TSFR's Power Rangers: Virtual Troopers

[ThisSpaceForRent]

*deep breath*

Okay, so… I’m going to give this a try. I’m desperately afraid, though, because I haven’t the foggiest idea if I can do this or not. I’ve never written a fanfic before in my life, and I’m scared that I may suck utterly at doing so.

I’m hoping to make this something special, but I don’t know.

I’m really going to need YOUR help with this. Your feedback as to what I’m doing right, getting wrong, what needs improving, ideas you’d like to see…that sort of thing will help me immensely! Like I said, I'm not really a 'fic' person, but I really want to write this story. Having people read it and enjoy it would just be icing on the cake. <3

Here's the tentative episode guide for this season. It's gonna be a doozy!!!

Arch 1

System Start, Pt. 1
System Start, Pt. 2
Noobs
Follow The Leader
Download This Episode
Too Blue For You
Maximize Me
Control Freak
A Hexing Predicament
Pixel Perfect
Get Your Modems Running
A Hard Day’s Nightmare
Skate Or Die!
Tickled Pink
The Hatetrix
The Viral Vipers, Pt. 1
The Viral Vipers, Pt. 2
The Viral Vipers, Pt. 3

Arch 2

Reality Bites Back
Upgrade, Pt. 1
Upgrade, Pt. 2
Dead Links
Good Will Haunting
Talking Turkey
Freeze Frame
Sappy Holidays
Black Monday
Seeing Red
System Crash pt. 1
System Crash pt. 2
System Crash pt. 3
Reboot
Think Pink pt. 1
Think Pink pt. 2
HTTP 403 (Forbidden)
Good Guys Wear Black
Back Online
Dino Thunder, Bug Out! pt. 1
Dino Thunder, Bug Out! pt. 2
Dino Thunder, Bug Out! pt. 3

Arch 3

The Megabyte Complex
A Photoshop Moment
Hexadecimal’s Last Stand
The Birth of Gigabyte
Noid-Zilla Attacks
Copy, Paste, Repeat
Vicious Cycle
All Your Base, pt. 1
All Your Base, pt. 2
All Your Base, pt. 3
All Your Base, pt. 4
Mirror, Mirror
Double Helix
Hex, Lies, and Videogames
Endgame
Logout, Logoff pt. 1
Logout, Logoff pt. 2

Alright…so, without further ado, may I introduce you to… POWER RANGERS: VIRTUAL TROOPERS!

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*the following narration is to be a voiceover during iconic, memorable scenes from past Ranger series*

“What does it take to be a Power Ranger? What kind of tenacity and integrity must one possess? What kind of intestinal fortitude, cunning, and strength of character does one need to be considered?

These are questions I used to ask myself before I found out the answers…firsthand.

I never expected to BE a Ranger. Never in my wildest dreams had I even ever entertained the idea. C‘mon, I’m no Xena. I’m no Samus. I’m just plain, boring ol’ Trish: queen of the geeks. I’ve never excelled in anything that required physical strength or high levels of hand-eye coordination... unless you count 'Wii Fit'...

I’ve never been able to exert myself in that way. Nope…the closest I’ve ever come to exercise is playing DDR with the guys down at ZOOM!. I’m inept, awkward, gangly, and clumsy: All thumbs! I’d never be a good Ranger…. Well, that’s the way I saw it. Apparently, someone saw something in me that I didn’t see…Something *extra*, y’know?

I dunno…Am I getting ahead of myself? I feel like I’m babbling which is the last thing I want to do. I want to tell you my story….Maybe I should just let my experience speak for itself…”
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*Theme Song. A throwback to the MMPR-Turbo theme days. Very Mighty RAW feel...*

Login, Logon
Login, Logon
Login, Logon, Game On!

With the speed of the wind
Download adventure…

Virtual Troopers, GO!

Time and again,
You prove your strength. You’re…

Virtual Troopers, GO!

The power is online
That’s right, it’s “morphin’ time!”
So look down deep inside
You’ll find the key
To beat
The wicked!

You stand against the malicious
With fighting skill so vicious
No evil force, villain, or foe
Can stop the--
Virtual Troopers, GO!

