It was a few hours later by the time the Rangers arrived in New Zealand. The main advantage of using the Pterazord as opposed to a commercial flight...apart from not having to worry about the fact Riley, Ivan and Koda didn't actually have passports, was the fact that the Pterazord was significantly faster than commercial airlines. Chase came out of the hotel, having checked in for the team.
"I've left our bags with concierge. They say they'll have our luggage taken up when the rooms are ready." Chase told them as he started handing out the room keys.
"Twentieth floor?" Shelby asked. "Couldn't we have gotten anything a little nearer the pool?"
"Phillipe booked the rooms. It seems we've all got suites for the duration of our stay." Chase said with a little smile. "Sometimes it's good to have friends in high places."
"They ARE aware that the Prince won't be joining us right?" Tyler asked him. Chase just shrugged.
"You know what? It didn't come up." He chuckled. Just then, Ivan arrived. He had split up from the others to look for somewhere to hide the Pterazord. Chase handed him his room key.
"Twentieth floor?" He asked. "Am I still correct in thinking that the usual protocol is that the best rooms are the ones with the best view?"
"That's the way it works!" Tyler told him. "Phillipe swung us the best rooms in the place."
"I do not serve the crown of Zandar for rewards." Ivan responded, beginning to head towards the hotel. "Though I must admit it is not unwelcome."
"The rooms aren't ready yet." Shelby told him. "We need to come back in a couple of hours."
"Then since we have some time to kill, I propose we take a gander around Auckland." Ivan told them. "Perhaps we can find a lead on our elusive Purple friend."
"I think I have an idea." Chase declared, gesturing to the skyline. "You see that? That's called the Sky Tower! It has a restaurant at the top, and rotates all the way around, giving a great view of the whole city."
"You're just hungry aren't you?" Riley asked. Chase just looked to him.
"I've always wanted to go there, but mum hardly ever brought us to the North Island." He told the others. "I've ALWAYS wanted to go there."
"Chase, we should really get going on our search..."
They all paused as they heard a loud growling sound. They looked around for any sign of it.
"What was that?" Riley asked. "Has Fury...?"
They heard it again, at which Koda clutched his stomach. He just looked to the others.
"Sorry, that me." He responded, looking a little sheepish. Tyler just sighed.
"Well, I guess I could eat." He responded, waving down a couple of cabs. "Take us to the Skytower."
Elsewhere, the Violet Avenger had once again managed to make his escape, but this time he had barely gotten away. The cat monster that had been pursuing him for the last couple of weeks had lured him into a deadly trap. The burning tower block had created a tight, confusing environment that had forced him into a close fight, something that so far he had managed to avoid. When the creature had struck him, it felt like his chest was in danger of completely caving in, even with the suit's power protecting him. It was a sheer miracle that he had managed to summon those weapons.
That was something he still didn't understand. He had never seen the weapons before, never mind had any idea where they had come from. They had just appeared from nowhere, almost like they appeared purely because he needed them! In the confusion, he had once again managed to scramble away.
He had managed to get home, and he couldn't see any signs of anyone following him. It occurred to him though that didn't mean to say that he was safe. The aliens so far had found him a few times, so surely it was only a matter of time before they found out where he stayed. The only saving grace about coming out here was that his place was out in the woods. He knew them instinctively, he would be able to see and hear them coming long before they got to his home. There were no innocent bystanders around. Unlike in the city, where they had been the ones that could set traps for him, he could be the one that set the traps.
Traps! That was when the thought occurred to him...traps! Of course! Out there, his enemy had the advantage. Out here, he knew the landscape and their numbers would count for nothing. He went into a nearby chest and grabbed some supplies, pulling out some rope and a shovel, before running back out into the woods. It was only a matter of time before they came for him, but by the time they did, he would be ready!
Back in the city, the Rangers had gotten to the Skytower, and had made their way up, finding themselves in the restaurant. It was indeed an impressive view, extending as far as the city limits. They had already gotten hold of a tourist map from the hotel. From up here, they were sure they would be able to quickly get a grip on where things were...presuming they could get a table!
