As Tyler watched Chase run around excitedly, he was struck with the semi-joking but entirely pleasant thought that they needed one of those kid leashes for their black Ranger. But he supposed, in light of the situation, it was okay to be excited.
It ended up not being the E-tracer, which seemed to be put into a rather unknown state of use in light of the Graphite Energem case, that found them the next Energem but the newspaper. How or why Riley had grabbed one was up for debate, it wasn't like they were illegal aboard the Megaship just not particularly highly sought after: the news in the last year or so had been far from favorable for them and thus since the Angel Grove Courthouse Incident, they had stopped watching it all together. But the green had brought a newspaper home and showed it to them and there, on the cover for whatever reason, was a story which had led them there.
To New Zealand.
Chase's home country.
The black was excitedly telling them all about the country as the group made their way through a city, Kendall being the designated Chase babysitter for the trip. Seven of them had gone down onto the planet, a rather high number for a non-battle related mission, all of them being from the Energem team. James got dragged away from Abby and while Keeper choose to stay behind, Kendall was entirely for going along to make sure everything went well. Tyler was content to just enjoy a tiny break from all the things that had been going on and he was glad to see that no one even seemed to give them a second look as they walked through the streets. He had no doubt the news of what was going on in the States had reached there, after all the news of things going on in New Zealand had gotten there at least, but there seemed to be nothing to put them in particular danger here. They were not known, they were not seen as the Power Rangers, just a group of teenagers with their adult supervision out for a walk in the lovely weather of the island nation.
"So what's our first move?" Shelby asked as Kendall dragged Chase back over to the main group, giving him a displeased and disapproving look; he grinned in return without a word.
Riley pulled the folded newspaper from his pocket and opened it up, looking it over. "There's not much to go on."
The headline read "New Zealand's Infestation: A New Ranger Sighted?", the kind of biased statement that seemed only too easy to expect. The article itself went into how witnesses had reported seeing a familiar figure appear multiple times. There was very little on when, why, barely even a few paragraphs with the kind of bias that they all expected at this point; it would almost be dismissed as being a fluke if it wasn't for the picture. A little blurry admittedly but it was just clear enough to make out the form of a familiar suit if in purple instead of the colors of Tyler and his group. When shown to the veterans aboard the ship it was an unanimous agreement: this was definitely a Power Ranger, strangely outside of the usual area but still obviously a Ranger of the same team as Kendall's. And as they were looking for the Purple Energem anyway, everything seemed to match up.
A sigh left their bespectacled mentor and she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Tyler left a little sympathy for her; it really wasn't much though it was better than what they already had. He wondered if she wished they had the E-tracer with them now but considering the fact that it didn't seem to be able to track down the Energems effectively anymore it was questionable if they would want to use it before making adjustments if possible.
"Maybe we should split up?" Shelby offered trying it seemed to come up with some sort of idea in the light of everything.
Tyler looked at Chase then nodded. "As long as we stay in contact that should be okay."
"I'll keep an eye on Chase," Kendall said before the black could even try to run off, grabbing onto the back of his hoodie, "It seems safe and calm enough here that we can all take different directions without worry of pairing up but do keep your communicators live in case of trouble. We can't guarantee that Sledge and his cohorts haven't sent anyone here yet."
"We can at least breathe easy about the military," Riley said rolling up his sleeve to check that his own communicator was working; the others did the same and he nodded, "Even those madmen wouldn't dare invade another independent nation...would they?"
"They would never be able to justify it." James could say it but there was a hesitation before a shake of the head from multiple of them preceding the group going their separate ways.
It really was weird to Tyler how peaceful everything was here after everything he'd gone through. Here there was no riots where common folk got hurt and no rhetoric calling his friends and family enemies of the state; people walked the streets with a sense of carefree contentment that was almost contagious. Someone accidentally walked into him and even apologized, smiling in a friendly way that was hard to not return. He was aware it had only been about a year and a half but it felt like forever, between almost dying, fighting, running, becoming a Ranger, seeing his mom become one again. He had almost forgotten in the chaos of Briarwood and the intensity of the flames that engulfed the Zandar palace how it felt to be surrounded by people who didn't know of them as Rangers, did not seem to care; Tyler Navarro was just a normal teenager here as far as anyone here likely cared.
A group of kids ran by playing tag and someone passed Tyler, murmuring to their friend about some new gossip. And in the distance was the sound of someone else screaming as a young man on a bike raced down the stairs, away from a teenage girl who was trying, and failing disastrously, to catch them. Tyler froze for a moment then ran at the boy on the bike; he didn't need to morph to deal with something as small as this, which meant the most threat there was here was likely of being hit by a bike. Would his mom and dad be angry he got hurt? Probably but he couldn't just ignore something happening in front of him.
"Hey outta the way!" the young man exclaimed as he saw Tyler getting in his way.
"Stop him, he stole my bike!" cried the girl and Tyler just smiled slightly before trying to prepare himself for the crash.
The bike thief swerved but Tyler sidestepped just in time to keep him from getting away and grabbing hold of the thief he threw him from the bike easily enough, causing the latter to fall flat on the ground without motion to take it further and the former to hit a nearby wall. There was a groan and the teenaged girl approached, starting to thank Tyler profusely. He blushed some, feeling flustered by the amount of appreciation for something that seemed only the right thing to do anyway; turning his head in embarrassment he caught sight of a familiar purple suit for just a second before it was gone. His eyes widened and with a quick apology to the girl he rushed off after it.
As he ran he turned on his communicator, half panting as he sent out a message: "This is Tyler, in hot pursuit of the Purple Ranger! I'm gonna try to catch them!"
