"Get out of the way!" Argus snarled as he ran through the ship, his sword in his hand. Two bruisers were carrying the moaning, barely-conscious body of Prince Vekar as they ran through the corridors heading for the infirmary. Without breaking pace or slowing at all, he sliced down a couple of X-borgs who had the misfortune not to clear their way to the wall quickly enough.
Lavira was at the Prince's side, struggling to keep up with the robotic henchmen as they carried him. She struggled to hold in her tears. As they arrived, some of the medical droids were already waiting, and tools were already prepared for his arrival.
"Put him on the table!" Argus instructed quickly, gesturing the medical droids aside. The Bruisers dropped the Prince on the bench, still moaning and wailing as a result of the injury. It wasn't as though his troops weren't used to Vekar complaining about injuries, but generally when he did, they all knew he wasn't in any real danger. For the entirety of his life, the Prince had been protected, coddled. He was almost fully grown before he had even SEEN a battlefield, showing no real interest in combat beyond an unhealthy obsession with the destruction left in its aftermath. He had needed the infirmary more times in his campaign on Earth than pretty much any of the countless worlds he had conquered...although with the exception of when Noah broke his nose, it was debatable whether his most serious 'injury' was when he was lightly singed by a blaster...or he spilled his soup over his OWN lap. No one could deny that this though was much more serious.
In his arrogance, the Prince had been short-sighted enough to try and replicate Argus' Solar Flare attack. He had Jordan on the ropes, he had him down, dead to rights, and in his overconfidence, he had tried to make an example of him by unleashing the most powerful attack he could think of. Unfortunately, Argus had not yet instructed him properly in the use of the technique. He had sited it as one of the most powerful sword techniques in existence, and the Prince wanted to show the Rangers what he was capable of. Unfortunately, without the proper training, he had been unable to contain its power, and the blast had gone off prematurely.
His face was now charred, badly burned, as were his hands. His robes and his armour were scorched, but as a testament to Lavira's engineering skills, the damage was more cosmetic than anything else. None of them doubted that it was the armour that had saved Vekar's life.
"Get this armour off him." One of the droids stated as they rushed to his side, beginning to prepare tools. "Hook him up to life support, prepare an anaesthetic!"
"L...L..."
"Do not try and speak your Highness." Argus told him. "The medical droids will take care of you."
"His condition is severe." One of the medical droids told him. "We need room to work, all no-essential personnel should leave."
"Of course." Argus replied.
"Lavira." Prince Vekar croaked out. He raised his hand and started waving it about, like he was searching for something. "Lavira."
She approached the side of the bed, taking his hand, at which the medical droids just started working, obviously realising that they were not going to convince her to leave. She felt his grip loosen on her hand as the anaesthetic started to take effect, and the prince lost consciousness.
In his mind, Vekar re-visited the past, returning to his home planet. He was in the palace, sitting on a throne, watching some of his warriors battling for the amusement of the royal family.
The courtyard was a sight to behold, surrounded by statues, each of them depicting one of his ancestors, dating back almost five hundred generations. They were carved from stone, but decorated with glittering precious metals and jewels plundered from the worlds under The Armada's control. In the centre of the northern side of the arena, under an awning jutting out from the Royal Palace, were three thrones. The largest and most ornate was designed for the King, and the one to his right was meant for the queen. At present, both of these thrones were empty. The King was currently attending to other matters, while the Queen's throne had been empty now for many years. She was, in reality, a slave that had been taken by Vekar's father as part of a bargain with one of the worlds under his rule in return for his mercy when he invaded, only to find that the planet had no real financial or strategic value. She had been one of the most beautiful women on her home world, and a member of an ancient noble line, and so Vekar's father had taken her as suitable payment for clemency...at least, he had agreed it bought them SOME clemency. A couple of hours later, he had her home world blown to dust anyway.
Vekar didn't remember much about his mother. His father had grown displeased with her and had her executed for disloyalty when Vekar was only a child. He had her beheaded in front of Vekar's eyes in that very court yard for treason, to demonstrate to Vekar what it took to be a strong ruler.
