Disclaimer: 'Power Rangers' is copyright of Buena Vista Entertainment and others of that ilk. No infringement is intended.
RESTLESS WARRIORS
By Etcetera Kit
Chapter Five: Meetings and Answers
Taylor rolled her eyes and checked her watch for the umpteenth time. As much as she really wanted to get to Blue Bay Harbor, she hadn't bargained on Biendorf and the geek squad annoying her this much. Baker really had a sense of humor making her travel with this bunch of societal rejects. Of course, Baker tended to operate like that, so she shouldn't have been surprised. Sighing impatiently, she focused her eyes on a spot near the door.
"You're impatient and can't stand stupid people. You want things done right the first time. You tend to be a perfectionist. That's why we get along."
As much as she wanted those words to be from a fortune cookie, they weren't. His voice always came floating back to her with some pearl of wisdom he had dropped in the times they spent together. His background was similar to hers, but more chaotic. She had come from solid middle class Catholic Americans. Eric's father's family fit that description. His mother was just the poor Chinese girl that got dragged into all of it. The Myers men drank a little too much, cheated on their wives and dabbled in illegal activity. The Myers women ignored the men, beat them in the head when their dalliances got noticeable and kept the family together with sack lunches and Band-Aides.
Eric was the strange one—the one man that didn't fit that description. That was probably why he was barely thirty, not married and had no intentions of ever doing so. And why in the world was she thinking about Eric and his dysfunctional family?
She sighed. So much had happened since she had been a ranger, since she had given her powers back to Princess Shayla for good. Most of it started and ended with Eric, but coming back to the military had been another adjustment. She was a captain and had some rank and authority. However, that meant she had to deal with people like Baker and Biendorf on a regular basis. Hell, most of the time she preferred Zumwalt to them.
She glanced at her watch. It was straight up noon. Well, she was officially late for this meeting. It had occurred to her time and time again that while she had this feeling of impending doom, she had no idea what this meeting was about, what was going on or even who most of these other rangers were. She knew of Dustin. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. She had met him on one occasion and it had been short and to the point. The maturity level of the Ninja Storm Rangers left much to be desired.
"Berkley, we're coming in for a landing."
Taylor had never thought she would be so glad to hear those words. Normally she loved flying and being in the air and the trip back to the ground was met with some regret, but she wanted to be away from the geek squad.
The plane landed and she deplaned with the rest of the squad. She straightened her jacket before heading into the main building. Wearing full dress uniform had seemed a bit extreme, but it was handy in getting service quickly. That was what she needed. She found a secretary who told her about a car rental place across the street. In moments, she had a rental car and was cruising down the highway towards Blue Bay Harbor. If she could get there without getting pulled over, all the better.
Dammit, that brought up Eric again. Their first meeting had been when he pulled her over to give her a speeding ticket. All right, so she had been going almost twenty miles over the speed limit and talking on a cell phone, but who remembered that? Eric did and he reminded her of it more often than she would like. He might have enough charm to get her into bed every so often, but his interpersonal skills left something lacking.
The digital clock in the car read 1:30. Two hours late… that was beyond rude in her book. However, she didn't have a single phone number she could call to let someone know that she was indeed on her way. It would have made sense to get Cole to give her Dustin's number—she was sure the jungle boy had it somewhere in his mental banks. In fact, that brought up an excellent solution to the problem.
She called Cole.
And she was lucky to have caught him between classes. He was working on a degree in veterinary medicine and some of his classes met at odd times. It was a good bet trying to get to him during the week, but the evenings and weekends? Almost impossible.
"Hello?" he asked, always sounding happy and in a good mood.
"It's Taylor." She didn't wait for him to respond. "I need Dustin's phone number."
Luckily enough, Cole knew exactly who she was talking about. There was a moment's pause and some shuffling before he began reading off a number. She dug around in her purse and found a pen and old receipt she could write it on.
"Thanks, Cole."
"Good luck," he replied cheerily.
"Thanks, I think," she said before hanging up on Cole and dialing Dustin's number. She glanced out the window at the road, so she wouldn't miss the turn off for the back roads that led to the Wind Ninja Academy. The phone began to ring.
"Hello?" came a male voice into the phone while someone in the background yelled, 'Dude! You have got to change that ring tone.'
"Is this Dustin?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied cautiously. "Who is this?"
"It's Taylor Earhardt." She never introduced herself to casual acquaintances by her first and last name, but she felt the need to here. Not that Dustin would be expecting anyone else named Taylor to be calling his phone.