Only a few seconds passed, during which he saw the suited figure slip into an alley only for an old man to walk out right as Tyler caught up. His communicator came alive with more than one voice trying to talk at once but he barely paid it attention, focused on the older gentleman. He didn't look much like a Ranger, but then again Tyler didn't think Ivan did, or Prince Phillip, or RJ or his own mother. Merrick looked very much like a Ranger, so did Jason if he was honestly, but if being around the collection of oddities and misfits that was the Renegades was that they came in all shapes, sizes and auras. This guy looked more in line with someone who spent his time outddoors, a friendly grandfather rather than the mysterious Ranger who had apparently been seen on occasion in this city. He even had an eyepatch, what kind of Ranger had an eyepatch, but Tyler still approached and watched the man's expressions very carefully.
"Excuse me," he said, "But have you seen a strange figure wearing a purple spandex suit run this way?"
"Oh that lad? Yeah he just passed by me; seemed like quite in the hurry." There didn't seem to be any obvious clues on his face but Tyler wasn't really a master of telling if others were lying or not. His mother would likely have been better being here; she always seemed to know when someone was lying.
"I see," Tyler answered and sighed some, "That's unfortunate; I really needed to talk to them about something."
"Bad luck I guess mate," the old man said and moved to pat Tyler on the shoulder as he tried to pass, "Now excuse me; I got an appointment-"
"Tyler! There you are!" The familiar sound of his friends calling out to him made Tyler look back behind him for a moment, seeing Chase and Shelby run over, with Kendall of course on their heels. The two teenagers were most interested in their friend but Kendall looked to the old man with a look of course suspicion and she walked over to him, looking him over.
"Um hello there," the old man said, his friendly expression not quite falling but at least seeming a little less at ease; Kendall glanced at Tyler who gave her a small shrug, before turning to Shelby.
"Shelby, hand me the device." Tyler furrowed his brow and Chase looked from the old man to the two women; Shelby herself seemed surprised for a moment then rummaged in her bag and removed a small screen. Tyler recognized it as being the same one from when they had ended up dealing with Prince Phillip's robot and it occurred to him that he never did find out what it was for.
Kendall took it from her and after waking it up, tapping at the screen some, it started to beep softly then suddenly erupt with a small hologram display. It was pretty simple-looking, four red blips bunched together, with another three scattered across the display. Tyler didn't understand it immediately, nor did Chase seem to know what it meant; Shelby though gasped a bit and the old man, furrowing his brow, stepped away as Kendall looked from the display to the man and frowned in that way only she seemed capable of.
"You're the Purple Power Ranger." It was not a question in any definition of the word; it was a statement, a definite, an absolute. Tyler looked at the old man to see him start to stammer some but Kendall pointed to Tyler, Chase and Shelby in kind, "These are the Red, Black and Pink Rangers of the same team as you; our Aqua, Blue and Green are nearby as well."
No one moved for a moment then Chase nudged Tyler with his elbow and started to pull out his Energem necklace, prompting the red to do the same after a moment and the pink soon after; the three Energems caught the light and shimmered as they spun on their magnetic locks. The old man watched them, fascinated at first but shook his head free of whatever trance he was in and turned to Kendall.
"I have no idea what you are talking about; might want to get your head examined."
"That doesn't look like the E-tracer," Chase piped up, "Not even close."
"It's a new device we've been working on for a bit," Shelby explains, "To supplement the E-tracer; it's not nearly as powerful, theoretically according to Kendall it will only be able to locate Energems not Zords and only within a radius of roughly 50 feet so a very narrow area of search, but it's supposed to be very exact..."
She looked at the old man and Tyler got the feeling that the therory wasn't wrong. If the dots were supposed to be energy signatures from the Energems, that meant if he minused the reaction from his Energem, Chase's and Shelby's, that still left one. And an old man who had appeared after the purple had disappeared.
Tyler stepped forward, putting up his free hand as he kept holding up his red energem. "Look we're not here to do anything to you; we just were looking for you. We want to talk. My name is Tyler Navarro, and yours?"
"Albert Smith," the old man said after some hesitation, watching Tyler very carefully before finally answering; he didn't seem to let his guard down, he was still very wary of them, but Tyler still saw it as a win and smiled.
"Well Albert, we're just curious about a few things, how you got your hands on the Purple Energem, what you've been up to around here..." If he would be willing to come back with them to the Megaship. New Zealand was safer than the States in many ways it seemed but how long until Sledge takes note too? How long until the senators who seemed to revel in tormenting the Renegades decide to demand that New Zealand do something about their own Ranger? And what would happen then? It was better in the longrun wasn't it, safer if he stayed with them or even just at the Pai Zhua temple with Nick and the members of the Mystics who weren't Vida or Chip.
"I'm curious myself," Albert answered and looked at Kendall for a moment before turning to Tyler again, "But I'm not sure I can really trust any of you..."
"But why?" Chase said in a sort of whine; the skater looked almost hurt and it was hard to be certain why that was or even what was going through his mind, but he tucked his Energem back under his clothes, "We're good guys, promise. The Energems would never choose a bad guy to bond to them so I'm sure you're a good guy too. Just hear us out, we want to help."
"It is far too dangerous to have this discussion here," Kendall said adjusting her glasses with a clearing of her throat, "I suggest we retrieve our three missing members and get to somewhere we won't likely be overheard so we can continue this safely."
None of them could really argue this, especially when seeing the stern look on her face. Tyler nodded and starting up his communicator again he called out to Koda, James and Riley to join up with them where they had all started from, thinking that was probably the easiest way to go about it. Chase and Shelby started to walk back and Tyler paused only long enough to look at Albert. He hadn't moved yet, not even really looking at any of them; Tyler saw him reach into his pocket and pull out the Purple Energem, looking at it for a second before shaking his head and starting to follow. He wasn't sure what was going through his mind; he wasn't even sure he wanted to know honestly. But he supposed that didn't matter right now.
