Jason strolled onto the bridge, his jacket held loosely in his hand. Currently Xi was scanning the Earth for anything unusual, more for something to do than anything. All of the craft's systems had been fixed, except for the hyper rush drive. Some of the parts needed to fix the drive couldn't be found on Earth so Xi had to synthesize the material using whatever he could find. Unfortunately this was a lengthy process so he didn't have much to do other than sit around and wait.
"Jason I'm picking up a Sirian distress beacon on Earth", Xi announced.
"That's impossible", Jason replied. On the main screen Xi had pulled up a map showing the beacon's current location. It was in a place called gold Lake just outside Turtle Cove.
"Xi how far away is that from our present location?" he asked.
"Approximately 72 miles in a south westerly direction", Xi replied.
Jason snorted with laughter, only a computer would consider that statement an approximation. Still 72 miles wasn't that far away. "Xi load the co-ordinates, I'm going to check it out".
"Do you want me to alert the other rangers?" Xi asked.
The red ranger though about this for a moment, they were a team now so really he should tell them. But it was only a simple recognisance missions, he had done them loads of time before he met the others, "No need, I won't be gone long", he replied before leaving the bridge and prepared to telort.
Gold Lake,
Something didn't look right. He could make out the remains of an old railroad line that passed through the middle of the settlement. He had been observing the town for the last few minutes but he hadn't seen any signs of life, "Xi are you sure this is the place?"
"Affirmative Jason", Xi replied. Walking through the main road through the town it became obvious that the place was deserted and it had been for some time. The properties were in a poor state of repair and a few had even collapsed. Dust from the nearby desert covered every exposed surface. "Hello, anyone here", Jason called out but he didn't get a response.
He came across an abandoned gas station, the windows of the attached store had been boarded up but there was a gap large enough to fit his hand through. Spying an old newspaper inside the store, Jason reached inside and pulled it out. "GoldTurtle Times", he read out loud before looking at the date, "Monday February 5 1940, that can't be right". He looked around the town again and realised the decay all around him was consistent for somewhere that had been abandoned for nearly sixty years. "So where did that signal come from?" he muttered.
"Haven't you figured it out yet red ranger", a voice called out. Jason dropped the paper and spun around only to come face to face with Ecliptor, "you've walked right into my trap". Jason was frustrated with himself for falling for his trick, "You know as well as I do that Siria is gone, apart from yourself and a few rebels".
"What do you want?" Jason shouted, summoning his Omega Sword in preparation for battle.
"Your friends humiliated me", Ecliptor began, "what I seek is vengeance for that defeat".
"So your coming after me?" Jason pulled his sword back into a defensive position as Ecliptor charged towards him. The monsters sword slammed into Jason's sword, staggering the red ranger. He rolled out the way of another attack and sliced Ecliptor on the back of the legs. The creature roared in pain but there was no physical damage on his body. The two enemies sized each other up again like a predator ready to strike. Simultaneously they swung their weapons and they clashed with a resounding clang. The force of the blow pushed them away from each other.
"You've been training red ranger", Ecliptor said in a tone that almost sounded like respectful.
"We all need a hobby" Jason spat back. He charged at Ecliptor and slashed him across the chest. The monster recoiled but responded with a blow of his own, catching the red ranger on the lower abdomen. Jason staggered away giving Ecliptor the opening he was looking for. He fired off a laser blast from his eyes, knocking the red ranger into the side of the store.
"You're still no match for me", Ecliptor taunted, "a bit like the rest of your planet". Jason sprang to his feet. His arms were a blur as he attacked Ecliptor furiously. The monster struggled to keep up with the red ranger but he was successfully repelling all of blows that were raining down on him. Jason lifted his sword high over his head, giving Ecliptor an opening. He punched the red ranger in the stomach and followed that up with three vicious blows across the chest with his sword. Jason flew into the air and crashed to the ground in the middle of the abandoned road.
Jason tried to get to his feet but he fell back to ground, exhausted and beaten, "Damn you".
Ecliptor kicked Jason in the ribs and rolled him over onto his back, arrogantly pinning him in place with his foot, "Any last words?"
The red ranger didn't get a chance to reply as a burst of laser fire slammed into the garage, reducing it to a pile of splintered wood. The force of the explosion blew Ecliptor across the street and into a dilapidated house. Jason looked up and saw the Spectrum ii hovering overhead, "Sorry about that, my aim was a bit off", he recognised the voice as Kimberly's Underneath his helmet he laughed, wincing in pain from his injured ribs.
Three flashes of coloured light appeared around him as the other rangers teleported down from the ship, "We need to stop saving you like this", Trini joked.
"Can you stand", Zack added and extended his hand. Jason groaned in pain but he was able to grab hold of the black rangers gloved hand and drag himself back to his feet. Over the other side of the street Ecliptor had gotten back to his feet, shaking off dust and sand from his body.
"Let's take him down", Jason said, "together". He retrieved his sword, they combined their weapons " Let's can this bitch" he called as the other rangers gathered around him. They fired off a blast of energy at Ecliptor which struck him in the chest. Ecliptor looked down at the hole in his chest before he fell to the ground. As the rangers celebrated, Jason fell to his knees in pain.
"Come on let's get him back to the ship", Kimberly said as he took hold of Andros' arm, they teleported back on board before leaving in the ship.
A few minutes later a flash of purple light appeared in the abandoned town of Silver Lake. Astronema approached Ecliptor before kneeling down in the dust next to his body, "Oh Ecliptor", she sighed, "I told you that this would end in failure". She touched the whole in his chest, "If you weren't kept alive by Dark Specter's will and magic then this would have been fatal. I'm not looking forward to telling him how this happened". She stood up and slammed her staff on the ground, teleporting them away.
Spectrum ii
The Spectrum had safely gotten back into orbit and the rangers were waiting patiently for Jason to finish patching himself up. After an hour he walked back onto the bridge, struggling to put his jacket back on due to his damaged ribs, "Here let me help you with that", Zack said as he assisted the red ranger.
"Thanks", he replied before addressing everyone, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have gone by myself".
"There is no i in team" Kimberly said, The rangers hugged Jason, only for him to wince in pain at their touch. They all backed away and apologised, "This is awesome", Kimberly said.