Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
—Hebrews 13:2
Distractions and concerns fled his mind in a rush as his fingers glided forth and back across the keyboard, the sounds born of his sheets and matured of his mind released from the piano to complete the magical cycle of music. The song was faintly recognizable but given a uniqueness and novelty by the piano player's imagination. He had little time to reflect or worry or allow his mind to wander; his purpose was to concentrate on becoming the instrument.
As he finished the gentle piece, Craig eased his hands away from the keys and drywashed them out of habit. Nearby, Alex completed a series of his martial arts exercises so he could applaud his friend on an excellent performance.
Grandfather Revell owned Sharpened Senses, a place for martial artists to gather and train, exchange stories, or just relax and read in certain areas. It was kept open by generous donations, much from one particular wealthy Ivory Glade resident whose son and daughter spent much time there. On the second story were Grandfather's simple living quarters. Sometimes after school Alex would bring Craig upstairs to play the incredibly smooth-sounding and well-kept ancient piano.
"Every time I play it, I say this. This is so amazing!" Craig scanned the piano one last time before standing up and searching for the cover.
Alex smiled as he helped Craig throw the cover over it carefully and replied, "It's good that at least one person I know has the talent to play well. Grandfather used to be able to play—with his eyes closed!—but he hasn't for some time now." With their sessions completed the two teenagers returned back downstairs to Sharpened Senses as they exchanged the latest gossip from the high school. As they descended they noted a new face in the studio. And a pretty new face at that.
Standing almost as tall as Craig, and obviously the same age, the young woman was calmly still, breathing evenly in preparation for her exercises. Braided brown hair, and its reddish tinge, hung just short of halfway down her back, tied back with a black headband that matched the black belt around her waist. Suddenly her blue eyes turned to lock with the pairs of the two boys and she began to ease her preparation stance.
"She looks familiar," Alex mused, "but I've never seen her here before."
"Neither have I," added Craig. "Let's go meet her."
The mysterious young lady smiled faintly as they approached and again set off something familiar in their minds. Alex returned her grin instantaneously. Craig kept his composure by drawing on the power source in the OmniTech Band around his arm and activating a barrier around himself separating emotion from logic. Next he performed a complete Analysis of the woman, searching for any traces of the pseudoine compound or anything else that would tie her to Twilight Legion. Finding nothing he let go of the Omni powers.
"Hi, I'm Alex," his friend was introducing himself to her. "This is Craig. My grandfather operates this place, so we're here a lot, and we've never seen you here before." Quiet, contemplative Alexander Revell had never spoken more in front of a stranger before. The thought almost made Craig laugh out loud.
The girl bowed with respect in a martial artistic fashion. "Nice to meet you." She grabbed a nearby towel and threw it around her shoulders, while saying, "My name is Amber. We just moved to Ivory Glade last week."
It should have surprised Craig, but he was accustomed to new arrivals after everything that was happening. About four months ago Michael Tracer, followed by the people inside Alpha Complex, followed by the Twilight Legion and their leader Arcanza. The list continued. But regardless of its size, its contents remained the same: newcomers meant trouble.
"Nice to meet you," said Craig solemnly.
Alex was more enthusiastic than ever. "Yeah. And if you ever need someone to show you around town, my friends and I would be happy to do it."
"I'd like that," Amber answered with a little laugh. She started walking away, sparing a final glance toward the boys before disappearing into the women's dressing room.
Craig watched his friend carefully, concerned about the offer Alex had just proposed. Since the encounters with the Legion four months ago, and the subsequent period of peace and quiet, he had become critical of any unusual events. He knew nothing good would come of becoming this new girl's tour guides.
The other teen asked of his companion, "She seems real nice."
"You'd better be careful," Craig replied bluntly, gaze still locked on the door Amber had entered. "I can't positively identify what I sense. Just a feeling of...caution." And yet there was another part of his mind that felt something completely different. "I don't trust her at all."
"I don't trust her at all," growled Craig again later that evening.
