Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. I think Saban owns them again. It was Disney for a while, but whoever owns them, it's definitely not me. . I also don't own any song lyrics used.
AN: Here's chapter 11! Enjoy and let me know what you think! Thanks to all the great reviews too and here's notes to those individuals:
YellowPrincess: Yeah, the kids are pretty cute and I'm glad Billy is back too, even if he is sad right now. Glad you're enjoying the story.
Rin: Sorry you're not big on fanfiction, but I'm glad you're enjoying mine. I try to keep people guessing with plot twists. Hope you stick around for more.
Kh530: So glad you're enjoying the story. I'm afraid though that I only know the bare basics about Mystic Force as I've only seen a couple episodes. The Mystic Force won't be playing large roles in this story and I don't know anything about Daggeron. Sorry.
djAngelynn: Yes, it is a bit darker. I didn't really want to kill rangers, but unfortunately I had to in order to drive home the gravity of the situation like you said. Glad you're enjoying the story.
WideOpenSpacesGirl045: The Chosen twenty? Well, this is your chapter then, because I reveal them. Glad you're enjoying the story
Harry2: Hmmm…I think you might be confused. Billy and Kat are not together in this story yet and never were before he went to Aquitar. Billy is really sad right now and Kat is pretty broken herself. This relationship will be a very slow build. Wedding bells for these two is so far off right now. Sorry to disappoint, but their coupling will be a minor pairing simply because it's going to happen so slowly. Kim/Tommy have history so they may develop a little faster, but I'll be focusing on the younger couples a lot, mainly Hunter/Tori and Conner/Kira quite a bit too. Glad you're enjoying the story though.
FallingStar22: Thanks for the great reviews and I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!
AN 2: Set in 2007 following the Operation Overdrive episode "Once a Ranger". Everything after that episode is AU.
Crimson Rising
Chapter 11: Survival
And I'll light the fuse
And I'll never lose
And I choose to survive
Whatever it takes
You won't pull ahead
I'll keep up the pace
And I'll reveal my strength
To the whole human race
Yes I am prepared
To stay alive
And I won't forgive,
Vengeance is mine
And I won't give in
Because I choose to thrive
Yeah, I'm gonna win!
Song: Survival
Artist: Muse
Blue Bay Harbor
Jason delivered a split kick to two creatures, as more seemed to swarm around them, outnumbering them all five to one. He somersaulted and did a sweep kick, before one punched him in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground. Using his momentum, he was quickly back on his feet and side kicked it in the gut. It was a particularly nasty one and whipped its oozing dreadlocks, slashing Jason's arm. He cried out and pulled back the injured limb, finding red slashes along it. Jason glared and jumped, spinning his body into a flying kick, sending the creature sailing back into the side of the Storm Chargers building. Ooze splattered everywhere, as the creature became nothing but a puddle.
"We just have to hit them really hard!" Jason called.
"Easier said than done," Trini called. It was true. Getting the kind of momentum it was going to take wasn't easy without ranger powers and took a lot of energy. Their martial arts skills were only going to get them so far. They needed power behind their fists and feet.
"Quantum Defender!" Eric called, as he arrived with the others, wasting no time in shooting at the oozing creatures.
"Time Strike!" Wes called, as he joined Eric in blasting at the oncoming creatures. Tommy keyed off and kicked another with a spinning roundhouse, joining Jason and Trini. Rocky and Adam continued to battle, as Dustin and Shane arrived to help. The other four Ninjas kept the creatures from busting into Storm Chargers where Aisha guarded her daughter and Kelly. Red and yellow energy shot out several times from Shane and Dustin, but using their Ninja energies so frequently was quickly tiring them all out.
Pressing on, Cam and Blake continued to keep them at bay, each managing to kill two, with a blast of green samurai energy and navy thunder.
Hunter and Tori fought back to back, combining their kicks and punches for more impact, but it was only holding them back. Tori blasted another with water, not noticing another coming at her from the side. It whipped its dreadlocks and she gasped, realizing she didn't have time to evade.