"Truth told I didn't know what it even was when I found it; I just thought it was a strange stone at first." The sunlight was still strong and filtering through the tree canopy that covered Albert's home; the collected group of eight were sitting and drinking from various abnormally shaped but vaguely cup-like objects, something that Chase seemed more than happy to indulge in. Albert had led them back there after they had rejoined with their missing group and so far he given them quite the history. He was a Bigfoot hunter, a tour guide, a self-proclaimed adventurer; his eyepatch wasn't actually real and now sat on the table, discarded and unwanted. There was a distinct mixture of friendliness and loneliness to the man, his tone going from being excitable and energetic to almost wistful. Riley, James and Chase all watched and listened with rapt attention and honestly Tyler couldn't help some intrigue at the things Albert talked about and how he talked about it. Only the girls and Koda seemed less interested, Kendall least of all, and she quietly sipped tea from a deformed looking glass jar as Albert spun his story; Shelby was more interested in the mini tracer device and Koda as expected was more interested in the food munching away happily. But at least those two were actually looking at Albert as he spoke
As he told it he found it on a mountain while saving a friend's daughter during a freak snowstorm a year before. The gem had been lodged in the rock wall as he had been trying to get the girl to safety and after grabbing it, allured by it's glow, he found himself able to transform into a Power Ranger. He'd even heard about the events in the United States but it didn't seem important to him; he wasn't there, he was in New Zealand, and the power coupled with a police scanner he got helped him to help people. It was clear from his voice he believed that, that he wanted to help people, he was happy to do so, but as he said how others seemed thankful to him, Tyler couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. He knew it was pointless, it was just how things had ended up being, but it still hurt a little. He tried instead to think of Zandar who believed in them, and the people of Briarwood who they had saved, the people who had shown appreciation for the things they did. But every time he just remembered the way things went in the Courthouse and his stomach fell again.
A hand touched his shoulder and he turned to see his father looking at him with a reassuring smile. His thoughts were likely showing on his face, that certainly was embarrassing; placing his hand over his dad's he then turned to Albert once more.
"You said before you couldn't trust us," he started and saw the old man's face fall a little, "Why is that?"
"Can you blame me? I've never come across any other Rangers and everything we hear from the States about you is that you're fugitives and terrorists, that you decimated the city of Briarwood-" Tyler tried to interrupt but James pinched him and the red bit his tongue, letting Albert continue for now, "-that you tried to kill a bunch of people in protest at the Angel Grove Courthouse, that you go around causing destruction wherever you go without a care to the consequences."
Kendall took a deep breath. "Calling us fugitives isn't incorrect but it's wildly inappropriate nevertheless; it makes it sound like we're criminals which is the point I suppose."
"We tried to save the people of Briarwood," Shelby piped up, frowning, "We only fought the people who actually did destroy the city."
"Yeah and we didn't hurt anyone in the Courthouse, save for the government types who had set the whole thing up to try to trap us," Tyler said nodding in agreement with both girls, "And those ones we only hurt in response to being attacked while trying to get the Samurai team to safety."
"The reports of our misdeeds have been exaggerated," Chase said and tried to take a cookie from Koda's plate only to be stopped by Riley; the black shrugged and sat back down.
"Surely you know of the stories of the Rangers from before the Initiative got put into place, right?" Tyler saw Albert turn a bit sheepish which seemed like enough of an answer. He would have been surprised if he hadn't which was what always made this whole situation all the more uncomfortable to him: for years of heroics, kindness, guardianship, all it took was a little push from the wrong people, a few twisted words, and the Rangers went from good guys to monsters. Albert was far from an oddity but it was hard to have even a few Ranger look at them and not know that they were not the bad guys in all this.
"It's important right now you be willing to trust us," Kendall spoke and caused heads to turn to her, including Albert's who raised an eyebrow at him.
"And why is that?"
"Because we need you to be willing to come back with us to the Megaship. We've found you which is good and there's nothing particularly wrong with you staying in New Zealand in the longrun if the people do seem less than inclined to cause you any heartache but we need to bring your Energem at least back to the ship and we need to talk to the rest of the group," she told him and adjusted her glasses, "I can make you Dino Chargers like what Tyler and the others use, that way you will still be able to morph without needing to use the Energem specifically, but I need the lab to do that."
There was hesitation in his eyes and something else that Tyler couldn't quite put his finger on. The old man didn't actually seem entirely convinced, of any of what they said, and the friendliness that had permeated the conversation as he told them his story and they had all gathered together like this seemed to give way to something else. Not quite negative but uncomfortable nevertheless; he glanced at Kendall to see her reaction, to see if maybe she noticed it too but her expression had not changed and he couldn't tell anything from it. Whatever was going through her mind was privy to her and her alone it seemed.
"The rest of our group is super nice, promise," Shelby said smiling meekly, "You'll like them. There's two three thousand year old warriors and a knight and some ninjas and a pop star and even a guy who used to live on a planet with fish people. Oh and a cute princess named Lyta who helps us fix stuff but she has a broken leg right now; her brother is one of our teammates, the Graphite Ranger."
"Do you really think Lyta is going to be incentive for making Albert want to come with us?" Riley asked Shelby with some incredulousness.
"I'll come then." He froze up hearing that from Albert then glared a little at Shelby who only smiled in return. Tyler gave a small chuckle and they all stood up eventually, Kendall grabbing hold of Albert as the commands were put in to have them teleported back to the ship. The old man still looked unsure but Tyler gave him a smile before they all returned to the Megaship, certain this would be fine.
Arriving back in the command room, he found the usual faces there; Andros was checking over various screens, every so often speaking to check something with DECA who was running well enough to communicate properly again. Hunter and Laura were helping out, the two ninjas having found a rather comfortable pace in assisting in the admin requirements of the bridge, and Merrick stood against a nearby wall, seeming to be half asleep but Tyler knew better of course. The first to notice them was Hayley who turned from the computers to regard them with a small smile. "Welcome back."