"Oh." There was a pause. "Cool. Where are you?"
Dear God, she was going to kill him within half an hour of this meeting. "I'm just turning onto FM 1954 right now. ETA twenty minutes."
"ETA?"
"Estimated time of arrival," she said, trying to keep the edge off her voice.
"Oh. Right on. See you then." He then quickly told her the password.
"Uh huh." She disconnected the call. Why did Dustin have to sound like such a complete and utter idiot? He had to be smarter than that. No one was that stupid. Then she thought of Max and his pal, Danny. Those two had driven her up a wall with their dumb antics and general stupidity. If she could deal with their constant companionship for a year, then couldn't she put up with Dustin for an afternoon? Maybe. She didn't know the other three and hoped that they were not of the same ilk as Dustin.
She glanced at the instructions Maya had given her and turned down the correct road. In a few minutes, she came upon a dirt parking lot full of cars. This had to be the place—cars parked in the middle of the woods? Who else did that sort of thing? She got out of the car and locked it, shouldered her purse and small bag before heading into the woods on the trail that Maya claimed would get her there.
Almost immediately, she was accosted by people in ninja outfits. She stopped and gave them a bored look. "Before you ask," she snapped. "Air, water and earth as one."
The ninjas froze where they stood, obviously confused by the non-sequential order of events. Finally, one of the ones in yellow stepped forward. "Are you here to see Sensei Brooks?"
Okay, that just sounded weird. She nodded, already regretting wearing full dress uniform, complete with heels, out into the middle of the woods. The ninja beckoned for her to follow him and soon she found herself at the waterfall that Maya had mentioned in the letter. In no time, after going through a portal and practically being carried across the lake-thing by the ninja as he walked on water, she found herself entering a room underneath the academy building and looking at a group of people that had to be the weirdest looking bunch ever assembled.
She picked out Dustin from the rest of the group and pinned him to the wall with a stare that made new recruits squirm. "What the hell is going on here?" she spat.
Dustin let out a long breath and followed Maya up the footpath that led to a bluff overlooking the ocean. One side of it was walled in by the mountains, but the other side opened up to the beach below. He had been here before with his students. New students, before they were assigned to an element, were exposed to air, earth and water to see which they gravitated towards. This place had plenty of all three. A sensei took the new students up here and let them roam around for some time while watching them closely. A student who went down the bluff and stayed near the ocean was probably water. One who stayed on the bluff, close to the mountain was probably earth. A student who sat on the edge of the bluff and welcomed the breeze was probably air. That wasn't the only way to determine which element one belonged to, but it started the separation process.
He glanced behind him to make sure the others were still with him. Kira was right behind him, with Kelsey close on her tail. Taylor brought up the rear. He wasn't sure what he had said, but she seemed to dislike him more than her disdain for everything else. She was cool and sharp-tongued. She had changed from her military uniform to jeans and a t-shirt before this outing occurred. He and Maya had taken turns explaining things to her. She hadn't looked happy to receive the news, but seemed resigned to it. Power Rangers did help one another and look out for each other as much as it might not be the most fun thing in the world. Taylor looked like she was going to do her duty, no matter how much she abhorred it.
They reached the top of the path and the path opened out onto the bluff. The ground here was hard earth and trampled grass from years upon years of academy students frequenting the place. The remains of a fire were at the center. That was new. It must have been where Maya had summoned Trini the other night. He knew that no students had been here in the past two days and they certainly wouldn't have been allowed to build a fire.
Dustin noticed a pile of wood sitting near the newly constructed fire circle.
"We need a fire," Maya stated.
"Just how big a fire are we talking about here?" Dustin asked, trying to crush the tremor in his voice.
"Are you afraid of fire?" Kira asked, her tone gentle and teasing.
He gulped and the amused expressions on Kira and Maya's faces melted into concern. Maya just walked up to him and cupped his face between her palms. "This fire will be controlled," she whispered, her brown eyes compassionate and understanding. "There is nothing to worry about." Her voice was soothing. There was something about her that immediately relaxed a tense person.
In what seemed to be no time at all, they had built the fire and the yellow-orange flames were licking the night sky. He swallowed a lump in his throat and looked into the flames. The dancing rhythm was soothing in a way. He had had bad experiences with fire before, but perhaps he could get used to this.
"Make a half-circle," Maya ordered softly, indicating which side of the fire the four of them should stand by. Dustin found himself on one end of the half-circle next to Kira. Kelsey and then Taylor completed the chain. Maya remained standing by the fire.
