Happy new year's everybody. Hope you had a blast getting into 2014.
So this is the second installment of this story where we conclude the first two parter. I noticed later on that the link that I put In the last posting didn't work. I decided to post that picture in my profile. And so will I do every new version once I added the things being introduced later in the series.
I forgot to mention my exclaimer at the first Chapter. OF course I don't own Power Rangers or any other brand getting named in this story. Power Rangers is property of Saban Brands and the rest is property to their respective owners.
Since I wrote these first two episodes as a single story, there might be a rough cut between last week's episode and this weeks. I tried to make that better with the other multiparters I had so far.
And with that, on with the story.
POWER RANGERS
Shaolin Kung-Fu
Episode 2: Roars and Screams
Part 2
Dan got hit in the chest again as he and his new found friend CT got tossed around by these strange creatures appearing and suddenly attacking them from every side. The young man found a thick stick on the ground as which he held in front of him.
Yet one of the creatures did a tornado kick as the stick fell out of his hand. That action was followed by another kick to the chest and Dan even could even his rips being close to being broken. Though he was sure that they were still fine.
But the power these guys laid in their attacks was so strong that Dan was unable to get back on his feet. Somehow, he got the feeling that this was about to end. He realized that as he saw another pair of aliens coming up with two black staffs in their hands. The edges of their weapons were decorated with silver linings which gave off electronic shots from time to time.
Beside him, CT had the same feeling about what was going to happen. Just like the other man beside him, he saw his life passing by within seconds. Both of them closed their eyes as they could already feel the pain that was about to go through their bodies.
However; in the last second, CT and Dan found themselves surrounded by a strange light. Their visions got blurry and seconds later, all their limbs went numb. Not only their limbs, their whole body felt weird. The aliens watched this and were unable to prevent the two humans to disappear from in front of them.
The Crogorians stared at the scene completely confused before a booming voice yelled out to them. "IDIOTS!" Barkonal said as he stepped out of a shadow and stared at the scene were moments, the two humans had been standing. "Continue with your rampage on that city, those cowards can't hide forever." He added before drawing a blaster and firing straight at car making it explode.
At the same time somewhere else, Katelyn was inside a small gym as she began doing a gymnastics routine on a balance beam. She extracted her arms to the sky as she began making back flip after back flip. A first she didn't notice, but the more she did this, the higher she got and the more agile she moved. It was like gravity only working temporarily on her.
The moment she realized, she stopped and landed without any problems on one foot. With shocked eyes, she stared around searching for anyone that might have seen her. The next moment, she heard s shriek reaching her ears and almost knocking her off her feet. And then she found herself surrounded by light which teleported her out of the gym just like Dan and Ct from the street.
Alex was short on time as he ran through the streets trying to get a bus as quickly as possible. Even though he knew that the bus station way too far away for him to catch it I time, he desperately tried to make it after all. Yet that wasn't so easy with all the people standing in the way. Passer by passer, he moved through the crowd showing flexibility that he never felt before. It was like people seemed to move to the side for him… except for the part that… they didn't.
As he finally reached the bus and checked his watch, he almost started shouting out loud. "How in the world…" as he noticed how quick he could move through the crowd of people… and all of that without getting bumped into even a little bit. He was so sunken in thought that he didn't realize the bus holding in front of him and then driving along with him.
And then he heard the hissing which sounded all too familiar. It was like a snake that was crawling up and down his spine and calling out right beside his ear. The blonde haired man pulled his head up ready to let out a curse as he saw the vehicle driving off without him as he felt. Yet suddenly, his vision turned all white as he too felt the light surrounding him and bringing him out of the crowded street yet without anyone noticing it.
Far away, Anja walked through a supermarket as she searched the counters for any vegetables. Two workers beside her had began stacking up boxes for water bottles as the one standing on a ladder got hit from another one behind.
The tower of about twenty boxes began to tumble and each one of them began to fall to the side where the young woman was standing. The workers as well as the others in the store began to scream since they could see her getting easily crushed by the debris. Within seconds, and without really reacting to it, she avoided the first box before moving and jumping to the side with corkscrew moves.
Nearly all movement in the store stopped as they saw the young woman moving so agile and even standing when the tower of boxes could have made this huge amount of damage to her. Anja herself was a bit confused herself as she saw all those people staring at her.