He and Michael were walking six or seven steps behind a grouping of Amber, Alex, Rebecca, and Brittany as the three lifelong residents pointed out sights and possibilities to their new friend. They were passing the Summit Lounge, a popular restaurant and youth hangout, and sharing memorable stories of things that had taken place there.
Michael seemed understanding to Craig's distrust. "Time will tell if she is too good to be true," he affirmed. "Until then, all you are really basing your opinion on is a feeling you're not even sure of. I think we should give Amber a chance until we know if she is friend or foe."
"One mistake is all I'm allowing her." Craig reached for the small globe hanging from a string around his neck and slipped it off over his head. He tightly grasped the worry globe and released his tension into its otherworldly secrets of calming.
Suddenly a familiar voice, that of Alpha System, spoke directly into Craig's mind. "INCOMING TRANSMISSION FROM SOLERON."
"Listen closely," instructed the commanding voice of the ex-Omni Ranger leader, as cold and unchanged as ever. "Twilight Legion is still quiet, but an outside evil source has launched an assault on Earth. An alien called Univerouge threatens the safety of the planet. You must stop this dangerous creature before it consumes the world. Its current position is being sent to your Ability Bands right now."
During the announcement Craig had come to a complete stop. Michael had remained with him, Brittany had halted where she was, and the remaining group continued on without noticing. "Soleron says Earth is under attack," he explained quickly. To Brittany he directed, "Michael and I will check this out. You stay with the others, tell them we had business to take care of, and we'll call if we need backup."
Brittany nodded her agreement and hurried to catch up to the others. Michael and Craig retreated into the nearest alley and lifted their Omni Morpher-equipped forearms, exclaiming, "It's morphin' time!"
"Omni Hydra!" Michael Tracer summoned forth the powers of the Blue Ranger, then teleported to the coordinates Soleron and company had transmitted to the Morpher.
"Omni Titan!" Instantly Craig Hopwood was transformed into the Red Ranger and followed his ally's example of teleportation.
Under the cover of darkness, the Shadow proceeded without the slightest sound or unnecessary movement until it reached its destination. Reaching up into the solid stone, it discovered the hidden switch and activated it, opening an entrance further down the catacombs. Slowly the Shadow moved toward the fissure.
A second being appeared silhouetted against the light of the entryway. Its solemn voice demanded, "Remain still!" as it lifted a hand to accompany its words.
The Shadow eloquently flowed as it drew a small blaster and fired. One clear shot resulted in the guardian collapsing lifeless to the cold ground. Stepping over the casualty, the Shadow moved out of the underground caverns and into the light of his new home.
"Feels like a storm approaching," mused Michael. As the Blue Ranger, he had called on his signature weapon Storm Lance and initialized a bond with the element of water. Craig had determined the nature of these bonds recently: blue and water, green and nature, pink and electricity, yellow and light. His own elemental bond remained a mystery, though, and Soleron refused to acknowledge the question when asked. Certainly it was his right to know after he accepted the powers, but the ex-Ranger had been difficult since the new Ranger voiced his intentions to destroy OmniTech.
Craig himself now wore the Battle Shield on his chest, a protective golden breastplate engraved with the diamonds symbol. He felt it to reassure himself of its presence; it seemed to weigh so little for all of its incredible protective abilities. "Looks that way, too," he responded to his companion as he examined the darkening sky. "Don't let it distract you from our purpose."
He thought he heard Michael sigh. But almost a split second after a angry growling pierced the moist air, followed by the appearance of the alien creature on the horizon. It stood upright on two legs, but was twice as tall as any normal human. Two burning red eyes were accompanied by a third, completing a triangle of vision, and a thin coating of brown armor-strength skin protected it.
"Univerouge," growled Craig. The alien's angry roar turned to laughter.
Blue Ranger lunged toward the monster. "OmniTech Storm Lance," he cried as the weapon began to radiate with bright blue energy, "Charge!" He thrust the spear at Univerouge and, upon contact with the towering monster, exploded in a brilliant display of fireworks. Michael had flipped backward to land several feet away. The last of the small explosion died out, the Storm Lance began to reappear in his hand, but the alien threat remained standing and observant of the two Rangers.