"TORI!" Hunter cried, as he pulled her back and slammed his foot into the creature's face. Tori held onto his arms and propelled her feet into a scissor kick, flipping it onto its back. Hunter grabbed the creature and tossed it away, intending to give himself more room for a flying kick. But to his and Tori's amazement, the creature went flying into the wall of a building nearly half a block down.
"Whoa…that was some throw, dude!" Dustin noticed. Hunter looked at his hands in disbelief, but had no time to ponder how he had done that.
"Let's try that new combo attack we've been working on. These things are really grossing me out," Tori called. He smirked.
"Guess it's a good opportunity to test it," he replied, as they each willed their respective elements, concentrating them each into a medium sized sphere. Flails of energy whipped around them violently, as they slowly fused water and thunder, which caused the dangerous sphere of energy to now crackle violently, as it became a deep amethyst color. They nodded to each other and launched the energy at two oncoming creatures, which exploded upon contact, ooze flying everywhere, including all over just about everyone.
"This just keeps getting nastier by the minute," Blake complained, as he tried to fling ooze off his hands.
"Can you two do another one of those?" Jason called. Hunter and Tori attempted to catch their breath.
"We'll try," Hunter said, as they created another fusion attack and killed two more. After that, Tori stumbled slightly, as exhaustion started to take over. Hunter caught her and steadied her.
"I'm fine," she insisted, as she regained her composure. A scream from inside Storm Chargers captured their attention and they ran inside, only to find several terrorizing Aisha and Kelly in the back room.
"We need to get them out," Hunter called. Tori took Aisha's hand and they made their way out.
"Come on Kelly!" Hunter cried, as he put his hand out and kicked another creature away.
Tori made her way back inside to see if there was anyone else trapped. Hunter got Kelly out when he heard Tori scream, as a support beam from the ceiling came crashing down, thanks to the creature's destructive blasts made at the ceiling.
"TORI!" Hunter screamed in horror, as he Ninja streaked to her, evading the beam. It crashed down, bringing chunks of the roof with it. They huddled together against the wall, as debris came down around them. Satisfied that they were no longer a threat, the two creatures went to terrorize the others outside.
"This whole place is going to come down," Tori said, coughing, as she inhaled too much dust.
"We have to get out of here," Hunter called, as he took her hand. He heard her cry out suddenly.
"My foot…it's trapped," Tori cried. He looked down and noticed that it had yet to crush her ankle, but was putting plenty of pressure on it. Grunting, he tried to lift it to no avail. More dust and debris rained down on them.
"GUYS I NEED HELP!" Hunter screamed, but no one could get to them.
"Hunter…" Tori whimpered, as she started to realize that they might not get out before it collapsed.
"We're getting out Tor," he assured her, as he kept trying to lift it. Sweat poured down his face and he cursed, as it wouldn't budge. Suddenly, he heard the roaring in his ears and this time, instead of trying to get rid of it, he welcomed it. Tori watched in amazement, as he lifted the chunk of concrete enough for her to get her ankle out. He dropped it and they Ninja streaked out of the store, just as it collapsed in on itself. The ten of them that were not morphed huddled together in exhaustion, as Wes and Eric sought to end the remaining six creatures quickly.
"Wes…use the battlelizer. None of us can keep this up much longer," Eric suggested.
"If I'm using the battlelizer on foot soldiers, then we're in serious trouble," Wes grumbled, as he called his armor and unleashed the massive battle blast, engulfing the remaining creatures. A huge puddle of ooze was all that remained and they breathed a sigh of relief. Wes and Eric powered down and shared a serious look with Tommy and Jason. Those were just foot soldiers and if Ivan decided to get serious, then they were going to have big problems.
"My store…" Kelly cried.
"We're sorry Kel…" Shane tried to console her.
"What the hell is going on?" she demanded.
"Uh…we're under alien attack?" Dustin offered. The redhead stamped her foot down.
