Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN POWER RANGERS!
Summary: Jack finds out that something is wrong with the time line.
Rewritten
Ch. 1: Gaining Knowledge
"DOWN!" Commander Quentez shouted. "194. 195." The B-Squad Rangers were doing their last three-a-day training of the day. Commander Quentez was very strict about training, in a way that Commander Cruger had never been. In fact, Commander Quentez was beyond strict; he was impossible. "Just five to go, Rangers. Just five to go." One of his reasons he had stated recently was that Commander Cruger had been killed recently, when Dru Harrington, an old SPD Cadet gone AWOL had returned, as evil as possible and wreaked havoc on SPD headquarters. He had killed Commander Cruger personally, and it took all five rangers to take him in. Even so, it took a lot out of them.
The Rangers's new training demanded a lot from them. First they ran the obstacle course ten times. Next they battled a 100 holographic krybots each, and then did 300 sit-ups and 200 push-ups. Here, Matt, the Blue Rangers' training was over; the next part of training stressed their civilian powers, and Matt had none. But for Jack, Bridge, Z, and Syd, the training lasted another hour.
For Jack, training consisted of speed (jumping through as many walls as he could in a time limit), and strength (pushing the limit on how many he could). For Bridge, it meant strength of mind (training to read Commander Quentez's mind Dragarians had very strong minds). For Z, this meant speed (duplication speed), strength (how many times she could duplicate), and strength of mind (how many she could control at once). For Syd, it was simply transform into different materials and how fast she could change it. And this occurred three times a day.
Another reason was that every time they fought Emperor Grumm, a part of the city was nearly destroyed. So Commander Quentez thought training might help. A third reason was that the rangers, still had not learned to fully respect each other.
The final fourth and final reason, was that a new evil guy had come to the city under Grumm's flag, a power ranger that called himself the "Dark Sky Ranger". From Commander Quentez they learned some very interesting things about this Dark Sky Ranger. He had once been known as Schuylar Tate, with the nickname of Sky. He was the son of a very famous SPD Red Ranger, Jonathon Tate, who had fought to the bitter end, protecting the city, saving thousands of lives only to be destroyed by the monster Mirloc who was in a maximum prison far far away on a Distant Planet.
Sky had always wanted to be a Power Ranger of SPD, just like his dad, but it was not to be. He did apply and beat out his best friend, Matthew Longton, or Matt, the current Blue Ranger (at the time, there was limited bed space at the academy and so only a few at a time could get in), because he wanted it more. Shortly after his acceptance and his father's death, Sky went to Matt to say that he was sorry that Matt didn't get accepted, but never arrived. He was not seen for another ten years. After his disappearance, and being declared dead, Matt got accepted in his place. Sky was trained by Grumm himself for 12 years. He also for some strange reason had a civilian power the ability to generate force fields. His pure good mind had been warped by Grumm.
"Done. Mr. Longton, you may take your shower. The rest of you, onto your civilian training." Matt got up and ran into the HQ bathroom, while Jack and the others groaned. Ever since Commander Cruger was killed, SPD just hasn't been the same. I mean look at us. We are falling apart. The A-squad Rangers are MIA. Commander Cruger was killed in battle, and Dr. Manx transferred to SPD Federation, by Supreme Commander Fowler Birdy. Boom was fired. We, the B-Squad, can't even get along- we're always bickering and fighting, and we can't even fight the easiest battle without destroying something by accident. Now we're reduced to three-a-day group training sessions, thought Jack. Why did I even join SPD in the first place? Oh yeah, to help people in a better way…
"B-Squad Rangers and Commander Quentez report to the Command Room." Dr. Botoo's voice rang over the intercom. Jack breathed a sigh of relief, and heard the others do the same. Bridge muttered, "Saved by the intercom." Commander Quentez eyed them, irritated. "Don't get too relaxed," he retorted wearily. "We going to get right back to training afterward. Now go." They pulled themselves up and ran in a single line formation into the building. Up the halls they raced, and the cadets and personnel hurried to get out of their way. This gets easier and easier, I must've about run 20 miles already today, and I am barely even breaking a sweat, thought Jack, as he led his squadron into the Main Hall containing the Main rooms of SPD, the Command Room, the Lab, the Interrogation Rooms, the Cafeteria, the Common Rooms, Training Decks and two of the Delta Zord Bays. Suddeny spots appeared in his vision. Huh? Why do I feel so light headed? Jack thought just before he blacked out.
