DRAMATIS PERSONAE
THE ULTIMATE POWER RANGERS
Seth Park- Blue Ranger
Kira Hart- Yellow Ranger
Tyler Oliver- Red Ranger
Mat DeSantos- Green Ranger
Kym Cranston- Pink Ranger
Ultimate Legacy: Chapter One
Shattered
The Wheel of Time had broken.
Reality had shattered.
The Pattern had ripped into pieces. But loose strings remained. Loose timelines and shadows of the main reality. These shadows dimmed to nothingness, and these strings evaporated, but they did so slowly.
Broken strings overlapped and tied together - then unwound. Cords of reality unknotted and unraveled into smaller fibers of existence.
Eventually the Pattern and all its possibilities would cease to exist, shredded into nothingness.
Until then, one string remained from the main reality. One warped timeline, amidst a storm of broken dimensions and shattered parallel worlds.
Within this timeline, a ship sailed through what remained of space.
The Legacy Galleon soared through a reality storm on the outskirts of what may have been the Milky Way Galaxy. Tyler Oliver couldn't tell. Not anymore.
He gripped his command wheel and steered towards the center of the storm.
"What are you doing?" asked his crewmate, Mat. "That's the wrong way! We're supposed to be heading out of the storm, not further in! Danger bad. Safety good."
"Relax," Tyler said casually. "It's just a Level Six."
"It's a Level Seven!" Mat shouted. "The last Level Seven splintered a whole quadrant into pieces."
Tyler waved his hand dismissively. "Six. Seven. We'll be fine."
The storm smashed the galleon, which shifted off course. Distortion energy battered the hull and rocked the five crew members within their cockpit.
Tyler's crewmate, Seth, knitted his brow. "This isn't fine."
Tyler smirked. "You worry too much."
"You don't worry enough," Mat said.
"Can we please not get killed?" Kira asked.
"We're not getting killed," Tyler said. "We've been through worse before. Now come on...through the heart of the storm!"
He snapped his wheel, and the ship blasted through the center of the distortion.
Energy discharges thrashed the ship with massive bursts of spark that nearly destroyed the vessel. But the Legacy Galleon emerged safely in a normal sliver of space-time.
Mat sighed and leaned again his wheel. "I swear, you're going to give me a heart attack. Am I too young for a heart attack? Because I think I'm having one. Right now."
Kym smiled at him. "You say that every time we pass through a storm."
"That's because it's true every time we pass through a storm," Mat said. "We can't keep this up for much longer."
"Hopefully we won't have to," Seth said.
"Um, guys...?" Kira asked as she looked out the viewport. "Have any of you looked outside, by chance?"
The crew looked to see an Earth, surrounded by enemy ships that belonged to the Armada. Before the Wheel of Time splintered, the Armada traveled from parallel timeline to parallel timeline, from dimension to dimension, conquering everything in their path.
"The Armada..." Seth said.
"And that's an Earth," Kym said. "We finally found an Earth."
"But which one?" Kira asked.
"Let's find out," Tyler said.
Mat arced an eyebrow. "I don't suppose the bajillion Armada ships are a concern to you?"
Tyler shook his head. "What we need is on that planet."
Seth nodded. "The Final Secret."
Tyler pulled his morpher from his jacket. "Full speed ahead, guys. Let's make this showy..."
Mat sighed and muttered. "I hate it when he says that..."
The Legacy Galleon throttled towards the Armada forces. The enemy took notice and dispatched a wave of cruisers.
The ships fired beams of green energy that exploded around the Galleon with bursts of spark and flame. The blasts singed the ship's energy shields and ablative armor, which withstood the barrage.
The Ultimate Red Ranger, Tyler Oliver, grasped the wheel of his ship. "Arm the port cannons. Fire!"
The ship entered the enemy formation and opened fire with its port cannons. The cannons blasted through Armada ships with bursts of spark that tore through their hulls.
The Legacy Galleon fired another barrage, which tore through a formation of enemy ships. The vessels exploded into scrap metal.
"Hard to starboard!" the Red Ranger shouted as he snapped his wheel to the right.
The galleon flew head-on towards a wave of Armada ships. The cruisers opened fire with green energy beams that stabbed the galleon's armor with bursts of spark.
The galleon throttled forward. Its bladed bow tore through an enemy ship, splitting the vessel from bow to stern with a massive explosion.
