//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Power Rangers: Guardians of Harmony, Ten Year Return // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// Keeping as low a profile as possible, the group of six made their way through the city. Heart looked terrified as he went with them, especially when they passed an electric bulletin board that had a wanted poster on it that swapped between their faces every ten seconds or so. Luckily, nobody noticed them and they soon arrived at their destination. An old warehouse that looked like it hadn't been used in years. Looking around to make sure they weren't being watched, the Rangers lifted the shutters just enough for them to roll under before closing them again and delving the group into darkness. But before Heart could ask why they were in pitch darkness, he heard a clicking sound and the place was suddenly filled with light. Lyra had hit several switches that had powered up a bunch of spot-lights that looked like they had been pulled out of the garbage. This allowed Heart to look around and found the place...was an absolute dump. Many mismatched tables were carrying a bunch of half-cobbled together pieces of tech that looked like something a high-schooler would throw together for a science project. He watched as the Rangers moved over to one of the table, which had a bunch of devices that reminded Heart of rechargeable battery holders. They placed their Magi-Chargers inside one of the machines before taking something else out. They were a bunch of strange looking gemstones that were the exact same shape, but were each a different colour and matched the colours of their Ranger Suits. They clipped the gems into the top of the machines and Heart watched the devices power up, amazing him. "What are those things?" Flash turned to smile at him, "our Elements." Heart looked confused. "The source of our power. Each of them chose to bond with us because we were worthy and we held a great amount of the quality that each Element represented." He pointed at his Element. "Courage." "Trust," Lyra continued. "Love," Sweetie nodded. "Will," Sandalwood stated. "And Selflessness," Soarin finished. Heart wasn't really sure what they meant by that, but continued to look around and see all the old and dusty machines in the warehouse. "What is this place? And where'd you get all this gear." "This warehouse has been abandoned for years," Flash told him. "As for the gear, it's what's left from our days as Rangers. After we defeated Legion, we put it all into storage. But over the last few months...we found we've needed it more and more." Heart nodded as he turned to them. "You're the Power Rangers. Ten years ago, you guys used to battle against monsters that attacked the city. You stopped an evil madman from another universe that attacked with robots and then saved it from a massive army of shadow monsters." The Rangers looked amazed. "So you remember?" Lyra asked, Heart frowning. "I remember hearing the stories. I was only six at the time, so I didn't really know all the details. But...I only started remembering them a couple of days ago. Before then...I just thought you were a bunch of criminals." The Rangers frowned, but also looked curious. "So you're saying you forgot as well?" Sweetie asked. "Just like the rest of the city," Sandalwood carried on. Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Canterlot, we find a rather nice looking house that was painted in a mix of purple and orange. Inside said house, a woman in her late twenties was sitting at the dinning table looking over a bunch of documents. She had purple skin and darker purple hair tied up in a ponytail, with a pair of black glasses over her purple eyes. she was wearing a blue sleeveless top and blue jeans with a star pattern on the sides. A radio was playing in the corner, some gentle music filling the room as she read through her documents. But then, the music cut out as a special bulletin played. "Once again, an attack by the notorious group of Criminals calling themselves the Power Rangers has the city in a state of terror." The woman was pulled out of her thoughts and turned towards the radio, a heartbroken look appearing on her face as she listened. "This marks the twentieth attack by the group since their sudden appearance three months ago. Though their numbers have been reduced since then by the brave work of Mirage Corp's security forces, their continued presence has the city remain on high alert. Further more-" The radio stopped when the woman rushed over and shut it off before it could say any more. The woman took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself as she moved over to sit back at the table. But she couldn't get her focus back on her work, her mind to focused on what she had just heard. Getting up again, she got up and moved over to the mantelpiece. On top of it were several framed pictures, with one particular one in the centre being a book-like frame that had three sections: One large centre frame with two smaller ones on either side that shut to completely covered the middle one. The centre picture showed her and another man, the wanted criminal known as Flash Sentry, both of which standing