Vekar sighed with boredom as one of his slaves continued to fan him, watching the warriors before him fighting for his entertainment. He genuinely didn't care much for such things. His only interest in warfare was in the pain and suffering of others. The warriors fighting for his benefit were members of his military, and so they were not actively trying to cause each other severe harm, thus denying the Royal Family military assets. Vekar much preferred it when they would use condemned criminals, slaves...or even unfortunate citizens who had done nothing wrong other than being too close to the palace when he or his father got the notion to see some bloodshed. As one of the warriors was dumped on the ground, he just let out a long sigh.
"Is that all?" He asked in an exasperated tone. Out in the middle of the yard, standing over the fallen, groaning forms of several defeated Elite Guard was Vekar. He drove his spear into the ground.
"I would like to see you do any better." He replied sharply. "Of course that would require you doing SOMETHING for yourself."
"Vrak, Vrak, Vrak...those grapes must be terribly bitter." Vekar taunted him. "What do you want? A parade in your honour because you did the job that was assigned to you?"
"Why don't you go and do...whatever it is you actually do all day." Vrak told him. "Leave the rest of us to go about conquering your empire."
"Do not take that tone with me you insolent bastard!" Vekar warned him as he got off the throne, coming up close to him, standing face-to-face with him. "Remember who you are talking to and show me the respect I deserve!"
"I know exactly who I'm talking to, LITTLE brother!" Vrak replied, drawing himself to full height, standing over him. "Why don't you try calling me that again?" Vekar just smiled arrogantly.
"Ooh, that sounds like I touched a nerve." He responded. "You may have been born first...but it isn't the ORDER of birth that is important. It is the QUALITY."
Vrak snatched his spear out of the ground, at which Vekar tried to retreat, tripping over his cloak and ending up on his butt. As Vrak levelled the blade towards him, they were interrupted by a massive, booming voice.
"Vrak!" The voice echoed. "Come to my chambers at ONCE!"
Vrak looked up, seeing a figure in a balcony some way up.
"Your Highness..."
"We have important matters to discuss regarding the Warstar!" The figure interrupted him. "Come to my chambers at once General Vrak."
"As you wish Your Highness." He replied bitterly, spinning his spear around so the point was facing a safe direction. He offered a hand to Vekar, pulling him to his feet.
"Best not keep father waiting." He told him. Vrak just sneered and stormed away, leaving Vrak to return to his throne.
"I tire of these bloodless exercises." He stated. "I wish to see some real pain! Bring in a prisoner!"
"Your Highness...currently there are no prisoners in the Royal Dungeon." One of his servants told him. "You had them all executed."
"Oh well." He replied with a shrug, flicking a thumb in his direction as he turned to one of his guard. "Torture this one!"
"Your Highness why?" He screamed as he was dragged into the courtyard. He just shrugged in response.
"I'm sure I'll think of something." He replied as his guards started to work the unfortunate servant over.
Back on the Red Galleon, Noah found himself in another vision. This time though, he was standing, playing pool in the Hartford Mansion.
He looked around, and while it took him a minute, he did realise where he was. He had been there once before...albeit the last time he was there Lafitte had significantly damaged the mansion when he went to kidnap Mack. He looked down to his arms, finding himself wearing an Overdrive uniform, trimmed in blue. He looked to a mirror and confirmed his suspicions as to his identity.
"Dax." He sighed. "Well, I hope this vision works out better for us than your last movie."
"Come on man, stop admiring yourself and take a shot!" He heard someone else saying in an impatient voice.
"Sorry Will, I was just..." As he turned though, he looked across, seeing the Black Overdrive Ranger...only it wasn't the one he had met months before. Standing there in Will's clothes was a very familiar face.
"Jake?" Noah asked. Jake leaned forward, staring at him. The fog started to lift, and he dropped the pool cue, standing up straight.
"Noah?" He asked. "But...wait...these clothes! The Hartford Mansion...is any of this real?"
"This...this is seriously freaky!" Noah replied. Just then, Rose stormed through the room, with Ronny following her closely.
"I don't CARE what you say Ronny, those socks aren't lucky, they're just disgusting!" Rose complained. "You're lucky I only put them in the laundry basket and not the fire place!"
"I've never lost a race since I started wearing them!" Ronny told her. "Besides, they're mine! What right do you have to touch my stuff?"
"It's my room too!" Rose told her. "I don't see why I should have to go into a room that smells like...like...Surstromming!"
