Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force, Power Rangers Ninja Storm and all related logos are property of Disney and/or Saban Entertainment. I am using them without permission. KJ Sheldon, Lt. James Emery, Trinity Oliver, Camille Summers, Amanda "Mandy" Scott, Mr. & Mrs. Mathew Scott, Leo Claw and the "Omega Project" are property of yours truly. Sierra Crane appears courtesy of… well, Sierra.
The format on ff.net is still shitty, but I hope it doesn't make this hard to read. Please take a moment to review. I live for reviews!!
A/N: This fic takes place before Cam became the GSR.
* Blue Bay Harbor 2003 *
"I don't see anything. Maybe Cam's equipment might be acting up again," Dustin said as the three of them walked along the beach, looking for signs of anything unusual.
"Cam is never wrong, if he says something is out here, there is," Tori assured him.
However, Shane wasn't completely convinced. The three of them had been patrolling the same spot for a little over twenty minutes, and even though there were no signs of trouble, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.
He glanced behind him, but no one was there. He was ready to dismiss it as paranoia, but he looked down and noticed there was an extra pair of footprints in the sand. Without saying a word, he motioned for Tori and Dustin to turn around. Each of them looked down, and with a look of caution on their faces, stopped dead in their tracks.
For a moment, there was silence. Shane nodded slightly at Dustin, who tacitly agreed. Then, without warning, the two of them tackled… something. Even though neither of them could see a thing, they both felt something as he wrestled it to the ground.
"Oh great, now Lothor is throwing invisible aliens at us," Tori groaned.
"No wait, I'm not an alien," they heard a voice say. Seconds later, he materialized on the ground. Shane and Dustin got up, staring at him in amazement.
"Hey, I know you. You're that dude from Storm Chargers," Dustin said.
"So what's your deal?" Shane snapped.
The stranger let out a sigh of frustration. "I'm going to tell you something, but it may be difficult for you to believe," he took a deep breath. "My name is Lt. James Emery, I'm a Power Ranger," he said.
"I don't remember you at the ninja academy," Tori said.
"That's because I'm not from the academy, I'm from the future," he said.
"Dude, you expect us to believe that?"
"It's the truth,"
"So how'd you get here?" Shane asked him.
"Through one of those," Lt. Emery said, pointing upwards.
The three of them glanced up only to see a vortex of some kind appear in the sky. Before any of them could make a move, two figures came through the vortex, falling to the ground.
"Whoa," Dustin sighed.
It was James who walked over to them. "Adam, Lucas, what are the two of you doing here?" he asked him.
"We came to get you. Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?" Adam snapped.
"I can handle it Adam, this is my mission,"
"Does our mission include blowing your cover and altering the time line? If so, you're just about done here," Lucas snapped.
"You mean you guys really are from the future?" Shane asked.
Adam turned to James. "You told them?"
"I had to,"
Just then, Shane's Morpher beeped. It quickly reached for it. "Go for Shane," he said.
'Shane, I'm picking up electromagnetic energy from your location. What's going on? Is everything okay?' a voice asked.
"Let me get back to you in a minute," he said. "Okay, someone better tell me exactly what's going on around here," he said firmly.
Lt. Emery opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, Adam cut him short. "We're here investigating a temporal incursion. Its nothing that concerns you," he told them.
At that moment, a figure emerged from the water. It was obviously humanoid, but seemed to have no skin at all. He wore a silver helmet of some kind, and armor over parts of his body.
"Now that's an alien," Tori said.
"No, its Lord Zedd," Lucas sighed.
"Lord who?" Dustin asked in confusion.
"Lord Zedd," he said as he approached them, aiming his staff and blasting Dustin in the chest.
It was enough to knock Dustin half way across the beach, leaving him motionless on the ground. Tori quickly hurried over to him to check on him.
"I don't know you are, but it won't matter in a minute," Shane said, reaching for his Morpher. "NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM," he called out, transforming into the red ranger.
"You heard the man," Lucas said, reaching for his Morpher as well. "TIME FOR, TIME FORCE," he screamed as his clothes were replaced by his ranger uniform.
