THE REASON - Part Seventy: Thunder Storm
Summary: The Abyss of Evil has been opened and Lothor has returned to seek revenge. He calls on the Wind Ninja Rangers to do his dirty work as he encodes their ranger powers with evil. The original ninjas are taking the toll, but no one as worse as Kim. What could this mean for the team, if the Dino Thunder Rangers can't defeat the Wind Ninja Rangers and their predecessors can't be of much help in their weakened state.
Disclaimer: Power Rangers is not mine, just the main concept of this story is.
A/N: Okay, there really isn't much change from this and "Thunder Storm", so my apologizes on that. I have a bad case of writing's block and the holiday break. So, just give me a few days to settle down, and I'll try to improve. But for now, just read and reply to what you can. Thanx.
"It's what we feared. We have to meet. And we must rely on every source we can to defeat this. No one will be safe if we fail." -Eclyptyk Neo
Days later.
Hayley was sitting at the computer console running a few codes on the screen, testing out her new program. Kim was sitting beside her trying to make due with what the codes meant, but it all look foreign to her. Tommy paced the floor behind them, obviously more agitated than happy with the success.
"Have you got anything yet, Hayley?" Tommy asked with great concern.
"I'm still loading the program up, Tommy. Just give me a minute." Hayley sighed, but knew if she didn't hurry up he'd explode.
He wanted answers, but couldn't get around to finding them. He just wasn't sure what he could have done. He needed to find answers, and if Hayley wasn't gonna get around to it, he would have to find it out on his own. Kim got to her feet and approached him, hoping to lay off the agitation. He really didn't, as she wrapped her arms around his waist to comfort him.
"It'll be okay, Tommy." She whispered, pulling him into a hug.
Tommy forced out a breath as he wrapped his arms around her. "I don't know, Kim. I really don't think it will."
----
On the outskirts of Blue Bay Harbor, CA, a group of utility and construction workers were running tests in the area for a potential hazardous wiring problem in the area. Unfortunately, for them, there was no real success and they would have to call it a day.
The area fell quiet as the workers left the area.
Something was wrong though.
There was something else amiss on the silence.
The ground began to rumble and shake as it opened up. Cracked open like a egg and the area began to emerge with a strange purple light and a figure pulled its way through the crack.
He pulled a hand up over the edge and laughed out loud to claim he was back for revenge.
Lothor had returned.
----
At the cyber café.
Kira and Trent were sitting on the couch studying for another round of tests for school. Not that being a senior was okay, being last year in high school, but some of the classes they took was rather rigorous and challenging. And it wasn't any easier with a round of saving the world while balancing out a personal life with the likes of school, too. It was a little difficult. Lucky for Trent, he was off for the rest of the day, but if Hayley ever needed an extra hand he would be there in a flash.
Kira looked up, as she heard two people's voice catch her attention over the long line of voices in the room. They were two boys, one in a blue hat, the other was a white boy slightly taller than him. They were heading over to the bar waiting to get some service from whoever was working.
She nudged Trent's shoulder. "Hey, Trent, does that guy at the bar look familiar?"
Trent looked up to see the two guys she was talking about. "You mean the guy in the blue hat? No. Not really."
"I don't know, he just…" Kira protested shaking her head.
"Well, you can do something about it. You can either go up there and ask, or we could get back to studying. We got a big test coming up in History, and we're way behind on reading." Trent said as he set the textbook on the table, looking through the pages.
Kira looked down briefly at her notes, but looked back up. She swore she saw the guy from some other place, but she couldn't figure out from where. He was around Trent's height, if not a little smaller with a dark-complexion. He wore the color of blue, which seemed to suit him well as if he wore it for his entire life. And he seemed friendly enough to make a conversation with.
"It's really bothering you, isn't it?" Trent asked as he looked at Kira nod. "Go ask. It wouldn't hurt to find out."
Kira let out a breath, tossed her stuff on the table and moved toward the bar. She cleared her throat as she made it over to the two boys still waiting for service at the bar. "I'm sorry, you look really familiar to me. Have we met before?"
The boy in the hat turned to look at her. He shook his head, as he removed the hat for her to take a better look at him. "Um…I don't think so. Do you follow motocross?"
Kira looked at the teen again, shaking her head. It still wasn't clicking, but she knew him from somewhere. "No. Why? Is that what you do?"
"Well, yeah. I'm Blake." He held out his hand for her to shake. He pointed to the guy behind him, pushing open a smile. "This is Jesse."
Kira smiled lightly as she took her hand away. "I'm Kira. So, you ride around on a motorcycle for a living?"
Blake chuckled at the comment, as he moved toward the foosball table. His friend followed close beside him. "Yeah, I do. You should check it out, you might like it."
"Are you asking me out on a date?" Kira furrowed her eyebrows, blushing slightly.
"It's nothing like that, no." Blake shook his head. "Part of being a rider is getting people out to see what you can do. It's the way we get an audience. There's a race tomorrow at the Reefside Motor Raceway. Bring some friends, I'll get you a few passes."
