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A swarm of green haired... things threatening civilians. A giant cat like... thing with a sword. And one lone ranger, in black, trying to save everyone.
Eric knew coming to Amber Beach on his vacation was a bad idea.
One of the green haired things came after Eric. Sighing, he fought back, kicking it out of his way. When it turned and went after an easier mark instead, Eric looked around. Still only the one ranger. Sure, he was doing okay against the cat thing, just him and his version of the Quantum Defender, but if he didn't have his team around... and with civilians being threatened...
Well, if Wes were here, he would have morphed already. Eric spared a thought for his still too damn optimistic partner as he raised his morpher to his mouth. "Quantum Power!"
The familiar thrill rushed through him, and then he threw himself into the thick of the green haired minion things, keeping them away from the civilians. This wasn't his town, wasn't his fight. The black ranger could handle the boss, Eric would protect the others.
"Next time, ranger!" the cat thing snarled as he and the green haired things retreated. The civilians were gone as well, leaving Eric and the other ranger in the park. Eric waited to see what the other would do, and wasn't surprised when he or she came up to Eric.
"Nice job," Eric said.
"Thanks," the other man, judging by the voice, replied. Before anything else could be said, a communicator squawked, and the man pulled it out. "Chase," a voice said, "invite the Quantum Ranger back to the base, since he was kind enough to assist you."
The helmet looked up at Eric, then back down at the communicator. "Are you sure, Keeper?" he asked, an accent evident in his speech.
"We can trust fellow rangers," Keeper replied.
"All right." He put the communicator away. "Keeper says I should invite you back to base."
He was too old, to far removed from fighting against Ransik and Cyclobots to get involved again, but he was curious about the fact that this ranger's team was seemingly missing. "Lead the way."
Halfway back, the black ranger de-morphed into a teenager with brown hair and a black shirt and hoodie. Eric powered down into his jeans and red shirt. "Chase," the other ranger said, holding out a hand.
"Eric," he said, shaking hands.
"Come on, shouldn't make Keeper wait." Chase turned and headed off. Eric followed, really curious now.
Chase was acutely aware of the older ranger following him. The man had jumped into the fight without question, protecting the civilians and leaving Fury to Chase. He was torn about that. On one hand, the man trusted him, as a fellow ranger, to fight Fury. On the other hand, the man had seen that Chase was alone and needed someone else to help with the fight.
It might be different if Kendall had managed to pin down the location of the blue energem. They knew that the energem had been found, after the stegosaurus Zord had appeared during a fight with Fury. But finding the ranger him or herself, well, that was harder.
Chase led Eric past the museum to the T-Rex head in the back. Chase hopped up on the box and turned the tooth, revealing the trap door and slide.
"You're kidding me." Eric stared.
"Sorry, mate, but I'm not."
"I am too old for this," Eric grumbled as he climbed up and into the slide. Chase grinned and followed him, enjoying watching Eric jump as Chase tossed his energem at the holder.
"Welcome, Eric Myers, Quantum Ranger," Keeper said as he appeared. "Thank you for assisting Chase in that battle."
"You're welcome," Eric replied, nodding at Keeper. Chase liked that Eric was respectful to Keeper. The being had welcomed Chase, and provided him with a friendly ear when Chase felt overwhelmed by the whole Lone Ranger thing, as well as living in a foreign country. Chase might needle Kendall a lot, she needed to chill, but he respected Keeper.
"What brings you to Amber Beach?" Keeper was asking.
"Had some vacation time to burn. Didn't realize there was an active ranger team, though. Glad I was able to help out."
"There's not a team," Chase said. "Right now, there's just me. And I'm not enough, as you saw."
"Chase," Keeper began, but Eric interrupted him.
"What I saw was a ranger doing his best against impossible odds. It's no shame to accept help," he said with a shrug. "If it's just you, then maybe I can stick around for a bit, help you with some tricks that might make it easier." He gave Chase a rueful smile. "I fought on my own a lot because I was too stubborn to fight with the others."
"Tricks?"
"Training with your primary weapon, fighting, things like that. You're good, but a ranger can always improve."
Chase wasn't sure of this, but then he remembered the fights with Fury. "Yeah, if you don't mind. I mean, it is your vacation."
"Wouldn't have offered if I minded."
The elevator opened then, and Kendall stepped out, looking at something on her tablet. She stopped and looked up, eyes widening as she caught sight of Eric. "Chase!" she hissed.
"It's all right, Kendall. This is Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger from Silver Hills. He assisted Chase in the fight against Fury," Keeper said. "I invited him back to the base, and he has offered to help Chase with some training."
Kendall looked back and forth between Keeper and Eric. "I thought this was supposed to remain a secret."
"From our enemies and those we need to protect. Eric still retains his ability to morph, meaning he is less at risk than other former rangers, which is why I have not contacted them, or their mentors, many of which I met over my years here on Earth."
That was the first time Chase had realized that Keeper had been in contact with other ranger teams. He had known of the rangers, but growing up in New Zealand, he hadn't seen much of them. He knew at one point the rangers had been in Australia, back in the 90s, but that had been just around the time he was born, so it wasn't like he had actually seen them in action.