One of the men held his hand onto her arm and asked her if she was okay, Yet she didn't listen as she could clear another sound entering her ears. It sounded like the roar of a big cat. She now found herself alone in the backside of the store as the light appeared around her as well and she quickly vanished from the scene.
Chris tryouts couldn't have gone better as he felt really satisfied with himself. He walked into the fitness center of the hockey arena ready to do some weightlifting. He adjusted some weight onto the bar-bell before lying down on the bench and pressing it up.
That was when he was surprised to see himself having no problem with lifting it. He stared at the bar and checked if he put the right weight onto it. Slowly, he took only one hand and lifted it back up before standing up. Almost shocked, he began increasing the weight and repeating the process again.
Yet before he could go on, he felt a strange feeling and was surprised to only see white light around him as he got teleported away. The bar-bell dropped on the ground, ripping a hole into the wooden floor.
Seconds later Dan and CT felt their bodies moving through the sky even though they couldn't see and hear anything. Both felt a hard pain on their sides as they touched the ground again just a few short moments after.
Groaning and mumbling stuff to themselves, they both got back to one knee with their elbows still supporting their upper body. They were completely surrounded by darkness as Dan tried to move himself back onto his feet. He raised his nose to at least smell some scent from their surroundings and found the strange scent of bog and burned down candles.
CT lied directly beside him and shifted his body upwards so that he could sit. "What just happened?" he asked extracting his hand in front of him and trying to make anything out around him.
A sound appeared behind them which sounded like a small lightning flash followed by a numb sound as if something collided with the stony ground. "Ouch!" Someone said which caused Dan and CT to tilt their heads up and stare at their back.
"Slick! Is that you?" The African American called out which was replied by a short 'yeah' from the blonde haired man.
Alex slowly got to his feet swiping dirt from his Hands though unable to see anything in the room as well. "What the hell is going on here?" He asked confused holding out his Hands to the side.
Another two flashes of light appeared and gave the trio a short chance to catch a look at their surroundings and made it possible to walk at each other. "Ouch, would you take your feet out of my face!?" The voice of Katelyn appeared as she seemed to grunt out to someone.
"Oh sorry!" Was the answer which indicated itself to belong to Anja.
"Okay… I am completely lost here." Alex remarked out of the sudden as his eyes began to adjust to the dark.
Yet than again, that was something that CT already did without a problem. "Alright!" he said as he saw the other four silhouettes standing around the place. "Ladies! There's a torch on the wall directly to your left." He ordered with Katelyn already feeling the wall if she could find it. "Slick, give me your lighter!" he said and walked over to Alex clapping him on the shoulder.
Though it was completely dark for the other ones, the colored man could see just fine. He walked over to Katelyn and lit the torch with the lighter. Within an instant, the others padded over to them as well and the group began to stare around.
And that was when another bolt of light appeared short after. Another dumb sound came followed by a loud and long curse word which is not appropriate for children. "OUCH! God Damnit!" Chris called rubbing the back of his head and then staring at the group in front of him. He noticed the Expressions on their faces as he simply rest his back with his elbows leaned on and suporting him on the gorund.
"I suppose that there is not a single person in this room that has an idea of what is going on here."
"I HAD THEM!" Barkonal yelled as he maneuvered through the huge room with the bottled and the tables. "We were that close on finishing the first two before they could even think about morphing. He was still furious which could be clearly seen by his pal Hidragon. "And then something pulled them right out of my grasp. Now they are going to get their powers and become Power Rangers for real.
Right in that moment, Crogon walked in and saw his two generals standing upset in front of one of the tables. "I see that there was a slight chance for you to stop those humans before they could receive their powers. That could have been avoided."
Both robotic aliens saluted before Barkonal raised his voice again. "So… what do we do now? That was the best shot we could get at two of them.
The commander thought for a short moment before he replied. "Our Scanners picked up the missing four signals about the same time you fought the two Rangers. After that, they vanished."
He began Walking away Rom them with one of his Hands holding on to his chin. "As for now... just go and raise some havoc down there. Sooner or later, they have to come out and face us. Until then… we're having a whole planet at our disposal."
