[IC] Secret Force: A Power Rangers Story

Episode 1 -- A Legacy Reborn
Episode 2 -- ???

[mickilennial]

Location: Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska -- Several Weeks Ago

---

“It’s nothing like what we’ve seen.”

Professor James Takuya had been the leading expert in North American archaeology and anthropology in the Pacific Northwest for the last decade. Nothing could’ve prepared him for this.

A shift in the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate had incidentally unearthed something that had gone unnoticed for centuries. Underneath the frost and earth, a ruin of some kind. His instincts had told him it was nothing manmade, nothing that the Eyak, Haida, or Tlingit could’ve conceived. Unearthing the surface of the structure made his gut turn. They had unearthed something that was not of this world. It was a strange thought, even in 2067, given all of the advancements and bewilderment toward the stars. But, still. Alien technology? On Earth? It all felt like a science fiction fixture. A weary smile formed on his face thinking so, realizing that it would be known as his discovery. His name would never be forgotten.

“The energy levels are off the charts.”

The older man looked over to the young woman beside him, her hands holding a particular tablet. Energy levels meant living, working technology. They would have to dig further.

Before the night came upon them, a chamber would be found and with it a variety of strange crystals.

Crystals that would change everything.
-

-

Location: Angel Grove University, Angel Grove, CA -- Present Day

---

It had been two weeks since Takuya’s discovery and it appeared there was more-and-more questions.

To his left was a tech guru who had signed a confidentiality agreement regarding any studies involving the archaeology professor’s findings. To his right was his protégé as well as one of the security officers Takuya had personally commissioned for anything revolving around the project.

“Whatever you dug up in Alaska has energy readings like we have never seen.”

“Unfortunately we haven’t been able to translate… the instruction manual.” Takuya remarked as the younger archaeologist tried to make heads or tails of the meaning behind the symbols they had unearthed from the site. Some of them looked like strange hieroglyphics while others looked like symbols. Symbols without any context for what they meant.

“Alien languages sure are hard, huh?”

“I, uh, didn’t… is it that obvious?”

“I study things. As a hobby.” The dark-haired woman remarked as she typed away on the computer in front of her. “Not to mention, this is so on the DL you had me sign a non-disclosure agreement. For a handful of rocks.”

The older archaeologist nearly sighed as he straightened the collar of his labcoat.

He knew the tech guru was right. If he was so scared of his research being stolen and some big corporation moving in he probably would have just been open about it.

It was why he had contracted people from smaller, independent circles and been very careful about keeping it all hush-hush. Deliveries from the archaeology site went through a private airport and independent parcel drivers. Security was three-times vetted. Takuya’s inner circle was so small that nobody in it could be possibly be compromised. He was worried, though. The discovery of more rocks had happened a day ago and the delivery driver from the airport was supposed to arrive thirty minutes ago. He had convinced himself the delivery was just late. Driving from the private airport outside the city to the city and then the university would have taken some time. For the time being he had to focus on the readings and what the dark-haired woman could tell him.

There was also the hieroglyphics worrying him immensely, the hieroglyphics that Scott Young had been going over since they left the digsite. It was pretty cut and dry, even with the alien speak. A horde of monsters facing down six guardians, protecting what Takuya suspected was what they had dug up in Alaska. A greedier man would’ve made the announcement of the century already even if it seemed so absurd to be true. A sweltering anxiety had filled his stomach and he had no idea why. Little did he know, his gut feeling was right.

“All I can tell you is whatever these alien rocks are, they have more energy in them than five nuclear power plants. And I don’t mean small ones.”

That’s when the security officer would notice that the gems themselves had begun to react to something. In fact, the rocks the archaeologists had unearthed and tried to study had begun to glow in hues of red, yellow, and pink as the rocky surfaces began to crack.

It was also when the electrical systems in the room began to go haywire as sparks exploded from the overhead lights. The ‘alien rocks’ were beginning to overheat or react to something before they began to glow even more before outright shaking--before the room started shaking like Takuya was back in Los Angeles during a mild earthquake tremor. One of the servers directly behind Professor Takuya began to emit smoke. It was about to explode.

On the other side of Angel Grove, a delivery driver and a new resident would soon realize what was soon to happen, but not before Earth would have a new visitor. A dangerous one.
-
-

Location: IdoTech Construction Site, Angel Grove, CA

---

Xala had waited a long time for the energems to finally be dug up by some half-developed civilization in the middle of nowhere, but how fortunate was she that those who finally found them and activated them would be from a civilization practically in the stone age. Such was the irony. The Eltarians were foolish and their greatest treasure would now be hers to control. How fortunate was it that it was her ship that was the closest to the Milky Way Galaxy when the readings went across darkspace. How very fortunate. For her.

