Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kimberly looked on as she, Tommy and Jillian arrived at the airport. James and Twyla were with them.
Almost immediately, she saw Billy, Zack and Minh waiting for them.
"Billy, Zack, good to see you guys again," Tommy greeted his friends. Kimberly followed suit. The four shared a group hug.
"It's good to see you again, Minh," Jillian walked over to her good friend as the two shared a hug.
"Same here," Minh replied, "I missed you."
"Minh insisted we come back to Ocean Bluff after Christmas was over," Billy stated.
"I guess she missed the friends she made here," James replied.
"That's no surprise there," Twyla quipped.
"Well," Billy said, "we actually have a couple surprises of our own."
"And what would that be?" Kimberly asked.
"First," Zack answered, "Billy, Minh and I took the Rad Bug to the airport."
"Really?" Tommy and Kimberly replied in surprise.
"Well," James asked, "if you took the Rad Bug, then what are we doing here?"
"That's the second surprise," Zack answered before glancing to the left.
Moments later, Kat, Jason, JJ, Adam, Tanya, Rocky, and Aisha all arrived at the area. Tommy and Kimberly then shared a reunion with their friends while JJ grouped up with Minh and Jillian.
"So," Jason asked, "how was everyone's Christmas?"
"It was pretty good," Kimberly answered.
"At first," Tommy nodded in agreement.
"What do you mean by that?" Tanya asked.
"Well," Tommy answered, "Casey and Jillian have been arguing over the past couple of days."
"When did that start?" Aisha asked.
"You guys witnessed the jist of it before you left for Christmas," Jillian answered, "but then he started again after Christmas was over. Apparently, Casey is being salty because I'm dating RJ and he thinks I'm taking all of his time."
"I thought you guys were going to talk this over?" Minh spoke up.
"They tried," Kimberly assured the group, "but Casey is kind of stubborn."
"Yikes," Jason muttered.
"I hope Casey realizes that Jillian is a part of his team now," Kat stated.
"He's going to have to," Kimberly nodded in agreement, "otherwise, the Dark Elite is going to have a big advantage."
"You took the words out of my mouth, Beautiful," Tommy replied before he shared a kiss with his wife.
"We should get going," Adam suggested, "and at the parking lot is a big surprise waiting for you guys."
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
The veteran rangers, James, Twyla, Minh and Jillian made their way to the parking lot, waiting for them from the Rad Bug was a robot with a round gold disc for his head.
"Aye yi yi yi yi!" the robot exclaimed, "Everyone is here!"
"Almost everyone," Zack replied before bringing Jillian to where the robot was, "Jillian, this is Alpha 9. He's the robot assistant to us Veteran Rangers."
"Alpha 9," Tommy introduced his daughter to the robot assistant, "this is Jillian, she's my daughter as well as Kimberly's."
"So this is Jillian," Alpha replied, "Tommy and Kimberly have mentioned you before. It is finally nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Alpha 9," Jillian replied as she shook hands with Alpha.
"You can just call me Alpha," the robot replied before glancing over at James and Twyla, "who are these people?"
"They are some of our new allies in this great battle," Adam answered.
"My name is James Ferino," James proceeded to introduce himself, "and this is my wife Twyla."
"Nice to meet you, Alpha," Twyla smiled as she waved at the robot.
"Any friend of the rangers is a friend of mine," James told Alpha, "and you'll meet the rest of the Ronin Warriors as well as the Lady Ronin Guardians."
"Aye yi yi!" Alpha exclaimed, "I have heard about the Ronin Warriors before as well as their guardians. It will be exciting to meet them."
"And you'll meet the rest of my team as well," Jillian added, "the Power Rangers Jungle Fury."
"I am aware of that team due to the Bandora Protocol," Alpha stated.
"What's that?" Jillian asked.
"We'll explain more on the way back to JKP," Tommy answered, "I think you should know that was the reason your mother and I were missing for over a couple of weeks."
"As well as myself," Jason added.
"And me," Tanya glanced down for a split second.
"You guys did mention something about the Bandora Protocol when RJ was at the hospital," Jillian glanced at her parents, "and Dominic acted like he didn't want to talk about it."
