Author's notes - I casually drop another reference in this chapter to Hyper Time Danger Force, a TV show that many of my characters watch. In this universe, the Power Rangers are real, so I came up with the equivalent that everyone watches on TV, you know, the franchise that is to my characters what the Power Rangers are to us. And doesn't Hyper Time Danger Force just sound like a Sentai season?

We stop into Springfield again, this chapter, and there's some more continuity references. While Billy and Kulak the dragon versus Sharkman, in part ten, was my favourite fight scene, I think this chapter contains the best action scene of the entire story. Enjoy!

Part Eleven

Chapter Five

Leaving the Command Centre, Ian and Brendan teleported back to Ian's house, finding it empty. Ian suggested they do some light sparring in the backyard to come down after Brendan's trip to Briarwood. They'd been out for about fifteen minutes when Brendan looked up and saw a line of black clouds, drifting in from out to sea.

"Want to head inside?" Brendan asked.

Ian nodded. "Looks like something bad is on the way," he said. "Do you want to just crash in front of the TV?"

"Sure."

"I'll tell you if anyone's face starts melting," Ian joked. He'd hoped to at least get a smile out of his best friend, but Brendan grimaced. Ian didn't say anything else and followed Brendan inside.

Settling in front of the television, Ian reached for the remote. "Oh hey," he said with a smile. "New episodes of Hyper Time Danger Force! You know, Pete and Scott have a point. Once you look past the special effects, this is a great show."

Brendan turned to his best friend. "In the Command Centre before," he began, "did that feel like we were getting benched?"

"No," Ian replied. "It sounded like Zac and Kim were worried about you."

"Maybe they were right to be," Brendan murmured, and looked away.

Ian sat up. "Where's this coming from?"

"Nowhere," Brendan said, and looked back to the TV. He recoiled sharply. The coffee table was covered in a writhing mass of hissing snakes! One of them reared up to strike and he pulled back against the couch. A heartbeat later and the snakes had vanished, the two boys alone in the room again.

Ian looked on in alarm. "What?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't see that?"

Ian shook his head, about to ask further when their communicators beeped. Ian swore beneath his breath and reached for his wrist. "We're here Zordon," he said. "Go ahead."

"Rangers!" Zordon's voice echoed down the line. He sounded frantic. Ian and Brendan glanced to each other. That was never a good sign. "We have an emergency! The Traxian refugees I told you about? They just tried to leave Earth, but something went wrong and their ship is in an uncontrolled descent. At the speed it's travelling, the impact will kill everybody on board and destroy anything caught below."

"You want us to catch a falling space ship?" Brendan asked softly. "How the hell do we do that?"

"Did the ship malfunction or something?" Ian asked.

"I don't believe so," Zordon replied. "The other Rangers were ambushed by threats that seem engineered to keep us occupied. That tells me there is a bigger plot in motion. According to the computers, you've got five minutes until impact. The ship's trajectory will see it coming down in central Ethiopia. Teleport there immediately and summon your zords. We'll contact you once you arrive."

"Okay Zordon, we've got this," Ian said, and turned to Brendan. The Aqua Ranger looked completely lost, but they didn't have time to waste. "It's all us Bren. It's morphin' time!" and they reached for their back pockets.

"Iguanodon!"

"Dilophosaurus!"

The grassy field shook with every step of the titanic Iguanodon, the zord's silver armour gleaming in the African sun. Safely in the cockpit, Ian turned the zord to face the dot above the horizon that was rapidly growing larger.

The Aqua and Grey Rangers had materialised a minute ago, hoping that luck would be on their side. Of course, it wasn't. A short distance away was a dirt track that led to a village about a kilometre south. It was a rural community, with a collection of farming buildings and small huts with thatched rooves. It was a bright Sunday morning. Children were playing in their gardens while their parents bought supplies at the local food market. A larger structure at the southern end of town seemed to be buzzing with activity, and the boys guessed correctly it was the local church.

Once the Iguanodon and Dilophozord had appeared, the town's residents had rushed in a panic to find their children and seek shelter. But it didn't matter. There was no time to evacuate and nowhere to run to.

The two Rangers had one shot.

They wouldn't get another.

"Okay, Zordon and Alpha uploaded the ship's trajectory," Ian began. "It's coming in fast. Two minutes."

A kilometre away, standing guard over the township in the Dilophozord, Brendan sagged back into his seat. "Ian, how do we do this?" he asked.

"The Traxians must have some control over their ship," Ian began, "which is why it's not flying towards us at light speed. All we need to do is deflect it away from the village. There's a valley about two clicks south of here, just over the horizon. The computer says there's no life in the valley, which is weird given how green everything is, but we just have to aim this thing for the valley. We can do that, right?"

The roar of the approaching ship grew louder, and the boys looked up. Details on the ship's hull were clearly visible. "Ian, I…" Brendan began, but his voice trailed off. "I don't know how to do this. I'm gonna mess it up."

Ian grit his teeth, but it was too late. The alarms were blaring. The ship was thirty seconds out. Whatever was in Brendan's head would have to wait. They were out of time.