Jesse patted his pockets and found a few passes inside. He handed them over to Kira who thanked them kindly and headed back to the couch.
Trent was obviously jealous at the gesture, but said nothing when she returned. "So, did you figure out who it was?"
Kira found a place on the couch beside her friend. She handed him a pass to the race tomorrow. "No. Not quite. He says his name is Blake and he does motocross, but I swear I've seen him elsewhere. So, you wanna go?"
Trent handed the ticket back to her, shaking his head. "Sorry, I can't. Gotta work tomorrow. Hayley's got me pulling a double shift. But can we please get back to studying? I don't want to fail."
Kira looked at him for some time. Then looked up as Blake called her out. He was heading out the door with a smoothie in hand, and his friend close behind. She waved back with a smile, and looked back at Trent, who didn't seem to care too much about it.
"Are you jealous?" she asked with a glee of interest.
"Do you think I am?" Trent said, coolly. "I'm just a little preoccupied."
Kira didn't want to say anymore. It was hard to tell where their relationship was going, even as friends and she refused to push him to do or say things he didn't want to do. She knew though, he was a little jealous at the gesture that Blake gave her, but let it go. She grabbed her book and went back to studying.
----
Underground lab. Hours later.
Hayley let out a frustrated breath as Tommy walked over to her with some concern. "I just don't understand it. I've ran through this program a million times, and I've checked every line of code. Through the primary routines and sub-routines, and it just doesn't seem to be working right."
"What do you mean?" Tommy asked with some confusion.
Hayley pointed to the screen as she pushed some buttons. It was a map of California and according to it, there was a line of strange energy radiating throughout the entire state. "Unless it is a computer problem, there could be an evil energy surge erupting throughout the entire state of California."
"Tommy…" a voice called out quietly behind them.
Hayley and Tommy turned around to see the petite woman take a small step forward. Her knees weakened and she turned slightly pale.
"Kim." Tommy jumped over a table and caught his fiancée before she hit the ground.
Tommy's eyes fell shut as he saw what must have been a dream. He saw the Wind Ninja Rangers on a ledge looking out at the sea, their sensei stood before them, giving them all their newly-modified morphers. But something else was wrong. When they went to morph, a strange purple light shot through their body and shook them up. When they looked up, each held a cloudy evil in their eyes. He forced out a breath as he slowly pulled Kim to her feet, looking toward the forest entrance.
Hayley got to her feet, just as the forest entrance opened up. Then the familiar faces of Adam, Aisha, and Rocky stood there with a great deal of concern on their faces.
"We got major problems," Adam let out a breath.
"You got that right." Hayley nodded.
----
Hours later. Blue Bay Harbor, CA.
Cam Watanabe, a teacher at the secret Ninja Storm School, raced back after finding the ripped scroll and purple slime in the woods. He could only make one conclusion on the matter. The purple slime came from the Abyss of Evil, and the only person who could leave such a wake in his tracks was Lothor.
And that meant that he had returned. How he did it, was hard to comprehend. But why was clear. He wanted revenge.
Cam pushed his way through the gates to the school to find it in ruins. Deserted. No one was around. The entire place was destroyed.
He pulled out a small device hidden in his robe, clicking it on. "It's happened. We need to meet."
Two hours later.
Cam had traced the destruction of his friends through to Reefside, CA. He could not believe the destruction they had already caused, and hoped to find a way around it without getting into a sleuth of trouble. A figure streaked through the area, and came to land beside the ex-Green Samurai Ranger. It was Hunter Bradley, the Crimson Thunder Ranger. He was dressed in his usual ninja uniform as he greeted his friend with a clasped hand.
Cam walked down the street with the thunder ranger following. "I am sorry to have called you away from your students, Hunter."
"Well, if anything is up, you know I'm there. I was just hoping that we didn't have to use these. So, is it Lothor?" Hunter asked with concern.
"It has to be. Who else leaves purple slime in their wake?"
"Have you reached the others?"
Cam shook his head sadly. "They're not responding. None of them."
----
Next day.
Blake Bradley had won another race as three teens followed him over to his trailer congratulating him. Kira, Ethan and Conner were impressed with his skills and enjoyed the invite the other teen had made to the event.
"Well, hey, no problem, guys." Blake smiled as he tossed his helmet to one of the crew members. "You guys busy or something? Wanna catch something to eat?"
BEEP! BEEP!
Blake forced out a breath, pulling out a small device hanging from a chain out of his backpack. He looked at it, shaking his head. "Um… we may need to re-schedule. Is that cool?"
"Is everything okay?" Kira asked a little worried.
"Yeah, I hope so." He nodded. "Hey, it was glad to meet you. I'll catch you guys later." Blake flashed a peace sign and ran off.
The dino thunder trio exchanged a look.
"That was a little weird." Kira shrugged.
"No doubt. What do you think that was all about?" Ethan asked.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Conner pulled up his communicator, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe not. Let's go."