"Thanks Hayley," Kendall said then gestured at Albert, "This is Albert, he's the one bonded to the Purple Energem."
Hayley got up and offered her hand to Albert. "Nice to meet you Albert and welcome aboard the Astro Megaship. My name is Hayley Ziktor, primary tech support for the Renegades."
"Does Billy help a lot with tech support though?" Chase chimed up.
"Non-Ranger primary tech support."
"What about Kendall though?" Riley put a hand over Chase's mouth, trying not to look directly at Hayley's irritated face.
"Hayley's amazing," Tyler piped up in an attempt to defuse the situation, "One of the smartest people alive; it's about computers then she knows all about it. She and a few of the others have been working really hard to get the Megaship back to working order, it got damaged because of some...stuff, and they're done an amazing job of it thus far."
"Most of the functions are back to normal," Andros spoke, startling a few of them in the process; he did not look up from his work, trying it seemed to get something else set up, "The holdouts are the more complicated and delicate programs; the weapons systems are still offline for the most part and while we can move there's a short in the programming that will make faster than lightspeed movement dangerous."
"Other than that we've managed to fix everything else that was damaged by the virus and by what was done to it in the warehouse," Hayley said nodding, "At this rate it will likely be back to full working order soon, though what we'll end up making use of is likely not going to be much."
Albert took Hayley's hand to shake, which made things at least a little less awkward, and after they disconnected he looked around. "This place is..."
"Amazing huh?" Tyler said to which the man nodded, "Yeah, it really is. The Astro Megaship, built on another planet and piloted by a human from outer space."
Albert's eyes widened and Tyler gestured to Andros who gave a little wave.
"A real alien," Albert muttered and the fascination and awe in his voice made the red chuckle. And by the echo that followed it seemed he was not the only one.
Things seemed to be going at least calmly so far, so of course that's when the ship shook violently, throwing them from their standing positions and to the ground, and when the alarms started going off. Andros corrected himself quickly and like a flash ran to the nearest panels, typing fast, calling out to DECA for reports. And after a second the screens buzzed alive to show a rather ugly and large ship dangerously close, close enough to ram them, close enough to do it again. Kendall got up and moved closer, frowning as Andros turned to look at the others, "Hold onto something!"
The warning came a few seconds too late; another shockwave, another shriek and the systems started to go crazy. The screens buzzed again and distorted before showing a face that many of them recognized.
Sledge.
"Hand over the Energems or we'll be forced to take them from you!"
Fuck.
Elsewhere on the ship a white ranger was trying to take a nap when the room suddenly shook around him and he was rather unceremoniously thrown from his hammock. He had his own room but Trent had decided he liked his little corner and preferred the makeshift hammock in the closet when he wanted to take an actual nap without being disturbed. But it did mean that when things like this happened he was left to fall into a pile on the floor, in some pain and with a broom falling onto his head. Luckily this did not happen often, or ever.
He grumbled, pulling himself up only for another shake to come and nearly throw him again. But the small room had it's benefits and he managed to stay standing with some annoyance. Trent opened the door, stumbling some as he stepped out and saw minor chaos. Other Renegades were running down the hallway and above their heads red lights flashed, signifying that something most definitely was not right.
"What the hell is going on around here?" he exclaimed and the intercom system buzzed to life before DECA's voice answered him.
"The Megazzzzhip is under at-at-attack." Hearing the AI's speech go in and out and glitch wasn't abnormal, it had been doing that for as long as they'd been there, but it certainly didn't help. Nor did what it had to say.
His first thought was the government but whoever it was, he decided as another shockwave threw him into a nearby wall hard and lights started to flicker, he was not happy with them.
"Fuck this," he growled and tried to make his way to the command center of the ship; knowing the others they would all go there considering what it was. From there they would need to figure out a way to stop the attacks or retaliate.
"Trent, come in Trent!" his communicator came alive and holding it up he responded, "Trent here, what is going on around here, Andros?!"
"We're being rammed by Sledge's ship; luckily so far he hasn't tried shooting at us but we need to do something quick. Where are you?"
"Deck 2, in my nap room. I'm on my way; I just-" There was an explosion and a loud, angry roar and he froze in his tracks, "Oh no..."
"What? What is it, Trent, what's going on?" Sparks and debris flew down the hallway and he saw a figure in the smoke.
"I think...Fury's out."
Trent was half certain he heard Andros swear but that didn't seem right coming from the Kerovian. He grumbled and switching his communicator to morpher mode, changed into his Ranger suit. He gripped his sword tight in readiness for what was to come and saw the angry kitty approach. If looks could kill then Trent likely would have been dead but he would have refused to go down without a fight at least.
The monster growled and stepped forward, Trent raising his sword in response. "Get out of my way; you're not the one I want."
"Well don't you know the old adage? 'You can't always get what you want' kitty cat," he scoffed and as Fury bristled at the taunt, Trent smirked inside his helmet, "But no worries, I'll make sure you get what you need."
Another roar and blades clashed over and over again; the ship shook, there were more explosions and in the distance he was aware of yelling, figuring that whatever Sledge was doing had escalated beyond just ramming the Megaship. Trent was aware in the back of his mind that he was not really much a swordsman; his best skills involved covert actions and while his weapon was a sword and he was capable of using it, being able to swing it and not hurt himself, and being a true swordsman was two different things. Just as the two of them were; his sword hit Fury's but while he felt a reaction, Fury at best seemed to see it as an annoyance. The monster pushed him back, throwing him some distance and Trent, feeling irritated by that, sent some of his explosive arrows at his opponent. Fury blocked them, only to be blown back some himself, and roared again before rushing at Trent. The white Ranger got back up onto his feet and gave himself a bit of a boost with his speed powers to not only side step Fury at the last second but to try to strike down at him. It connected and Fury screamed in frustration and in pain, but did not falter, standing and using the moment to swing his arm at Trent and hit him right in the stomach. It hurt a lot, like more than he expected, and he groaned as he tried to collect himself to try again.
