Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Saban.
Chapter 49: Family Ties/All Hail Prince Vekar
"That T-rex skeleton was the best," Noah enthused Monday morning as the team walked to Mr. Burley's class. The group of them had gone up the coast to check out a new dinosaur museum for Noah's birthday, and Noah was still gushing about it two days later.
"Oh I dunno," Jake disagreed, slipping his arm into Gia's, "I thought that Bronto Burger was the best," he grinned.
Gia rolled her eyes. "Only you," she groaned. "It was a fun road trip though," she said, "and we'll definitely have to go again sometime."
"Our celebration when the Armada's finally beat," Emma beamed. "I like that idea." She glanced up at Troy and squeezed his hand. "What do you think, Troy?"
"Sounds like a great idea," he replied, sounding distracted. Emma frowned and stopped walking, pulling the others to a stop as well. Troy looked around as his team stared at him expectantly. "Sorry, guys," he apologized. "I didn't sleep last night."
"Did you have the dream?" Noah asked him, and Troy nodded. 'The dream' was of course, the giant apocalyptic battle Troy had been seeing since he'd moved from Mariner Bay to Harwood. It had been absent for awhile, but since coming back from Corinth, it had returned in great detail. Troy had woken up that morning feeling like he'd been in the fight of his life without leaving his bedroom.
"It didn't end well," Jake guessed, and Troy's silence confirmed it. "Let's hope it's not prophetic," the Green Ranger said grimly.
"Of course not," Emma said, leaning into Troy and rubbing the back of his neck. "It's only a dream."
The first bell rang, and the group took off at a run for Mr. Burley's class.
The sounds of battle were fading, and all around him, people were cheering, hugging, congratulating. Someone in a Red uniform came up and clapped him on the shoulder. "You've done it!" they said proudly. Troy popped his helmet off and grinned, exhausted. It was over. They'd won.
And then, from somewhere in the distance…a low rumbling. The congratulations ceased, as everyone turned to look over the ridge.
X-Borgs. Thousands of them. All converging on the beach. And then they opened fire. The person standing next to Troy fell, a smoking wound on their uniform…a uniform with a red and white swirl…
"….Dad?" Troy choked out in horror.
The suit faded away, and Carter Grayson looked up at his son. He reached for him with one hand. "Troy…"
"Troy?"
Troy's head hit the table with a resounding thunk and he looked up, blearily, at his father. Carter set his lunchbox down on the table and looked at his son with concern. "Are you okay, son? That looked like a pretty hard hit."
Troy blinked a few times to clear his vision. His forehead was smarting. "Yeah," he said after a moment. "Yeah, sorry. I must've fallen asleep."
"What are you working on?" Carter leaned over the table and grimaced at Troy's English homework. "Ah, Greek roots. That's enough to put me to sleep too," he joked. His son didn't laugh, and Carter frowned. "What's wrong, kiddo?" he asked him. "This looks like more than just homework."
"Do you remember that dream I've been having?" Troy asked him. When his father nodded, he continued. "I've had it again the past couple of nights. I'm seeing more now, in it. More of the battle. There's X-Borgs. Thousands." He paused a moment before continuing. "Dad, I don't think it's a dream. I…I think it's real. Like it's going to happen."
Carter sat down at the table next to him. "Like what…a premonition?" he asked him.
Troy nodded. "It feels so real..." He snorted. "It sounds so stupid," he said. "That stuff….it doesn't happen in real life." He looked at his father, who had gone suddenly blank. "Right?" he pressed. "Dad?"
Before Carter could answer him, Troy's morpher sounded. Gosei's voice. Something was happening downtown. Something big.
"Dad?" Troy tried again.
"Simulations can feel pretty darn real," Joel told him as Carter climbed out of the Mobile Armored Vehicle's hatch.
"Tomorrow you've got to fly the real Mobile Armored Vehicle," Miss Fairweather informed him. She looked him in the eye. "Are you gonna be ready for it?"
Carter blinked, and looked at his son. "Are you okay?" Troy asked him, their roles suddenly reversed.
Carter nodded. "I'll tell you later," he said. "Go."
Troy nodded as he disappeared in a burst of red light, leaving Carter sitting alone at the table. After a moment, he reached for the phone on the wall, and dialed. "Hey, Joel. How's it going?...Not bad. Hey, I'm sorry to call, you guys are probably at the dinner table but…could I talk to Angela for a second?"
Troy appeared alongside his teammates moments later in an alley downtown. Troy instantly saw the reason they'd been called. Bearing down on them from the other end of the alley, like a bad Western standoff, three figures were coming toward them. "Consider this your eviction notice!" the one in the center was announcing, a blue and white figure that bore a striking resemblance to-
"Does he not look like Vrak?" Noah asked Troy as they stopped, blocking the end of the alley.
"Yeah," Troy said, seeing it, "yeah, he does."
"A relative?" Noah wondered.
"That's one ugly family, if that's the case," Jake snickered.
"Surrender….or be destroyed," the Vrak-like alien was announcing, throwing his arms wide, and smiling.
"Who made you our landlord?" Gia yelled at them. The three aliens stopped, as if they'd seen the Rangers for the first time.
"Yeah," Jake backed her up. "Who do you think you are?"
"Who am I?" the white and blue alien almost sounded insulted. "How do you not-How dare you interrupt me!"
