Chapter 24 - Wild Quest

2006, Angel Grove

The skies were dark over the city. Pinkish-purple lightning flashed around in the clouds. Occasionally one of the bolts would hit something below. On top of all this, three powerful monsters; the pile of melted vinyls Kordec, the craggy frog headed Zirynoc, and the horn faced Saksor; were wreaking havoc. They were presently being distracted by automobile sized spirit animals, ninja powers and the Senturion Squad.

A massive, blinding bolt of lightning as thick as a person hit the middle of Angel Grove Park. The simultaneous crack of thunder was loud enough to shatter every piece of glass for miles. After the flash, there stood a woman as tall as a building. Her eyes blazed with pink energy and the air around her crackled with power. "Citizens of Earth! Watch as I crush this world beneath my boot heel! I'll start with this pathetic little city!" Riti announced. "I will rule this galaxy and beyond," she said, clenching her fist. Bone Drones began appearing around the city.

"Don't you mean "we"?" Rio demanded of her mother from her feet. Riti ignored this question. "Not even you're Power Rangers can stop me. See how they hide?" she through back and laughed. Rio didn't find this very amusing.

No one else did either. It was true. Where were the Power Rangers? Were they afraid to face this giant woman and her minions? Did something happen to them?

2002, Turtle Cove

Had anyone seen them, it would, perhaps, have been quite jarring to see four people appear out of thin air clutching what looked like children’s toys. Luckily, Lani, Fox, Sora and Zara ended up in the woods outside a bustling little city.  "Where do you think we are?" Zara asked.

"Turtle Cove. It looks like springtime, so probably 2003," Fox answered. This little nugget of information caused the others to look at him. "I've taken a look at the archives, too," he said. He held up a small replica of Blue Ranger. Each of them had one in varying colors. They were called Morph Keys and they were what the Phantom Ranger had given them to bring them out of their time and into another. "I recognized them. They're the Wild Force Rangers and they operated out of Turtle Cove," he added.

The little figure began to glow and his wrists vibrated urgently. He twisted his wrists and his black cuffs appeared. Lani and Sora followed suit. Zara twisted her wrist to make her communicator appear but a second cuff appeared on her other arm. The Morph Keys bonded to the Morphers. Lani's Power Coin turned red and an embossed eagle in flight took the place of her usual gold T-Rex.  Fox's Power Coin turned blue and his Mastodon was replaced with a Shark. Sora's Power Coin turned into a Black Bison. With Zara, the Key formed a silver Power Coin that had a wolf's head on it.

"Well, I suppose that's one way to go about it," Sora said. He twisted his wrists again and the cuffs disappeared from view.

"I wonder how they're supposed to lead us to the Staff piece," Lani said.

"Fist thing's first, though," Zara said, eying Lani. In all the excitement of the day, though more than a little disheveled, she still wore her red and pink hanbok from her Heritage Day concert. "We should find you something to change into," she said.

Lani looked down at herself and groaned. "How am I still wearing this thing?" she complained.

Sora chuckled. "I think it looks charmin', but I agree, it’s probably best to not draw so much attention to ourselves," he said.

"Well, let's go the city. I'm sure there's a thrift shop," Fox said.

Lani nodded. "I think we have to head that way anyway," she said. Something in her general wrist area was tugging her that way. She led the way out of the woods and into the city.

-x-

Divya Majumdar walk-jogged to keep up with her friend's long legged gait. "I thought Texans were supposed to saunter and swagger like they had all the time in the world," she commented. Her high, straight black ponytail swished in time with her steps. "Where are you in a hurry to get to?" she demanded. "We're just meeting RJ for pizza," she stated smartly.

"I ain't walkin' fast. You're legs are just short," Damien Henderson answered. He flashed her a smile to soften his jab, but he did slow down enough for her not to have to run to catch up. She rolled her dark eyes at him, but she was grateful he slowed his pace.

He suddenly stopped so abruptly she ran into his back. "Oof! What now?" she demanded and peered around him. Coming out of a thrift shop was a motley group of kids around their age. Though the Asian guy seemed a little older. Divya looked at them and looked at Damien. His pupils were dilated. That was often an indication that he was seeing what she couldn't.

