Disclaimer: 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) belong to BVE, who are related to Disney. No infringement is intended.
BOND ENFORCEMENT
By Etcetera Kit
Part Two: On the Money
Chapter Eight: Darker Colors
It all came back to elements, Cam reasoned to himself that night. Crickets sang and the moon was bright. A cool breeze made it comfortable in their tent. Mike and Eric were both dead asleep and breathing evenly. Of course, Eric tended to sleep through just about anything as Cam had learned in their current stint at roommates. Then again, Eric also had no problems throwing all his junk on his bed when it started to get annoying.
Elements… Not all of them could be classified as thunder, since thunder ninjas were already fewer and far between than wind ninjas. Cam, himself, was the only samurai present, though he had been trained as a wind ninja. It begged the question of which wind element each of the others were, since Cam couldn't sense the thunder spirit in any of them. Even Blake and Hunter were not true thunder ninjas. They might have been trained as thunder ninjas, but their spirits sang to the wind ninja way—Air and Water to be exact.
No, they didn't have to be true thunder ninjas to get the thunder powers. But it would help if they were identified with their elements, since they all were wind ninjas. Or more, their spirits sang to the wind ninja way.
He glanced at Eric. His roommate was Earth. He was almost sure of it. Eric used the lower ground in a battle, keeping close to the earth. Earth elements tended to use the lower ground to their advantage, taking their opponents feet out from underneath them. When the opponent had no sense of balance, then the fight was over quickly. Ninjas who were classified as Earth tended to be practical people, ones who followed the rules and provided stability for the ninjas of other elements. There exceptions to the personality traits, Dustin being a keen one, but that was true for most Earth wind ninjas. If he got his father to let them enroll part-time as students, he couldn't imagine that Eric would be thrilled about the yellow uniform he would have to wear.
Kira was almost certainly Water. She flowed from move to move when she was fighting, in a graceful, fluid style. When running, she almost seemed to be floating along rather than moving her limbs. Her body moved in perfect sync with its movements. That was a strong trait of Water. She would keep moving in a battle and tire her opponent. Water also tended to be fast, flowing like water, which Kira was. Water personalities tended to go with the flow, not letting much bother them. Routine and dependability were not requirements for Water ninjas. Kira adapted to whatever situation she was in, sometimes in just a few seconds. It made sense to him that she would wear the blue Water uniform at the academy.
Mike and Kendrix were more difficult to pin down. His sense of Mike was that their commander would gravitate towards Air. Air ninjas tended to use the higher ground to their advantage, the opposite of Earth. Air preferred high roundhouse kicks and attacks angled from above. A properly trained Air ninja could disappear into the trees and land surprise attacks on the opponent. Air ninjas tended to be leaders. Mike was a good leader and knew how to balance all of the explosive personalities on the team. He tempered their arguments and discussions with logic and was willing to listen to all sides of a dispute—all traits of a good leader.
Kendrix… he honestly had no idea where to place Kendrix. She had traits of Earth, Air and Water, along with personality traits of each. If Cam didn't know better, he might have said she was Fire. The Fire ninjas were extraordinarily rare. They were so rare that one had not been seen in the past one thousand years. Fire ninjas fought in short bursts of energy, usually with deadly accuracy, fitting the deadliness of their element. A fight with a Fire ninja was over quickly with the Fire ninja as the victor. Fire personalities were almost defined by the element. Bursts of anger and temper were paired with long periods of calm and control, as a fire could be. Fire ninjas had claimed purple as their color, the same as the hottest and most dangerous flames. There hadn't been a Fire ninja at the Wind Ninja Academy in its entire history—and Cam was wary of placing Kendrix in that category without more thought.
If he was right and Kendrix was fire, then the five of them balanced out each other. The samurais had claimed their element as ether, the substance of the heavens. They would have all five of the elements represented in their group. Groups of Power Rangers tended to be either five or six—five rangers tended to represent the elements and complete balance with the earth. Six rangers formed two triangles, the strongest shape for fighting—and each trio in a triangle would be identified as the heart, mind and body of that group.
But right now, they were the elements.
