Disclaimer: None of the characters mentioned hereafter, except for Kantyan and Cerona, belong to me. Here we go! Things definitely start to pick up in this chapter, as we realize what Kantyan has come to Earth for. But why is Tideus involved? What is it exactly? And more importantly, can Zordon really juggle four oranges? Just kidding on that one. JAV 2004
Aquitian Attempt
by: James Austin Valiant
A distinct buzzing sound echoed through the Aquitian Command Center. Technically, according to strict code, the call was not to be answered and put off until the next day. The Aquitians saw the interruption of sleep as a sacred offense, and would very abnormally wake up to answer a call. After all, for a culture that prided itself on regimentation and structure, being awoken when you're on a set schedule can be potentially damaging to the nerves.This was different, however.
There had always been some sort of tension between Triforia and Aquitar. While Triforia possessed one champion, Aquitar possessed five. And while it was true that Aquitar was one of the universes' major sources of warp drive fuel, Triforia was a leading exporter in gold (the universal currency), spices and brass furnishings. Triforian brass workers, after all, were said to be beings who possessed magical skills on which to work with.
Ever since the ending of the Second Trenian War (named after the Lord of Triforia at the time), the relations between Aquitar and Triforia had been peaceful and amicable. When there had been internal squabbles on either planet, the other one was always read to lend a helping hand, whether that hand consisted of supplies and rations, or military power. Triforia and Aquitar, along with Eltar, had actually been the groundbreakers in establishing the League of Planets, which was a counter to the various evil organizations that existed throughout the universe.
Metallic walls only increased the echo of the sharp, buzzing noise. The only one who would be awake at this hour would be the Yellow Ranger, Tideus, since he had possessed sleeping problems since the age of ten. Insomnia was rather unheard of on Aquitar, and while medication was available such rare cases, the Yellow Ranger refused to partake in it. It gave him an unearthly paleness and fierce chills.
"What?"
His groggy voice was soon met by a more feminine, more alert tone on the other end of the line. While he could not sleep, Tideus still got moody and easily agitated in his state.
"Tideus? It's Cerona."
"Wonderful. Do you have any idea what time it is?
"It's about the Prince, Ranger. He's left."
Tideus grabbed a vessel full of water near him and raised to his lips, taking a small sip.
"Yeah, and?"
"He's gone to Earth. Kantyan's followed Trey to Earth!"
A great mist of water erupted from the mouth of the Yellow Ranger, and carried itself like a runaway inmate, falling upon the equipment that littered the room. Part of him wanted to say this was a nightmare; the other part remember that he didn't sleep. But Kantyan, off of Triforia? Kantyan, on Earth? But most importantly…
Kantyan, in the vicinity of Trey?
"Well, if that is the case, then I have to go. Now."
"What about the other Rangers?" came a puzzled, muffled reply.
He shook his head before realizing that there wasn't a way she could see it. "No. The situation is too dire for me to stay here and wait until morning. I'll leave the rest of the team a holo-message. Aquitar, out."
Tideus shut off the com link and began to pack for Earth. If I don't get there in time, he thought, who knows what the Prince will do?
A white fog was obscured the floor of the room. It wasn't really as much of a fog as it was an output of the exasperated machines in the room. As Rocky had reported, Alpha and Billy had tried just about everything to get the Gold Ranger's morphing malfunction to calm down. Unfortunately, nothing had worked so far.
Strange. Was all Billy could come up with. As far as figuring out alien technology, Billy had the upper hand. He had deciphered the lay out of the Command Center almost since day one, and was able to repair and build machines that gelled almost perfectly with pre-existing machines. But the Gold Ranger was just baffling to him. They had tried to de-morph him, they had tried to stabilize the morph by synchronizing his spectrum balance, they had irradiated his body with an electromagnetic geo-pulse to quell the flashes…nothing had worked.
Alpha was exasperated as well. Billy was a novice compared to himself, a fully functional, data-loaded automaton. It was quite a chore to get Alpha baffled about technology, but somehow, within the span of five minutes, this Gold Ranger had managed to do just that.
