Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. Here begins a tribute to Wild Force, including some Wild Force cameos.

CHAPTER 36: A Lion's Alliance

High above the surface of the planet, a turtle floated lazily in the sky. To the untrained eye, it looked simply like a white cloud that just happened to be turtle-shaped. There were just a handful of people who knew that the white cloud hid an island paradise known as the Animarium, home to wild beasts known as the Wild Zords.

The ship had been circling it for some time, until the pilot received confirmation that it was indeed what they thought it was. As it descended through the cloud cover, something blew past it-a flash of yellow and gold. The giant eagle screamed at them, giving them away.

Down on the ground, Princess Shayla awoke with a start. The waters in the fountain exploded, signifying danger. Shayla closed her fist around the necklace she wore around her neck.

RANGERS…help!

Emma's head was resting on Troy's shoulder, her eyes half-closed. Across the command center from them, Noah was crashed, using his laptop case as a pillow. He hadn't even bothered to take his glasses off, so they were bent askew on his face. At Noah's feet, Jake was passed out, resting his arms and his head on his sweatshirt. And Gia's head was resting on his back.

Only Troy was awake. He was resting with his back against the command center wall, enjoying the break. The last few weeks had been brutal. Even with the newly-acquired SPD zords and Legendary mode, the battles were tiring, exhausting, and spirit-killing.

"We're just holding them off," he said aloud as Tensou came spinning into the room, his four little eyes blinking, and rolled to a stop in front of him. "That's not enough."

"Maybe you need another new ally," Tensou chirped. "Like…like Bridge! I liked Bridge."

Troy laughed. "Me too, buddy. Me too."

As if he'd heard Tensou, Gosei's eyes flickered alive, and his voice boomed in the quiet. "Rangers. Wake up now."

Emma's head shot up, nearly knocking Troy in the chin. Troy moved his head just in time. Noah blinked sleepily awake, and Gia was shaking Jake to rouse him.

"What is it, Gosei?" Troy asked.

"I am sending you on a mission to a place called the Animarium."

"The Ani-what?" Jake repeated.

"A floating island in the shape of a turtle. You will need the Skyship." Gosei's eyes were flickering as the panels came to life in front of them. Troy leaned against the red one, watching the images. The island indeed was shaped like a sea turtle, with a high peak in the middle, surrounded by a large lake and what looked like forest and jungle around it. "Whoa," Emma breathed.

Noah spoke up. "That's the home base for the Wild Force Rangers. It was part of the Earth but then lifted up special powers to create a safe haven for the Wild Zords." He grinned. "Their blue ranger had a shark zord, like me."

"So what's on the island?" Gia asked.

"The Wild Force team is inactive currently on Earth, but allies of theirs still reside on the island. Princess Shayla is the island's protector, and the Wild Zords still roam free. I have received a distress call. I believe the Armada may have found the island. If they capture the Wild Zords…"

"That would suck," Jake said unelegantly.

"So we need to get there first," Troy decided. "Gosei, do the Wild Force rangers know that the island is in trouble?"

"I do not know, Troy," Gosei replied. "I do not know how far Princess Shayla's distress call reached. The island orbits the earth, it is not geosynchronous."

"Huh?" Jake blinked.

"It means it's never in the same place over the earth," Emma clarified. She looked at Troy. "We've got to help them."

"We're on it," Troy told her. He turned to the others. Though exhausted, they stood ready, awaiting orders. "Let's suit up!"

Jake was bored. He tried to keep his focus on the passing clouds, looking for something turtle-shaped, but his thoughts kept drifting to his partner up in the crow's nest. Gia was leaning against the rail in uniform, her helmet sitting next to her feet. They wanted to be ready to go in case the Armada saw them buzzing around, but the sides of the helmets limited their field of vision, and they needed a big one.

Jake had liked Gia from the first day she breezed into first period English when they were sophomores. She was pretty, that was the first thing he'd noticed, but then, as he'd gotten to know her better, was realizing that she was so much more than a pretty face. She was really smart and made As and Bs, and really sarcastic, which fit his sense of humor too. She was a good friend, and now, with the invasion, a great teammate to have your back.

