Part 5
The light shone brightly into the room and right into Arons face causing him to jump up. He was slightly confused at first but then quickly realized where he was. The young man walked out of the small room rubbing his eyes.
"Aron you're up" Kari said as she ran to him.
"Hey there kid." Aron replied while mussing her hair.
"My mommy made breakfast. She just sent me to get you."
Aron was really anxious to leave but he still hadn't eaten. After his little altercation with that Vandairre soldier the day bfore he had found that he was in no mood to eat. But that passed and he was starving. "Come on let's go eat."
Kari grabbed his hand and led him into the kitchen. Her mother was there leaving over a stove. Aron had a couple of thought that quickly vanished from his mind.
Jenn turned around and looked at the young man that had saved her daughter. "I hope your ready to eat." she said placing a large plate of something in front of him.
Aron looked at the food on the plate for a moment and then picked up the fork that sat next to him.
"Something wrong?" Jenn asked.
Aron shook his head. "No it looks great." he took a bite out of it and chewed slowly. A smile came to his face. He had never had anything quite like this on Keldeha. It was a round and sweet bread with some type of sticky confection on it. He took a few more bites and then picked up what looked like a strip of some type of fried meat. This was good also and he quickly devoured all four slices then returned to the sweet bread. He heard a giggle and when he looked up Jenn and Kari were staring at him.
"Pretty good huh."
Aron turned beet red and put his face down. He looked at his plate and then realized that they were giggling because he had eating his entire meal in under three minutes. "I'm sorry." he said. "It's just that I've never tasted anything like that before."
Jenn placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear "Well I guess they don't make pancakes and bacon where you come from."
Aron blushed and shook his head. "I wish." he said "I've never tasted anything like this before." He then filled his mouth with the last of the food and reached for the cup of thick orange liquid that Kari was holding out for him. He quickly swallowed the liquid it was strange tasting both sour and sweet at the same time. "What is this?"
"It's orange juice silly." Kari told him.
"Kari I don't think that they have orange juice where Aron comes from." Jen told her daughter.
Aron looked at Jen startled by her comment, did she know that he wasn't from Earth? "What do you mean by that?" he asked, doing his best to sound shocked.
"Well from what I understand most alien planets don't have the same vegetables. But then I could be wrong."
"What do you mean alien?" he asked, once again trying to act shocked.
"Come on Aron, Kari and I both know your not human. Well at least Earth human anyway. Don't worry we won't tell anyone."
Aron breathed a sigh of relief. "How did you know?"
Jen walked around and placed her hand just below his neck. Aron flinched a little but quickly relaxed as she brushed his hair away from his pointed ears. "Well these gave it away almost instantly." she said.
"You saw my ears?"
"Yeah when you turned your head, you hair moved over them for a moment. I tend to notice things like that and since you fought off that soldier I assumed you were one of the good guys. That's why I offered you a place to stay."
"And I made this for you" Kari said, handing Aron a small package that was wrapped with a red ribbon.
"Thank you little one." Aron said taking the package and placing it on the table next to him.
Kari smiled and then pouted. "Aren't you going to open it?"
"You should probably do what she wants. The last time she made a gift for someone and they didn't open it right away he found peanut buttter in his shoes and hat." Jen laughed.
Aron wasn't sure what peanut butter was but was sure that he didn't want to find out but having it placed in his shoes. He quickly unwrapped the package. Which proved to bbe a task in and of itself. Who would have thought that such a small child would be able to tie such a complicated knot. As his task was completed he found that Kari had started to smile. For some reason Aron knew that this little girl had been and would be on many adventures.
"So do you like it?" Kari asked excitedly as Aron pulled a red scarf from the package he had been handed. "It's for your ears."
"I love it." he said as he tied in a way that covered the tops of his ears. "Thank you."
Mark stepped out of the forest and onto a road that led into a city. He was still quite a walk from the city but even at this distance he could tell that the place was big. Unfortunatly he could also see the destruction that had taken place here as well. He shivered at the thought of walking through this dead city but after a quick look at his options he realized that he had no other way to go. Mark pulled his jacket tighter and started off into the city.
