Gem and Gemma were flying high over the clouds as they made their way towards Turtle Cove. They had received a distress signal from the city longer ago than they would have liked to respond to it, but since there were only two cities known to be secure enough to spare their Ranger teams to the efforts to return the world to humanity.
"The GPS system says we're almost there." Gemma informed her brother.
"I think that much is a given!" Gem replied, gesturing to a high, thick, dark cloud of smog that dominated the landscape. It extended much higher than the natural cloud cover, and ominously concealed the ground from view.
"The GPS signal from the distress signal is coming from underneath the cloud cover." Dr. K informed them through the communicator. "Switch to night vision and descend."
Gem and Gemma pulled out visors and put them on as he descended quickly. Even with the enhanced vision mode, they found it hard to see far enough. Just then, the lights inside started flashing red and the collision alarms sounded.
"What the hell?" Gemma screeched. "We're at 38,000 feet. There shouldn't be anything up here!"
Suddenly, a large oasis of light appeared in the cloud. Gem and Gemma whipped off their visors as they broke into the bubble. Gem had to swerve hard to avoid a large, pointed cliff. He banked around as he tried to slow down. Gemma checked their altimeter.
"Gem, we're still over 30,000 feet above sea level." She informed him with a huge grin on her face. "Do you know where we are?"
"You can't be serious!" He called out, bouncing in his seat excitedly. "You mean it's real?"
Since their upbringing in the Alphabet Soup facility was geared towards keeping them over stimulated and their outlook on life childlike, part of their routine was a regular slew of fairy tales told to them every night. Some of their favourite tales surrounded the myth of the hidden floating island of the Animarium. They had never considered the possibility it was real. As far as they knew it was purely a story. Now though, they seemed to be seeing it with their own eyes.
The jet shifted slightly as a pair of craft blasted past them. They looked at each other; their eyes open in wonder as they changed direction impossibly in the air for any craft they knew of. One was a large, yellow metallic plane fashioned after a Golden Eagle. The other was a gigantic red Falcon.
"Identify yourselves." A communication in a female voice came across the intercom. "You have 30 seconds to comply or we will engage."
"We're from Corinth; we received your distress signal." Gemma responded. "I'm Gemma, the Silver RPM Ranger."
"Follow the Eagle Zord." She instructed them. "It'll take you to a clearing where you can land."
The Falcon Zord circled around, maintaining a pursuit course, obviously preparing to intercept if they did anything other than head to the landing zone. Gem followed the Eagle Zord at a safe distance, but couldn't help grinning widely. Looking to his sister, he could tell she was just as excited. They hadn't just found out that the Animarium was real, within minutes; they were actually going to be setting foot on the floating island they had only heard of in story books.
Meanwhile, over in Vegas, Dillon and Adam took Chrissie down the hall towards his room. He saw the way she had her arms wrapped around herself, chewing her lip nervously. He put a hand on her cheek softly.
"He's really in there?" She asked him. "He really got out alright?"
"He's alive." Adam assured her. "He was really badly affected by seeing you taken away, but that's all in the past."
"I can still remember everything they did to me." Chrissie whispered softly, pulling away from him a little. "All that stuff is still inside me. I have that circuitry is still in my head."
"Dr. K is sending over all the files on removing the control software to the medical personnel." He informed her. "Now the conduit's gone, you won't need to worry about being controlled, but just to be on the safe side, they'll give you the treatment. The rest of your implants are always going to be a part of you."
"I don't know about you, but I can see some advantages." Adam told her. "From now on, I'll be asking you to open the tough jars."
"I suppose there is something to be said about not needing a can opener anymore." She replied in a sigh. "I just don't know how he's going to react."
"There's one way to find out." Dillon told her. "I'll leave the two of you to it."
With that, he turned and left the corridor, leaving them to it. Chrissie looked to the door to his room sadly.
"What if he doesn't accept me?" She asked him. "It's been two years..."
"I'll be right here with you." Adam assured her, kissing her softly. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." She replied. With that, Adam activated the door. It slid open, at which she rounded the door slowly. Jonny was playing quietly with his games console, as silent as he had been since her disappearance. Chrissie couldn't contain herself and tears started to run down her face. In the two years since she had last seen him, he had grown a little, but to her, it was still her little boy.
"Jonny." She whispered gently. The little boy froze immediately as he heard her voice. The control pad slipped from his hand, and he turned slowly, seeing her standing in the room. His face was filled with a combination of terror and disbelief. It hurt to see him like this. "Jonny it's me!"
He started trembling, not knowing what to do. Adam came into view, kneeling next to his son and grabbing his arm gently, turning him to face him.
"It's not a dream Jonny; it's really your mom." He told his son, nodding gently. "She's really home."
"Jonny?" She asked him nervously, approaching him. Jonny hid his face as she came over towards him. "Jonny, what's the matter?"
