POWER RANGERS: LAST ENGAGE: ROTATION: SKYFALL

1

Ryan pulled himself from the river. He was out of breath and somehow uninjured. His jump from the bridge to avoid the soldiers was far from graceful. It appeared epic in his mind but he probably looked like a retard flailing about until he hit the water. The soldiers had fired into the water but Ryan figured they didn't know that bullets are stopped dead when they hit water.

No one was nearby when emerged from the river. He staggered up the embankment to the road. He assumed more soldiers would be coming to look for him. He quickly jumped into a nearby alleyway. From the looks of things, it would be dark soon.

He got further away from the river and tried to keep to the alleyways. However, he wasn't always fortunate to have alleyways available to him. He came to the edge of an alleyway, right next to a road. There were several people along the road. There was no way he was going to make it across the road without being seen.

"Hey, you," a voice said from above. Ryan's head shot upward to see someone dressed in a black and pink ninja outfit crouching on the roof. "What are you doing here?"

"I'd like to know the same thing," Ryan said. The ninja jumped down and stood in an attack position.

"Are you here to spy on us?" the ninja asked.

Ryan sighed. "These same questions are really annoying. Can't you guys announce this on a PA system or something so you don't have to ask the same retarded questions again. No, I'm not a spy. I don't even know how I got here."

"I promise I won't beat you up too badly before hauling you off to the prison," the ninja said. She charged at him. She threw a few punches and he blocked some before one of them landed across his face. He stumbled backward and out into the open. The people noticed him and ran off, afraid of the American. The pink ninja charged again. Ryan deflected some of her punches and kicks. She was quite skilled and he couldn't retaliate effectively.

Suddenly, a siren went off causing the ninja to stop in her tracks. It sounded like an air raid siren. Ryan looked to the sky but it was too dark to see anything.

"We have to go," the ninja said.

"What?" Ryan asked. "I thought you'd just leave me here to die from the bombing."

"That isn't a siren for bombs," she said. "That's a siren telling everyone to get inside because the Darkness is coming."

"The Darkness?" Ryan asked.

The ninja grabbed him and took off running down the street.

"It's a very powerful yokai that has terrorized Hiroshima for a few weeks now. My team and I have been unable to defeat it."

"If I'm the enemy then why not leave me here?" Ryan asked.

"Because no one should be subjugated to that thing. The soldiers might enjoy doing that but I'm not cruel like them. When I first saw you, I had wondered if the soldiers had let you go so that the Darkness would attack you. They usually do that with prisoners."

"The soldiers did find me but I was able to get away from them," Ryan said. "I was trying to stay hidden but I guess I'm a rookie compared to a ninja."

Suddenly, a creature leapt from the shadows and grabbed the ninja. This creature looked like something Lord Zedd would have created. It was completely grotesque.

"It's morphin' time," Ryan said. He held out his morpher and activated it. "GREEN RANGER POWER!"

He ran over and kicked the creature in the face. It fell off the ninja who got to her feet. She was shocked to see Ryan's ability.

2

Ryan was put on a cot in a way that was between gently laid and dropped. The pink sat next to him and pulled his shirt off. She wiped his brow with a cloth. She then moved to the wounds on his torso. She touched around the cuts and gashes on his torso with her rag.

Ryan awoke with a gasp. It startled all of them. Another person in blue stepped forward and raised his hand with his index and middle fingers extended. The pink ninja held out her arm to stop him. Ryan relaxed as best he could despite the pain. There was a light directly above him but it wasn't very bright. He could see the ninja in pink next to him and the faint outline of others nearby but no details. The pink ninja lightly touched the wounds with the rag. Ryan winced at her touch.

"He's not going to cause any trouble," she said.

"He's an American," the guy said. "They've been causing a lot of trouble for us."

"He's been beaten to hell and back. He's all cut up and can barely move. What do you expect him to do? The Darkness had its way with him. He saved my life."

"He's a Power Ranger," she said.

"So, the Americans are sending rangers at us?" the guy in blue said.