"I don't believe this, can you believe this queue?" Chase asked. Shelby just rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, one of the hottest restaurants in the city is completely packed at lunch time." Shelby muttered. "Who'd have thought it?"
Chase just ignored Shelby, making his way to the girl at the desk. She just looked up.
"Look, my friends and I are only in Auckland a short time." Chase stated, moving in closer, and pulling a few dollars out of his wallet. "Is there anything you can do for us?"
"I can tell you again that there's a queue." She replied, sliding the money back. Chase looked to the others, smiling nervously. He was used to being able to talk his way into just about anything. Of course over here, he couldn't rely on his accent being unique enough to make him interesting.
"Would it help if I told you I just happen to be a personal friend of the Prince of Zandar?" He asked her, sliding the money back. The waitress just looked to him in disbelief, before sliding the money back a little more forcefully.
"Then you should be able to come up with a better bribe, and a better line Your Highness." She responded. Chase just sighed and turned back to the others.
"Well, sorry about that guys." Chase responded despondently. "I guess we'll have to make do with burgers."
"We have burgers back home." Koda grumbled. "Want New Zealand food."
One of the things Koda loved about this new time, and the new world was the huge variety of flavours and ingredients available. In his day, the diet consisted of whatever was within walking distance of the caves his tribe inhabited in that season. They would move camp whenever the climate shifted to the point that the herds moved on and the local foliage no longer provided enough to eat. While his favourite was burgers by a long shot, something that was never likely to change, Kendall had done her best to vary up his diet a little, and brought him a number of other things from outside the restaurant. Koda was well aware the world was a lot bigger than he ever dreamed of in his day, and now thanks to modern shipping, people had access to a whole world of different dishes. While he was perfectly confident he would get burgers at some point, he really wanted to try something from Chase's homeland when he had the chance. Chase just looked to him.
"Maybe when we get back to the hotel mate." He promised him. "Until then, maybe we should..."
"Chase?" Someone asked. Chase and the others just looked around, surprised to hear that someone knew him here. While he was from New Zealand, he was from the South Islands. It wasn't like he knew everyone in New Zealand. Thinking so was like presuming everyone in Amber Beach would know everyone in New York! As they looked to the voice, they saw a strangely familiar face. He was blonde, a little taller than Chase, and very well-built, wearing a tight, aquamarine T-shirt and white jeans. Shelby stumbled a little, and quickly hid behind Tyler. "CHASE! My MAN! What the hell are you doing here?"
"Keith?" Chase responded, hugging the large man tightly. "I could ask you the same thing!"
"We're on tour at the moment. We're stopping here on the way to Sydney." Keith told him. Koda pointed as he recognised him.
"You N-Zed boy!" He recalled, remembering when they turned up at the restaurant in Amber Beach. Shelby was trying hard not to be seen. She was a massive fan, and was still embarrassed by her complete geek-out when they showed up looking for a pre-concert meal. "You come to our restaurant!"
"Say, that's right, those kick-ass burgers in Amber Beach!" Keith responded. "Man, they were the absolute BEST! So what are you doing out here?"
"We were trying to get a table." Chase told him. "But it seems..."
"Say no more man, we only just got here." Keith replied, going to the girl at the desk. "Say, could you see your way to sorting out some extra chairs for our table?"
"Um...ah...of course!" She stammered, gesturing to some others to do what they could to find five more chairs. "I'll show you..."
"There'll be no need for that." Keith told her. "Come on man, the table's right this way!"
As they followed Keith into the restaurant, Tyler made his way to his side.
"So, you know Chase?" He asked.
"Of course I know him! Who do you think told us about that cafe you work at?" He asked. Chase just glared at him. Keith, however, didn't seem to notice. "He might have decided to do the whole dinosaur thing, but once an N-Zed boy, always an N-Zed boy!"
"Wait...he was in the band?" Riley asked, immediately looking to Chase. The Black Ranger just shook his head. He hadn't actually told them that he was in the band. He had been the one to call them when his thoughtlessness prevented Shelby being able to buy tickets to their concert in Amber Beach.
"So what's the fish of the day?" Chase asked, hurriedly trying to change the subject.
