Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; these guys belong to Saban.
Author's Note: I don't think I'm gonna be able to fix all the time travel nonsense. But I'm going to 'correct' it in my own way, and there will probably be plot holes. So it won't be necessary to call me on them because I'm aware. :) There's just too much and my brain doesn't work that way. Hope you enjoy it anyway!
CHAPTER 33
Philip went from a darkened room bathed in red light to another room, cold steel, and dark. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the difference in lighting. The hair on his neck stood up. Around him, in the dim light, he could hear disturbing noises. Growling. Hissing. Low voices threatening with words he couldn't understand. From somewhere around him he heard a dull noise, like an engine running.
Where the hell am I? "James?" he whispered, hoping that the Aqua Ranger was somewhere close.
Something heavy landed on his shoulder and he yelped. He turned around.
A pair of glowing green eyes stared at him in the low light. "Another inmate?" the thing hissed, and Philip's eyes went wide as he pulled away from whatever it was. He stumbled across the floor, where something else grabbed him from behind.
There was a clunk of metal, and the lights came on. "Prince Philip!" Zenowing's voice called as the lights flickered to life. Philip jerked away from whatever had grabbed him and turned around. His eyes went wide as he stared at a hellish looking monster, grinning evilly at him from behind bars. "Whoa!" he gasped. He looked down the row. Cells lined either side of the metal floor, full of monsters and creatures and aliens of all species. He took off at a run, meeting Zenowing halfway down the room. The Silver Ranger pulled him along until they were both through a door and out into a corridor. Philip leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
"Are you all right?" Zenowing asked him.
Philip swallowed. "What were all those things?" he breathed.
"Sledge is a bounty hunter. That was just a sampling of his handiwork," Zenowing explained. He looked around. "We must have gotten split from the others going through the portal. We should find them."
"And preferably not have another repeat of that," Philip swallowed. Then, he paused. "Wait. Sledge's handiwork. So we're…" He stopped in the middle of the corridor, the pieces falling into place.
"On Sledge's ship," Zenowing confirmed. "Orbiting your planet. Sixty-five million years ago."
Philip spotted something behind Zenowing, and he walked cautiously across the floor, peering out the window. Down below, a bright ball of green and blue with swirling clouds zipped by. "Oh, my God," Philip whispered. "No cities. No people. There's nothing down there…" He looked at Zenowing. "Just the dinosaurs." He couldn't help the grin on his face. "There's dinosaurs down there!" He ran a hand over his face in awe. "Did the others…are we all up here? Or…" He pointed down at Earth.
Zenowing shook his head. "I don't know."
Philip couldn't tear his eyes away from the planet rotating below them. "Oh." He took a breath and let it out slowly. "Right. Okay." He straightened. "We need to get in contact with the others. Do you know anything about this ship?"
Zenowing nodded. "Familiar enough with this junk heap to know that the bridge is in this direction." He started down the corridor again, and Philip did his best to keep up with the taller alien's longer strides. His fingers itched for his Energem.
After what seemed like hours of searching, Philip and Zenowing caught up with the Navarros hiding in a cargo bay. Tyler and James had been trying to use their communication devices to reach the others, but as it was millions of years before Kendall would have had the chance to create their comms, nothing was working.
"Then we need to get down there, somehow," Tyler said, pacing the floor quietly. "There's no sign of anyone else on this ship. They must all be down there, right?"
"You didn't look hard enough," Heckyl's voice spoke up dryly, startling the other four. He stepped into the room from a sliding door, Kendall Morgan on his heels. "And it's going to be harder to get down there than you think."
"You've been on this ship before," James said. "Is there a way to…I dunno…beam us down there?"
Heckyl nodded. "Of course there is. But the controls for that are on the bridge. And the bridge just so happens to be where Snide and a few of Sledge's cronies are hanging out. Plus a ton of Vivix."
"So we fight our way onto the bridge," Tyler said. "Get to Keeper on Earth before Sledge finds him."
"Okay but there's some things we need to keep in mind," Kendall interrupted the war council. She ticked them off her fingers. "One. The Energems need to end up with the dinosaurs. Otherwise, no Koda, no Ivan…"
Philip swallowed. The last thing he wanted to do was interfere with history-especially not history that coincided with his country's in such a tangled and complicated way!
