This is stupid! That was all Jake could think. Here he was, sitting crouched on a cushion, surrounded by candles, thinking about...of all things...BREATHING! It was something he was always sceptical about, but as time went on, it was feeling more and more ridiculous.
He opened his eyes, despite what he had been told, and looked aside to Noah, who seemed to be swaying a little bit. Noah was a lot bigger than he had been, and a lot more muscular than a year previously, but he was still smaller than Jake, so he wasn't especially surprised that the tea affected him more quickly. Jake was no angel. He wasn't exactly into anything bad, but in his time with the soccer team, he had been at a few parties and seen some stuff he was sure his parents would freak out about. He was well aware of what was a particularly effective hangover cure, and he had seen some of the guys in a state that would likely have been frowned upon.
He could hear Orion chanting something, saying something in a barely audible whisper in his native tongue, with a book open before him. The fact that Orion didn't have his eyes open to read the pages was a good indication that he was intimately familiar with the ceremony, to the point that he didn't actually NEED the book to know the sermon he was reading. While he had a somewhat passing relationship with his Judaism, he had been observant of the main holidays and had eaten Kosher up until he had become a Corsair Ranger. He had to admit there were some passages of the Torah he could probably recite by heart, but he was always aware that Orion's faith was on a different level. He could feel a tingle in his body, and knew the tea was taking effect.
His vision was also slightly distorted, and he was a little more sluggish than he was used to. He had been at a few parties where guys were smoking certain...things...and a little careless about doing so, so he wasn't exactly unaccustomed to being a little impaired. He had to think that in some ways he felt sorry for Orion. None of them had told him that this ceremony, something that was a huge part of the faith he believed in for his whole life was likely able to be explained with simple chemistry, that he had basically just been high when he had some of the most important experiences of his life in a spiritual sense.
The heat in the room was stifling. At Orion's insistence, the door was closed, and the candles in the room were producing a surprising heat. He pulled off his t-shirt, throwing it aside as he started to breathe more deeply. He could see Noah's head slumping forward, and smiled. He was gone...he wondered what he was seeing, and had to think that all of this was really...
Suddenly, he found himself in a place he didn't recognise, and he was fighting for his life! He was walking down the street, on his way home from school. It was his first day at a new school, and he wasn't particularly familiar with the city's streets. He could tell when he turned down this alley that it was an access for garbage trucks and suchlike, but seeing a mini-mart he recognised as being near where his parents' house was, he continued onward despite his initial reservations when all of a sudden, he was surrounded. He had never seen anything like these creatures, and his heart was hammering at a thousand beats a minute, but the second the first one touched him, without even thinking, his instincts took over.
He didn't think, not for an instant. Every one of his moves came as second nature, like when he was on the soccer pitch. Jake prided himself on his fighting since he had become a Ranger, but what he was doing now was light-years beyond what he had trained to do.
As the last of his opponents fell, he looked around as the creatures disappeared in a flash of light. Jake had seen such a thing more times than he could count by now, but in his heart, in his mind, he could feel confusion.
"What was that?" He asked, starting to straighten himself out and look for his back pack. Just then, an ill wind whipped up through the street, and he looked up and saw a figure in dark clothing standing on top of a nearby building cackling loudly. The street became alive with lightning and he found himself frozen to the spot, unable to move. The last thing he remembered was the witch informing him he would now be her Green Ranger.
In the main room, Gia was pacing as time ticked by. She was starting to grow impatient as she waited on word from inside the room.
"This is taking forever." She muttered. "How are they doing?"
"Well...Jake's gone into cardiac arrest since you asked thirty seconds ago." Jordan replied sarcastically, patting the computer. "The alarm is just on the blink."
"Really?" Gia asked him. "You want to...?"
"Guys!" Emma called out, bringing them both around. All of them were worried about this experiment, and nerves were beginning to get frayed. Gia and Jordan genuinely did care about each other, it was just their way of coping, combined with the fact they normally deliberately grated on each other. Unfortunately right now, instead of just taking it in good humour, it was getting dangerously close to them descending into an actual fight. "Come on, this isn't doing any good."
"They've been in there for ages!" Gia repeated. "How long is this going to take?"
"I...I really don't know." Emma admitted. She was the only one in the room that had experienced one of those visions. "I...I don't really understand how the work. They just...come at a time that suits them I suppose."
Before Gia could answer though, there was an alarm. Gia immediately checked the computer and looked to the scans. She looked more than a little put out as she saw it.
"It's an Armada signature." She informed them. "It's the Alamo."
"The Alamo?" Jordan asked. "What do they want in Texas?"
"Well, at a guess I'd say they're just trying to get our attention." Emma answered as she pulled up some footage. They all watched as they saw a legion of X-borgs and bruisers surrounding the historic fort, with Prince Vekar standing in full view of the camera, with Lavira at his side, and Argus at the other. He just looked into the camera.
