"The Summoning"
(Part III)

by:
Quintin J. Scott

The Present

Next Day

The Alpha Ranger

The dark-haired man kicked at the practice dummy, almost taking off its head. Over the past few months, he had garnered a bit of unrest and his katas did nothing to release it. That’s what absence of action will do to you, he concluded. With no excitement in his life, he had grown lethargic. Sure, he appreciated the quiet, but he found that even his most intense workout was no match for the adrenaline rush of his previous life.

He’d given it all up; promised himself that he wouldn’t do it again and try to live a semi-decent life. It wasn’t all it cracked up to be, he also concluded. Nothing compared to it; nothing at all. Talking to his former friends and colleagues, he found that they had taken some solace in a monster-free life. Not him, though. Not him at all.

In a secret part of his home, his Power Morpher lay dormant. Since coming back from Switzerland, he never took it out. Although Billy told him that it still could access the Morphing Grid, he was also informed that it could very well kill him if he did morph. The risk was too great to both him and anyone near him.

So, he did what anyone in his position would do: he kept it locked away and never touched it, the temptation to pick it up too great for him if he didn’t.

Today, though, the feeling had grown almost too much for him and the temptation too much to bear. So, he performed his most strenuous workout and intensive katas to take his mind off of things. He didn’t even notice the floating silver orb next to his head until he spun with a missed kick.

“What the hell…?” Jason Lee Scott exclaimed, stepping back a few feet.

A circular aperture opened up, a lens focusing on the inside of the opening. It started to glow and then projected a holographic image. Jason was both surprised and unsurprised that it was Billy.

“Jase…things have come up. You are needed in Arlington Falls in two days. You’ll find a ticket waiting for you at the airport. A car will pick you up when you arrive. Hurry, Jason.” The image smiled, bitterly. “The fate of the world is, once again, in jeopardy.”

The image disappeared and the cover closed the lens. Jason paused for a moment before reaching out. The orb floated into his palm and he closed his fingers around it. It was real. He wasn’t dreaming it all.

He smiled and went into his room to pack.

The Gamma Ranger

The sun’s rays beat down onto her oiled body, tanning her skin into a soft bronze. She ran a hand through her new platinum bangs, quite pleased at herself for taking the plunge. She’d been tempted to change her hairstyle ever since she came back to Earth. Not a lot to do since then except enjoy herself and that she did. She did find it odd that a lot of people didn’t know her. After all, she and her friends had saved the entire universe! Still, since coming back, not a single human tended to remember what she did or even who she was.

Her lack of celebrity aside, Ashley Hammond found things were still the same. She settled into her chair and listened as the water lapped the white sands. Nearly napping, Ashley heard a soft whirring sound and opened her eyes, hoping that it wasn’t one of those annoying surfer boys that ogled her at every turn.

The silver orb spun softly in the air, probably being held up by a small antigravity field, she reasoned. She took a swig of her tall iced tea and watched the orb for a few more moments. It just hung there. If it was some form of advanced scout, it was probably scanning her. Its posture didn’t appear hostile…just waiting for something; probably a voiceprint match. The corner of her mouth turned upwards, slightly.

“Are we just going to sit here and stare at each other or are you going to do something?”

A circular aperture opened up, a lens focusing on the inside of the opening. It started to glow and then projected a holographic image.

Ashley had seen him before. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was at Zordon’s Memorial Service. Snapping her fingers, she figured it out before the image announced it.

“Good afternoon, Ashley Hammond. I am Sean Morissette, and our world is in peril. I need you here in Arlington Falls in two days. You will find a ticket waiting for you at the airport. When you arrive in Arlington Falls, my car will pick you up. You are needed, once again, to take up the mantle of the Power Ranger and protect Earth. I await your arrival.”

The image flickered off. Ashley let out a sigh and shrugged, settling back into her chair. The man said two days. A tan wouldn’t take that long.

The Delta Ranger

The Wildcat Galactabeast growled softly. Maya looked up at her Galactabeast and sighed. The floating orb had just delivered a message to her, filling her with a sense of unease. She was so happy to be back on Mirinoi, settling into the lifestyle she had grown up accustomed to. Life on Mirinoi had been exciting, the humans of the colony Terra Venture assimilating the love of nature that the Mirinoians had. Whilst there, the humans had started building homes, settling in to live aside their hosts and strive for universal brotherhood.