Since the Eltarians did their final stand every faction from every galaxy in the universe had salivated over the idea of being the ones to find the key to the grid and with it the key to complete, total power. In the years since Xala’s faction, the Xalantian Imperium, stood as one of the key powers in the Andromeda Galaxy, the neighboring stretch of space from the one the Eltarians had decided to hide out the keys to the grid upon. The energems. None of them, not even Xala knew how the energems work. She just knew they were what they were and with them she could be the ruler of everything in darkspace and with other factions threatening her imperium this was a sign from the gods that they ordained her right to rule. She was delighted.

“It only took fifteen million years, Zoltar, but finally you lose.” The alien humanoid grinned veraciously as she cracked her neck, “And now I am the first one to arrive and collect the grand prize.”

“The Grid belongs to the Imperium! My Imperium!” She exclaimed in the empty construction site before retrieving a circular object from her waist.

Energy soon began to course through it and in moments two of her commanders appeared beside her, warping down from where they came from.

“You two. You know what were here for. Do not fail me.” She barked as she looked around the construction site. A viable outpost for the time being, she supposed. Not that she'd need one for long. This Earth would be an interesting target range when she was done with it.

“Yes, mistress empress, of course!” The smaller commander said, nodding their head before being smacked by the other one as the two creatures began wandering out of the construction site. With the energems in their reach, it would only be a matter of time before they arrived to their locations and succeeded with their ruler's plan.

Fortunately for Angel Grove and Earth itself, the Grid had other plans...

[AlteredTundra]

_{Location — Working around town
What I'm wearing}
^{______________________________________________________________________________________________________________}

Levi groaned in the annoying way that he always did whenever he had a bad feeling about something.

And ever since he woke up and got into his green pickup truck, something told him that this wasn’t going to be a killer day like most were.

He didn’t know why, either. Maybe it was the weird dream of him falling into a giant hole larger than the Grand Canyon that seemed to be never ending. Like that one flight of stairs in late-game Super Mario 64 from way back in the golden years of the late 90s. Maybe it was his lack of an appetite and only eating three pieces of extra large breakfast pizza from the pizzeria just a few blocks from his apartment.

There was just something about this day that made him feel iffy. But he had to make rent this month. After falling short last month and being in the saving graces of his generous landlord, Levi knew he couldn’t deny any job, but the one he got last night set the stage for how he was feeling right now.

He had to pick up a package at the airport and, unlike other instances where he got to choose the route, there was a special request that the driver (not listed by name) took the quickest route. Not a particularly odd request and Levi didn’t question it.

So he took a right on E. Washington Blvd, he went down a somewhat straight-and-narrow street that would only take him roughly five or six minutes to get through before he had to turn to his last left. Traffic wasn’t so bad. He had to slow down a couple of times, but nothing that would take him off schedule. Based on the traffic app that he had up constantly, the path that was recommended for him front point a to point be would take fifteen minutes max, but he was ahead of schedule.

And Levi being ahead of schedule wasn’t something that happened frequently. Being someone that barely graduated high school and hasn’t found much steady work, hence why he drives for DoorDash and other similar companies. That’s why he wasn’t stressing so much. Regardless of the weirdness that this one delivery had and how he was feeling no more than five minutes ago, he was chill.

And then he got an alert on his DoorDash app. There was a local request for Panda Express.

“Wait, didn't I pass one just a few blocks ago.”

In the back of his mind, Levi knew this was a bad idea. His destination for the weird delivery was coming up on a left, but he really needed the money and it would only take ten minutes tops. Five to get to the Panda Express he passed up and five minutes to deliver it. That wasn’t much of a detour.

Well, at least that’s the rationale Levi accepted that allowed him to take an U-turn. At the red light, he accepted the order.

Levi Forrester has accepted your order

Levi pulled up to the Panda Express parking lot and the recurring theme of that bad feeling persisted, only this time it wasn’t just a feeling. The entire place was packed and Levi knew he wouldn’t be in and out in less than five minutes. From the drive-through to the inside of the restaurant, he saw a line. Sure, he had some leverage of the order being placed, but the problem he was currently facing was how many people were in front of him.