Lucas and Shane charged at Lord Zedd, but he was able to block every punch and kick they threw at him. Finally, he swung his staff, hitting Lucas in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He cocked back, ready to finish him off, but it was Adam who grabbed the staff, spinning around and kicking Lord Zedd in the chest. It forced him to let go of the staff, and while he was distracted, it was James who rushed at Zedd with a kick to the face, taking him down.
Lord Zedd was right back on his feet, connecting with a left hand on Adam, snatching back his staff. Shane was back up, but Lord Zedd used the staff to pull his legs from under him, taking Shane back down.
"BLACK RANGER CHRONO ARMOR," Adam called out, transforming into the black ranger. He extended his arms, and the golden blades came out his forearms.
Lord Zedd swung the staff again, but Adam caught it, and then used the blades to break Zedd's staff in half. As it fell to the ground, Lord Zedd grabbed Adam's blade, snatching them off, then gave him an upper cut.
"You rangers are pathetic in any time period," he groaned, disappearing into a stream of light.
Lucas hurried over to Tori, helping her pull Dustin back to his feet.
"Who was that guy?" Tori asked.
'Whoever it was, he was in the water for a reason. He was after the gem of lost souls,' a voice said.
Shane reached for his Morpher. "You mean that skinless guy has the gem?" he asked.
'I'm afraid so,'"If I remember correctly, the gem itself doesn't hold much power. The only thing it could be used for was to…" he paused, allowing his sentence to trail off. "I know where he's going," he said.
"Where?"
"We wants to talk to his wife," Lucas sighed.
~~
"So let me see if I got this right: Lord Zedd and his wife were on another planet when a wave of energy hit, destroying all the evil in the galaxy. He and his wife were changed into humans, but Zedd wanted to become evil again so he wouldn't feel useless and weak. Now he wants to use the Gem of Lost Souls to talk to his wife?" Tori asked as they all walked along the beach.
"That's pretty much it," Adam said.
"I think its kinda romantic… in a demented sort of way," she sighed.
"But what does he hope to accomplish here? Talking to her won't bring her back," Shane mentioned.
"You'd be surprised the kind of power Lord Zedd has," Lucas said.
'You guys don't know the half of it,' a voice said.
"What do you know Dira?" Lt. Emery asked, reaching for his Morpher.
'Trip and I went over all the files we got from Chyro Tech, the information I found let us in on Zedd's plan. He's been traveling the galaxy in search of the Sphere of Omara,' she said.
"But the Sphere was destroyed during the Harvenger invasion," he brought up.
'True, but apparently he got his hands on one. I contacted the Omarians, and they said there was in fact another Sphere, but it was stolen a millennia ago by a creature named Lothor,' she said.
"Wait a sec. Lothor has the sphere?" Dustin asked.
"What does the sphere do?"
"It can bring people who were wrongfully killed back to life," James them told.
"He's going to bring back Rita," he sighed.
"We have to stop him. If Lothor and Lord Zedd were to join forces, no one would be safe. Together, they'd bring back Rita, and the entire universe would be doomed," he said.
"So what do we do?" Tori asked them.
"I have a plan," Adam said with a sinister smile on his face.
*
Zurgane rushed onto the bridge of the ship, standing in front of Lothor, who was sitting on his thrown. "Sir, we have reports of a disturbance near the edge of the city, in the woods," he informed him.
"What are those rangers up to this time?" he groaned.
"According to reports, the rangers are on hand, but they're trying to prevent the disturbance," he told him.
"Well anything the rangers and that pesky rodent want to stop is good for me. Get down there and find out what's going on," he said.
"Yes sir," he paused. "Should I take the Kelzaks?"
"Ya think?"
"I think that would be best, sir," Zurgane said.
"Get it done Zurgane," Lothor told him.
"At once sir,"
* Time Force 3002 AD *
Camille and Trip sat at the control panels in the science lab, simply watching the monitor with a look of concern on their faces.
"If this keeps up, the time line is going to seriously shift, and there's no telling how it will effect future history," Camille brought up.