He woke up in a long hall. Slowly, he stood up and looked around. In front of him, there were many large glass tubes, each containing a Power Ranger Suit of the past, as well as many he had never seen before. There must have been hundreds. From the past alone there were 61 suits. This he knew from the little studies he had had as a SPD Ranger.
There were the first five suits, and the Green Dragon and White Tiger suits from the Mighty Morphin' Era, and over there the five suits, as well as the Gold Suit from the Zeo Era. By that wall on the left, there the five suits, as well as the Phantom Ranger and the Blue Centurion suits, and by that wall on the right, were the five suits and the Silver Suit of the Space Era. Beyond that, he could see the five suits and the Magna Defender Suit of the Lost Galaxy Era, the five suits and the Titanium Suit of the Lightspeed Rescue Era, and the five suits, as well as the Quantum Suit of the Time Force Era. Further on, there were the five suits and the Lunar Wolf Suit of the Wild Force Era, and the three Wind Suits, the two Thunder Suits and the Green Samurai Star Suit of the of the Ninja Storm Era, and finally at the edge of his sight, he could see the three suits and the Black Brachio and White Drago Suits of the Dino Thunder Era.
Where am I? Jack wondered. What is this place? For some reason, Jack, had attempted speak aloud, but it came out as a thought. YOU DO NOT KNOW, JACK LANDORS, RED RANGER OF SPD? The thought or thoughts, as it were, at him with force that nearly knocked his mind (for that was what he was, he realized; but his mind) backwards. THIS IS THE HALLWAY OF POWER, WITHIN THE MORPHING GRID (YOUR POWERS COME FROM THE MORPHING GRID) – THE HALLWAY WHERE RANGER SUITS ARE CREATED BY THE MORPHING GRID, STORED UNTIL NEEDED AND STORED AFTERWARD UNTIL THE FINAL BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, WHEN ALL WILL BE NEEDED.
What ARE you? – WE ARE THE SPIRITS OF POWERS OF GOOD THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY; WE ARE THAT WHICH FUELS THE MORPHING GRID. WE ARE THE WARLOCK THAT ENCASED THE DEMONS OF THE LIGHTSPEED ERA, WE ARE THE ONE WHO PLACED THE QUASAR SABERS IN THEIR STONES, WE ARE THE MAGNA DEFENDER AND HIS SON, ZIKA, WE ARE ZORDON OF ELKTARE, WE ARE ALPHAS I, II, III, AND IV, WE ARE COMMANDER CRUGER, WE ARE WARRIORS OF THE PAST, WE ARE THE PHANTOM RANGER, WE ARE FORMER RANGERS WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY. ONE DAY YOU AND OTHERS WILL WALK AMONG US. ONE DAY WE WILL ALL RISE AGAIN TO FACE THE FINAL GREATEST CHALLENGE OF ALL, THE FINAL BATTLE.
Why am I here? – WE HAVE CHOSEN YOU TO FIND WHAT IS LOST, TO SAVE WHAT IS IN DANGER, AND TO FIX WHAT IS BROKEN.
How do I do that? - LEARN FROM US THE SOUL OF THE MORPHING GRID, THE INNER WORKNGS OF THE POWERS OF POWER RANGERS.
Jack's mind reeled when the information began to pour into him. Ahhhhh! His mind screamed in agony, it was as if his mind was overloading with information.
HE IS HUMAN. HE HAS LIMITS TO HIS CAPABILITIES OF UNDERSTANDING. TO COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THIS AMOUNT OF INFORMATION WOULD TAKE HIM PERHAPS YEARS, AND WE DO NOT HAVE YEARS, UNLESS HE WERE TO DIE AND JOIN US HERE INDEFINITELY. EVEN HERE AND NOW, IT MAY KILL HIM AND DESTROY HIS MIND FOREVER, AND HE WOULD NOT EVEN ABLE TO JOIN US OR THE SOULS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE. A voice split from the others to plead for him, and it sounded distinctly familiar.
THEN BREAK IT DOWN FOR HIM WE MUST. O ONE WHO SEPARATED HIMSELF FROM US, TEACH HIM, TEACH HIM WELL, THAT HE MAY UNDERSTAND.
The information was gone, as was the agony, and suddenly, who but Commander Cruger stood before him. Hello Jack. – Commander Cruger? This day just gets stranger and stranger. - If what WE hope comes to be, and what was to be, that will never be, will be again, then what is to come will be stranger than what has been. – Huh? Commander, why you are talking so cryptically? It is not like you. – True, but being within the GOOD makes changes, that once without it is difficult to revert. – So what did you say in English please? – If you compete your mission, and what was broken is fixed, you'll find that your day will just get stranger as you go along. Now, it is time for your lessons to begin. Follow me.
