Let's see if you like my next trick!" Lore said, smirking. He held the wand high over his head and pointed it up towards the sky. "ORIS VELIOS ILLUMINAC!" With those words, lightning began to surge around him, his body began to glow white, and ancient energy flowed through him. Gold metal plating appeared and attached itself to most of his body, whilst silver spandex, which looked like chain mail, wrapped itself around the gaps. A gold helmet, covered in silver ornate patterns, fastened itself to his head, and a black visor locked over his eyes. The wand itself then transformed into a large, powerful silver sword with a gold hilt, embedded in which were crystals matching the three that the wand had absorbed just moments before.

"ORIS KNIGHT!" he called, swinging the sword threateningly in front of him.

"Nice light show and magic trick," sneered Corvis, now obviously furious with this turn of events. With that, and a flick of his hand, the Arthnids advanced on Lore, and the sky overhead darkened with vicious-looking clouds.

"Bring it!" Lore growled, and he charged into the fray.

-----

Back at Thallondale College, the sky darkened overhead, and this sudden change in the whether was quickly picked up my Ms. Andison, as well as Chris, Emily and Nat.

"What's going..." Nat began to say, when Ms. Andison suddenly stopped what she was doing.

"I've just realised that something important has come up, so I'm going to finish our classes for the day." She said quickly. With that, she packed up her things and hurried from the room.

"...on?" finished Nat, a look of puzzlement crossing all the students faces. Packing up their gear, Emily suddenly remembered the paper that Nat had given them earlier that day. Out in the corridor, Emily turned to Chris.

"Nat's right!" she said. "Listen to this. 'Freak Meteor Strike Leaves No Scars. Authorities have confirmed that the meteor that struck near the Thallondale Temple Ruins left no trace of impact despite numerous calls to emergency services late last night.

Chief Investigator Timothy Thorn stated that although the strike did occur, no evidence of an impact site were found at the reported location of the strike, nor anywhere in the local vicinity.

Ivestigators are still trying to solve this puzzling mystery.'" Chris looked from Nat to Emily.

"Maybe we should check it out!" he suggested. Nat choked on the juice she was drinking.

"Excuse me!?" she exclaimed, stopping just inside the glass entrance doors of the college. "It's a meteor impact site! Who knows what type of radiation or other things could be up there...and besides," she paused for a moment to pass through the doors, "there's nothing up there to see anyway!"

"Who knows what's up there?" Chris retorted. "The police didn't find anything. Maybe we could find something they missed." Emily sighed, whilst Nat grinned somewhat.

"Is that a challenge, Mr. McKenna?" she asked, stopping and folding her arms.

"I believe it is, Ms. Kern," he replied. The two of them shook on it.

"Then tomorrow, we go up there and see what we can find!" Nat said firmly. She was not one to ever pass up a challenge, especially something as unique as this. "You in Em?" Emily, who was about two feet behind Chris and Nat, looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"As much as I'd love to join you on your little adventure," she said sarcastically, before adding a serious tone to her voice "I have plans for tomorrow. Mainly going shopping for new clothes...and to perve on that Scott guy at the Milk Bar!" She smirked towards Nat as she said this last part and then grinned innocently at Chris.

"You can look, but not touch," he said jokingly.

"Yeah, it's not like you have a boyfriend already," Nat added with a laugh, looking from Chris to Emily. All three of them laughed a bit more before Chris and Nat headed towards their apartment complex, and Emily got in the car with her brother and drove off home after giving Chris a kiss and hug goodbye.

-----

Lore slashed at one of the oncoming Arthnids, but another just filled its spot. Although Lore had taken down quite a few of the Arthnids, they just seemed to re-spawn after each blow.

"Admit it!" Corvis growled. "Give up and hand over the crystals!"

"Never!" Lore shouted back, powering up the sword with energy and slicing the blade through a group of Arthnids coming towards him.

"Very well then!" replied the villain. "Arthnids! Destroy him!" The Arthnids, at the sound of their commanders orders, began to swarm the quickly tiring Lore. It was at that moment that two blasts of energy struck the ground between Lore and the Arthnids, forcing the drones backwards. Lore and Corvis looked up. There, on top of the cliff, were two figures, both clad in armour – one in blue, the other in yellow. The armour was of similar design to that of Lore's, though not as pronounced or ornate.

"WHAT!!!!!???" Corvis shrieked. Lore's head snapped back to face Corvis and the stationary Arthnids. He quickly pressed the three crystals on the blades hilt. Instantly, the blade began to seethe with energy. Lore swung the blade around and held it high in the air. Corvis finally noticed this.