Start up your hard drive
All systems strong…

Virtual Troopers, GO!

Together, strive
To right all wrongs…

Virtual Troopers, GO!

The power is online
That’s right, it’s “morphin’ time!”
So, look down deep inside
And you’ll know…

(Go-Go. Go-Go. Go-Go-Go!)

The strength resides in you
Each with a spirit true
No evil force, villain , or foe
Can stop the--

Virtual Troopers, GO!

Virtual Troopers, GO!

Virtual Troopers, GO!

Virtual Troopers, GO!


No evil force, villain , or foe
Can stop the--

Virtual Troopers, GO!
Go!
GO!

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EPISODE 1: SYSTEM START, Pt. 1


Scene 1: All A Dream

VROOOOOM! Ripping down the scenic coast line on the back of a huge Harley, a figure garbed in a thick black leather jacket, matching gloves and boots, and loose fitting denim jeans was leaning full-tilt into a turn as the bike edged around a sharp turn. The turn was so deep, the person’s knee nearly touched the speeding asphalt underneath it. Every now and again, the figure would turn to look over the beautiful ocean view as it traveled along. As the wind was whipping through those baggy pants, a ray of sunlight gleamed blindingly off of the top of the glossy red helmet which hid the figure’s identity. Visor down to guard against the wind, the bike sped along the highway. All seemed quite peaceful. That is until…

Another blinding glare, this time intensified a hundred fold. The figure shielded itself from the light. The light was brief, but significant: for in its wake it left the figure surrounded by menacing-looking gray clay people, four groups of two, all riding on sup-ed up alien motorbikes. Suddenly, the clay men on the backs of the bikes leapt out towards the bike, attempting to board the Harley. The first was thwarted by a well-timed side kick to the sternum from the masked rider. The second, who launched only a millisecond later, met the business end of the figure’s fist right in the lower abdomen. Both moves where applied at nearly the same time, leaving the figure to guide the bike one-handedly from a sideways position for a few moments before it could return to normal. Both of the stricken putty people crashed to the ground and tumbled until they disintegrated to nothing in the dust of the bikes. The six remaining creatures seemed pretty miffed at this, and began careening into the Harley. This was met with signs of obvious concern from the figure.

Now, as one of the remaining teams of two came in and crashed into the figure’s bike from the side, the figure deftly moved to sitting side-saddle, where it proceeded to put the driver’s head of the offending bike into a vice-grip with his/her legs briefly before kicking the putty man hard in his head, making it do a 180 degree turn. The putty man fell limp from the bike. He disappeared instantly, leaving his bike and partner to crash and burn without a driver.

The four remaining clay people (two bikes of one, one bike of two) formed a triangular holding pattern around the unidentified person. The masked rider looked about in all directions before speeding up the Harley and escaping the hold. The three bikes sped up to catch the escaping figure…just as the figure had planned. Suddenly, the figure hit the breaks hard, leapt up on the seat, and kicked off into an amazingly graceful back-flip so deep that the top of the helmet nearly touched the person‘s back. While in the air, the figure saw as the bike which was directly behind the Harley crashed into the back of the bike, exploding on impact. Soaring through the explosion, the figure landed in a cat-like position in the middle of the all-but-abandoned road.

The two remaining bikes turned on a dime and came roaring back towards the figure…who now had nowhere to run. Deciding to strike in an “X” pattern, the two enduring putty people tried to close in on the figure. However, the figure chose the precise moment the bikes intersected to leap into the air and perform an astonishing split-kick, knocking both riders to the ground in an awful crash. Several explosions later, the figure stood up in the middle of the street, dusting off the leather jacket.

Then, the person’s two gloved hands moved up to remove the shiny red helmet. As soon as the helmet came up over the person’s head, a cascade of fiery auburn hair came tumbling out from underneath. As the figure drug the back of a gloved hand across a sweaty brow, it was evident that this person…was a woman.

Unexpectedly, five streaks of light zoomed through the air, landing about the young redheaded woman. Soon, five people in color-coded costumes were standing all around her. She recognized them instantly: they were the legendary Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

“Woah, are you alright?” asked the Red Ranger in an gruff and throaty deep voice.