I hate calling in Zordon on this one, but it's necessary to save his life. Alpha thought to himself. While Zordon's ability here is limited, we need his help after extinguishing all the other possibilities. Ay-yi-yi-yi!
Man, am I hungry! And indeed, Rocky was hungry. He had barely gotten the chance to eat breakfast, and this whole thing was cutting into his much valued lunchtime. He had a mean hankering for an Italian sub, but when he thought about it for a little while, he could also lean towards a Reuben sandwich, piled high with corn beef, Swiss cheese, kraut and topped off with Russian dressing, squished between two slices of marble rye. The site of the being on the table, however, made Rocky think of only one thing: golden French fries.
The sliding doors hissed open, and in walked the Red and Pink Zeo Rangers. The Gold Ranger lay motionless on the table in front of Billy, Alpha and the Rangers. Save for the seemingly ongoing flashes of green and red that flowed over him violently, he was completely still.
"Aw, man." Tommy could sympathize with what the Gold Ranger was going through. Through stolen powers and receiving powers, he knew exactly what the experience felt like.
"It's going to be all right, Tommy." Kat offered a small sentiment of hope, and placed a supportive hand on Tommy's shoulder.
The Blue Zeo Ranger's stomach growled loudly, and everyone turned to glare. "What? I'm hungry." He stated.
The green tube at the far end of the room fizzled with a blue spark, then again with a more turquoise jolt as Zordon's presence was apparent in the room. His head was barely able to be made out, but could still be seen. The booming voice of the aged sage bellowed through the tiny room, as though he had one thousand megaphones hooked up to accent his voice.
"Ay-yi-yi-yi, Zordon!" Alpha interjected before the mentor could even speak. "Are you sure you have enough strength and power to go through with this? It's a very dangerous idea, I don't know if you should even think about doing it!"
Billy followed up. "Zordon, if there's any chance for any harm to you whatsoever, then Alpha and I can-"
He was cut off. "Alpha, Rangers, please stand back. Billy, please place the Gold Ranger's staff on the table so it is closest to me and step back. This procedure is dangerous, you are correct in that Alpha. But danger means nothing when you are saving the life of a valuable ally in battle, and a hero in general. This universe would mean nothing without great, valiant warrior like the Gold Ranger."
The point reached everyone, crystal clear. Alpha and the Ranger stepped back. Billy picked up the golden staff and placed it gingerly at the head of the table.
What happened next was surreal, even to Alpha, who was well aware of the extent of Zordon's power in this dimension. The mage faded as a concentrated bolt of multi-colored lightning shot out from the tube. It illuminated the body of the Gold Ranger, and a stream of golden energy flowed from his body to the staff. His body seemed to be flashing itself, though not as a result of the power loss. The one whole body seemed to be breaking down into three separate beings.
The bolt slowly faded, as Zordon's visage returned. The Gold Ranger's body was cautiously approached.
"What is he?"
The question from Kat's lips was what was on the minds of everyone in the room. The being, stripped of his costume, was revealed to be a young man with black hair, dressed in a black tunic with gold markings. But there was something else that was amiss about the whole prospect. Something very strange.
Because instead of one Gold Ranger, they had three.
A cool breeze picked up as another jagged rock shot out above him. He reached out and clasped it, holding on with all his might. The satchel he carried was not heavy, but rather, it was the parcel inside that made him go slower and more careful that he normally would have.
The Yellow and Green Zeo Rangers. He thought to himself, as he pulled up, finally at the top of the large rock. Kantyan could see the building off in the distance, one he had seem many times before. It was documented in all the great legend books and he had seem structures similar to it in books about Eltarian architecture.
Rangers being used as ransom was a plan that Cerona had suggested, and Kantyan had happened to remember it when he got to Earth. After all, the other Rangers have to listen to if you're holding some of their own captive. That logic didn't just apply to Rangers, it applied to most people. Yes, they would have to listen to him now.