"NO!" he cried, but too late. With all this power, Lore brought the blade down and slammed it into the ground, the edge biting deeply into the soil. The energy was then released from the blade, creating a massive earthquake which split the ground open, causing all the Arthnids to fall into it. Corvis managed to avoid the fissure, and stood to the side as Lore lifted the blade and the ground sealed itself back up.

"You'll pay for this!" the demon scowled, and he disappeared in a ball of energy and flew high into the sky and out of the Earth's atmosphere.

"Downgrade!" Lore commanded, and instantly the armour glowed and vanished in little bolts of electricity. Turned around and looked up at the two ranger figures on the cliff. He waved at them.

"Thanks Bimbi! Thanks Morris!" he called. The two figures nodded, then disappeared in a glow of the same colour that they were donned in. Lore then knelt down to the chest, opened the lid, and tapped the wand on the edge of the container. Instantly, the three gems flew out and returned to their correct resting places in the box, and Lore laid the wand beside them. He closed the box, got up and then ran off, back towards the forest.

-----

The following day, Chris and Nat met up at the edge of the Renis Forest. Chris wore his standard blue shirt and black jeans, his leather jacket and sunglasses. His dark hair was messy as always, running his fingers through it to try to stop it falling into his eyes.

"I really need a haircut," he said, trying hard to get his hair to behave.

"Yes, you do," replied Nat, donned in her yellow and white shirt and blue denim jeans. Her hair was brushed back and somewhat better behaved than Chris'.

"Well, shall we?" asked Chris after a few minutes of trying to get his hair working with him, but eventually giving up on the project. Nat nodded.

"After you then," Chris said, and Nat began to head into the forest, with Chris just behind.

The forest itself was part of a large national park that stretched across the entire western border of the city, between Mount Thallon in the north and Dale Harbour in the south. The forest stretched out to the west, touching the woods of Briarwood and the outskirts of San Angelas, two nearby cities. Overall, the forest streatched for about 25 miles.

It took Chris and Nat about half an hour trekking through the woods before getting to the outskirts of the Thallondale Ruins. The ruins themselves used to be a magnificent temple; for what purpose no one could really remember, but it eventually fell into disrepair after strange beings were found to lurk there. These beings were chased off many years before.

"Well, let's have a look around shall we?" asked Chris. Nat nodded again.

"Indeed" replied Nat. The pair were unaware of the figure that watched them from a shadowy corner of the temple. The two of them began to have a look around the ruins for any sign of the meteor strike, or anything else unusual. As Chris and Nat got closer to the entrance of the temple main chamber, the figure that had been watching them leaped out and startled them!

"Well, well, well..." said the guy who had jumped out from the shadows. "Looky what we have here. Chrissy and Natalie. Just the two I was hoping to run into." He smirked, his red hair glinting in the filtered sunlight.

"Oh looky here. It's Pauline, the wussbag of the college." Nat replied, a vicious glint in her eye. No one...not even her parents or closest friends...called her Natalie. "What's the scaredy kitty doing all the way out here in the big bad woods without his mummy?" Nat had a knack of dealing with bullies, and Paul was no exception. She had dealt with him before. Chris just looked and snorted as he saw Pauls face distort and twitch at being called Pauline.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled at them, clenching his fists. Nat cracked her knuckles. She glanced at Chris.

"Obviously Paul hasn't learned his lesson from last time," she said calmly, though her posture was indicating that she was ready to fight. Paul unclenched his fists. Slightly.

"Ugh...you...if...if only you weren't a girl," Paul said, a hint of defeat in his voice. Nat smirked slightly and Chris walked up next to her.

"Finished your rant now?" he asked. Paul nodded sheepishly. "Good! Now if you be so kind, could you please move so we can get past." Paul, kicking a stone on the ground, nodded slightly and moved aside. As he did though, the landing the three of them were on began to shake, and suddenly gave way. With a yell, Nat and Paul slipped and fell down the hole, Nat grabbing onto the edge of then pit and Paul hanging onto her legs. Chris had fallen out of the way of the pit, and quickly rushed over and grabbed Nat's arms in an attempt to pull her up.

"HANG ON!" he called, seeing the strain on Nat's face. Nat had done some gym classes in high school, so she had quite good upper body strength. But supporting herself and Paul was another feat in itself.

"I'M SLIPPING!!!!" called Paul, trying desperately to hang on to Nat. Nat's expression was also indicative that she was slipping herself. It was then that Nat lost her grip on the ledge, and both Paul and Chris lost their grips on her. Chris, because he was leaning down a bit as well, couldn't regain his centre of gravity and tumbled in after them, falling into the darkness under the temple.

The hole then sealed itself, leaving no trace that anyone was there.

To Be Continued...

Prologue
Aura Activation Part 1
Aura Activation Part 2
Blast From The Past