Author's Note: I am very much moving Ranger lore around the globe and timeline so it's not all clustered together in the 90s-2010s in the USA. Also hilariously enough Dino Fury really supports this with the idea that a full apocalypse 100% would have happened with any less severe intervention by the Green Morphin Master.
Chapter 3: Nindo
Disoriented, Izuku stumbled as the light faded from around him, blinking his eyes open he glanced around frantically to find…an entirely different complex.
All Izuku could initially see was mist around his body, laying low to the floor but coming up to about his chest level.
However, flames flickered to life in a circle along what appeared to be the wall.
Broken tables, artifacts, and stones were strewn across the floor.
"What…happened here?" He wondered aloud.
"The-the Warstar Empire attacked a hundred and fifty-one years ago."
Jumping at the voice, Izuku spun around and came face to face with…a strange ghost.
"I am a mystical projection left behind by the legendary ninja master, Ninjor. To someday hopefully pass on knowledge of the Morphin Grid and the Power Rangers to a new generation."
"Mystical? A hundred and fifty years? Are you saying you're magic from before Quirks?"
"I am merely an echo left behind, I can only answer with knowledge I had before my progenitor's passing. Merely counting the years has been difficult. But, yes, magic as you might call it is typically a manner of connecting to an inter-dimensional source of life energy, called the Morphin Grid."
"And the Power Rangers? What were they?"
"The Power Rangers were teams of exceptional individuals recruited for their strong moral character and determined mindsets to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial and extradimensional threats. To this end they were granted various transformative and reinforcement abilities and weapons powered by the Morphin Grid, typically utilizing a device called a 'Morpher', which itself typically had some kind of fuel or focus for the power of the Grid."
"Extraterrestrial and extradimensional? So aliens and demons are real?!" Izuku was floored, he'd thought those were just myths, or in some cases possibly very rare Quirks that had popped up before the recorded explosion in Quirk numbers.
"Indeed, the foe the last Ranger team I personally aided fought was a terrifying extraterrestrial duo by the names of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. They had servants who carved monsters from the very blood of the land itself and grew them to terrifying heights! Only the robotic Grid-fueled Zords and Megazords were able to combat these threats."
"Could…could these things come back?"
"Indeed they could young man, I sense the concern in your voice, are you who I have waited more than a century for? Will you be the first herald of new Power Rangers?"
"I-wait does that mean I'll get those kinds of powers you talked about? From the Grid? I could be a Hero?"
"Young man, while I applaud your desire to be a hero, I shall give you one piece of advice, the powers are not what makes the hero. Nor the weapons. Nor the Morpher. What makes a hero, a Power Ranger, is their determination in their heart to fight for what is right and protect the innocent. Do you understand?"
The words resonated deeply with Izuku as he thought about his idol, All Might.
"Yes…yes Master Ninjor they do! I would…well I have never been tested. I'd like to think…I'd like to think that if I was I would pass. All I've ever wanted is to live up to the ideals of the world's greatest hero!"
The visored helmet showed no emotion, but Izuku thought he could feel a sense of approval.
"Then place your hand upon the crest on yonder wall and speak with me the creed of a Ninja Power Ranger. Older than time itself,"
"Older than time itself." Izuku began as he walked over to the wall and placed his hand upon the giant bronze crest of many fierce animals.
"Man has always known the calling," Midoriya echoed this.
"Light of the light," He was no longer sure when he repeated the words, or if he was somehow speaking in time with Ninjor without knowing them. A strange feeling grew within him.
"Strength of the soul, ignite this eternal power inside of me!" If Izuku had been watching himself from afar he would have seen a green glow slowly encompass his body.
"I am Ninja! I am pure of heart, body, mind, and spirit. Join with me now as I become one with the Power of Ninja!"
The green light flared up so brightly it blinded Izuku for a moment. As it faded away he saw that, resting in his hand that had been touching the crest, was a large bronze coin emblazoned with a rushing hare.
"Ninja Ranger power, now!" A vocal call came unbidden to his mouth as he turned and pushed the coin out in front of himself in both hands.
Another flare of light began, "Speed of the Hare, Green Ninja Ranger Power!"
As the light faded Izuku looked down and saw he was wearing a loose green martial artist body suit with another green tunic over it, tied together with a white belt. His shoes, gloves, and a mask on his head were all similarly colored, with bronze studs and a larger version of his Power Coin in the center of his chest.
But most of all…he felt more power in his body than he ever had before, "Is…is this energy I feel…that Morphin Grid you talked about?"