A crow cawed overhead, and the Prince shivered as a small gust of wind blew by his face, bringing along with it a strange and peculiar scent.
The smell wafted through the air. To anyone else, or anything other being, it would have meant nothing. But to the Crown Prince of the Underdwellers, it mean almost everything.
Trey and the Gold Ranger Powers have been separated!
Kantyan seemingly forgot about his treasured ransom and begin to run, top speed, towards the Power Chamber. If I can catch them now, before Trey is able to reclaim those powers, perhaps I can do my people some justice!
Kantyan, stop!
What the…? The blue being stopped dead in his tracks, and questioned the voice in his head. Who is this?
Your Highness, this is Tideus, Yellow Ranger of Aquitar. I would ask of you a favor. Please stop this right now. I am coming to retrieve you and bring you home, and we can have no trouble.
Now listen here, Yellow Ranger. I appreciate your concern, but the fact of the matter is I have come to do what my people should've done eons ago. Now either you are with me, or you are in my way.
Tideus glanced at the calm universe around it, and realized that Triforia did not need to be a civil war, not at this point. He looks at the stars through the window of his ship, and picked out the Sol system.
I will be there very soon, Your Highness. Please, allow me to act as mediator so that the Rangers of Earth and Zordon can have a fair and balanced opinion of what went on all those centuries ago.
I will wait for no one. With that, Kantyan blocked off the telepathic part of his brain, and began his full-speed sprint. He needed to get to Zordon, he need to get to the Rangers. But most of all, he needed to get to the Golden Powers.
"Well, what do we do now?"
The question Rocky posed was the same on everyone else's mind. The beings had not stirred since being they were de-morphed and by Zordon. Zordon, on that note, was unable to appear, as the magic taken to help the Gold Ranger had drained the wizard so much as that he needed to rest before he could even appear to the Rangers.
Billy sighed. "The most obvious thing to do here it to wait for him to wake up. That way, we can get some sort of explanation on who he is and what it is he's doing here."
Tommy nodded. "That does make the most sense Billy. How are his vitals, Kat?"
Kat lowered the stethoscope from her ears as she looked over at Tommy. Billy and Alpha had given Kat the task of checking the vitals of the three man, and the gaze she gave Tommy indicated she had found something not too good.
"It's the oddest thing…" She started, "…because the man on the table's heart is only beating at one-third the pace of a normal human's heart, but so it the man on the left of the table and so is the man on the right. If they were one being, combined altogether, then it would register as a full heartbeat."
"So what you're saying, Kat," began Billy, "is that this guy is some sort of three-person, one person type being?"
"I think so." The Pink Ranger replied, as if she wasn't so sure of it herself.
Alpha came in with a more off-topic comment. "Hey! Where are Adam and Tanya? They've missed all of this!"
The Red Ranger nodded, and rose his wrist to his lips, tapping a small button on his wristwatch communicator. "Adam, do you read me?" Instead of receiving a reply, all he got was a bo-dee-boop, meaning that the transmission hadn't gone through.
"Adam, Tanya, do you copy?" He tried again, getting the same response. "Man, guys, what's going on here?"
Suddenly, the alarm in the Power Chamber went off. "Ay-yi-yi-yi! An intruder has entered the premises!" And as suddenly as the alarm went off, it subsided.
The group of Tommy, Rocky, Kat, Billy and Alpha ran to the main room of the Power Chamber. When they reached the main room, someone completely alien stood before them. A being about six feet tall, with a striking bald head and serious complexion and expression. He was wearing a tight black jumpsuit, sans shoes or boots of any kind. On his shoulder he wore a silver-ish metal plate, and his arms boasted gold wrist gauntlets. There was other silver armor strategically placed around his body. Two tattoos on his head stretched from ear to the back of his skull.
His skin was also a deep, dark shade of blue.
"Ahh, Rangers. So good of you to join me here. I have something of yours," He patted the pouch, indicating Adam and Tanya were both inside, "and you have something that belongs to me."
"That's nonsense! What do we have that belongs to you?" cried Alpha.
"The Golden Power Staff."