Another sword came down from behind Fury and the monster screamed again, staggering away. Riley was there, morphed and holding his sword in one hand, watching Fury rather than looking to Trent. The white was somewhat happy to see him, though part of him felt somewhat disgruntled that he had to be saved by one of the youngest members of the team.
"Get going, Trent, I'll handle Fury," Riley said.
"Go where?" he asked annoyed somewhat.
"Um anywhere but here? I don't really know; Kendall told me to come and help you since Fury is our responsibility. Sledge seems to have moved onto using actual weapons against us so Andros wants everyone to evacuate the ship so we can try and get Sledge's attention away from battering the ship and make a counterattack."
An evacuation didn't make him very happy to hear; it sounded a little too much like an admission of failure and personally he figured they could handle something as small as fighting the cat and survive a barrage from Sledge. But part of his brain reminded him that the only proper Megazord for space battle was the same ship being attacked badly and they didn't really have much of a recourse; they had to get Sledge to stop the attacks and get everyone to safety. Which sparked a different part of his brain and Trent demorphed before running down the hallway as fast as he could. Riley didn't even get a chance to say goodbye between the speed of the other Ranger and the anger with which Fury struck out at him again, distracting the green for the time being. Or maybe it was the other way around really.
Trent rounded a corner, knowing this path like the back of his hand. The ship crumbled more around him but it was nothing to his mind that instead focused on one thing and one thing alone; he reached the familiar doorway at the same time as Heckyl and Merrick, surprising as both of them were to him but they just nodded and all three went inside.
The infirmary was still standing, just barely. Already Ivan was working with Billy to disconnect machines from each of the sleepers and Dustin was trying to pull himself into the wheelchair they had gotten for him; Merrick frowned and went over to the yellow, grabbing and quite easily picking him up into what Trent could only call bridal style. Dustin had enough sense to actually turn red and stutter some, followed by some chuckles from Heckyl and Trent, but the silver warrior just looked at the others, "We do not have a lot of time; we need to get Dustin, Tsuki, Anton and Karone out of here."
"Dude, I'll be fine to get myself out," Dustin said but Merrick shook his head.
"No time for that either; it will be far faster for me to carry you." His tone garnered no argument and another explosion pushed the issue. Trent nodded and once his dad was freed from the tubes and sensors on him he heaved the older man up and onto his back. It was quite the experience; he did not expect his dad to be so light, it worried him that it was so. And he certainly thought he'd ever have a day where he had to carrying Anton Mercer piggyback while a spaceship was being damaged and attacked around them but life as a Renegade was always full of surprises.
Heckyl went to pick up Karone, doing so gently and Billy looked at him. "You came to help too, Heckyl?"
"I heard the commotion and figured Andros would be busy trying to do damage control so I'd come do my part." There was something else though, Trent had held enough secrets in the past to be able to tell when others weren't telling the full truth. But in light of the situation it didn't seem like it really mattered either.
Billy took it at face value and Ivan scooped up Tsuki, ignoring the way the morphing artifacts stung at him. The knight seemed unconcerned and after a few moments they even started to orbit around him, giving him a strange sort of look to him; a skip later he returned to the bed to grab her sword which had been left there accidentally it seemed. Only then did he nod, apparently more at ease and turned to Billy, "Shall we then, Sir Billy?"
"We shall," Billy said, "I already sent out a message to the others to meet up in the cargo bay; with everyone collected, we should be able to teleport en masse to a safe place, I'm thinking the Pai Zhua Temple."
"Why not teleport now?" Dustin asked confused.
"The teleportation device aboard the ship is highly likely to be badly damaged again and since not all the teams have teleportation abilities built into their power sets, we are going to need to go with plan B." He looked at Tsuki and Trent understood, even though most of those conscious and assembled didn't understand.
Trent didn't like it much but he could admit the man made a good point. He headed for the door, stopping only long enough to look back at them. "Shall we then go as a group? Safety in numbers and all that?"
"Safer if we split up some; we are easy targets considering our situation and lack of ability to fight right now," Merrick said, "Billy, go with Ivan and Tsuki; we need her if we are to get everyone back down to the planet. I will take Heckyl and Trent with me-"
"Sorry but six is still way too many for my tastes," Trent said and adjusted his grip, "I know where Riley is; I'll go back to him, have him escort me to the cargo hold."
"Are you sure about that?" Billy asked. There was confusion and concern to his face, the kind that both made Trent feel like he was being silly and that he needed to look away from.
The white ranger would have waved it off if he could; instead though he just smiled and started out of the door, finding the hallway littered with bits of the walls. Not exactly a great scene but he was determined; he just needed to retrieve one infant Ranger and then get his dad to safety. No problem, easy peasy.
Riley was not where he was supposed to be but Tyler and some old man were. The red was trying to talk to the man who seemed to be having a small panic attack. Trent was not sure what was going on, he wasn't sure he even wanted to know. But with the green not there, nor was the cat monster they had been fighting, he supposed he had to make do so he made his way over.
"Albert," Tyler said sadly.
"I didn't sign up for this; I never wanted to almost die!" the man said, terror clear in his voice, "there has to be another way."
"What is going on here? Why are you two just standing here?" Trent asked raising an eyebrow.
Tyler nearly jumped; the man Albert did. The red looked a bit sheepish, looking from his companion to his comrade and sighed. "Albert was just..."
"You look like a strong young man; how about he helps you fight the monsters and I just stay here with...is that a man you're carrying on your back?" Trent frowned deeply and held onto Anton.
