Chapter 4 – Seize The Day
Pacific Ocean
The city of Hunston Valley sat about a mile and half from the Pacific coast. In comparison with other locations in California, the local beaches were reasonably quiet, even during the high of summer. What the locals and tourists didn't know was that the sparkling waters of the Pacific held a dark secret.
A few miles off the coast and deep under water sat a giant crystalline structure. Unlike most crystals this one was mostly black with a hint of green occasionally shining through. Out the top of the main crystal body hundreds of black tentacles reached out into the water. A few wrapped themselves tightly around the main structure.
The crystal itself wasn't completely solid, part of the structure was hollow. Inside this section the walls were pale pink, similar to the colour of flesh. The floor of the enclave covered in mist and slimy in texture. The dominating feature in the room was three large thermometers, blood red in colour. At the top of the thermometers were a carved face, each one had a different expression. One was smiling, another was crying and the final one was contoured into an angry expression.
Two figures slowly walked into the room and cast their eyes over the poles. The first was wearing dark blue armour from head to toe. His helmet was the same colour as his suit but the face plate had the permanent expression of sadness etched onto it. Glowing yellow eyes flickered as they observed one of the poles, the one marked with anger, begin to rise.
The other figure clapped enthusiastically, much to the annoyance of the armoured solider. Her body was pink and she was wearing yellow boots and elbow length gloves. Her skirt was made up of several pink hearts and which connected to a yellow corset top. Her head was the shape of a pink heart but with a white patch cut out, revealing her permanently smiling face. "Do you have to do that Lady Jodella", the knight moaned, "it's most unbecoming of a general in the Legion of Deboss".
Jodella blew a raspberry at the knight, "Don't bring your frowny face into this room General Sorrow", she replied cheerily, "this is a happy day for us".
"Indeed it is Lady Jodella", another voice replied. A third person entered the room, he was dressed in a red and black robe that reached all the way to the floor. On his back was a singular silver steel wing, it looked like there had been a matching one on the other side but this was missing. His head was also silver with several large spikes sticking up into the air. Around his green face were smaller versions of the faces that were carved into the thermometers.
"General Chaos", Jodella and Sorrow stated and dropped to one knee.
"Rise faithful servants of Deboss", Chaos replied. He inspected the thermometer in front of him, "I see General Fury is already hard at work on Earth", he muttered to himself. "For 65 million years we have been imprisoned in this structure but finally we have awoken", he roared. "When the time is right, the Master will arise and lay waste to this planet once again".
"Pardon my ignorance", Sorrow raised his hand, "but how are we going to do that?"
Chaos chuckled, "Simple, you will put your talents to good use", he turned to the female general, "Lady Jodella you will harvest the happy from the humans", next he turned to Sorrow, "General Sorrow you will reduce the population to tears. Their sadness will be absorbed by the Master. Finally General Fury will make the humans so angry they will be fit to explode". He extended his hands and waived at the thermometers, "Once we have drained enough happiness, anger and sadness from the human, then the Master will live again".
Jodella laughed loudly, "Boy this is going to be fun".
Chaos nodded, "Glad you think so, now I've come up with a plan".
Scott Residence
Jason climbed the stairs leading to the top floor of his home. He hadn't seen Kiera all morning and he was beginning to worry about his adopted daughter. Since the rangers initial battle he had barely seen her, except for during meal times. Usually she shovelled down her food quickly before disappearing again. Suddenly Jason stopped in front of a large double door that he notice when he viewed the property. He looked closer and it bore the same symbol as the ranger's uniforms. Pulling on the door he found that it was locked, which was strange as there wasn't a lock.
"Sorry you need a Dinovolver to enter the lab", he heard Kiera's voice call out, "gimme a sec and I'll open it up". The door clicked and the former red ranger stepped inside. He jaw dropped as he saw the room had three large screen televisions and an impressive array of computer equipment. In the corner of the room was a large chemistry set, complete with a series of colourful chemicals. In the other corner of the room were four small shelves with glowing red lights. On closer inspection, Jason saw this held all of the Energems in their possession.
In between these two items was a large black leather chair which was sitting in front of two smaller monitors. The chair turned around to reveal Kiera, who smiled warmly at Jason. Over her normal clothes was a white lab coat, "Nice look", Jason laughed, "even wearing your glasses I see".