Over in the US, Kendall was in the lab, working with her computers to try and narrow down the search for the Purple Ranger. Now that they knew that the weapons had been summoned, it was clear that the Purple Energem had bonded to a host. Now that she knew they were searching for a Ranger, it would, in theory at least, narrow the search.
However, it seemed that was a lot simpler in principle than it was in practice. So far, all she could do was narrow the search down to New Zealand's North Island...of course they knew that much already. By virtue of the reports of Sledge's drop pods being seen in Auckland, they knew that he was searching for something there.
Now that the weapons were back, she had managed to put a trace on them. If they were summoned again, she would be able to trace them far more accurately than they had been. However, they did have an issue. The Purple Energem was elusive, far more elusive than others it seemed. Due to the nature of the Plesiosaurus, the water lizard that lent its spirit to the Purple Energem, it was not as simple to find as others. Despite its immense size, it seemed that the Plesiosaurus was an ambush predator, known for concealing itself in caves and underwater caverns. It was one of the reasons that many believed it was possible there may even be some still in existence, hidden in underwater caverns that couldn't be explored, most famously the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland or Tanifa in New Zealand were believed by some to be Plesiosaurs that had somehow lived into the modern era. Such stories were considered by most in the scientific community to be nothing more than fairy stories. Of course she lived in a world where she had personally seen Bigfoot and one of her Rangers had been to a magical tournament where he had actually jousted on a unicorn! Tanifa was not really beyond belief right now. Of course what it also meant was that the Energem seemed to inherit its ability to conceal itself from the great lizard.
"Alright, I've updated the search parameters and now..." She waited to see what the results came back. "I've narrowed it down to only twenty square miles! DAMN IT!"
She tossed her computer mouse aside and started to stroke her temples. She only looked up as a glass was placed beside her. It was a soluble aspirin. Allison just smiled to her.
"I had a feeling you might appreciate this." She told her. Kendall just took a sip.
"Thank you." She responded. After being yelled at by Shelby's dad for a good twenty minutes, she had spent all the time afterwards staring at computer screens. She was grateful for anything to relieve the headache. "How are things upstairs?"
They're a little busier than I'd like." Allison groaned. "There are a few moans from the others about the rota changing for your 'superstars' again."
Kendall could see Allison making the quotation marks with her fingers, and understood she had a point. There were good reasons that the others were given a lot of leeway with how they behaved and acted in the museum. While they were on her 'dig team', a job title that miraculously explained a lot of absences and sudden departures, that didn't mean to say some of the others didn't have some complaints regarding the fact that things seemed to revolve around them. It wasn't like there were many arguments either without telling anyone what they were really doing. Within a couple of weeks, her 'dig team' had attended the opening of an Embassy as invited guests, and now been given a full-ride trip to New Zealand!
"How bad is it?" She asked.
"Brad was ready to walk out. It's his anniversary with Petra." Allison told her. "I agreed to pull a double if he takes my morning shift tomorrow. Rhiannon was bitching about having to come in tomorrow, but I just reminded her that she has that killer Amex bill to deal with and she seemed a lot happier. Sorry, I kind of promised you'd sign it off as overtime instead of just changing the shift."
"No, that's fine." Kendall responded, turning to look to Allison. "How are the shifts looking?"
"We've got six shifts going begging." Allison told her. "I can cover two of them, and I managed to convince Alessandra to do a couple of shifts, and I'm hoping I can bribe or guilt-trip some of the others into dealing with the others."
"You did all that?" Kendall asked her, a little impressed. She knew that Allison, as the only one who knew their secret, was a little more understanding about the whole deal. She did a lot to help out, largely because of her relationship with Chase, but it seemed there had been something of a change in her. She and Chase were a lot alike; the Allison that came to them was more than a little irresponsible and thoughtless. She'd actually been fired from her last job for letting a whole dining room full of customers walk out without paying because she was too busy hitting on Chase to notice them leaving. When she cared about something though, it was like a switch was flipped in her brain and she became a very different person. Chase could be counted on to do anything for his friends. Allison just shrugged, like it was no big deal.
"You have a lot on your plate. I figured the last thing you needed to worry about was the cafe." Allison responded. Kendall just smiled.