The Rangers used the explosion for cover to fly further into the enemy formation.
The enemy ships opened fire with massive volleys of energy blasts. The particle beams battered the Galleon with massive bursts of spark and flame.
When the flames cleared, the galleon had shifted shape into a robo: The Ultimate Megazord.
The Megazord armed a pair of curved sabers, ran across the moon, and leapt at the Armada ships.
The robo twisted and turned while hacking through vessels. Its blades tore through hulls and ripped through engines, blowing the ships apart.
Cruisers opened fire with energy beams. But the Megazord twisted, dodged and throttled forward. The robo moved faster than the ships could target.
The Ultimate Megazord twisted away from an energy beam, landed on a ship, and stabbed through its bridge. The vessel exploded, and the Megazord throttled through the explosion.
The robo somersaulted through space and leapt at the remaining vessels with a flying kick.
The Ultimate Megazord armed its gauntlet cannon and fired bursts of energy that tore through the cruisers.
The Armada vessels burst into flames and crashed into one another with a chain reaction of explosions.
The robo kicked a ship and pushed it backward. The vessel smashed against another ship, and another, and then another. The Megazord flipped backward as the chain of ships exploded.
"We did it..." said Kira, the Yellow Ranger. "From here, it's a straight path to Earth."
"I hope it's really there," said Mat, the Green Ranger. "Otherwise this was a hugewaste of time."
The Red Ranger leaned casually on his wheel. "It's there..."
He snapped his wheel and aimed the Megazord towards the planet. The robo disassembled, combined into the Legacy Galleon and dove through the Earth's atmosphere.
The Legacy Galleon flew over the desolated cityscape of Angel Grove. The city looked like a graveyard of gutted buildings and rubble.
Parts of the rubble hovered in midair and crackled with distortion energy, the same type of energy that ripped apart space and time.
"What happened here...?" asked the Pink Ranger, Kym.
The Blue Ranger, Seth, shook his head. "That's the question we need to answer..."
The Rangers' ship hovered to a stop, and they powered down their armor.
"Let's get to the surface..." Tyler said.
The rangers walked through the vacant streets for nearly two hours. They saw no one, dead or alive.
Kira shook her head. "I'm starting to think there's nothing's here..."
"We're not even sure where here is," Seth said. "Not yet, at least."
"No, this is it," Kym said. "This is the Earth our parents came from. I can feel it..."
An energy distortion tore through a nearby building with a burst of light, which reflected like stained glass. The distortion ripped over the street and opened a portal.
A figure staggered through the portal and nearly collapsed. He looked as if made of stained glass. He called himself Kiva.
The being fell to his knees, and his skin cracked.
"Well..." Mat said. "It's sad that I don't find this odd."
"What is he?" Kym asked.
Kiva climbed to his feet, but he quickly lost his strength and fell to his knees. Glass chipped from his skin.
"The Armada..." he whispered. "They're coming."
"Um, they're already here," Mat said.
"Or were," Kira said. "We took care of them."
Kiva shook his head.
"They're never gone..." he whispered.
Distortion fields tore through the skies. Dozens of X-Borgs dropped from the portals and landed on the street.
Kiva glared at the grunts and tried to climb to his feet. But he could barely stay conscious.
Tyler and his teammates stepped between the Rider and grunts.
"How many time are we going to have to rip you apart?" he asked the villains.
More X-Borgs dropped to the street, along with more powerful grunts called Zergs.
An Armada Action Commander, Shika'ban, marched in the lead.
"It's you..." the monster said as he glared at the rangers. "Cursed renegades...There's a bounty on your heads. And you show yourself here?"
"Seems that way," Tyler said.
Shika'ban grunted with disbelief. "Hand over the Fangaira, and I will let you walk away, this one time."
Seth shook his head. "You're the one who's going to walk away...or be destroyed. Your choice."
"You fools!" Shika'ban shouted. "We are the Armada! Destroyers of the Blood Dimension! Tamers of Demon World Earth! Conquerors of-"
"Enough," Tyler said as he pulled out his morpher in one hand, and a Ranger Key in the other.
His teammates did the same.
"It's morphin' time!" he shouted. Together they called out: "Ultimate Transform!"