In the meantime, Daniel and Alex had helped Chris back onto his feet as the man stared around trying to catch up with what the others had experienced by now. Though the torch was giving them a little bit of light, the room they were in was still too dark to make anything out.
"You know, this day keeps getting filled with more and more surprises." Chris muttered with a mix of annoyance and anger.
Beside him, Katelyn folded her arms and followed in. "Tell me about it. One second I am just doing some training and in the next… I get kidnapped to some weird creepy place." She turned a few times with the others following her direction. "Not to mention that weird thing happening right before that.
Dan and CT made short eye contact with the brown haired man bringing one hand to his chin. "So let me guess, you had an abnormal experience and then heard the scream of an animal as it was right beside you?" He only half asked since he could figure out the answer himself. The astonished faces of the Anja and Alex that he saw gave him enough proof that he was spot on.
"So… since we apparently share the same fate. We better get going and find out where we are and what is going on here." CT right away suggested with the other five giving him nods to signal that they were ready.
"Perhaps I should give you an explanation!"
The group shook together by the booming voice that filled the room and reached their ears. They moved together and then saw a golden light right behind them which made all of them turn around. Just a few feet away from them, floating a few inches over the ground, stood a man. Or rather one that looked like man giving the golden aura that surrounded his body.
He was of Asian heritage with a bald head and suit that resembled one of a monk. Slowly and elegant, he landed on the ground as the aura began to disappear around him. He stared at the six humans with a kind and father like stare. As the light around him had completely vanished, they saw that he had orange clothes and a golden chain hanging from his neck. "I am the one that has brought you to this place."
If that situation wouldn't have been this weird, Chris and Alex would have jumped the Asian right away seeing as he admitted ripping them out of their day like this. However, neither one of them wanted to say anything and they just watch,.
"Allow me to introduce myself! I am Ling Weng Shen; keeper of the power. And I have brought you here because I have a proposition for you." Nearly every one of the others raised their eyebrows and stepped back a little by the word 'proposition'. None of them could comprehend what the man wanted from them.
Ling Wang Shen could sense that the young people in front of him were completely lost and confused so he decided to start slow. "The offer I have to make is of most urgency and importance." Again he received only confused glares. "But then again... I guess I better start at the beginning."
He raised his arms a little bit and the six humans stared around noticing the room getting brighter immediately. Several cauldrons had lit up with fire and gave away a little more of the room. "A… very long time ago…" he began talking as he trotted through the place and around the group of humans.
"A very long time ago, me and a few other... Protegés as you may call them, were taken under the guidance of a great wizard. We were trained and educated for one goal… to protect this planet from terrible threats."
He tilted his head slightly to the side to see what the reaction of the others was and he smiled as he found them still listening to him but having no clue what to make of that. "Our master gave us the power and the knowledge to recruit a group of people that would become the most important line of defense of the earth."
He noticed how the eyebrows of the other began to rise as they slowly began to realize. Ling smiled again and continued. "Say… have you ever heard of the Power Rangers?" He asked and instantly noticed the jump they nearly did.
"Heard of them?! We all saw the tapes about what happened years ago in Angel Grove!" Chris went as he sat folded his arms and exchanged small glances with the rest.
Right away, Katelyn walked forth and observed the Chinese carefully. "Who are you and who was your mentor?" The others followed suit and soon surrounded Ling.
He smirked and began to respond. "Like I said, I am the keeper of the power Ling Wan Shen… and my mentor was Zordon of Eltar." Though none of them heard this name before, they all felt that this Zordon that Ling spoke about must be a great person. "And since I don't take you six for idiots… I presume that you know what I have to offer you." He waited for a second to see if anybody reacted before saying it out loud himself. "You are chosen to become the next Power Rangers."
All the color disappeared out of their faces as they heard that. While CT and Daniel simply stared to the ground sunken in their own thoughts, Chris, Katelyn and Alex began walking forth and having trouble bringing their question out loud.
In the back, Dan began to count two and two together as he spoke out again. "So all that happened today, those sound that we heard along with those creatures attacking us… it all has to do with us being chosen?!" He noticed Ling nodding as Katelyn came forth.
"But why us, there are six billion people on this planet... and you want six college students form Michigan to protect it from… whatever is out there? WouldN't this be something that ould be more suited for, I don't know... Navy Seal? And how in the world are we supposed to become Power Rangers?" She asked almost grabbing the Chinese on his robe.
