A/N:
"Oh my!" Bonus points for one of my sharp-eyed guest readers! I did give a nod to the Sentai and Ian Yorkland's backstory in the previous chapter. It was too great not to adapt! Ian was my favorite Kyoryuger and an awesome character, so it's no surprise that I'm going to be a little partial toward Chase this season too.
Orange rays of the early morning sun lit up the skies of New Plymouth as a lone figure flew down the nearly empty streets on his skateboard. The boarder wore a black helmet and grey colored clothes that caught the wind as he cruised across the pavement, seemingly racing against the coming light of the sunrise. Chase Randall pushed his legs to gain more momentum as he hit a straightaway and began to coast. It felt good to stretch his legs again. It had been too long since he had been able to really push himself like this. As the memories of physical therapy sessions and hospital visits crept back from the dark crevices of his memory, so too did the memories of what happened on that forest ridge one year ago.
As Chase continued coasting, he turned off the main straightaway into a greener park area where he came across a thin morning mist that swirled hauntingly around the trees. Chase felt his breath catch as he began boarding up a shallow incline in the road and began to remember the sights and sounds of the Waipoua Forests that day.
Shaking his head, he growled and continued pushing harder up the incline, cursing himself for letting his mind drift like that. As he reached the crest of the incline, he saw two round lights materialize from the early morning mists and Chase turned to get out of the way of a truck coming from the opposite lane. Again, his heart skipped a beat as he remembered those glowing eyes, and the visceral fear that he had felt. He remembered how powerless he felt... and he hated it.
At the top of the park hill, Chase stopped a moment and looked far down the road. Thoughts of Maddie came flooding back to him and he kicked his skateboard forward, aggressively charging down the hill. The familiar feeling of speed and downward momentum pulled at him as he gritted his teeth and focused on keeping his balance down the steep slope.
As he neared the bottom, the pavement became uneven and Chase's wheels suddenly caught in a small pocket of the concrete. In a heartbeat, he was sailing through the air again, crashing downward toward the ground. Turning his shoulders and shifting his weight, he threw himself sideways off the paved road and instead landed on the soft grasses of the park walkways. As he heard his skateboard continue to roll away down the empty hill, Chase lay on his back, breathing hard and staring at the light of the pink morning sky. He stretched his arms out, and for a long while, the young man lay there in the grass, alone with the ghosts of his memories.
Meanwhile, a black SUV pulled up slowly to the curb of a small antique shop across town. As the doors of the car opened, a petite young woman in business attire and a burly young man in casual clothes stepped out to survey the area. Here and there, a few local residents were walking their dogs while several early morning joggers were out and about on the sidewalks for their morning runs. Nearby, the tempting smells of hot breakfast food from a café wafted through the air and caught the nose of the shaggy young man. He turned to the woman expectantly.
To his disappointment, she shook her head. "Not now Koda. Maybe later, ok?" Checking the address one more time, the young woman nodded and headed for the shop's door, motioning for her companion to follow her. It was a small corner shop with some faded peeling paint around the edges of the windows. From the outside, it looked very shabby and rather unassuming.
As the two approached the threshold of the shop, they saw that a closed sign was still hung from the glass door. Undeterred, the young woman reached out and rapped the door several times, then waited patiently. Moments later, a heavy set middle aged woman with long dark hair emerged from inside and came to the door. Flipping the sign, she unlocked the door and opened it for her visitors.
"Excuse me," the young woman asked. "I'm sorry if we came a little early, but are you by chance the antique seller named Moana?"
The older woman nodded and beckoned them inside. "Yes. Please, come in Miss Morgan. I've been expecting you."
The two visitors entered the shop and were at once struck by how odd and eclectic all the items on display were. The air inside the shop was a musty earthy smell of antiques as old pieces of half painted furniture and gaudy looking trinkets lay scattered about. Clothes and costumes from almost every region of the world hung on some racks off to the side while fearsome Maori masks and artwork adorned the walls.
After taking a cursory glance around, Miss Morgan turned to the shopkeeper and extended a hand. "Thank you again for meeting with me. I know we couldn't speak long on the phone but..."
"Quite all right dear." Moana replied calmly shaking her hand. "I think I already have a fairly good idea about why you are here."
Miss Morgan blinked in confusion and furrowed her brow. "You... do?"
Moana gave a mysterious smile and gently turned Miss Morgan's hand over, glancing at the young woman's palm. "Of course. I could already see it in your palm. Tell me Miss Morgan, would you care for me to read you your fortune?"