And as patient as Levi sometimes failed to be, he tried to. But trying was easier said than done when he was on a clock.

Eventually, he heard the name of the order be called and he side-stepped through a few overly-aggressive people in line. REaching forward, he grabbed the bag he believed to be his.

Levi was back in his truck and drove out of the crowded parking lot.

Levi Forrester has picked up your order.

The drive to his customer’s home wasn’t far. The drive itself took less than five minutes and whatever they ordered, Levi could smell something distinctly salty and sweet. He’s had just about the entire panda menu, so he knew the aroma orange chicken gave off. It was probably his favorite. His stomach was growling just by the smell of it.

“Don’t do it, he told himself, “not after last time!”

Yeah, last time…

Last week, Levi made the mistake of working on an empty stomach. He picked up an order of Buger King and, well let’s just say he wasn't given the best reviews. It was hell and this was actually his first day back at work since then.

So, yes his hunger and lack of control around food caused him to fall short on rent.

Yet another thing to make sure didn’t happen again.

He pulled up to the house and he checked the time.

“Not good!” He cursed himself as he realized he was fifteen minutes late on his other delivery. “Run, Levi! Run!” He grabbed the bag, ran up the concrete pathway, and rang the doorbell.

And then he rang it again.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

He was growing impatient. A sense of urgency passed through him as he just left the bag on the welcome mat and he was going to stop, but he felt a vibrating buzz in his pocket. He looked at his phone and realized there was a message from someone who worked at the Panda Express he just picked up the order from.

“What do you mean wrong order?” He looked through the order and it was chow mein, Beijing beef, and firecracker shrimp.

And it wasn’t here.

The order he had picked up wasn’t the one meant for..

“I’m going to get fired, aren’t I?”

As he turned to look back, Levi saw the figure of some attractive woman around his age who didn’t seem to be particularly pleased.

“Yep. Definitely fired.” He walked up and only gave his sincerest expression, hoping it would be alright.

[Taka]

Red hair swayed back and forth as Takuya's protege feverishly flipped through his books in attempts to decode the hieroglyphics. It had been a couple hours since he had started and it worried him that he wouldn't be able to decipher the meaning. Every symbol he seemed to come across only gave away to increasing the difficulty of finding what this all meant, each symbol resembling a set of hieroglyphics but, none of it had any meaning from what he could find. Takuya believed that the symbols were a sort of alien language, which would give way to why it was so difficult to decode. He didn't know if he believed in it all being alien in nature but, he was not going to tell the his mentor how he felt. He had gotten into archaeology to study the past, specifically dinosaurs, so he never thought that alien stuff would be part of his studies; the alien rocks did present him with a curiosity to an extent.

"Alien rocks, huh? Wonder what it mean for ancient civilizations. Come on, Scott. You can figure this out."

Scott's mind wandered for a bit as he thought about the possibilities in what alien tech could mean, a breakthrough of this magnitude would be the discovery of the century. Fortunately, and unfortunately, Takuya had restricted Scott from speaking about it to anyone. It was of his fear that another company would do something wrong with the information and the rocks, the rocks in question giving off massive energy readings. A energy source of this magnitude could change the world, for better or worse depending on who got their hands on it. For Scott though, he felt drawn to the red stone in particular; a small feeling that he couldn't pin down but, he was willing to find out why.

Suddenly the overhead lights began to spark before the rest of the electrical system started to flicker. Something was up and Scott brace himself as the room started to shake violently. The rocks shaking more than the room, Scott staring directly at them. His adrenaline shot up almost immediately as he noticed the server start to smoke. Despite Scott's instincts kicked to tell him to help the professor, he had noticed too late to make it to him in time.

"PROFESSOR!"

[Eggs]

Security detail for archaeologists had led Rebecca to parts of the world she thought she'd never see. Most of it was standing around looking scary, but between the pay and opportunities to learn about history, it was more than worth wearing kevlar and waving a gun around every now and then.

But aliens? That was something she was still having a little trouble believing, even with the artifacts in front of her. The expedition to Alaska hadn't been one of her assignments. Seeing where they came from might have made it all feel a little more "real." As it was, the rocks and their script were all she really got to see. Weird to think that the biggest discovery in human history felt so hard to accept. Ancient kings, lost cities, things like that? Sure. Just part of the job. But something from beyond Earth, from however many millions of miles away? It all felt a little crazy.

