Jen watched on as Trip and Camille made the final modifications to the slipstream. It was interesting watching them work; how neither of them said a word to one another, yet still seemed to be in sync with each other. Trip would hold his hand out, Camille would hand him the appropriate tool without even asking. Camille would back away from a station, and Trip could immediately picked up where she left off. It was amazing to say the very least.
She recalled a time when she and Alex were the same way. Granted, they weren't working on complex machinery the way Camille and Trip did, but the two of them had a bond nonetheless. She could anticipate his every move, knew what he was thinking before he was able to formulate a sentence, and vice versa. It all changed when Wes came into the picture.
Her love for Wes overshadowed everything she'd ever felt for Alex, which surprised her, considering the uncanny resemblance between them. There was a time when she thought she would never love another man……
… Then she met Tommy Oliver…
She'd read about him in the history logs. Hell, everyone at Time Force academy had read about the infamous Tommy Oliver, the evil green ranger who came within inches of destroying the power rangers. Eventually, the spell over him was broken and he joined the same team he was ordered to destroy. Later, his adventures as the white ranger, then again as both the red Zeo and red Turbo ranger. Finally, the last entry in the history logs about the mission involving red rangers from every incarnation of Earth-bound rangers joining together to put an end to the Machine Empire. Tommy was trying a living legend.
Maybe it was that – his legendary status – that initially attracted her to him. Even if that were the case, she was over it now. Whatever it was that drew her to Tommy, it didn't happen 1000 years ago, it was happening now.
She remembered Alex proposing to her, but her mission to the 21st century prevented their marriage. Then, the recalled waiting until the last minute to tell Wes how she felt about him. 'A lot of good that did,' she remembered. This time, she was determined not to make the same mistake with Tommy. She promised herself that she would tell him how she felt before it was too late.
"We're ready here," Camille said, breaking Jen's concentration.
"What is it Camille?"
"We've run over a dozen tests with the slipstream and everything seems to check out. No foreseeable side effects, no ionic surges, no overloads, nothing," she said.
"Excellent work you two," she said.
"Thanks," they said in unison.
Jen reached for her morpher. "Jen to Katie, respond," she said.
~
Katie and Tommy stood across from one another in what appeared to be an open field. The wind was blowing gently, and the sun shined down on the two of them. They stood face to face, and then bowed at one another slightly before taking their positions.
"You ready?"
"I should be asking you, old man," Katie said.
Tommy nodded slightly, rushing at her with a spin kick. Katie was able to duck it, but Tommy caught her with a leg sweep, knocking her over. As Katie hit the ground, Tommy tried to stomp down on her chest, but she caught his foot, knocking him off balance. He did a back flip, landing on his feet, then lunged at her again. Katie sidestepped him, kicking him in the back of the leg, sending him crashing down.
She was just about to finish him off when…
'Jen to Katie, respond,' a voice said.
Katie paused, reaching for her morpher. "I hear ya' Jen. What's up?" she asked.
'I hate to break up your training session, but its time to go to work,' she said.
"On the way boss," she said. As soon as she looked up, Tommy caught her with a sabat kick to the face, flipping Katie over and sending her crashing to the ground. "Damn it Tommy, I wasn't ready,"
"The bad guys aren't going to wait for you to answer a call. You have to be ready at all times," he said.
"Couldn't you have taught me such a valuable lesson without almost knocking my teeth out?" she asked.
"Could have, but it wouldn't have come close to the look on your face when…" he was cut short as Katie kicked him between the legs.
Tommy fell to his knees, holding himself in pain. "Oh yeah, I see what you mean," she giggled. "Computer, end simulation," she called out.
'Simulation terminated,' the computer announced.
The scenery faded away, replacing the field and the trees with a drab, monotone gray shaded room with grids along the walls.
"Come on old man, we got work to do," she said, helping him up and walking away.
(*)
The two of them walked into the science lab where Jen, who had a concerned, greeted them look on her face.
"What happened to him?" she asked.
"We were training, I'll be fine," Tommy mumbled.
"Alright guys, you know the drill by now. I'll set the slipstream for 90 minutes. That gives you enough time to look around and find out as much as you can about the place, but try not to interact with too many people. We don't want to run the risk of altering the time line, even if it isn't our world," Captain Logan explained.
"Understood," Camille said.
"Also, make sure you plant one of the these beacon as soon as you arrive. That was, if we ever need to, we'll be able to lock into the beacon and transport back to it's location," he said as he handed Tommy the beacon, then took his seat in front of the control panel.
"Cammy and I have also installed the cloaking device in each of the morphers. They should allow us to walk around undetected," Trip said.
"Cammy?" Katie mentioned.
Trip blushed. "What? We call you Katie, Kathryn," he pointed out.
"Point taken," she sighed.
"Good luck, to all of you," the Captain said as he activated the blue swirling vortex.
Without a word, Jen was the first to step through, followed by the others. As soon as all five of them were through, Captain Logan deactivated the vortex.
~
They found themselves in a forest of some kind, but the trees were taller than any they'd ever seen before. Despite their height, the sun managed to shine down on them.
"This is beautiful," Camille said, looking at the surroundings.
"Everyone okay?" Jen asked, making sure everyone in the group was accounted for as the vortex dissipated.
"We're good," Tommy said, speaking for the group.
"Anybody have any idea where we are?"
"Um, a forest," Katie responded.
"Can anyone be a little more specific?" she asked.
Tommy glanced around, trying to become familiar with the surroundings. "It looks like there's a clearing over there, about a half of mile north. We should head there, see what we can find out," he said, placing the beacon down behind a tree.
"Sounds good, lets go," Jen said.
The five of them headed for the clearing, which turned out to be a small city of some kind. "That forest must be the dividing line between cities," Trip speculated.