"I don't know who you are and I am definitely not leaving my unconscious father alone with you," he answered then turned to Tyler, "Tyler, what is going on?"
"We were on our way to the cargo hold when one of those pod things Sledge uses to transport monsters burst through the wall; luckily it plugged the hole it made but it also spit out some Vivix. The ships being infested." Trent swore under his breath.
"A fine time for it too. Well what does that have to do with the old coward you got with you?"
Tyler frowned. "His name is Albert, he's our new Purple."
"My condolences."
"I never should have trusted you," Albert muttered and the look on Tyler's face hearing that made Trent half tempted to put down his father for a moment so he could punch a different old man. He did not though, mostly because he would rather get Anton to safety than enjoy punching someone who made Tyler look so down. Didn't mean he liked it either, just that he knew what priorities he had.
"Sledge would have likely come after you anyway considering you have an Energem; that's why he came after us after all and if we were able to find you then there's no evidence to prove he wouldn't have been able to find you too," Tyler said and while Trent understood the point of it he did not like the execution.
"If the Energem is what he wants then why don't I just give it to him?" Albert asked and pulled it out, the small gem glittering in his hand, "If it makes him go away, why don't you all just give him what it is he wants?"
"B-because that would be wrong? Because that's not what Power Rangers do?" Tyler was wavering some and Trent would have pinched the bridge of his nose if he could.
"I never asked to be a Power Ranger; I just wanted to help people, I wanted to do little things to save a few people around me. I never asked to be put in danger or to fight those...things or any of this. Who in their right mind would ever willingly go into this knowing this would be what their life would be like?!"
Trent froze up and stared at them, taking note of the way Tyler's expression changed and part of him could understand. The kid had grown up looking up to Trent's team and to his own mother; more so than most he seemed to idolize them, he always had and probably always would. To hear the way Albert talked and acted, to have someone be so willing to run away when given the chance to be a Power Ranger, after being chosen, there had to be a part of him that was hurt by it.
To the boy's credit he swallowed whatever negative emotion it dragged out of him and instead spoke in a kind, understanding way, far more mature than any seventeen year old should be. "I know. Being a Power Ranger isn't easy; it's dangerous and hard and right now especially there's little thanks for it. And the monsters can be terrifying, some are just hilarious but a lot of them can be terrifying. I remember having nightmares about some of the ones my mother used to fight with Tommy and Kira and Trent. It would be easier to just run away and hide in the end..."
"See?" The old man in comparison sounded desperate and Trent felt sick just hearing him.
Yet Tyler just smiled and with patience shook his head; a chitters and weird voices erupted from down the hallway and Trent frowned deeply but couldn't quite bring himself to tell them to get going. As if a part of him wanted to hear this out. "It's not about easy though, Albert; it's about what's right. It's about sometimes getting hurt when we don't want to be, standing tall when we would prefer to lay down; it's about fighting when our bodies try to tell us to run and being where we need to be. If you give that Energem over to them then they might stop going after you but they'll use it to hurt people. They'll destroy cities, kill people, abuse the energies within it for their own machinations. So many will suffer and I'm sure...I know for a fact that you wouldn't want that, Albert."
"You...don't know that," Albert answered in a small voice, made smaller by the destruction being wrought elsewhere; he looked at his hand, where the Purple Energem lay, and his face looked pained and uncertain, "I'm not young like you, and I'm not brave enough for all this. I'm just...an old man, pretending to chase dreams and be something I'm not. I'm no adventurer or grand Bigfoot hunter; I'm just a fraud."
"So what?" Trent chimed in before Tyler could speak again and their eyes moved to him; his frown stayed and he adjusted his unconscious father on his back, "Who cares what you think you are? The way I hear it the Energems are like my team's Dino Gems: they choose their Rangers, they bond with people who they believe are right for them, not because of what the person believes themselves to be but because of who they truly are."
Tyler smiled some and nodded. "Yes, exactly. Power Rangers aren't just chosen from those who obviously have the courage to fight; many of them were scared and many of them had no idea what to do when the Power chose them. I've always wanted to be one and I still don't always know if I'm really right for this. But my Energem choose me for a reason, and same with yours; you have courage inside you, you are worthy even if you may not think you are."
Albert didn't answer. He hesitated primarily and just as he seemed ready to finally say something the sounds of battles elsewhere, sounded like the other Renegades had found the Vivix and whatever else Sledge sent, got even closer and Trent realized there was no time. DECA was chirping above them in a broken length of words; Andros would be upset that all the work they had put into getting her back up to operating state was now wasted in the span of only an hour. But he was sure the Astro Ranger would be far more upset that they didn't get out of there safe and sound; his mind slipped to what had happened in the infirmary again and he wondered whether to bring it up. Or simply to watch what was to come.
Either way they needed to go. Giving a loud whistle he drew Tyler and Albert's attention back to him and gestured with his head for them to follow him; the elevators were still not quite in sight and they needed to get going if they wanted to get to safety before the battles actually reached them.
"I'll stay here," Tyler started but Trent gave him a glare and the red froze up before giving a meek nod and doing as directed. Despite the mini speech, the fact of the manner was that Trent was carrying a fully grown man and without use of his hands at the moment needed protection to get Anton to safety; Albert still looked shaken and that meant Tyler would need to suck up his wanting to act like the hero and do what was right, not what he wanted to do the most.
The elevators turned out not to be too far away and once there, Trent shoved Albert in then got inside himself and let Tyler in. Right before the doors could close a Vivix appeared and tried to throw itself inside but Trent narrowed his eyes and Tyler delivered a swift kick to the minion's torso, sending it flying. The white nodded in gratitude and the red shrugged as the elevator started up and went downwards.