“Sure…No sweat. Just a couple of Putties. No big deal, right?”

“No big deal?! You just took out an entire squad of Putty Patrollers by yourself!” said the Black Ranger.

“Yeah, well…” responded the female, blushing slightly.

“This is highly improbable. Not to mention more than a little bit peculiar. Who are you?” the Blue Ranger spoke up.

“Oh, I’m Trish. And you guys are the Power Rangers, right? What are you guys doin‘ so far from Angel Grove?”

Both the Yellow and Pink Rangers looked at each other.

“We’ve been sent on a mission to save our friend from the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa and her wicked husband, Lord Zedd. Hey, why don’t you join us?” asked the Yellow Ranger.

“Yeah,” continued the Pink Ranger “Besides, we could use a bit more ‘Girl Power’ on this team and I’m sure Zordon has at least one more Power Coin lying around somewhere…”

“Hmmm…that’d be interesting. But,” the redhead said, looking around, “all of the colors are already given out. Which Ranger would I be?”

“How about Green?” asked the Red Ranger.

“No, White!” chimed in the Black Ranger.

“How about…Purple!” said Trish.

“PURPLE?!” all the Rangers asked together.

“Yeah, Purple…”

“Hmm…I‘m not entirely certain that this is the most practical or plausible thing to do…We really should consult Zordon,” the Blue Ranger said.

The Red Ranger spoke up next. “C’mon, we’ll take you back to the Command Center with us.”

“Yeah, c’mon!” said the Pink, Black, and Yellow Rangers. The Red Ranger had already teleported, and the rest of the team was following suit.

“C’mon Trish, let’s go.” said the Pink Ranger…but for some reason, it sounded as if her voice were coming from far away.

“Trish? Trish? TRISH!!!”
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Scene 2: Early Morning, Sibling Rivalry

Trish O’Dea sat up with a jolt in bed, her red tresses tussled and her red and white peppermint-dotted nightclothes slightly askew. The light in the room was fuzzy…early morning fuzzy. She could barely make out the form of another person sitting only feet away from the foot of her bed. She knew exactly who it was.

“Tess! You just ruined the best dream I ever had!” Trish shouted, tossing a pillow blindly at the person opposite her.

“Yeah, well, you ruined my dream of being an only child,” Tess teased, tossing the pillow back.

Trish growled at Tess and reached blindly across her nightstand to find her glasses. After putting on the thick, square-rimmed black glasses, Trish’s eyesight was flawless. She studied the person across from her, seeing her own face reflected only less sleepy and considerably more anxious.

“It wasn’t my idea to wake you up, you know. Uncle Drew says that Conner has some friends he’d like us to meet today.”

“Conner? Conner’s not even awake yet! We’ve been here for all of one day, and Conner wants us to meet his friends?”

“Yeah.” said Tess, rather unconvincingly.

“And Uncle Drew told you this?” Trish continued, disbelievingly.

Tess nodded.

“When?” pressed Trish.

“Um…Last night?” Tess said, rather unsurely.

“You know I can tell when you’re lying, right?” asked Trish with narrowed eyes.

“What, you got twin ESPN or something?”

“Oh-kaaaay, no --And it’s ‘E.S.P.’, Einstein. Nope, I know you’re lying because you’re a terrible liar. That, and it’s barely even dawn yet.” She pointed towards the pale light outside of the window.

“Trish! Conner is a soccer player. Do you know what that MEANS?! That means he has hot, guy soccer friends! Hot, guy soccer friends, Trish! We‘re talkin‘ David Beckham hot!”

Trish grumbled, removed her glasses, flopped over, and tried to go back to sleep.

Tess moaned, got up from her bed, came over to the foot of Trish’s bed, kicked it, and spoke.

“Well excuse me for wanting you to help me pick out something to wear today!” she said.

Trish looked up blindly at the blur she knew to be Tess. “Ooh, I’m so sorry I’m forfeiting such an honor.“ she said with a sardonic edge. “Honestly, if we weren’t identical twins, I’d swear you were adopted.”

