Power Rangers: Defender

Chapter 3

-Magnus, Mountain of the Defender-
Keeper entered the small village in the hopes of finding the Magna Defender, remembering how significant the place was to those who took the mantle. What he found was a large smithy with Taurozord standing beside it, the sounds of ringing steel coming from it as he spotted an armored figure with a red outline around it's armor. "Welcome to the Mountain," The warrior spoke as Keeper walked up to him, the guardian practically feeling the warrior analyzing him as they rested their elbow on their weapon. "Judging from the outfit you're in, I'm guessing you're the Keeper of the Energems that Zenowing told us about."
"Indeed, which means that you're the current Magna Defender, Zika," Keeper spoke, soon getting a chuckle out of the warrior as they waved for the alien to follow. "Where is your father at the moment."
"Working on an item requested by the Magna Defender on Earth, given that Scorpius' minions have resurfaced after the millenia," Zika responded as he opened the door to the smith, revealing another in the same armor as the Defender on Earth working in the forge. "He's been at it for the last two days without rest, though with the armor and our own biology I'm not surprised that he could work so hard on it."
"Why aren't you outside of your armor though, given this is your home planet," Keeper asked, looking over what was beside the Magna Defender's working place. Several pieces of armor were strewn around it in a set, with several darts placed on each of the gauntlets. "Wouldn't it affect your abilities when you need them?"
"It's part of the training required to hold the morph for long periods of time," the Magna Defender spoke as he set down his hammer, lifting up a slender sword with a black hilt as he inspected the blade. "Good to see you, Keeper. I'm guessing you're here on the matter of Earth."
"More on the matter of the Magna Defender that's currently there," Keeper spoke, looking at the weapon that the Magna Defender had made. "A blade that can contract into a dagger when it's sheathed, along with a set of armor?"
"Both for when things go south over on Earth, the sword itself being based off of the Quasar Sabers on Miranoi," the Magna Defender spoke as he sheathed the blade into a black socket in the armor, it's form seeming to shrink as it fit snuggly into its sheath. "Nathan wants to make every preparation needed to ensure that Scorpius doesn't get released from the Lost Galaxy, even if he knows it's an uphill battle."
"Nathan," Keeper asked, making the old warrior look over at the armor with a nod. "So that's the one who's wearing something similar to your armor?"
"With an exceptionally longer life than the average human, from what I've seen," Zika confirmed, making Keeper look over to him as the younger sat back in a chair. "It's not surprising though, given what he had to go through before arriving to our planet in this timeline."
"This timeline," Keeper asked, looking at Zika confused as The Magna Defender closed off the forges flame, the emerald light fading as he put down his hammer.
"When he first appeared three thousand years ago, he had many stories to tell of about of a potential future," the Magna Defender spoke as he motioned for Keeper to sit at a nearby table, both sitting there as he rested his arms on it. "One of these stories being of how he had obtained his armor in the first place."
-Outskirts of Amber Beach, Nathan-
Dodge, attack, fire, repeat. That was all that Nathan had done as he fought with Radster and Crumummy, using their focus on him to move them further away from the city. 'The less civilians they can use for cannon fodder or shields, the better,' Nathan thought to himself as he managed to barely dodge one of Radsters shots, only to have Crumummys wrappings to circle around him again as he jumped up to evade them. That was one of the bigger things that was going through his mind: their coordination and strength.
'They shouldn't be this powerful,' that was the only thing that Nathan thought as he fought both monsters in front of him. He had been at a stalemate with both as he went through the fight, the rangers themselves facing off against a mix of the Stingwingers and Wise Wizard as he used his blade to deflect another attack, his free hand once again grabbing the cloth that Crumummy threw at him. However, despite these motions he couldn't seem to deal any lasting damage on either. 'They're far stronger than they're supposed to be at this point and time... could it have to do with my actions three thousand years ago?'
He quickly jumped back from another blast as he took a defensive stance, his gaze soon going to the rangers to find them finally dealing with the Stingwingers and focusing on their own monster. "I would ask why you guys are so much stronger, but I have a feeling that I won't like the answer," Nathan spoke as he looked at the two who he faced, his blade shifting as he looked over towards Crumummy. As he expected as he jumped up again, the monster shot out it's wrappings at him as he swung the blade to deflect it, his gaze noticing the rangers dealing a finishing blow to Wise Wizard as his blade started to condense with power. Immediately as it did, he spun down with his weapon, a bolt of black lighting following it as he slashed into Crumummy, the lightning tearing straight through the monster as he landed past it. Then, as he sheathed his weapon, the monster proceeded to convulse before it exploded behind him, leaving only Radster as the Rangers surrounded him. "So then, what was that about capturing me?"