"So what do we do? Go back and stop them? I think the damage has been done. When Emery's cover was blown, the Ninja Storm rangers were given information about the future that they shouldn't have had. Any other incursions like that and it will do more harm than good," Trip explained.
Camille paused. "When does Alex's shift start?" she asked.
"Not for another two hours, why?"
"Good, that means I have time," she turned to the controls again, inputting a series of codes. "If I'm not back in an hour, wake Alex up and tell him what's going on," she said.
"Where are you going?" Before she could answer, the slipstream portal activated. "You're not thinking of going back, it'll make things worse," he said.
"Trust me on this," she said, stepping through the portal.
He watched with concern as the portal closed.
* Blue Bay Harbor 2003 *
"There it is again dad, another disturbance," Cam said, sitting in front of his computer in Ninja ops.
"Apparently this is more serious than I originally thought. Its time to contact the Thunder Rangers and inform them of the situation," his father told him.
"But dad, I…"
"No son, whatever is happening, the rangers will need you here to coordinate their efforts," he said.
~~
"So what's the plan? Stop Zedd before he can hook up with Lothor and get the sphere thingy?" Tori asked them as they made their way through the forest.
"If Zedd is on his way to the cave, that means he already has the sphere," Lucas mentioned.
"So they've already hooked up?" Shane asked.
"I don't think so. If that were true, they'd be down here in full force already. I think Lothor had the sphere in his possession, but didn't know what it was. It wouldn't have taken much for Lord Zedd to get his hands on the sphere without Lothor knowing about it, then coming here," he said.
"What happened to Zedd's wife in the first place? And why is he so eager to bring her back?" Shane inquired.
"A few years ago, your time, Lord Zedd and his wife Rita were involved in an intergalactic invasion. Under their leader, Dark Spector, they'd taken over most of the known universe. The rangers of that era, the Astro rangers, shattered Zordon's energy tube, which sent out a wave that wiped out all the evil in the universe, reverting Zedd and Rita back to their human forms. They lived on a distant planet in peace, but when the natives realized who they were, they plotted against Zedd and Rita, murdering Rita in the process. Zedd was able to escaped, where he roamed the universe, blaming himself for not being able to save his wife. Almost 1000 years later, Lord Zedd was able to get his hands on an interdimensional portal, assembling the most notorious villains in history. After draining their life energy, he used it to create another wave, a wave of evil, which reverted him back to his evil form," Emery explained to them.
"Sounds like a twisted sci fi soap opera," Dustin mentioned.
"Zedd must have heard about the legend of the gems, and plans on going to the cave to contact his wife, then use the sphere of Omara to bring her back to life," Tori said.
"But we have to stop them before that happens. If Rita is brought back, the two of them will bring down a form of evil unrivaled to anything the universe has ever seen," Lucas added.
"Okay, we get it. Zedd plus Rita equals bad. The question is, how do we stop them?" Shane asked them.
"We have to destroy the sphere. Because there were only two known to exist, Zedd will never be able to bring her back," Lucas said.
Just then, Zurgane materialized in front of them, along with a group of Kelzaks. All of them stopped dead in their tracks.
"Who's that guy?" Emery asked.
"General Zurgane," Shane turned to Lucas. "You and Emery get out of here, we'll handle these guys," he told him.
"You sure?"
"Positive. You have to stop Zedd before its too late," he said.
With a nod, Lucas and Emery headed off in opposite directions, tacitly agreeing to reunite at the caves.
"You ready guys?" Shane asked. Each of them nodded in agreement. "NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM," they called out in unison, transforming into rangers.
"Kelzaks, go after the two others, I'll deal with the rangers," Zurgane ordered.
The Kelzaks split into two groups, going after Lucas and Emery. The red ranger rushed at Zurgane with his sword in hand, but Zurgane put his arms up to block, and then kicked him in the stomach. The blue and yellow rangers charged in next with a double kick, making Zurgane stumble back. The red ranger was back on his feet, and the three of them quickly combined their weapons.
"It's the end of the road Zurgane!" the blue ranger told him, firing their weapon.