together. Flash was holding her tightly wearing a suit, whilst she was wearing a beautiful white dress. The ones in the side frames were of the two together at different times. One had them in the park as teenagers, whilst another showed them in a hospital room with the woman in the bed holding something. "Why Flash?" She asked, "why are you doing this?" She looked ready to burst into tears, but those stopped when she heard the front door open. She quickly wiped her eyes and turned towards the living room door as it opened, with a very small child rushing in. She was around two or three years old, with orange skin and blue hair that had a streak of pink running through it like hers. "Momma!" She cried, rushing over to her as she knelt down and scooped the child up. "Stardust," she smiled whilst holding her up. "You have fun at preschool?" The girl nodded, as two other people stepped into the room. One was a woman with pink skin and pink hair, wearing a suit that were different shades of blue and green. The other was a young girl of around seven or eight years old, with white skin and long flowing hair of pink, blue and purple who was wearing a light blue dress. "Aunty Twilight!" She cheered, as the woman named Twilight put Stardust down and hugged the girl. "Hi Flurry." She looked at her, "did you have fun at school." Flurry nodded, though she looked a little sad about something. She had been wearing that expression a lot over the last few weeks. Twilight turned to them. "Hey, the others are coming over soon. Why don't you two go up to Star's room and play until they get here." The pair nodded and ran out of the room, Twilight looking up at the older woman. "Cadance, the radio-" "I know," Cadance nodded. "We were listening when it came on. I changed the station as soon as I realised but Flurry still heard some of it." Twilight frowned. "I wonder if the others heard as well. I hope not. It's hard enough getting through the day. Hearing about it will just make them feel worse." She looked back at the pictures around the room, her eyes locking on another on the mantel. This one showed Flash in a police uniform alongside an older man with white skin and blue hair in the same uniform. "They had so much," she picked up the picture. "I can't believe they would just throw it away without reason." Cadance nodded, feeling pain at the sight of the man in the picture. They went into the kitchen and made a drink, the pair sitting around a small table and talking about anything other then what they had heard on the radio. Then, thirty minutes after Cadance arrived, there was a knock at the door before it opened. "HEY!" A hyperactive voice called out before a pink skinned woman the same age as Twilight came in. She had pink puffy hair in a pony tail and was wearing a blue jacket and a pink skirt. She was holding the hand of a four year old girl with yellow skin and pink hair. The girl instantly ran off and the woman sat down, her happy demeanour vanishing as soon as the girl was gone. "You two okay?" "We're fine Pinkie," Twilight told her. "You hear the radio as well?" Pinkie nodded, as the door opened again. "Hello?" A gentle voice called out before another woman entered the room. This one had yellow skin and pink hair, wearing a flowing blue dress with a butterfly pin in her locks. She had a young boy, around four of five, and a baby girl in her arms, both children having yellow skin whilst the boy had dreads that was a mix of green and pink. The baby looked like a perfect clone of her mother, though the hair had a few specks of green in it. The boy was hiding behind the woman's leg, looking rather shy. "Hello Fluttershy," Twilight smiled before turning to the boy. "Linden, the girls are upstairs." The boy nodded and carefully came out from behind Fluttershy's leg and headed upstairs. The women headed out of the kitchen to the more spacious living room. As they did, they noticed Fluttershy looked ready to start crying. "I know," Cadance pulled her in close. "It's hard." "Why are they doing this?" She asked, ready to burst out crying. "Doesn't he care that Ayala will probably grow up not knowing him. And Linden's been getting odd looks at school that's making him cry." "We'll figure it out," Twilight assured her before flying. "But it's Rainbow I'm concerned for." As if on cue, the door opened again and a voice called out to them. "Hey, you guys see that news footage!" Two women walked into the living room. One was an orange skinned woman with blonde hair tied up in a pony tail, with a rather familiar looking handkerchief tying it up, wearing a brown jacket over a green top and blue tight jeans with brown boots. The other was a woman with light blue skin and short rainbow coloured hair. The most noticeable thing about her was the rather large stomach she was currently sporting, hidden under the blue maternity dress she was wearing. Pinkie and Twilight got off the couch, allowing her to move over to it and take a seat. "How you feeling?" Twilight asked her, the woman named Rainbow moaning. "My back hurts. My ankles are swollen and I need to pee ever twenty minutes. So...not great." She frowned, "it wouldn't be so bad if a certain somebody wasn't off making