"Funny you should mention that," Jason stated, "we saw him, RJ, Conner and Trent among the other captive rangers when we were restored back to normal after Robo – Snizzard and Robo – Minotaur captured us by orders of Robo – Rita."
"So they were all robots?" Jillian asked, "and they captured my parents, Jason and Tanya as well as Dom and RJ."
"In a nutshell," Tommy nodded, "along with Conner, Trent and a handful of others."
"Those handful of other rangers being the Phantom Ranger," Alpha added, "Chad, the Lightspeed Rescue Blue Ranger, Carlos and Ashley, the Yellow and Black Space Rangers, and Leo, Kai and Damon, the Red, Blue and Green Lost Galaxy Rangers."
"Adam and Aisha were able to take the captured rangers to Aquitar and restore them back to normal," Billy finished, "then the next day, the captured rangers returned to their homes."
"That's a lot to take in," Jillian sighed, "the important thing is everyone is okay now."
"That's the spirit, Jillian!" Alpha replied happily.
Months Ago
Casey, Lily, Theo, RJ and Dominic had morphed and made their way to where they were greeted by a group of gray soldiers they weren't that familiar with but they were known as putties.
"What are those things?" Theo asked.
"They sound like angry turkeys," RJ stated.
"That's an understatement," Dominic nodded in agreement.
"I'm not sure," Casey answered, "but what I do know, is we got the call from the Bandora Protocol as this Alpha 9 told us. We need to take action."
"Let's do it!" Lily exclaimed, "it's happening here, and it's happening at the rest of the world!"
The five rangers proceeded to fight the putties, and getting the upper hands against the minions. Casey remembered the words Alpha 9 chimed when he made the announcement, Attention all Power Ranger teams! Bandora Protocol initiated! Get to your assigned stations now!
That was the call that led the rangers to this moment. After they defeated most of the putties, the five rangers were face to face with two robotic creatures. The first one looked like a minotaur, and the other looked like a snake of some sort.
"Lookie here, Minotaur," the robotic snake creature stated.
"I see them, Snizzard," Minotaur replied, "more Power Rangers to bring to Rita Repulsa."
"Not a chance!" Theo exclaimed, "You won't be taking any of us!"
"With the Strength of a Tiger, Jungle Fury Red Ranger!"
"With the Stealth of a Jaguar, Jungle Fury Blue Ranger!"
"With the Speed of a Cheetah, Jungle Fury Yellow Ranger!"
"With the Courage of a Wolf, Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger!"
"With the Power of a Rhino, Jungle Fury Rhino Ranger!"
"Power Rangers Jungle Fury!"
"Whatever," Minotaur replied, "you five will meet the fates of the other rangers we have captured so far!"
The rangers began their fight with the two robotic creatures. At first the team started off strong, but despite the advantage, the two creatures gained the upper hand. Eventually, they knocked down Casey, Lily and Theo and prepared to capture them.
"Excellent," a third robotic figure appeared at the scene with a strange looking machine, "these rangers will be perfect for my collection."
The rangers looked to see a bunch of rangers shrunk and captured inside of the mysterious machine.
Before the creatures could make a move, strokes of light blue, green and black energies hit the robotic creatures, sparing the three rangers.
"Stop!" the first voice shouted.
"Leave them alone!" a second voice added in.
The rangers, Minotaur, Snizzard and Robo Rita all looked to see Master Finn, Master Swoop and Master Phant arriving at the scene.
"Master Phant!" Lily exclaimed.
"Master Swoop!" Theo added happily.
"And Master Finn!" Casey added as well.
The rangers were happy to see the masters but the robotic menaces were not so thrilled.
"Those old men are not a part of our plan!" Robo Rita exclaimed.
Master Phant helped up Lily, Master Swoop helped up Theo and Master Finn helped up Casey.
"Dom, let's get in on this!" RJ told his teammate.
"Right!" Dominic nodded.
RJ fought Minotaur while Dominic fought Snizzard. At first the two Special Rangers had the upper hand against their opponents but the tables eventually turned.
"You got some nice moves there," Snizzard told Dominic before the robotic snake grabbed the Rhino Ranger by the arm and proceeded to paralyze him, "but mine are better!"
"Dominic!" RJ exclaimed in surprise before Snizzard paralyzed him as well.