"It's appreciated." Kendall told her. "Tell me, have you ever thought much about being a supervisor?"
"Supervisor? Me?" Allison said with a laugh. "Are you kidding? I..."
"You've shown a lot of good judgement, leadership." Kendall interrupted her. "Not to mention diplomacy, and a good measure of motivation."
"Ms Morgan, don't supervisors have to do cash-ups and..."
"Do you know how to check two pieces of paper to see if the numbers are the same on both?" Kendall asked her. Allison just nodded. "Then you have pretty much all the skills you need."
"Supervisor, eh?" Allison asked, starting to think about it.
"It wouldn't be much, but there would be a little bump in your salary." Kendall said, trying to swing the deal. "I promise I'll show you what you're looking for with the paperwork...it would only take a couple of hours."
"I...guess I could do that." Allison replied. "Not to mention it'd be great to see the look on mum's face when I tell her I've actually been promoted."
"So you'll do it?" Kendall asked. Allison just extended a hand for a handshake.
"Ms Morgan, you've got yourself a supervisor!" Allison replied.
Back in New Zealand, Chase was sitting, slumped in his chair, while his team were laughing, listening to stories from his old friends, the boy-band the N-Zed Boys recounting some old tales. He had managed to keep the fact he used to be in the band quiet from the team, knowing they'd probably just give him hassle over it. He hadn't even told them it was him that called the band and got them to swing by the restaurant when Shelby missed her chance to buy tickets to see them.
"So, there we were on the local cable show, three weeks before our debut, and our genius of a manager had only just got us together and rushed us on for publicity, so quickly that we hadn't even learned any songs yet!" Keith told them between mouthfuls. "So there we were, six High-school kids, sitting on a TV show, proclaiming ourselves a band, and our manager never anticipated the one question anyone should have foreseen."
"Can you perform for us?" Riley suggested. One of the other members of the band pulled out an I-pad, pulling up the footage. He showed the Rangers the footage showing all six of them chaotically floundering around on the stage.
"We didn't even have any routines yet!" Keith laughed. "At least the YouTube footage got plenty of hits."
"Looking good there Chase." Riley said, gesturing to Chase.
"Hey, he was the only one of us who could actually dance!" Keith responded. "Why do you think we hired him? It sure as hell wasn't for his singing!"
"We've heard him in the shower, I can vouch for that!" Tyler sniggered as the group joined in. Eventually, Chase just looked to the others.
"Alright, as much as I love this trip down memory lane, we didn't come all the way here to re-live my musical career." Chase cut in.
"Yeah, so what are you doing here anyway?" Barry, one of the other band members asked. Chase showed them the newspaper.
"We were hoping to check this out." Chase told them, showing them the newspaper. Barry just looked curious.
"What, you're chasing UFO's now?" He asked. "I thought it was dinosaurs you chased."
"Yeah, I thought you'd have been more interested in the Tanifa sightings." Keith chipped in.
"Tanifa?" Tyler asked. "What's that?"
"We just wanted to check it out." Chase told them. "It says the photo was taken by an...Albert Smith..."
"Albert Smith?" Keith said with a smile. "Well, if you want to chase conspiracy stories and fairy tales, he's definitely your guy!"
"You know him?" Riley asked.
"Everyone in Auckland does! He's something of a legend around these parts!" Barry told them, pulling a flyer out of his pocket and handing it to them. "He's some crazy old hermit, full of wild stories! He has a place in the woods where he runs Bigfoot tours!"
"Bigfoot, UFO's, Tanifa, Giant Squid..." Shelby read from the flyer, seeing the tours on offer. "So...he's...?"
"He's a bit of an old crackpot, but he's harmless enough, entertaining with it!" Keith told them. "We always take in one of his tours when we're in the area. The only one we've not taken in is the Giant Squid one."
"Well, if we're going to find out where this photo was taken, I guess there are worse places to start than asking the guy that took the picture." Tyler said as he got up. "Thanks for lunch by the way!"
"Hey, last time lunch was on you right?" Keith replied. "Have fun guys!"
As they were about to go, Shelby just stopped and handed Keith her number.
"Oh, and you will send me that footage right?" She asked. Keith just smiled.
"Of course."