Miss Morgan shook her head, trying to be polite. "Err... no, thank you ma'am. I'm afraid I'm a woman of science."
Moana sighed and released Miss Morgan's hand. "Hmm, that's too bad. It looks like a very interesting one." Kendall continued to stare incredulously as Moana raised a hand to calm her. "I come from a long line of Tohunga, or practitioners of certain arts."
Kendall raised a skeptical eyebrow. "So, you're a fortune teller?"
"Of sorts," Moana chuckled, "but my family had practiced the healing arts more. Come, enough about me. You must be exhausted from your trip." Looking over to Miss Morgan's patient companion Koda, Moana smiled warmly, "As for you dear, would you care for something to eat? You look famished."
It wasn't until later in the morning that Chase returned to Moana's antique store after running a few errands for her. As he picked up his skateboard and removed his helmet, he noticed a dark SUV parked on the curb nearby the store. He wondered if it belonged to some wealthy customer. Chase entered the store and heard the jingling bell from the doors and he headed for the main desk. He removed the messenger bag he had been carrying and maneuvered past several of the store's hodge podge clothing displays and pieces of antique furniture. "I'm sorry I'm late Moana! I came as soon as I got your call!"
From behind the counter, the heavyset middle aged woman with dark features waited with a kind smile. She wore an eclectic mix of unusual dark clothing along with a floppy colorful hat, making her look more like some sort of eccentric tribal witch than a business owner.
"Chase, dear. How was your ride earlier?" she asked. "Are you feeling a little stronger?"
Chase averted his eyes and tried to force a smile. "It was fine Moana. Thanks."
The older Maori woman fixed him with a curious look and frowned slightly. "Are you sure? You look like something is bothering you."
It was hard to lie to Moana. What many other people in town didn't know was that the antique store owner was also an old Maori fortune teller with a keen eye and uncanny talent for reading people. It was a trait her young charge Chase found both amazing and aggravating at times to deal with. He shook his head. "It's nothing. You don't have to worry about me... really."
Moana reached out and lovingly patted his cheek as a mother would to her son. "But I do. After all, I made that promise to your mother that I'd look after you, didn't I? I've known you for too long to know when you're not telling me something."
Chase sighed and nodded. She had a point. The old Maori woman had been a good friend of his mother for many years and had almost become like a surrogate aunt when his mom became ill with cancer. Over the years, Moana had watched him grow and helped look after him, especially when Chase's mother went off to stay with other relatives due to her sickness. He had loved Moana like family and often found himself getting into fights when he was younger, defending the fortune teller from the nasty rumors of other children who said that she was some kind of creepy old witch.
The shopkeeper took his arm and patted it as she led him further inside the store. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I have some people from America here who want to talk with you."
"What? America?" Chase frowned in confusion. "What do they want with me?" Moana led him into the main display room where they met two people idly looking at the unusual antiques and treasures of the store. One was an odd young man about Chase's age with a tall broad build and dark shaggy hair. He was dressed in some old khaki shorts and a blue cutoff shirt. Beside him was a short young woman in business attire with dirty blonde hair tied into a neat ponytail.
The smartly dressed girl adjusted her glasses and turned to him with a look of curiosity. "Hello. Are you Mr. Chase Randall?"
Chase looked suspiciously to Moana for a moment before turning to the young woman. "Yes. And you are…"
"Kendall Morgan, Head Paleontologist of the Amber Beach Museum." she replied briskly extending a hand to shake Chase's. "It's nice to finally meet you." Turning to her shaggy companion she said, "This… is my assistant, Koda."
Koda gave a broad friendly grin and his large hand enveloped Chase's, crushing it in his powerful grip. "Good to meet you."
"Yeah, the pleasure's mine mate." Chase groaned, carefully cradling his sore hand. "Umm, I'm sorry, but could one of you please tell me what this is all about? I'm afraid wasn't really expecting any visitors today."
Kendall gestured for him to sit down at a nearby table. "Of course. Please, have a seat."
"Wait, so let me get this straight…" Chase exclaimed incredulously. "You mean to tell me that you flew all the way here from California with a 10,000 year old caveman looking for magical dinosaur bones, and you want my help?"
"Well, in a manner of speaking… yes." Kendall replied bluntly as Moana returned to the room with a hot teapot and a plate full of biscuits.