"Now don't think this is over," Radster spoke, pulling out a potion before he moved to start to drink it. Before he could, however, Nathan pulled the dart from under his armor and threw it into the bottle, smashing the bottle in Radster's hand as Nathan readied his weapon.
"The last thing we need is for you to use that potion of yours," Nathan spoke as he walked towards the monster, his blade at the ready as Radster looked at the group that surrounded him. "Now then, what exactly made Furio so keen on gaining the item in that gate?"
"Isn't it obvious, to bring back the main squeeze you sealed away," Radster spoke as he dropped the remains of the bottle, pulling his gun back out as he pointed it at Nathan. "If you think that seal will keep him from being freed by Furio's jam, you have a rude awakening approaching."
"I'll take my chances with it," was all Nathan spoke as he readied the weapon in his hands. Before he could move forward, however, two sets of gears flew out and hit each of the rangers before both hit into him, knocking them all back as another monster appeared beside Radster. "What the-"
"Sorry for being late Radster, but the plans failed," came the monster as a group of four Stingwingers surrounded the two, Nathan's gaze overlooking the monster itself. 'I don't recognize that monster,' Nathan thought to himself as he went through his own memories, his blade slowly raising up as he watched the four creatures surrounding him. "We'll need to report to Furio immediately."
"Thanks for the quick save, Starcog," Radster spoke as four Stingwingers swarmed Nathan, forcing him on the defensive as the two vanished in a flash of lightning. Nathan's blade danced through the air as he pushed into its momentum, the other rangers coming up as his blade slashed into each sting winger, causing blasts to come off each as they were thrown back before he stopped his slash, sheathing the blade as he looked over to the location that the two monsters were originally at.
"Another time then," Nathan muttered as he turned from the area, walking away as the rangers moved after him. Then, with a sigh, he stopped his pace as his helmet turned to the approaching group. "If you're wanting me to help you understand what happened, the monsters got away."
"We were actually wondering what they meant by seal," Kendall spoke, making Nathan turn to the group as he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Does it have to do with the door in the mountain?"
"In a sense," Nathan responded, his gaze overlooking each before he turned away, walking again. "The less people know about it, the better. Besides, I have no intention of trusting you lot with what's behind that door."
"What makes you say that," came Chase, walking past the group. "We saved this town from monsters worse than them."
"Yet you still managed to fail an entire planet from your actions three years ago," responded Nathan as he stopped again, turning to them as he noticed the black ranger stiffen from his words. "You've all cost me enough time to search for them as it is, so don't waste any more by claiming you could be of some help."
With that said, and before the rangers could retaliate, he turned and jumped away, the rangers looking at his fading figure in shock. "What does he mean by that," Tyler spoke, making the others turn to each other in confusion as he looked to the rest. "We hadn't done anything three years ago."
"Not that we know of, anyway," Kendal spoke as she felt her chest tighten from a sense of warning. "We should check back with Keeper, see if he's found anything out on his trip to Magnus."
-Dino Lab -
"I still can't wrap my head around it, what does he think we did three years ago," Tyler spoke as he sat at the table, Kendal looking over any intel the dino lab could have at the time while the others were brainstorming. "Have you still found nothing, Kendall?"
"The months around that time are blank," Kendall responded as she looked over the logs. "Nothing comes up about travel to another world, or a return from it. The only thing that even comes up is-"
"Your arrival to the present day from the past," Keeper spoke as he melted into existence, making the group stop and look over to him as he walked forward. "The Magna Defender had a lot to tell me of Nathan, the warrior you fought beside here. One of these things were the origins of where he comes from."
"Do you know who he is, Keeper," Shelby asked as the guardian stood before the group.
"A survivor of the earth of your timeline, and a warrior who's faced Scorpius in that timeline and defeated him after inheriting the mantle of the Magna Defender," Keeper spoke, making the rest look at him in shock as he turned to Kendall. "Look up references to a black knight throughout this earth's history, specifically one with a green gem on his chest."
"Of course, Keeper," Kendall responded, typing in the key phrase as she wrapped her mind around the revelation of the warrior. "How had he been able to survive earth's destruction? We all saw it get sucked into a black hole."
"That's something I don't even know, the Magna Defender only told me that he had managed to follow all of you after the time portal was open, but after that had ended up three thousand years in the past of this timeline instead of the time you had all ended up during the dinosaur age," Keeper spoke as he looked to the screen, pictures soon appearing of drawings of a man of similar design to what was seen. "Since his decision to aid in the defeat of Scorpios, however, he has remained on this planet helping and seeming to help where he could through the years, especially in areas where time would have veered differently for the world and changed this place even further than you already know."
"That doesn't explain how he's alive though," Chase asked, looking over to keeper as a holographic image of the Magna defender appeared on a stone carving, this one seeming to be over a thousand years old. "The only reason that Koda and Ivan were able to live as long was because of the Energems. Do you know what's keeping him alive?"