Ryan shook his head. "No, I'm not here because of the military." He struggled to speak through the pain.

"Then what are you doing here," another girl asked. She was dressed in a white ninja style outfit. Everyone in the room was dressed in a ninja-esque outfit, just in different colors. This girl stood with her arms crossed and gave an aura as though she was the leader of this group. Ryan always assumed the red rangers were the leaders but he should know better as Trini, the yellow ranger, is his team's leader.

"I don't know how I got here," Ryan said. "I woke up here and escaped from the soldiers and then was attacked by her and then that fucker you call the Darkness tried to take a bite out of me."

"Is your team in Japan too?" the man in blue asked.

"I don't think so," Ryan said. "I don't know where they are. We were all attacked separately. I was attacked after a few others were already taken."

"Who attacked you?"

"His name is Lord Zedd."

"Did you say Zedd?" the girl in white asked.

"Yeah why?"

"We've heard that name before. The Shinkengers reported that name during an assassination attempt of the emperor."

"Which one?" Ryan asked.

"The one in the twenties," the girl in pink said. "You know about those?"

"I love history," Ryan said.

"Does America have that kind of intel about what happens over here?" the girl in white asked. Ryan was hesitant but knew he had no choice but to reveal his origins.

"I know about it because I'm from the future where Japan and America are close allies."

"Well, who wins this war?" the guy in blue asked.

"America will win this war in August of 1945," Ryan said.

"That is two years from now," he said. "But Japan is beating the Americans."

"Japanese propaganda but the Marines are island hopping right now to the Japanese mainland. But don't worry, they won't invade during the war because it will end before then. Anyway, back to that assassination attempt, how did Zedd play into that?"

"We don't know that," the girl in pink said. "We just know that assassin, Fumiko Kaneko had a relationship with Park Yeol."

"Wait, she had connections with the Koreans?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, they were lovers."

Ryan thought for a moment. "This could have some tie to how my predecessors were sent to North Korea."

"North Korea?" the girl in pink asked.

Ryan shook his head. "I'll tell you later. I didn't realize that Zedd was involved this far back."

"So, what's your name?" the girl in pink asked.

"Ryan. What's yours?"

"I'm Akane. I'm the pink ranger of the Kakurangers." Ryan wasn't used to hearing the Japanese name for the Samurai and Ninja Rangers. He was curious what they would call his team. He would have to ask them later…although his team technically didn't exist yet.

"Who do you fight regularly?" Ryan asked.

"We fight the Yokai. They're Japanese monsters that feed off emotions from people. The Darkness not only feeds off fear but also feeds on people too," Akane said.

"I'd like to help out until I can figure out how to get back to my own time," Ryan said.

"How do we know you can trust you?" the guy in black said.

"I'm also a power ranger," Ryan said. "That should be enough."

"It is for me," Akane said. Ryan gave her a smile.

"I'm worried about the people," the girl in white said. "The fact there's an American running around freely will unnerve them to say the least. The soldiers definitely won't like it."

"I'll stay with him," Akane said. "I'll be his escort."

"Okay," she said. "He's your responsibility."

"With his help," Akane said. "We can save the city."

Ryan felt uneasy at that statement. He'll do what he can against monsters but when it comes to the course of history, that's a different battle. A battle he wasn't sure he wanted to fight.

3

Ryan and Akane walked through the streets of Hiroshima. Ryan could feel so many eyes on him. The people veered away from him as if he was diseased. The soldiers put their hands on their weapons to show they were willing to put him down if they needed. Ryan was sure they wanted to put an end to him right then and there. Akane was his life insurance. One soldier approached them, staring directly at Ryan with his hand on his sidearm. Akane knew what he was up to.

"Back off, Sergeant," she said. "He's with me."

"He's the enemy," he said. "He needs to watch himself. He wouldn't want to see me get angry."

"Then what happens?" Ryan asked. The sergeant got closer to Ryan, with is face only inches away. Ryan could smell the guy's bad breath. Akane pushed the sergeant away and stood between them.