"What you feel is but a trickle of what is available. As you become more used to the energy you will be able to utilize more and more, unlock new powers, new equipment, and perhaps even new forms. You have proven yourselves worthy to possess the Power of Ninja. This is a great responsibility. Use your powers wisely. The road you face will not be easy. The fight between good and evil never is. Seek out Gosei's Legendary Ranger Database, it will give you the information you know. The remaining Gao who survived the battle should know where they are. Unfortunately, young Ranger, I must now fade away. All my remaining power was used to create your Power Coin. You are the last and greatest hope for the Earth. Grow strong, learn the past, and in the future when you are ready…form a team."
And with that, the strange blue armored ghost faded from view.
"Master Ninjor!" Izuku called out as he passed on for good.
Looking around Izuku discovered he had a new problem, how did he return to where he had come from?
Searching around fruitlessly, though still morphed, Izuku reached into a carefully tucked away pocket and realized…the white key shaped like a man had transferred over to his transformed state.
Pulling it out he held it up to his eyes, "You brought me here, can you get me back?" Almost as if in response, there was another flare of green light, this time tinged a bit with white lightning, and another supreme mix of vertigo.
Despite the vertigo that hit him, Izuku landed back in the original pedestal chamber with far more stability than last time. In his transformed state he could sense that he was much sturdier than before. He could not wait to test this out. Though…he wasn't sure how much he could pass off a uniform as part of a Quirk. Ninjor had implied he'd have some increased abilities outside of the cloth armor though. So perhaps…
"Power down?" Izuku said hesitantly. Nothing happened.
"Ninja Power Off?" Still nothing.
"Hippity-hoppity ninja gear get off-a me?" No, that had been a long shot anyways.
He sighed and started making his way back out, keeping an eye out for anything that looked like a database.
Unless it was in one of the fried computer consoles, and he really hoped it wasn't, he didn't see anything promising.
Walking out into the late afternoon sun, Midoriya froze, in front of him, in its full hybrid form, was the GaoLynx.
"Nya, my my! It looks like Ninjor's spirit took a liking to you, boy!"
"Yes…he said the Gao might be able to help me find the Legendary Ranger Database as well."
"We decided that the crash site wasn't secure enough and moved it over a century ago," The creature shared, almost smugly.
"May I have it…sir?" He wasn't sure how to properly show respect to a weird spirit beast-man.
"I protect the crash site, nya. The archive is protected by one of my siblings…GaoRaccoon, deep in the Kasugayama Primeval Forest atop Mount Kasuga."
That was all the way over in Nara, Izuku had no idea how he would get out that direction. Sure there were trains between the cities but going alone to hike in a primeval forest was…not very likely something his mother would allow.
That was, however, a problem for later. Now he needed to figure out how to demorph.
"You wouldn't happen to have any advice on dropping this and going back to normal would you?"
The lynx-man let out a mighty bellowing laugh, "Ahahaha really? You can't figure it out? With that form I'm pretty sure it's just slap the chest piece with the intent of leaving the morph, nya!"
He slapped his knee as the laughter continued and slowly edged off.
Sighing, Izuku did just that. He had to do it twice and really focus the second time to get it to happen but it did.
He was back in his normal clothes and with his backpack, holding the coin in his hand.
"Now where do I keep you?" He muttered, before being struck by an idea and ruffling through his backpack for something.
"A-ha!" He exclaimed pulling out the Inro charm, "Perfect!" The coin slotted right in. Grinning, he tied the charm to his belt.
Then he looked at the sun, even though it was summer the sun was already on its way down, though no part was below the horizon yet.
"Mom is going to be worried!" And without a thought he took off back down the mountain. Not noticing that he was naturally parkouring down it at breakneck pace, completely surefooted.
As he approached a cliff he would have otherwise had to go around a strange impulse struck him and he could sense a comforting heat radiating from the Power Coin tied to his belt.
He leapt off the cliff face, dropped almost thirteen meters, and landed in one of the cliche "I have super durability of some kind" three-point hero landing positions.
"Whoa!" Izuku said out loud. Looking around to make sure no one had seen him. They hadn't. Grinning, he took off to test how fast he could move. It turned out his standard run was extremely fast, he covered an hour's hike in five minutes. At one point he almost ran into a tree as he got distracted, at the last second new reflexes had kicked in and he felt the Power Coin thrum and he blitzed to the side in a blur of roaring wind and green sparks.
"I have some kind of Flash Step?" He geeked out, that was a common super speed skill in a lot of manga he had read. And a common finishing move for a lot of heroes who had low stamina for their maximum outputs of speed or strength.
"I can't wait to tell Mom!" He was grinning like an idiot, his messy hair even more disheveled than usual, "And Kacchan! He'll finally be a proper friend again when I show him I have something like a Quirk!"
Izuku was one of the only people that understood what Bakugou's attitude was really based out of. It was based out of a pure fire of desire and determination to be powerful enough to protect people and rise above the world. And to do that, he couldn't hang on to any dead weight in his mind.
And now Izuku wouldn't be dead weight anymore!