The cargo hold was full of Rangers, not all of whom looked happy about it. Trent figured that like him some had been woken up while others were trying desperately to check to make sure everyone was there indeed. The other couriers of the helpless were also there, thankfully, and while he watched Heckyl make excuses not to give Karone over to Andros, and Lana tease-scolded her brother for carrying a heavily embarrassed looking Dustin like he was Merrick's bride when "the princess is still waiting for you back home", he was also aware of the others vaguely. Especially the trio who had supposedly left together; Billy was checking Tsuki still in Ivan's arms and saying something to Tommy who's face was full of all sorts of emotions, not least of all seemed to be angry. He could guess what he was probably angry over and sighed a bit, walking over to the group as Tyler went to be fussed over by his mother and father; Albert shuffled behind them, having been quiet since Tyler's little speech to him which was mostly welcome but was a little concerning as well.
"We need to do it, Tommy," Billy was saying when trent got close enough and he could see the way Tommy's face scrunched up.
"We are not using Tsuki like some kind of machine."
"We're not just using her, Tommy; she's connected to the Morphing Grid and we're just going to tap into her power using that connection. And I'm going to monitor her health throughout just in case; she will be in no danger."
"You can't guarantee that, William!"
"I can at least try, Thomas!"
"If you two idiots don't stop fighting I am going to come over there and make you!" Abby yelled over the crowd and both immediately stopped, though there was still glaring.
The ship rocked again and Trent looked up then at Billy. "How do we do it?"
The blue adjusted his glasses, threw Tommy one last look, then addressed Trent. "We access the grid all at once. Tsuki is the conduit, she's the one through which our power flows; we access the grid through our morphers in unison and put in the same teleportation command to the communicators at once, with the non-Rangers holding onto one of us, and we should be able to theoretically tap into her own unique ability."
"Tsuki usually controls the location when she used to use her power; how the hell do we plan to?" Lauren asked raising her hand.
"Wait there's a person in your group with the power to teleport?" Chip asked standing beside RJ and Annie who were trying to help Lyta while her brother was standing with the rest of his team.
"You're a witch and you're surprised one of us can teleport?!" Trent called out, to which came the answer "I'm not a witch" and a smack upside his head that made him wonder when Abby got so close.
"Guys, not now," Merrick growled and it was low but somehow, someway managed to cover the whole group. Trent wondered if that was a wolf thing or just a Merrick thing.
"We'll put in the coordinates for the Pai Zhua Temple; that should nudge us at least towards that direction," Billy said frowning, "Now come on."
Tommy seemed still hesitant but as far as anyone seemed to be thinking it was all they had. The Rangers all took out their communicators in all their various forms and started inputting the necessary information. The longitude and latitude of the school was spread like wildfire and Andros grabbed onto Heckyl's jacket as a shimmer slowly and steadily covered them. The ship creaked, DECA's voice completely cutting out as the lights went out and they were plunged into complete darkness.
Then blinding light and a sensation like falling through cotton candy before suddenly and violently hitting the ground. Sound rung and the blue of the sky was almost blinding to Trent's eyes as he tried his best not to fall over. Was this how Tsuki felt every time she teleported? How the hell had she put up with this? It physically hurt and made him want to throw up.
But as he glanced around, he saw the others, all looking about as shaken as he was, save for a few that he suspected likely had teleported with her more than once. And Ivan who managed by some miracle to not even seem willing to falter as he held her and let Billy do his examinations. The forests the surrounded the school were close beside them, giving them some shade but nevertheless they seemed to have succeeded. They were off the ship and all together in their chosen location; they got away.
"Thank-" A blast of energy narrowly missed him and Trent this time loudly swore as he set his father down and immediately morphed. Sickness or not he was getting pissed: he had been thrown from his bed, jostled around a ship under attack, hit by a cat monster, had to depend on an actual teenager to protect him and deal with an old man with serious self esteem problems. He was tried, grumpy, and in pain and while he couldn't somehow pass on the first two to anyone, that didn't mean he couldn't try with the third.
"Come out you bastard so I can stab you in the eye!" he ranted and turned to face the forest; he barely was aware the other Renegades had moved, some morphing while others mainly stood back.
Fury walked out and Trent was suddenly aware that he really did not like the cat. Growling he tried to send more explosive arrows at the monster but Fury deflected, seeming almost more wild than anything else. Someone called out Trent's name, he wasn't sure who, he barely even noticed it; he was already running at Fury, ready to uphold his threat and stab him in the eye, and probably more than once at that.
Their rematch didn't go much better than the last time and like before it was interrupted. Unlike last time it was interrupted by Tyler and Chase, the former blocking Fury's sword with his own, the latter levering shot after shot at the cat monster in hopes of downing. Trent didn't much care about being helped, though he would have preferred to kill him themselves, and as Fury rampaged, angered it seemed by everything that had happened thusfar, he kept fighting as well.
"Guys, Vivix!" When it rained it poured; minions appeared and quickly it turned into another one of those free-for-all days where everyone who could was fighting. Trent didn't mind so much today; he stabbed his sword through one Vivix's torso and used the momentum of the force to then swing it into another, knocking multiple of them down. Tyler yelled out for Albert but as far as the white could tell the new "purple" hadn't made any moves. He grumbled and kicked Fury in the face as he got too close; getting some lift from doing so he took note of the minions starting towards where his father lay and he immediately tried to make his way over. Only for the feline to decide to grab hold of him and throw him in the opposite direction; Trent hit a tree and groaned in pain but forced himself up again.
"Someone, cover my dad!" he called out, hoping, praying someone took note. He didn't like putting Anton's life in others hands but every time he tried to get over there he was grabbed, pushed, hit and knocked back. The crowd was thick and he was getting more annoyed, not less, but he wouldn't actually give up so easily.
"I have him!" He didn't immediately recognize the voice which made him feel less comfortable. But it struck him that whose it was and that just confused him more, and irritated him, but he saw Vivix be blasted back and through the wave he could make out a purple variant of Tyler grabbing the unconscious Anton to try and move him.