"What the hell is that?" Ronny asked.
"It's a kind of fermented Scandanavian fish." Noah answered. "It's so smelly that it's banned on a lot of airlines."
"It's a kind of fermented Scandanavian fish." Rose answered, seemingly oblivious to Noah's answer. "It's so smelly that it's banned on a lot of airlines."
"You're saying my feet smell like rotten fish?" Ronny snapped.
"Well if the shoe fits!" Rose yelled back.
"Guys, calm it down." Jake stated. Again, the girls didn't seem to even notice them.
"Well, you won't have to smell them anymore, because with the newbies around we're not Rangers anymore!" Ronny told her.
"Then I guess there are SOME good things about all of this." Rose responded. Jake and Noah just looked to each other and shrugged, not knowing what was going on between them. While they had met Rose and Ronny before, they hadn't actually talked to them a great deal about their Ranger days, so they didn't know much about what actually happened at the Hartford Mansion. Ronny suddenly turned, glaring at Jake.
"Oh, what a surprise, you're sticking up for HER!" She yelled.
"Uh...I didn't say a word." Jake replied.
"Come on, do you think we're that dumb? Everyone knows you two have been sneaking off to suck face for months!" Ronny responded, making Jake more confused than ever.
"Uh...OK?" He replied. He looked to Noah and just twirled a finger by his temple indicating that he thought Ronny was nuts.
"That...that's none of your business!" Rose screamed. "Ugh, I think I'll miss you least of all! I'm going to pack!"
With that, she stormed off to her room. Jake and Noah just looked to each other.
"Who asked you?" Screamed at them, before storming off too. Jake just looked more confused than ever.
"I never said a word!" He replied.
"But...Will probably did!" Noah said as he realised what was going on. Jake just looked confused.
"OK, mind running that by me again?" Jake asked.
"We're in a memory right?" Noah reminded him. "So things here have already happened! That means that people all say and do the things they did at the time!"
"But...we didn't." Jake replied.
"No, we're here in the roles of Will and Dax." Noah explained. "We're connected to them because they were the Overdrive Blue and Black Rangers right?"
"I...guess." Jake responded. "So everyone else is reacting like they did back in the day?"
"It looks that way." Noah told him.
"So why do we not just follow the memories like the other ones?" Jake asked him. "Why are we able to see each other?"
"I think...I think maybe the meditation is having an effect on letting us guide things now." Noah told him. "So we can see what happened here, but everyone will react to us like they did to what Will and Dax said and did at the same time."
"My head hurts." Jake moaned.
"The only question is, what are we here to see?" Noah asked. Just then, they heard something from the next room.
"Seriously, he's actually a doctor?" They heard someone say.
"Yes." A female voice replied.
"And...he doesn't just call himself that?" He pressed on as Jake and Noah went to the door. "He doesn't just call himself that, like how Colonel Sanders wasn't a real Colonel?"
"He got his PhD, I saw it on the wall when I helped him clear out his basement!" The girl told him. They could only see her from behind, seeing the back of a dirty-blonde head over the couch as an older, Asian guy was pacing.
"I saw it too." Another girl stated. They recognised Tori, who was sitting, drinking a bottle of Powerade as she texted with one hand. "That guy has a LOT of junk in that basement."
"Tori?" Noah asked.
"That guy...I was that guy!" Jake called out. "That's Adam Park!"
"God damn it, I owe Carlos a hundred bucks!" Adam muttered as a guy in a strange uniform, trimmed in Red came in. He was carrying a plate, piled high with buttered toast. Adam took a few slices off it.
"Come on, why do you have such a hard time believing Dr O is a doctor?" The girl with her back to them asked.
"It's just...I guess I never thought about him doing stuff like that. He was totally different in High School." Adam answered.
"Well, considering the fact he was partially responsible for creating a bunch of dinosaurs that almost destroyed the world...that might not have been the best thing." Tori chuckled.
"So says the girl that almost killed me because some guy in a Lucha Libre mask brainwashed her." The other girl responded. Tori just sighed.
"You're never going to let me live that down are you?" She asked. Just then, another guy came into the room, one they recognised as Xander.
"Guys, the car's arrived." He told them. He looked to Adam and smiled. "Angel Grove, here we come."