Ling backed off a bit and stayed calm. Before anyone could go in on that statement, he began extracting his arms a bit more. "Since we all had become protégés of Zordon, we were all gifted with the ability to create a power that shall give you the strength to fulfill this task.
Slowly, the lights began to go brighter and higher and the room the six found themselves in right now could be seen clearly. It wasn't so much a room as more of a temple. Six pillars stood at the side having Chinese symbols written on them. On the far side stood a giant statue of Buddha, and in front of that stood six statues each showing a different kind of animal.
The others stared at them with Ling continuing to explain. "In the 16th century, the Shaolin monk Bai Yu Feng revolutionized the art of Shaolin Kung-Fu; he created technique of the five animals. I have been a member of the Shaolin order for centuries and studied the techniques that include those of the animals." He paused as he stopped in front of the Buddha and taking a bow.
"That as when I created the six power stones and the animal souls The stones remained in this temple well hidden from any extraterrestrial or evil threat. And the animal souls set out to inhabit the suiting person and personality."
Now completely understanding, the six humans stepped in and stopped in a line in front of the monk. Katelyn however, kept staring around as she thought about something else. "But then again… why us? To defeat whatever evil is out there, wouldn't a group of advanced fighters or specialists be better than… well… college students."
Ling laughed as he heard; it was a warm and caring laugh. Short after, he stopped and responded. "The animal souls didn't only choose for ability, they also choose the character. Wu Xin XI is the most effective if all five styles are used as one. Choosing the six of you is not a mistake."
Seeing as how they seemed now more questions for now, Ling raised his arms staring at them. "Now, I know that what I'm asking you is quite difficult. I can't force you to do it." His voice was calm and he brought both his arms behind his back. "You better think about this for a moment before you agree."
Right away, Chris gave the others a wink to stand in a circle with them following suit and getting together in a huddle. "Okay... the first thing we have to ask is… can we really trust all this?" He asked waiving his hands around before Katelyn bumped him with her fist in the shoulder."
"We're in the middle of this temple with a Chinese Ghost talking to us right after two of us said they were attacked by strange creatures… and you still have doubt?" She said in a sarcastic tone staring everybody else into the eyes.
Dan and CT looked at each other before both nodded their heads. "I'm in!" Both said in unison which didn't surprise Alex and Chris at all. The brown haired man adjusted his glasses and then staring right his short haired friend. "What about you?"
Chris thought for a short moment before his face lit up and he smirked over at his friend. "I would never let you do this alone." He said and bumped his fist into Dan's.
The three stared at Alex who had his hands leaning against his hips. "Oh why not… this good be great fun." He added and laid his arms around CT's and Dan's shoulder.
Katelyn stared at them before bumping Chris in the shoulder again. "Hey don't leave us out of this." She said before turning back on Anja at her side. The smile she had put on before stopped as she saw the doubting expression on her face. Now that she saw it, Anja had been completely quiet during the whole time.
For a moment, she thought about what to say and the replied with a calm voice. "I don't really know… I still don't think that I have what it takes to be a Power Ranger." She turned her head slightly away before Katelyn wrapped her arm around her. "It's going to be fine. We're going to help you with this."
"All of us!" Anja and Katelyn stared up looking directly at Chris who smiled at the brown haired woman who smiled back. "After that, the six turned around and faced the Chinese man. "Alright… we're in!"
"Very well, now take your positions in front of the statues. Let's start with you." He said pointing to Dan. "What did you hear?"
Dan thought for a moment and then answered him. "An eagle!"
Ling right away showed him the place on the far right as Dan stopped in front of it. "You're going to be the blue eagle Ranger." He stopped short after and then raised his voice to the others as well. "As you have noticed, your animal's souls will provide you with certain enhancements in your DNA. Yours will be a slightly higher jump and sharpened eyes." Dan nodded and the Chinese turned to CT "What about you?"
"Felt like a giant cat… I guess." As CT began walking up to Dan, one of the statues began to glow in a black color. CT stepped right in front as Ling began to speak out again. "You will be the Black Leopard Ranger, your will have the ability to see in the dark and minimize your sounds of movement to nothing." The African American stopped at his place before Alex went along.