an idiot of himself. Seriously, what's that nut job doing? Leaving me for three months with twins." "A'm sure he has a good reason," Applejack told her. But the look on her face showed she wasn't sure for that. The others looked just as upset, Twilight turning to a picture of them back when they were still in high school. It was the five of them, minus Cadance, plus the six wanted fugitives and three others. They were all wearing their graduation gowns and cheering at being free from high school. The three others in the picture were friends they hadn't seen since the whole Power Ranger thing started. Micro, Sunset and Rarity had all been absent from their lives for three months now. Sunset had, for some reason, joined the Power Rangers and started causing havoc, whilst Micro and Rarity... There was a knock on the door before somebody stepped inside, the sound of high heels filling the room. "Hello?" They turned towards the doorway and saw the woman who had been on the Ranger alert earlier that day. Now that her whole body could be seen, a small but noticeable bump could be seen around her stomach. "Rarity," Twilight whispered. "You're...looking well." Rarity looked down and frowned. "Saw you on TV earlier," Rainbow told her. "Who'd have thought you'd give up your fashion career to become Mirage Corp's face." "Times change," Rarity told them. "When Micro's company was taken over, his investments in my business came to an end as well. This is the only way to get my career back on track." She let out a sigh, "which is why I'm here right now." They frowned as a new set of footprints filled the air and a new person stepped into the room. They all suddenly felt a chill run down their spins and Ayala started crying, Fluttershy shushing her back to sleep as Twilight frowned. "Welcome...Mr Mirage." "Mirage?" Heart asked as the Rangers did maintenance on their gear. "The guy that owns that really big company that pretty much runs the whole city?" "Yup," Lyra nodded. "But that only started a few months ago. Before then, his company was barely known. But suddenly, he started buying up business after business and had half the city's capital under his control within a week." "You sure?" Heart asked as he held his head. "I mean...I remember the city always being under Mirage's control." But as he thought about it, his head started hurting. "Ow." "Don't think about it," Flash told him. "We don't know much about Mirage's power, but it's painful to try and fight against it." "Power?" "Some kind of brainwashing power," Soarin told him as he tweek something on his Thunder Morpher. "It really took us by surprise. One minute we're living our normal everyday lives, the next we find there's a warrant out for our arrest and nobody remembers anything that happened involving our Ranger days." "So he changed the world?" Heart asked, beginning to fear just how powerful this guy that was after them was. "No," Sweetie told him. "But he's somehow rewritten everyone's memories. Plus, any form of documentation about Power Rangers have vanished. As far as the city's concerned, the first time we ever appeared in our suits was three months ago." "And it's just the city," Sandal went on. "I drove out of the city a few days after we were put on the most wanted list and when I asked somebody about the Power Rangers, they remembered everything they had heard about our exploits ten years ago." "So it's just the city?" Heart asked, "then why don't you leave. You wouldn't be wanted if you were." "And leave Mirage in control of it?" Flash asked, "with our friends and family as pretty much his hostages. No, we're not leaving the city until we figure out how Mirage is doing all of this." Heart nodded, understanding that. He let everything that the Rangers had told him sink it, trying to find a way to prove they were heroes. "But what about...the internet. My sister and I used to watch footage of you guys all the time." "Yeah, we tried that too." Lyra pointed at a nearby beaten up laptop, "try searching for us now." Heart moved over and typed the word Power Rangers into the search bar, but all he got were a bunch of crime footage and wanted posters. He then added the date ten years ago into the bar and still found nothing. He kept trying a bunch of different words that were connected to the Rangers. Zord, Legion, monster invasion, Megazord. But nothing came up. "What's going on?" "Like we said," Soarin told him. "Anything and everything related to our time from ten years ago is gone. It's like the city has a bubble around it and anything to do with the heroic Guardian Power Rangers gets erased as soon as it enters." "Then why can I remember it?" Heart asked, "my sister and me. We were both being affected until a few days ago, when we started remembering the truth about you. It was slow at first, but the more we thought about it the more we remember." "And you're not alone," Flash told him. "Whatever Mirage did, it's not perfect." He held up his Element, "we were protected because we're connected to these. But other people were effected differently. Only now, it seems the effects are starting to ware off on people. Like you and your sister. Whatever spell is being cast on you is starting