How long ago had these things landed? What were they sent here for, if it wasn't just a coincidence of astronomical proportion? Dozens of questions raced through her mind as she stared at the stones, her arms crossed. Maybe if she'd been brought up in a more scientifically-trusting environment, she wouldn't have quite as much trouble processing all this. "Space rocks," Rebecca thought. "Shame they didn't find whoever made the things too. Would save us some -"

Her musing ceased immediately as the multicolored glow lit up the stones. Her immediate reaction was to step back and put a hand atop the pistol at her waist. "These things supposed to glow like this?" She asked, getting her answer when every piece of electronics started to fry themselves. Widening her stance as the room shook, she immediately turned to Takuya, his wellbeing her top priority.

The server went beyond fried, and the smoke billowing out of it was plainly visible in the glow the stones emitted. Sprinting forward, Rebecca dove into Takuya and wrapped her arms around him, twisting around on the way down to put her back between him and the server. Landing on her side, her uniform's vest helped to block the rain of plastic shrapnel and half-melted electronics. "Professor! You all good?" she asked, pushing herself up just a little to get her weight off him. Her gaze returned to the still-shining crystals, eyes meeting the pink one.

"This better not turn into alien Chernobyl," Rebecca thought with a small grunt, slowly standing and helping Takuya to his feet.

[mickilennial]

Location: Angel Grove University, Angel Grove, CA

---

When Ashlee had gotten the call to securely and discreetly analyze data at Angel Grove University she had been a little suspicious. How often did Professors at third-rate colleges make consultants sign NDAs? Alien rocks. Overheating servers. A swelling, awful gut feeling. Yeah, it all checked out.

Essentially, what with Ashlee always being the smartest person in the room, it didn’t take the twenty-six year old much time to figure out something was up. Even before she opened her laptop and got the energy readings she did she knew. The script on the rock slabs on the table to her right would’ve made the ancient Babylonians confused. When the professor was surprised she thought they were from outer space she realized how little he knew about what he had found. She was about to expand on their little conversation when the readings went nova and she had to duck for cover.

A happening that very nearly critically injured the older man in front of her. Thankfully, the college professor hired a really good bodyguard, or security consultant, or whatever the proper lingo was for someone who wasn't good enough for police work. Either way, Ashlee was pretty happy that she wouldn't be filling out a police report after her very secretive boss exploded. As she rose from her desk the lights flickered before a backup generator relit the room.

“That’s a few thousand dollars out the window.” Ashlee remarked as she looked at the scene in front of her as she looked at her laptop. “Including my laptop.”

As she waved smoke away from the cracked screen of her laptop the professor returned to his feet with an exasperated look on his face. “Well, that was strange.”

“Not the first word I'd use. You okay?”

“Oh, uh, thanks to Briggs here, I am fine.” He said as he immediately moved over to the rocks. “But! What could have… did they…”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“That has never happened before. They reacted to something… but what in the world could they be reacting to?”
-
-

Location: City Streets, Angel Grove, CA

---

Fhoros didn’t like being ordered around by Iphongar. The two warriors had been at odds with one another for centuries, ever since the Battle of Gelex Prime.

Iphongar blamed him for the defeat when it had been Iphongar’s plan that Fhoros was following the entire time. So annoying. If it was a defeat the only one who seemed who was held accountable was him and only him. Especially now after several of their comrades had defected to an opposing faction. It was something he thought about often. Even as he was walki—

“Fhoros! Are you even listening to me?!”

“No! I mean yes! What? Ow!” The blue armor-bearing warrior rubbed the back of his helmet in pain as the taller, brass-armored tactician grabbed his left wrist and slammed a device in his hand.

“The energems are in two separate directions. I want you to go after the smaller energy signature while I go after the larger.”

Fhorus winced underneath his helmet as he looked at the radar. His comrade was right and of course he was giving him the paltrier amount to gather. Iphongar always wanted all of the glory and respect. It wasn’t fair. However, even though it wasn’t fair there was no way their Empress would be annoyed by either of them ever again once they delivered the five gems to her hands. It was a plan so easy that even the most meager and pitiful of the imperium could succeed.

“What about the Power Rangers?”

“There hasn’t been a power ranger since I destroyed the last one, you idiot. Zoltar is dead. Use your brain. There is no possible way a ranger will appear.” The taller warrior shook his head as he looked eastward, “Now go. And destroy any humans that get in your way.”

“Leave it to me.”

