Chapter 7: New Friends (Race to the Rescue)

As Leo drove to the mountain dome, he couldn't help but have flashbacks about the final moments he had with his brother, Mike. He replayed the scene of himself grabbing the Quasar Saber, and of Mike's screams as he fell into the deep dark bottomless hole.

Leo shook himself out of the memories, noticing that he was on a gravel road surrounded by rolling hills and the occasional tree. Compared to the city, this was as barren as it could get on the space station. He noticed the observatory in the distance, stepping on the pedal of the small car; he made his trip that much shorter. Arriving at the observatory, he noticed that its roof was open and its large telescope pointing out towards the cosmos, meaning that someone was inside.

Finding a door to the building, Leo turned the handle and gave a push. Nothing happened. After trying a second time he found a keypad hidden under a panel, trying that also got him nothing. Sighing in frustration, he settled for knocking instead.

"Who is it!?" A voice yelled from inside. Leo instantly recognized who it was; finally he would be getting some answers.

"Ali, its Leo!" He shouted, not sure if his voice could be heard through the heavy steel door.

For a moment, all was silent, and then the sound of locks being undone was heard. The door handle turned and the door swung open.

Standing in front of Leo was Ali. The man was still dressed in his usual uniform dress shoes, dress pants, dress shirt, with a red tie. However, Leo noticed that he was also wearing a dark blue vest. On his face were a pair of glasses.

"A vest?" Leo asked the young man.

Ali laughed quietly before replying. "Yes Leo, a vest. I wore it under my suit jacket today."

Looking further, Leo eyes widened when he saw two large revolvers on Ali's waist, the firearms fitting snug in their dark brown holsters. Looking over the belt, Leo noticed that it was of sturdy construction and was filled to capacity with moon clips of extra ammunition.

Seeing Leo's eyes trail down to his waist, Ali realized that he hadn't bothered to put on his suit jacket before answering Leo's knock, thus his weapons to the man. Having no way to explain them away, Ali would settle for telling him the truth.

He was gonna find out anyway. Ali thought to himself.

Leo finally spoke after his eyes had bugged out on him. "Why do you have those two things?"

Ali gave a small laugh meant to rid the atmosphere of the suffocating tension. "The correct term is revolvers. And if you're going to be specific, the one holstered to my front, right over my left thigh with a cherry wood grip is a Smith and Wesson .357 magnum with 8 rounds capacity. The larger revolver holstered at my left hip is a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum with 6 rounds of capacity." Seeing Leo continue to stare at the firearms, Ali threw his hands up exasperatingly. "Don't tell me you haven't seen guns before Leo, as I recall, there are many back on Earth."

"Well yes Ali there are, but I've never expected you to have some." Leo said honestly.

Ali gave him a small smile before replying. "Well Leo, my line of work requires me to carry firearms. In many ways, I am like you."

Leo's eyes bunched together in confusion. "What do you mean Ali?"

Ali sighed before responding. "I'm sure you've figured out that I and my brother have known an awful lot about you, and the future."

"Yes, that's why I came here, to look for answers." Leo answered.

"Well you will get your answers; I see it is futile to keep any further secrets from you." Ali moved and sat down in his desk chair and invited Leo to do the same. Leo obliged, sitting directly across from Ali.

"Who are you?" Leo asked plainly.

Ali stared at him before smiling. "Well if you must know, I am a willful servant of a being named Zordon."

"Who's Zordon?" Leo asked the man sitting in front of him.

"Zordon is the being who placed in stone the very sabers you now wield as Power Rangers." Ali said simply.

Leo's eyes widened in shock.

Ali continued, ignoring the look of disbelief on the Leo's face. "He is also responsible for creating the Power Rangers, and granting them their powers. You may think you have just recently acquired your powers, but they've been with you since you were birthed." Ali smiled at the open mouth of Leo.

"He created the Power Rangers?" Leo asked.

"He did. I was there when he was in the planning stages, if you would call it that." Ali asked, a smirk still plastered across his face.

Leo finally composed himself. "What do you mean? How are you a servant of Zordon? What does any of this mean?"

Ali held a hand up meant to calm Leo down." Whoa, catch your breath there ranger." Ali said, winking an eye at Leo. "I mean that I've been under Zordon's tutelage for many years. I arrived when I was a little over 8 years old, I am now exactly 20. I am a servant of Zordon in the sense that he acts like my boss. He tells me my mission or objectives needing to be completed, and I do them."

"Your mission? What is your mission?" Leo asked in an aggravated tone.

"My mission is to protect all that is good and light from the evil in this galaxy. My position is officially called a Zordonian Cleric, we've been around for many thousands of years, fighting against evil, the likes of which you fight against. Cleric's also have a job of protecting those that protect others, in this case, that would be you. It is my mission to protect not only Terra Venture and innocents from evil, but to also protect you from harm." Ali's tone took a stern turn as he finished his thoughts.

"Protect me from what?" Leo asked.

" There are things in this universe that are too powerful even for you Power Rangers, things so dark that not even light can escape their strangling holds. " Ali leaned in close to Leo's face as he spoke.

Leo had a stoic look on his face for many silent minutes. "What about your brother, how did you two come to be in such….. responsibility minded positions?"

Ali stared at Leo for a moment before looking down at his watch. "Ah, our time is up here. I will tell give you an answer when my brother is around. Perhaps all you Rangers will be present to hear our story and understand why we are here on Terra Venture. But for now, I think you have an appointment or date with Maya."

"Ah, what?" Leo asked, his face turning red.

