Tommy smirked as Finn began singing his cupcake song, and he and Shelby even joined in for the last few lines. They both then chuckled at how easily Helia commanded around Bulk and Skull. It was hilarious and a completely welcome sight.
“How much you wanna bet they’re both actually bottoms?” Tommy whispered in Helia’s ear with a giggle as he walked by her.
During the tour, the teens chuckled at Oz’s challenge, some of them even taking him up on his offer. One person who did
not get on board was Karone.
“Ew, you guys are disgusting,” she grimaced at the greasy food. She then turned to the cashier.
“Do you have anything that isn’t gutter trash? Any vegan options? Nevermind, forget it. I wouldn’t trust it anyway.” “Funny how different she is when her fans aren’t watching,” Shelby groaned as she frowned at the blonde girl.
After eating and finishing the tour, the teens made their way back to the tents, where they spent a few hours selling their goods, such as Finn’s baked treats. Tommy grinned as he saw Sa’Cha and Finn interact periodically throughout the day, and at one point he leaned in and whispered to Sa’Cha with a chortle,
“Just ask him out already, ya damn pussy.” Meanwhile, Shelby was trying to stay in proximity to Helia. She was hoping to use this outing to get to know her better, as they both had significant history with Tommy and Finn but not as much with each other. Not to mention they were the only two girls in their social circle, and,
of course, “that bitch” Karone didn’t count to either of them.
“Is it just me or does Mr. Oliver seem positively swoon-worthy?” she asked the red-haired girl with a whispered giggle as they watched him lift up a stack of empty crates to take back to the truck.
“I dare you to run up and slap his ass.” She was kidding, of course, but it gave them something to laugh about together.
After they finished selling their goods and cleaned up their stalls, Miss Morgan began breaking them up into smaller groups for various tasks. Many of the teens were happy when Bulk and Skull ended up on a separate team from them, but Shelby was noticeably disappointed when they learned it would be Miss Morgan, and not Mr. Oliver, leading their group. She then groaned when Karone joined them.
Soon Miss Morgan, Tommy, Shelby, Karone, Finn, Helia, Sa’Cha, Bruce, and Oz loaded up cases of water, folded chairs, tables, and other supplies into the back of several long orange vans with the Museum logo on the sides. The group then hopped in themselves and were driven by facility staff up a winding road into the forest. They stopped outside the mouth of the Sampson Caves, and soon were hauling the supplies inside, setting up the tables and chairs and such.
“At the end of the tour later today, there will be a presentation here in the caves,” Miss Morgan explained when asked why they were moving all the stuff there.
“Once we’re done, we will…” Her words trailed off as they suddenly heard a ferocious rumbling in the distance that seemed to move towards them rapidly. A moment later, the ground below them began to quake, and Shelby stumbled and fell backwards. Tommy tried to help her up but he fell too as the shaking grew worse.
“What’s going on!” Shelby cried out.
“This isn’t good! We need to get out, now!” “Oh my god, it’s an earthquake! I’m too young and beautiful to die here! AAAAEEEEIIIIIYYY!!” “Everyone, calm down!” Miss Morgan barked.
“Don’t panic! Don’t-” Before she could finish her sentence, the ground beneath them caved in, and they felt themselves tumble into the darkness below. After a few seconds of falling, they crashed into an underground river that was rushing past, and were whisked off deeper underground along the raging current. By that point everything was pitch black, but they could still hear the rumbling of the quake in the distance, partially drowned out by their own panicked screams.
At some point, the flow pushed them completely underwater as they shot through a submerged tunnel. Shelby thought for sure she was going to drown until they were spit out into an enormous underground lake. They all frantically swam to the surface and floated there for a moment, catching their breath. They found themselves inside a spacious grotto, where a slanting rock wall led out of the water and to a hole up above, where sunlight was bleeding in. They also noticed several other ledges sitting around the inside of the cavern.
“Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?” Miss Morgan checked with everyone as they floated there.
“Let’s get out of the water. We’ll see if there’s a way up through that hole in the ceiling.” They began to swim towards the light, but after another lingering shockwave from the cave caused a few loose rocks to fall onto one of the ledges, Tommy stopped and stared.
“Did you guys see that?” “See what?” Shelby asked.
“That rock… it looked like it hit something invisible. There was a tiny flash of light and then it was gone again...” “You’re just shaken,” Miss Morgan insisted.
“We all are. Now let’s keep moving.” But Tommy wasn’t convinced. He kept staring, and then saw the invisible thing fizzle again before a cloaking field of some sort vanished, revealing what appeared to be a futuristic vessel.
“I knew there was something there!” he cried out before swimming towards it rapidly.
“Is that a spaceship!?” Shelby cried out excitedly as she followed close behind.
“Guys! GUYS! You don’t know what that is! We need to get out of here! Guys!” Miss Morgan barked, then sighed loudly as all the teens began following Tommy towards this new discovery. Reluctantly, she swam after them as well.
The group pulled themselves out of the water and began climbing up the cliff face towards the ledge, then approached the ship slowly. As if beckoning them inside, a ramp dropped down and a door slid open.
(jump to the 19:00 minute mark in the video below for the scene the ship was inspired from)
“Do NOT go inside there!” Miss Morgan commanded as she rushed up behind them, slightly out of breath.
