In the Face of Defeat
Chapter 3
Exodus
2016 (One year after going underground)
Tori and Blake were woken up by an explosion in the compound followed by the crying of their four month old son. Tori went to his crib while Blake stepped out to see what was going on. When he made it outside he was confronted by at least fifty grinders plus an attackbot that had made it through the walls of the academy. Without saying a word he slipped back inside and grabbed Marah, who was heading out herself to see what the commotion was. He led her back to his room told her to stay with the kids as he grabbed his morpher.
"What's going on?" Tori asked when he tossed her morpher into her hands.
"Time to go to work", he said with a grim expression on his face.
"THUNDER STORM, RANGER FORM!" He called as he transformed into the navy Thunder Ranger.
"We'll never be safe at this rate", Tori said as she readied her own morpher.
"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM!"
By the time they made it outside Shane and Dustin were already fighting the grinders.
"Nice of you to join us", Dustin said as he cut the head off one of the grinders using his ninja sword.
"Well you know, If it's not the baby, it might as well be a monster that wakes us up in the middle of the night", Blake replied.
"Where's Cam?" Tori asked as she landed a kick to the knee of another grinder, "Shouldn't he be out here helping us?
"He's making preparations to get us out of here. We need to buy him enough time while he gets that taken care of", Shane yelled.
"I understand", Cam yelled into the monitor so he could be heard over the explosions, "We'll send the civilians to the forest, the ninjas to the Animarium, and we'll come to you.
"If there are any separations, we'll take care of it after we verify that everyone is safe", Tommy said as he finished programming the sequence.
Cam set the self destruct on his equipment and ran out the door to join the other rangers. A moment later the whole academy was bathed in light and the Venjix forces found themselves standing in an empty courtyard.
At the Animarium, a large number of wind and thunder ninjas materialized. They looked around slightly confused until they were greeted by Eric and Wes. They were shown to their respective living areas so they could get cleaned up and rest for a bit until they were needed to fill the others in on what had happened.
Back in Briarwood, the Mystic Force Rangers were busy fighting off a wave of grinders, trying to give Udonna and Mystic Mother enough time to evacuate the civilians to the magical world. Moments before the evacuation was complete, and the rangers retreated, Kilobyte, a Venjix general, appeared, intent on capturing the rangers, and finding out where they had been hiding, as he had been given orders to find and convert the people of Briarwood. Kilobyte looked around, and saw the portal to the magical world, at which he said "At last, now I will complete my mission." Nick, having overheard this, looked directly at Kilobyte as the portal was closing and said, "Not today you're not!"
Once the portal was closed Kilobyte let out a scream worthy of a human, filled with anger and frustration at having yet again failed Venjix. Once he calmed down, he contacted Venjix. Venjix who was quite unhappy with Kilobyte's repeated failures in regards to capturing former rangers, ordered Kilobyte to return to the palace, making him walk the entire way.
At the command center, Tommy got a very worried look on his face as he was completing the transport of the Thunder and Wind Ninja Rangers. The teleporter wasn't designed to transport that many people to that many locations, in that short a period of time, and he was starting to see warning lights on the console. Tori, Blake and Shane appeared in the command center exactly where they were supposed to along with Simon and Sean, however Hunter, Cam, and Dustin were nowhere in sight.
Elsewhere, in the caves under the command center, Justin was walking towards the entrance to the Power Chamber, when suddenly he was knocked to the ground. Panicking and thinking the caves had somehow been invaded by grinders, he immediately started trying to throw the attacker off of him only to hear him say, "Dude relax, we're not going to hurt you."
Justin, realizing that he wasn't under attack shook his head to knock the cobwebs loose and said, "Uh, ok, but who are you guys?"
Cam, who was trying very hard not to laugh at the situations Dustin always managed to find himself in, replied "We're the ninja rangers, and we were supposed to be teleported to the command center to see a Tommy Oliver, but something must have gone wrong".
Justin immediately hit the talk button on his communicator and said "Tommy, I think I found something you may have lost…."
Tommy, not understanding what Justin was talking about replied, "Justin, not right now, I'm busy trying to find the other Ninja Rangers. Three of them, and their children made it to the command center just fine, but the others…"
"Just landed on top of me", Justin interrupted.
Tommy was about to say, "What do you mean, landed on you?", when they all walked into the command center, looking more than a little confused.
The first to speak was Dustin, who said "Whoa! That was wicked, what happened? How'd we wind up in those caves?"