"I'm a cleric Leo, remember what we just discussed. There will be a time soon in the future, and when I say future I mean soon, within the next 20 minutes. Go to Maya, and you will go from there. I cannot say what will happen but you will earn you proverbial badges today… and meet some new friends. "With that Ali playfully pushed Leo out the door and slammed it shut, shouting goodbye through the steel door.

Sighing in slight annoyance with his newfound friend and now protector, Leo got back into his car and made his way towards the city.

Leo was walking with Maya, watering the numerous plants at a public park when it happened. Maya lifted a hand to her ear and stood still.

Looking over Leo was at a loss as to what was going on. "Maya are you okay?" Leo asked her.

"Shhhhh, I hear something," Maya told Leo.

Leo perked up and tried to listen closely but still couldn't hear anything.

"Someone's in trouble." Maya told Leo in a rushed voice.

Suddenly Maya took off running, Leo ran after her.

Maya raced towards the GSA headquarters. She knew those sounds were too distant to be coming from inside the domes of Terra Venture.

She'd called Damon and told him there was an emergency.

Damon pulled up in a car and got out. "What's the emergency?" Damon asked, frustrated that his work had been interrupted.

" Maya thinks she heard something." Leo told him.

" I did hear something!" Maya argued, "we have to get to the Astro Megaship."

"The Astro Megaship?" Damon asked as the trio walked towards the docking bay.

"Damon, prepare the ship for departure." Maya ordered the mechanic, who shook his head but went about his duty.

Soon the Astro Megaship had blasted out of Terra Venture's docking bay, towards space, and an unknown destination.

An hour after departure, Maya was standing at the ship's viewport, straining to hear any further sounds. As they neared a planet with a red atmosphere, Maya heard the sounds again, louder and more distinct. "They're on that planet."

"Really, you're sure?" Damon asked, him and Leo coming up behind her.

Maya nodded her head and the team set off to the planet's surface.

Kai and Kendrix were at a loss to explain where and why Damon, Maya, and Leo had left so abruptly, and on the Astro Megaship. While walking towards their quarters, they ran into a red haired man wearing a lab coat. The three picked themselves up off the floor, and dusted themselves off.

"We're so sorry." Kai and Kendrix said in unison.

The man merely smiled. "It's okay; I know you two are in a rush to find your three friends."

Both Kendrix and Kai turned to look at each other before facing the man. "How do you know about that?" Kai asked, his tone rose in anger.

The man again smiled, and then leaned in close. "Because I know you're the Power Rangers."

That did it; Kai grabbed the man and shoved him against the opposing wall. The man didn't resist the treatment. "How do you know about that?" Kendrix asked the man.

"Because I serve the being who gave you those powers." The man said simply, seeing the look of confusion on the man's face he decided to clarify. "Ms. Morgan, look up the name Zordon in the ship's archives, there you will receive a partial answer. "

Kai let the man go. "Who are you?"

The man smiled yet again. "I will tell you once you get back, but for now, know that Leo know's who I am. Suffice to say when you're back; come to level 3 room number 411." With that the man scurried away.

Kendrix and Kai looked at the man's retreating form before they began their journey to find Maya, Leo, and Damon.

On the planet, Maya, Leo, and Damon had stumbled upon a cage containing what appeared to be large beasts. They were planning on what to do when they were blasted to the ground.

"I caught ya, but you cool cats don't have what it takes to fool Riester! Uh huh." The monster said, Leo backed up and nodded. The two other rangers stepped up, level with Leo.

"Go Galactic!" They shouted as they began to morph. Soon the three rangers were battling both sting wingers and monster alike. Then out of nowhere, Kai and Kendrix, morphed into the blue and pink rangers, appeared. Having the advantage, the rangers destroyed the chains holding shut the giant doors, and watched as they swung open.

The rangers gawked at what they saw, five large beasts stood before them making noise.

"You think they're gonna eat us?" Damon asked, still morphed as the green ranger.

Maya looked back at him, elbowing him. "Nothing to worry about, they're on our side."

Meanwhile on Terra Venture Riester and Furio travelled down to the surface and started causing mayhem.

On his way home from the observatory, Ali heard the shouts and explosions, and thought he would investigate. When he came upon the scene he saw the monster known as Riester blasting buildings and objects, surrounding him were Terra Venture's finest.

When Ali heard Riester shout, " no one messes with me," he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Elvis? Are you serious? He thought as he watched the monster continue to destroy. He wanted to intervene but knew this job would be up to the Power Rangers.

As if on cue, the rangers appeared on top of a pipe in front on the monster, who promptly tried to blast them down.

"I'm not leaving with a Quasar Saber rangers" Riester said.

The Quasar Sabers are staying with us!" Leo said as he attacked the monster. The battle was pitched and Ali saw that Leo very nearly lost, but used his powers to destroy Riester.

Riester not to be defeated produced a vile of green liquid from his smoking body and drank it.

Ali watched in fascination as the monster grew to be many stories tall. Ali waited in anticipation for what was to come next. He knew that Zordon had mentioned the Galactabeasts arrival, and knew the time was right for their introduction.

Leo tried to attack the gigantic monster, but was beaten back. Riester appeared ready to blast the group away when he was stopped by explosion erupting around him.

"Hey guys look!" Damon told the group.

In the distance, behind a layer of smoke, the five Galactabeasts stood.

The red fire galactabeast started to speak almost.

"Maya, what's he saying?" Leo asked.

"He said that if you combine powers you can beat Riester." Maya told the red ranger.

Hearing that, Leo mounted the beast and began the offensive. It wasn't long before Leo used firepower, destroying the monster once and for all.

Down below, Ali watched with satisfaction, knowing the Power Rangers were here to stay. Receiving a message from his brother telling him to head to their apartment ASAP, Ali began his now leisurely stroll home.