[Akayaofthemoon]

_{Location — Uncle’s Home}
^{______________________________________________________________________________________________________________}

She was beginning to believe that she had been tricked into returning to Angel Grove which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but Jordan hated feeling like she had egg on her face. The only reason for not voicing her complaints as of yet was out of love for her Uncle but that was about it. It was his only saving grace from her wrath because he had scared her, claiming to be unwell and pressing on her emotions to make her cave in, drop everything at the drop of a dime to return home. There were other ways to get her attention then being so dramatic but maybe that is where she got some of her own personality from since she had been known to do the same or worse. Either way, she still found herself alone while he went gallivanting and having a “boys day” or whatever it was he had said. All she knew was he was playing poker and having a good time while she was stuck home trying to find a job and a new place to live because like hell she would be living with her Uncle for the foreseeable future or continuing to be a mooch. She didn’t care what other people thought for her but she still had self respect and living with basically your parent at this age was just not on the top of her list of accomplishments or wants.

Either way, she decided to finally pause on a full day of searching and actually get some food in her since that had been pushed to the wayside for what she viewed as more important matters. Opening the fridge, she gave a frown as she leaned against the door and debated if she really wanted anything they had or better yet to even spend time cooking. ”Fuck it, I’m ordering delivery.”, Jordan muttered under her breath as she slammed the door shut before yanking her phone out of her pocket. She automatically pulled up the Panda Express website, a go to for her usual delivery needs since she didn’t want a shit ton of leftovers and quickly shot in her favorited items, paying for her delivery. She seriously hoped it would arrive soon because she was practically starving now with nothing to distract her. Honestly, she could have thanked anyone above that it was close by but who knows if she would get lucky enough for someone to be able to snag it right away.

Levi Forrester has accepted your order

”Huh, well butter my butt and call me a biscuit….someone actually responded right away. I might have to fucking kiss them for making my day.”, Jordan smiled, pleasantly shocked in her tone. She tossed her phone onto the table and decided to keep herself entertained with some chores busy work that needed to be completed around the house while waiting, cursing her Uncle’s name now and then as she did. Time passed and the order had mostly been forgotten and pushed in the back of her mind, the messages buzzing away and completely lost in the other room which was unfortunate seeing how the deliverer decided to snag her attention. Instead of a simple knock, they had decided to ring the doorbell which normally would have been fine, had Jordan been expecting it and also not half way in a dryer before flinching. ”SON OF A BITCH!!”, she loudly hissed in pure irritation since she had fully smacked her head on the top portion because she had been pulling out clothes during said flinch. It didn’t help that the fucker outside had decided that the doorbell was a freaking alarm to smash on repeat.

”ALRIGHT! HOLD YOUR HORSES!”, she called out, before continuing to herself, ”Seriously, it's not like the world is ending....”. Finally making it to the door, she yanked it open and was almost glad to see the back of her deliverer, no longer feeling the giddy excitement that she had at the beginning of her order and glad she could just get her food without the hassle of a conversation. She bent down to snag her food, not caring about the practically doorbell ditching he had done when she finally stood but paused before going back inside. ’Why the heck does this smell like orange chicken?”, she thought, feeling crushing disappointment rising up in her gut as she checked the box only to find that, yeah, this was completely the wrong order. Jordan was a little more than unpleased to say the least as she closed the box back up and glanced up to a rather handsome face that was trying to be sincere but currently she was thinking how much she just wanted to smack him upside the head. ”Got better places to be, Lee? Cause right now, I am standing here with a freaking headache from the insistent ringing, only to find my order completely wrong, and you seemed practically ready to run. I get that I’m hardly important but why even take the stop if you couldn’t manage it?”, Jordan asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm at first before just showing her pure annoyance and frustration at the mishap. Sure, she could have handled it better but she was hangry, no one would blame her for that! Hell, he was lucky she was keeping her cool so well since she was….fiery at best.

[mickilennial]

Location: Suburbs, Angel Grove, CA

---

“Getting closer...”

Another car swerved around Fhoros as he looked at the radar he had attached to his wrist since it was given to him by a very irritated Iphongar.

It was hard to focus as humans in their tiny ships began yelling at him for being in the way, for… cosplaying? Coswhatnow? What strange words humans had, but if they weren’t a hindrance to his progress he saw no reason to waste energy cells on them. The blue-armored alien was hardly as cruel as his comrade-in-arms, at the very least. It was probably one of his more discernable flaws, well, outside of not being very smart. But who needed brains when you had a big gun? That’s what he told himself often. Everyone always mocked him for it, but once he had the energems who would be laughing then? His sister might be so impressed she’d come back and they could conquer worlds together like they used to. Such silly hopes of his that he had when he should have been thinking about the mission at hand.