It took Mark a little over an hour to reach the city and as he got closer he began to feel more and more uneasy until it was almost unbearable. He didn't know why he felt this way, surely going into the city would be no big deal. Then he realized it. There were no people here. Sure he had grown up living in a small village where there wasn't that many people, but a city of this size hould have had hundreds of people living in it. He figured that he should have begun to see people long before he reached the city limits, but there was no one. He couldn't understand it at all. He the aliens be here. Had they killed all of the people here are taken them as slaves, no Mark preferred to think that they had all gotten away just as the people of his tribe had. That thought at least gave him some hope that the people here had survived.
Jason looked around as he walked through the city, sure he had lived here all of his life but he had never really gotten a chance to walk through by himself and just look around. His parents always kept him close to them for fear that they Vandairre would capture him and use him in some type of revenge plot against his parents. He had known that his parents were the Power Rangers for all of his life. It was something that they never hid from him and he had always taken great pride in the fact that at one time they had fought to free the Earth from the forces of evil. Sure they world had been finally taken, but to Jason that didn't matter. His mom and dad fought to protect the Earth when all of the other teams had given up. That had always been a source of pride for the young man and had even been mostly responsiblke for his decision to leave home and attempt to become a Power Ranger himself.
The young man continued to walk throught the city like he was in some type of trance. Even though he know that no one really lived here it still caught him be surprise at the emptiness of the place. He had expected to see at least someone here. It was most maddening to find a city of this size empty. He could almost think that this is how his dad must have felt after he escaped from the Vandairre Starcruiser and found the city like this.
Jason passed Angel Grove Park. His mom told tell him that it was once the most beautiful park in Southern California. He vaguely remembered coming here as a child. Along with his parents and their friends for picnics and get togethers. He remembered swimming in the small lake that sat in the middle of the park. His last memories of the place were of his birth mother and his dad feeding him apple pie while his godparents swam in the lake with their daughter.
That was one of the best days in his life. It was also one of the saddest. He remembered the soldiers appearing and his dad tripping one just before it had a chance to grab his mom. The fight was long and it had been a while before he would learn what happened that day. But his mom had never returned.
It would be a few years later before his dad would bring him back to this same park and tell Jason that his mom had died while saving him from a Vandairre soldiers energy blast. It was that day that Jason vowed to beat the Vandairre and help free the Earth from them.
Jason walked past the park and came to the Angel Grove Youth Center. There there was a noise and he turned around to see where it came from. A shadow ducked behind an alley on he side of the building. Jason thought that it would be best to find out what it was. He spun around and took off for the alleyway. Taking a look inside he saw that there was nothing there. 'Jason Oliver, why the hell are you getting so nervous?' he asked himself 'You only left home a few hours ago and your already jumping at shadows' Jason started back down the alley and found himself laying flat on his back with a sore jaw.
The young man looked up to see a three people surrounding him. The three attackers slowly moved towards Jason. One looked like he was carrying a weapon that looked like a large club. He swung the weapon at Jason, who rolled out of the way quickly.
"Whoa, what the hell are you doing?" Jason asked as he jumped up.
The three men moved in closer to the young man who was still attempting to regain his balance. "That's a nice jacket." the guy with the club said.
Jason looked down at the jacket that he was wearing. He couldn't see why they would want it. Sure it was important to him, but that was because it was one of last things that remained from the Power Rangers. It was one of the jackets that had been worn by the Astro Rangers and would mean nothing to someone who didn't know what it symbolized. "Thanks" he told the man "It's nice of you to say so. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be on my way." Jason then walked towards the attackers hoping that his attitude about the whole thing would confuse them enough for him to get away.
They had other plans though and the guy with the club kicked him in the stomach. Jason fell backwards and hit the wall behind him. One of the other guys moved in towards him and swung his fist. Jason was faster though and stepped to the side grabbing the mans arm and using his own weight to drag his fist into the wall.
The attacker yelled out and grabbed his hand. The guy with the club moved to attack Jason, who responded by bringing his leg up for a quick kick. The attacker saw the kick coming and managed to duck under the attack and the leg that Jason kicked with. He then swept his other leg out from under him once again sending the youngster sprwaling to the ground. "You're going to pay for what you did to Micks hand." the attacker said. He then walked over to Jason holding his club high.
"Can't we talk about this?" Jason asked as he pushed himself further away from the three men.
One of the three let out a scream, fell down face first and looked like he was almost unconcious.