"Two," Kendall was continuing, "Sledge's asteroids still need to hit the Earth." She looked around the circle. "Because I do not want to be running a dinosaur zoo in the future."
"Not to mention the havoc it could play with your planet's evolution and biology," Zenowing pointed out helpfully.
Tyler took a breath and let it out. "Oookay." He looked at her. "Any ideas, Miss Morgan?" he asked her. He looked at his father. "This is a little outta my area of expertise."
"What if we still destroy Sledge, and remove that threat," James offered. "And somehow…crash the ship?"
"I'm hoping you mean without us being on it," Philip cut in.
"And without destroying the others," Zenowing added.
"Plus," Heckyl said, "Not everyone on this ship necessarily deserves a fiery death," he said. "It would be like destroying one of your Earth prisons. Sure you'd get the really bad guys, but the people in there on minor charges or mistakes wouldn't be spared."
Tyler was deep in thought. Philip watched the Red Ranger as he paced the short length of the corridor. Then, he looked up. "Okay. Here's what we'll do." He turned to Heckyl. "Can you run the beam thing that makes the monsters grow and drops them on the surface?"
Heckyl nodded, and Tyler rubbed his hands together. "Okay. So I'll beam down, find the others. We'll make sure the Energems get to the dinosaurs without Sledge getting them first."
"Don't forget, Fury's down there as well," Philip reminded him.
"Sledge and Fury then," Tyler corrected himself. "We'll get rid of Sledge and Fury. You guys sneak on the bridge, keep them from being able to beam back up or grow, since we don't have our Zords."
There was a hint of excitement in his voice-typical of their leader, Philip thought, as Tyler continued, "You guys can release the tractor beams with the asteroids. The ship'll still be in orbit, the asteroids will drop and-"
"We'll all be stuck on the planet and have to learn to evolve into homo sapien?" James raised an eyebrow.
Tyler shook his head and grinned. "No. Because before Keeper gives the Energems to the dinosaurs, he can use them to open a portal and send us back to the future." He frowned. "That sounds so weird when I say it out loud."
"And yet strangely, it makes sense," Kendall said. She looked around at the group. "This just might work."
Just then, there was a growl, and the group whipped around to see a group of Vivix headed their direction. "Too late for a Plan B," James said. He looked at his son. "Tyler. Be careful."
Tyler nodded seriously. "Always," he said. He looked at Zenowing. "Lead the way," he told him. The two of them took off down a side hall.
Philip looked at the incoming Vivix. "Fight or flight?" he asked.
"No time to fight," Kendall said.
"Allow me to lead the strategic retreat," Heckyl suggested, pulling Kendall through a door. Philip was the last through, leaping through as Heckyl closed the thick metal door. Outside the door, they could hear banging as the Vivix tried to get through.
"Where to?" James asked, glancing around. Heckyl glanced around the room. "If my bearings are correct, the bridge should be-"
A door on the other side of the room opened. Vivix poured in, followed by Sledge's girlfriend, Poisandra, and Sledge's henchman, Wrench.
"I'd say we found it," Kendall said dryly.
"More like they found us," Philip pointed out, holding his fists up in front of him.
"Let's stage a mutiny," James suggested, rolling up the sleeves on his hoodie. The Aqua and Purple rangers attacked, throwing themselves at Wrench and Poisandra. James dropped Wrench with a kick to the chest, sending the smaller silver henchman toppling to the floor. Kendall dodged away from Posandra, pushing her into an open bay and locking the door between them. Philip ducked under a punch from one of the Vivix and threw an elbow into the base of its neck. He glanced around, searching for the console that controlled the Magna Beam. All the commands were written in strange, alien script. Of course it couldn't be as easy as "ENTER" or something, he thought, dodging sideways as a Vivix pounded the console where his head had just been. "Heckyl!" he yelled. "I could use some help here!"