Meanwhile, back at SPD, the body of Jack remained, and fell to the floor, headfirst. The other rangers stopped and asked him if he was alright, but he didn't answer. "He's unconscious!" Matt yelled. He fell to his knees and checking for breathing, he called for Dr. Bootoo on his morpher. "He's not breathing!" Matt checked for a pulse. "He has no pulse!" Commander Quentez and Dr. Bootoo came running down the hall.
A few minutes later, the remaining rangers stood in the Command Room answering Commander Quentez's questions about Jack, while Dr. Bootoo examined Jack's body, finding no activity of any kind within the brain, heart and lungs, or anywhere else.
At the same time Commander Cruger's spirit was leading Jack up to some empty Suit Holders. Jack, do you know why these are empty? Jack looked at the glass tubes. Is it because the suits are in use? They're our suits, aren't they? – Yes they are. Notice anything wrong here? Jack looked again. Hold on a minute, only four of them are empty. Matt's Blue Ranger suit is partially there, and there are three others that I've never seen, that are fully there. – I'll get to Matt's Suit in a minute. Look again at the others that you have not seen, the Shadow Ranger, the Omega Ranger, and the last Ranger of our Era, who has not been named. A third time Jack looked. Are they decaying? I thought Power Ranger Suits could not decay. – Look forward to the Rangers of the Future. – They too are decaying. Why? – Sadly they will never be used, because of what was broken. – Are you saying that w-w-we are doomed to fail? - Most likely yes. Now follow me into this side room, the Forge Room. It is time for lesson 2, but we must hurry.
During that time of Jack, and Commander Cruger's conversation, Dr. Bootoo was commenting to Commander Quentaz, "If he was a robot, I'd say that someone simply turned him off. All of his bodily functions have stopped, it is as if he is frozen in time. I don't understand it. Nor can I find a cause."
Meanwhile, in the Forge Room, Commander Cruger was showing Jack the Forges. This is the Forge of Power, where powers are forged, and this is the Forge of Suits where the Suits forged. But these two over here are the ones we'll talk about today; The Forge of Souls, and the Forge of the Link.
There are two kinds of souls, Jack. Power Souls and ordinary souls. Power Souls are forged for one purpose, to be Power Rangers, so that others don't have to fight. Power Souls are forged with Pure Good. Even if they start as evil, they will eventually became good. Power Souls are forged in the Forge of Souls. Not all rangers are chosen from the beginning, for there are three kinds of Rangers; Chosen, Earned, and Police. Chosen are chosen from the beginning. Earned are those ordinary souls who earn the Right to be Rangers by choices and actions. These are then re-forged. Police Rangers, what SPD originally started out to be, are not true rangers and therefore cannot access their full powers, and potential. They are ordinary souls that were not Chosen, nor have they Earned the Right. Matthew is a Police Ranger. That is why he can not access his full potential.
- But he has done his duty well, Commander. He has even gone above and beyond. I'd say he's earned it many times over. - Yes, he works hard but not as himself. He knows he was never meant to be a Ranger, he does not know that he can earn the right, so does everything in the name of the one he took the place. Therefore, he has no deeds of his own.
YOUR TIME IS UP, CRUGER. THE RANGER WILL LOSE HIS LIFE IF HE CONTINUES ANY LONGER.
Very well. Jack, remember these three things: First tell no one of this except Dr. Manx. Second, Alpha V is coming with a message from Demetria of Inquirius, about your Power Link. This was to be your third lesson, so listen carefully. Finally, contact Dr. Manx and ask her about Project Power. Ask her to tell you everything, and tell her everything. Ask for help, if she refuses, say the name Aisynia. It was my wife's name, and my code for help. NOW GO!
Jack opened his eyes to find himself in the Lab, on the Injury Repair Bed (IRB) with a massive headache. Dr. Bootoo stood with his back towards him, facing Commander Quentez, Matt, Bridge, Z, and Syd. "With heavy heart, I now pronounce Jack Landors, B-squad Red Ranger of SPD, on this day of August 25, 2025, at this time, 1535 hours, dead of unknown causes."
Jack groaned and Dr. Bootoo slowly turned around to look at him. He sat up slowly, and put his hand to his head. Looking up in to the shocked faces of the other four rangers, Commander Quentez, and Dr. Bootoo, he put on a painful grin and said, "Man, I never knew rising from the dead hurt so much!"
To Be Continued: Chapter 2: More Knowledge