“We have no idea what we are dealing with here!” The teacher then grunted angrily as the teens all ignored her and walked through the doorway regardless. They all felt as if they were being pulled by something, like destiny or fate pushing them towards a strange energy of some kind. They pulled out their phones - which were luckily waterproof - and flipped on the embedded flashlights as they explored the silvery corridors of the vessel.
Soon they found their way to what must be the bridge of the ship, and lined up along the edge of the front window were a series of metallic belt buckle-sized objects in the shape of dragon heads, but the eyes of each were a different color - red, blue, green, pink, black, copper, silver, gold, among others - it seemed every color imaginable was represented.
These strange objects were drawing the teens forward, and despite Miss Morgan’s repeated protests, they approached the ledge where they were mounted. Suddenly, the eyes of eight dragon heads began to glow brightly, and these levitated into the air, surrounded by an aura matching the color of the eyes. The metallic objects began vibrating as they flew in a spiral pattern around each teen, summoning forth multicolored tornadoes around each of them, seemingly out of nowhere. Lightning and thunder flashed and cracked within, and they all felt a glowing warmth wash over their bodies.
(The image above gives an idea, but the videos below paint a pretty good picture too. I envision it as a fusion between the Ninja Steel and Beast Morphers metamorphosis wherein the mist is the nanoparticles from the suit linking up together over their bodies)
“Uh, guys?” Shelby called out warily from inside her twister.
“What’s going on?!” “I have no idea!” Tommy called out in reply.
“Whoa, my hair and clothes are drying, like… magic!” Indeed, the teens had been completely soaked just moments before, but were now drying as the dragon buckles exhaled the multicolored dust that now whipped around each of them. This dust then began solidifying from the feet up, covering their bodies in some sort of perfectly-fitting exosuit. Once it got to their neck, the dragon buckle expanded and folded itself over their heads, forming a helmet.
“What the… hell!” Karone cried out as the metamorphosis completed.
“This is… like an Iron Man suit or something!” Shelby exclaimed as she looked down at her hands and the others. Sure enough, a Heads-Up Display appeared on the inside of their visors, showing statistics on their suit, powers, weapons, other lifeforms nearby, environmental conditions, etc. At first it displayed in some kind of unfamiliar language, but then began to shift into something more legible.
“You guys… The script and descriptions are changing into English! I think… I think these suits must have built-in translators or something!” “Do you guys feel… Powerful? Energized?” Tommy asked as he looked around. They all nodded.
“It’s like… this incredible energy, new and invigorating, yet familiar, as if it’s been within my grasp all along… It’s a strange sensation...” “These suits… They must have bonded with our minds to translate the interface to something we can understand, and to allow us to absorb some innate knowledge of how this new power works… Yet it feels incomplete, as if it will require considerable practice to fully utilize these new abilities...” “Okay, clearly we’re all hallucinating,” Miss Morgan said after a long moment, throwing her hands up.
“Maybe the quake dislodged some kind of toxins or spores. This cannot be happening. This is not happening. This is -” She was cut off as they all noticed a fizzle of light towards the front of the bridge, and suddenly, a humanoid male appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He was wearing a suit similar to theirs, but it was multicolored, as if a fusion of them all. He then turned his head and looked over everyone, speaking in a strange, echoing alien tongue. A moment later, he realized they could not understand him, and then stood motionless, as if in deep thought.
“My apologies,” he replied in perfect English, speaking in an American accent.
“The ship’s Communications Matrix absorbed your language when you bonded with the Nanosuits, but it took a few moments for my neural pathways to access and implement it.” He looked around at them again, and then lifted his hands, which caused the suits to dematerialize and compress back into the buckles, floating in front of each teen. Once he saw their faces and attire, his own form shifted in a flash of light, changing him into a human male with a kind, compassionate smile.
“Please take your Morphers and keep them close to you at all times. I’m sure you have a lot of questions about what’s going on here. I will answer all-” “What the hell are you?” Miss Morgan demanded, interrupting him as she stomped over angrily.
“Who the hell are you? What have you done to my kids?” “I understand your confusion, allow me to explain,” he replied calmly.
“My name is Zordon, and I am a holographic virtual intelligence system from a distant planet called Eltar. My crew and I crash-landed on your world centuries ago, and have been trapped here ever since. This ship is operational, but the Quantum Drive is permanently damaged, and thus we were unable to return home.” “Where is your crew now?” asked Tommy as he placed the dragon buckle in his pocket.
“And what are these Nanosuit things we bonded with?” “My crew is dead, unfortunately,” he revealed.
“We were betrayed by one of our own, Bandora. My team gave up their lives to destroy her. They used to wield the Nanosuits you now bear, which are unique and transformative armor sets, each powered by a Zeo Microcrystal, within which exists a pocket dimension. This private inner world is used to store excess Nanomatter, weapons, gear, and robotic assault exosuits called Zord Battle Mechs, and also provides a remote connection to the Zeo Mother Crystal, from which the Morphing Power is drawn... I apologize if the names for these things seems a bit off, I'm translating as best I can given that I only learned English a few minutes ago. Though, I must confess, I am a bit surprised to see the Nanosuits have found new hosts while I was slumbering. Tell me - how did you find this ship?” As the teens began explaining everything that had happened, Miss Morgan stood there with her arms crossed, still suspicious. Meanwhile, Karone sat down in one of the chairs on the bridge, suddenly feeling lightheaded. When Zordon had mentioned the name
Bandora, she had felt a momentary sensation of…
seething hate…
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