A/N I don't own the Power Rangers, characters or plot but anything that is unrecognisable does belong to me. Copyright goes to Saban©.
A thanks goes out to fallingstar22 for reviewing my story.
Power Ranger: Shift in Time
Chapter 11- From Out of Nowhere Part 1
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On the Cimmerian Planet, Dark Specter had called most of the galaxy's evil villains, including several familiar faces, such as Rita and Lord Zedd, King Mondo and Queen Machina, and Divatox. Divatox was surrounded by a large group of villains, retelling the story of how she had defeated the Power Rangers and conquered the Earth.
"…And then I discovered where the Power Chamber was, and with one touch of this little finger, I blew the Rangers to high heaven. And then I—" Divatox was cut off by Lord Zedd and Rita walking into her from behind.
"Oh, it's you," sneered Rita.
"Oh…how wonderful to see you, Frita," said Divatox.
"It's Rita!" Divatox pulled a face at Rita. "Still after the Power Rangers?"
"Who? Oh, them. Really, Frita, you must get out of the dumpster more often. I've destroyed those Power Rangers," said Divatox with a laugh. "Well, somebody had to."
Nobody paid any attention to a figure in a dark cloak as he walked through the crowd, listening in on conversations.
"Is that true? Did she really destroy the Power Rangers?" Asked Rita, turning to Zedd.
"Well, it is sort of the universal gossip," said Lord Zedd.
Rita raised her wand and aimed a blast at Divatox, but she missed slightly. The blast was caught by another woman, much younger, clad in black leather and with long blue hair. She held the blast in one fist, before flicking her fingers. The energy dissipated.
"Who's that?" Whispered Divatox.
"That's Astronema. They say she'll be the new queen of evil," said Elgar.
Divatox grimaced. "Well, not if I can help it." Then she noticed the cloaked stranger watching her, and turned around. "What are you staring at?" The figure turned and walked away without replying.
A few minutes later, all of the villains sat down to eat. The figure in the dark cloak sat at the end of the table, glancing up at the motley crew. Astronema felt eyes on her, and she turned to look at the stranger as he leaned forward to get a better look. At that moment, lightning flashed across the sky and Dark Specter appeared. He was a rocky, demonic-looking creature too big to even fit on the planet. Everyone went silent.
"I am Dark Specter, monarch of all that is evil. I have captured the mighty Zordon, and I'm draining him of his powers. As his strength drains, ours will rise, extinguishing the Power forever!"
"This calls for a lave juice toast. To the universe, a universe that shall belong to the Dark Specter," said Lord Zedd.
Everyone raised their glasses and drank to the toast. When the drinks were gone, Divatox noticed that the stranger's glass remained untouched.
She scowled. "Hey, you! You on the end, in the cape, what are you too good to drink this us?"
"Who are you?" Asked Queen Machina.
"He's…a spy," said Astronema. The man in the cape stood slowly as Astronema's guards, grey-armored creatures, moved closer to him.
Lord Zedd sprang to his feet. "What, a spy?"
"Well, get him!" Divatox ordered Elgar, whacking him as she did.
"Unbelievable!"
The stranger backed away from the table as more villains stood, readying to attack him. Astronema's soldiers reached him first, and he pushed the first two back before jumping up on the table. With a shout, he drew his Spiral Saber and ran down the table. Villains lunged at him, but he knocked them back, jumping a swipe to his legs. Lord Zedd swung his staff at the intruder, who blocked it with his Saber.
"Who is this intruder?" Roared Dark Specter.
The stranger rolled on the table's end, but before he could jump down, Goldar grabbed the back of the cloak. It tore away, revealing a Red Ranger. Everybody stared at the Ranger as he stood up straight. Silently, the Ranger raised his Saber, ready for any attacks.
Dark Specter reacted first. "Destroy him!"
The villains readied to attack, but the Red Ranger raised a hand. "Galaxy Glider Hang Ten!"
A red surfboard-like machine flew in, and the Red Ranger jumped on board. The wind knocked several villains over as he flew away. As he swooped past Dark Specter, the villain tried to knock him out of the sky, but missed. Dark Specter then blew a fireball at the Ranger, but the Ranger sped up and outran the flames. A laugh echoed towards the villains as he looked back and disappeared.
"The spy knows my plans. He must be stopped!"
Divatox was the first to stand, and she carefully approached Dark Specter with a simpering smirk. "Excuse me, your evilness. Let me go after him. I assure you, I—" she stopped abruptly as Rita pulled her back.