"Go back to your post, Sergeant. You don't want to start something you and your men can't finish," she said. The sergeant reluctantly started back to his post but didn't take his eyes off Ryan. Ryan stared right back at him until he and Akane started walking again.

"What did you do back home?" Akane asked.

"I'm a high school student," he said.

"Really?" Akane asked. "Usually high school students are too scared to stand up to Sergeant Kimura."

"How many American high school students have you seen around here?" Ryan asked with a laugh.

"Fair enough," Akane said. "How did you become a ranger?"

"I was recruited," Ryan said. "My sister was kidnapped by Zedd and that was one of the reasons I became one. What about you? What was your life like before becoming a ranger and before the war?"

"To be honest, I don't remember," she said. "The Kakurangers have been around for a long time. It's always been a generational thing. Each of the powers have been passed down and each generation have trained so they can be ready to accept the powers."

"How do you decide on a leader of the team?"

"For our team, white is always the leader because it's the oldest of the powers," Akane said. "Red usually takes point but white gives the orders."

"Interesting," Ryan said. "Yellow is our leader but it's because she was a ranger before the rest of us. Although, we haven't been a team long before we were all separated."

"Separated?"

Ryan nodded. "I was with my other sister who is also a ranger, and I saw her get pulled into her locker. A pair of hands just reached out and grabbed her. When I looked into her locker, she was gone. Then those same hands reached out and grabbed me before I had a chance to react. Next thing I know, I'm here."

"Well, I'm sure it's a lot different than what you expected," Akane said.

"That's an understatement," Ryan said. "To be fair, I can only gather so much information from history books. They are clearly lacking a lot of information."

"Is it okay for me to ask how much Japan survives after the war?"

"You mean if Japan stays its own country?"

Akane nodded. "Yeah. The Japanese army has invaded China and Korea and are pretty much destroying their culture."

"Contrary to Japanese propaganda, America has no interest in obliterating Japan. It just wants to end the war but Japan won't surrender. After the war, Japan drops the imperialistic attitude and focuses a lot on technology. It does keep what makes it Japan, so don't worry. America won't change that."

"If Japan doesn't surrender then how does the war end?" Akane asked.

"Eventually, Japan does surrender but there are two events that cause it."

"Which are?"

"I can't tell you," Ryan said. "Believe me, I want to tell you and I want to help everyone here but I don't know if I can bear the responsibility of changing history so drastically. If I do then many more people could die that didn't die before."

A blood curdling scream filled the air. Ryan and Akane snapped their heads in the direction from which it came. They sprinted off in that direction. People moved out of their way except the group of soldiers who tried to run faster to beat them to the scene. The sergeant was attempting to get Ryan to do something that would result in him getting thrown in prison. Ryan was tempted to just stab the guy and be done with it.

They reached the river's bank. A crowd of people were surrounding something. Others were keeping at a safe distance. Once people saw Ryan, many of them backed off even further. The Japanese sergeant pushed his way past those grouped together. Once they cleared, Ryan saw a body on the ground. He and Akane got closer before a soldier stopped them. The sergeant came over to the two rangers.

"This is a murder," he said. "It has nothing to do with you two."

"If it's related to the Darkness then it has everything to do with us," Akane said. While Akane argued with the sergeant, Ryan subtly poked his head around to get a look at the body. He knew he couldn't get any closer to it without getting into it with the soldiers. He did notice something about the body that seemed familiar. Then he realized what was so familiar.

He turned to Akane and put an arm around her waist, pulling her away. She was surprised by the sudden action but was also surprised she didn't mind his arm around her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I noticed something about that body," he said. "It had the same clothes on as the Darkness did when it attacked us."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"It would seem that the locals are turning into the Darkness," Ryan said.

"That would explain the disappearances," Akane said. "We just assumed they were eaten by the Darkness as we have found remains of its victims."

"Looks like here is more to this Yokai than originally thought," Ryan said.