"That's obvious, but what the hell was all this?" Kelly demanded.
"There's no point in hiding it any longer," Hunter told Shane.
"Hiding what? Tell me what's going on?" Kelly demanded.
"Well, you remember Lothor?" Shane asked.
"That alien creep four years ago?" Kelly asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah…" Shane said, trying to find the words. Hunter, never one to mince words, just came out with it.
"We were the six rangers that defeated him. Most of the others here besides Wes and Eric, who are obviously still active, are former rangers from previous teams and we're all gathering, because this new evil makes Lothor look like nothing," Hunter said bluntly.
"We're really sorry about your store, Kel, but you're going to need to come with us now for your protection," Shane tried to explain. She threw her hands up.
"Go where?" she asked. Dustin scratched his head.
"Dude…you better just trust us and go with it," Dustin suggested.
"Hayley, I need you to teleport us all back," Cam said into his communicator. Before Kelly could question anything else, all present were swept up by a teleportation beam.
Once they arrived back at Ninja Ops, most of them collapsed in near exhaustion. After taking a few breaths, Hunter surprised Tori by scooping her up and carrying her to the medical table.
"Hunter…what are you doing?" she questioned.
"Your ankle needs looked at," he replied.
"It's fine. It's a little tender, but it's not broken," she insisted.
"You need to let Cam look at it," he insisted, as the others watched the two argue back and forth.
"Cam, will you tell Hunter that my ankle is fine?" Tori asked, steeling her gaze on her boyfriend.
"Cam, will you tell Tori that you need to look at it anyway?" Hunter asked, meeting her gaze.
"Or Cam could tell you both to shut up and let him work," Cam responded dryly, as he looked at Tori's bruised ankle, before running his scanner over it.
"It's just bruised thankfully," Cam concluded.
"See?" Tori asked, eyeing him with a "told you so" look.
"Be that as it may, Tori, just a few more minutes and it probably would have been a lot worse. Just try to go easy on it for a few days," Cam advised. Hunter gave her a nod and she huffed.
"Easier said than done," she replied.
"Yeah, that was totally brutal out there," Dustin added.
"If you'll allow me to use your communication system, I should be able to contact Rita and then maybe we can get a lock on them to teleport," Zedd suggested. Cam nodded, as he led him to the Ops computer.
"What now?" Conner asked. Tommy sighed.
"If Ooze gets serious and decides to send more than his foot soldiers, then we're in real trouble," Jason said.
"We need to figure out who is going to Phaedos soon so hopefully we can get Rita here tonight. Then we need to all get some rest before heading out in the morning," Tommy said.
"My mansion can also be used as a base of sorts. There are plenty of rooms to go around. I'm sure Hayley and I can establish an easy teleportation link between here and there," Mr. Hartford chimed in.
"Thank you Andrew," Tommy said gratefully. Having the financial support of Mr. Hartford, Wes and his father, and Anton Mercer were going to be essential.
"My father is behind us morally and financially. There's plenty of rooms in the mansion and a place to set up another base of operations as well," Wes offered.
"If we could get to the Animarium, we could get our growl phones," Taylor mumbled.
"Why can't you get to the Animarium?" Tommy asked.
"Something's cutting them off. I can't get a hold of anyone from Time Force in the future either. Something's blocking us," Wes clarified.
"Ooze no doubt," Tommy growled.
"We need to establish a communication system with each other and I'm not talking cell phones. It's child's play for his scientists to tap into the cell towers and I wouldn't be surprised if he takes them out soon anyway," Billy chimed in.
"Yeah and if this sector nine knows all about us, then they're probably monitoring the cell chatter too," Eric mentioned. They nodded in agreement.
"Do you think you have the equipment to build new communicators here?" Jason asked. Billy shrugged.
"I'm not sure, but I know a place that has everything we need. I just need help," Billy replied.
"I hate to burst your bubble, Bill, but Divatox's goons trashed the power chamber years ago," Tommy said. Billy smirked.