"He's Spirit Seeing?"

Divya didn't even jump when the lanky, long haired RJ spoke from her other side. He often just kind of came out of nowhere like that. He skulked around the shadows and walked almost without making a sound, giving every appearance of just appearing out of thin air. She nodded. "What do you see?" she asked, and poked Damien in the side.

"That scrawny kid is almost as sharky as Master Finn," Damien answered. RJ made a face at the mention of his father.

Divya's eyes widened. "Wow. Another shark. What about the other two?" she asked. "You didn't stop and look all hocus-y because of a shark boy," she said.

Damien shook his head. "The two girls are really vibrant. The shorter one is a really powerful looking falcon and the edgy one is a wily looking coyote. But that guy, I can't get a handle on him. It's almost as bad as looking at Shayla when she's hosting," he explained. He blinked his eyes several times, feeling slightly queasy.

Sora, being not quite human, didn't quite have spidey-senses like Taran and Lammy, but he defiantly felt watched. He glanced over and saw the trio looking at them. "We've drawn attention," he said.

Lani rolled her eyes and scowled at the brown shopping bag that now housed her hanbok. "Maybe I should have kept that on," she said. "Smile politely and move on," she said.

Fox did a double take. "Hey, that's him. That's the guy who was shooting out a bloody huge lion," he said, pointing at Damien without thinking. "The one with Jason's br--" Sora clapped a hand over Fox's mouth.

"Just smile politely and move on," he repeated.

"Move on to where exactly?" Zara asked Lani. She seemed to be the one being led on.

Lani sighed and tried to point past the trio without appearing to do so. "That way," she said.

"Hang on, I'll scout alternate routes," Sora said and through he blurred slightly it was subtle enough not to be noticed overly much and a duplicate of him appeared across the street and went to scout around.

"Try not to be obvious about looking, but the rangy long-haired one just broke off from the other two," Zara said casually.

"D'you think he saw my duplicate?" Sora asked, paling slightly. Fox tried to say something but his mouth was still covered. "Ah, sorry, mate," he said and took his hand away.

Fox cleared his throat. "We should just go. There's no reason any of 'em should be especially interested in us unless we act strange, like duplicating in public," he said.

"I'll have you know, I'm very good at duplicating in public," Sora declared. "The only way he would've noticed is if he isn’t exactly normal. Come on, this way," he said finally. They crossed the street, following Sora's directions until they finally ended up going the way they needed to go. They met up with the Sora duplicate and he merged into one again.

"The pull is definitely getting stronger," Lani said as they began to leave the main part of the city behind and pass through smaller but ritzier neighborhoods.

"We're being followed," Zara said. "Whoever it is, they’re really good but, well, telekinetic space girl here."

"How exactly does that work?" Fox asked.

"I move things with my mind," Zara answered deadpan.

Sora snorted back a chuckle. "Aye, we know that part. Explain the rest," Sora said. Since he was trained on KO-35 he was familiar with the telekinetic .1% of the population. Since he was trained by her brother, he also understood Zara was snarky by default.

"I sense energy fields and manipulate them," Zara said. "Well, if you want to get technical, I see energy fields. When I'm actively using my abilities I can only see things in shades of purple. Energy fields glow brighter when I'm fiddling with them," she explained.

"That's flippin' amazin'," Fox declared, shaking his head in awe.

"Is it just the one?" Lani asked Zara. She was also rather impressed by the information, but she needed information about their tail.

"I can expand more if you want me to, but I have to stop and really concentrate," Zara answered.

Sora spotted a convenience store. "Let's stop a tick and get some water. I feel like we've been walking for bloody hours," he said.

"So that's why my feet feel like they're about the fall off," Fox complained. It was surprisingly the first time he'd complained, but he supposed months’ worth of training has been paying off.

"Grandpa and Tai haven't whipped you into shape yet?" Lani asked and tsked him. She led her little foursome to the convenience store. Fox made a face but didn't answer. After they bought bottles of water and granola bars, Zara leaned against the building and let her vision become purple and her perceptions expand.

"Two. The lanky long-haired one and other one. They're the only ones following us. The girl got a head of us somehow and has joined with three others. They're all in a group," she said and blinked several times to clear her vision. Her head swam and she pitched forward.

