Chapter 21: New Arrivals

"I'm sorry you had to go through that."

The Unicorn shook her head as he slowly passed the Healing Ray over her a second time. Since the Ultra Cavern was only running off his Crystal, its potency would be greatly diminished...and he didn't have enough energy in his body to heal her like he had done so earlier. His mobile phone was ringing off the hook but he pointedly kept ignoring it, not wanting to face the barrage of questions, shouts and random insults that would be coming from Gaby. Well, there was another reason for ignoring his phone that wasn't to do with the Unicorn in front of him but had to do with the disturbingly humanoid-shaped vessel that was currently outside the doors to the Main Hangar. Whoever, or whatever, was in there was keeping its distance for now but he had a strange feeling they wouldn't be still for much longer.

"Wait, where are my manners? My name is Weihan Liang and I am, or rather was...or still am, the Orange Ultra Ranger, though I don't know if that name has any meaning to you."

"Indeed, it does hold some weight but not to me. My name is Queen Starburst and, if I am not mistaken, you have seen my kind before?"

Weihan nodded as the Healing Ray chirped once to signify a completed job. He had a strange suspicion he was looking at the mother of Princess Celestia and Luna but without confirmation, he wouldn't say anything. Stowing the Ray under the Med Bed for it to recharge, he walked over to the surveillance station and flicked through the screens again as his phone, finally, fell silent. It was a good thing the ship, or whatever the hell it was, was within the bounds of the camouflage shield as he didn't want the government to find out where the Ultra Cavern was. Well, the new guy at the top was much better than John Howard regarding the alien threats still revolving around the world; though the pundits had predicted a much easier time dealing with the Wraiths now that his identity as a Rider was public.

"I have seen ponies that looked very similar to you in the past. Are you familiar with the rulers of Equestria, Princesses Celestia and Luna?"

"Yes, when was the last time you spoke to –"

"My Queen, it is not safe to reveal details to this...commoner until he reveals who he is working for."

Weihan turned slowly at the unfamiliar, growling voice and looked four humanoids behind him. They were clad in strange uniforms that looked very similar to his Ninjetti robes – complete with the half helmet that shielded their eyes from sight. Two of them looked to be female, though he knew not to assign predetermined genders to alien body shapes. Dismissing the urge to summon his Turbine or his combination Morpher to him, he took one step towards the quartet, accessing the thought-controlled interfaces of the Ultra Cavern. If these guys were looking for a fight, they would get one in spades.

The one that had spoken was dressed in a deep red that bordered on black and the symbol in the centre on its chest gleamed with the image of a Praying Mantis. Insect-like spines protruded from its lower arms and its feet kept tapping the floor, beating out an impatient staccato rhythm. Flanking its right and left were the two with feminine body shapes dressed in blue and silver respectively. The one on the left bore the symbol of a scorpion and the one on the right had the image of a chameleon. The final humanoid wasn't looking at him with outright hostility; instead it was looking around it with muted shock present in its body language. The image of a bat gleamed out from its charcoal-gray uniform and the Ranger could see the barest hint of wings on its back. All four of them didn't have visible Morphers or Coins on their bodies but what they lacked in that 'weakness', they made up for in sheer intimidation. However, whatever intimidation they thought they had was wasted on him.

"Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?"

The three at the front attacked without warning but, given that they had to lunge at him, he was expecting it. Of course, he didn't really have to do much as they went down in a rather amusing fashion. Red went down with a quick leg sweep, Blue tripped over Red's fallen form and careened into Silver, sending both crashing to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and shocked shouts. Finally snapping out of its shocked stupor, Gray looked down at its allies and gave an exasperated sigh, rounding on him within milliseconds with a powerful roundhouse kick. Countering with a kick of his own, the Rider used his momentum to cartwheel away as he summoned fire to the palms of his hands. He was aware of Starburst behind him shaking her head and trying to get up but he knew that she wouldn't be able to do much of anything for a while. Although the Healing Ray had finished mending her leg, the Unicorn still needed to rest the limb as the muscles had been damaged when the bones had shattered. Plus, her system needed to flush out all traces of his energy before she could be healed by other means. He was shaken from his thoughts by a low and deep voice.

"You fight well for a retired Ranger. Or, are you retired at all?"

Cracking a wry grin, he looked up just in time to see the Gray Ninjetti swoop down from the ceiling, wings extended. There was a strange weapon in its right hand, shaped much like Aimee's Sabre Claw but with jagged edges. Rolling away from the first strike, Weihan thrust his right palm at the warrior to engulf it in a cloud of fire. An unearthly scream filled the air as the Rider flipped away from the burning humanoid as it bore down on him. With one flap of its back-mounted wings, the flames covering the warrior were extinguished and it brought its weapon up again, splitting it into two dagger-like blades. Rolling his eyes at the rather expected move, he waited for the attack to occur. When it came, it did so from the three individuals that he hadn't forgotten about. He could tell they were skilled fighters in their own right but they weren't really of the correct mind for tactics. Again, the Red one went down to a similar leg sweep but the Blue warrior was careful not to trip over its fallen comrade...but overstepped and crashed into Weihan, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. Seeing this, the Grey Ninjetti shook its head slowly and spoke.

"Maybe we should continue this another time. Rashim, Ulhass, Reesha – that's enough and I am exercising my authority as Elder for you to cease all hostilities. I swear, you three can't be taken along anywhere."

Weihan chuckled under his breath as he tried to extricate his body from the Blue Ninjetti, though he was rapidly becoming aware that she was female...and one of her hands was somewhere he didn't want to think about. When she spoke, in contrast to the Elder, her voice was smooth and silky.

"Ah, come off it Sohala. We've been cooped up on the ship too long and the first chance I have to sample the local flavour, you pull rank? Our Queen is resting after her sudden appearance spooked the natives and I still need to get one over Reesha..."

Her voice trailed off as Weihan felt her tongue lick the inside of his ear. Swallowing hard and hoping his next move worked, he rolled sharply so that he was the one on top and, after pushing once against her hand, pulled away from the Blue Ninjetti. She seemed to deflate slightly but smirked back at him; though, thanks to the visor that covered the top half of their face, he wasn't sure if the smirk was accompanied by a wink or not. On one hand, he was still carrying a massive torch for AJ and didn't want to shack up with a female alien so soon, relatively speaking, after Karone. On the other hand, he didn't really know where he stood with her and it had been quite a while since the last time...and with a seemingly Interdimensional Ninjetti to boot. Plus, it would take those annoying thoughts in the back of his mind out of the picture.

"I...by the Gods, I don't have anything to say to that. Though, we do need to assess our position right now and examine where we are in regards to the current timeline. I am unsure how long this will take so, if there is somewhere you need to be, you will have to make arrangements."

Weihan nodded and closed his eyes, drawing on the internal power to create an identical duplicate of himself in front of him. After crafting up a reasonably convincing cover story to explain his actions and whereabouts – taking the obviously injured creature away from the students to euthanize it painlessly – the duplicate grabbed the mobile phone off one of the consoles and teleported out. Inwardly, he hoped there wasn't a Wraith attack as the duplicate couldn't use the Rider System without his actual DNA present; however, the scanners would alert him well before that time. Additionally, the duplicate would inform AJ of what was really going on so she wouldn't worry too much.

It was time to get down to business.

TBC...