Cam smiled to himself and snuggled down into his sleeping bag. They had Earth to ground them and keep them attuned to reality. They had Air to realize their dreams and fantasies. They had Water to keep them sane and willing to adapt. They had Fire for deadly force and the wisdom found in the flames. And they had ether, the ethereal knowledge that nothing in life is hopeless and a promise of something better.
The thunder powers would realize that if they conquered the challenges and would assign the colors and powers accordingly.
There had been legends spoken of the five thunder colors…
Crimson, Navy Blue, Forest Green, Goldenrod and Mauve…
"This is kind of nice," Kira commented as they walked along through the trees that surrounded the mountain. "If someone planted some flowers, it might even be homey."
"Always the optimist," Eric growled from behind her.
Mike fought the urge to roll his eyes as they followed Cam through a rough path in the woods. It was obvious that no one came here often… and the atmosphere was enough to frighten off people if the connotations didn't.
"Where are we going?" Kendrix asked from the end of the line.
"That way," Cam replied, pointing towards the looming mountain.
"Sorry I asked," Kendrix muttered.
A sharp breeze blew, causing a few of them to look around in fear. Cam kept plodding forward, ignoring the concern behind him. Kira ran a few steps to catch up to Cam. "What was that?" she asked.
"Probably the spirits of the dead ninjas coming to eat us."
"Cam!" she yelled, smacking his arm. "Tell us what is going on here, because I don't think a ghost is going to eat us."
"I don't know," Eric muttered. "Ever seen Resident Evil?"
"You say out of this," Kira snapped at him.
Mike heard a 'thud' from behind him. He turned to see that Kendrix had tripped over a root, sticking out of the ground. She was scowling as she pushed herself back to her feet, dusting the dirt off her jeans. Her glasses were sliding down her nose as sweat beaded on her forehead. She took her glasses off in an attempt to wipe off her face and make them stay on. It was a fruitless gesture. This was the girl who refused to get contact lenses…
Eric stayed behind with her. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Kendrix replied. "I just wish I knew what we're looking for."
'Don't we all,' Mike thought. Cam didn't even seem to have a coherent idea of what they were looking for and he was the one that dragged them all out here. "We've been walking for hours!" Kira said in a tone that was more warning then whining. "Let's at least stop for a few minutes."
Apparently, Cam agreed with that, because he came to a stop. Kira threw her backpack down and flopped ungracefully to the ground. Cam followed suit, but sat on top of his backpack instead of doing a dramatic flop. Kendrix lowered herself to a fallen tree trunk, where she rubbed her elbow. Eric sat on the ground next to her, absently rubbing the angry red spot on her leg.
"Why are you so sure we can get this power?" Kira asked Cam.
"Because, we represent the elements," he replied as if it were obvious.
"There's only four elements," Kendrix reminded him.
She was right—earth, air, water and fire. There were five of them, meaning, unless someone was doubled up, they couldn't represent the elements.
"The ancient Greeks sometimes talked about a fifth element," Cam said. "Ether, the substance of the heavens. They figured stars had to be made of something else."
All right, so with the ether, they had the five elements. Mike didn't even want to try to identify who was what element. Cam probably knew, because he was used to assigning people elements. Mike would probably have it all wrong, since he didn't know what to look for.
"Who's what element?" Kira asked.
Cam shook his head. "I have an idea, but that's it."
"Care to share?"
"No."
A low growl emitted from somewhere. "Breakfast wasn't that long ago, people," Kira muttered as she dug through her backpack for some water.
"I don't think that was us," Eric said, standing up.
Kendrix was staring at him, following his gaze. "What is it?"
"That!" Eric cried, pulling Kendrix out of the way as something came flying through the air right at her.
The thing turned out to be something that looked like it had been human about a thousand years ago. It was dressed in ragged clothes and its face was white and distorted into something Mike had only ever seen on Halloween. More of the things began to pour out of the trees and surround them in a rough circle.
"What are these things, Cam?" Kira asked.
"Spirits of the dead ninjas," Cam replied.
"I take back what I said about ghosts not eating people."