"And you expect me to believe that?" Chase laughed as Moana poured them each a cup of tea. He stopped to examine Koda for a moment, trying to see if he really believed the young man was a prehistoric human. Unfortunately, it was still a bit hard to tell. Fixing his eyes on Kendall again, he cleared his throat. "Ok, let's assume for a minute that what you say is true. What does any of this have to do with me?"
Kendall glanced over and saw Koda reach over and cram a handful of biscuits into his mouth, making everyone at the table pause and stare. Turning back to Chase, she said, "I have reason to believe that you are in possession of one of the Energems, or… magic dinosaur bones, as you put it. Moana had told me she had given you a black stone charm as a gift not too long ago. Do you have it on you right now?"
Chase carefully reached for the black stone charm that he had kept in his pants pocket and showed it to Kendall. Her eyes grew wide and she looked to him as she handed the stone back. "Tell me Chase, since you've gotten the stone, have you felt any different in a physical sense? Stronger? Faster? Something like that maybe?"
Chase gave a skeptical shrug. "I don't know really. Moana had always seemed convinced that it was some kind of lucky protective charm."
"I'd believe it." Kendall said raising her finger. "After all, it's probably what saved your life about one year ago."
Chase's eyes grew wide in shock. "Wait, what? How do you know about…"
"You think we didn't do our homework, did you?" Kendall answered matter of factly producing a newspaper clipping from a file she had at her side. "Your local paper said that you and Madeline Abbott had been hiking through the forests looking for some Maori ruins one year ago. According to her account, you were both attacked by some kind of monster and fell a couple hundred feet off a ridge."
Chase shivered as she recounted the story and a new wave of guilt flooded back over him.
"Despite your injuries, you miraculously recovered while Madeline was paralyzed from the waist down."
Chase and Moana exchanged a somber look making Kendall pause. "I… I'm sorry I had to bring that up again." She said apologetically. "It's just that, given the… unusual nature of the incident, it caught our attention. Even though I don't have enough data to study right now, I have a theory that the Energems can grant special properties to their owners, such as an increased healing factor in this case."
"All right, now maybe you can tell me something Miss Morgan." Chase asked pointedly, trying to go on the offensive. "It sounds like these Energems are pretty special. Why are you so interested in them?"
She glanced around and lowered her voice a little before speaking. "I believe that the Energems are sources of great power to those who possess them. I also think I've been able to develop technology which can harness that power and prevent the Energems from falling into the wrong hands."
"They turn you into Power Rangers." Koda interjected making all of them pause again.
Kendall rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh, "Yes, thank you Koda."
Chase blinked a moment before turning to Kendall incredulously. "Power Rangers, like those superheroes we always see on TV? You have technology to do that… with this?" He held up his black stone and stared at it, trying to imagine if that was even possible."
"If it worked for Koda, it should work for you, given enough time for fine tuning of course." Kendall answered proudly. "In the mean time, we were going to spend another week here in New Zealand on a local dig. If you're willing, I'd like to take you on and have you help us with it. Your black Energem was supposedly bonded to a Parasaurolophus and we'd like to try and recover the bones. Besides, I was told you have a little background in archeology. That may come in useful."
"Yes, if we were digging for artifacts and appraising them..." Chase answered patiently, "not dinosaur bones. I… I'm sorry. This is just a little too much to swallow at once."
"Better to chew well first." Koda cut in helpfully as he grabbed another handful of biscuits.
Kendall pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment and took a deep breath, "Chase, the reason I've come here is because we're offering you a chance to be part of something incredible. There are dangerous things out there, like the one that attacked you. If we work together, we might have a way to do some really amazing things for the world, maybe even help protect people. Think about it. You might even be able to bring whatever that thing was to justice for Madeline."
Chase felt his temper suddenly flare and he turned on Kendall with cold anger growing in his voice, "Don't talk as if you know Maddie, or who I am either! You have no idea what we went through, or what Maddie will have to go through for the rest of her life. You're saying I can become some sort of hero... well what bloody good does that do when I couldn't even protect her!"
He held his stone up to the light in front of everyone as his voice rose. "Because of this stone, I'm still here walking around, having tea and biscuits with you while Maddie won't ever be able to walk again!"
Moana tried to take his arm as he rose from the table in anger, but he shrugged it off. "Whatever you do Miss Morgan, don't you even think of trying to come in here and emotionally manipulate me into helping you with your little scavenger hunt. I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing, but I think I've heard enough for today!" With that, he turned from the table and stormed out the door of the shop, leaving the two women in shocked silence while Koda reached over and began munching on the biscuits from Chase's saucer.