As he walked forward that was when a loud metal clank broke him of his thoughts. Huh?

Another human ship! But it was not moving. He looked down at the radar on his wrist, his right hand gripping the energy rifle as he looked at the readings. The readings that were telling him that the human vessel was what he was looking for! Wait. Were the humans using the energems as fuel? No, that didn't make sense. Humans were not smart enough to figure that out. They were basically apes who traded fur for really cheap looking armor. As he looked back up he investigated the vessel, not realizing there were two humans who were for sure about to notice him.

With his left hand he began looking through the vehicle's bed. Where was the energems that the radar detected? Wait. A metal box? He laughed joyfully, causing a lot of commotion as his hand moved close to the sealed package. A sealed package that immediately began glowing in a hue of green and blue. A hue that soon surrounded the vehicle.

“Ah!”

In seconds, a sudden explosion blasted Fhoros back and sent pieces of the truck flying forward toward the house and people in question...

[AlteredTundra]

_{Location — Working around town
What I'm wearing}
^{______________________________________________________________________________________________________________}

"I wasn't-I mean, it's not that--"

First off, take a deep breath, Levi. You made an honest mistake, right? The restaurant was packed and everyone was in a rush. Grabbing the wrong bag by mistake in that kind of rush was an understandable excuse. Sure, it kind of tanked on the solid reputation that Levi was trying to build for himself as a DoorDash driver. And sure, maybe he was one or two more mistakes from being fired, but that didn't mean she had to be so cruel about it. Like, his name wasn't Lee. He understood that some people, when agitated, liked to bring out the nicknames.

Okay, Lee actually wasn't a bad name. To be honest, the more he thought about it, it was actually pretty killer. At least she didn't call him Vi. Kinda feminine and not exactly doing much for the kind of vibe he emits.

Levi turned around, as he was still turned around. She hit the nail on the head: he was ready to tuck his tail and run. At the very least, the driving start would prolong the agony of the bad review she was likely to leave for him. But as he did so, that dread from the anticipation only heightened when he was looking into her eyes. As pretty as she was, God was the expression on her face enough to give him nightmares. And on top of that, didn't she say she had a headache?

So, hungry, in chronic pain, and caught him about to flee? Oh yeah, this is just great! Real Chef's-Kiss-Emoji quality.

He cleared his throat and stepped forward a few feet. It might've been against his better judgment, but he's never been one to skimp on flying close to danger, especially when he knew he had to apologize. "I'm, uh, sorry. PE was packed and, well, I was seventy percent sure I grabbed the right one. But, I guess I... didn't." He laughed nervously and knew that might make his situation worse.

His mind immediately went to the retrospect of this whole situation. He knew he shouldn't have rushed, didn't matter how late he was already for his other delivery. "Oh crap!" The realization set in. His other delivery. He had to get back to his truck. "I am really sorry, but I have to--"

Cut off by the sound of what sounded something metal, Levi turned around and...he didn't know what he saw. "Is..Angel Grove's Science Convention here already?" Levi questioned, looking at his failed customer for some kind of confirmation. He didn't know if she knew. And even if she did, he doubted she'd want to tell him. She probably was still pretty peeved at him. Not that I blame her.

The weird alien cosplayer's footsteps seemed to get louder as he saw it approach his truck. "Hey! Whatcha doing here? I think the convention hall is the other way, bro--" Levi seemed to be completely ignored as he watched the guy not only go near Levi's prized truck, but he began inspecting the bed of it. "Seriously! Get away from my truck, man!"

Growing a little impatient, Levi took a step forward. There was a feeling growing in his stomach, something that was telling him it was a bad idea. He couldn't explain it but he also didn't like it when people touched his truck, never mind that's where he kept the important, top-secret package that he had to deliver.

And then he saw him lift the package up. And Levi grated his teeth together from sheer annoyance. But that's when Levi saw something rather odd. Lights were surrounding it: blue and green, like some kind of weird aura he'd seen from that ancient Anime, Naruto, he used to watch as a kid. What was obviously different was that it didn't just surround the box, but Levi watched it as it surrounded his truck too.

Yeah, that bad feeling had only intensified over ten times.

