POWER RANGERS SUMMIT STORM
Book I: The Summoning

Stormfront Part I

Thunder rolled across the gray midday sky and the rain came down in torrents, saturating the ground below. He walked silently, his footsteps masked by the heavy rain. The animals of the forest became silent as he passed, their senses alerting them to an evil presence unlike anything that had been felt before. Cloaked in a dark robe, his face hidden from view, he continued his pilgrimage deeper into the jungle, the plants and insects shriveling up and turning to dust in his wake.

After traveling many days, he finally found what he was looking for - an ancient temple hidden under centuries of vines and forest mildew. He held out his hand towards it and flexed his fingers. As he did, the vines and mildew were suddenly either pulled back into the ground or just faded. Pursing his lips into a thin, wicked smile, he walked slowly up the stone steps towards the entrance. Guarding the doors was a single stone gargoyle, which was perched upon a pedestal. He stopped in front of the creature and held out his hand towards it, his eyes beginning to glow an eerie green as he did so.

"Rhetora Nator Fhyn!" he commanded in a raspy voice. As he did so, the gargoyle exploded and in its place stood a large black alien-like being.

"Master," it growled, bowing low. "Welcome back."

"Thank you Nator," replied the hooded figure. "But I must regain my power before nightfall else our plans shall be ruined."

"Yes Lord Braxxus!" answered Nator. Quickly, the now living gargoyle got up, turned around and pushed the large stone doors open. Slowly, as dust filtered down from the ceiling, the doors opened into a large, dimly lit chamber. At the far end was a throne covered in what appeared to be large, black, bloodstained thorns. The ceiling was shrouded in a murky darkness; the flickering firelight from the few torches hanging around the hall cast ominous shadows across the floor and their light seemed to bounce off the dark roof.

"Inflamaris!" Braxxus commanded and held his hand up towards the ceiling. Instantly, the ceiling began glowing red and the light cast by this glow revealed all within the temple. In front of the throne was a stone altar, which looked as though it had been used for sacrifices in a forgotten age. Adorning the walls were bones and bloodstained weapons of champions long since defeated by some great force. The golden walls also beheld ancient carvings and paintings of ages gone by. The symbols and images depicted a great battle in which a dark figure (presumably Lord Braxxus) was seen slaughtering innocent people across the land. Upon the opposite wall stood seven figures clad in the seven colours of the rainbow brandishing a mystical weapon whose light pierced the darkness emanating from Braxxus.

Upon seeing this, Braxxus growled and launched a fireball at the figures, eliminating it from the overall picture.

"Those seven killed my father Baal with that weapon," said Braxxus, spitting upon the charred marks left on the wall when Nator gazed upon his master.

"Lord Baal was a wise and mighty ruler, Lord Braxxus," Nator hastily answered. "If he could see you now…" At this, Braxxus grabbed Nator by the throat with his right hand and held the gargoyle high over his head.

"Don't you dare mention my father in front of me!" Braxxus snapped, his eyes glowing a deep crimson before tossing Nator across the hall into the altar. "My father was a great warrior, I'll give him that, but he was a fool." Braxxus walked quickly up towards the dark throne and sat upon it, making himself comfortable. "He let them defeat him. I, however, shall destroy their descendants so that any remaining power within their blood will be eradicated once and for all." At this, he waved his hand over the altar and the top became like liquid. Getting up, Braxxus stepped down to the altar, waved his hand over it, and watched as a young man donned in red and black walked through a park alone.

"I sense the presence of Pyron within him," said Braxxus finally. Looking up, he reached into his cloak and pulled out a small bag filled with some sort of powder. Scooping a small amount into the palm of his hand, he held the powder out in front of him and blew sharply upon it, scattering it across the chamber. As the powder traveled, it clumped together until finally, from the remains, a small group of emaciated figures emerged; their blue-tinted skin tightly wrapped to their bones. They wore minimal coverings (mostly brown rags draped over them like togas) and bore no eyes; instead bearing two sockets emanating an eerie crimson coloured glow and their hair was a ghostly white.

"Welcome, my minions," Braxxus sneered. "Time for you to taste blood once again!" At this, the small army of wraiths began to screech in such high-pitched tones that the few intact stained glass windows which adorned the ceiling shattered, and the slivers of glass rained down upon the gathering below.

"Now go!" the evil lord commanded, and instantly, the wraiths vanished.

Lightning flashed across the midnight sky. As he lay on his bed, Hunter Bradley wondered about the coming day. He had been offered a place at the Thunder Ninja Academy as Head Teacher, and as such, his duties drained him of a lot of his energy. It had been a year since he and his friends had teamed up with the Dino Thunder Rangers to defeat Lothor once and for all. All he could think about this night was if Lothor would come back again...or something or someone even more vicious and cruel taking his place...

A crack of thunder awoke Hunter from his sleep. Sitting bolt upright, sweat pouring down his weathered face dampening his dirty blonde hair, Hunter could swear that he felt a cold windsweep over him, sending shivers up and down his spine.

"Hunter? You there?" called a voice from a small, circular device laying on Hunter's bedside table. "Hunter! Come in!" Shakily, Hunter reached over, picked up the amulet-like device, slid the cover off and spoke into a micro speaker within it.

"Yeah, I'm here Blake," he said as calm as he could.

"Something's up bro," answered Blake, Hunter's adopted brother. When both he and Hunter were attacked at their ninja academy three years prior, their parents were killed by Lothor, although they were coercedinto believing the Sensei of the Wind Ninja Academy killed them instead. Soon they were put at ease by the lingering spirits of their parents, finding out the truth about their parent's murderer. "You better get to the beach!"