"Rangers, I trust you have enjoyed this little...reprieve...I have been gracious enough to grant you." He began. Jordan just looked to the girls.
"Granted us?" He asked. "Didn't he spend weeks pouting in his bedroom comfort-eating because you guys broke his toys?"
Gia just nodded in response, before turning her attention back to the screen.
"I grant you one hour to show up here." He told them, before gesturing to the fort. They could see it was surrounded, and some tourists were inside, screaming as they were being pinned inside by blasts any time one of them got too close to the wall. "Otherwise, another 189 people will meet their end to hopeless odds here."
As the signal cut off, they all looked among each other.
"So...he knows his history at least." Jordan commented. He just saw the way Gia was looking at him. "OK, not the point."
"What do we do?" Emma asked. Gia thought about it for a moment before answering.
"We don't have much of a choice." She reminded them. "Tensou, you're in charge of keeping track of the others."
"But..."
"We don't have a choice; we'll need every hand we can get." Gia told him. "Come on guys, we're heading for Texas."
Jordan just smiled.
"I wish I had a racoon skin hat." He commented as he prepared for action. "I always did love Davy Crockett."
In his vision, Noah found himself bathed in a bright light, and couldn't see what was going on. He stood, with others by his side as others assembled before them. He could feel a familiarity with this place, kind of the same way he had in Gosei's mountain. He suddenly saw something he recognised as a man in red, with long, dark hair stepped forward into view.
"TJ, I wouldn't be here today, if it wasn't for your courage and strength." The man in Red announced. "That is why I am choosing you, as the new Red Ranger."
Noah recognised the man, not just from Troy's Martial Arts magazines, but from his research into previous Ranger teams. This was Tommy Oliver, the man who had been a Ranger more times and for longer than anyone else on Earth. He was a legend in his own right, but only within the Brotherhood of the Rangers. To the rest of the world, he had his own accomplishments that made him extraordinary. He was in the International Karate Hall of Fame, he had won numerous tournaments, and he was apparently a teacher that had won numerous awards, but most of the world had no idea what he had done for them all.
The meeting moved on, and the people started to disperse, to decompress after everything. Noah had heard about this, apparently the Turbo Team had changed part way through their tenure. The former Zeo Rangers had been released to go on to the next stage of their lives beyond Ranger business, and had named successors to take their place. He watched as they all went off to the main room where refreshments had been prepared. The old team were going to hand off to the new generation and advise them on the journey ahead, while the new team were planning to wish their predecessors a fond farewell.
As he was getting down off the podium though, Noah noticed something odd. Tommy wasn't going with them. He was heading in another direction entirely. He saw the former Red Ranger open a door that he wasn't even aware was there, before heading outside. Noah hopped down the steps, and ran to the door, heaving it open.
He was struck by how heavy the door was, and how tall it was. He found his curiosity passed as he got outside, into the desert beyond the Command Centre walls, and saw Tommy sitting there, looking up to the night sky. He started to make his way over. As he got there, he noticed that Tommy was remarkably tall, and...big. The former Red Ranger looked around and saw him, and just turned away.
"Shouldn't you be inside with the rest of your team Justin?" He asked. Now it made sense...Noah and the team had met Justin in Rio months ago. He had told them that he was only 12 when he had joined the Turbo Rangers. He made his way round a rock, sitting beside Tommy.
"Well, shouldn't you be in there too?" He asked. "I mean...we are your team."
"Not anymore." Tommy sighed. Noah felt something from him as he said this. He moved a little closer.
"Tommy, we'll always be YOUR team." He assured him. "You were the one..."
"I'm the one being put out to pasture." He interrupted Justin as he looked to the stars. "She said all that stuff about us having lives beyond our Ranger days, of us doing other things but...but what?"
"Didn't you say you were on your Uncle's racing team?" Justin asked him.
"Please, do you know what it takes to make a career in that kind of thing?" He asked. "Sure, I love being on the team and I love driving, but realistically I've got what? Maybe five years? Some of the guys I'm up against have ALREADY got that kind of experience behind them. I'm just starting out!"
Justin moved a little closer as Tommy started pulling up some plants from between the rocks.
"Besides, if I'm honest...it's a hobby anyway. Sure I love it, but doing this every day for the rest of my life? To spend my whole life studying car parts and analysing race courses? It's...it's not for me."
"So you don't race forever." Justin stated. "You graduate tomorrow; you've got a whole load of options you could explore. You and Kat..."
"Kat and I called it a day." Tommy informed him. He felt astounded to hear that. They were always rock-solid. "She's really into this dancing thing, and London is so far away...we figured it was for the best. Try not to tell the others though...not tonight at least. There's no reason to spoil the party."
