Chapter 34: Fireball Explanations

There weren't many times when he could say he truly missed Xonix.

For good reason, the alien warlord had made his high school years a living hell; forcing him to grow up too fast and expose him to the harsh realities around him. Constant monster attacks had worn down on his body and mind, forcing him to think up creative excuses for his actions and, more often than not, choosing not to read the news for fear of seeing another article questioning the need for the Ultra Rangers to exist. He had celebrated the hardest upon destroying Xonix and ridding the universe of his tyranny but now; as he listened to Gaby start her screaming from the beginning, he wondered if he had done the right thing. Surely a monster attack or two would break the tension in the Rider Hub but seeing as how he had just come from a monster attack…he mentally rolled his eyes as he mulled over the recent changes.

It would be so much easier if she knew of your past Powers but I do not trust her to keep them to herself. Trust your instincts around her.

Shining Light being his inner guide was a welcome change from the deep voice he had been accustomed to all those years ago. In the several minutes it had taken him to check on Connor, give the all-clear signal to one of the nearby cameras and trek back to Australasia Worldwide, the spiritual unicorn had given him the background information on her 'transference' to his Ultra Crystal and, so it seemed, his musings on her jumping into his Crystal moments before its first destruction were true. She had talked about floating in an endless void with his original advisor, a Pegasus called Zarenshy, and how he had explained everything to her about where he was going next. Silently, he wondered if Zarenshy was a distant relation of Fluttershy but dropped the thought as it didn't really concern him.

"Are you even listening to me? What I am saying is of dire importance! You need to hand over the System so we can…"

"Shut up."

Gaby fell back, stunned at the sheer insubordination in front of her. How could her employee not see that the System had tapped into a greater power source and could possibly lead them to the greatest discovery of the decade? The new mode that had been accessed during the battle had been called the 'Ninjetti Mode' and the only people who had ever called themselves such were the Power Rangers. Taking a quick glance around the room, she could see almost everyone was displaying varying levels of shock, with the exception of their PR person. Indeed, it seemed that AJ looked rather amused at the entire scene.

Yet, there was more outrage that her proposed upgrades were being tossed aside. Yes, Weihan had said that trying to stick with a list of proposed changes and upgrades wouldn't be part of the plan but she didn't know that he meant it to be so…literal. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that he was the one changing the look of the armour every time and had been the one to unlock this new level of power. Fortunately for him, she did know better than anyone about the inner workings of the System and found it absolutely preposterous that one boy could change everything on his own. In fact, if she was entirely honest with herself, the first upgrade to the System would have included enhanced speed with lessened armour and a strength reduction. There wouldn't be any new weapons added in the first testing phase but there were plans for a spear-type weapon to be included. Ultimately, it seemed that the Speed Spear would be integrated into Serena's arsenal.

"I told you before that adhering to any list of upgrades wouldn't go over too well. Of course, this wasn't what I had in mind but it fits the bill. The new evolution of my suit has cemented the notion that there are greater upgrades in store for me down the road…and that it has somehow been taken off the Australasia Worldwide grid. I'll have to do my own investigations on how such a thing is possible but I won't hand over the Turbine."

Grunting in frustration, Gaby closed her eyes and massaged her temples. She knew where this road would take her if she pursued it and it wouldn't be good for any of them. Taking the Turbine from him by force would mean that she would lose every bit of trust she had scraped together from the people around her and possibly face a full staff mutiny. Contract enforcement would eventually knock them all back into line but the consequences of those actions would prove disastrous and would pave the way for Wes Collins and Bio-Lab to steamroll their way into the defence of Sydney. For that to not happen, she would have to go against every fibre of her being and allow him to keep the Turbine and Activation Gem. She was certain Bin could decipher what had happened based on the in-suit recording and surveillance feed.

"We need to know exactly what you have connected to and if it can be used by us but that's all things we can do from the Hub. A debriefing will have to happen later as we run through the possible meanings of the word 'Ninjetti' but that shouldn't take too long to figure out. However, I'm placing you on a forced leave for the next month. I don't care what you do but, unless there's a dire emergency, you are not to contact us for anything."

Weihan rolled his eyes but nodded once, turning to make a quick exit. Locking eyes briefly with AJ, he lowered his head a fraction of an inch before his thoughts turned to what he would actually do. Passing out of the passage to the Rider Hub and nodding to the guards stationed there, his mind turned to the soft buzzing sound coming from the left arm of his glasses. Ducking into the office he shared with AJ, he closed the door and lightly tapped the side while opening his internet browser.

"Connor, what's up?"

"Man, you'd better get here quickly. The natives are getting restless."

Location: Ultra Cavern

"What the fuck is going on here?"