Before the weapon could connect, Zurgane disappeared in a stream of light.
"So much for that," the yellow ranger said proudly.
~~
James raced through the forests, doing his best to make it to the caves with Kelzaks following closely behind him. Finally, he got tired of running, stopping dead in his tracks and faced them. "Four against one, this hardly seems fair," he said, motioning for them to attack.
Two of the Kelzaks raced at him, but Emery picked up a branch, using it to swat the two of them down. The remaining two came after him, but he tossed the branch to them, and as they caught, he hit a sabat kick onto the branch, knocking them over. The first two were back up, grabbing Emery's arms, but he used a nearby tree for leverage, doing a back flip, then gave both of a Kelzaks a sweep. With them out the way, he continued on his way to the cave.
~~
In the distance, Lucas could see a clearing up ahead, and from the looks of it, it was the cave. As he hurried over to it, he was ambushed by a group of Kelzaks, all of them tackling him to the ground. He managed to get to one knee, blocking a chop, and then grabbed the Kelzak's arm, flipping him over, sending him crashing into another two. The remaining Kelsak landed a kick to Lucas' wrist, knocking his morpher off his arm. As Lucas got back to his feet, he found himself surrounded by Kelzaks. He backed up slowly, ending up against a tree as the Kelzaks got closer.
Just then, two of them Kelzaks fell forward, hitting the ground. The remaining two turned around, only to get be kicked in the side of the head. As they fell over, Lucas saw her.
"I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't want your morpher back," Camille said, handing his morpher to him.
"What are you doing here Cammy?"
"Trying to stop the shifts in the timeline before its too late. I take it Zedd hasn't been able to bring Rita back yet," she said.
"He should be in the cave now, that's where I was headed when they things attacked me,"
"Come on, let's finish this,"
*
Zurgane returned to the ship, kneeling down in front of Lothor. "Sir, we were unable to determine why the rangers were in the park, but they seemed to be protecting two humans," he told him.
Lothor stood up. "I should have known better; never send a general to do an evil alien's work," he scoffed.
"Sir, you intend to go to the planet yourself?" he asked.
"Get me a monster too, this time the rangers won't stand a chance," he said.
*
Lucas, Emery and Camille cautiously entered the cave, unsure of what to expect. There was a long tunnel, and the three of them slowly made their way into the cavern. As they got closed, they were able to hear chanting of some kind. Finally, as they came to the end of the tunnel, Lord Zedd was kneeling in front of the sphere of Omara chanting, and had each of them gems positioned around the sphere in a circle.
"End of the road Zedd," Lucas told him.
Without turning around, Zedd reached back, emitting an energy beam that knocked Lucas up against the side of the cave. Emery wanted to make a move, but Camille grabbed his arm, holding him back.
"We know what you're trying to do here Zedd, but it won't work. The sphere will only restore the life of someone who was wrongfully killed," Camille told him. "Trust me, I know a thing or two about it,"
"You think it was right the way they killed my wife in cold blood? We had changed, we weren't evil anymore, and they judged us by our past actions, using them as an excuse to exact revenge on her. The sphere will work," he snapped.
"So that's there that thing is, I've been looking all over for my sphere," a voice said.
They turned around as he walked into the cave.
"Lothor," Emery sighed.
That prompted Lord Zedd to stand up, turn around and face him. "You're still up to your old tricks, aren't you Kanoi?" he asked.
"I could say the same about you. It's a tragic love story really, all of this over a girl? Really Dez, you should find something a little less melodramatic," he suggested.
Camille stepped forward. "You two know each other?" she asked.
"When I was banished from Earth years ago, I found my way to a planet called Triforia. It was there that I met Dez, who helped me harness the dark power of the ninja. It was with his help that I was able to create my evil empire and return to Earth," Lothor said.
"Geez Zedd, you get around, don't you?"
"I was different then Kanoi, hell bent on revenge. Things are different now, I've been places and done things you cannot imagine, and now, I'm here to be reunited with my wife," he told him.