"Can it, sister! You couldn't catch a cold," Rita said, before turning to Dark Specter.
"Let me go for him, I—" Rita stopped as Divatox stuffed an apple in her mouth.
"Hi, remember me? You remind me so much of my fiancée…" Again Rita pulled her back, by her hair this time. "If you just give me a chance I…" the two began to fight. There was a rumble.
"Silence! Astronema, you will take the Dark Fortress and destroy the meddler," ordered Dark Specter.
The fighting pair looked over at Astronema. The newcomer just smirked up at Dark Specter.
"Showoff," said Divatox. Astronema disappeared, quickly followed by her group of guards.
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Meanwhile, on the space shuttle, the five teens had left their seats, and were looking out of the window at space. Now that they'd slowed down outside Earth's atmosphere, the stars were drifting past, brighter than they'd ever looked from the planet.
"It's so beautiful," said Kendrix.
"Yeah," the others agreed.
Tommy walked back over and sat down next to Alpha. The little robot hadn't left his seat. "Hey, Alpha, how long till we get to Eltar?"
"Eltar is...as weiofsl weidk flur." Hearing the strange noises, the others turned around and joined the pair.
"What's up Alpha?" Asked Adam.
"Snook abkuh aslo fudl."
"You're not feeling too well?" Asked Maya.
The robot sneezed in response and continued to talk gibberish.
"You'd better check him out," Tommy said to Kendrix, moving aside to give her room. Nodding, Kendrix opened up the panel in the robot's back. After a moment of looking around, she pulled out a circuit board. Holding it up to get a better view, she could see the board was badly damaged, blackened and twisted. She winced.
"His speech board is history."
"Must have been damaged during the Power Chamber explosion," said Tommy.
Suddenly, the shuttle lurched, nearly knocking the teens over. Startled, Adam went to check out the window to see if maybe they had hit something. The others quickly followed, crowding around the small window. They could see another ship approaching, heading straight for them. Tommy rushed past to the seats to the communicator panel set in the wall.
"This is the space shuttle. Veer away. You're on a collision course," said Tommy.
Adam interrupted. "Wait—wait, it's opening up."
Tommy ran back over, and the five teens watched the hull of the ship opened. Beams of light hit their ship, and they felt their shuttle accelerate towards the unknown spacecraft. Its front began to open up, forming a sort of wide crescent around them.
"It's pulling us in," said Rocky.
"Who?" Asked Adam. At the last second, their shuttle turned around and landed safely inside the other ship. It closed around them.
"The Astro Megaship," said Kendrix. "I never thought I'd see this place again so soon." Tommy, Adam and Rocky turned sharply to face her, all visibly surprised.
"What do you mean 'see it again,' you've been on this ship before?" Asked Tommy.
"We used this ship when we were Rangers in our own universe," Maya said.
"I'm not sure how much is different in this universe, but it looks like the shuttle was still designed to go with the Astro Megaship for the Megazord formation," Kendrix added. "Andros—the Red Space Ranger—used it before we did." The three guys exchanged silent glances.
"Lead the way," said Tommy at last, gesturing towards the door.
Slowly, the girls led them into the ship. Adam kept glancing around, as if he thought something was watching them. Nothing was ever there, except for one small black device high up on the wall. They continued to search the ship, but did not hear or see any signs of life.
"I'm starting to wonder if there's anybody on this ship," said Tommy.
Rocky nodded. "Yeah, it's really weird." Adam gave the girls a questioning look.
"I don't know who's in command. This is a parallel universe, it could be anyone," Kendrix said, with a helpless shrug. "We'll have to find them to find out."
Adam noticed another one of the devices in this room and he moved in closer for a better look. He could hear a faint humming sound coming from the device but he was not sure what it was. The five teens came to a fork in the hall.
"Kendrix, Maya and Adam, you check in there; Rocky, and I will go down here," said Tommy, gesturing right and then left.
The three entered the room and began to look around. There was no one in here, but a lot of strange machines bleeped and hummed. Adam looked at what appeared to be a star map, but made of glass and standing upright in the middle of the room. He put a hand either side of the glass, touching the colored lines. Kendrix, meanwhile, was checking over six chutes on a raised platform.
"Hey, Adam, check this out," called Maya, "this machine makes any kind of food you want." Expertly, Maya pressed a few buttons, and a plate of food and canister appeared inside the machine's hatch.
"It's called a Synchrotron," said Kendrix, as Adam looked at the machine, impressed. Tommy and Rocky came back in, and Tommy leaned against the door frame.