to ware off. That's why Mirage was after you." Heart looked worried, "he doesn't want anyone spilling the beans about who he really is." He turned to them, "what's he gonna do with my sister?" The Rangers all looked sombre. "I don't know," Flash sighed. "You're not the first person he's captured. We've heard stories of Mirage's security details arresting people that have always been outstanding citizens. They arrest them and haul them off somewhere. We've tried to save them, but every time we're too late. You're the first one we've been able to get to in time." Heart shivered, fearing the fate of his sister. "Mirage. He's a monster." They couldn't argue with that. Hopefully, he wouldn't try and do anything to anyone the Rangers cared about. Back at Flash's home, the woman were all staring at the man that had just walked in. A middle aged man with orange skin and gunmetal coloured hair that fed a beard running down the side of his face and chin. On the top of his head was a streak of purple hair running upwards. He was also dressed in a purple suit with a grey shirt and orange tie, not seeming to care at all how ridicules he looked. The man looked around, a very serious expression on his face. As he did, the women looked worried. "What can we do for you, Mr Mirage?" "I'm sure you've heard already," he told them. "About our mutual friends showing up again today." They all frowned. "This time they've gone so far as to kidnap a young man and take him with them." They gasped. "No way!" Rainbow cried, Applejack telling her to calm down. "They'd never do something like that." "Yes," Fluttershy nodded, "there must be a misunderstanding." "I'm afraid not," Mirage held up a strange pen-shaped device and clicked it. When he did, it unleashed a hologram that showed footage of the Power Rangers and Heart in the alleyway. The footage showed them powering down before Flash grabbed Heart by the arm and pulled him with them, Heart appearing to be struggling but not being able to escape. "I...I can't believe that," Twilight told him. Mirage put the device away and turned to one of the pictures on the wall. "Tell me. When was the last time you talked to your husbands and their friends." "We told you," Twilight frowned. "We haven't seen or heard anything from them since you put them on the most wanted list." "For obvious reasons," he told her. "They stole a very dangerous power source and are using them to try and play vigilante, not caring how much danger it puts them and their families in." He turned to Twilight, "I'm sure you can understand why we have to take precautions against them." Twilight frowned as Mirage turned back to the pictures, noting all the ones with Flash in them. "I'm sure these times are hard on you all. Being associated with such criminals." He turned back to them. "Maybe it would be best if you annulled your marriages to them. I can have my attorneys draw up to contracts. All it would take is a single signature from you and you'd be free from them." The woman all looked upset about this, clearly the thought of what he said making sense to them. But Twilight quickly shook her head. "No!" They turned to her as she pointed at Mirage, "I won't abandon him. I don't know why he's doing this, but I know him. He wouldn't be doing any of this unless he had too. He's a good man and I won't leave him until I see with my own eyes that he's anything but." The others all nodded, whilst Mr Mirage frowned. "What a shame. I had hoped you would see the logic and return to my company." "I never worked for your company," Twilight told him. "I worked at Micro's company, until you somehow bought it out from under him." Rarity frowned at this, whilst Mirage just smiled. "Then we have nothing left to say." He turned away, "but you can't go on without a job forever. This is a lovely home and I'm sure keeping it isn't easy, especially with your husband's career choices up in smoke now that he's a wanted criminal." Twilight frowned, knowing that was some kind of threat. "No need to worry. I've already found myself another position. Filling in for a friend at her teaching job at our old high school. The principal's an old friend." "Ahhh...yes." Mirage nodded in understanding. "I guess a position or two has opened up thanks to two of the teachers being...detained, due to their criminal activities. Well, I'm sure you'll find that job fulfilling. Baking soda volcanoes are always fun." With that, he walked out of the room and headed for the door. Rarity stayed for a moment, looking a little worried, then followed him out of the house. When they were gone, Twilight fell to her knees and looked ready to start crying. The others rushed around her and gave her encouragement, telling her she did great standing up to him. "Thanks," she told them. "But this insanity needs to end. We need to find out what's really going on." "There's no way the others actually kidnapped a kid, right?" Rainbow asked, her friends shaking their heads. "So we've gotta find out what's really hap'nin," Applejack told them. They all nodded and as Twilight stood up, she spotted one of the pictures on the mantel. One that was face down so nobody could see it. She moved over to it and lifted it up