She pulled a small bag from her belt and threw a handful of the contents over the fire. He watched as the fire flared up and turned to cool shades of purple and blue, before settling back to the warm yellow flames it had been. "I call on the spirit of the Yellow Ranger that has gone beyond. I call on her for guidance in this moment of confusion." Dustin watched, half in fascination and half in horror as she took a small knife from her belt and cut her index finger. She held the finger over the fire and a drop of blood fell onto the flames.
"A wish made with blood is an offering to those who have gone beyond."
A woman seemed to appear out of thin air. She remained transparent with a bluish tint around her. She smiled at all of them.
"I told you they would all come, Maya," the woman said in a gentle tone. She looked up at the four of them. "Welcome friends, I am Trini Kwan, the only ranger to pass into the spirit world."
Dustin felt his jaw drop open. They had just summoned up a ghost? He had believed Maya when she said she summoned Trini back in Ninja Ops in full daylight with lights on down there and a room full of people, but it took on new meaning and depth while standing around a fire at night.
"I was the first Yellow Ranger on Earth," Trini continued. "You have all followed in the tradition and become Yellow Rangers long after I."
"So what are we doing here?" Taylor asked, speaking up for the first time, since they had started the hike out here. She sounded pretty annoyed. Dustin wasn't sure if she was just like that all the time or if her nerves were on end from the events that had happened today.
"You five have been chosen. The ancient animal spirits have been dwelling with each of you for some time now. Now you must realize that spirit and take up your destiny, the destiny to give Earth a new beginning when evil threatens."
"Chosen?" Taylor sounded skeptical. Dustin tried not to snort. She had seen the scroll of destiny and listened to Maya's story. Did she still not believe the scroll was ancient and that those scrolls did not lie?
"This quest must be done together," Trini said, giving Taylor a serene look. "You will all learn what you need to know in order to succeed." She paused. "Demons are back and trying to bridge the gap once more between their world and yours. This cannot happen. You five have been destined from the dawn of time to stop this new invasion."
"Vypra," Kelsey said. "It's Vypra. She's the only demon I know of that matches the description from the scroll of destiny."
"She is one of them. She has recruited another from the dark spirit realm. There is much about this that I do not know. The signs are still unclear. The only clear sign was that the five of you needed to be called together to start on your quest."
Trini smiled at them. "Do not be afraid. I will send you with the wisdom you need to complete this quest." She walked over to them, starting with Dustin. He felt a slight pang of anxiety, but the moment he gazed into Trini's warm dark eyes, all his fear dissipated. "True blue… forever sapphire blue," she started. His first thought at the mention of blue was Tori, her blue eyes, blonde hair… "Love does happen! Look for it above all other luster… kindness, humor, loyalty, respect and a sterling devotion to 'us' and 'we'."
He felt slightly confused. Did he ever say he didn't believe in love? But Trini had already moved to Kira. "Live noble dreams, now and always," she said to the Dino Thunder Ranger. Kira looked confused, probably mirroring his expression.
Trini just continued in the circle, stopping next in front of Kelsey. "Guilt and shame do not belong in your wardrobe of feelings… wear pride, self-respect and love. Pitch 'should've', 'could've', 'would've' and 'what if only'." Kelsey looked as confused as Dustin felt also.
Finally, she came to Taylor. "Life is a solitary expedition in search of the balance between bald eagle freedom and the desire to be connected to others like bubblegum on a shoe." Taylor gaped at Trini, as though she thought the woman had gone completely nuts.
Trini went back to her place on the other side of the fire. Maya stepped back into the half-circle between Kira and Kelsey. Trini looked at the fire for a moment, before waving her hand over it. Shapes began to form from the smoke and take life, each shape flying before each one of them.
"These are your ancient animal spirits," Trini said. Dustin looked at the smoke figure before him. It was a griffin. The only reason he knew that was because he played a couple of fantasy video games where that creature was seen in it. The smoke figures blew away with the breeze that kicked up.
"Kelsey," Trini said. "You know where to find their layer. You battled with Vypra for a long time. Taylor, if you are willing to believe, then you can lead this mission to success. Kira, the path of bread crumbs is yours to decipher. Maya, you have brought them this far. You will remain in contact with the spirit world if you need my help." She turned to him. "Dustin, you are the caretaker, but you first must take care of yourself before the others."