"We can't find anyone," he said.
Rocky approached a table, with a plate of food sitting on it. He picked up the plate, but quickly dropped it with a yelp, and blew on his fingers.
"Well someone was just here—this food is still warm," he said.
Tommy and the others come over and looked, then headed back into the hall. Maya and Kendrix took the lead again, heading for to the ship's bridge. The halls were still empty, as was the bridge itself. It was ringed with panels and computers, with the navigation station in the middle of the room. On the far side of the room was a viewscreen, currently blank.
"Wow this is amazing," breathed Rocky.
"So where is everybody?" asked Adam, looking at Maya and Kendrix. The two girls shrugged. Sitting, Adam began to look over the panel in front of him. The others explored the room. Alpha wandered over to a panel and began pressing some buttons.
"Careful, Alpha, do you know what you are doing?" Asked Tommy, darting over to him. Confidently, the robot spoke more gibberish. The Rangers turned to see that he had opened the viewing screen of the ship. The Astro Megaship was circling an orange planet, surrounded by stars.
That's incredible," said Adam.
"Alpha, what planet is that?" Asked Tommy. Alpha responded in gibberish, and Tommy sighed. "Maybe we can figure out where we are."
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Meanwhile, out in space, the Red Ranger was heading back towards his ship, when he heard a noise behind him. Turning, he could see two small ships following him. They opened fire. Dodging most of the beams, he knocked others away with his Spiral Saber. One laser hit the Saber harder than he had expected, and he dropped it.
The Red Ranger watched for a moment as the saber fell, and then sped up. He weaved across the sky to avoid any hits, accelerating as he went. When he got a good distance away, he stopped and turned to face the oncoming ships.
"Ok, ready or not here I come," he said, and headed straight for the first ship. "Astro Blaster, Dual Mode!" Drawing a blaster from a holster on his hip, he fired.
Hitting both ships at the same time, he passed them just before they caught fire and exploded. He flew down and caught up with his falling weapon. Catching it, he headed back to his ship at hyper speed.
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Adam and Kendrix had gone to check out the ship's other systems, making sure they were like the ones Kendrix was used to. The other three teens were still looking around the bridge when Alpha spoke, trying to get their attention. Turning, the teens went over to the little robot, but heard the door hiss open. They looked up, and saw an unfamiliar Red Ranger. He froze, staring at them.
"Hi," started Tommy, as he slowly began towards the person. The Red Ranger started to back away as Tommy continued to speak. "Uh, this isn't what it must look like to you. We didn't come here by choice. Sorry if we startled you. Is this your ship?"
The Red Ranger had backed out of the room. Adam and Kendrix were coming around the corner, and stopped at the sight of him. The Ranger glanced at them, then hit a button that began shutting the bridge doors. Turning, he started away from the pair.
"Andros—wait!" Called Kendrix.
The Red Ranger froze at the sound of his name, and took off down a long hallway. He scrambled down a ladder to the lower decks, and Kendrix and Adam ran after the fleeing figure. Tommy rolled under the door just before it closed, and joined them in the chase. Maya and Rocky almost crashed into Tommy, coming through another door.
They all chased him to the end of a hallway, arriving just in time to see a flap close under a ladder. Quickly, they opened the flap, and climbed down to the next level of the ship. They walked down the hallway in hopes of finding Andros before he ran off again.
As they reached a corner, the Red Ranger leaped out, lunging for the person in the front—Tommy. The former Red Ranger blocked the first kick and tried again to explain.
"Wait! We don't want to fight you!" He ducked a punch.
Maya and Adam got behind Andros and tried to hold him back, but he threw them off. The Red Ranger aimed another kick at Tommy, but Rocky but Kendrix leaped in the way, seizing him by the arms.
"Hold it!" Kendrix cried.
As Alpha 6 toddled around the corner, there was a loud blaring noise, and the Astro Megaship lurched. Everyone fell into a pile, tumbling as the spaceship rocked again. Andros managed to scramble free and ran off.
"Wait," called Maya, as she pushed herself up. The ship swung again, and Maya fell back to the floor as Andros stepped into a lift. Tommy stood up and ran to the doors as they closed, trying to force them open, but with no luck.
"So, was that Andros?" Asked Tommy, turning around to face Maya and Kendrix.
"It sounded like him, but I don't know," said Maya.
"Something tells me we're under attack," said Tommy. The ship lurched again, throwing the teens against the wall.
"I'd say you're right," said Rocky, wincing.