"I really doubt they got to all the underground catacombs. I just need to get there," Billy replied.
"I dropped Alpha there before we came here to see what he could do. Maybe if we're in luck, he's at least got the comm system up and running," Adam said. Billy smiled, the first smile they had seen since he arrived.
"Good thinking. Jase, hand me your communicator," Billy said. Jason took it off his wrist and they watched the genius examine it.
"Nice screen. I should have done that years ago," Billy mentioned. Jason smirked.
"Trini did it, but it still has the same annoying chime," Jason replied. Billy winced, knowing exactly what he was talking about.
"Yeah, I'll have to fix that too," he said, as he started making adjustments. However, he lacked tools, so he knelt down and motioned to his little girl.
"Trina, come here," he called. She toddled to her father and he held the device up to her.
"Daddy needs your small fingers. Can you twist the yellow wire with the blue?" he asked. She nodded eagerly and went to work, flooring the others in amazement.
"Does…she understand this stuff already?" Jason asked. Billy nodded.
"She's smarter than I was at her age," he informed them, practically glowing with pride. Trina pulled back her tiny fingers and let her father examine her work. Billy smiled and kissed her hair.
"You did it princess, thank you," Billy told her. She beamed and then scampered off, going back to playing with Olivia. Though the girls had just met, they were fast friends. Kat's son sat with them, enjoying the interaction with other children, something he didn't get outside of school because of his and Kat's situation.
"Billy to power chamber…" he called into the device, hoping he had the right frequency. There was a little static, but then they heard the familiar robotic voice of Alpha.
"Aye yi yi…Billy is that you?" Alpha asked.
"Yes, it's me Alpha. Listen, I need you to start working on new secure communication system to connect all ranger communication devices together. I'll get there to help you when I can, but for now, we're counting on you Alpha," Billy said.
"You can count on me rangers," Alpha promised. Billy let out a sigh of relief.
"I've got them. They should be at the waterfall in just a few seconds. I'll open the portal," Cam called. Zedd jogged up the stairs and returned a few minutes later with Rita and the Mystic Force team.
"Wow…this place is definitely not Rootcore," Chip said, as the Mystic Force team followed Rita into Ninja Ops.
"That waterfall thing was some pretty cool magic," Xander mentioned, trying to keep upbeat, as he spotted Kira and walked over to her.
"Kira, beautiful," Xander greeted with a surprise hug. Kira shook her head in amusement and hugged him back.
"Good to see you too, Xander," she said, as Conner eyed the guy in green suspiciously. Kira broke away and motioned to Conner.
"Xander, this is my boyfriend Conner McKnight," Kira introduced.
"Oh right…the baseball star," Xander said, shaking his hand exuberantly.
"Soccer," Conner replied quickly.
"Right…soccer," Xander responded, with a wink, as he moved on.
"He's charming," Conner drawled, as Kira rolled her eyes.
"He's harmless. He flirts with every girl," Kira assured him, as they saw the self-proclaimed lady's man drift around the room, seemingly in heaven as he spied all the beautiful former ranger women.
"He's so embarrassing," Vida growled in annoyance.
"He better be careful. Reds really don't like it when you mess with their women," Chip mentioned, tossing a glance to Nick. The red Mystic shrugged and slid his arm around Madison's waist with a smirk. The two hadn't much of a chance to talk yet, but it was obvious that the feelings between them were as strong as ever.
"Tori…my gorgeous little surfer girl," Xander greeted with a hug, immediately catching Hunter's attention. She laughed.
"Hello Xander," Tori replied, hugging him back.
"Guys, this is Xander. We teamed up to help the Overdrive rangers," Tori introduced.
"Tori here has some great moves, but I'm guessing you guys know that," Xander said, wriggling his eyebrows playfully. Tori swatted his arm playfully.
"These are my friends. Shane, Dustin, Cam, Blake and this is my boyfriend Hunter," Tori introduced. Hunter gave a curt nod.