They inserted their Ranger Keys into their morphers and turned the Keys. Their morphers called out: "POOOOOWER RANGERS!"
They morphed into their Ranger forms and stepped into fighting poses.
"Ultimate Red Ranger."
"Ultimate Blue Ranger."
"Ultimate Green Ranger."
"Ultimate Yellow Ranger."
"Ultimate Pink Ranger."
"Ultimate Task Force..." They called out together: "Power Rangers!"
The Red Ranger unsheathed his Power Saber with one hand and his Power Blaster with the other. "Let's make this showy..."
He blasted X-Borgs with bursts of spark that knocked them away from the action commander.
He shifted his aim and blasted Shika'ban; bullets sparked against his body and sent him staggering backward.
The Rangers charged, and the grunts returned the charge.
The Rangers hacked and blasted their way through X-Borgs. Their sabers tore through robotic bodies, and their blasters punctured through their armor and whipped them off their feet.
The Red Ranger slashed an X-Borg aside and blasted a second grunt at point-blank range.
The Pink Ultimate Ranger jumped onto a ruined rooftop. She slashed an X-Borg and blasted a second grunt.
More X-Borgs surrounded her, faster than she could keep up. So she snapped a grappling line and swung through the air. She angled her descent towards another building while blasting the grunts below.
The Yellow Ranger dashed through a group of X-Borgs while chopping left and right, ripping them apart with bursts of spark. She side-kicked an X-Borg to the ground and blasted a second X-Borg in the faceplate.
Meanwhile, blaster firing, the Blue Ranger leapt from a ruined rooftop and landed on a neighboring building.
A wave of grunts swung their clubs at the Ranger. But he spun and swiped his blade wide, slashing them back.
The Blue Ranger leapt from the building, landed on the street with a somersault and rolled to his feet with a swipe of his sword; the blade ripped an X-Borg in half.
The Green Ultimate Ranger landed on a ruined building and slashed an X-Borg aside. The Ranger stepped back, lost his balance - and fell off the building. But he landed on a cable, which stretched towards the street, where he blasted a group of X-Borgs aside. The cable bounced back up, and the Green Ranger opened fire, shooting every X-Borg in sight.
The Red Ranger jumped against the side of a building and hopped off while blasting a trio of X-Borgs. He landed and swung his blade through a butterfly pattern that hacked several grunts aside. Then he swung his blaster and fired a round of bullets that ripped a wave of X-Borgs before they came close.
An X-Borg snuck up behind the Red Ranger. But he turned and chopped the grunt to the ground with a burst of spark.
Two X-Borgs leapt at the Red Ranger and chopped their clubs. The Ranger used his sword to block, and then blasted their guts with bursts of spark.
The Red Ranger hurled his blade, which slashed through a grunt's chest near the Blue Ranger.
The Red Ranger looked towards the Green Ranger.
"Mat," he called out, his voice calm and casual, even in the heat of battle.
"Right!" Mat shouted.
The Green Ranger tossed his sword at the Red Ranger, and the Blue Ranger tossed his blaster at his leader.
The Red Ranger grabbed the sword and kicked the blaster through the air.
The Green Ranger caught the blaster, which he dual wielded along with his own gun.
The Blue Ranger pulled the Red Ranger's sword from the grunt's chest, and he dual wielded the weapon along with his own blade.
The Green Ranger jumped onto a cable and wrapped his legs around it like a trapeze. He swung over the street while leaning down and firing both blasters, which ripped through grunts with bursts of spark.
The Blue Ultimate Ranger charged through grunts while slashing through intricate patterns that ripped them apart.
A group of X-Borgs crouched and held their staffs like bazookas. The staffs fired their maces like cannons that streaked towards the Blue Ranger.
The Blue Ranger twirled his blades and slashed the blasts aside with massive bursts of spark and flame.
Meanwhile, the Pink Ranger and Yellow Ranger exchanged weapons.
The Ultimate Pink Ranger swung her blasters and fired volleys of bullets. The blasts tore through grunts' armor and whipped them off their feet.
The Yellow Ranger somersaulted through the air and landed while chopping her swords through an X-Borg. She spun and slashed a solider to her side.
The Blue Ranger, Pink Ranger and Green Ranger regrouped around the Yellow Ranger.
The Yellow Ranger sighed as another wave of X-Borgs moved towards them. "There's a ton of them..."