Eric was watching Keeper and Kendall, his eyes roving over the lair, clearly taking in everything. "Not much place to practice in here," Chase said softly.
"We can find a place," Eric replied. "But can I ask why it's just you?"
Chase reached out and summoned his energem to his hand. "Because I'm the first person who has bonded to this that Keeper and Kendall have found. It's an energem, and Keeper crash landed on Earth millions of years ago with them. He bonded them to dinosaurs to protect them. So, as they're found, the dinosaur zords awaken and if they are found by the right person, they bond and we become rangers."
"So you've got more rangers to be found."
"Nine more."
"Large team," Eric said, frowning. "Largest I've heard of, if you find all ten rangers. Don't envy you." He gave Chase a wry smile. "Don't expect all of them to be enthusiastic about working with a team. I wasn't when I became a ranger."
"Good to know," Chase said. He looked back at Keeper and Kendall, who were still arguing over Keeper letting former rangers into the lair. "Maybe we should leave them to their discussion and you can give me those pointers you mentioned?"
"Sounds good. Just tell me we don't have to climb back up that slide," Eric replied.
"Nah, mate," Chase said with a grin. "We're a little more civilized than that on the exit."
At the end of Eric's two weeks in Amber Beach, he felt better about having to get back to Silver Hills. Chase had proved to be a natural with his weapon, though his tendency to call himself a 'hotshot' got on Eric's nerves. Still, after standing back and watching Chase take on Fury again, while Eric assisted in getting the civilians out of the line of fire, he was confident that Chase could handle being a solo ranger until his team got bigger.
"Good luck," he told Chase as the young man stopped by Eric's hotel to see him off. "Here," he handed Chase a card, "in case you need to get in touch with me. Not saying I'll ride to the rescue, but, well, if you need more range time," he trailed off with a grin that Chase returned.
"I will definitely call you." The two of them had a rivalry on the range that had become the basis of their odd friendship. "Eric, thanks. A lot. For everything."
"You're welcome, Chase." He shook the younger man's hand. "Now go find your team. My red ranger will tell you rangers work better in teams."
"You wouldn't?"
"I was the sixth ranger," Eric said. "We're the odd ones out." He tossed his bag into the back of his SUV. "You'll see when you find your team's sixth."
"You seem confident we will."
"You will." He clapped Chase on the shoulder and got into his vehicle. "And stop calling yourself 'hotshot'," he called out of the window as he drove away.
"Never," Chase replied with a grin that didn't fade as long as he was visible in Eric's rear view mirror.
Three weeks later Eric got a call as he and Wes were running Silver Guardian recruits through their paces. "Myers."
"Eric, it's Chase. Any advice on acclimating 100,000 year old cavemen to modern times?" a familiar New Zealand accent asked.
"What?" Eric asked, frowning, turning away from the recruits. Wes glanced over and frowned at him as well.
"We found the blue ranger. He's a caveman, from 100,000 years ago, and found the energem just before he was frozen in a glacier. But while the energem is helping him with the modern language..."
"Everything else is a mystery to him." Eric sighed. This was not his area of expertise. Wes, on the other hand, might be able to help. "Hang on, Chase." He turned to his partner.
"What's up?" Wes asked.
"You know that ranger in Amber Beach I was helping?"
"Yeah?"
"He needs advice on getting someone from another time period used to this time period. Feel up to advice? You've done this before." Granted, it had been the other way, taking people from the future and getting them used the the past, but Wes had been disappointed he hadn't been able to meet the new ranger. He'd probably want to help even if it wasn't the same as his experience.
"Be happy to help," Wes said eagerly, proving Eric's point.
"Chase, I'm putting my red ranger, Wes, on the phone. He helped people from the future get used to the past, he might have some advice for the other way around."
"Okay. Thanks, Eric."
"Anytime, kid," he replied, handing the phone to Wes. He went back to watching the recruits, keeping an ear on Wes' side of the conversation. Sounded like Wes was able to help Chase, which was good. Though he wouldn't admit it aloud, he liked the cocky black ranger. He wanted the kid to find his team and succeed, and not just because the Earth was once more in danger.
"I though having four people from the future on our team was hard," Wes said, interrupting Eric's thoughts. He handed the phone back. "Chase is not going to have an easy time, but he sounds like he wants to help Koda, and that's a good start."
"He's a good kid."
"High praise from you," Wes teased.
Eric gave him a halfhearted glare, then turned back to yell at a recruit who, if he kept that up, was not going to make it as a Silver Guardian.
Checking his phone after they got out of the movies, mostly to tune out Wes' rant on the inaccuracies of the latest movie that was trying to cash in on power rangers (and really, he should have known better than to go with Wes to a movie about time traveling power rangers), Eric found a text from Chase with a screenshot of the front page of the Amber Beach Herald, a full five member team of rangers in the usual ridiculous poses as they fought a monster. Beneath it, Chase had written 'Thought you might want to see this'.
"--and the Megazord! All that money to get big name actors and they couldn't spend extra on the special effects budget to make the Megazord not look like a low budget knock off of a Japanese Super Sentai show?"