He sighed inaudibly, hoping she wouldn't hear. She was standing right next to him, and Emma and Noah were below in the bow of the ship. It would be a perfect time to talk to her but…he couldn't make any words come. That was his problem. Half the time, he came off sounding creepy and weird to her. She made him tongue-tied.

"What are you doing?"

Jake cursed himself inwardly. "…Searching?" he offered lamely after a moment. He returned his gaze to the clouds. Turtle. Looking for a turtle…

He just wanted to ask her out. How hard could it be?

Emma watched a patch of fluffy cloud float by. If there wasn't the threat of imminent attack at any moment, it would've almost been relaxing, a sky ship pleasure cruise. Then, she blinked.

Wait a second. "I think we passed that same cloud the last time we flew through here," she told Noah.

Noah leaned over the side of the ship and looked back. "Clouds don't stay in the same shape," he said. Then, his eyes widened, and he looked at Emma. "Unless-"

"Troy! Take her around! We found it!" Emma held her helmet up to her mouth and spoke into the comm.

"Roger that," Troy said from inside the cockpit. "Hang on!" He spun the wheel.

Jake's shoulder slammed into Gia without warning as Troy made the ship come about.

"Ow!" Gia cried out in surprise, grabbing onto the side of the crow's nest so she didn't tumble over the side.

Jake steadied himself, then turned to Gia. "I'm sorry!" he protested quickly. "I-I so didn't mean-"

"Jake." Gia interrupted him with a hand on his arm. "It's fine. I'm fine." She smiled at him. "Seriously."

"I wouldn't ever hurt you," Jake said, not even sure where the words were coming from. He took a step sideways away from her.

"Not intentionally, I'm sure," Gia said back after a moment. She opened her mouth to say something else, but just then, there was a roar, and something blew by the ship in a large blue-gray blur. The backwash it created almost sent Jake and Gia flying again.

"What the-" Troy's voice sounded in their helmets, but then, the object came around again, slower this time, and pulled in parallel to the sky ship.

"It's an F-15 Strike Eagle," Noah announced. Inside the cockpit of the sleek Air Force jet, the pilot was motioning a 'land' gesture insistently, and pointing at the now-visible turtle-shaped island. Noah couldn't tell if the pilot was a he or a she since they were wearing their helmet with the sun visor down. "Troy, they want us to land on the Animarium," he told the Red Ranger.

"Roger that, taking her down," Troy said. He angled the ship downward, spying a semi-flat patch of beach next to the large lake they'd seen the shot Gosei had given them of the Animarium. He set the ship down gently, and the five rangers climbed out and stood on the beach, staying in uniform just in case.

Next to them, the F-15 rumbled to a stop on a flat patch of hardened and packed dirt that served as a makeshift runway. The canopy of the jet popped open as the twin Pratt and Whitney engines spun down. The pilot hopped out and came marching over to them, hands reaching for their helmet. It came off, revealing a blonde ponytail and some very serious blue eyes.

"Who in the hell are you and what in the hell are you doing here?" she demanded. Troy caught the last name on her flight patch- Earhardt.

"You're Taylor Earhardt," Noah spoke up timidly from the back, and Taylor turned her focus onto the Blue Ranger. He shrank back a little. "You were the Wild Force Yellow Ranger."

Momentarily confused, Taylor blinked. "How did you-"

"We're the new Rangers," Emma said. "From Harwood."

Recognition dawned. "Okay," Taylor said, still sounding unconvinced. "That doesn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"Our mentor received a distress call from Princess Shayla-" Gia began, stepping forward, but almost as quickly, Taylor's body went rigid.

"We have to go. Follow me." With that, she took off at a run through the trees. The five Megaforce rangers looked at each other, and then followed after Taylor. As she ran, she was unzipping her flight suit until she could tie the sleeves around her waist, revealing a bright yellow v-neck t-shirt. She sprinted through the trees straight as an arrow. The others struggled to keep up. A few minutes later, Troy started to notice the dirt under his feet was giving way to stone, and the trees gave way to walls. Suddenly, the five of them were standing in what looked like an ancient temple. Taylor stopped short, hardly out of breath. She looked around. "Princess Shayla?" she called out to the still air. She turned, worried. "We have to find her."

