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+--- Thread: The Source (/showthread.php?tid=5929)
The Source - Lord Zedd - 04-22-2017
Kimberly Ann Hart sat at the edge of one of the beds in a Carrefore inn. Her eyes remained glued to the small television screen before her, and oblivious to much else in the room. Some local news channel was explaining the day to day happenings of the desert land she had found herself in. She was doing her best to absorb the knowledge spewing from the TV set, but it was awfully hard to focus. Beside her, Zack Taylor paced impatiently as he watched the news broadcast as well, and and neither of them could see whatever techno-wizardry Billy Cranston was performing behind the television. They just knew he was back there fiddling with some wire or another. At least something never changed.
Most things had changed, however. The Pink Ranger had thought her adventuring days were long behind her. Indeed, all six of the original Power Rangers were enjoying various degrees of retirement from the superhero thing they’d done as teenagers, and adjusted quite well to normal lives. In their mid-late twenties, battling aliens and piloting giant robots was a distant memory. Until they ended up here.
Somehow, someway, all six of them had arrived in the endless white expanse known as the Nexus, and had quickly got to work figuring out just what had brought them there. Fortunately, there were no internal speed bumps with the team, as they were all in close contact, still. Something about being a united team of superheroes during their formative years left them very good friends even as they grew older.
Regardless, their quick investigations taught them the nature of the land, as well as the differences between primes and secondaries. The chilling fact was that none of them had seen the mysterious Omni. That meant they were secondaries, and that a prime had introduced them right into the Nexus, and likely slipped off in the confusion. The burning question now, of course, was who and why?
The TV jumped with static, and the channel changed to some Spanish mariachi band, preventing them from learning anything from that source.
“What happened?” Billy asked from his work-space.
“It’s worse now,” Zack answered.
“Hold on, I can get it working,” Billy said, with the TV’s picture beginning to fade as he fiddled with the wires.
“Billy, local news is enough,” Kimberly pleaded. “Just leave it. We don’t need everything there is to see.”
“Local news isn’t a wide enough spread,” Billy remarked. “We need to get multiple sources if we’re going to understand this place, and it’s just a little extra work for a greater reward.”
“Yea, but…” Kimberly trailed off, feeling that the festive music was making her point well enough. It didn’t help that the Black Ranger, bored to death, had begun to lightly dance along with the beat.
Thankfully, the door to the apartment opened and in came the remaining three Rangers. Jason Lee Scott, Trini Kwan, and Tommy Oliver entered, carrying plenty of supplies, yet they closed the door behind them just as quickly as they entered.
“Nice use of your time,” Tommy jokingly commented as he looked to the TV. Kimberly just rolled her eyes.
“What’s the word?” Zack asked as he looked over to the new arrivals, and the bags they were dumping on the beds. He brushed right past Tommy’s remark too.
“Well,” Jason said, pausing for just a moment to pull out two separate newspapers. “This is a really... different one.”
Billy walked around from behind the TV and took the first paper Jason held out. Zack and Kimberly walked to either side of him and looked over his shoulder, unable to believe what they were seeing. Lord Zedd himself was on the front page, standing beside some blue woman.
“Imperial primes defeat Vorticon menace,” Billy read the headline aloud, then skimmed the contents of the article. The premise was simple: Lord Zedd, acting as an agent of the Empire had possibly saved the mega-verse of Coruscant.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Zack said, walking to a window while throwing his hands up in frustration. “Zedd’s here in the Omniverse too? And he’s a prime? And he’s befriended the biggest bunch of thugs in the place?”
“We’ve heard a lot of conflicting things about the Empire,” Trini reminded her fellow Rangers. “Some of it bad, but some of it good.”
“I think it’s still safe to assume Zedd is going to keep being Zedd,” Tommy remarked as he took a seat at one of the chairs around the small table in the room. “Regardless of what the Empire as a whole represents.”
“The Empire, by the way,” Kimberly chimed in sarcastically. “Really catchy. Nice of them to be up front about what they’re like.”
“I don’t think we’re the ones that can comment on a lack of subtlety,” Billy shrugged as he tossed the paper onto one of the beds. Kimberly paused, then bit her lip. It was a good point.