Now, here was this Sean Morissette asking for her to give up her life, to protect Earth. She’d only been there once, finding it noisy and smelly. Even though she and the other Galaxy Rangers had helped the Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers, she was more than happy to come back to Mirinoi, greeting the serenity of the forests and the sweet smell of un-polluted air.

Still, there was a part of her that wanted to see the rest of the universe. Time and again, the elders of Mirinoi had encouraged the young ones to take advantage of every opportunity.

And, here was a great opportunity. The chance to save another planet, a planet that she had come to hold in high regard. However, to go would mean abandoning her home that she had worked so hard in returning to its pristine (and non-stone) state.

“What should I do?” Maya asked no one in particular.

~ I think that you should go. ~

Maya sighed again. “I know, but…I don’t want to go.”

The Galactabeast smiled in her mind’s eye. ~ I know, child, but you cannot shelter yourself here on Mirinoi forever. You were destined for great things. Being chosen as one of the legendary warriors was greatness, yes, but I think you are destined for even greater things! ~

“I…”

~ Maya, ~ the Galactabeast said, stopping her, ~ Do not let your affinity for this planet make you miss out this. There is a great evil swelling on Earth and I believe that this…Sean Morissette…is attempting to stop it. What more noble cause would you need than to save an entire planet? I seem to recall someone doing the exact same thing not too long ago. ~

Maya smiled softly and nodded, standing up. “Thank you.”

~ Thank me by protecting Earth, child of Mirinoi. My fellow Galactabeasts will protect this planet while you are away. Go with the Power. ~

She took the silver orb from the rock beside her and rushed towards the village, her mind made up. Somehow, she realized that this was bigger than anything she’d ever fight…or ever will fight.

Maya of Mirinoi was going to Earth.

The Epsilon Ranger

“No.”

“No?” Ninjor repeated.

“I will not go,” the young woman said. She sat in the middle of the floor, cross-legged, eyes closed as the incense filled the room. It wasn’t a very big room, more than enough for what she wanted from the Keeper of the Sacred Temple. She had been meditating quietly, as she had been prone to do over the past few years, when Ninjor entered her chambers, carrying a silver orb.

“This is an opportunity of great import, Sabrina,” Ninjor said, closing the door behind him. “I know this man. He would not have sent this unless it was important.”

The woman said nothing.

“Did you not say that you wished to find redemption?”

The woman said nothing.

“Isn’t this the perfect way to gain redemption for your past?”

The woman said nothing.

“Fine,” Ninjor said, exasperated. He set the orb down on a small table near her. “Be that way, but when the nightmares start again…”

Imperceptibly, the woman bristled and Ninjor thought that she would say something. When the moment passed, and she remained motionless, he turned, opened the door, and left.

With Ninjor out of her chambers, Sabrina Yu cast her eyes over her shoulder and looked at the silver orb. She could almost feel it mocking her. Who was this Sean Morissette to invite her to protect the Earth? So many years had been wasted wreaking havoc on other planets and worlds that now she was being called upon to save one? Who was he to ask this of her?

Since coming to the Temple of Power those years ago, solace and peace had escaped her. She knew no one, outside of those that had been Rangers, and did not exist. She wandered the planet, not knowing where to go or what to do. Her massive power that she commanded was gone, in a flash, destroyed by the golden wave that washed over Earth.

No longer was she Scorpina.

She was Sabrina.

Isn’t this the perfect way to gain redemption for your past?

The question echoed in her mind. Is that what she had been seeking these years? Redemption for the atrocities she had committed?

Maybe that’s what it was. Maybe that’s why she kept having the nightmares. The only way to be free of them: to finally know peace…was to be forgiven by the Power.

And what better way than to serve Earth’s collective humanity as one of those she had considered enemy.

Sabrina picked up the orb and replayed the message that had been meant for her.

“Good afternoon, Sabrina Yu. I am Sean Morissette and I have a proposition for you…”

Part I / Part II / Part III

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