Sora caught her and steadied her. "Easy. You did too much. Zhane warned you about that," he scolded.

Lani frowned at her. "There was no need to over extend yourself if it’s dangerous," she added.

"Geeze, Mum and Dad, give it a rest," Fox said and handed Zara a water. She took it gratefully.

Lani snorted. "Please. Sora is so not my type," she said. "No offense," she added.

"None taken. I feel the same way," he assured her.

Zara and Fox stared at them.

"I thought tall Asian leprechauns were exactly your type," Fox told Lani.

"And slim Oriental spitfires yours," Zara told Sora.

Though that had them for a minute, Lani rallied gracefully. "Sora's not a samurai," she declared.

"And Lani's not a sorceress," Sora added.

Zara admitted defeat by taking a long a drink of her water and pretending she didn't lose. Fox just shook his head at the both of them.

"I can see the girl coming. She's with AJ and two other people," Sora said just as he was taking a sip of water. "No, they stopped far enough away to pretend they aren't keeping an eye on us," he added while taking a keen interest in his granola bar.

"The trackers are circling around to join them," Zara murmured.

"What's the next step, Mum?" Fox asked. He produced a cosmic sprinkled brownie and broke it in half and offered the other half to Zara in case she needed the sugar spike since she was doing so much.

Zara took the brownie with a smile. "I want to know what we did to garner so much attention anyway. They were eyeballing us before Sora duplicated," she said around a mouthful of brownie.

Lani wrinkled her nose. "Do they not have manners on KO-35?" she asked. Before she could decide the next course of action, something strange happened. Creatures began appearing around them. They were mostly humanoid and gray with fiery red stripes waving around them. They had nearly featureless faces but small single horns protruded from their heads. Some had strange bladed weapons. The foursome out of time weren't the targets, it seemed to just be a random incursion as the creatures began to harass and attack people going about their daily lives.

"Defend yourselves, but don't get carried away," Lani said as one of the creatures came at her. She ducked the blade and lashed out with her shopping bag, knocking it out of his hand and kicking him in the chest.

"I think she means no triplicating," Fox said. He picked up a lightweight table that was set up outside the store and smashed it against one of the creatures. The table shattered but the legs he'd had a hold of remained in his hands. He gave then an experimental twist-and-swish. He concluded they'd do and began using them against the creatures that came at him.

Sora thought that was a handy idea. "Let's me give it a ty," he said. He grabbed the only remaining table and broke the legs off. "Lani!" he said and tossed her one and kept the other. He didn't really need to triplicate to handle a few grunts. He slashed and jabbed and kicked any that got in his way.

Though Zara was proficient at the Kovarian martial art, she didn't have much sword training, so she went to her old stand-by. She grabbed the lids of a couple of trash cans and clanged them against the head of a creature and tossed one after another, letting them zip around.

Lani tumbled between the legs of another one. She saw then, that their would-be trackers were also engaging the creatures. They worked as a team and were highly skilled. They used a style of Kung Fu she didn't recognize. There was one thing she was sure of. "They're the Wild Rangers. We need to get out of here, now," she said. "Zara, make us a path," she said, pointing with her table leg.

The trashcan lids spun in the direction Lani indicated. They began running through the opening the lids made until they were safely past the fight. Zara let the lids drop, but they kept running, following Lani's lead.

-x-

Evan Chamberlain barely managed to see that the four strangers that had Damien and RJ so perplexed had disappeared from the battle with the Putrids. They'd managed to pretty much clear out the creatures. It didn't bode well. Putrid attacks were a usual tactic to keep the Wild Rangers off balance. It meant the Orgs were up to something, but when that "what" would be revealed was an unknowable variable. It could be a few hours or a few days. Evan hated unknown variables. He ran a hand through his dark blonde hair and gave a ragged sigh.

"Did you see that skinny kid with those table legs? That was some grade-A training right there," AJ Scott commented appreciatively. "I feel like I've seen that technique before but I can't think where," he said.

"Was it my imagination, or were trash can lids flying around by themselves?" Zoe Myers asked, perplexed.

"No, I saw that, too," RJ assured her and cocked his head.

"They were all pretty well trained," Damien commented.

