Chapter 32
Ten Rangers and Heckyl stopped dead in their tracks at the wall of Vivix standing between them and the front door. "Holy crap," Chase said. "New security team?" he asked Kendall.
The museum director shook her head. "Definitely not. We've got to get through them and fast. Keeper's alone with Fury-and all of our extra Dino Chargers."
"And we're going to need all the power we can get," Shelby noted. Impulsively, Philip watched her rush forward and jump on the back of a Vivix, knocking it to the ground. The rest of the team followed suit, hurrying to clear a path to the museum doors. Philip found himself next to Koda in the fight, much as he had all those months ago, the first time they had ever faced Fury. Philip put one of the green-haired aliens in an arm lock, freeing up Koda.
"Get to the base!" Ivan yelled from his position.
Koda looked at Philip. "Go, I've got this one!" Philip told him. Koda took off, leapfrogging over a Vivix and following Tyler to the front doors. Philip kicked up, his knee meeting the face of the Vivix he was holding, and turned to find another. Around the front lawn, he spotted the others taking care of the rest. "That's it, let's move!" he heard Riley yell.
The team rushed the front doors, and Philip grabbed Ivan by the back of the jacket to stop him from falling into a massive hole in the floor by the T-Rex skeleton, amazingly, still in one piece. "Thank you, Sire," Ivan breathed. Below them, sparks flew and breaking glass sounds filled the air. "Come on you two!" Riley yelled. Philip clapped Ivan on the back and followed the knight down the service entrance to the base. Kendall and Shelby were clearing the doors, and Tyler and Koda stood right behind them, blasters at the ready.
The doors burst open and Tyler and Koda both jumped over the girls and fired, knocking Fury back against the wall. Keeper was on the ground, grimacing in pain, his staff a few feet away.
"It's over, Fury!" Tyler yelled.
"The Dark Energem will be mine!" Fury howled back. "And I'm going to destroy you all!"
Philip aimed his blaster and fired a shot into the lion's shoulder. "You may want to rethink that promise," he told him. He could see it in Fury's eyes that he knew he was outnumbered.
"I'll be back!" Fury growled, and disappeared in a flash of light. When the light dissipated, the lion was gone, leaving just the rubble and destruction behind.
"Where did he go?" Koda wondered, looking around as he and Tyler helped Keeper to his feet.
Philip looked over to see Chase, skateboard under his arm, headed out the door. "I'll do a quick sweep upstairs, see if he's hanging around up there," the Black Ranger called over his shoulder.
"I cannot sense him anywhere," Keeper breathed, leaning heavily on Tyler. The Red Ranger helped the alien over to a console that was still mostly in one piece and slipped out from under his arm, letting Keeper rest against it. The alien closed his eyes, and for a moment, Philip thought they'd been too late; that they'd lost the one responsible for all of this.
"He's fine," Heckyl noted, seeing Philip's pensive look. He nodded to Keeper's staff. The tip was glowing bright yellow. "That wouldn't happen if he was gone."
"What do we do with this?" Shelby questioned, holding the Dark Energem, now safely inside a specimen jar, up to the red emergency lights. Between the lighting and the deep blue-black glow of the gem, the Dark Energem seemed even more ominous.
"Throw it in a volcano?" James suggested tiredly. "Into the sun?"
"If the Dark Energem was created from the leftover dark matter when the universe was created," Riley spoke up, "throwing it into the sun would be a really bad idea. The reaction could wreck the solar system."
James frowned. "Fair point." He turned to Tyler. "If we don't destroy it, Fury and Sledge will hunt us no matter where we go."
"I'm not hiding from them," Tyler said adamantly, crossing his arms over his chest. "They want it, they can come get it."
"Maybe not right this second," Kendall offered. She waved a hand around the base. "We're not exactly ready for another round with either of them."
"And they know where to find us. We aren't safe here," Zenowing reminded the group. He looked at Tyler. "A strategic retreat is not the same as hiding."
Philip glanced at his phone, which had been buzzing impatiently in his pocket ever since he'd returned from Zandar. He thumbed the lock screen, looked at the messages.
Nick knows?! The text was from Thomas, sent much earlier that day. Philip pinched the bridge of his nose as he shot back a reply.
So does Martin.
The reply was almost instantaneous. So much for your 'secret' identity, huh.
Philip rolled his eyes and tucked his phone away, shrugging off his suit jacket, tossing it over a pile of cement and rebar. "We need a plan," Ivan was saying.
"We need to destroy the Dark Energem," Shelby countered.
"That part of plan," Koda assured her.
What is happening right now? Philip surveyed the room. Tyler, Kendall and Zenowing were arguing over whether to stay or go. Ivan and Koda were trying to explain to Shelby that the more pressing matter was finding Fury, not the Dark Energem. Chase hadn't returned from his patrol of upstairs. Riley and James were in a deep conversation over the physics of destroying the gem.
We're falling apart. Philip perched on a pile of rubble, trying to decide which conversation to jump in on. Part of him felt very strongly that he needed to get home to Zandar. The other part knew he should stay and see this through to the destruction of Sledge, Fury, Snide, and the rest.
It was Keeper who broke up all the talk. "Fury and Sledge are no longer in this time," he announced.
Philip's head jerked up and he looked over at the alien. "Did I hear you right?" he blinked, frowning. "Did you say...no longer in this time?"
"They're not on the planet?" Tyler asked.
Keeper shook his head. "You misunderstand. They are still on this planet…however…they are no longer in the present."
"So then…" Riley frowned, his mind racing. "Where…no…when are they?"
"Sixty-five million years ago," Keeper responded.
"They traveled back to the dinosaurs?" James looked at Kendall for clarification. "Why?"