Heckyl used the blue energy from his hands and blasted the Vivix that was hassling Philip out of the way, then came over to join him. He scanned the console frantically as Philip held off the green-haired aliens trying to pull Heckyl away. "Come on…it's somewhere….it's right…here!" He shook his head. "Here's hoping Tyler and Zenowing made it to the platform," he said, and pushed the button. Outside the main viewing window, there was a burst of green light that Philip could only hope was sending Tyler to the planet's surface. "That was step one," he reminded Heckyl. "Now we need to release the tractor beam."
"And pray there's enough time to get down to Earth and off again before they hit," Heckyl muttered, his fingers floating over the buttons. "I have no idea how to…oh, to hell with it." He raised his hand, palm out. "Kendall, everyone else! Get to the escape pods." He looked at Philip. "You too, Prince."
"And leave you unprotected?" Philip glanced around. Poisandra and Wrench were down for the count thanks to James and Kendall, but Vivix were still swarming the ship. "I can't do that, Heckyl."
Heckyl thrust a hand out, shoving Philip backwards. He kept his hand raised. "Yes, you can. I'll meet you there. Go!"
He turned away, his blue energy crackling in his fingertips, until it lanced out and sent sparks and smoke flying from the console. Red emergency lights came on and alarms began blaring. "Two lefts and two rights down the corridor!" Heckyl yelled at them. "Go!"
James grabbed Philip by the suit jacket and thrust him forward. "Come on, we've got to move." The Graphite Ranger followed the Aqua and Purple Rangers out in the corridor as panicked Vivix ran around, some trying to stop them, some running for the same escape pods. Left….another left…Philip replayed Heckyl's directions in his head as they ran through the chaos. He hoped that Tyler and Zenowing had made it down to the surface, that they could all make it home before….
Right! He skidded to a stop in front of a set of doors with a large red button. "Let's go!" Kendall said, hitting the button as the doors slid back, revealing a small pod with a bench seat and windows. Philip ran in, kicking a Vivix back into its buddies as James slid in beside him and Kendall reached for the button to close the doors. "We can't go without Heckyl!" Philip protested.
"I'm here!" Heckyl slid in just as the doors closed behind him, breathing heavily. Philip felt the weightlessness as the pod detached and started hurtling toward Earth.
The ride back to the planet's surface seemed to take ages. Any other time, Philip would have been in awe over the fact that he was in space, but there was so much on his mind that he barely noticed it. The pod slowed as it entered the atmosphere, then landed with a jolt on the surface. Kendall released the doors, and the four of them stepped out into yet another battle.
The pod had landed them with almost eerie precision right on top of the rest of the Rangers battling Sledge and Fury. Philip surveyed the scene. Tyler, Shelby, Riley, Chase and Koda were taking on Sledge, who was firing on them with some kind of arm cannon. Zenowing was teamed up with Keeper, and the two of them were taking on a small pod of Vivix.
Philip did a head count. Where is….He looked around, and spotted Ivan. The knight was going one-on-one with Fury. As James, Kendall and Heckyl rushed to join the others, Philip sprinted over to Ivan. "You made it!" Ivan said between dodging a swipe from Fury's claws.
"Just in time, it appears," Philip agreed. "Sir Ivan…may I assist you in defeating this fiend?"
Ivan grinned and gave him a short bow. "It would by my honor to fight alongside you, Your Highness," he replied.
The two Zandarians stood defensively as Fury eyed them like the predator he was. "You know my moves," Fury accused Ivan, sounding more curious than anything.
Ivan smirked. "We've fought before." The lion howled and attacked the two of them. Philip threw his arms up in a block as Fury's staff came down toward his head. He pushed back, sending Fury into Ivan. The knight pummeled the lion with a lightning-fast series of kicks and punches. Philip joined in, the lion almost like a pinball between the two of them, getting knocked around.
"Enough of this!" Fury roared.
"Couldn't agree more," Philip responded. In his mind, Fury was just the ridiculous G-BO robot again. Philip grabbed Fury by the fur and pulled him backwards, like he'd done with the robot, holding him in place as Ivan stepped forward, yanking the staff out of Fury's hands. "800 years," Ivan told him as Philip struggled to hold him in place. "You tormented me for 800 years." His dark eyes flashed. "And now I shall destroy you here."
"Ivan, wait." Philip had a sudden realization. "You've got to let him go."