"Yeah not through choice", Kiera sighed, "had to take my contacts out, they were irritating my eyes".
"Do I want to know where this all came from?" he asked.
Kiera shook her head, "Probably not, oh and I would advise you against using your credit cards for a while". Jason shook his head disapprovingly, "Well the rangers needed a base of operations and it gave me the excuse to get the lab I wanted", she smiled.
Jason didn't response, instead he looked over the rack containing the Energems, "Still haven't found gems six through ten then?"
"Afraid not", Kiera replied, "there's nothing matching the energy signatures of the other Energems out there". She grabbed a remote off her work station, "I've prepared a briefing about the rangers, wanna see?"
"Alright then", Jason began, "but don't think we're not going to talk about the money you spent on this equipment".
Kiera smiled and began the slideshow, "Firstly we have Tyler Navarro, the latest red ranger. Not much in the system about him except that he was born in El Paso, Texas in 1994. Last record we have until recently was of him boarding a flight to Tuvalu in 2006 with his father. Currently he's staying in a hostel in the center of the city".
The image changed to show the new black ranger, "Chase Randall, like Tyler he's also 21 years old. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he joined the army straight out of high school. Weirdly most of his service details have been sealed".
"Can't you", Jason waived his hands, "unseal them?"
"I could", Kiera replied, "but that would probably draw unwanted attention. All I can tell is that he received a medical discharge six months ago, after which he moved to Hunston Valley". She pushed the remote again, "Next up is Koda Yamamoto, and his history is really weird. He's the oldest of the group at 26 years old, according to his file he graduated with Masters in engineering from MIT last year but since then he's worked at his older sister's repair store in the city".
"Maybe he can't find any work", Jason stated, "graduates don't always jump into their chosen field".
"Yeah but his stuff is good, almost to the same level as Aunt Hayley", Kiera said. "According to MIT's records, he had company's tapping him up before he left college". She shook her head and moved onto the next ranger, "From the oldest to the youngest, meet the green ranger, Riley Griffin. 16 year old student at the local high school, he's on the fencing team, good disciplinary record and stuff. Middle of his class kinda guy really".
"Can't all be geniuses Kiera", Jason laughed.
Kiera smiled before introducing the final ranger, "Lastly we have your old student Shelby Watkins. Just graduated from a private school but no college lined up but get this, her parents are loaded". She showed Jason a picture of their home, well mansion would be a better description of the property.
Jason whistled but stopped when he looked at her Dad closer, "Hey I know him", he began, "that's Tyrelle Watkins, one of the greatest running backs in NFL history".
"Got it in one", Kiera smiled, "part of the Super Bowl winning St Louis Rams, he's now a colour commentator for network TV".
"I never knew her Dad was famous", Jason shook his head, "in fact I don't remember talking about her parents at all".
"Well as you can see we've got a real mixed bag", Kiera stated, "that's if they decide to return".
"Tyler is the only one to return my calls so far", Jason replied, "guess we just have to wait and see".
"In the mean time, let me show you some of the Energems in action", Kiera said as she grabbed a Dinovolver and a few of the gems.
"I thought only the rangers could use them?" Jason asked.
Kiera shrugged, "Maybe they recognise me as the creator of the Dinovolvers". She inserted gem number 22 into the weapon and pointed it at Jason, "This might sting", she stated. Before he had a chance to respond Kiera fired and he was struck with a beam of light. Suddenly his body expanded into a giant balloon.
"Kiera!" he cried, "what the hell".
"Sorry couldn't resist", Kiera chuckled, "scientific curiosity and all".
"Turn me back", he shouted as he bounced up and down, "I've got an interview at the museum in an hour".
"Really, that's fantastic", Kiera cried.
"Yeah that's what I coming to tell you", he replied, "Tommy phoned earlier, Anton Mercer put in a word for me with curator". He cried in pain as he bounced so high he hit the ceiling, "but I can't go looking like this". Kiera sighed and ejected the gem from the weapon's barrel, returning Jason to his normal size. He straightened out his clothes before pointing at his adopted daughter, "I'll be back in an hour, try not to burn the place down". Kiera waived him off as the doors to the lab closed behind him.