"A pleasure mate. Tori here is one heck of a woman," Xander mentioned. Hunter slid his arm around her waist.
"She is," the crimson ranger agreed.
"Man, you reds get all the beauties," Xander added in envy.
"Crimson actually," Hunter responded.
"Pardon?" Xander asked.
"My ranger color is crimson actually…you know, like the color of blood," Hunter reiterated, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Tori. She rolled her eyes, as she heard snickers of amusement from just about all the others, particularly from the other four male members of her team.
"Dude, get some popcorn. This is gonna be good," Shane said. By the look on Xander's face, he had clearly gotten Hunter's not so subtle message.
"Riiight…well, nice meetin' you," Xander said nervously, as he moved on.
"You want popcorn at a time like this?" Dustin asked, confused by his request. Shane rolled his eyes and Cam chuckled in amusement.
"Never mind dude," Shane responded when Dustin's eyes suddenly lit up in recognition.
"Oh, I get it now!" Dustin laughed. Tori shook her head in amusement.
"That guy better keep his hands where I can see them next time," Hunter said.
"Oh please, like you should be worried, thunder boy," Tori said, playfully grabbing him by the collar, bringing his face close. He smirked, as she attempted one of her glares that usually made Shane and Dustin run for cover.
"Never said I was, water nymph. You're mine," he replied in a husky tone. She smirked coyly.
"Prove it," she ordered, as he drew her lips into a passionate kiss. Their teammates groaned.
"Forget the popcorn and get the barf bags," Shane complained, earning a real glare from Tori, as her lips parted from her crimson ranger's.
"Maybe if you guys would get lives of your own, you wouldn't be stuck watching Hunter and me," Tori retorted.
"Maybe if you and Hunter didn't make out everywhere, we wouldn't always be forced to watch," Shane shot back. Their banter was about to continue, until Tommy, Zedd, and Sensei Watanabe moved to the front of the room and commanded their attention.
Zedd held the Legendary Scroll of Fire in his hands and the recording that would translate it for them.
"Would you do the honors, Cameron?" Zedd asked, as he handed the young Samurai the disk. Cam nodded and slid it into the slot on the console, pressing play. The humble visage of Trey of Triforia appeared before them.
"Greetings Power Rangers of Earth. If you are watching this recording, then it is likely that I have not survived to come to you with my message in person. Several weeks ago, Dulcea, Master Warrior of Phaedos called me to her Temple. The spirits of the Ninjetti are restless and she believes a time of great evil is about to come upon the universe. The time to reawaken the powers of the Ninjetti will soon be at hand. But they, along with the rest of the chosen twenty will be led by the Phoenix once more. The Chosen warrior will rise and merge with his destiny. Fire will awaken in his soul. Thunder will tremble from his fingertips and the firebird will avenge all the victims taken by evil. The burden of destiny that you must shoulder will not be done alone. Nineteen others shall stand by your side. Ten experienced warriors of the light who served before you, the Falcon's four young charges, and the five that have stood beside the Phoenix in battle all along. Only together with the Legendary power that lies in wait for its chosen bearers can save the Universe. The Scroll does not speak of the outcome of the final battle, but I am confident that the son of Zander can rid the Universe of the evil that threatens all sentient beings," the prince paused, before looking up again.
"Hunter…I know that this undertaking may seem like too much to ask of you. Your parents never wanted it this way, I assure you. But you must accept your destiny and must not wait. Heed this warning and take your team to Phaedoes. Your Mother waits for you…" Trey said, as the recording ended, leaving the air in the room thick with emotion, as they absorbed the fallen prince's words.
Jason clenched his teeth and balled his fists.
"Trey was a friend…the bastard is gonna pay," he spat.
"How do we know which ten he is talking about though? There were originally twelve of us in all," Rocky reminded, referring to what was often coined as the original twelve in ranger history. Tommy shook his head.
"I don't think Justin is included in this. He didn't take over for you until we had the turbo powers and even then it was only because we had no choice with your injury. That leaves eleven of us," Tommy said.