for them to see. But when she did, she saw the family photo. A picture of her and Flash in front of their house, Flash carrying Stardust in his arms. And in Stardust's hands was something else. A little red toy-like devices in the shape of a dragon with tiny wings. She couldn't tell how she knew, but the toy looked...happy. Staring at the picture, she suddenly felt something burst into her head. Images and memories she didn't remember having. But the images were too fuzzy and as they appeared, Twilight's head hurt a great deal. She cried out, clutching her head as she put the picture down. When she did, the pain stopped. "Twilight?" Cadance asked, "are you okay?" "I...yeah. I thought I remembered something I'd forgotten but...I can't remember it any more." The others frowned, asking if she was okay with that. But Twilight shrugged. "If it was so important, I wouldn't have forgotten it." They all nodded in agreement, the face down picture laying completely forgotten. Back in the warehouse, in one of the corners, Flash was laying on an old army bed with a sleeping bag at his feet. He was staring up at a photograph, the very same one his wife had been looking at, appearing wistful as he did so. "Is that your family?" Flash looked over and saw Heart staring at him, the Red Ranger nodding as he sat up to let Heart sit next to them. "Yeah." He showed him the image. "Twilight Sparkle and our daughter, Stardust." Heart took the photo, "hard to believe I might never get to see either of them again." "They don't remember you being a Ranger either?" "Star never really understood what we meant by that," Flash explained. "Twilight probably just told her I had to go away for a while. But there's definitely one thing she'll have forgotten that would break her heart if she knew." Heart wondered what he meant, but then noticed something about the picture. The robotic dragon his daughter was holding. A robotic dragon he had seen in some old Ranger footage. "Is that...your Zord." Flash looked at the picture and nodded when he pointed at it. "Yeah. That's Drago. After we defeated Legion, he started living with us full time in his miniature form." Twilight found a way to recharge the device that allows him to do that without needing to take it out of him. "Cool," Heart smirked as he looked around. "Where is he? I've always wanted to see a real life Zord." He then noticed Flash frown, "what?" "I haven't seen him in three months," Flash explained. "He disappeared...the day all this started." Heart was amazed by this, clearly wondering what had happened. "It was just like...any other day." Three months ago. Flash was in his kitchen, wearing his police uniform, helping Stardust eat her breakfast. "Open up," he told her. The girl looked at the porridge on the spoon and shook her head. "Come on." "Na-ah," she shook her head harder. Then, Drago leapt onto the table and started dancing in front of Stardust. She laughed and was so entertained, she didn't notice she was eating the porridge Flash shovelled into her mouth until it was all gone. "Good girl," Flash told her before turning to Drago. "Thanks bud." Drago roared happily as Twilight arrived in the room, dressed in her work cloths: A blue blouse and black pants. "Star ready to go?" She asked, putting her hair up in its usual ponytail. "Just about," he picked his daughter up out of the chair. "You ready for school, sweetheart?" The girl nodded her head, excited for another fun day. "Alright. Well, I've got to get to work so wish me luck." "Luck!" She laughed, as Twilight took her from him. "Be careful out there," she kissed him on the lips. "I'm always careful," he assured her before heading for the door. As he did, he found a large purple dog laying in front of it. "Really man?" Spike opened his eyes and huffed. "Can't a guy get a good morning's nap." He got up and moved out of the way, Flash giving him a pat on the head. "You have a dog bed," he laughed. "That's a great place to sleep out of the way." With that, he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. Drago rushed off with him, jumping up onto his shoulder. "Ready for another hard day of work?" Drago roared in agreement, then stopped and looked up towards the city. "Drago?" Before he could ask what was going on, the Dragon Zord leapt off his shoulders and flew away as fast as he could. Flash wasn't surprised by this, since Drago would often go off on his own. But something about this time seemed different. Flash wanted to follow, but he needed to be at the precinct in the other direction. He wasn't gonna get away with tardiness, even if the captain was his brother-in-law. Later that day. Flash was on patrol with his partner, Shock Trooper, and the former Red Ranger was getting their lunch whilst Shock was waiting in the squad car. "Two double cheese burglars, one banana milkshake and one diet soda," the girl at the counter pushed the bag and two cups towards him. "Right," he nodded as he took them and headed out the food joint. He began to make his way over to the car, slurping his soda as he did, but then stopped when he felt something. A strange sensation, the likes of which he had only ever felt from one object. "Hey!" Someone called