With that, they all got up and headed for the door. Jake looked back to Noah.
"OK, what gives?" He asked.
"Wait...you were Adam right?" Noah asked. He just nodded. "Well, I was TJ...and I was also Justin for a bit."
"So?" Jake asked him.
"All of them served with Tommy Oliver!" Noah reminded him. "Adam was on the team with him for years...TJ was on the Moon Mission with him...and Justin was on the Turbo team with him."
"I was Tommy briefly." Jake stated. "You think Tommy has the keys?"
"I think our will to find the keys is guiding us towards where we need to look to find them." Noah stated. "And somehow...I think it has something to do with Tommy."
"So he has them?" Jake asked. Just then, the mansion disappeared from view.
"I...guess we're going to find out." Noah answered.
When the vision returned to something recognisable, Jake was on his knees underneath a computer console, a bunch of wires in his hand. He was never the most tech-minded kind of guy, he could do a web search and send tweets with the best of them, but he was no tech whizz. That was more Noah's thing than his. As he worked though, his hands seemed to operate on their own, guiding him like they knew what they were doing better than he did.
"Another upgrade?" He heard a female voice saying. He just smiled.
"I was just boosting the system security." He replied.
"Well, I guess if you ARE going to be the city's most prolific hacktivist you kind of need to make sure you don't have the cops turning up at your doorstep." She replied. Jake just smiled as he pulled out from under the desk.
"What makes you think I'm a hacktivist?" He asked innocently. He saw someone standing in the doorway, recognising his surroundings as being Ninja Ops.
"JadeShogun?" She asked...or at least...it sounded like a woman. He recognised the blue-trimmed uniform as Tori's. "I may be blonde, but I'm not..."
Just then, she shifted shape, turning into Noah, but still wearing the Ninja uniform. He looked to Jake.
"Jake?" He asked. Jake just got up.
"Um...OK, so I guess Cam was a Green Ranger." He stated. "So...we're the Ninjas now?"
"I guess so." Noah answered.
"What did they have to do with Tommy?" Jake asked. He just shook his head.
"I don't..." He suddenly hit on a thought. "Wait, the memory...maybe it contains the clue. Maybe it'll lead us to what we're meant to see."
"But...we're Cam and Tori." Jake reminded him. "How are we meant to watch this if we're the only characters?"
"We're riding these memories right?" Noah asked. "Maybe...maybe we can...you know...play the parts."
"Play the parts?" Jake asked him.
"Yeah, you know...let the memory take us and let us have this conversation the way they did." He suggested. Jake just looked sceptical. "Come on Jake...it'll be just like drama class, only we'll get the script in our heads!"
Jake paused and concentrated for a moment, closing his eyes as he tried to focus. As he opened them, Noah had shifted back into Tori.
"...stupid." She said, completing her sentence. Cam just sighed.
"So you figured it out?" He asked. She just let out a small laugh.
"That expose someone pulled on the finance company that was funding the smuggling of Blood Diamonds into Blue Bay? I know maybe three people with the mad computer skills needed to pull that." Tori reminded him. "And two of them are more into dinosaurs."
"OK, fine, I did that." Cam told her. "Come on Tori, you felt it too...I miss the action. This is one thing I can do to make the world a better place!"
"So you became a hacktivist to save the world huh?" She asked him playfully. "So...what about the time you brought down the local cable provider?"
"He was over-charging me." Cam said with a little smile. He booted up the computer, and started it up. "And right now, I'm in the process of hooking up with my partner...creating a network that'll really be a pain in The Armada's ass!"
"Let me guess...our friends in Reefside?" Tori asked.
"I don't know what you mean." He said innocently. "My partner is called..."
"It's Ethan isn't it?" She asked. He just looked at her.
"I don't know..."
"Like I said, I know maybe three people with the skills needed to pull this off." Tori teased him. "Just remember, while you're saving the world in Cyberspace...try not to bring the Feds to our doorstep."
At that point, Tori shifted back into Noah and Cam turned back into Jake. They just stared at each other.
"Wait...Ethan?" Noah asked. "Who's Ethan?"
Looking to the computer, Jake saw the text on screen asking if he wanted to establish a connection. He just shrugged.
"I guess there's one way to find out." He replied, hitting the enter key. The background faded into nothing.