Tess kicked the bed again. “And I’d swear you were a clone, but you’re too weird to be a clone. Maybe you’re one of those pod people or something. Yeah, you’re an alien. It would explain a lot.”

Trish, head buried under a pillow, mumbled. “Well, if it will get you away from me, then ‘Beam me up, Scottie'…”
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Scene 3: Breakfast

Later, Trish, Tess, their uncle Drew, and their cousin Conner were all sitting down to eat breakfast when Tess brought up the idea of hanging out with Conner over toast and eggs.

Conner, half a piece of bacon dangling from his lips, nodded and said (with a mouth full of food) that he would definitely introduce the twins to his friends. “Mmyah,” he said, swallowing down huge bites of breakfast with a gulp of orange juice, “I’m meeting the guys at the cyber café around noon. You two are totally welcome to come with.”

Tess and Trish looked at each other and then at Conner. “Cyber café?” they asked simultaneously. Trish sounded enthused about this. Tess seemed slightly frightened.

“Conner…dear…Um, when you say ’cyber café’…” Tess began.

“Oh, don’t worry. Haley’s is, like, the hottest hangout spot in town. At first, I thought it was one of those geek-fests too, but it’s a pretty chill place.”

Trish looked saddened by this news.

“Oh, but it’s totally got computers. Gamer heaven. My friend Ethan hosts a few gaming competitions there every month or so.”

Tess studied Conner with a scrutinizing eye while Trish’s face brightened again. “That’s awesome! Since when did you start hanging out with gamers?”

Uncle Drew, who was busying himself in the background getting his coffee, popped in to speak at that moment.

“Ever since last year. I don’t know what happened. All of a sudden, Mr. Soccer Stud here’s hanging out with an all new group of kids. And you know what? I couldn’t be prouder. Ethan is a really cool kid. My laptop crashed just last month. He had it back in tip-top condition within minutes. He’s a genius!”

Tess looked somewhat annoyed now.

“I have loads of friends, though. I’ve got some soccer friends I could introduce you to…if you’re interested.” he hinted at Tess. That brightened her mood, and she finished up her French toast with a big smile plastered on her face.
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Scene 4: Haley’s Cyber Space

After breakfast, the kids all piled into Conner’s ride and he drove them around town, sightseeing. He chauffeured them about the town, showing them the high school he attended, the soccer field he loved to play at, the mall…general things. The last site on the list of sights was of course the famed Haley’s Cyber Space, where Conner’s shiny red Camero* pulled into an open spot. Trish’s eyes were like a kid’s at Christmas. Tess’s expression suddenly looked like a kid going to the dentist. “Conner….You hang out here?!” gasped Tess in revulsion and disbelief.

“Tess, what is the deal? You have some kind of aversion to computer cafés?” Trish asked, obviously aggravated.

“No. I just don’t like them, that’s all.” Tess said, matter-of-factly.

The three kids hopped out of the car and began to make their way into Haley’s Cyber Space, Conner flanked by his identical cousins. Upon entering, the differences between Tess and Trish were almost instantly evident.

While being at least four minutes younger than her twin sister, Trish was taller than Tess by half an inch. She had a sort of tomboyish style, wearing a simple red plaid button-up Western style blouse over a white tank, baggy blue jean ‘boy shorts‘, and a pair of red high-top Chuck Taylor’s. She adjusted her glasses slightly and pulled up the brim of her beanie as she looked around. She was in awe. “Wow!” she gasped.

Tess, the elder of the two by four minutes, was shorter by half an inch and a lot more girly. Whereas Trish wore nothing other than lip balm, Tess wore a light lavender eye-shadow (that played off of her warm green eyes) and a lip gloss known as Peach Passion Paradise. She wore a cute little knitted bubble-gum pink long-sleeved shrug over a brown tank, which was airbrushed with water-colored roses across the front. Clinging to her hips, she wore a pair of tight Bermuda blue jean shorts with pink and brown rhinestone flower detailing, and a pair of beaded ballerina slippers caressed her feet. She, too, was in disbelief.