"By stealing from me? I don't think so old friend,"
Before Lothor could make a move, Zedd picked up his staff and swung at him. Lothor caught the staff in one hand, and then shot a beam of energy from his hand, hitting Zedd in the chest. It was enough to knock him against the cave wall, but as Lothor moved in to finish him off, Zedd shot a beam of energy, hitting Lothor in the face. It sent him to the ground, and as Zedd got back to his feet, he kicked Lothor in the side of the head, sending him down on his back.
"I made you what you are, and this is how you repay me? By betrayal? Nothing will stand in my way of being reunited with my wife, and if I have to destroy you to do it, so be it," he said, picking up his staff and standing over Lothor, ready to stab him in the chest. The end of the staff was inches away from Lothor when Zedd realized…
"Oh no, the spear," he dropped the staff, turning to the sphere, which had been crushed.
Lothor got back to his feet. "I could destroy you here and now, but I'd rather you live knowing that your wife can never come back. All your years of work and sacrifice leading to this moment were all for nothing," he told him, walking away.
Zedd kneeled over the sphere in disbelief, picking up what was left of it. "All for nothing," he sighed.
"Come on guys, let's get out of here," Camille sighed.
~~
The three of them made their way back to the clearing outside the cave, where Shane and the others were battling a monster.
"We should help them," Emery said.
Lucas shook his head. "No, looks like they've got all the help they need," he said, pointing towards the Thunder rangers joining the fight.
"Blake and Hunter, right?" Camille asked.
"Yeah, that's them,"
"Where is the Green Samurai Ranger?" she asked.
"At this point in time, I don't think he has his powers yet. You know how sixth rangers are, always last to join the group," Lucas said.
"Funny how after 1000 years of evolution, some things stay the same," she said.
The three of them watched on as all five rangers combined their weapons, firing at the monster. One shot was all it took to destroy it. When the battle was over, the three of them headed over to the rangers as the powered down.
"Great job guys," Emery said.
"Who are they?" Hunter asked, injecting himself in the conversation.
"They're rangers, from the future," Dustin told them.
"We need to talk to you about that. Its imperative that none of you ever discuss what happened here today with anyone. If you do, future history could be altered," Lucas said.
"You have our word," Shane said, speaking for the group.
"Sorry guys, but I'm afraid that isn't good enough. The time line is already beginning to shift, and we have to ensure that the contamination of the time line stops here," Camille pulled a small device out her pocket. "All of you take a look at this," as the five of them gathered around, it emitted a flash of light. "None of you will remember any of this. The disturbance you detected was simply Lothor up to one of his tricks again, but you were able to stop him before he could carry out his plan," she told them.
"What did you do to them?" Lucas asked.
"It's a short term memory adaptation unit. The flash sends neural impulses to the brain, allowing their memories to be erased and new memories implanted due to suggestion," she said.
"It's a flashy thing from Men in Black, isn't it?" Emery asked.
"Something like that, lets get outta here,"
* Time Force 3002 *
The slipstream portal activated, and the three of them stepped through.
"Whoa, that was interesting," Emery said as the portal closed.
Trip hurried over to them. "I don't know how you did it, but the shifts in the time line seemed to have corrected itself," he told them.
"Good," he turned to Emery. "If Alex finds out what you did, you'd be off the slipstream project in a heartbeat. You know that, right?" Lucas asked.
"I know," he sighed.
"Which is why we won't say anything to him," he said.
"Really? But why? Why would you do that for me?" he asked.
"We're a team here James, and we have to work together. Running off on missions alone will get you killed, fast," Camille said.
"But I never get chosen for missions, never. Carmen told me once that I was destined to be a great leader, one of the most decorated officers in Time Force history, but I'll never get the chance to fulfill my destiny if I'm stuck on the midnight shift all the time," he said.
"I'll talk to Alex when he gets here, and let him know that you should put on more missions, but you have to promise not play superhero like that again," she said, extending her hand to him.
"Deal," he said, obliging her.
~~
Preview: Tempting fateNext time on Parallels II: A ranger goes back in time to prevent an event that eventually leads to the destruction of the power rangers, but also leaves them with a fear of what's to come.
~~