One of the ghosts moved forward, aiming for Eric's head. He ducked it and threw the thing bodily away from him. That seemed to be the chain reaction that started the other ghosts moving forward, so that a full-fledged battle broke out.
"Cam, if we get out of this alive, I will kill you!" Kira yelled.
Kira watched as the last of the ghost-things dissolved into a cloud of dust that promptly disappeared. The woods were as they had been when they found them. She picked up her backpack, dusting it off and putting it back on her shoulders.
"That was just plain weird," Kendrix commented.
"We must be getting close," Cam muttered.
"If getting close means getting annihilated by ghosts, then count me out."
Eric grabbed her backpack and dragged her along as Cam began to walk again. There was a small creek running to the mouth of a cave. "That's the cavern," Cam muttered. "We're looking for the thunder temple around the other side."
Kira twisted out of Eric's grip and scowled as she followed Cam through the thin trees around the mountain. This was getting to be ridiculous. They were listening to a bunch of people from the year 3000. Now, she didn't doubt that they were from the year 3000—Doctor Oliver's archives had been pretty extensive, but she did doubt that this had to be done in order to save the timeline. They hadn't seen a mutant running around their year. Then again, the odds that five former rangers got put on the team together were pretty astronomical. She thought back to her pledge to kill Cam if they got out of this alive. That was a promise she wanted to keep. He was a genius. Couldn't he build them morphers?
The rough path around the mountain opened up into a clearing. Beyond the clearing, there was the unmistakable edifice of a temple. Wide steps led up to darkened entry ways along with menacing statues of bugs. That was right—the thunder ninjas did have bugs as their zords and symbols. It made her glad that her team had dinosaurs.
"This is frighteningly from a movie," Eric muttered.
Cam stopped and Kira nearly ran into him. "The challenges were in the temple. If we can make it through the challenges to the center of the temple, then the power is ours."
"What are the challenges?" Mike asked.
The former Green Ranger shook his head. "I'm not sure. There are vague references to the quest for the Holy Grail. The ninjas tended to think it was amusing to model things, literally, after some of the Judeo-Christian myths." He paused. "Like the Holy Grail. They had a sense of humor."
"That's not funny—that's deadly," Eric countered.
Cam gave him an appraising look. "You'd know more about it than I would."
Kira turned to Eric. "What's he talking about?"
Eric rolled his eyes. "My family is Catholic. I grew up listening to stories about things like the Holy Grail as bedtime stories."
"You have a family?" Kendrix asked him, looking interested.
"Everyone has a family of some sort," Eric countered. He started forward for the temple. Kendrix followed him. Kira fell into step with the others.
The wide steps to the temple opened up into a large entry way. Cobwebs, leaves, vines and all kinds of things made the distinction between inside the temple and outside almost non-existent. Kira watched as Eric moved aside some cobwebs. Further back, there were more steps and a more heavily cobwebbed area.
"There," Eric said, pointing.
"Who wants to go into the creepy room first?" Kira whispered.
Eric turned to give her a withering look before slowly placing a foot on the first step. He took another tentative step. Kira felt her heart begin to beat inside her chest. Cam didn't have a clue what these challenges were, but…
"Holy Grail," Eric whispered. "Only a penitent man will pass."
Kira watched as he brushed some of the cobwebs aside. Without warning, something large and silver came swooping from above in that small area. At the same moment, Eric dropped to his knees and the thing sailed over his head. Kendrix pulled some rope out of her backpack and threw it to Eric. Kira couldn't see what he did behind the cobwebs, but she could see the large silver blade come to a halt, no longer moving.
Eric reappeared from the cobwebs.
"These ninjas didn't study grail lore," he said. "They watched movies."
"Movies?" Cam asked.
"The thunder ninjas obviously came to America to hide their great power," Eric said, almost to himself. "What's the great American pastime? Or one of them? Watching TV."
"What's your point?" Mike asked.
"They modeled this after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
Kira frowned. "So you're saying that the challenges would be the same as in the movie?"
Eric gestured to the temple. "Look at the temple. Look at the first challenge. I'm willing to bet a lot that they are."
Mike was shaking his head. "Let's go back to camp for tonight. If we can pinpoint the other challenges, then we'll have an idea of how to get to them tomorrow."