"I knew you had it in you, Albert!" Tyler yelled in encouragement and he blasted back another Vivix.
"Yeah I guess he does," Trent muttered under his breath and glanced around. There were Vivix as far as the eye could see but no sign of Fury; this struck him as a bad thing and he tried to pinpoint the primary cause of his irritation today.
There was a sound, hidden among the usual noise of fighting, almost like a gasp and then a thud. And then a scream. A blast of violet light erupted from where Albert and Anton were and Trent felt his heart sink further. No. No no no no no.
"Dad!" he called out. No, screamed. This couldn't be. No, he had no proof anyone died or was even hurt but his dad was unconscious and the light was purple and the Ranger holding him was purple. "Albert! Damnit, answer me!"
No one did and for a second nothing felt right. Tyler slashed down Vivix and Chase kept shooting; somewhere nearby Trent could make out Billy saying something but it was hard to know until the second light show started.
It didn't begin with where Anton and Albert were supposed to be but rather further, closer to Ivan who had chosen to stay back with the others. And the unconscious conduit Tsuki. Then it spread and there was a startled sound before a yell from what sounded like Heckyl before a blast of violet energy tore through a swatch of Vivix. Then it reached where Trent's attention mainly was and he heard Fury exclaim something before being lifted from the ground, struggling for air and clawing at his own throat. Vivix nearby were thrown by some unseen force and finally, finally Trent got to see what was there.
Albert lay on the ground, unmorphed with a pool of blood under his still body. Over him stood a strange form; it looked almost like Trent's suit, actually in many ways it resembled. Much of the design was his but the coloration was in pale greens and black, and the helmet which on each dino Thunder resembled their dinosaur counterpart, was a more deformed but almost familiar face. With red eyes above the visor. They had one hand, armored with long claws that hung under their fingers, held a loft and it occurred to Trent that that was what was keeping Fury in the air. Telekinesis. And he immediately knew why he knew the face.
There was another burst of energy and another new form approached. Purple and black, it resembled Andros' more than anything but even that was heavily superficial. It was more detailed and had a long front opening half skirt that hung around their waist along with what seemed to be high heels. A staff was clenched in their hands, one he didn't recognize but that seemed to bring back memories for Andros. And if the half-mesmerized look on Heckyl's face, him as well; Trent was not sure he'd ever seen the man blush before but he was certainly doing so now.
The Vivix chittered and the first new Ranger turned it's head as if to acknowledge their existence before throwing Fury into them without a care. The feline warrior coughed and growled weakly but this seemed to not concern the Ranger at all; they turned from him, facing Trent instead and the knowledge of what he was seeing, coupled with the belief it was impossible, made him speechless.
Fury seemed to have gotten up but Trent was not paying him much mind; all he knew of it was what came next, as Fury drew his sword and seeming to think the first was too troublesome, he approached instead the one with the staff. A mistake it seemed as they lifted their staff in response, only for Heckyl's voice to ring out first. "Oh no you don't!"
Twin blasts of navy energy flew and slammed into Fury, sending him to the ground again, and Heckyl was suddenly by the staff wielding Ranger's side, his hands glowing with energy that none of them expected. His eyes narrowed, his voice low, he spoke, "You do not touch my princess, do I make myself clear you mangy furrball?"
"H-H-Heckyl," Fury growled weakly and Vivix helped him up, pulling him and the remaining members of their group away, "You traitor..."
Bursts of light took them away and it took a moment to realize what it was: Sledge teleporting them back to the ship, a retreat of the enemy forces. And there was deep silence where no one moved, no one spoke, they simply stared. At one another. At where Fury had been. At Albert's dead body. At the two mysterious Rangers.
They demorphed and the surprise was not in who they were but how they were conscious. Anton rolled his neck and he glanced at his wrist where a bracelet similar to Trent's lay, allowing himself a small smile before looking over at his son and nearly being thrown off his feet by the force of the hug.
Trent was a grown man even if he looked like a teenager so he would never in a thousand years admit to crying. But holding tight to his father and feeling Anton's arms around him, hearing his voice chiding him for acting like he was, the emotions built up and exploded and all he could do was hold tight to the older man with all he had and never let go.
The reaction to Karone seemed no less intense though it was split between two bodies. Andros, frozen for a time, approached his sister with a look of incredulousness and awe, reaching up to grab her hand and ask in a soft voice, "Karone...oh god, you're...you're awake."
She smiled in return, the sort of sweet smile she seemed to excel at, and she nodded before hugging her brother tight. "I'm sorry for worrying you so much."
But Andros seemed almost to pale in comparison to the reaction when she turned to look at Heckyl. Someone murmured to someone else and none of them knew of any evidence that ever would have pointed to the two knowing each other before. But there was no doubt when looking at them, seeing the way their eyes met and the emotions that passed between them in that moment, that they did know each other. They knew each other all too well, in ways unspoken, from days unknown, and the tears that billowed up in her eyes were met by the near whisper of his voice.
"My Pretty Princess..."
"Heckyl," she half choked out and it seemed that his reaction too paled when faced with the way she looked at him. She repeated his name, over and over, until he stepped closer and cupping her face in both of his hands leaned in for a kiss.
Seeing this seemed to shake some of their shock from their systems and most turned away in response. Abby rubbed the bridge of her nose, seeming one of the first to really say anything. "What...what in the world is going on? What just happened? How did Heckyl do that? What did Fury mean by 'traitor'? How did...what in the world just happened?!"
"We should go into the school," said another familiar if not long unheard voice and Abby turned to see Tsuki smiling at them, standing by Billy and Ivan, the totems of power no longer floating around her like little orbits. There was something distinctly calming about her expression and the once slumbering swordsgirl spoke, "We have a lot to talk about it seems."