The one with the club turned around quickly and saw that his other friend was also down. Then he saw who had knocked his friends out. A young man was standing there rubbing his knuckles and looking at him.
"I suggest you let him go." the new comer said.
"And if I don't, what are you going to do about it?"
The young man glared at him for a moment and then without another word charged.
Jason rolled out of the way as both men tumbeled to the ground. The new person was on top and slapping the attacker in the face over and over. Finally he seemed to tire of hitting the man and pinned his arms to the ground.
"Who are you" the young man asked the guy that he had pinned. "And what are you doing here?"
"Let me go!" the bully exclaimed, "Who the hell are you?" He then pushed the new comer off of him and got up to run away. On the way out he grabbed his friends by their arms. "Let's get out of here guys."
The new comer walked over to Jason, who was laying on the ground semi stunned by the altercation and the club he took to the jaw. He reached down and held out his hand "The names Mark" he said as Jason took his hand and used it to stand up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Jason answered. "They just caught me by surprise."
"What are you doing here by yourself?" The youngster asked.
"I live in this city with my parents." Jason replied. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just passing through on my way to the desert. I come from a tribe not far from here. And am on my way to the desert on the other side of this city."
"I don't think that's such a good idea, that place is full of monsters."
"I can handle myself." Mark told Jason as he pulled out his coin and took a look at it. "Plus this is something that I need to do."
Jason looked at the coin that Mark was holding for a second and then reached into his pocket to make sure that he had his coin there. When he found the coin in his pocket a shocked look came over his face. "Where did you get that coin?" he asked.
"Well if it's any of your business I got it from a spirit that protects my tribe." Mark said defensively.
"Whoa calm down. I was just asking a question." Jason held out his hand to show Mark that he was holding two coins similar to the one that he was carrying.
"Where did you get those?" Mark asked, on the verge of lunging at Jason.
"I inherited them from my parents." responded Jason. "I think that it would be best if we stuck together for the time being."
"I don't have time for this I have to get to the desert." Mark stated adamently.
"Look I know a good place to start out. We really should stay together. If I'm right we'll end up in the same place anyway and there's safety in numbers so it would be a good idea to stay together."
Mark look as though he didn't want to go along with the idea but nodded his head. "I'll go with you for now."
"Good let's get going." the two young men headed off towards the desert.Mark he brought up his leg and kicked the soldier inthe chest causing him to stagger back. Another soldier tried to blindside Markwith a punch but Jason was quick and leapt over his new friend with a split kick catching not one but both of the remaining soldiers with his heels. Bothwent down knock out cold. The one that started the attack had gotten back upand ran at Jason but Mark was once again to fast for him and performed a flip kick that caught the soldier in the back and sent him flying into a wall. Jason and Mark looked over the three fallen soldiers "That's what you get formessing with us you stupid jerks." Jason said as he stood over theirattackers. He then looked over to Mark who was leaning over and pickingsomething up. "What's that?" he asked.
Bryan sat alone by the fire and ate his soup out of the small plastic bowl that one of the boys had given him. He looked into the sky and noticed that it was a clear night out but it was also cold. Bryan felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Captain Sawyer standing behind him holding a blanket. "Bryan your dad already told me that you were in the Vandairre military academy and most of my squad knows. They're not going to hold it against you." she said.
"Captain Sawyer how did you meet my dad?" Bryan asked curiously.
"I've been involved with the liberation for as long as I can remember." she started. "I first met him about two years ago when the squad that I was in was trying to defend Stone Canyon from an attack. We were supposed to be a distraction so that the people that were still living in the city could escape but we were getting slaughtered. The whole squad would have been wiped out if it weren't for your father and two his friends showing up and leading us through some underground tunnels. Your father and one of his friends escaped with the rest of us but the Vandairre had followed us into the tunnels so your dads other friend stayed behind and collapsed the tunnels on top of their heads. The vandairre didn't get a good look at your dad so he got to keep up the ruse that he was a loyal senator but in actuality he was one of the resistances top commanders."
"Wow I never suspected." Bryan gasped.
"Only a few people knew." Captain Sawyer added. "Bryan I want to ask you something.
"Go ahead" he said.
"We recently lost our commander in a fight with an Alpha so being second in command that left me to lead the team. I need someone to be my second in command."
"Hold on Captain, why don't you chose one of your own men for the job?" he asked.