"Oh, we dare," Emma shrugged.
"How dare you try to conquer our planet?" Troy countered.
"I am Prince Vekar!" the white and blue alien announced. He pointed at the rangers. "You destroyed my brother, Vrak! I've had enough of your meddling, and I'm here to inform you that today is your final day on this planet!"
Troy looked at the others before turning to Vekar. "We didn't destroy your brother. He disappeared after his first invasion failed miserably."
"Like you've been doing so far," Jake added.
"You dare to insult me?" the prince whined. "Matacore!"
"Time to go legendary!" Troy called out in counterattack as the blue horned alien called Matacore stepped forward. "I think it's time we mixed it up a bit." He inserted his red ranger key and turned it. "It's time for Time Force!" he announced, as his body was enveloped by the red and white Time Force Red Ranger suit. Along with him, he saw suits of pink, yellow, green and blue appear. Orion came to stand next to him, wearing an almost identical suit, black where Troy's was white. "Chrono Sabres!" Troy called out, brandishing his.
Orion twirled a futuristic-looking pistol. "Quantum Defender!"
"Argus, perhaps you'd like to join in on the fun?" Prince Vekar gestured to the other alien, a silver-and copper armored, skeletal being.
"With pleasure," he growled, advancing. Noah stepped forward blocking his staff with his Chrono Sabre as the others took on Matacore and a smattering of X-Borgs who had been called to join the fight. "Good always wins over evil," Noah told Argus, holding his sabre out in front of him.
Argus shook his head. "Not this time," he replied. His staff began to glow. "Solar Slash…energize." He cut two glowing lines in the air in an X-shape. They grew brighter, almost like a burst of lightning, and slammed into Noah.
Noah went flying backwards, rolling several times in the dirt. His Time Force uniform disappeared, and he was left in his civilian clothing, clutching his stomach in pain. His entire body felt sunburned, and he could smell smoke coming from somewhere. Argus stood in his place, watching Noah writhe on the ground. The Armada general rolled his eyes. "Pathetic."
"Put him out of his misery!" Prince Vekar ordered him.
"As you command," Argus replied. "First you, Blue Ranger. Then the others." His staff began to glow again as Noah tried to scramble backwards and out of the line of fire.
Troy attacked Matacore, swinging the ChronoSabre in a tight arc, trying to catch him in the torso. But Matacore caught the blade and shoved Troy away. The others came at him, but Matacore blocked each of them in turn. "At least try to put up a fight," the general hissed. Troy took another swing. Matacore blasted him backwards. He slammed into a dumpster and rolled off the top, hitting the alley floor hard.
"Well done, Matacore!" the prince praised his general. "This should show my father I'm up to the job!"
Job?" Troy wondered as he climbed to his knees. Gia and Emma appeared, helping him to his feet. "Where's Noah?" he asked as Jake came running to join the four of them. Orion laid waste to a few more X-Borgs before joining them, the red Quantum Ranger suit disappearing as the legendary Power timed out.
"In trouble!" Jake replied grimly, pointing to where Noah lay a few feet ahead of them, out of morph, and directly in Argus' line of fire.
"Quantum Defender!" Orion didn't hesitate. He pulled his blaster and fired. The shot went wide, missing Argus, but hitting Prince Vekar in the shoulder. The Prince staggered.
"The Prince has been hit!" Matacore's attention left the Rangers and went to his commander. "Retreat!"
"But we could end them!" Argus protested. But seeing the Prince, he growled in frustration. "We'll return," he promised.
The three of them disappeared, leaving the Rangers alone in the alley. Jake ran forward and helped Noah to his feet. "You okay, man?" he asked him. Noah nodded, kicking the dirt. "I'm sorry, guys," he said.
"Don't be." Gia shook her head. "We were all getting our butts handed to us." She looked skyward. "So that's Vrak's brother, huh?"
"He said he was hoping this would show his father that he could handle the job," Troy said, remembering.
"Job?" Emma asked.
"Of conquering Earth," Troy guessed. "And they'll be after it worse now. Before it was just us against a bunch of alien generals. This time, we're up against a family. And family goes to any lengths when something's happened to someone in the family." Speaking of family… "I need to get home. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Without another word, Troy disappeared.
"What was that all about?" Emma wondered, looking at the vacant spot.
"I don't know. I'll ask about it when I get home tonight," Orion promised her. Troy's girlfriend gave him a relieved smile as they broke rank and went back what they were doing before the Prince had interrupted.
Troy found his father at home, still seated at the kitchen table. There was a single bottle of beer sitting in front of him, opened, but not drank. "I'm calling Mom," Troy decided, reaching for the phone. His father's behavior was scaring him. Carter grasped the handset, waving his son off. "I already did," he replied. "Orion's on his way too." He shook his head. "We have something to talk about, and I need the whole family to hear it."
Author's Note: I can already hear it... "Wait a moment. This isn't from "All Hail Prince Vekar!" This was a Samurai crossover! They didn't go Time Force in that episode! And where's Jayden?!" The Samurai Rangers are coming. They'll play a part in a few chapters, I promise. I'm not forgetting them. As we ramp up to Legendary Battle I'm raising the stakes. And in an effort to explain Troy's dream of said battle...well, hang out for next chapter :)