"We could do it now."
Their commander gave Eric a withering look. The five of them turned around and headed back for camp. This had been one weird day…
Kendrix pulled her jacket tighter around her. It never failed to amaze her that, while it could be blistering hot during the day, it was downright cold at night. She watched as Eric gently blew on the fire to rekindle it, so Kira could boil some water. Eric's theory about the challenges being based off a movie made sense in a strange way. She could see ninjas coming to America in the eighties and watching movies, then thinking it would be amusing to model things after the movie. So, hopefully, tomorrow they would have the thunder powers and be able to help the Time Force Rangers like they had said they would.
She watched as Eric put the water kettle on a grill. What she wouldn't have given for a propane grill right about now, but no one had thought to get one before they headed out and there was no place to get one for hours.
There were so many things she had expected to happen within a bounty hunter squad, but this was not one of them. Too much had happened since yesterday morning at that board meeting… she wished she knew how she felt about any of this.
"Hey."
She looked up as Mike sat down in a lawn chair next to her. "Hey," she echoed, wishing that the water would boil faster.
"You all right?"
"Aside from temporarily thinking that Eric was going to get his head chopped off, I'm fine." She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter. "Why did you have us leave today? We probably could have finished the challenges if they are what Eric thinks they are."
Mike let out a long breath. "I know. People were getting tired and on edge. I didn't want a temper-induced accident." He paused. "It was just better for us to take a break and then start again tomorrow morning."
"What about the future?" she whispered. "Trip said the timeline would alter drastically if we didn't get the uniform power source."
"We weren't given a time limit," Mike said. "Wes would have contacted us by now if the mutant started causing damage or hurt one of them."
"Yeah, Wes," she snorted.
Mike gave her a sidelong glance. "You don't like him?"
"I don't know him," she countered. She shrugged. "He seems all right."
The former Magna Defender's gaze went to the fire. Sparks flew as Eric poked it with a stick and then laid the stick over the flames. "None of us have had it easy since we stopped being rangers," he said softly. "You had to deal with the others being weird around you, since we had thought you were dead."
Kendrix sighed. "There's nothing that can be done about that."
Mike shook his head. "I wish I could have changed that, but then you ran and went back to Earth."
"I didn't run." She paused. "I just got a new job."
He gave her a look that said, 'right.' "I no longer had a job when Terra Venture crash-landed on Mirinoi. It was more like keeping up pretense of having a job…" He trailed off for a moment. "Kira's been in the public eye for the past year. From what I can gather about Eric, he's had a couple of botched relationships."
That explained a lot. "And Cam?"
"Disillusioned. I guess we all felt we lost our purpose when our powers were no longer needed. The enemies are gone. We're aimless."
Kendrix nodded. "But we're all here now," she countered. "And we're trying to become rangers once again."
"Maybe it will unite us."
"What do you mean?"
"Right now, we're all kind of working in 'every man for himself' mode. There's not a sense of unity because our job doesn't necessarily require that we all work together." He sighed. "Maybe we're supposed to get these powers because more menacing fugitives are going to start infiltrating Silver Hills. There's got to be a reason we need them."
She agreed with him on that. There had to be a reason that the Time Force Rangers had told them they needed a uniform power source. Mike stood up.
"I'm going to turn in," he said. Cam was already in bed. Kira was now stirring something in one of the tin cups they had brought.
Kendrix nodded at Mike. Her eyes wandered back to the dying fire. Eric had stopped trying to keep it going. He would probably wait up until it had extinguished itself and then turn in for the night. With the fire almost gone, it was getting so that she couldn't see anything. She reached into her jacket pocket and felt for her flashlight.
"Here."
She looked up. Eric was standing in front of her, holding out a cup.
"Hot chocolate," he clarified.
Kendrix smiled and took the cup. Eric took Mike's former place. Neither of them felt the need to talk as they watched the last embers of the fire pop and die down into the inky blackness of the night.To Be Continued...
Author's Note: You know what? I was looking at the outline for this and realized - laser guns don't matter. No more of that! Moving right along... thanks for reading, reviewing etc.