The Red Ranger walked to his teammates. "Time to go Legendary..."
The Pink Ranger nodded. "Good idea..."
The Red Ranger snapped open his belt buckler to reveal a Ranger Key shaped like the Red Tyranno Ranger, of the Battle Task Force Power Rangers. The other Ranges pulled Battle Task Force Keys from their bucklers.
They armed their morphers.
"Dino! Buckler!" They inserted their keys into their morphers and shifted form with bursts of energy. Their morphers shouted: "BAAAAAATTLE TASK FORCE!"
They transformed into the Battle Task Force Power Rangers: Tyler became Tyranno Ranger Red, Mat became Mammoth Ranger Black, Seth became Tricera Ranger Blue, Kira became Tiger Ranger Yellow and Kym became Ptera Ranger Pink.
They armed their weapons.
"Tyranno Sword!"
"Mammoth Breaker!"
"Tricera Lance!"
"Tiger Daggers!"
"Ptera Bow!"
"Let's bring 'em together," the Red Ranger said.
The Rangers combined their weapons into a cannon. They stood in formation and aimed forward.
"Power Blaster!" they shouted. "Fire!"
The cannon fired beams of energy that combined into a single blast. The blast exploded through X-Borgs with a massive shockwave that ripped them to pieces and shook the streets.
From the rooftops, a group of Zergs led another wave of X-Borgs that jumped towards the Rangers.
The grunts bashed the Rangers with club and mace swings, taking them by surprise and scattering them.
Tyranno Ranger swung upward; his blade slashed an X-Borg with a burst of spark that whipped the grunt off its feet.
The Rangers regrouped and stood back-to-back as the grunts swarmed around them.
They pulled out another set of Ranger Keys and armed their morphers.
"Samurai! Scribe!" They inserted their keys into their morphers and shifted form with bursts of energy. Their morphers shouted: "SAAAAAAMURAI RANGERS!"
They transformed into the Symbol Task Force Samurai Rangers. Tyler became Samurai Red, Seth became Samurai Blue, Mat became Samurai Green, Kira became Samurai Yellow, and Kym became Samurai Pink.
They unsheathed their Spin Swords and bashed through the grunts with a flurry of chops and slashes. Their blades struck hard and fast, tearing through bot after bot before they could counter or defend themselves.
The Red Ranger parried and chopped through an X-Borg. The Blue Ranger dodged and slashed a Zerg's gut. The Yellow Ranger and Pink Ranger stood back-to-back and slashed a group of X-Borgs apart. And the Green Ranger hacked through a trio of grunts in front of him.
The Rangers regrouped and armed another set of Ranger Keys.
"Magical Source! Mystic Force!" They inserted their keys into their morphers and shifted form with bursts of energy. Their morphers shouted: "MYYYYSTIC RANGERS!"
They transformed into the Askani Task Force Mystic Rangers. Tyler became Mystic Red, Mat became Mystic Green, Seth became Mystic Blue, Kira became Mystic Yellow and Kym became Mystic Pink.
They snapped towards the next wave of grunts and armed their staffs.
"Magi Magica!" they shouted as they thrust their staffs forward.
The staffs fired waves of elemental energy that swept through the grunts with massive bursts of spark and flame, hurling them backward as secondary explosions tore through their bodies.
The Rangers lowered their weapons, having cleared the last of the grunts.
Shika'ban stepped onto the street to face the Rangers. "That was quite the show...but I've grown tired of it."
He aimed his cannons and fired missiles that streaked towards the Rangers. The missiles exploded around them with massive bursts of spark and flame. The impact smashed them backward and knocked their weapons from their hands.
Mystic Red's staff flew through the air and shimmered as it depowered back into its Power Saber form.
The Red Ultimate Ranger leapt through the air, grabbed his saber, and angled his decent towards the monster, as did the other Rangers.
They landed one-by-one while chopping the monster, forcing him several steps backward.
The Red Ultimate Ranger pressed forward. He slashed and hacked the monster with bursts of spark. Then, he chopped towards the monster's head. But the monster used his forearm to block the blow.
The Red Ranger slashed the monster's arm aside and jump-kicked him; the impact bashed him off his feet, and he crashed and skid across the street.
The Rangers regrouped.
"Let's finish him off," the Red Ranger said.