"First of all Bryan you can call me Rebecca, second look at them, their all kids I trust all of them to fight and to stand by me, but their all to young and none them is ready to make a command decision if something were to happen to me."
Bryan looked her over for a second as if trying to determine if this was a joke or not. He decided that she was being sincere but he still didn't know if he was ready for the responsibility himself. "I'll have to think about it Rebecca." he said. Rebecca nodded and walked away. Bryan smiled as he watched her.
Aron ducked the blow that was coming right at his face and executed a back flip.The soldier that was standing behind him was ready and caught him in a bear hugthat he couldn't escape as much as he struggled. Aron began to lose consciousness when he heard a voice "let him go" the voice said. The soldier turnedaround and was knocked to the ground by a kick on the side of his head.
Aron stood up gasping for air "Thank you" he said, turning around to see the person who had saved him. To his surpise he saw a girl of not much more then 13 years old standing there.
"No problem." the girl said holding out her hand. "I hate those jerks." she finished kicking the soldier as he tried to get up.
Aron looked at the feisty girl as she ran off and jump kicked another soldier in the head. He then noticed that there were three other people withher, two of which were fighting the third was standing back watching but notgetting involved in the fighting. Aron watched for another moment then ran into rejoin the battle. The young girl leapt into the battle like a maniac performing a jump kick on the nearest soldier. When she was satisfied that hewas no longer a threat the girl turned her attention to the next closest soldier. As Aron continued to watch the fight he saw that the others were doing equally well against the soldiers.
The dark skinned male seemed to be fighting with a fervor that would make the most seasoned warrior quake with fear. He was fighting not one or two, but five soldiers. His fighting technique was very solid. The soldiers never seemed to get close enough to touch him and when one did his own strength was used against him and the darked skinned one would simply throw him into one of the others. Then there was the other girl that was fighting. She fought like she was possessed, as quicky as one of the soldiers would attack her they would be taken down. In total she had taken out three of the soldiers in the span of a few seconds. Aron then turned to catch a look at the girl that was not fighting and to him it seemed as if the others were fighting to protect her.
Then Aron caught a glimpse of the soldier that was sneaking up behind her, he tried to call out to her but she didn't seem to hear him and continued to watch the others ward off the soldiers. Aron knew that he had to act quickly and burst into a full sprint towards her. He leapt into the air performed a back flip and kicked the soldier just as he was about to grab the unsuspecting girl from behind. Without even looking at her he ran to join the others in the fight. There were soldiers sprawled out across the battlefield but it seemed that there was an infinite amount of them.
Jason and Mark decided that it was time for them to stop watching and to help out. Even though the group was holding their own there was no way that they could last much longer with so many soldiers on the field.
The duo looked at each other for a moment and then nodded their heads as if silently telling each other that they wanted to help the others.
Mark quickly looked around the field trying to get a layout of what they were up against. He surmissed the situation quickly and charged at one of the numerous soldiers. The soldier turned around a swung his weapon at the boy but he was to fast and grabbed the soldiers arm and tossed him to the ground. The soldier released his sword as he hit the ground and Mark was quick to pick it up and swing down.
He hit the soldier in the helmet causing the headgear to split in half. What happened next caught Mark by surprise and made him gasp. The soldier that had been laying in front of him just minutes before disedisintegrated into a pile of dust. "So that's the trick huh?" he said. He then turned to the fighter that seemed to be the leaderof the group and shouted to him. "Shatter their helmets and their dust." he called out.
Jarrold turned around and looked at the new comer for a moment. He then looked at the pile of dust that had a split helmet in front of it and realized what he was talking about. Jarrold decided to test what he saw for himself and turned around grabbing the sword off of one of the fallen soldiers, he then leapt into the air and brought his new weapon down on top of the nearest soldiers helmet, causing it to crack and then split directly down the middle. Jarrold smiled at this and than began to run at the soldiers like a mad man, hitting them in their helmets and causing them to fade into dust. The others caught sight of what was happening and quickly began to copy Jarrolds actions. The soldiers were going down quickly but for every one the group took two would appear to take his place. Jarrold and Jason were now standing back to back surrounded by soldiers. Jason leapt up and brought his sword down on one of their helmets splitting it and turning him into dust. The battlefield was now filled with the Vandairre soldiers and the tide of the battle was starting to turn against the six defenders."These guys don't know when to quit" Jason said. Jarrold simply nodded and continued with his attack.