"Jonny, your mom's come back." Adam told him. "Aren't you going to welcome her back?"
"Jonny, the things that took me away are gone. Your dad destroyed them all." She told him. "I'm back for good. No one's going to take me away again."
"W...w..." He started to stammer. Adam's eyes opened wide as he heard this. It was the first time he had heard his son even attempt to speak since he had been found in the ruins of their old house. He reached out, touching his mother a few times, prodding her to make sure she was real. She looked at him a little worried.
"Jonny, I'm fine." She assured him. "I'm back now, and I have no intention of going anywhere."
He still seemed reluctant, looking between his mother and father, confused and frightened. Adam could see tears in his eyes, and he suddenly got a thought.
"Jonny, is this about what happened?" He asked him. "Do you feel badly about the fact your mom got taken?" He nodded.
"You didn't." Chrissie sighed as she caught on to what Adam was suggesting. Jonny just sobbed a little. "Jonny, you should never feel badly about that. I told you to hide. I told you to stay safe."
"B...b...but..." He started to whimper.
"Jonny, knowing you were safe is the only thing that kept me going. If I didn't have that...I'd never have had anything to hold on to." She told him.
"You don't hate me?" He asked, looking between them. Adam suddenly realised what the problem was, why he hadn't spoken since the night she was taken. He couldn't bring himself to talk about that night. He had lost his mother, and he blamed himself for the fact she was gone. Because she had hidden him instead of getting herself out, she had been taken from their lives. He obviously blamed himself for that happening, and worried that if he told his father what had happened, that he would turn his back on him. Adam turned his son to face him.
"We could never hate you." He assured his son. "You can't possibly think that for one second. You are the most precious thing in the world to us."
"I made the decision to keep you safe. It's a mom's job." Chrissie told him. "Even knowing what would happen, if I could go back, I wouldn't change a single thing."
Jonny leapt into her arms, throwing his arms around her neck tightly and held her, weeping into her shoulder. Chrissie stroked his back comfortingly as she allayed the one fear she'd had since being freed from Semtex's control. He accepted that she had returned to him, and she now had her husband and her son back in her life. She finally felt like what Dillon had told him was true. Perhaps she could return to her life after all.
Meanwhile, out in the main street of the underground city beneath Area 51, the party was already in full swing. As Dillon arrived back, Flynn handed him a beer.
"So how are Chrissie and Adam?" Flynn asked him. Dillon shook his head.
"I'm not sure." He replied. "I'm confident they'll be alright in time though."
"So how do you feel about the fact we get to go home soon?" Flynn asked him. "I can't wait to see Sam. I know she showed me that footage of her last scan, but I really want to share this with her."
"I always did feel bad about rushing out on Summer so soon after finding out." Dillon admitted. "I know these missions are important, but..."
"Hey guys, are you enjoying things here?" Scott asked them as he arrived with Tommy. "This party is off the hook!"
"Off the hook?" Dillon asked him a little disbelievingly. "Seriously, does anyone still say that?"
"I've been in contact with Corinth; Mike's bringing out the construction crew in the morning." Tommy informed them. "It'll take a while, but we're hoping to rebuild the city to its former glory."
"I'm sure Kira's looking forward to getting out of here and back into her old place." Flynn commented. "Not to mention rebuilding her record company building."
"Well that's kind of bittersweet. We need to find out how many of her acts are still around." Tommy told them.
"Did she get her voice back?" Dillon asked him.
"Not yet." Tommy replied. "I'm just looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet for a few days."
He saw the looks on the RPM Ranger's faces and immediately his expression fell.
"She's standing right behind me isn't she?" He asked them. Just then, a hard punch in the side informed him his suspicion was right as Kira sat next to him, draping his arm over her shoulders. Emma and Frank came into view, sitting with them.
"Well just before her voice gave out, she did promise us a higher allowance." Frank informed him.
"Yeah, and she said she'd forget about grounding us." Emma added. "After all, we did save her life and everything."
Tommy looked to his wife, their eyes connecting, before turning back to their kids.
"Nice try kids." He warned them. "Just because your mom's lost her voice, don't think we aren't going to talk about this later."
"Well if I could just pitch in, I think they did a really good job." Dillon told him.
"I think they'd make great Rangers some day." Flynn added with an impressed look on his face. "I'd say it's in the family."
"Well they'll have to work off their punishment first." Tommy told him. "After all, they have to remember that part of being a Ranger is using their heads and not rushing into trouble!"
Just then, Scott got up from his seat and made his way over to a pile of crates stacked up by a store. The others looked at him as he did so, not sure what he was looking at. He started wiping a layer of dust off an insignia on the side of the crate.
"The Macha Group?" He gasped, seeing the insignia. "This address is local!"
"They had a building in the middle of the city." Tommy told him. "When we evacuated, we managed to ship out a load of weapons..."