And before he even realized it, parts of his truck had exploded into the air and were heading straight for him and the chick behind him. Levi didn't think; he just acted. He ran back and tackled Jordan to the ground to shield her from the flaming part of what he assumed was his door and it flew straight through the front door of her house. Looking down at the chick who he practically saved, Levi couldn't help but feel a sudden emptiness overtake him. He was glad that she was okay, but his truck. "That was my favorite truck! What else am I supposed to drive and make a living with? My hoverboard!?" He said, glaring at the cosplayer who owed him a new truck.

[mickilennial]

Location: Suburbs, Angel Grove, CA

---

A grumble left Fhoros as he shambled to his feet, dusting himself off before grabbing his blaster rifle from the ground.

Was that supposed to happen? Iphongar said it would be easy! Follow the readings and retrieve the energems! But the energems had reacted and caused the strange vehicle to explode and send him flying back. One of the humans was yelling at him. Had he somehow tampered with the gems to make him fail? That had to be it. Though why would he sabotage his own vessel? Fhoros dismissed the logical conclusion in his head as pieces of the metal case littered the pathway to the human building. The human started him down complaining about the incident and Fhoros got even more upset.

What was it that Iphongar said about humans that get in his way again? Right. Destroy them.

“Shut up, human! This is YOUR fault!” He screamed as he took aim with his rifle and pulled the trigger.

A loud ‘throom’ ejected from the rifle as beams of light collided with the building to the human’s left, blasting through the wall to what would be the human’s living room. Fhoros cursed and groaned as the humans reacted to his attack. How did he miss such a large target? His hands moved to a dial on the side of the rifle to adjust the setting before firing another blast and hitting the roof this time. After two direct misses Fhoros grumbled and moved closer.

It was here he noticed two crystals, glowing blue and green were close to the humans feet, glowing so brightly that they could not be missed even amongst the debris. He wouldn’t explode twice! He aimed for the human male one more time.

“Hand over the energems and I’ll let you live!”

[Akayaofthemoon]

_{Location — Suburbs, Angel Gove, CA}
^{______________________________________________________________________________________________________________}

Jordan raised a brow at him in question, practically using all of her willpower not to roll her eyes as he started in with trying to deny her claim. If he had come out confident, she might have debated on if her assumption was wrong but it was clear from his stumbling that she had nailed it on the head. Seriously, who does that? It seems she must have given quite the expression of her displeasure because he instantly changed his tune or at least the direction of his words to form a half apology half excuse for the misfortune that had befallen her. If that wasn’t enough to grate on her nerves, the nervous laugh didn’t do much in the way of favors. Unfortunately, before she could even respond he seemed to be struck with some kind realization but not one in her favor as it seemed to mean his immediate retreat. ”You seriously are not trying to give me a half assed apology...before..running….”, Jordan started in on interrupting him and working to pick a fight but stopped to stare at, well, she wasn’t sure exactly what kind of getup that even was...cosplay or some kind of... what was it nerds liked, LARPing or some shit. Either way, that was way more distracting and weird than the conversation they were currently just having.

At Levi’s question she actually shrugged her shoulders while still in shock, having no clue about any kind of convention but if it was true then a mental note needed to be made about never visiting the center during this time. A freaking bunch of weirdos if you asked her, which was being proven even more by the fact they were messing with someone else’s property. Now, she wasn’t too happy with the delivery, sure, but no one deserved to be ransacked or stolen from right in front of their face. Jordan went to dig her phone out of her pocket to call the police but realized that her phone was missing and decided, fuck it... better to just take it into their own hands. ”Hey Asshole! You hard of hearing or just dumb as bricks! Get the hell out of here!”, she called out to the weird alien knight thing. It seems they were both being ignored though as a metal box was lifted into view from the back of the truck bed. The box was something out of a strange sci-fi or fantasy though as it brightly glowed blue and green even in the day time. Jordan instantly had a feeling that she had been tangled up in something she shouldn’t have, a strange pull to get closer to the box but also a sense of danger that told her to get away which had her hair standing on end.

She didn’t even have time to react on either of those signals as she felt herself being tackled to the ground, wind being knocked out of her as something or more like someone curled protectively around her form. She stared up at him, simply laying there in shock as she tried to process what just happened as he seemed to be doing the same. By some miracle, they both had seemed to come out unharmed and any feelings she had anger wise towards the man on top of her was easily tossed out the window since she probably wouldn’t be here right now without him. Sadly, that line of thought also left room for other thoughts like say the damage that explosion had caused. Now, while there was a special bond between a man and his truck...she gave pretty much zero fucks about that….nope her mind was on, ‘How the hell am I explain this because even I wouldn’t believe this shit?! Hey, funny story….I ordered Chinese and while fighting about the wrong order of said delivery, a cosplaying alien knight decided to rob the delivery truck but it had a packaged bomb or something completely suspicious in the back which caused the truck to explode and thus obliterated your door. Yup, that doesn’t sound crazy at all!’. Jordan slowly raised up on her elbows, glaring in unison with Levi at the one who had caused this whole mess before carefully standing up.