"I may have an answer to that from what I was told by the Magna Defender," Keeper responded, moving his staff to point at the stone carving of the Defender, or more specifically the pauldron on the shoulder that faced out of the carving. "This symbol in particular may be a major clue, as well as what lays behind it."
"That's the symbol that we saw on the doorway," Kendall spoke as she looked at the twin swirls, noticing the pattern as she turned back to Keeper. As she looked over the carving, her thoughts turned to the battle that was able to be heard from James' communicator. "Does this have something to do with the book they were searching for?"
"Indeed, there's only one book in the universe that holds the symbol as well as only one who normally wears it," Keeper spoke, moving his staff back to his side as he walked to the table. "This symbol belongs to the Galaxy Book, an ancient relic which holds the locations and secrets of powerful creatures and weapons within the universe, both good and evil, which has required it to be protected by a Guardian who draws power from the energy that courses through it. It is possible that this same energy allows our Magna Defender to have lived for so long, acting in the same way as your Energems with the powers within the Galaxy Book."
"So he's a super powered book keeper," Tyler spoke as he looked at the pauldron next. "Why does this look far cooler than it should?"
"Despite that he's obviously been working on protecting the timeline compared to our own, placing it in a way that allowed many of the major turning points of history to work together with the fact that dinosaurs remained," Kendall spoke, looking over the pictures, her gaze soon finding what looked to be a picture of the defender standing beside a familiar looking knight. "Isn't this Ivan standing beside him?"
This caused the group to group around the picture, looking at what appeared to be a portrait of the Magna Defender and an older Sir Ivan standing back-to-back with swords raised, a drawing of both seeming to face what looked to be a swarm of raptors. Under the portrait was a written the time period of the drawing along with the name: Gold and Ebony. "Well, we have plenty of time to look over it while the scanners read for their signatures again." Riley spoke, looking over the portrait. "Maybe peaking into the past will let us at least know what kind of person he is outside of our initial interactions, since it seems he still worked alongside Ivan at some point."
-Furio-
"When did Earth have Power Rangers?!" Furio shouted, slamming his fist into his throne as he looked over the footage, Radster stepping back from the rage as the footage of Crumummy's destruction played again. Then, getting up, Furio walked towards the screen before he looked to Starcog. "Were we at least able to get a visual on where the Magna Defender had left to this time around?"
"Not yet, but we have a general idea of where he came from," Starcog spoke, the screen soon changing before it went to the zoo. "This time around it was specifically in this area, with the same being for the Power Rangers themselves. However, it doesn't appear they're close from their own interactions, so it may have been purely coincidence."
"Then that's a start," Furio spoke, looking back to the screen before he turned back to his throne. "What of the door, do we have any hints to the key yet?"
"In a sense, it seems that it requires a material with the same kind of power coming off of it, something which the Magna Defender wasn't emanating," Starcog spoke, messing with certain controls to affect the viewing screen as he did so, the screen moving to overlook the broader area of Amber Beach as he looked back to Scorpius "Sadly, however, we can't trace the power generated from what we have right now, this version of the Scorpion Stinger isn't as powerful as the one Scorpius commanded three thousand years ago, but I should be able to use the technology on this planet to be able to boost our ability to search the area."
"Then get to work finding the parts we need," Furio spoke, his sword appearing in his hand as he pointed it to Starcog. Then, pointing the weapon to Radster next, he continued. "The moment that Starcog finds the necessary parts, go and cause mayhem within the city, this time without giving the Rangers a chance to stop you from growing in size. You're on your last legs here."
"Understood, main man," Radster responded, nodding to Furio before he turned and left. As he did, Furio turned back to his throne and went to sit back down, thinking over the rest of the situation.
"Keep one of the viewing screens on the cavern as well, I want to know if anyone enters while we aren't there," Furio spoke, soon hearing Starcog typing into the console as he looked back to the screen overlooking Amber Beach. "Let's also see if we can find anything out about these Power Rangers..."
-Nathan-
Nathan walked casually along the rooftop he had decided to stop his running at, his gaze focused over on the area in front of him as he heard his communicator going off. "Nathan here," Nathan spoke as he lifted his right hand to his head to press into the communication device within, soon moving himself to the edge of the roof as he kept himself looking over. "What's the issue?"
"The Keeper of the Energems arrived asking about you," came Zika's voice, making Nathan sigh as he lowered his head, his eyes closing as he did so. "My father told them the story you wanted them to know, but they're more than likely going to look further into your history if they do."
"That's something I expected, given the current situation with how little they know," Nathan responded, soon turning his head over to the forest as he looked into the area. "However, it's better them not knowing than to have potential chains for Furio to pull towards the prize with."
