Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers. The Power Rangers, all names and likenesses concerning them, are all trademarks of Disney Enterprises, LLC. All of the main characters in this story, however, are indeed mine
Episode 1
Chapter II – Origins, Part 2
Norfolk,
VA.
September
19, 2006
12:03
AM
The ruins of the Norfolk Scope Arena.
The team had a good laugh at Skip's expense. As the laughter died down, Will cleared his throat.
"Anyone know why we were gathered here?" Will asked in a bored tone, re-tying the ends of his cornrows back.
"No clue," Tyler responded. He took a look at the destroyed arena, and whistled. "This place has seen better days, huh?"
"You can say that again." Pam said. "I used to come here when I was a little girl, y'know?" She shook her head. "This place is all but gone now…"
"Yeah," Jessica added, sighing. "Just about completely demolished."
Tyler nodded solemnly.
"Well, are we just gonna sit here and reminisce, or are we going in?" Skip muttered loud enough for the others to hear.
"He's right, guys." Will said. "Let's head on in before we're spotted…again." He added as an afterthought. He turned and walked in, the others quickly following suit.
- PRDE -
The group maintained an unspoken rule of silence as they stumbled around in the ruins of the Scope.
"Man, what I wouldn't give for some light…" Tyler said, breaking the tranquility.
Suddenly there was a flash, and there was light guiding the way, and with the light, there was panic.
"You just had to say something about light, didn't you?" Jessica hissed, wheeling around to face him. "Now every monster and robot in the city is going to swoop in on us!"
"Calm down, J-Starr." Will said, trying to defuse the situation, while keeping his eyes trained forward. "It's not that serious. Besides, a little li-aye-yi-yi-yi!" He trailed off, stopping suddenly, which caused the others to bump into him.
"What the hel-lo there!" Skip exclaimed, looking in the same direction Will was.
The others turned and noticed a gorgeous brunette, curly-haired woman dressed in a white lab coat and a black miniskirt, and holding a file folder walking in. Her vibrant hazel eyes looked through black-rimmed spectacles.
"Glad to see you all made it," she said smiling. "I'm Doctor Elyse Jolley, but you can call me Elyse, since Dr. Jolley makes me feel old."
"OK, Elyse," Will said, "Care to tell us why we're here?"
"In due time, Will," she replied. "Follow me please. Lights off."
As suddenly as the lights turned on, they turned off once again as the five followed Elyse to the central area in the arena. She retrieved a cell phone from her coat pocket, hit a combination of numbers, and then hung up the phone. The floor then slowly began to descend, and dropped to a science lab. The lab was completely white, and men and women in lab coats and goggles were walking around, each with clipboards and headsets on.
"Welcome to SciLab," Elyse said. "This is the nerve center of the Atlantic branch of the Resistance."
"That's all well and good," Pam said, glaring slightly at Elyse. "So why are we here?
"Well, Pam," she replied, "The five of you have been chosen."
"Chosen for what?" Skip asked, walking up next to Will.
"I thought you'd never ask," Elyse said excitedly. "Thanks to an… unlikely agent, we have picked up a new power source on our sensors. If our hypothesis is right, this new power may be just what we need in the fight against the Power Rangers!"
"This must be some great power," Will said.
"Yes, yes it is," Khi said. "And that's where you five come in. We need people to use the power, and being that all of you have proven yourselves time and again that you are the best fighters we have, who better to use the power than you?"
"Well, I'm in," Will stated.
"Me too," Pam said.
One by one, the five warriors agreed to the proposition.
"Alright," Elyse said, walking off. "Will, would you follow me please?"
"Uh…Sure," Will said surprised. He began to follow Elyse, and cast a glance back to the others. Tyler and Skip had blatant jealousy written across their faces, Jessica was taking in her surroundings, and Pam was practically radiating mistrust in waves. He grinned and shrugged, before getting serious and following the scientist.
- PRDE -
Norfolk, VA
September 19, 2006
12:09 AM
Somewhere in SciLab
"…And that's how we stumbled across its existence." Elyse said, while looking at her clipboard.
"I see." Will said, rubbing his chin. "Where are we going?" He asked, looking around casually.
"To the holding cells," she replied.
"Why the holding cells?"
"We have to get the source from the person responsible for finding it."
"Oh. OK, I guess."
The two of them stopped in front of a holding cell with a pale blue force field serving as the door. Will peered in, and felt his stomach leap into his throat.
Inside the room sat a strange being of sorts. He looked like a human with no skin. His bones were on the outside of his body, and made of metal. The creature's head had half of his brain showing, and his face consisted of a red lens across his face where human eyes should be and a metal grate where a mouth would be. He had a horn protruding from the top center of his forehead, and atop this horn was the letter "Z".
"LORD ZEDD?!" Will exclaimed "You have Lord Zedd?! …Waitaminute, Lord Zedd's ALIVE?!"
"Yes, now keep quiet!" Elyse hissed in an annoyed tone. "His being here is a secret."
"This, is your strongest fighter?" Lord Zedd asked, sarcastically. "A child? That's laughable." Zedd's voice was the most horrible thing that Will could remember ever hearing. It was like scraping a knife across a rock. Will had heard that horrible laugh the day his mother…
"The last time I checked, Zedd, a bunch of kids kicked your behind for years." Will retorted. He smirked. "Apparently, old habits die hard."