Jason shook his head, and then held out the next one. Billy took it as well, noting that this was was opened and folded so he was looking at some deep interior page. He studied it for a moment, not seeing anything that jumped out in any of the pictures. It was just some local gossip section. Kimberly suddenly gasped and pointed at one of the pictures near the top corner. Billy looked a bit closer, and saw a woman in the background that she recognized instantly. Even if she hadn't remembered her face, the green almost-bikini outfit the woman wore was a dead giveaway. Not many wandered around looking like that.
“Who’s that?” Zack asked, looking at the picture, then back up to Jason. The Red Ranger shrugged.
“Dulcea,” Tommy answered. “She helped us once after you, Jason, and Trini left the team. She was a good fighter, and a friend of Zordon’s.”
“We haven’t seen or heard from her in... years,” Billy thought aloud. “But she’s here now?”
"That could explain why we never heard from her again," Tommy reasoned with a shrug of his own.
“I don’t know anything about her, but if you guys trust her then so do I,” Jason commented. "So we need to find her. She's someone that can answer our questions."
“Where is she, though?” Kimberly asked. “She could have come and gone from Carrefore already.”
“She has,” Jason acknowledged. “While Tommy finished getting our supplies, Trini and I asked around about her.”
“Turns out you can’t dress like that in the Endless Dunes without being noticed,” Trini picked up the explanation. “A couple people spotted her leaving town a few days back. A few other wanderers said they saw her heading toward an old temple, deep in the Dunes. And that there were some unsavory types after her.”
“Is she the prime that brought us here?” Zack asked.
“Don’t know,” Jason shook his head. “Don’t even know if she’s a prime. But between her and Zedd, she’s the one we want to find first.”
“Agreed on that,” Tommy said, then waved his hands at the various bags they’d brought in. “That ought to be all the food, water, and other gear we need to find this temple and survive. We can break it up into travel packs tonight.”
“And then head out first thing in the morning,” Jason finished. “We’ll find the temple, find Dulcea, and get some answers.”
“Like why we were brought here,” Zack remarked. “Although if I had to guess, it would be to fight Zedd again.”
“I don’t know,” Billy spoke up, looking at the newspaper that had covered the dark lord’s exploits again. “Lord Zedd, the terror of our world, seems to be a pretty small fish in this pond. This world is… bigger. Grander. Deeper.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Tommy agreed. “Sure, he can gather his strength back up, but it’ll take some time. We’re not the only ones having to watch our step. His powers are limited, for now.”
Jason reached behind his back and pulled out the Tyrannosaurus morpher that had been with him since he spawned in this strange realm. He looked it over carefully, noting that each little scratch and imperfection was still there, just like he remembered from so long ago. All six of them had quickly noted the return of their power morphers, yet hadn’t had the opportunity to test if they still worked..
“Ours might be, too,” Jason reminded them. “We could be a lot worse off than we realize.”
“The desert will provide us with ample opportunity to test them,” Billy observed. They’d all wanted to see where they really stood, but morphing in front of people wasn’t a good idea, and boy were there a lot of people here.
Jason nodded and put it away. “Alright, let’s get to work.”
The six adventurers got to work from there, dividing the supplies up into small backpacks. Everything was spread evenly amongst the group, so that if one was separated or worse, they wouldn’t lose all of the food, medical supplies, or the like. It was a grim scenario to have to face, but it was better to be prepared than not. Even with that in the back of their minds, the night was lively and filled with plenty of joking and playful banter. It was just like old times, even before their first morph in years.
Eventually the time came to rest for the night, so they split their own ways and went towards their respective rooms to try and sleep. Morning would come before they knew it, and the quest for the source of their arrival would begin.
RE: The Source - Lord Zedd - 04-06-2018
The morning air in the desert was somewhat chilly. This wasn’t much of a surprise to Jason Lee Scott, the original Red Ranger. In his heyday, the main base of operations for his team of superheroes had been in the middle of the American desert. He’d spent plenty of nights and mornings working on equipment, testing new gear, or simply training in the empty area around it. As such, a little bit of cold weather was just a reminder that it was time to get to work.