out, "what's that?" Flash turned to see him looking up at the sky and followed his gaze, his eyes landing on a red light flying through the air. "It can't be," Flash whispered as the light began to fly straight towards him. He quickly dropped his soda and reached his hand up, the light flying into it at amazing speed but not hurting his hand at all. He pulled it down as the people around him watched in amazement. "Flash!" Shock Trooper rushed up to him and spotted the light in his hand. "Is that...what I think it is?" Flash opened his hand and sure enough, a familiar gem was sitting in his palm. "The Element of Courage," he whispered. "But that means-" in that moment his phone rang and he handed Shock their food before taking it out, seeing it was his dad. "Son!" The man cried once he picked up, "you're not gonna believe what just happened." "Your Element just showed up?" Flash asked, Trail Blazer's voice stopped. "Mine did too." He then started getting texts and messages, Flash looking at the screen and seeing it was from the rest of his Ranger team. Everyone had sent him a message. Well...everyone except Micro. "This can't be good." "And I was right. The very next day, the world had completely forgotten about the Power Rangers. Our friend Sunset tried to get in contact with someone who might have known what was happening, but we never got an answer. Twilight was all prepared to help figure out what was going on when she learned I had my Element back, but the next morning she woke up and had no idea what I was talking about." "Was that when the news report came on about you guys stealing from Mirage?" Heart asked, Flash nodding. "Me, Lyra and even my brother-in-law all found ourselves being brought in for questioning. Mirage even somehow got fake footage of us busting into his facility and stealing the Elements before morphing on the screen. None of it happened, but the people were too brainwashed to listen to us." "That's horrible." "Maybe," Flash nodded, "but we're gonna change all that." He stood up, "we're gonna find out what he did and reverse it. Then, we're gonna find where they took your sister and our friends and get them out. I promise." Heart smiled at this, feeling amazing admiration for this man he had just met this day. "And then, Mirage will find out what happens when you mess with the Power Rangers." Mirage had arrived at his company, a large skyscraper that had undergone several reconstructions over the last few months. On top of the building was a large antenna, that looked big enough to send a signal to even TV and computer in the city. He entered the building and many people nodded and smiled at him, he and Rarity walking side by side. Then, someone else stepped up to him. It was Shock Trooper. "Mr Mirage," the former police officer told him. "I'm sorry about losing the Rangers." "Don't worry Shock," Mirage told him. "We'll get them all eventually." He turned to his company's face, "Ms Rarity. I'm sure you have a broadcast or something soon. You should probably go get yourself presentable for it." Rarity nodded and walked off, frowning as she did so. Now that it was just the two of them, Mirage spoke more openly with Shock. "I've been working on a little something that should give you the edge over those Rangers. It's almost complete and with it, you'll finally get me what I need." "I won't fail you," Shock told him as they entered an Elevator and began to rid it down underground. "We managed to get the girl safely transported without anyone noticing. We've put her with the others." "Good," Mirage nodded as the doors opened and they stepped into a long hallway. "I can't have anyone whose immune to my abilities walking around freely. Too much of a risk." They began to walk along the hallway, which was full of metal doors that had glass windows. Through each of the windows, the head of a person could be seen. They appeared to be in some kind of sleep, their heads slumped down as their arms were raised up like they were being crucified. There were many different types of people, young and old, male and female. They were all locked away and likely to never see the light of day again. "I don't get why you don't just get rid of them?" Shock asked as they arrived at their later prisoner. A girl around Heart's age with silver skin and hair that went from light to dark blue. "Now now," Mirage told him. "Once we have the Elements we'll be able to help these poor individuals see the light." He then turned to a bunch of doors at the very end of the hallway. "Besides, you can always find a use for things that might be an inconvenience." He marched up to the doors and looked inside, seeing four individuals trapped and asleep. One was a man that looked like an order version of Flash Sentry with a beard. Another was a white skinned man with blue hair. Another was a yellow skinned woman with bacon hair. And Finally, there was a grey skinned man with black hair. Their rooms each had a strange device inside of it, which was holding a familiar looking crystal that was each a different colour. "Five down," he told himself with a chuckle. "And once I get the other five Elements, nothing and nobody will get in my way. This world...will be mine."