Casey, Lily, Theo and the masters looked on in shock at what happened.
"No!" Theo exclaimed in shock as Snizzard wrapped the two rangers in his vines and shrunk them to size.
"Oh no!" Lily cried out.
"That's what is happening around the world," Casey stated.
Master Finn paled in shock at the sight of his son being captured along with Dominic as Snizzard brought the captured rangers to Robo Rita.
"Excellent," Robo Rita stated as she held the two captives in her hands, "two more rangers to add to my collection as part of my plan."
The robotic empress placed RJ and Dominic on opposite sides of each other where Carlos was being held captive.
"What are you doing to them?!" Casey demanded.
"I am draining their energy for my machine," Robo Rita answered, "soon they will be lifeless husks, like all my other captured rangers. You three can join them!"
"Spirit of the Bat!" Master Swoop unleashed his bat spirit to ward off the enemies.
"Spirit of the Elephant!" Master Phant followed suit with his elephant spirit.
"Spirit of the Shark!" Master Finn joined them with his shark spirit.
"This is a worldwide alert to all Power Rangers," boomed the voice of Alpha 9, "Minotaur is tracking you. As long as you're morphed, he can find you. You must power down. Do you hear me? Power down, or he'll find you."
"Got it," Casey responded before looking at Lily and Theo, "we know what to do."
The remaining three Jungle Fury Rangers powered down.
"Untrackable!" Minotaur exclaimed in disbelief.
"No matter," Robo Rita assured her monsters, "you still have two captured. That will do just fine."
With that, she vanished in dark energy along with the captured rangers.
"Bring them back!" Master Finn exclaimed in disbelief, distraught over what could possibly happen to his son.
"And the other rangers as well!" Casey added.
"Not a chance," Minotaur replied.
"Bye bye," Snizzard added before the two robotic creatures vanished in dark energy as well.
"Oh no!" Lily cried, "they got our friends!"
"Now the Dark Elite is going to have a bigger advantage with RJ and Dominic captured," Casey stated.
Present Day
"You okay?" Conner asked as Dominic looked over at him.
"Yeah," Dominic nodded, "I was just thinking about a recent event."
"The Bandora Protocol?" Kira asked.
"What's the Bandora Protocol?" Hana asked.
"It's a Power Ranger situation," Kira answered.
"Pretty much that ranger situation," Dominic nodded again before he stood up, "after RJ and I were captured, everything was all a blur. The next thing I knew, I found myself at Aquitar along with RJ and the other captured rangers."
"We should know," Conner glanced at the rhino ranger, "Trent and I were also captured."
"And we experienced the same thing you did," Trent added, "it was really strange."
"All Kira and I could do was wait after they were captured," Ethan stated. Kira nodded in agreement.
"Where's RJ?" Dustin asked as he walked over to Dominic and the Dino Thunder team, "I haven't seen him all morning."
"He and Fran went to take care of a serious issue," Dominic answered, "RJ told me about Fran's situation and needless to say..."
"I'm aware of it too," Dustin stopped the rhino ranger, "RJ is probably getting the paperwork needed to get Fran in his care or custody."
"And that is exactly what happened," RJ said as he arrived back at the loft with Fran in tow.
"RJ is now my legal guardian," Fran added in, "mind you, the person behind the paperworks informed us I was old enough to live on my own, but given what my parents put me through, the state insists I live with a relative or friend."
"Breathe, Fran," RJ held Fran by her shoulders.
"And we are all your friends," Dominic smiled as he hugged his girlfriend, "and you are my girlfriend."
Author's Note: I am aware that the red, blue and gold Beast Morphers Power Rangers were the three rangers captured along with all of the others mentioned in this chapter, as I watched the special like the rest of the Power Rangers fans have, but there is a simple explanation for what you just read: all of the Power Rangers who appeared in Megaforce/Super Megaforce onwards don't exist in this universe.
I know RJ and Dominic don't have an action figure in the Lighting Collection like the others do, but I added them so that the Jungle Fury Rangers could be included in my version of the Once and Always special. I wish Hasbro would bring the Lighting Collection so that not only we get Jungle Fury figures, but also complete some other ranger teams that hadn't been completed, but I digress.