"OmniTech Analysis!" Craig summoned. Instantly he began to see the familiar images that would reveal his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, any abnormalities or noteworthy information. But this time, however, it was all...blank. No information at all, not even worthless data. "I can't do an Analysis on him!" he called to Michael.
Michael acknowledged the bad news but lost no time trading his Storm Lance for his OmniTech Blaster. He bombarded Univerouge with several high-level energy blasts, yet none seemed to phase the monster at all. "We have to team up!" he yelled over to Craig.
Summoning his own Blaster, Craig and his blue ally fired from each side, showering their opponent with energy, but still failing their goal. Alpha System began speaking in Craig's mind. "Will you accept an open communication line with Alpha Complex?"
"I accept," he answered.
The contact was not who he expected. "Pyrial here. Tell Michael that one component of his OmniTech power is called Hail Cannon. It is more powerful than a regular blaster. I'm not guaranteeing it will stop Univerouge, but..."
"Thanks, Pyrial," Craig replied. Turned to the Blue Ranger he relayed the message. "One of your powers is called Hail Cannon!"
Michael waved, then summoned his new arsenal. "OmniTech Hail Cannon!" A large two-handed holdable cannon materialized in his hands, a silvery blue weapon dangerous just to look at. Aiming it at Univerouge, he discharged a blinding bolt of frozen energy.
"Craig and Michael sure are taking a long time," said Amber. "Are you sure they said they'd be back before five?"
Brittany shrugged. "Maybe they meant six. I don't know."
Something was definitely going on among this circle of friends. Brittany, Rebecca, and Alex all looked more nervous now than they had been ever since the other two left. They had stopped at Sharpened Senses to wait for them, but half an hour had passed and still no sign. Amber was getting tired of waiting around. Taking a deep relaxing breath, she decided instead of complaining to search her purse for a piece of gum.
"Maybe we should go look for them," growled Alex. His original friendliness and eagerness to show Amber around town had died soon after Craig had slipped away.
Standing up, Brittany answered, "They said they would call. We should wait until then."
From around the corner a young man of Amber's age appeared. He was a little shorter than her, with disheveled light brown hair, sunglasses despite lack of sun, and toothpick clenched loosely between his teeth. He was dressed in a plaid dress shirt and dockers and, obviously, knew Amber's escorts.
"Hey Becky," he greeted Rebecca with a smile. "Brittany, Alex." His gaze fell upon Amber, at least she thought it did as he asked, "When did Craig have a sex change?"
Rebecca laughed. Brittany covered her mouth with her hands. Alex's jaw dropped.
"Pardon?" Amber managed to say.
"I'm sorry," the young stranger apologized, bowing gentlemanly in a smooth fashion. "Pleasure to meet you. I am Cecil Mercuric, at your disposal. You just surprised me for an instant because you look so much like my friend."
Amber lost the struggle to hide her smile and extended her hand as Cecil kissed it. "Amber Donaldson," she introduced.
Cecil dropped her hand suddenly. Reaching up his pulled off the sunglasses and stared at her with shock-stained dark eyes. "Donaldson," he whispered. Composing himself quickly, he asked seriously, "No relation to Abner Donaldson, I assume?"
"None that I know of," she answered quietly. "Why?"
The story that followed, the Ivory Glade legend, soon made the answer to her question clearer than she hoped.
The Shadow halted in the empty chamber. Nothing was here except four solid walls, if not marble then material very similar to marble, and the single door to come in and go out. Earlier the Shadow was told this was the place to wait for its master.
Master was such a foreign concept to the Shadow. Up until now it had been its own master and done very well on its own.
"So you have arrived at last," a voice announced. The Shadow turned to behold its soon-to-be master. Human, and a good-looking human at that, with eyes so clear they appeared as two crystals. Black hair hanging straight and loose, tied back with a smoky gray-black cord. He wore a olive colored shirt tucked neatly into black pants and fingered the amulet hanging around his neck. This could only be Arcanza.
The Shadow bowed. "I made my way here with all of the haste I could muster," it assured the displeased-looking man.