"We'll help," Troy said. He pointed. "Emma and Jake, go that way. I'll go with Noah, and Gia, you go with Taylor." The Megaforce team nodded, and disappeared, heading for the caves and back into the jungle.

"What are you doing here?" Taylor demanded. "And how do you know who I am?"

"I'm Gia. Gia Moran. We're the new Power Rangers," Gia repeated. "And uh, it's kind of a long story."

"I've got time," Taylor countered. She looked around the temple, and then gasped. She darted near a pool of water and picked up something glinting in a crevice near it. She held it out to Gia. It was a W-shaped necklace, with a blue-purple gem in the center of the gold plating. "This is Shayla's," she said. Her eyes narrowed. "We have to find her. If those things did anything to her…"

"They could find the Wild Zords?" Gia finished. Taylor looked at him in shock. "Uh, our mentor gave us homework," she said. "Noah, our blue ranger, he's done some research. Shayla's the island's protector, right?"

"Yes. Which means we have to find her, and fast." Taylor grabbed her arm and pulled. "Let's go!" She turned to leave the temple, and ran smack into six X-borgs, staring at the two rangers. "Oh come on….seriously?"

Gia nodded, her lips set in a tight line. "Yeah, they always start the party," she sighed. "Let's get them out of the way."

"Deal," Taylor agreed, and the two yellow rangers sprang into action. Taylor used one of the temple walls as leverage, bouncing off of it and sending her combat boot flying into an X-borg's face. Gia dropped, sweeping out the leg of another. Taylor had a moment to nod approvingly. "Not bad, newbie," she told Gia.

Gia raised an eyebrow. "You're not too bad yourself, old lady," Gia shrugged back, and then planted her foot in the chest of another X-borg.

Taylor blinked. Then, she grinned. "Thanks," she said, and attacked again.

Troy and Jake ran into their own set of problems. As they crested a hill, they were met with several X-borgs standing in their path.

"Cockroaches," Jake muttered as the X-borgs came toward them. He and Troy dropped into defensive stances. "They're everywhere."

"Let's crush them," Troy offered. In a flash, the two were morphed and entering the fight. A moment later, they were joined by Noah and Emma, who came bursting through the trees at the bottom of the hill. Not a moment later, Taylor and Gia appeared from the top of the hill. Between the six of them, they made short work of the foot soldiers.

Jake swallowed. "That's a lot easier with six people," he noted.

"Yeah," Taylor said with a sideways glance at Gia. "Not bad for an old lady, huh?" She led them into the trees and the Megaforce team demorphed. "You know, you probably could get some more help, if you wanted," she said after a minute of catching her breath. Although she kept up with regular physical checks on base, this fighting was more than she'd had to do in over fifteen years.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked her.

"Well, the Wild Zords helped us when we were chosen," Taylor explained. "They're still around. They're a little picky," she continued with a look at Troy, "but I think you'll find if you prove yourself to them, they'd have your back if you needed them."

Troy didn't miss Jake listening to Taylor intently.

"Anyway, that's enough rest," Taylor said, standing. "We've got to find Princess Shayla, and fast." She sighed. "I wish the others were around, this would be a lot easier. I'd forgotten how big this place was."

Noah started to say something, then froze. "Something is watching us," he hissed. The five other rangers clammed up and listened.

"You're hearing things," Troy said, but Taylor shook her head.

"No, he's right. I can feel it too," she said. She glanced up at the top of the hill. "There's something out there."

"Friend or enemy?" Emma wondered.

Troy stumbled. He looked around. The others were getting shakily to their feet. The ground beneath their feet was shaking, rippling with low energy. "Earthquake?"

"Can't be," Taylor said, gripping a tree to steady herself. "No fault lines."

Just then, there was a horrifying roar. The sound rang in Troy's ears. A guttural, animalistic howl. They dove for cover in the trees, staring intently at the top of the hill.

The shaking intensified. Then, a large shape blocked out the sun and a shadow fell over their position.