"To me it was a snake." He immediately walked to the statue on the far left with Ling speaking up.
"The green snake Ranger, you will have a higher speed and immense agility."
Ling then turned to Anja and who was still a bit unsafe as she stepped over and spoke out. "I had the other big cat." Without saying anything else, she stepped to the side of Dan as the statue in front of her began to glow as well.
"Anja, you are the yellow Tiger Ranger, you will obtain sharper body senses and Movement control."
That left only Katelyn and Chris who both faced him again and Ling quickly glared at the woman. Katelyn stared at the statue between Dan and CT as it began to glow pink. "Well Katelyn, you will be the pink crane Ranger. You will have a longer stand in the air and just like some of your friends, higher body agility." Katelyn nodded and stepped to the statue.
Logically, Chris walked to the final statue left and the monk spoke up. "You will be the red dragon Ranger, the ability that you obtain is higher body strength, along with certain immunity to temperatures."
With the last of the six finally in position, all the statues began to glow and filled the room with their light. "Ling stared at them before speaking out once more. "By now, you should see a small object in the wholes that are made inside the statue's chests. Grab it and pull it out of it."
They followed the instruction and soon found themselves once again surrounded by golden light, neither one of them could see through these seconds. But as fast as it had come, it disappeared and the humans found themselves still standing in the middle of the temple not feeling any different. The only they noticed were the small devices that lied around the left wrists.
The object was small and long. On one end was a small round plating connected with the rest of it through a mechanism. "These are your morphers. There is a small undercut which allows you to flip the device with you middle and ring finger. Once the red button lay on your flat hand, you just have to activate it with a Chuan Li Dai while saying the code word."
"Alright! What's the code word?" Alex asked calmly and twisting his gaze from side to side.
Ling smirked as he glared into the round. "It's rather simple. Just say Biànhuà jihuó." He said with the Rangers raising the eyebrows on the sudden tone of chinese words. "But I guess that's enough for now. You should go out there and test your new powers."
Right away, he noticed the hesitation that lied in the humans as Katelyn raised her voice. "There's one point that still isn't clear to me… when you mean fighting with the power of Shaolin monks, that usually includes fighting as a Shaolin." The others stared at her knowing right away what she meant. "Problem with that is…we don't know martial arts. At least I don't."
But that wasn't anything that brought Ling out of his concept. "For now, your animal souls will provide you with enough for the start. And about the rest, we have to simply work on that. But right now, I think that there is something out there that you need to take care of."
The Rangers nodded and got in line. Chris and CT stepped forward as they glared at each other before nodding their heads. "Ready?" Chris asked with the others responding.
"Biànhuà jihuó!"
Screaming humans ran through the streets as panic was written all over their faces. Not far away from them stood the Crogorians that still shot laser beams out of the weapons and into every direction. Cars exploded everywhere while lamb posts and hydrants flew in nearly every direction.
And right in the middle stood Barkonal as he observed the scene with delight. "I wonder what's keeping them so long. The Rangers should have shown their faces by now. Maybe I got lucky and we can do this without the likes of the idiots in spandex.
He was so satisfied himself that it took him too long to realize the Crogorian flying right over his head and landing beside him. "What the…?!" He called and stared to the side where the minion came from. As he turned around, he saw six multi colored figures standing in one line and staring at him.
Their upper bodies resembled the robe of Chinese people around the 17-18th century. All had the Chinese symbol of their animal on their left chest. Their gloves were made of the same color as their upper body parts along with colored parts around their elbows. The pants had a darker shade of their color and they had white boots where as their helmets showed the shape of their animals as well. (think Wild force with Dairanger mouthpieces) and the Chinese symbol on the back of the head.
"That one looks really tough!" Katelyn remarked under her black visor and stared into the round of her teammates.
But before anyone could respond, Chris stepped forth and pointed with one of his fingers into his direction. "Hey ugly! Why not, in exchange hydrants and cars, you fight with us, so that you actually have someone that hits back." He threatened a little bit surprised by his own bravery.
But Barkonal simply snapped his fingers as the Crogorians regrouped behind him. "Crogorians…GET THEM!"