"There isn't much time left," Maya stated softly.
"No, there isn't." Trini smiled at all of them, her expression loving. "I wish that I could join you on this quest, but I cannot. It is forbidden for a spirit who has crossed over to rejoin the mortal world. Do not fail us. We are all counting on you."
"We?" Kira asked.
"Myself, Zordon, the Magna Defender, Zinka… there are fewer of us in the spirit world than you may think. Do not fail us," she repeated.
With that, Trini disappeared into a cloud of blue smoke and sparkles. Dustin stared at the spot she had been in for a while. It was amazing… she truly wanted them to go on this mission to save the world. He had not felt such an awesome responsibility since he had become a ranger almost three years ago.
Taylor broke the silence. "I guess we should come up with some sort of plan of action." Dustin could suddenly see why she was the appointed leader. She may not be nice, but she certainly seemed like she was organized and could get things done.
"Can we stay at the school tonight?" Kelsey asked.
He nodded. "It shouldn't be a problem."
"Then we stay there tonight and figure out what to do first," Taylor said with an air of finality. "Everyone can take care of their jobs and family tomorrow morning."
As much as he didn't want to like Taylor, she had a point. They put out the fire and headed down the bluff, staying close in the bright moonlight since no one had thought to bring a flashlight. He tried to concentrate on what had happened, what they needed to do for tomorrow, but all he could think about was Tori intertwined with images of a griffin, wondering what it all meant.
Zordon sighed and looked around at the faces at the conference table. Boric looked anxious and appeared willing to agree to anything but an alliance to have this meeting over with and be back in safety in Fairyland. He hated to tell him that nothing was safe as long as the renegades were still on the loose and threatening to decimate the gates. Lucivar looked bored and neutral as he always did in the times he met with anyone.
"My people have kept to themselves for centuries," Boric was saying. "My Master of the Guard, Owling Byrrd is now missing. He is not in Fairyland."
"This is why you won't agree to the alliance?" the Magna Defender asked.
"Whom do you suspect?" Zordon asked.
The door to the room opened and Trini hurried in, sliding into her seat. She had left when she had been summoned by the five. Apparently, she had imparted her wisdom and was back at the meeting that was taking too long already.
"I suspect the demons," Boric replied.
"Nonsense," Lucivar countered. "If it was a demon, then it was not any of my demons. You have nothing to fear from us." He paused, his gold eyes narrowing dangerously. "I was the one that abolished the fairy slavery centuries ago, remember? Or have you forgotten in the ridiculous revels your people indulge in?"
Boric stood up, angry blazing in his blue eyes.
"That's enough, Lucivar," he said quickly, quelling the coming storm. He turned to Boric, facing the Fairy King. "Boric, it could not have been anyone associated with Lucivar. Now can we please agree to the terms of this alliance? All I am asking is that the spirit realm be united against Vypra and Jareth." He motioned to Zinka. "Zinka, would you read the terms of the alliance?"
The small spirit nodded. His was the son of the Magna Defender and a powerful leader, although forever trapped in the child form he had died in. Scorpius had destroyed the boy to have revenge on his father and that revenge had consumed his father for a long time, until, recently, he had been reunited with his son.
He read the terms quickly and clearly. They supported one another in defensive and offensive actions. They did nothing to interfere with the work of the five, unless all parties agreed to it. The essence was that they shared information and resources. Boric did not look happy. Lucivar looked bored.
"Fine!" Boric sighed. "I'll sign it."
"And I," Lucivar seconded.
Zordon let out a sigh of relief as the initial alliance was signed and sealed. He only hoped that it would last through these dark times.To Be Continued...
Author's Note: The 'fortune cookie sayings', if you will, that Trini tells each member of the group come from Love Pearls: Messages From a Mother to Her Daughter by Nancy Swan Drew. This is an excellent little book that I would highly recommend to everyone-- the stuff in there tends towards 'wisdom for all.' I also will endeavor to state where snippets of songs and whatnot come from at the end of a chapter. If I don't give someone or something credit for an occurrence, then it is probably safe to assume it originated with me.
I would also like to thank anyone for their comments, critiques and support so far! It's been really awesome to read the reviews and see what people think of this story. I also want to know if anyone finds anything unclear or something else of that ilk. With that said, I have to forego the reviewer responses for this chapter-- I have reading for Theories of Personality, Shakespeare and Form and Theory of Poetry that I have to get done. Once more, thanks for taking the time to review and I hope everyone keeps on reading! --EK