"I'm on it!" the young man answered, getting up, donning on a pair of jeans and a crimson top and then using his Ninja Streak ability to race to the beach where his brother and his friends were all waiting. "What's up?"

Tori, a young woman with long blonde hair and dressed in a blue tank and jeans, pointed towards the western horizon. Lightning and thunder were still flashing and crashing overhead, but no rain fell upon them.

"Something's coming," said Cam, a asian man dressed in a green shirt with a khaki jacket over it and black jeans. His dark hair was messy after being awoken by one of the others at such an early hour of the morning.

"Like what?" Dustin asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes in a hope to get them seeing better. He had a yellow shirt on and a pair of floral board shorts on, but the coolness of the morning was making him shiver.

"We don't know," Shane answered. Shane had been the Red Wind Ranger and leader of this group of teens three years ago. Right now, he was wearing a red sleeveless shirt with dark pants. "All we know is that it's coming this way fast."

As this was said, Hunter took a longer look at the horizon. The light wasn't that from the sun, he knew that for certain. This light was like fire dancing on the clouds...or even in the clouds. The light was a blood red, with a hint of yellow and orange in there as well. The light was moving closer to shore at a very fast speed and as it did, the lightning around it got brighter and more frequent.

"We have to protect the people of this city," said Hunter quietly. "It is...and always will be...our duty."

"He's right!" added Blake, his dark hair and navy top beginning to reflect the glow of the approaching light. The others nodded.

"Well, in that case," said Cam, squatting down and opening a sports bag he had brought. "We will probably need these!" As he said this, he pulled out a mahoggany case with gold trimmings. Embedded in the centre of the lid was a gold symbol bearing the marks of the Wind Academy, the Thunder Academy and the Samurai Spirit. Placing his hand over these and hooking his fingers in a crevice on the case, he opened the lid and inside were six wrist-mounted devices each bearkuing a different logo and in different colours - one red, one yellow, one blue, one crimson, one navy and one green.

"Our Morphers?" asked Shane, stepping forward.

"I was able to harness some power from the Samurai Amulet before it lost its power completely." replied the asian. "Go on...take them!" Shane, Tori, Dustin and Blake stepped forward and took their morphers, but Hunter stayed back, his eyes focused on the stormfront approaching.

"Hunter?" asked Cam, walking over to the thunder ranger. "Don't you want you powers?"

"This power..." said Hunter quietly, as if in a trance. "It'sstronger than anything we've faced before. I'm...not sure if we'll be able to defeat alone." Without looking, Hunter reached over, took his morpher and attached it to his wrist. "But we have to try!"

Cam reached in and took the last morpher. "You're right!"

"Ok guys! Ready?" asked Shane.

"Ready!" said the others.

"NINJA STORM! RANGER FORM! HA!" called Shane, Tori and Dustin.

"THUNDER STORM! RANGER FORM! HA!" Hunter and Blake bellowed.

"SAMURAI STORM! RANGER FORM! HA!" cried Cam. He, along with Shane, Tori and Dustin held up their right arms, broughtthem down, twisted slightly then whipped out their left arm, spinning the power disk on their morphers. Hunter and Blake however, held their arms over their chests and pressed a button on the bottom of their morphers to begin the transformation.

A tornado emerged from the spinning power disks on the Wind Ranger's morphers. The tornado surrounded them, making their outfits shatter, revealing their respective Ranger outfit underneath. Looking up, a helmet locked to each of their head and sealed itself.

"Power of Air!" called Shane.

"Power of Water!" Tori cried.

"Power of Earth!" Dustin yelled.

Hunter and Blake crossed their arms over their chests and lightning surged around them, which attached a suit to their bodies. From their Morphers their helmets flew hight in the air and land on their heads.

"Power of Thunder!" they hollered.

Cam spun around, a green light eminating from his Morpher. As he did, a suit began to cover his body from neck to toe. When he stopped, his helmet attached itself and as it did, he pulled out his sword and held it above him as green energy pulses surged down the blade.

"Green Samurai Power!" he bellowed. Once their morphing sequences were complete, the rangers faced the stormfront approaching, now faster than before.

"Look!" called Blake. "It's coming straight for us!"

"RUN!" Shane yelled and he and other ranger began to flee, except for Hunter.

"No..." he said quietly. "There's something about it..." as he said this, the others were already over the dunes at the back of the beach. Blake looked back and saw Hunter just standing there as the stormfront washed over him.

"HUNTER!" he screamed and ran back to where his brother had stood just moments before. There he stopped and looked around. The stormfront was gone. The sun was just peaking over the mountains to the east. But no trace remained of Hunter...except for his morpher, fried, charred and smouldering on the ground where he stood.

"No..." he said quietly. The other rangers came back to where Blake now stood and Tori comforted it.

"What do you think happened to him Cam?" asked Shane. There was no response. Shane turned around and there, on the ground, was Cam's Morpher, with the same damage on it as Hunter's.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Blake yelled to the morning sky as the others tried to comfort him.

Hunter awoke on a bed in a dungeon. He felt sore all over.

"Ugh..." he said and sat up. Looking around, he noticed Cam face down on the ground. Hunter raced over to him and checked to see if Cam was ok. What he foundhorrified him.

Cam...one of his best friends...was dead.

To be continued...

POWER RANGERS SUMMIT STORM
Book I: The Summoning

Stormfront Part I
Stormfront Part II
Timing