Valley Repairs
Koda sighed as he slowly rose out of bed. The morning light burned his eyes but they soon rested on his latest possession, his Dinovolver. He couldn't believe that an ancient dinosaur spirit had chosen him to be a Power Ranger. There were times when he was sure that he dreamt the events of three days ago but the evidence was there in front of him. He didn't tell Jason this but he had lived in Angel Grove during Rita Repulsa's initial invasion. He and his sister had idolised the rangers, to an extent he still did. Unfortunately his sister's faith had been broken, and as he recalled that memory of that painful event he let out an audible sigh.
"Koda are you decent", he heard his sister called out.
"Just a sec", he replied. Quickly pulling on some pyjama bottoms and hiding his Dinovolver, he opened the door, "Hey Chloe", he greeted.
Chloe Yuzuki was four years older than her brother. She was a few inches shorter than her younger brother and today she had pulled her long black hair back into a high ponytail. She was dressed in the light blue uniform of her repair company, "Don't forget you've got that job at the museum in an hour", she reminded him. "I'm taking Kristy down there now, her youth club is working on the dinosaur exhibition", Kristy was Chloe's 8 year old daughter.
Koda couldn't help but laugh at the irony of that, "Yeah sure, hopefully none of those monsters will show up again".
"Don't say things like that", Chloe tensed up immediately at the mention of monsters.
"Don't worry I'm sure the Power Rangers will take care of them", he replied with a small smile.
Chloe snorted, "Yeah right, like they helped when..." he voice trailed off, "well you know", the blue ranger nodded sadly in acknowledgement. "Koda can I ask you something, why are you here?"
"Well I was sleeping", he replied in confusion.
"You know what I mean", she stated, "you've got a degree from MIT under your belt. You could do anything you wanted but instead you're living in a small apartment above my shop and working as a repairman".
Koda sighed, "I just want to help you and Kristy out", he replied, "just until everything's stabilised".
"It's been nearly a year Koda", Chloe replied, "I think I'm going to be alright now, it's time to start living for yourself", she smiled and walked back downstairs. Koda shut the door and retrieved his Dinovolver, maybe his sister was right.
Watkins residence
The Watkins estate sat on several acres of land on the outskirts of the city. The mansion had more rooms than Shelby cared to remember. She was sure that more kept magically appearing overnight. Up in her bedroom she was dressed in her workout gear and was going through a few practice katas. Every so often she would catch sight of her Dinovolver sitting on her bedside table.
If the pink ranger was honest with herself, she hadn't really worked too hard for anything in life. Being the daughter to Tyrelle Watkins opened a lot of doors for her. The fact that the spirit of the Triceratops had considered her worthy of protecting the Earth was slightly scary for the teenager. This was the chance she had been waiting for, a chance to show everyone that she wasn't just the rich daughter of a famous retired footballer. The truth was that Shelby hated the social scene and events that her parents dragged her along too. She would much rather practice her martial arts or play sports. But her parents disapproved, they wanted her to be the perfect trophy daughter.
Shelby had gotten the job in the diner to prove to herself that she could work for something. Fortunately none of Hunston's elite came into the diner so she could be the person she wanted to be. Shelby practiced a couple of high kicks when suddenly she heard a creak from the staircase. Stopping what she was doing, she quickly wiped the sweat off her body and threw the towel into the corner of the room. Grabbing a pale pink cocktail dress off her bed, she pulled it on over her workout clothes and zipped it up. She leapt into her desk chair just as her father opened the door, "Shelby sweetie, your Mom and I are leaving for a few weeks", Tyrelle began, "I wish you would reconsider and come with us to Europe".
"I would love to Daddy", she replied sweetly, "but it's the height of the party season, I can't miss that".
He father smiled, "Alright Shelby, we'll be back at the end of August, now be good for the staff won't you". She smiled and wished her Dad a safe journey. When the door closed immediately took off the dress and tossed it into her wardrobe like it was an old rag. She looked at the Dinovolver again before picking it up. Today would be the day, she thought, that take the opportunity fate given me. Changing into a pink t shirt and white jeans, she placed the Dinovolver into her purse and set off for the city.
A/N – Thank you for the positive feedback so far it's really appreciated. So here are the villains (very similar to their Kyoryuger counterparts admittedly), along with a more detailed look in the background of the pink and blue rangers. For anyone who is following my "Chronicles of Power" series, the final story will be up tomorrow.