Tommy was about to answer when sparks shot out of the console next to him. "We overloaded the transporter, so you were slightly off target, now what did Justin mean when he said you landed on him… you know what… never mind, I really don't want to know." Tommy answered, shaking his head.
Hunter was the next to speak, and said "At least we all made it in one piece, is there anything we can do to help for the time being?"
"Not unless you know how to repair a long-range alien teleporter without the needed parts!" Tommy replied a bit too harshly. Once it dawned on him what he had said to them he closed his eyes to gather his thoughts before saying, "I'm sorry, it's just, it's been a very long year, and we've essentially been trapped in here without a break, trying to keep this equipment running constantly under far more stress than it was ever intended to."
About that time, Anton and Elsa walked into the Command Center, unseen by all, as Cam spoke up and said "If you want the help, I will be happy to take a look at the teleporter and see if there is anything I can do."
Anton chose this moment to make his presence know, and said "What's wrong with the teleporter?"
"We fried it evacuating the ninja academies, and I don't think we will be able to get it working again anytime soon!" Tommy exclaimed.
"May I take a look?" Anton asked. "Even if we can't get it working I may be able to modify the systems to create a version of the invisaportal network."
Tommy groaned inwardly before replying "As much as I hate to admit it, invisaportals might not be a bad idea. The teleporter has been tracked in the past, and there is a chance Venjix could do it as well."
"Why don't we setup a permanent invisaportal at the Animarium, and maybe one inside Root Core, so that we aren't all quite so trapped in here?" Cam piped up.
"Hmm," Tommy said, "that would make it much easier for us to coordinate our efforts, and it would allow us all to be not quite as confined to these caves. Can it be done Anton?"
"Yes, I believe it can, but I'm going to need as much help as I can get." Anton replied.
"Then let's get on it", Cam said as he punched up information on both locations on the computer.
"Elsa, if you wouldn't mind getting Billy and Hayley up here, they more about how these systems are currently configured than anyone." Anton said.
"Not a problem Hon, I'll be happy to if it means we can finally get some fresh air." Elsa replied.
"The Animaruim won't be too much of an issue, but we need to find some way through the inter-dimensional barrier leading to Root Core", Cam said as he reviewed the data.
"Luckily Billy has the most experience with inter-dimensional travel of anyone I know", a very pregnant Kim said as she took her seat at one of the computers.
Meanwhile, Tommy was busy on the communicator attempting to coordinate his efforts with Wes and Eric at the Animarium, as well as Udonna and Leanbow at Root Core, trying to determine the best places to put their respective invisaportals.
About five minutes later, Elsa returned with Billy and Hayley, who looked less than pleased, as they had been enjoying a brief nap after a long day of looking after their daughter, Cestria.
"If this isn't an emergency, I am going to hurt you Thomas Oliver", Hayley said irritably.
Immediately after she said that the console sparked again and the front panel blew off from a power surge causing both Billy and Hayley to stare wide-eyed at Tommy in disbelief.
"What did you do?" Billy asked with shock evident in his voice.
"Oh, nothing much," Tommy replied dryly, "Just teleported about 600 people to three different locations in less than 2 minutes and blew out the teleporter in the process."
Billy scoffed slightly, "Did you activate the overload compensators? I did install them for a reason."
"We didn't have time unfortunately; the ninja academies were under attack by grinders and we had to get everyone out." Tommy said as the console next to him continued to crack and pop ominously. "It was a, 'Speak now or forever hold your piece' moment."
At this moment Anton interjected, "We were thinking that we may be able to turn what's left of the equipment here into a modified invisaportal network."
"I got it", Cam said excitably, 'Like I said, the Animarium is a non-issue since we can get a permanent portal set up there that can be opened or closed at will from either end, but in Root Core we'll have to build an energy receiving unit so we can create a stable path without affecting the barrier."
"How are we going to get them the parts they need, and whose going to build it?" Tommy asked as he sat down in a chair next to Kim.
"I believe I have an answer for that", they heard as Udonna's voice came over the communication system speakers. I will send my son Bowen on Fireheart to collect the components and an engineer to construct it."
"I'll go", Anton said, "I have the most experience with the technology."
"That sounds good Anton, but it's Billy that has to go since he has his ranger powers to protect him should anything go wrong. He can easily communicate with you from Root Core if need be." Elsa said.
"I'm afraid that I must agree", Tommy said, "Billy is the best choice."
A/N: Here is chapter three. The next one is quite long so it may be a little while before posting, and also I am working on a new chapter for The Next Year so don't worry. Please read and review.