This struck a nerve with Lord Zedd. He glowed red, a sign that he was angry, and the blue door turned purple in his crimson glow. He jumped up.
"If I were you, boy," He raged, "I'd watch who I talked to in such an insolent manner!"
"Oh really," Will taunted. "Wanna come out here and make me?"
"ENOUGH!" shouted Elyse. She whispered to Will, "Be quiet, or he may not be willing to part with the power source." Then she said loud enough for Zedd to hear, "Now apologize to our revered guest, Will."
"…I'm sorry, Lord Zedd." Will reluctantly muttered. "I was out of line."
"Glad to know that you realize your place, boy." He said, sitting down. His glow subsided.
"I take it you know why we're here, Lord Zedd," Elyse said coldly.
"I have no idea, Doctor," he answered innocently, though he was clearly enjoying himself. "You're not just here to chat?"
"We know about the power source, Zedd," She said. "What is it, exactly?"
"What power source? I know nothing of a power source."
"Don't toy with us Zedd!" Will growled. "We know you have something, what is it?"
"You fool," Zedd exclaimed. "IF there were such a power source, and I knew of it, wouldn't I have used it to destroy this base, and those traitors?"
"He has a point, Will," Khi whispered. "He can't possibly have anything in there with him. He's been checked, and a spectral scan done each hour would show something."
"But that's how you discovered the source, right?" Will whispered back. "How could he possibly cause an anomaly in the scanners unless…"
"His staff!!" They said in unison.
"You didn't take his staff away!?" Will hissed. "Why wouldn't you ta-"
"We did. It's over there," She shot back, pointing across the hall. Sure enough, Zedd's staff, a five-foot tall metal staff with a "Z" on top of it, was in its own holding cell.
"How could it get over to Zedd?"
"Not sure. Interdimensional wormhole, perhaps?"
"BINGO!!" Zedd said, clasping his hands together. I have access to my staff at anytime, since it is a part of me. Allow me to demonstrate."
He simply held out his hand. The staff disappeared from its cell in a flash of white lightning, and reappeared in his outstretched hand.
"Great." Will said sarcastically. "He can get a hold of his staff at any time."
"Wait," Elyse said suddenly. "If you can get your staff at any time, why not blast your way out? I'm sure it has enough power to."
There was a moment of silence.
"I know of this 'power source' you seek, or, at least the remains of it." Zedd said.
"What is it?" Will asked, slightly intrigued.
"Legend has it," Lord Zedd began, "That there was a crystal crafted from an asteroid with an unfathomable power contained within it. The creator of the crystal was a wizard called Zeo."
"Is that the power source?" Will interjected.
"After Zeo was defeated," Zedd continued, "the crystal was split into five sub crystals by those fools who feared its power. Over the centuries, I heard the legend and began seeking the five crystals. After oh, two millennia, I recovered all of them and hid them on a distant moon. By some twist of fate, that moon happened to be Earth's moon."
"Ironic, isn't it?" Will interrupted again.
"I remembered the crystal" Zedd said with slight irritation in his voice, "just before I swayed the rangers to my side," He laughed. "I kept the crystal as a…insurance policy against my dark rangers."
"Why didn't you use-"Will began, but was cut off.
"Silence you petulant child!" Zedd shouted, reassuming his ruby glow.
Elyse glared at Will, and he muttered another apology, then he fell silent.
"May I please continue?" He asked, still glowing.
She nodded, and he calmed down.
"When those traitors mutinied, I retreated to the hiding place of the Zeo Crystal. The rangers followed, and scattered the subcrystals before I could use them. I came to Earth, and I've been here ever since."
"Which brings us back to where we are now." Will said. "Where is the power source?"
If Zedd could, he would have smiled. "I wasn't finished. When I was defeated, I managed to sense the locations of the subcrystals before being captured by these pathetic fools."
"So the power source is…fragments of this 'Zero' crystal?" Will asked.
"That's Zeo, Will." Elyse corrected.
"Whatever," he responded.
"Yes." Zedd answered. "The Zeo Crystal is the power source you seek."
"Finally, a straight answer," Will said under his breath.
"Lord Zedd," Elyse said, "The Zeo Crystal is instrumental in our operation. May we have coordinates to the subcrystals' whereabouts?"
"…And if I refused?" Zedd said after some consideration.
"Oh come on, Zedd!" Will exploded. "Don't you seek vengeance against your 'Dark Rangers?"
"Hmmm…" Zedd said, clearly contemplating. There was a good three minutes of this, until Will broke the silence.
"Well?" He said.
"Alright." Lord Zedd said. "I could tell you the locations of the subcrystals, but I can't help you retrieve them." He began laughing. "Rather, I'll send you to someone who can!" And with a final maniacal outburst, pointed his staff at his two wary visitors. A blinding flash of white lightning later, the two were gone without a trace.
Author's Notes: That does it for Chapter II, all. God, it's been five months since I've began revamping this, and I'm only just now re-doing Chapter II! Jeez! But yeah, I should try to update slightly more often, but hey, balancing three stories isn't as easy as I believed it to be…Anyway, the next chapter will reveal where Elyse and Will wound up, and just who Zedd sent them to.
Up Next! Chapter III – The Chamber and the Crystal