"I don't think we can count Zack in. I talked to him and he's not coming. His wife Angela wants him having nothing to do with being a ranger again and he loves us, but he doesn't want to be a ranger again either," Jason stated.
"Guess that leaves the rest of us, except we're missing one," Billy said, looking pointedly at Tommy. He sighed.
"Kimberly," he said.
"I'm still waiting for her to call me back," Trini responded.
"She's probably not going to take it well either," Adam said.
"Kim's our girl. She'll do what she has to for family. If we have to become rangers again to protect our family and this is a family even if most of us are still getting to know of each other, then she'll be right there with us," Aisha said, as she stroked her daughter's hair. Her feisty speech brought smiles to most of the faces in the room.
"Mama bear is mad," Jason teased. Aisha smirked.
"Mama bear is ready to tear that disgusting slime ball apart and those ridiculous sector nine creeps too," Aisha added.
"Yeah, as if we didn't have enough problems," Tommy grumbled.
"You guys ran into them. How serious do you think they are?" Adam asked. Hunter and Tori exchanged a glance.
"They knew personal stuff about me that only Tori, Blake, and Sensei Omino know about," Hunter confessed.
"I'm in in the FBI and I've never even heard of them. That means they're completely off the grid," Jason said.
"I don't want to scare anyone, but they told us if they could they would lock us all up for vigilantism," Wes said, eliciting gasps, especially from the youngest team.
"But we haven't done anything wrong!" Vida exclaimed.
"In their eyes, we hold ourselves above the law. They hate it because they can't control us," Eric replied.
"Locking us up is obviously not something they could easily pull off and so their next conclusion will be to try and force us to work for them, especially when they find out most of us are rangers again," Wes said.
"But we would never do that," Rocky refuted. Wes looked the other red ranger in the eye.
"Would you if they held your daughter's life over your head?" Wes questioned. Rocky shrunk back, as the realization struck him.
"This is crazy…isn't our government supposed to protect the people?" Chip asked. Several red rangers, including his own leader, tossed him a look.
"Yeah and we're not saying everyone in the government is bad, but we're under alien attack. There are those that wait for opportunities like this one to grab for power. Imagine the kind of sway the wrong person could have if they had rangers "working" for them," Tommy said.
"When we get back from Phaedos, I need to get to the power chamber and see if I can access any of Zordon's files. He planned for everything. I just have to find what he wants us to find," Billy said.
"We still need to get Kim," she said.
"Cam, can you teleport Trini and me to Emerald Falls? We can't wait any longer," Jason said. Cam nodded, as he tapped away on the Ops computer.
"Trent and Ethan need to get here too. They're the final ones we're waiting on," Tommy said.
"I talked to Ethan earlier and he wasn't being cooperative. He said he'd try to get here in a few days," Conner said. Tommy shook his head.
"Not good enough. Cam, do you think you can teleport Conner and me to Boston?" Tommy asked. Cam nodded and tossed him and Jason a small device for each.
"That will allow you both to call me when you're ready to come back and allow me to track you," Cam said. Tommy nodded and pocketed the device, as did Jason.
"I'm coming too," Kira said, as she grabbed Conner's hand. Neither bothered to argue with her and the three of them disappeared in a flash of light. Jason and Trini were next, on their way to retrieve Kimberly.
"The rest of you should try and get some rest," Cam suggested. After hashing it out amongst themselves, it was decided that Mystic Force and the remainder of Lightspeed would go to the Hartford mansion with the Overdrive team and Wild Force would go to the Collins mansion with Wes and Eric. Cam teleported them there respectively for the night. The extra bedrooms within the living area of the school were taken by the rest, while those that lived in Blue Bay Harbor went home. Between the two of them, Kanoi and Hayley convinced Cam that they could stay up and wait for Tommy and Jason to make contact, being that he would be joining the others on the journey to Phaedos the next day. Reluctantly, Cam agreed and shared his room with Blake, as they all attempted to get some sleep…