“Oh…Em…Gee.”

As it was summer and most kids were either working or off on vacation, the patrons to Haley’s that day were pretty sparse. Tess was not amused.

“Conner…I thought you said this place was ‘the hottest spot in town’?” she half-asked in an annoyed tone.

Conner, slightly embarrassed, responded. “Yeah, well…small town.”

All of a sudden, the three relatives were approached by three other teens. One was a pretty blonde girl with long fluttery bangs. She wore a black tank with neon yellow graphics over a yellow mesh long-sleeved shirt, black arm warmers, and a short yellow plaid miniskirt over a pair of distressed denim Capri’s which were cut off a little under her knees so that the fishnet stockings she was wearing underneath could be seen. She, like Trish, also wore a pair of Chuck’s, but hers were yellow and a tad bit more boot-like. The second teen was a young Black guy with short hair and a great smile. He wore a blue zip-up shirt with black and white checkered racing stripes over a white shirt with lots of blue graphics on it and a pair of dark denim cargos. On his feet, there were a pair of plain white sneakers. The last guy was also quite handsome. He seemed to be Latin in ethnicity. He wore a white T-shirt which was splattered with all kinds of wild designs in blacks and grays over a black button-down with the collar protruding over the T-shirt‘s collar. He also had on a pair of trendily ripped stonewashed jeans and a pair of black sneakers.

“Conner!“ The girl rushed forth and hugged Conner while the guys hung back until they could exchange catchy handshakes and one-armed hugs. As Trish and Tess stood awkwardly by, Conner and his friends played a quick game of catch up.

“What’ve you been up to this summer? We’ve not heard anything from you!” the girl in yellow asked.

“Um, I’ve been busy…helping out at soccer camp and stuff...getting ready for University.” Conner said, a little inarticulately. “And what about you, Miss Rock Star? Heard you’ve been to the Big Apple! When will I be lining up to get an autograph from the world-famous Kira Ford?”

The girl in yellow smiled coyly. “Well, yeah…New York was fun. Expensive, but fun. Needed a break from it, though. I’ve been writing some new stuff. I just recorded a new demo last week. Actually, Mr. MIT over here helped me mix some of the tracks.”

The guy in blue cracked a grin and then spoke up. “Nah, it’s not really all that. I’m no big time producer, or anything. I just put a little polish on an already sparkling gem.”

At the mention of the word gem, the four teens exchanged meaningful glances and shared in a moment of awkward silence, the twins standing obliviously by.

Suddenly, Conner seemed to remember the identical book ends to his left and right. “Oh, dude, I’m sorry. I’m being rude. These are my cousins, Tess and Trish. They‘re from Oceanview.”

The guy in the white shirt looked and pointed from the two girls back to Conner, seeming to remember something. “Hey, Conner? Don’t you have a twin brother?”

Conner smiled and nodded before speaking. “Yeah-- Eric. I told you about him. He’s still trying to get back into the ninj-”

The stunned looks on the three faces of his friends told Conner he should probably shut up.

“Eric’s what?” Trish asked immediately…as expected.

“Uh, he’s, um, trying to get back into the ninj-nin-ninja club. Yeah, that’s right. Ninja Club. It‘s this club he was in. All anime and video games and martial arts film fans…He’s been really big into the martial arts thing lately.”

“We all have, actually…,“Ethan put in pointedly.

The guy in white cleared his throat, hoping to draw attention away from Ethan’s under-the-radar comment. “Guess I’ll have to introduce myself. I’m Trent.” He extended his hand to Trish, but it was Tess who took it.

“Great to meet you…” she said with a wink. Trish, meanwhile, caught a very strange look on the blonde girl’s face.

“We haven’t actually formally introduced ourselves, either. I’m Kira.” said the girl in yellow, elbowing Trent out of the way. Tess notably shook her hand with less vigor. Trish shook it and Trent’s with genuine interest.

“And, as you may have heard, I am the Ethan James. Yup, that’s right: the legend himself!” Tess gave him one shake before moving over coyly by Trent (Kira eyeing her all the while). Trish, however, seemed highly interested in Ethan.