He sat at a table on the patio of the hotel, with a cup of coffee. From his position he was watching a news report on a small television, but also the hustle and bustle of Carrefore at dawn. Both were interesting, and enlightening. The town’s inhabitants were almost exclusively normal humans like he was used to, but every so often a completely different individual would stroll by, likely from some world beyond his comprehension. He’d always enjoyed people watching, and this place, plus the Nexus, had been a whole new level of it.
He raised his eyebrows and looked over as Tommy Oliver, the Green Ranger, pulled up a seat at the table and settled in as well, bringing his own steaming cup of coffee with him. Jason was surprised to see the perpetually tardy sixth member of their team at this hour, but he gave a warm smile to his good friend, just the same.
“Morning,” Jason greeted casually.
“Morning,” Tommy replied as he took a sip of his coffee.
It was calm, as if they were on a relaxing vacation, instead of thrust into a strange world with no conceivable way out. They’d learned long ago to just adapt and accept any situation, no matter how crazy. And they’d certainly seen some inane ones. It was the first step to making it back out alive.
“Sleep well?” Jason asked.
“Billy snores,” Tommy answered, once more wondering how his roommate hadn’t woken up the entire hotel. “Like, a lot.”
Jason laughed a little bit and shook his head. “All of us grew up together. You didn’t get suspicious when we started pairing up for our rooms and Zack and I were so quick to claim each other?”
“Hey, I worked with Billy longer than probably any of you. I can’t believe I never learned that in all our years as Rangers,” Tommy reminded Jason. As the Red Ranger laughed, another grin creeped onto the Green Ranger's face. “Guess we had things so under control we didn’t need to pull any late nighters, huh?”
Jason laughed a little louder, joined by a small chuckle from Tommy.
“Too bad you two couldn’t get this a little more under control,” Jason teased back. Tommy just shook his head and took another sip of his drink with a smile.
“But hey, seriously, I’ve been meaning to talk with you,” Tommy said, his tone leveling out a bit.
Jason frowned in confusion, but sat up to show he was listening. “What’s up?”
“Well, it’s just… us,” Tommy said, gesturing between the two of them. “I’m the Green Ranger again.”
Jason smiled and couldn’t resist another verbal jab. “I wasn’t sure what color you were now. You go through so many of them.”
Tommy just shook his head with a sheepish grin before continuing. “Yea yea. The thing is though, I was the leader after you left, and when you came back, but it was a new team. This group, it’s your team. I’m not trying to shake things up or make some sort of power play. We’re just back to what we know.”
“I get it, and I appreciate that,” Jason nodded, with a genuine smile. “But you know, it's whatever works. We’re all on the same team, that’s the important part.”
“And we just know that this does work,” Tommy wrapped up that conversation, totally at peace. They needed no distractions in this foreign land, if they were going to stick together and make it out alive. Not to mention probably bring down Lord Zedd.
Jason finished the last of his coffee and took a look out at the rising sun once more. It wouldn’t be long before they were all out in the true untamed wilds. There was no country, no law, infinite danger and no guarantee of getting anything out of this. Yet somehow, the thought excited him. He could see a similar expression on Tommy’s face, and it made him chuckle.
Tommy’s eyebrow shot up a little bit in response to the random laughter. “What?”
“Nothing,” Jason admitted. “I just missed the adventure of the old days.”
“Me too,” Tommy said with a nod. “Nothing in the world like it.”
Jason laughed yet again. It was comforting to know that there was one other person in the group that shared his lust for adventure and excitement. It was something he missed with his four lifelong friends. As different as his core group of friends really was, Tommy had been a bit of a relief for their deep similarities. It was something he was going to embrace and rely on as this adventure unfolded.
Time passed and the morning progressed. They gathered what they could from the news and continued their idle conversation. It wouldn’t be long until the others arrived from their slumber, and the true quest would begin. Once that moment arrived, they would both have to be the responsible leaders. Until then, though, the two continued to openly relish the challenge they had been presented. It was just enough of a change from their daily life, and a reminder of the thrills of their adolescence.