"Wes," Eric said, shoving the phone at him.
Wes shut up as he took it, a grin spreading across his face. "They got a full team, huh? That's great. Hopefully, they'll be able to take care of their bad guy quickly."
"Doubtful," Eric said, taking his phone back. "You know the bad guys never go down easily."
"Yeah, but there's got to be a first time for everything," Wes replied cheerfully as he unlocked the SUV. "And why not for Chase's team?"
Eric didn't say anything, but he nodded. Why not for Chase's team?
Even if he didn't think it would work out that way.
"I almost killed them." The words were out of his mouth before Eric had even finished saying his name.
"Chase?" the other man asked, sounding tired. It was three in the morning, but the nightmares were keeping Chase awake and he needed to talk to someone.
"I almost killed my team. There was a magical device, I was under a spell. If Shelby hadn't managed to get me to break free enough to turn on the monster..." Chase trailed off, seeing what he had in his dream - himself, Tyler, Koda, and Riley under the control of Spellbinder, serving Sledge, and Shelby and Ms. Morgan dead at his hands, as they refused to fall under Spellbinder's control.
"But you didn't," Eric said.
"But I almost did. I'm a ranger, I'm not supposed to--"
"Whoever told you that lied," Eric told him flatly. "Rangers fall prey to mind control spells and devices more often than anything else. Hell, the first green ranger could tell you stories about mind control that would make your hair curl."
"Think I'll pass on that right now, thanks," Chase replied, running a hand through his hair.
"Look, Chase, what does your team say?"
"They're glad I'm back with them, they knew I could overcome it, things like that."
"Then trust them. They wouldn't be saying it if they didn't mean it."
"Like my team is going to tell me they don't like me."
"Other than Wes, most of the rangers I served with didn't like me, and didn't have a problem saying it. So if they're telling you they're glad to have you back, believe it."
Chase sighed. "Not sure it's that easy. Believing it."
"Probably not." Eric didn't say anything else.
"Sorry to have bothered you, Eric," Chase said when the silence had gone on entirely too long.
"Hey, I'll let you know when you're bothering me. This? Isn't bothering me."
Chase laughed. "Thanks, Eric. I owe you one."
"I'll hold you to that, kid."
They hung up and Chase flopped back in his bed. He still did not want to hear any of the original green ranger's stories, but knowing that he wasn't the first ranger to go through this helped. And while Keeper had said the same thing (and would have known, given that he'd apparently been in contact with other ranger mentors over the years), hearing it from a fellow ranger made it a little easier to for Chase to handle what had happened to him.
At least, he thought as he turned over and pulled the covers up, until the next nightmare.
As time went on, Chase contacted Eric less. Oh, he sent screen shots of the paper when they got Sir Ivan and then Prince Phillip as rangers, but only in uniform, and never names. He trusted Eric, but these were his teammates, and protecting them came first. Eric never asked, either, just sending back emoji (and the fact the Eric Myers used emoji amused the hell out of Chase) in response to the pictures.
Then Sledge was defeated - destroyed - and so were Fury and Poisandra. He could go home to New Zealand without guilt for his teammates. Koda and Sir Ivan would stay with Kendall - three rangers to help Keeper find the other energems. Prince Phillip would be in reserve as backup for them, as Tyler, Shelby, and Riley would be going back to their lives outside Amber Beach. But Chase couldn't just leave without saying goodbye to Eric, at least. Pulling out his phone, he dialed a familiar number.
"Myers."
"Hey, it's Chase. Um, we won."
"Congrats," Eric replied. "Find everything you needed?" He must be in public somewhere, given that he was being careful about what he said.
"No, that's still an ongoing project, but Sledge is gone, so is Fury, and some of my team is staying behind to finish the search. The rest are heading home. Including me." He frowned as Eric went silent for a moment. "Eric?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Just not as sure as you that it's over. If those items are still out there, there are gonna be others looking for them you know."
"I know," Chase said. "But at least with Sledge and Fury gone, there will be a little downtime to go home and see my family."
"If you need to get back, let me know. We can make it happen."
"I can't just ask you to pay for me to fly back from New Zealand."
"Who says I'm paying? That's what Wes is for."
Chase had to laugh at that. "Then I will take you up on it, if the time comes. But I did want to thank you, for everything."
"Hey, you were a natural, just needed some help."
"Not just the training," Chase said. "It helped, to have another ranger to talk to. One who'd been there."
"You wanna pay me back, you get to be there for a future ranger if you can."
"Deal."
"And if you ever think you want to be a Silver Guardian, look us up."
"Not sure I'm ready to think that far ahead yet," Chase admitted.
"Offer's there."
"I'll keep it in mind. But I gotta run, my ride is here. Take care, Eric."
"You too, Chase."
He hung up and slid into the cab, smiling, looking forward to seeing his mum and Chloe again, and this time, not just for a brief Christmas visit.
Two months later, he hung up the phone from Riley's frantic call and dialed Eric's number.
"Hey Eric, it's Chase. Is that offer to get me back to Amber Beach still open?"