There were dozens of people walking around; some of them looked as though they'd been shopping, others in suits, some of them wearing shorts and t-shirts.
"Whatever or where ever this place is, we're severely overdressed," Camille mentioned.
"She's right, we should ditch the uniforms and try to blend in until we can figure something out," Jen suggested.
"I don't think we'll blend in if we're naked,"
"Don't worry, we'll take care of it," Trip said, grabbing Camille by the hand.
They walked over to a nearby store, heading inside. Jen walked over to the counter, where they was a woman in front of the register.
"Welcome to Storm Chargers, what can I do for you?" she asked.
"Do you have an AMT machine?" Jen inquired.
"Yeah, it's in the back," she told her.
Jen turned to Tommy. "You guys pick out something to wear, I'll be back in a sec," she said, walking towards the ATM machine.
"So, you guys in the military or something?" the woman behind the counter asked.
"Yeah, you could say that," Tommy said, speaking for the group.
Just then, a man walked out from what appeared to be the back of the store. He had on a pair of jean shorts and a yellow shirt. "Hey, I'm Dustin. What can I do for you guys?" he asked.
"My friends and I are interested in some clothes," he said.
"Come on, I've got just the thing for you dude," Dustin said.
(*)
Cam sat in front of his computer, trying to figure out the readings he found. The concerned look on his face caught the attention of his father, who walked over to him.
"What seems to be the problem Cam?" he asked.
"I'm picking up an energy reading awfully close to the entrance to Ninja Ops. I don't like it," he told him.
"Contact the rangers and have him investigate,"
(*)
"Dude, you look totally sweet," Dustin said as he stood back, getting a good look at Trip.
Trip glanced at himself in the mirror, unsure of what he thought about it. He had on a pair of shorts and a white tank top with matching flip-flops.
"I like it," Camille mentioned.
Trip blushed. "I like it too," he said insincerely.
Just then, they heard a beep. Before Dustin could move, Tommy instinctively glanced down, noticing a morpher on his wrist. "Hey guys, I'll be back in a sec," he said, hurrying out the front door.
Jen walked over to them with a wad of money in her hand. "Trip, you look…," he glanced over at Camille, then back at Trip. "nice," she said.
"Thanks,"
She quickly noticed the look on Tommy's face. "What is it Tommy?" she asked.
"Trip, you, Jen and Camille stay here. Pick yourselves something to wear. Katie and I will be right back," he said.
Katie followed Tommy out the store. "What's going on Tommy?" she repeated.
"That guy who was helping us pick out clothes, hes a power ranger," he said.
"What?"
"He had on a morpher. It went off, I think the other rangers are trying to contact him," he told her.
'Hes right Katie,' they heard a voice say.
Katie reached for her morpher. "What do you have for us Captain?" she asked.
'From what the history banks tell me, the man and two others comprise the Ninja Storm power rangers,' he said.
"Only three?" he inquired.
'At this point in history, yes. Later, three more will join the group, but not for a while. Looks like they've picked up an energy signature in a forest not too far from your location. They're converging there to investigate,' he said.
"The beacon, they must have picked up on the beacon,"
'You have to stop them from finding the beacon. If they can detect it, they have the technology to discover its origins as well. We can't allow the time line to be altered in any way,' he explained.
"Understood," Katie said.
"You ready?"
"Lets go," she said.
The two of them reached for their morphers and pressed a button, activating the cloaking devices, then headed into the forest.
~
The two of them watched on as Dustin and two other people searched through the forest.
"What did Cam say it was?" the girl asked.
"He didn't. All he said was that there was an energy signature," Dustin said.
"Could it be an alien?"
"Maybe Lothor is up to his tricks again," the other man suggested.
"Tori, Shane, I don't know. He seemed to be worried about it being so close to the entrance of Ninja Opts. That's all I know," he said.
"You got that right," Tori said.
"Whatever dude,"
Just then, a group of men dressed in black costumes materialized from out of nowhere. Tommy and Katie watched in with amazement.
"Cyclobots," Katie whispered.
"No, puddies," he suggested.
~
"Kelzaks," Shane said, standing in a battle ready position. "Let's do it," he said.
Tori and Dustin both reached for their morphers as well. 'NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM,' they called out. Suddenly, power ranger uniforms replaced their clothes.
The red ranger charged in after two of them, hitting a cyclone kick that took both of them down. A Kelzak grabbed him from behind, but he used a tree to get his footing, do a back flip and land behind him. Before the Kelzak could turn around, the red ranger kicked him in the back, knocking it up against the tree.
The yellow ranger called for a hammer of some kind, which he used to knock about the Kelzaks while the blue ranger did a double back flip in mid air, kicking a Kelzak in the back of the head. As if fell, she did another flip, wrapping her legs around a Kelzak's head and spun him around, taking him down as well.
The three of them stood back to back surrounded by unconscious bodies, which, just as quickly as they appeared, disappeared.
"I knew it, Lothor is up to something," the red ranger said.
"We should get back to Ninja Opts and see what Cam can tell us," the blue ranger suggested.
Each nodded, and the three of them hurried away.
When it was clear, both Katie and Tommy disengaged their cloaks, heading for the beacon. "We have to find that beacon before the rangers do," Katie said.
"I'm afraid you have much bigger problems on your hand little lady," they heard a voice say from behind.
They turned around to find themselves surrounded by another group of Kelzaks, but one of them was different. This was appeared human, but had on a mask of some sort. There were openings for his eyes, nose and mouth, and he wore a long, black cape.
"And who are you suppose to be?" Tommy asked.
"My friends call me Lothor," he paused. "I take that back, I don't have any friends," he told them.
Before they could move, the Kelzak's grabbed them, and they all disappeared into a stream of light.
TBC……