RE: The Source - Lord Zedd - 05-05-2018
Kimberly Hart’s jaw dropped as she approached the stables. Zack Taylor and Trini Kwan were strapping all the bags of gear and supplies to the steeds they’d managed to requisition for the journey across the desert. What exactly they would be using did not quite match up with her expectations. Before her stood six large, scale covered raptors, not entirely unlike the ones she’d seen in dinosaur movies while growing up. The main points were that they were much larger, and much more real. This had to be a joke.
“Ummm…..” Kimberly said as she approached the Black and Yellow Rangers, at a loss on how to express her feelings on this matter. Best to keep it simple. “What?”
“Not bad, huh?” Zack said as he tucked the last bit of gear into one of the saddlebags. “These guys can run and jump way faster than anything else around here, and we got a pretty good deal on them, anyway!”
“Probably because they’re over-sized velociraptors!” Kimberly felt it imperative to state the obvious. “They’re just as likely to eat us as they are to get us safety across the desert!”
Kimberly felt she was as much of an expert on this matter as she could be, having piloted a robotic dinosaur into war in her teenage years and also having worn out her VCR binge-watching Jurassic Park as a direct result. Her two teammates didn’t share near that level of concern, however, and that was the most frightening part.
“Kimberly, they were the best deal we could find,” Billy explained as he approached from the side. It was just enough to make the Pink Ranger jump in surprise because of how on edge she was over this development. “And, they’re actually going to be better for traversing this terrain than some animals we’re more accustomed to.”
“Camels,” Kimberly bluntly stated. “I was hoping for, like, camels. Maybe some crazy weird Omniverse-empowered horses that could breeze through the desert. But these are giant, mean looking velociraptors!”
“And they run three times as fast as a horse!” Zack argued, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Not to mention they can survive twice as long as a camel!”
Kimberly paused to contemplate how to protest this next. It really came down to the fact that she was a sudden stranger in an unknown land, and she’d really prefer to not have to ride some godforsaken mutant dinosaur in her quest to get home. Surely, she figured, that logic wasn’t completely absurd. Fortunately, she spotted Jason and Tommy approaching the group.
“What the hell are those!?” Jason asked immediately, upon seeing their mounts.
Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief.
“They’re awesome!” Tommy quickly said.
Jason fist bumped his friend in agreement. Zack let out a cheer of victory. Kimberly hung her head in defeat. Oh well.
“Alright, real quick, gather up,” Jason lightly ordered. He didn’t speak with a heavy authority, but everyone answered without question. It was instinct to follow the instructions of the Red Ranger. “This temple we’re looking for is known by some of the less savory types that wander through the area. No one even comes near it and manages to walk away.”
“Oh, great,” Trini sarcastically chimed in.
Jason shot Trini a fleeting, annoyed glance, not used to such an attitude from her. An apologetic look was all he received in response, so he continued without further hesitation.
“The temple belongs to worshipers of a place called the Underverse,” Jason explained. “It’s supposedly some sort of twisted hellverse that most of the Omniverse’s citizens’ don’t actually believe exists. Based on what I’ve heard, I don’t really believe in it either.”
“But Dulcea went that way for a reason,” Tommy couldn’t resist adding his own input.
Jason slowly nodded, not arguing that point. After all, he didn’t know the woman like half of his team did. He just found a middle ground. “It’s important for some reason. We need to find out why.”
Everyone slowly nodded in agreement, unable to argue that general point. They could always appreciate Jason’s ability to vaguely reach out to some part of their own mindset and unify the team, no matter the situation. It was an ability Tommy, in particular, had envied in his own struggles with leadership after taking command on the Power Team in its later years.
“We’ll head that way, and keep together as best we can,” Jason continued, but then gave a small smile. “As long as Kim can stick with us.”
“Ohhh!” Kimberly shouted as she threw her hands up in frustration. Regardless, the rest of the team broke out into laughter.
One by one the group climbed aboard their raptor steeds, Kimberly was predictably the last one, but still managed to get aboard. With little more delay, the six friends departed into the desert.