“Ethan James…I think I’ve heard about you. Your handle’s ‘The Game Master’, right? You beat that one game, Blaster Masters, in--what?--thirty minutes?”

Ethan smiled goofily. “Oh, well, I’m not one to boast, but…,” he said, pausing as he pretending to dust his shoulders off.

The rest of that day’s activity evolved from meager conversations about shared interests into a fun afternoon of getting to know one another. Trish beat Ethan at his favorite fighting game (thirty times) and Tess kept trying to flirt with Trent (which was really bothering Kira). Conner just sat back and laughed. He knew his cousins would hit it off great with his friends.

He didn’t know, however, how great two of them would get along.

By the end of the day, it seemed that Ethan was quite impressed by little Trish. At only sixteen, she was smart, strong, and she could beat him at any kind of game. He admired that about her, apparently. As for the little redhead--Trish was amazed by this insight, and had indeed been engrossed in deep gaming conversation with him for most of the day. As the day drew to a close, she didn’t want to leave. While Tess was continuing to get on Kira’s nerves by flirting with Trent, Trish was having a final discussion with Ethan. After one last game of Super Samurai Battle Bots, Ethan said he wanted to show her something.

“Yeah, it’s something I started a while ago. One day, me, Conner, and Kira were watching T.V. and we saw this really trippy show from Japan. Something called Blastasaur Squadron Abaranger.”

Trish gasped at the mention of the show. “Dude, I’m obsessed with that show. Ryouga was so adorable,” she paused, wondering why Ethan’s face had suddenly dropped, “but Yukito was my favorite. I still wonder if that’s what the real Rangers are like.”

“Actually,” Ethan began, cautiously, “ I think the portrayal‘s pretty close. I did a little research and found out the first actual sightings of what we now know to be Power Rangers occurred in Osaka centuries ago. Then, for years, nothing…until the late 70’s. That’s when they began showing up with those humongous robots they fight in.”

“Zords.” Trish said simply.

“How’d you --?” Ethan began to ask.

“Oh, I’m very interested in the Rangers.” Trish said, a little shyly. “Always have been.”

“Yeah, me too! That’s why I’ve been working on this!” he said as he typed something into his computer, bringing up a black screen that suddenly flashed white and faded back to black, leaving a strangely familiar logo in it’s wake that read: Power Rangers: Generations.

“No way!” Trish exclaimed.

“Just something I’m working on. Still haven’t gotten all the kinks out. This is just a Beta version.” Ethan said as the screen came up to a list of titles: Mighty Morphin’ up to something called SPD. Ethan picked a title called Dino Thunder. The next thing that was shown on the screen was a group of what appeared to be Power Rangers.

“The Abarangers!” Trish chirped up.

“Yeah, only here we call ‘em the Dino Thunder Power Rangers!” Ethan said as he began playing with the Blue Tricera Ranger.

A little while later, Ethan looked over at Trish--with her face all aglow-- and asked, “Hey? You wanna be one of my Beta testers?”

Trish looked dumbstruck. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Ethan responded.

Without thinking, Trish threw her arms around Ethan and was squeezing for dear life. “Omigawdomigawdomigawd!!! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!!!”

Ethan pried her loose and asked, “I still have a few things I want to tweak before I give you a copy. How long are you two gonna be in town for?”

“We’ll be staying in Reefside for two weeks while our mom‘s off on business. Maybe we’ll get to hang out some more…I’d love to beat you at Dance Dance Revolution sometime!” she exclaimed.

“Well, I’d love for you to try!” Ethan responded.

Right before Conner and the twins were about to leave, Trent cornered him at the bar. He looked around guardedly before asking, “Have you heard from Dr. O lately?”

Conner checked their vicinity cautiously before speaking. “Nah, but get this: Haley told me he and Randall are off on some kind of Indiana Jones thing.”

“Wait, so Dr. Oliver and Elsa are--?” Trent began to question.

“See, that’s what I don’t get,” Conner instinctually interrupted, “I’ve always seen him and Haley as a couple. I don’t know if they are or not, but I wouldn’t put doubling up girlfriends past Dr. O. He was sort of a ‘playa’ back in his day.”