The teens turned and left the area heading for the lab.
----
Tommy paced the room shaking his head. He wasn't sure what to make of the entire situation. "This cannot be happening. I thought that Lothor was gone. How can he be back? There is just no way."
"Well, that's what we all thought, right?" Rocky said as he patted his friend on the shoulder. He looked over at the silence radiating off the black frog ninja, raising an eyebrow. "Or did we?"
Tommy turned to Adam and walked over to his just as Rocky followed. Adam sunk a little lower in the seat.
"You knew about this?!" Tommy pulled Adam to his feet a little frustrated.
Adam tried to push his friend's hands away, but saw the rage that shook him a little. "Give me a break, Tommy. Cam informed me about the situation at hand. He hoped that it wouldn't have happened, but would contact us if anything did."
"So, why didn't he?" Rocky asked.
"Maybe he is still trying to find some answers before he assumes anything." Adam shrugged. "And with this evil surge coming around, I haven't been able to contact him anyways. It's blocking our transmission."
Tommy forced out a breath, letting go of his friend. "Then go find him. Take Rocky with you, and be careful. We can't afford to take any big risks until we know what's really going on."
The alarms went off, just as the computer screen revealed three color-coordinated Wind Ninja Rangers, an army of Kelzaks and two strange evil warriors behind them.
"Great. That's all we need," Rocky sighed sadly.
"Looks like Lothor really is back." Aisha said from her seat in the room beside a dazed Kim.
"Go." Tommy turned to the black and red ninjas. "Find Cam. We can't afford to lose anyone else to the dark side, especially the other ninja rangers."
The two ninjas nodded solemnly and headed out of the forest entrance just as the dino thunder ranger teens were coming in.
"Just being a leader, again, Tommy?" Aisha couldn't help but laugh.
Tommy turned to the other two ninjas in the room, watching Kim intently. He grew more worried about her as this problem was unfolding. She clung to her best friend, without saying a whole lot except trying to catch her breath. Both Adam and Hayley said that she was fine for the most part, nothing too damaging, just the mental strain. It was something that had yet to be explained.
He walked over to her and laid a kiss on her forehead. "You'll be okay, Kim."
"Hey! Where's my reassuring kiss?" Aisha asked with a tease.
Tommy couldn't help but smile. "I would, but knowing Zack, he would kick my ass if I decided to touch you in that way."
"And me." Kim said quietly under her breath.
The teens looked around the room slightly confused. They were unsure what to make of the situation as they turned to their mentor. They greeted the other visitors in the room, but held a great concern of worry.
"Hey, Dr. O, what's going on?" Conner asked, scratching his head.
Tommy turned to his young proteges, then looked back at the computer screen. The three Wind Ninja Rangers continued down the alley carrying a certain stride to their walk. It wasn't something good, but of evil and darkness.
"Evil Power Rangers? How is that even possible?" Kira protested only making one conclusion.
"It could be worse. It could be all six of them." Aisha stated.
"But I thought we were the only one left." Trent shook his head in disbelief as they assembled beside their mentor at the computer.
Hayley turned in her chair at the computer to console the team. "We've been monitoring an energy surge for 24 hours now. It has disrupted the balance between the ninja rangers. And if anything, Lothor is in fact, back. It would only conclude the strange energy surge."
Ethan looked at the ninjas in the room, then looked at his mentor for some time. "So, how come you don't looked very dazed, Dr. O? I mean, no offense."
"My dino gem is protecting me from the surge." Tommy looked down at his morpher. "But I need you guys to get out there and make sure those three don't go medieval on anyone. Trent, I ask that you stay here. Knowing Mesogog, he would take advantage of this."
Trent sighed, but nodded. "Right. No problem, Dr. O."
The other three morphed quickly and departed from the lab.
One hour later.
The teens returned with a loss on their shoulders. The evil Wind Ninja Rangers were too much for them, and they had to retreat. They held a heavy heart for losing a battle against their own kind. And those guys were tough. Trent joined his fellow teens, wishing he could have been out there to help. But there were far too many risks.
Tommy grabbed a chair and popped a squat in front of his young team. "The important thing is that you guys are all right. And that we learned something out of this."
"Like what it is like to get our butts kicked? Again?" Conner dropped his head.
Tommy shook his head. "No. These guys are tough. They're not only rangers, but ninjas too. They can be a tricky bunch, but they can be beat. I only ask that you guys don't destroy them. Remember, they are just like you guys. They're good people, but something happened."
"So, what do we do now?" Ethan asked.
"Defend ourselves. That's all we can hope for. And hope that Mesogog and Lothor don't team up." Tommy said.
"What about the other ninja rangers?" Kira asked.
"I got Rocky and Adam searching for them. I just hope we find them before nothing serious happens."
To be continued....
A/N: Like I said before, there really isn't much of a change between this and the original story plot of this episode. It'll get a little better as the chapters go on. It is time for the countdown. I got 11 more chapters to go after this. So, see ya when I do. May the Powers Always Protect You.