Chris turned back on his teammates as he gave them a wink with his hands. "Alright, guess that's it… for our first battle, at least try to look like you know what you're doing." With that, the six Rangers dashed forward directly at the alien minions.
The red Ranger made a side summersault over two of the aliens before blocking a strike and kicking one of them directly on the chin. Another Crogorian came with a kick which Chris dove underneath. He gave him a hit to the groin and then hammering his elbow into the side of its face.
Not far away from him, CT rolled through between two others, only to take one Crogorian out with sweep while he stayed on one knee. He followed with strike to the chest before he rolled over the back of a minion and kicking both of them down at the same time.
"How did you do that?" Chris asked as he stopped a few feet away from them.
"Years of playing football. You learn a thing or two!"
As the two stared to the side, they found Alex moving through another group of aliens as he moved in the style of Snake Kung-Fu. Thank god, the duo had helmets or else anyone could have seen their jaws drop to the ground. One after another Alien minion was taken out by the green Ranger and him turning into a movie fighting stance.
"Jackie Chan eat your heart out!" He called before staring at the other two who face palmed above their visors. Alex noticed and extracted his arms. "What?"
"We better work on those puns a bit more!" CT replied before the three of them got back into the fight.
Katelyn waited for a trio of Crogorians to be close enough before she left her place of a tree and landed right in front of them. "Alright gentlemen, let's go!" She said doing a spin kick and sending the first one to the floor. The other two attacked yet Katelyn made a sidekick while holding the other one with her arm before throwing her over his shoulder.
But then she had to duck herself as Anja came jumping over her with two other minions behind her in pursuit. She blocked the first attack before faking a right hand and coming with a left front kick. Another sweep to the leg before elbowing it into the stomach. As the last one came, she blocked another strike and kicked it in the gut before ramming her knee into its face. "Hey Daniel, need a hand?!"
The blue Ranger stared up and saw the yellow one holding her hands to give him a bunk-up. He took her as a ramp before crushing down into two minions. With a spin kick he finished another before grabbing a third by the arm and twisting him around. With five repeatedly kicks, the Crogorian sunk to the ground and the rest gathered behind the perplexed looking Barkonal.
"Damn it, and it was all set to be perfect." The robotic alien said as he stared at the six humans ready to take a stance against him.
Daniel and CT stepped forth with rest clenching their fist together ready to attack. "Now with the kids at home, what about us big boys playing for a while?" Alex asked from behind folding his arms in a heroic way.
Barkonal thought for a moment before he extracted his arms. "Not today... Rangers!" He said and soon later was hilled in white light before he vanished along with the Crogorians.
The Rangers stayed on their places as they began to stare at each other and the outfits they wore. "I don't what happened back there, but I still feel I could rip out trees." Anja exclaimed she felt the hand of Katelyn on her shoulder.
"Not bad for the first time!" Alex remarked laying his arms around the female rangers. "I really could get used to this." His gaze wandered down on the two females and he spoke up. "By the way, I'm Alex Schick… but you can call me Slick. And… you are?"
Anja and Katelyn giggled as they both introduced themselves while CT and Chris began to face palm again.
[Back in the temple]
Ling sat in a meditation seat as he observed the scenery that happened down on earth. Inside his trance, he smiled about how the first battle of the Rangers turned out to be. Very well Power Rangers, but your journey has only just begun. The way I know these evil forces, the challenges that lie in front of you will only get stronger.
Barkonal punched his fists into a LCD screen. "These Power Rangers made the Crogorians look like fools." Frustration spoke out of his voice, even though it was only the first battle.
It didn't take long and the face of Crogon appeared in the door frame and he stared at his general being completely enraged. "Just as predicted. These Power Rangers are full of surprises and tricks. But then again, it wasn't that there was that much success in this plan from the beginning."
The robotic Alien once again hit a control panel on the wall. "We should get them right away while they are new to these powers, we should send out the next troop of soldiers to finish them off."
But Crogon only waved his hand. "Be patient! The humans have a saying for this that goes, "Rome wasn't built in one day either. And the one with the longer breath is able to sustain in the end." The general was surprised in how calm his superior seemed. "The war about earth has only just begun."
Author's note: Well, this concludes the beginning of our season. Updates gonna appear from now every Sunday evening or night. But that's it for now. Hope you'll be around next week with episode 3.