Ian turned the Iguanodon towards the distant village and pushed the zord forward, the Iguanodon gaining speed with every step along the same trajectory as the crashing ship. There were a thousand things that could go wrong. His timing could've been off. The ship could suddenly veer off-course, speed up or slow down, and he'd miss it completely. The Command Centre's calculations could've been off. A thousand moments where things could go wrong.

They just needed one second where everything went right.

In the rear-view screen, Ian could see the ship rapidly gaining on the zord. It was on a course straight for the village, leaving a trail of smoke and debris behind it. For all the impossible things his faithful zord could do, he knew it couldn't match the speed of the crashing ship. But he didn't need to. With the village only a few hundred metres away, another alarm sounded. The ship was on top of him. Ian sent up a silent prayer and reached for the controls.

Just one second.

With an earth-shaking roar, the ship thundered past the Iguanodon as the zord swung both its arms for the bottom of the hull. There was an explosion of sparks and flame, and the scream of twisting metal as the zord's thumb spikes were wrenched off by the impact. Even as the gigantic robot was thrown off its feet, Ian saw the plan had worked. The strike from the zord had boosted the ship's trajectory without destroying it. Its new flight arc lifted it over the township, the village passing safely underneath.

As the zord rolled to a stop against a hill, Ian looked back to the ship and gasped. The impact had changed the ship's trajectory but also slowed the ship down too much. It was falling again, straight towards the church at the south end of the village. Ian's breath caught in his throat. With the Iguanodon down, he was helpless, frozen in horror at a disaster he couldn't stop.

The ground shook as the aqua Dilophozord charged towards the falling ship. Lowering its head, the zord slammed into the front of the spaceship with an almighty crash. The impact lifted the zord into the air where it sailed over the church and crashed to the ground in an empty field a hundred metres away. But the ship veered away from the church, hitting the ground a kilometre south and skidding over the ridge before disappearing into the valley on the other side, a plume of black smoke marking the spot where the ship finally came to a stop.

Wrestling control of the Iguanodon, Ian got the zord back to its feet, and steered the robot towards the fallen Dilophozord.

"Bren! Bren, are you there?" Ian called.

After a few seconds, Brendan's voice crackled out of the radio. "Did it work?"

Ian sighed with relief. "Yeah, we did it," he replied. "The village is safe."

"I'm sorry man."

"Listen," Ian replied quickly. "Don't be. You just saved the lives of a thousand people by head-butting a falling spaceship."

Lying on the floor of the Dilophozord's cabin, the corners of Brendan's mouth curled into a smile. "Actually, yeah, that was pretty awesome," he said.

Still dazed from the crash, Brendan climbed to his feet and settled into his chair. With the Iguanodon's help, the Dilophozord slowly stood up. Armour plating along the zord's shoulder and neck had been torn off, while the zord barely had use of its right arm. Sparks were raining down from several wires hanging loose. But the zord was still standing.

"I think we're good," Brendan nodded.

"Me too," Ian replied. "But I'm getting some super-weird readings from that valley. Maybe it's the ship? Anyway, the Traxians need our help."

"You're right," Brendan said. "Let's go," and the two zords headed for the ridge, following the trail of wreckage from the ship.

Dustin the yellow Wind Ninja was standing on the roof of the tallest building in Springfield, gazing out over the river, when Scott teleported onto the roof. Seeing Scott appear a few metres away, Dustin's face lit up, while Scott raced forward and wrapped his arms around Dustin, the two boys holding each other for a few seconds longer than they needed before stepping back.

"Miss me already?" Dustin grinned. "Our last date was a week ago."

"Well, obviously," Scott said, then tapped his communicator. "Unfortunately I'm here on business."

"Freaky alien stuff?"

"If we're lucky," Scott began. "Something's going on, and it's starting to feel like the precursor to something really bad. But I started thinking. Cam still has access to Lothor's space ninja network, right? And you have all those hidden ninja academies all over the world. Including the kung-fu one with the big cats. Maybe you guys know something that we don't, or you've heard something we missed. Has there been any chatter about Earth lately? Have you heard anything weird?"

"Can't help you on that one dude."

"Damn," Scott frowned. "I thought for sure you would've heard something."

"No, I mean, literally," Dustin said. "We haven't heard anything. There's been no chatter, there's nothing. According to Cam, all the space networks are dead quiet. Anyone near Earth, or talking about Earth, has cleared out. It's like they're giving us a wide berth."

"That's worrying," Scott said.

"And now that you mention it, I've felt it too," the wind ninja continued. "I'm the Earth ninja, right? And, like, rock's always just kind of felt like rock. But the last time I got all elemental, the rocks didn't feel solid anymore. They were unsteady. Almost fragile. It was like the Earth itself was trying to tell me something. I couldn't figure out what, but Shane said not to worry about it."

"Thanks for telling me," Scott said. "I think you might want to head back to Blue Bay Harbour and warn your team. Tell 'em something's on its way. I should take this back to Zordon and Alpha," but he paused, and lightly rested his hand on Dustin's face. "Stay safe, yellow lion."

"You too dino man," Dustin smiled. With that, Dustin bounced across the city in a wild streak of yellow, while Scott reached for his communicator and disappeared in a dazzling flash of blue.

To be continued.