"Can either of you pick up their trail again?" Divya asked.

RJ nodded and loped off in the direction they were last seen and began to move back in forth in a jog.

"Angel Grove!" AJ said suddenly, brightening.

"Beg pardon?" Divya asked.

"Last time I visited my grandparents, I went to an exhibition with my brother and sister. There were these two kids with two wooden swords each demonstrating that technique. It was a technique developed by Akira Watanabe if I remember right. Neither kid was that kid though. One was the grandson, the other one had dark hair," he was saying thoughtfully.

RJ came back to them. "I have their trail. I think they're headed for Animaria," he said.

"We'd better get going then instead of obsessing over sword techniques," Divya said.

Zoe just shook her head at her friend. "You have no idea who Akira Watanabe is. And you're supposed to be smart," she teased. But she was all in favor of going. "Remind me and I'll ask my cousins if they know anything about it," she told AJ as they started out, following RJ and now Damien as they began tracking the strangers again.

-x-

Lani, Fox, Sora and Zara walked on and on and on. "You'd think the Keys could have plopped us a little closer to the Staff piece," Fox complained more than once. There was an obstacle when they came upon a large, elaborate electrified fence. "What the--is this Jurassic Park or something?" Fox asked. But they managed to get over the fence with the help of three Soras and Zara's telekinesis.

"Are you going to make it if you keep using it like that?" Fox asked her when he noticed how tired she was beginning to look.

She gave him a wan smile. "I'll be ok. I've done more than this for longer in training. You only thought Karone was tough in teaching Kung Fu. Try tk lessons from her," she said.

"I think I prefer her over Tai and Grandpa. If you've never been chewed out in Japanese by an old man who looks like Skittles puked on him, you don't know tough," Fox said.

Lani smothered a laugh but shot Fox a small glare. "Don't talk about Grandpa like that," she scolded.

Fox held up his hands. "No harm meant. Grandpa is a bamf. I 'bout fell out when I saw him taking on Rio single handed," he said with a grin.

Lani grinned. "Yeah."

"Wish I could have seen that," Zara complained.

Sora chuckled. "It was a sight to behold," he said. He began looking around with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Lani asked, instantly going on alert.

Sora, shook his head. "Something about this place...it reminds me of Mirinoi," he said.

Somewhere along the endless walk, they'd passed through the normal forests of California and ended up in a more lush jungle setting.

Zara glanced around. "I see what you mean. There's even something about the air that's similar," she agreed. They all jumped when they heard strange inhuman sounds in the distance.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Lani said quietly. "I think we're nearly wherever we're supposed to be," she said. From then on they moved silently. The sounds came more regularly, like large mechanical animals.

"They sound a bit like Galactabeasts," Sora noted, Zara nodded to agree.

They soon came upon a nearly perfect, hemispherical lake with water so clear they could see the bottom and everything else. They saw fish, seaweed and other lake creatures. In the center, at the bottom of the lake, they saw the staff piece. It was a little over a foot long. "Well, we made it to the end of the tunnel. Now we find out what's outside," Lani said. "Come on but be on guard. Phantom Ranger said that the staff pieces were guarded. I have to be ready for anything," she said. She looked around for a moment and found a tree to hang her bag on. Afterwards she began to lead her team toward the lake.

They'd only gone a feet when the ground to shake. The lake began to bubble like something was surfacing from beneath the water. Something large. Though nothing was visible from beneath the water, once it hit the air, it began to appear. It wasn't as large as a Mega-sized monster, but it wasn't as small as a normal-sized monster. But it was a monster.

It was big and black and covered in pipes and steam funnels. In one hand he held a big black nozzle of some sort. Water vapor rose from his steam funnels. "You shall not pass!" he said and fired a blast of superheated steam directly at them.

-x-

The Wild Rangers continued following the trail left by the strangers. "How did they jump the fence?" AJ wondered, looking up at the black monstrosity. No one had a ready answer. They had to detour to their usual way over the fence near their school where Divya had diverted the flow of electricity to allow them a safe spot to climb over.

They were concerned when they confirmed the strangers had crossed into Animaria, but there was relief when it became obvious they weren't headed to the Animarium itself. They continued onward for miles. "I don't think I've been to this part of Animaria before. Where are they headed?" Evan said thoughtfully.