"Take em out!" Captain Sawyer said as she fired a shot at one of the soldiers. The blast hit the soldier and he fell over with a large hole through his shoulder. "Bullseye!" Captain Sawyer said excitedly. Jarrold andJason turned around to see what had hit the soldier and saw a virtual army of warriors running in to attack. What surprised both men were the ages of the reinforcements. The female that had ordered the attack and one male seemed to be the oldest out of the group and they were no more then nineteen themselves. The others seemed to vary in age from twelve to sixteen but nonetheless Jarrold was happy to have back up. As the female approached he ran to her.
"Thanks for the assist." Jarrold said as he reached out to grab the females hand. Then he looked over and saw the other original combatants running towards them.
Captain Sawyer took his hand and introduced herself "I'm Captain Rebecca Sawyer of the Earth Liberation Movement." she said.
"My name is Jarrold, this is my sister Tara" he said pointing towards his sister "and this is Ashlyn and Leslie" he said pointing to the girls respectively.
"And your other two friends?" she questioned making a motion towards Jason and Mark.
"I don't know who they are." Jarrold returned.
Jason stepped forward and offered his hand "I'm Jason and my friend here is Mark."
Bryan stepped forward "Captain do you really think that we have time for this?" he asked.
"You're right lieutenant, order the men to move into the structure." Captain Sawyer answered.
Jarrold turned his head and noticed that there was indeed a building just ahundred feet away. The large building impressed him. It looked to be large.
"Captain Sawyer" one of the young troops called out. "There's no way we're going to make it in there. There's to many of them and they're directly in our path.
Captain Sawyer took a second to think about this and then a thought popped into her head. "Lieutenant gather a small force, I want you to try to sneak through the lines and get into that building." she said to Bryan.
Bryan nodded and began to run into the battlefield to pick out his team.
"Maybe we can help" Jarrold said. "We have some information on those soldiers that should make it easy to break through their lines."
"Fine you're with the Lieutenant." Captain Sawyer said pointing towards Bryan.
Jarrold and his group along with Bryan broke into a run towards the structure. "So what's this info you have?" Bryan asked.
"Just watch." Tara said grabbing her sword and leaping at a soldier.
"Is she nuts?" Bryan asked.
"No just really spunky" Ashlyn answered. Then she lifted her sword and ran at one of the soldiers. Leslie pulled the hood of her jacket tightly around her head and followed her friends.
What Bryan saw amazed him. After all his years training with the Vandairre he ever knew that they could be taken out by simply cracking their helmets."That's incredible," he said in amazement. He had to test out what he had just seen and grabbed one of the soldiers and pulled him in. He hit the soldier in the head with the butt of his rifle and broke helmet in two causing the soldier to turn to dust. "Oh yeah, that is so cool." he said.
Aron saw where his new friends were heading and followed behind. They soon reached a door in the structure and Ashlyn reached out to open it. The door wouldn't budge. "Now what?" she said, frustrated.
"I don't know." Bryan said but we have to get inside somehow.
"What's inside of this place that's so important anyway?" Tara asked.
"All I know is that what ever is in there has the power to free the Earth so we have to get in there." Bryan answered.
"Let me try." Jarrold said grabbing the handle on the door. To everyones surprise the door opened for him rather easily. "It's open let's go."he said.
"Something in there seems to be on your side so I guess you can lead the way." said Jason motioning towards the door. Jarrold took the lead, walking into the building in front of everyone else. The inside was dimly lit but from the little light that was there Jarrold could see that there was only one way to go. They walked down the long corridor for what seemed like ten minutes and when they reached the end there was another door. This time Leslie reached out and opened the door. The group walked in and the dark musty smelling room came to life.
"WELCOME!!!" boomed a voice from inside of the room. The doors slammed shut behind them and Mark reached out try open the door but it was locked. One after another they took turns trying to open the door but it was sealed shut. Deciding that they weren't going to get out the way they came in the eight walked further into the room. For some reason all of there attentions were drawn to a big view screen in the front of the room. One by one they all walked over to the screen and it lit up. What happened next caught them alltotally off guard. A gigantic floating head appeared on the view screen and looked down at them.