"We've got to find another way back to the bridge," said Tommy. He looked to Kendrix and Maya.
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Andros had gone up to the Astro Megaship's bridge, to try and get the ship out of firing range. More of Astronema's forces had found him, and were peppering the ship with lasers.
"Deca, full power to the Astro Thrusters."
"The engines are disabled," replied a mechanical female voice.
"On screen," ordered the Ranger. On the viewing screen in front of him appeared a security camera image of the engine room. One of the tubes had come loose in the engine room, and swung around wildly. The engines flickered. "Oh no."
He switched the screen to see what was happening outside the ship. The Dark Fortress rippled in and out of view, shaped like a flying saucer with vertical spikes stabbing up and down from it. More shots hit the shields, which were already beginning to fail. The planet below grew as the ship began to fall towards it.
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As the teens followed Kendrix through the Astro Megaship, they heard a descending whine from the engine room, whose doors were cracked open. Turning, Kendrix saw the light from the engine room dim before going out completely.
"Oh no—the engine room!"
"Let's check it out," said Tommy.
The five made their way to the room, but the door wouldn't open. Squeezing through the opening, Tommy pushed the door open wide enough for the others to get through. They began to look around the dark room. Alpha ran and shut down the engines, so their repair work wouldn't accidentally fry them.
Then Tommy pointed. "Look that cable, it's come unplugged." The others saw the dangling cable as Tommy ran for a nearby ladder. Scrambling to the platform beside the engine, he leaned over the railing, trying to reach the cable. It swung just out of reach. He looked to Adam and Maya, who nodded, and grabbed on to his belt as he leaned further. Now he could reach the cable; when it swung close, he grabbed it and managed to fit it back in.
"Alpha, try the engine," said Adam.
The robot pushed a few buttons, and the teens heard the engines roar to life. Tommy gave them thumbs up, and they pulled him back up. Kendrix joined Alpha, helping balance out the engines as they reheated.
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On the bridge, Andros was trying to slow the descent of the ship when Deca spoke up. "Astro Thrusters are back online." He was puzzled, and brought the engine room back on screen. There he saw the five teens, finishing the engine.
"What? They were telling me the truth after all?" Seeing that they were done, he added, "Astro Thrusters, full power now!" The ship started to rise, but not by much. "Deca, try to compensate for the planet's gravitational pull!"
He pulled back on the controls as hard as he could, managing to just slow the ship before it crashed. The Astro Megaship bounced on the planet's surface, throwing the Ranger over the control panel headfirst. It skidded, digging a long trail in the ground, but finally halted.
Slowly, Andros rose to his feet. He was unhurt, if a little breathless. "Man, that was close. I'd better find the intruders."
He went to the elevator and headed to the lower deck. When the doors opened, he ran down the hall to the engine room. The five were still recovering from the crash when he found them. None of them looked badly hurt.
"Who are you?"
"We're the Power Rangers," said Tommy, standing.
"Power Rangers?"
"From the planet Earth."
"Sensors indicate that Astronema's ship is landing," said Deca.
Andros ran off, leaving the teens wondering what was happening. Tommy glanced at them briefly before following, and the others soon joined him. They arrived on the bridge to find the Red Ranger standing at the main navigation panel.
"Astronema's forces are disembarking," continued Deca.
"Quantrons," said Andros.
"What's a Quantron?" Whispered Maya to the others. Probably hearing her, the Red Ranger opened the viewing screen, and the five teens watched as several Quantrons appeared in front of the ship. They were the silvery armored soldiers who'd been at the meeting with Astronema, some with grey bodies, others black.
Tommy spoke up again. "Believe me, we are the Power Rangers. Well, at least, we were the Power Rangers. It's a long story, but right now we're on our way to Eltar to save Zordon."
"Zordon?" Andros whispered to himself. Then he addressed the disembodied voice. "Deca, what's our status? Can we take off?
"The Mega Accelerator is disabled. Launch is impossible. Mega Lasers are also down. Mega Decks Five and Six are on auxiliary power." Tommy turned to look at the others. Things didn't look too good, and everyone knew it.
"The Quantrons are nearing an attack position against the Megaship," said Deca.
Andros turned and pushed through the teens into the elevator. Just before the doors closed, Tommy grabbed them, forcing them open again.
"We're coming with you," he said, as the five teens joined him in the elevator. This time, they didn't give him time to refuse or try to lock them in the room again. Andros and the five ex-Rangers exited the ship and ran towards the groups of Quantrons.
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To be continued…