A figure stepped out of the shadows before them and held her staff out to bar their way. "If you go further you must not interfere," Dulcea told them.

"What's going on?" Evan demanded. He wasn't surprised to see Dulcea there. She knew Animaria better than anyone. But for her to tell to them stay out of things was strange.

Dulcea shook her head and took the lead. "I'm not sure of all the details myself. They're after something that was put in this time and place long ago. That's all Shayla and I know about the whole thing. We knew that one day someone would come for it and if they were worthy, would be allowed to leave with it. What it is, we have no idea," she explained. "No matter what you see, you must not interfere," she reiterated.

"We got it. No interference," Evan assured her on behalf of everyone who may not exactly have felt the same way.

-x-

Lani, Sora, Fox and Zara scattered from the plume of steam. "Do you think it's safe to Morph?" Fox called to Lani as he dodged a jet of steam directed at him. He yelped when his leg was nearly scalded.

"What if the other Rangers are using their Morphs?" Zara asked and used her power to levitate herself into a high jump that had her practically landing in a tree.

"It's been hours. It may be a risk we have to take," Sora said, wishing his had his CeratoSword, but it didn't exist on Earth in this time period.

Lani bent over backward and felt the heat of the steam that barely missed her. If she hadn't been so flexible she'd have been in trouble.

Fox took cover behind the boulder. "In case everyone's forgotten, I'm not an alien and my defective Coin didn't give me super powers so a decision would be good," he said. Sweat and humidity from the steam had his whole body drenched.

"We don't have a choice," Lani agreed finally and twisted her wrists. "It's Morphin' Time! Wild Access!" She brought her two cuffs together as normal. A bright orb of red light formed around her. Gold topped red boots, gold topped white gloves, and a gold striped red suit with a crest over her heart formed from the light. A ghost image of a majestic eagle formed her helmet.

"Wild Access!" The others repeated and joined their cuffs. Orbs of light appeared around them forming gold topped colored boots, gold topped white gloves and colored suits with gold stripes across their chests and crests over their hearts.

The ghost image of a charging bison formed the Black Ranger's helmet. The ghost image of a razor-toothed shark formed the Blue Ranger's helmet. The ghost image of a howling wolf formed Lunar Wolf's helmet and navy-ish diamonds along the sides of her Power Suit and one arm to the same color.

-x-

That was almost the same moment as the true Wild Rangers appeared on the scene. Evan, Divya, Zoe, and RJ felt the moment their powers were borrowed. It didn't hurt, they just felt the absence of the power of their Wild Zords.

AJ smacked his own forehead. "Of course they're Power Rangers. We should have guessed that. But how did they do that? I thought the Wild Zord orbs bonded with our animal spirits," he said musingly.

Dulcea shook her head. "I don't know how that could be," she said.

"They used the closest match to their own animal spirits. The Falcon, the Shark, the Coyote and I think one of the fragments I could see in that other guy was a great stag," Damien said quietly.

"Are you sure we shouldn't help?" Divya asked Dulcea.

"I'm sure," Dulcea said, though it was a tough thing to just sit and watch.

-x-

Red flexed her fingers. She definitely felt like she was borrowing someone's clothes who was a slightly different size than she was.

"Well, this is different," Black mused as he looked himself.

"But not skeletal so that has to be a plus," Blue commented. Unlike Red, his suit felt almost as if were made for him. It felt more natural than his Black one.

"So amaze," Lunar declared.

The guardian of the staff was less than impressed with their change. He changed tactics and let out a high powered spray of boiling water. The Rangers scrambled to take cover again.

"This guy means business, doesn't he?"

"Well, it's time to strike back," Red said. "Red Eagle Sword!" she summoned. A long regal looking sword appeared in her hands. She ran forward, ducking and dodging attacks. She got in close to the body of the oversized monster and slashed it several time, leaving red flashes and the monster sparked and steamed.

"Blue Shark Fighting Fins!" Blue summoned. "Seriously?" he added and shook his head but when the dual weapons appeared he joined with Red in attacking the monster bodily.