Suddenly Arcanza's hand lifted, palm upward, and incredible pain began to shoot through the Shadow's entire body. "My servants," he spoke casually, coolly, "address me as Lord Arcanza. As of now, you are my servant, correct?"
"Correct, Lord Arcanza," the Shadow gasped. He had never been so humiliated, even this much alone, before. "I serve you completely."
Arcanza nodded as though the affirmation suited him. "I have heard interesting tales about you, Sir Vesper. A galactically-recognized general who could lead an army of three with knives to victory against a thousand with swords. Impressive records, whether truth or legend. But I'm not asking you to defeat a thousand." He smiled, lightning flashing somewhere inside that crystal gaze. "I ask of you to eliminate three."
Sir Vesper, the Shadow of War, fell to one knee. "Three as good as dead at this moment, Lord Arcanza. Give me but their images and they will see their planet's sun no more."
Rubbing his jowl, Arcanza seemed to be thinking something over. Finally he waved a hand in front of him and instantly three life-size and lifelike representations appeared. The first was young and athletic, the second older and more similar to Arcanza in features, the third was the oldest with an aura of intelligence. "Craig Hopwood, an Earth youth and current Red Omni Ranger. Soleron, ex-Omni Ranger and confidant of my slain nemesis Oriquin. Professor Abner Donaldson, another Earth man who knows too many of my secrets. These three I want disposed. No exceptions."
"Disposed," Vesper repeated. "No exceptions."
"I think this alliance will work out just fine," laughed Arcanza. Without warning he simply disappeared, leaving Sir Vesper alone in the room with nothing but a mission.
"OmniTech Pulse Wave!" The idea, like most of the knowledge he possessed of the alien technology powers, came to Craig almost naturally. As he charged in to launch another series of kick, swipes, and other attacks against Univerouge, the Ranger armor began to emit a steady shockwave of force that increased the magnitude of each blow.
Michael aided from the opposite side, invoking his "OmniTech Arctic Wave!"
And just as he had after countless other attempt to defeat him, Univerouge still stood, watching them with his flaming eyes.
Suddenly a voice from behind him called out, "OmniTech Blasters! Fire!" He turned to see the Yellow, Pink, and Green Rangers racing up to meet him, each unleashing their blaster energy toward the invincible unmovable alien.
"It's no use," Craig informed his friends through the communication link. "Michael and I have used all of our firepower except the OmniZords. Nothing can phase it." Then, colder and more authoritatively, he added, "I thought you were waiting for us to call."
Becky answered. "Cecil showed up and agreed to keep Amber entertained so we could come help you."
Nearby, the Yellow Ranger Brittany summoned, "OmniTech Dazzle Wave!" Nothing. She made her way toward Craig and asked, "What did the analysis reveal? Does he have a weakness or a weak spot?"
"Analysis showed nothing," he answered. "Maybe now that we're together we can try combining some of our abilities." He raised his voice so Michael and Alex, engaged in the futile assailing of the creature, could hear. "Everyone activate their Wave Power!"
The Rangers reformed themselves until they stood in a single line, Alex in front and Craig in back, and each unleashed their OmniTech abilities.
"OmniTech Tremor Wave!"
"OmniTech Magnet Wave!"
"OmniTech Arctic Wave!"
"OmniTech Dazzle Wave!"
"OmniTech Pulse Wave!"
Instantly a bright white aura surrounded the five Rangers and slowly began to expand outward one ring of light at a time. Then, without warning, the white rings exploded outward, creating a ground-shaking sonic boom that ripped open parts of the ground and shattered nearby rocks. The Rangers were safe until the aura dispersed.
Univerouge remained upright.
"Not even a sonic boom can take this thing down," hissed Michael. "It must be made of diamond!"
Alex stepped forward, extending his hands and calling, "OmniTech Mineral Sight!" It took only moments to turn around and face his friends. "It's a decoy," he said simply.
The others were shocked, but Craig was furious for failing to realize it. "A decoy!" he growled, clenching his gloved fists tightly. "Are you sure?"
"This thing is made entirely out of inorganic materials, some from Earth but most I cannot recognize. Not one bit of life in it." The Green Ranger shook his head.