They slid their Ultimate Ranger Keys into their sabers and locked the keys into position. Their swords ebbed and pulsed with power as they stepped into fighting stances.
The blades spoke the command: "FIIIIIINAL WAAAVE!"
They swung their swords and fired blades of energy that slashed through the monster with massive bursts of spark. Secondary explosions tore through his body as he collapsed and burst into flames.
Kiva leaned against a building and breathed heavily. His color dimmed as his skin cracked and pealed.
The rangers walked towards the Rider, and Tyler leaned down next to him.
Kiva looked up, his eyes dimmed. "You're...Rangers."
Tyler nodded. "And what are you?"
"Kiva," he said. "A Kamen Rider..."
Seth crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you know about the Armada?"
Kiva did not hear the question. "You have...the Keys. Your Ranger Keys. How?"
Kira knitted her brow. "What do you know about our Keys?"
"They're the only chance of saving...everything," Kiva said. "Reality is broken. Space. Time. All of it."
Tyler nodded. "We know. We've been trying to find out how to fix it."
"Your Keys will show you the answers," Kiva said. "You can use them to unlock time shards. Reality fragments. In doing so...you will learn all that you need."
"OK then...How do we unlock these time shards?" Seth asked.
"...I don't know."
Mat snorted. "That's not exactly helpful."
"What can you tell us about the Shattering?" Tyler asked. "How did this happen in the first place?"
"The ultimate betrayal..." Kiva whispered. "Use your Keys. Unlock the time shards. And you will find your answers..."
His eyes dimmed to gray, and his skin drained of color.
With his final breath, he whispered a name: "Rachel..."
The rangers regrouped in the Legacy Galleon. Tyler sat in his chair and leaned back. He pulled out his Ultimate Red Ranger Key and flipped it between his fingers.
Mat paced anxiously. "So, we risked our butts fighting a bajillion Armada ships and cronies for nothing."
"I wouldn't say it was a risk," Tyler said as he kept his eyes on his Ranger Key.
"That's not at all surprising," Mat said.
Seth leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "What Kiva said, about using our Keys to unlock these time fragments...Do we believe him...?"
"What do you remember?" Tyler asked, his eyes still on his Key. "All of you?"
"From before the Shattering?" Kym asked. "Nothing. None of us do. You know that..."
Tyler nodded. "We don't know anything about our past, or how space-time shattered."
Mat arced an eyebrow. "Riiiight. We've established that several times. Where are you going with this?"
He tightened his grip on his Key. "I remembered something. When I got this Key."
"Remembered what?" Kym asked.
Tyler didn't answer. He preferred to keep his thoughts and past a secret.
After he received his Key, he saw a glimpse of his life before the Shattering. Or possibly...his death.
"Tyler!" Tommy Oliver shouted as he shook his son's body. "Tyler, get up! Come on...Come on, buddy, get up..."
Tommy looked up and glared. "You...You did this..."
He flashed with red energy and morphed into the armor of the Dragon Ranger of the Heaven Fire Star.
"It doesn't matter," Tyler said. He flipped his Key and stuck it in his belt.
He stood and opened a chest, where they kept the rest of their Ranger Keys. He reached in and shuffled the Keys, as he would a chest of gold.
"I think he was right. We use these Keys. We find the Ultimate Secret. Then our work is done," Tyler said.
"It's that easy?" Kira asked skeptically.
Tyler smirked. "I doubt that. I doubt that very much."
He closed the chest.
A lone figure crouched on a ruined rooftop and watched the Legacy Galleon leave Earth's atmosphere.
He waited, and then lowered his head.
Few knew the stranger. Those who did called him Decade: Destroyer of Worlds.
To be continued...Chapter 02
Further reading:
· Kamen Rider Kiva's first appearance in "Ultimate Power Rangers: New Generation" Y2 Chapter 03 - " Kiva of the Blood"
· First mention of the Armada in "Ultimate Power Rangers: New Generation Y3 Chapter 20 - " Glimmering Coast"
· First appearance of the Kamen Rider Decade powers in "Ultimate Power Rangers: New Generation" Y3 Chapter 17 - " Billy's Motivation"
· The original seven seasons of UPR: ryuranger.com
· The UPR sequel series, UPR New Generation: http://ryuranger.com/UPR_NG.html