"Black Bison Axe!" Black summoned an axe reminiscent of a pair of horns. Instead of going in close, he chose instead to put all his strength into flinging the Axe at the Guardian.

"Lunar Cue! Saber Mode!" Lunar summoned something that was part fencing foil and part pool cue. "What's with these weapons?" she wondered. She rushed forward and jumped. "Full Moon Slash!" She slashed a glowing silvery crescent in the air. A sound like the wind howling mixed with a wolf howling. The energy crashed into the monster.

The monster roared in pain and steam blew out of his funnels. He swept his arm wilding and knocked into the Rangers, sending them flying through the air and landing in a heap. He let out another barrage of boiling water at them.

Lunar managed to divert the stream. "What now?" she asked Red.

Red took a deep a deep breath and dropped the Eagle Sword. "We keep trying until we get it," she said. "Falconator!" she summoned. A cross-bow like falcon-themed weapon appeared on her arm.

"Right," the other three agreed.

Blue dropped his fins. "Sword of Pardolis!" a short, squat giraffe-themed sword appeared in his hand.

Black triplicated. The one of him that held the Bison Axe dropped it. "Rhino Shooter!" A rather large rhinoceros themed blaster appeared in his hands.

"Deer Clutch!" one of the triplicates summoned. A gripper shaped like the horns of buck appeared in his hands.

"Armadillo Puck!" the other triplicate summoned a purple-ish weapons that was shaped like an oversized hockey puck. "Trade!" he called to Lunar and tossed the puck in her direction.

She caught it with her mind and sent the Lunar Cue to him. She tossed the Puck at the monster. It spun and hit him wherever she needed it to. Whenever he would try to aim his nozzle, the Puck would hit and knock his aim askew.

This allowed the other Rangers opportunities. Two of the Black Ranger went in close and the other began firing and taking out steam funnels. Blue, though excelled at the Dual Sword Technique, was in fact trained by two samurai and could handle a single blade well enough, went in close and slashed at one of the monster's knees. Red ran forward, and bent backwards, sliding on her knees beneath him. She twisted around in a position that would have been impossible for most people and fired a red energy bolt into his back.

The Guardian began to make a noise that sounded like a boiler about to explode. Within moments, steam exploded outward, sending the Rangers flying again. But they landed and rallied well. "Trade back!" one of the Blacks said to Lunar. Once again weapons were exchanged.

"Lunar Cue Sniper Mode!" the Cue changed shaped and shorted. Its core began to glow and she aimed it. She pulled a nearly formed trigger and several balls of massive energy were fired at the monster. They exploded against him.

"Jungle Blaster!" Red called. Blue and the three Black Rangers brought in their weapons to combine them into a cannon. It was huge and she had trouble holding it but two of the Black Rangers knelt to provide support for her. She fired at the guardian. Reeling from the blasts from the Lunar Cue, it was in no condition to survive the blow from the blaster. It exploded.

Then it vanished as if it had never existed. The weapons disappeared and their Morphs dropped. The staff piece flew out of the water and hovered before them. Sora merged into one being. "Guess this means we can go home now," he said.

"What a ride," Fox said with a whistle.

"Almost sad it's over," Zara said, not all eager to return to not being a Power Ranger.

"Remember, the fate of the world depends on this," Lani said quietly and reached out and grabbed the Staff piece. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. "Everyone, grab on," she said. Sora, Fox and Zara all reached out and grabbed hold of the Staff piece. They winked out of existence.

-x-

Evan rubbed his chest. His Zord was back where it belonged. Zoe, RJ and Divya seemed more at ease as well. Almost with one mind, the group moved down into the area and looked around. Though the clear lake remained, there was no evidence of the monster or the fight that had just taken place.

"What did we just witness?" Zoe asked.

"Fate of the world stuff, I reckon," Damien said off-handedly, still searching for a sign that they weren't all hallucinating.

It was Divya who found the proof. It was the brown shopping bag the Asian girl had hung on a tree. She was reading a card that was tucked inside with a profusion of silk and satin. "'If found please return to Lokelani Lyong, 345 Deerborne Terrace, Angel Grove, California after May 9, 2006. If the world didn't end,'" she read.

Lani had left her hanbok four years in the past.

-xTo Be Continuedx-           

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