"Well...it's not like you're short of options." Justin reminded him, trying to get the subject off of his break-up. It seemed like a lot of this was happening at once for Tommy. "College..."
"College?" He asked. "Go to college and study what? You know me, what exactly am I going to study? It's not like they have career courses in Karate!"
"Well...you want to open a dojo, perhaps a business course..."
"Staring at sheets of numbers all day? I'd go insane inside a week!" Tommy told him. "I just...everyone's telling me that I have this life to live, to do other things but what was so wrong with what I had?"
"Tommy..."
"Dimitria never even asked me if I WANTED to retire!" He reminded him. "She just suddenly decided that now after all these years, all of a sudden she says 'Oh, by the way, thanks but there's the door...find something else to do'...what exactly am I going to do Justin?"
"I...I don't know." He replied honestly. "Maybe if you talk to Dimitria and TJ..."
"I can't do that, he's already got the morpher." Tommy replied. "If I take it away from him now, what are they all going to think of me?"
"They're going to think that you're showing the same determination to do everything you can for this shit that made you a Ranger in the first place." Justin replied. Tommy gave him a withering glare, at which he realised he had sworn. "Sorry...but you know what I mean."
"I appreciate it Justin, but it's just...I've done this for so long...I always told myself I wouldn't be doing it forever, but now I'm finally seeing the end of it...I just can't help asking...what now?"
He tried to find an answer, but found himself unable to say anything of note. As he was about to go inside to leave him alone when he accidentally kicked something, and looked down to see what it was. He bent down, picking up a strange rock, seeing that it was a fossil, one of some kind of sea creature, the shell-shape distinctive in the rock. The desert was full of them, something none of them had really thought about too much to be honest...they'd all been too busy and kind of taken where they were for granted. He went back, presenting it to Tommy.
"What is that?" He asked, taking it from him, before looking to it. "Is that...a trilobite?"
He looked between Justin and the fossil for a moment, smiling.
"Billy used to talk about this stuff all the time." Tommy told him. "He used to bring this stuff back to the lab all the time. I have a ton of these in my bedroom..."
"Given where you started, I guess it's no surprise you like dinosaurs." Justin remarked. "Maybe...that's something you should consider?"
"Dinosaurs?" Tommy asked him. "Do I look like an archaeologist?"
"The study of dinosaurs is Palaeontology actually." Justin corrected him. "My dad has a colleague that runs scholarships with Stone Valley University...he could always arrange a meeting."
"Let me think about it." Tommy answered, looking at the fossil. "Thanks Justin."
With that, he left to go back into the party, leaving Tommy considering the fossil in his hands, thinking about the path his life would take now he was no longer a Ranger.
In the real world, the Red Galleon was approaching Texas, making its way through the clouds. Thanks to their cloaking device, they didn't really need the cover, but they still made a habit of staying out of sight when they could. On the deck, Gia was waiting as Emma and Jordan came to her side.
"We're nearing the drop zone." Gia told them.
"I can see them from here." Noah commented. "So...what's the plan?"
"We can't risk initial shelling to thin them out; they'd go into the fort." Gia told them. "We don't have much choice, we need to head for the centre and drop in on them."
"Well, I never was one for subtlety." Jordan said with a smile.
They brought the ship down, sailing overhead as they came closer, only bringing it into view as they got close to the fort. They all rappelled down, landing in the space between the Armada Forces and the front gate to the fort.
"Hey Vrak! I thought you were sulking!" Gia called out. He just smiled.
"Brave words when you are so...shorthanded." He replied. "Lavira...forgive me, all these humans look the same to me but...isn't that one different?"
"The Red Ranger?" Lavira asked. She strained to see, but she noticed that while he looked similar, he was different to the one they had seen before. She smiled. "So, you have a new Red Ranger? I suppose Lafitte was some use after all!"
Emma was about to rush her, but Gia grabbed her, holding her back. She looked to Vrak.
"Alright, we're here, just like you wanted." Gia told him. "Let the tourists go, if you want a fight, we're here!"
"Oh, I want a fight alright." Prince Vekar told her. "I just wanted to put you all on notice...the games have ended."
He drew a sword and stepped forward, gesturing to Argus to stay back.
"So, which of you will it be?" He asked. The three Rangers just stood, looking more than a little confused.
"Wait, what?" Emma asked. "You want to fight? YOU want to fight?"
"Yes."
"With one of us?" Gia asked. "One on one?"
"Yes." Vrak reiterated. The three Rangers all looked to each other...before doubling over in laughter. Vrak felt his temper boiling over, but he remembered Argus' lessons, and knew he had to keep his head in the game. Jordan finally stood upright, wiping his eyes and pulling out his morpher.
"OK, this should be fun." Jordan replied, pulling out his morpher and turning into the Red Corsair Ranger for the first time. "Keep the engines on the Galleon running, this won't take long!"