"It's simple," Kendall said. She bit her lip. "If they can get the Energems before Keeper has a chance to give them to the dinosaurs…"
Ivan pulled out his gem. The Gold Energem glinted in the light. "We will no longer have our powers."
"Which means there's no way we can defeat Fury and Sledge, because we'll never become Rangers," Shelby breathed.
"What will we do?" Koda asked the question on everyone's mind.
"You get there first," Keeper told him. The alien gestured to the Gold Energem in Ivan's hand.
"Of course!" Ivan nodded in agreement. Then, he looked at Kendall. "I don't understand," he admitted.
But Kendall had it figured out. "Our Energems. When they bonded to us, we stopped aging." She nodded to Ivan, to Koda. "You two know that better than any one of us."
"So they….what, we can time travel?" Riley asked in disbelief.
"Not alone. But all of you together," Keeper said. "There should be enough energy from all ten Energems to travel back. Defeat Sledge and Fury."
"This sounds too good to be true," James noted, and Philip nodded in agreement.
"So…." Tyler was pacing. "We travel back. We make sure Keeper gives the Energems to the dinosaurs. Maybe beat Sledge and Fury in the process."
"What about the Dark Energem?" James asked. "We'd be putting it back in proximity of the bad guys, again," he reminded them.
"We'll have to make sure we don't lose it," Tyler said. He looked at his father. "We'll have to keep it from falling into their hands."
"I'll take care of it," Heckyl spoke up quietly. The group turned to look at him. "I think I can resist it. At least, I know, if it takes me over, you'll be able to destroy me easier."
"No way," Shelby objected. "We can't ask you to do that."
"Uh, yeah, we can," Chase argued. "At least it's not one of us who might turn evil and go postal that way. And what if Snide gets ahold of you? The two of you could fuse again."
Heckyl smirked. "Not likely," he scoffed. "Snide hates me almost as much as you do."
"As much as I hate to admit it," Tyler said. "I think Heckyl's right. He's our best chance to keep the Dark Energem out of Sledge's hands."
"There's like, a thousand ways this could go wrong," Riley objected. "Time travel…there's nothing logical about time travel."
Heckyl rolled his eyes. "You stopped aging because of a gemstone and defeated a giant lizard this afternoon," he said dryly. "There's nothing logical about any of this." The Green Ranger opened his mouth to protest, then shook his head.
"Hey, if anybody else has a better plan, I'm all for it," Tyler told them. "But this seems like our best shot."
"What's our best shot?" Chase came skating back into the room, popping his board into his arms.
"Time traveling back to the time of the dinosaurs to stop Sledge and Fury from getting our Energems," Tyler told him.
Chase glanced around the room, slowly. He blinked once. "I…travel when and where now?"
The whole group stared at him. He looked at them in confusion. Then, everyone burst out laughing. Philip found himself laughing along, whether it was from the absurdity of the situation or Chase's horrible timing, he wasn't sure, but it was a much-needed moment of brevity.
Tyler turned to Keeper. "Okay, Keeper. How do we do this?"
Keeper gestured for the group to gather around him in a half circle. "I will need your Energems," the alien told them.
Philip hesitated. "But…how will we-"
"We won't be able to morph," Kendall told him. "Where…when…we're going, we won't have bonded to our Energems yet."
"I will need their powers to open the portal," Keeper told him. Philip looked around, saw the others slowly removing their gems from pockets, from strings around their necks. He reached into his own pocket and pulled out the Graphite Energem. He twirled it in his fingers, feeling the warm stone pulsing under his fingertips. This stone has been my protection for so long…It would feel strange not to have it anymore. Yet, he knew there wasn't another choice. Philip offered his hand, palm up, to Keeper, who took the stone from him. Philip's hand felt cold. It didn't feel right, not having the gem on his person. He took a step back as Keeper let the gems float upwards from his hand, positioning themselves into a circle, a gateway. The gems lit up, their respective colors bouncing off the walls, giving the room almost a funhouse glow. Then, as Philip watched, a swirl of blue and purple filled the center of the circle, widening. A light breeze was coming from the center, ruffling his hair.
"We have to go through that?" he whispered to Ivan, who was standing next to him. The normally unflappable knight of Zandar swallowed nervously in response.
Chase looked at Tyler with a shaky smile. "You first, mate," he told the team leader.
Tyler Navarro looked over at his father. James gave him an encouraging nod. Philip watched him step up to the portal, shivering as the breeze intensified. Tyler took a deep breath. "It's about to get wild," he grinned…and stepped through the circle. His red vest disappeared into the blue and purple swirling vortex...and then there was nothing.
"Tyler?" Shelby called, but didn't receive an answer. "I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea," she muttered. Hesitantly, she and Riley walked up to the portal…and then through. One by one, the others followed, until Philip and Kendall were left.
"I get this strange sense of déjà vu," Kendall said quietly. "You've got a country to look after. We can't ask you to do this. If something goes wrong…" She frowned. "I didn't want to say anything in front of the others, especially Riley, but if something goes wrong…"
"We will cease to exist," Philip said knowingly. "And a fate worse than Sledge might happen to this planet." He reached over, took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "And yet, Miss Morgan, we have the chance to put things right. To defeat Sledge and Fury once and for all. At the very least, I owe it to Ivan to destroy Fury. His duty was to protect my family. It's the least I could do in thanks."
"You're a good man, Your Highness," Kendall told him.
Philip ducked his head. "Remind me of that if we make it out of this," he directed her.
The two of them walked through the portal.
Author's Note: That dull thumping sound you hear is Ed the Plot Bunny whacking his head against the wall ;) Here's my spin on the Dino Charge ending. Let's hope that at the end of next chapter, there are no black holes, no mirrors, no character deaths or dinosaur zoos, and no irreparable damage to the timeline. At least, not too much ;)