"If you're confident on it," Zika spoke through, only getting silence in return as a gust of wind blew Nathan's cape back. "I went looking over what you told me about that monster who saved Radster. They're called Starcog, with their own specialty being in technology, so with this in mind they may search for the key through finding a similar wavelength."
"They'll need something beyond even the original Scorpion Stingers abilities," Nathan spoke as he looked over to the city again, his gaze now to the Dinosaur Zoo which Eric worked. "One component could be found at the zoo here, since it still retains areas of a museum like its original timeline. If I recall, there was certain technology Eric saw over there which had the potential to register energy readings before, but they usually place it somewhere further within..."
"So the ideal area for them to be taken is during when the team is looking over something," Zika concluded, making Nathan sigh as he walked along the edge of the building, looking down to see if there was an area where no one could see him drop from. "That'll be hard to keep track of, especially if they decide to go after them during the middle of their own work."
"Not if Eric tags along," Nathan spoke as he found a small area with no passerby's within, stepping off the building and dropping as he continued. Then, landing into a kneeling position he slowly stood up, looking around the area before he finally demorphed, stretching his shoulders as he did so, the two morphers on his wrists apparent as he walked further into a shaded area, his emerald-colored eyes being the only thing apparent by a small reflection of light. Then, with a sigh he put his right morpher to his face, content of his surroundings. "In the meantime, keep an eye on the planet and see if you can find out if they have a ship overlooking Earth or not. It'll certainly make things easier if we find out their location before they find the key."
With that spoken he shut off his morphers, taking both off of his wrists before he put them in his pocket, an almost familiar sense by this point as he walked out of the area, looking around to the passing crowd. 'Regardless of the matter, there's more variables than when when we fought Scorpius in the previous timeline, isn't there,' Nathan thought to himself, his mind going to the Magna Defender he knew, back during a time he was much younger and the Energems had yet to be found and were mere hearsay in the universe. Then, with a sigh he did one more stretch to loosen his shoulders and ventured off, his mind set on first getting some food to make.
-Sixteen years ago, original Timeline, Nathan-
Nathan's emerald eyes glinted as he looked around the place, a smile on his face as he was overlooking his home at the top of the roof of his house. His parents hadn't liked the fact he could reach the area so easy and had tried to keep him from doing so, but the wind seemed to call to him. It was something that seemed to echo into his soul as if it awoke a fire in it, this night actually having larger gusts than usual. Right now, however, his parents were asleep as well as his brother, allowing him to have freedom to enjoy the wind and stars above, several of which seemed brighter than the rest than most nights.
"I wonder how much there actually is out there," Nathan spoke to himself, his gaze overlooking each star as he did so. There were always two things that had caught his interest: His family's roots in Zandar, and what could be within the stars. Sure, there were dinosaur fossils that were at the museum, and with it meteorites that had caused their extinction. However, the different areas that the meteors were said to come from made Nathan truly want to see what could be out within the stars above. "I wonder how many other creatures could be living out there..."
As he looked over each star, he thought through the constellation chart which showed all the major ones that encircled the planet. There weren't as many as he'd like to see during the night, but he could definitely see a few. 'Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Cancer, and Orion...' Nathan thought as he looked over the stars above him, his gaze looking over each star as he did so. As his gaze moved over to Orion and down, however, he noticed something odd. 'Isn't Orion supposed to only have three stars on his belt?'
As he looked over the area again, he confirmed his thoughts: there were four stars which lit up Orion's belt at the moment in a straight line, making him pick himself up and look at it confused. What's more, the fourth light which wasn't supposed to be there shined the brightest out of the stars in an almost golden glow. As he continued watching the star, he stood up, his footing keeping tensed to the wind as he looked over the stars above. In response, he watched as the star seemed to grow even bigger, and start moving off at an abnormally fast pace as he tried to keep his gaze on it. "What is that," Nathan thought as he started turning towards the light, his gaze following in tandem. Then, as if on a queue it had been waiting for, the wind seemed to change direction suddenly, throwing him off his balance as he began to roll forward towards the edge of the roof, his mind whirling as much as his body as he tried to grab onto whatever he could, his hands failing to catch a hold of anything. Then, as he tumbled off of the roof, his hands finally managed to catch the gutterway that was on the roof, jolting him to a stop as he hung on the edge, his feet trying to find a proper place to plant themselves at. As he looked around shocked, trying to find a place to climb back up by, Nathan's gaze soon noticed the glowing light that had been flying in the air, now resting at the top of the roof as if it was staring at him. Then, looking down, he saw just how far of a fall that he would have to do, the area in particular that he had fallen towards resting over a small stone fountain in the yard, a sharp point sticking from the top of it. As he was trying to process what was happening, trying his best to pull himself up, one of the metal points of the gutter snapped, causing the part Nathan had to drop by a foot. However, that foot was all that was needed to make him lose his grip, and he fell, the light on the roof soon following after as if it was the moment it had waited for.