She was about to stomp forward to get in this person's face and give them a piece of her mind or at the very least a good ass whooping but stopped when the rifle came into play. She was pissed but not stupid enough to fight someone who had a freaking weapon. Jordan cringed as the rifle was aimed in their direction and she found herself grabbing Levi’s arm, planning to pull him into cover but the loud throom before the beam of light had her actions stalled. There was no hiding from that as it just took out the wall to the living room with one freaking shot! Whatever was across the street from them, that wasn’t human or at least the weapon sure as hell wasn’t. They didn’t have time to run before the next shot was lined up so she yanked Levi to bend down with her, trying to make a smaller target and to roll forward quicker if they needed to dodge something. The roof took the blast this time, some debris falling but luckily nothing near them for the time being. At least this thing seemed to have sucky aim but one wrong move and they would be screwed. Why was it even still here? What the hell did it want? “Hand over the energems and I’ll let you live!”

”Germawhatnow? What the fuck is that?”, Jordan said in confusion, not even bothering to yell but looking around on what it could even mean when the blue and green glow caught her attention. Wasn’t that what the box was glowing with? Is that the thing it was talking about? She reached out her hand picking up the blue crystal, not caring if it was radioactive or whatever the hell at this point if it meant leverage of any kind. She stood up, one hand on her hip and the other one confidently holding the crystal as she asked tauntingly,”What!? This little thing?!”

[Taka]

Bits of debris littered the room from the violent shaking and explosion, covering the prone Scott a little. Even tho the shaking had stopped in the area, the young archaeologist's head was pounding from the commotion. While he had been in over head with research, the recent event didn't help keep the migraine. He took a deep breath before pushing himself to his feet, his eyes scanning the area to make sure the security guard and his mentor. Fortunately they were okay and he was glad the guard that had been here. A slight blow to his ego that he couldn't protect the man that taught him so much, but he understood it was a good thing that he was alive right now. Scott listened in to his mentor wonder why the stones had reacted and to what. It was kind of obvious to him and he decided to blurt out the one thing that seemed plausible.

"Aliens. I mean these are alien rocks and we are deciphering an alien language. I'm just saying."

Scott shrugged his shoulders, but he was serious about this take. To the others he probably sounded absolutely crazy, yet even they had to see the correlation.

[AlteredTundra]

_{Location — Working around town
What I'm wearing}
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Levi found himself frozen in more ways than one. Paralyzed from the rush of adrenaline he knew he was experiencing because his heart was beating at a rapid pace and all because of that almost fatal blow he could have taken from whatever shot out of that monster's rifle. If he hadn't tackled the girl down when he did, they'd both meet a similar fate her door met. But another reason why he felt frozen was when another shot came and she pulled him down to where they were in a very similar position and the beam of whatever-it-was shot through the wall and the roof. The sight of the debris brought Levi back to planet Earth.

“Hand over the energems and I’ll let you live!”

Huh? Levi blankly glared at the freak of nature who made such a demand with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about?"

After the confusion set in and remained on his defined face for a few more moments, Levi found himself on his feet, turning around. When the girl went for one of those things on the ground, he saw her pick up the blue one. He couldn't explain why, but he felt a...pull towards that green one. Like something beyond his comprehension was at play. Levi wasn't a believer in things like that. He found it to be too complicated, but he knew that his gut feeling was always right and it told him two things. One, something terrible was going to happen today, which based on the past five minutes, it did. And two, if these glowing rocks were those Energems (he was venturing a guess), then there was no way the worst cosplayer ever should get their hands on these.

As he picked it up and held it in his hand, it felt rough, but at the same time, it felt as smooth as granite. As he examined it, he heard his former customer taunt the monster and he cracked a smile as he closed the hand with the crystal thing in it, looking at his former customer next to him, leaning close. "You sure you should be taunting him like that? If he hits us with his rifle, well..." Levi glanced behind him at parts of her house that were in rubble, "well if it did that to your house, what do you think it'll do to us? It's not like we have anything to defend ourselves with..."