"This means Univerouge is somewhere on Earth now," Craig announced gravely. "I'll return to Alpha Complex and see if I can locate his real location. The rest of you be on standby until I contact you." He turned and lifted a hand to the sky, just as the rain began to fall. "OmniTech Teleport!"
Arcanza lounged on the steps to his recently-built dais, staring blankly at the ce'rael wall of his throne room. Earlier he had met the living legend commander Sir Vesper, now leading his Twilight Legion forces, in this same room. Legionnaires shuffled in and out of the room as he brooded as they hurried to construct their project quickly and efficiently. The amulet around his neck, a piece of his old home world Omnis, grew colder every day, but how much colder was often undeterminable. He had his suspicions concerning the fate of the Meridian-Omega star system, listening to those imbecile scientists he original fled Omnis with had not been wasted time. Arcanza's entire plan for Earth revolved around the belief he alone knew what had truly transpired in the instant of the Central Star's explosion/implosion.
"My lord," a female member of the Legion bowed deeply before him. Arcanza absently waved permission to speak. "Sir Vesper is ready to depart on his mission. He listed some, uh, suggestions, my lord, and asked me to offer them to you."
Lifting an eyebrow, Arcanza was suddenly locked into focus on Vesper's messenger. And as the trembling woman relayed the "suggestions," the future Lord of New Omnis laughed.
Amber finally decided Cecil was way too self-absorbed and uninteresting. Time seemed to drag with him as they sat at a table at Summit Lounge talking about their lives. She almost teared up when he told her about his runaway sister. Mostly he focused on his once-full-time friendship with Craig, lately reduced to part-time, though he never said what he believed the reason to be, just something he accepted. Now, however, it was growing dark out, and she was anxious to get home.
"Hey!" exclaimed Rebecca as she sat down next to Amber. "He hasn't bored you to death with Mercurism yet, has he?"
Brittany explained, "Mercurism is what we call Cecil's...weird philosophy."
"It was certainly one of my more unique experiences," she answered.
Alex and Michael drew chairs from the empty table nearby. Both looked more serious than ever, almost jumpy. Meanwhile Craig was still gone from the face of the Earth and not mentioned at all the remainder of the evening.
There was definitely something going on with this circle of friends, and Amber intended to find out exactly what it was.
"Univerouge is somewhere on Earth, and we still don't know its intentions," Craig reflected as he paced back and forth inside Control Point inside Alpha Complex. "Twilight Legion is still suspiciously quiet."
Laurasia looked up from her monitor. "Didn't Soleron tell you? We traced an out-of-galaxy transmission bound for the Firmament about two weeks back and came to the conclusion the Legion was calling for assistance. I figured Univerouge's presence was the result of that."
Craig turned instantly toward Soleron, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and seemingly unconcerned with anything. "I think he forgot to mention that. Suddenly it makes sense. If this alien creature has teamed up with Arcanza..." He trailed off, looking around and noting absences. "Where are Talyserys and Seraide?"
"Working on a project," answered Pyrial. "To help you somehow. They're keeping it between themselves and Soleron." He too took a look at his leader and sighed deeply. "Craig, there's something you should know. Lately Soleron has been...well...like that." He gestured toward the apathetic figure in the corner.
"Do you have a reason why?" asked Craig softly.
Pyrial shrugged. "No clue. We're hoping it's a passing phase related to giving up the Omni Power." He returned to the computer displaying the progress of the search for the location of the real Univerouge.
"Soleron," Craig growled, his fist tightening around the golden worry globe in his hand. "Don't give up just yet. We need you alive, healthy and sane, at least until Arcanza is defeated."
Suddenly the alarm began blaring. "UNIVEROUGE LOCATION DETECTED," Alpha System announced. "UNIVEROUGE LOCATION DETECTED."
Rushing over to the screen Pyrial and Laurasia were at, Craig scanned the information and accompanying map. "That's..." he exclaimed in shock, but words failed him. The alien had arrived in Ivory Glade.
Original Publication Date: 13 August 1999