"Is anyone from the Macha Group still here?" He asked them. Tommy shrugged.
"I would have to check the database." He informed him. "I'm sure someone will still be around."
"Why are you so interested in this company?" Dillon asked him. Scott sighed as he reminded himself that he hadn't told them.
"Alphabet Soup wasn't a Government facility. It was run by a private corporation." Scott informed them.
"Alphabet Soup?" Tommy asked him. "I've heard the stories from the supermarket tabloids...."
"It was a lot more than an urban myth. Three of our friends were raised in Alphabet Soup." Scott informed them. "The Macha Group ran it."
"So what difference does it make?" Flynn asked him. "Either way, Dr. K was still kidnapped."
"Charisma gave her a file relating to Alphabet Soup." Scott told them. "She knows who she really is."
"So you want to dig this up?" Dillon asked him.
"You don't get it, she knows her real name. She has her birth certificate." Scott stated. "Guys, she had her parents' names. This might be a lead to figuring out what happened to her."
Meanwhile, at the Animarium, Gem brought the jet down into a gentle landing by a clearing. As the Eagle Zord circled overhead, the Yellow Wild Force Ranger leapt out, landing by the vehicle. She turned towards the jet as the door opened and Gem and Gemma stepped out.
"Move slowly!" She warned them, her Eagle Sword at the ready.
"We received the distress signal." Gemma assured her. "We're here to help."
The Red Wild Force Ranger arrived beside her a short time later, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Ease up a little Taylor." He told her. "Sorry about this, we're all pretty jumpy up here."
"All?" Gem asked him. "You mean you and the other Rangers?" He asked them. Taylor and Cole both de-morphed at this point, approaching them. The Red Ranger approached them slowly. He looked to be fast approaching his thirties, but his build was still incredible, the result of his lifestyle in the jungles of the Animarium. His uniform was a little worse for wear, bearing a lot of damage, and a little faded. His arms bore many scars from battle.
"My name's Cole." He told them. "Welcome to the Animarium. This is my friend Taylor."
Taylor looked around the same age as him, with long blonde hair that she tied back into a tight pony tail; she too looked rather battle weary.
"The Wild Zords are still active?" Gem asked them. "We heard the Animarium disappeared."
"They must have read Alyssa's books." Cole surmised. In the time after their tenure as Rangers, Alyssa had become a kindergarten teacher as had always been her dream. However, the kids had loved all her stories so much; she had been encouraged to write some of them down. She had found moderate success as a children's writer, telling the fantastic tales of the Animarium.
"We never believed it was anything more than a story." Gemma told them as she looked around. "I never would have dreamed I'd actually end up here."
"Come, we should get moving to the camp." Cole told them. "Merrick and Princess Shayla will want to meet you."
"So what happened here?" Gem asked them. "What's with the clouds?"
"When Venjix attacked, the earth suffered great harm. The pollution brought on by the factories revived some of the ancient Orgs." Taylor informed them as they led them through the jungle. "With the Orgs back, Princess Shayla brought the Animarium back and found us, giving us back our powers. Those of us she could anyway."
"The Orgs over ran the forces of Venjix in this area, but the pollution from his factories strengthens them. So they enslaved the city of Turtle Cove, forcing the humans to pollute the world. Now the clouds have engulfed everything. Only the Animarium's defensive magic prevents the clouds taking hold here too."
"We evacuated as many people as we could, but the Orgs are too strong." Taylor told them sadly as they arrived at a sandstone temple. There, they found a man in dark trousers, with a silver and blue jacket, talking with a beautiful dark-haired woman in a flowing white dress.
"Oh, you must be the ones who came to answer our call for help!" Princess Shayla began. "Greetings. I'm..."
"Princess Shayla!" Gem and Gemma called out together excitedly. Princess Shayla looked a little confused that they seemed to know who she was.
"They read Alyssa's books." Cole explained.
"We're here to help you liberate Turtle Cove for good." Gemma told her. "It will be n honour to fight with the warriors of the Animarium."
"I'm glad you're so enthusiastic." Merrick told them casually as he approached them, shaking their hands. "There's plenty of fighting to go around."
"So where are the others?" Gemma asked them, looking around at the three Rangers. "We heard there were six of you."
"That's one thing we hadn't explained yet." Cole told them. "When Princess Shayla called us back, she didn't manage to reach us all in time."
"Danny, the Black Wild Force Ranger was in an accident in New Tech during the Big One of 2006." Taylor told them. "He's alive, but he was in no fit state to take up his old mantle again."
"What about the other two?" Gemma asked them. Merrick let out a sad sigh. Taylor turned away, unable to look at them as he prepared to tell them.
"We lost them shortly after we returned to Turtle Cove. The Orgs were just too strong." Merrick sighed regretfully. "Alyssa and Max are dead."