Heads turned to look at him and he fought hard to suppress a groan of utter frustration at how young the new batch of Rangers looked. Even the Jungle Fury Rangers didn't look as young as these ones did…and he had only seen pictures of them. Sohala, Starburst and the other Ninjetti wisely hung back as he stepped towards them, eyes raking the room to take in their faces. The armoured form of Ninjor filled his view for a split second as the Ninja Master pressed a scroll into his hands, stepping back to watch the unfolding scene with a small amount of pleasure. Not that it was pleasure to see the newest generation of Rangers being roasted alive but pleasure at facilitating a face-to-face meeting with the 'new kids'. Taking a moment of gather his thoughts, Weihan placed the scroll onto a nearby console and opened his mouth to address the Rangers.

"What's with the language? You think you can warp us here without a feasible explanation and expect us to play nice? Who are you anyway?"

He looked at the green-clad young man that had shouted at him before glancing to see how his team would react. Unsurprisingly, they all showed the same levels of hostility toward his presence and only the dawning look of realization and horror on the older man's face stayed his tongue. Wondering how much communication the older man had had with the Ninja Master, if there had been any at all, he nodded at him and walked to one of the consoles, placing the Turbine and Activation Gem on the flat surface. Unsurprisingly, the green-clad youth stepped towards them with intent to take it but was stopped by the older man placing a hand on his shoulder. Rolling his shoulders and neck to get the stiffness out of the joints, he looked up at the dirty form of his Dinozord and wondered, with no small amount of incredulity, how the supposed Rangers had missed a thirty-storey high giant robot. Turning around, he deliberately spoke to the others first.

"Guys, great work out there today. Really appreciated your help and assistance with the training room and supposed 'consultants' job. Connor, thanks for the assist this morning and during the recent attack. Just a word of warning, you might not want to be around here for the fireworks."

The soccer star nodded at that sentiment, mind flashing back to the time he had accidentally knocked over one of Dr O's trophies with his ball. He had sworn up and down that his teacher's eyes had flashed green for a split second but, of course, no one at the time had believed him. There were a few things he needed to get done before the game on the weekend as well but he could literally get them done in a flash. Walking over to the teleportation console, he tapped in a few buttons for his destination before throwing off a quick salute as his body dissolved into red light. The Ancient Ninjetti and Starburst also seemed to note the building tension in the air and quietly retreated to the back room where their ship was being kept. Thanks to some strange atmospheric interference, it seemed the ship was effectively grounded for the time being and with the Orange Rider unable to read millennia-old Phaedosian...well, it was probably better this way.

"Look, we don't mean to be harsh but we want, need, answers. If you can help us defend against the Nighlock invasion then…"

The voice trailed off as the speaker, the young man clad in red, looked slightly uncomfortable and unsure of himself. Seeing the familiar discomfort on his face, Weihan sighed internally as his mind began mulling over what they needed to know. He wasn't going to traipse across the world at a moment's notice just to nuke a monster, though he had done so during the earlier incident with the Wraith. The Red Ranger probably either hadn't been a Ranger for long or he was unused to working in a team dynamic. He almost wished he could bring Andros into the fold to talk with these Rangers but the Red Space Ranger was helping Space Patrol Delta with Ranger designs. The Orange Ranger had an ongoing bet with TJ that the designs would just be repurposed Space Ranger uniforms with modified helmets. Noticing the hesitation on the face of the Red Ranger, the old man spoke up for the first time.

"Sir, I am deeply sorry for the behaviour of the Rangers under my care to one of their seniors. They're young and brash and they don't necessarily notice all of the details. My name is Jii and I am their mentor."

The moment his senior Ranger status was revealed to the Samurai Rangers, their faces and body language underwent a sudden change from angry and sullen to surprised, shocked and, in the case of the green-clad youth, shame. Rolling his eyes at the sound of Ninjor chuckling behind his hand, he summoned up a small tongue of flame and shot it at the Ninja Master; silencing his laughter as he tried to pat out the fire. Brief levity over, he turned back to the assembled Rangers and Jii, carefully stringing his thoughts together before speaking. However, as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by the blonde girl in yellow.

"Wait…I know who you are. You're the Kamen Rider that was unveiled recently but why do you have this base and why did Mentor refer to you as a senior Ranger?"

"That's because I am a senior Ranger."

He allowed a small smile to spread over his lips. Sure, the questions would fly thick and fast over the next few minutes and he would answer every one of them…if they agreed to a training session. Even if they used trained against each other every single day, there would be stagnation in their skills and mental rusting over their cognition as monsters tried new tactics on them. Sure, they would emerge victorious in the end but it was only a matter of how much damage was done before the monster went boom. Alternatively, he could just skip the question of the training session altogether and attack them as he answered. He wouldn't even morph or transform in order to give them a fighting chance. He would still kick their butts though but that would be a problem for the future. Subtly shifting his weight onto his right leg, he slowly moved it to a ready position. His smile grew a fraction as he noticed the Red Ranger had noticed his shifting stance and began to ready himself for an attack.

"I am the Orange Ultra Ranger."

TBC…