Kira, being as intuitive as she was, entered the conversation midstream. “Please, Conner, for everyone’s sake: don’t ever say the word ‘playa’ again.“ she said, using finger quotes. “We’ve all heard about Kimberly…and Kat. Not so sure about Haley, though…,”she said, squeezing into place between the two guys. “So, if Doc Oliver and Randall are gone off on some kind of expedition together…? You don’t think it could be-” Kira began, looking from Conner to Trent.

Conner interrupted Kira mid-sentence, saying, “Anybody else think it‘s a little strange that Elsa remembers being--y‘know-- ‘Elsa‘?”

“I don‘t know. That is a bit strange…But it can‘t be Mesogog they‘re hunting,” Trent interceded, “My dad is perfectly normal now.”

“Unless it isn’t your dad this time…” Conner began. The three of them had only a second to ponder this as Trish, Tess, and Ethan then joined their friends at the bar.

“So, what are we doin’?” asked Trish, laying her head on her cousin’s shoulder.

“Nothin’ really. Just talking about a friend of ours: Dr. Tommy Oliver. He was our high school science teacher.”

Trish and Tess looked at each other and then at Conner.

“What happened to you?! You used to hate school and now you’re friends with a science teacher?” Tess asked, quite incredulously.

Trish weighed in with, “Sounds like he grew up, Tess. Maybe you should try it sometime.”
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Scene 5: Morning Commute

The large, glossy cherry-red GMC Yukon Denali was cruising along through traffic in route to Oceanview High School with a total of three people in tow. Josephine O’Dea, the driver of the vehicle, seemed to be highly annoyed. Trish sat in the passenger seat with a grin plastered on her face while her twin sister, Tess, sat in the back looking quite sullen with the hugest, huffiest pouting face she could muster spread across her features.

Tess spoke up, sounding as if she were close to tears. “This is unfair, Mother…Completely and totally unfair! An injustice if ever there were one! I totally can’t believe you’re doing this to me! You’re ruining my life!”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you snuck out of your uncle Drew’s house past curfew to hang out with boys who are way, waaaay too old for you to even be speaking to!” her mother responded curtly.

Trish looked as if her birthday had come early, taking in the scene with obvious signs of glee.

The twins’ mother continued to speak. “And honestly, Tess, I thought you were growing past all this…this…whatever it is you’re going through.”

Tess looked affronted. “What do you mean: “growing past all this”? All what?”

Her mother sighed. “Pink Positive, your little feud with Regina, acting like a spoiled little brat--” she said, listing things off.

Tess interjected with, “Oh-Em-Gee, Mother! Regina is trying to ruin my life! I’m totally not exaggerating about that. Even Trish, bless her heart, can see that!”

Trish rolled her eyes and smirked at the slight gibe her sister directed toward her.

“Regina’s vile, all right, but she isn’t quote-unquote ‘ruining your life’. She’s a minor nuisance at best,” said Trish succinctly.

“Maybe to a person who doesn’t matter! Do you know where I rank on the social echelon of Oceanview High?”

Trish giggled, silently marveled at her sister’s knowledge of the meaning of the word ‘echelon’, and turned around to look at her sister and serve her reply.

“Um, right below ‘Troll’ and right above ‘Something Found On The Bottom Of The Desk”?” Trish questioningly answered, fluttering her eyelashes innocently.

Tess stared daggers into her twin’s face before answering. “Try ‘Most Popular Girl In School’, Geekzilla.”

“Ooh, nice one, Tess! Tell me, how do you figure you’re the most popular girl in school? Did you conduct some sort of campus-wide poll, hmm? Took a consensus, did you?”

“It’s a fact. I don’t need any proof to back me up.” Tess said, rather finally.

“Actually, if something’s a ‘fact’, evidence is kinda important…the lack of proof in this case renders your ‘fact’ false. There are such things you know.” Trish rebutted.

Tess sat silently observing her sister with a grimly disapproving look upon her face. “You’re a freak, you know that?”

Tess grinned widely and gestured to her red t-shirt, emblazoned with the phrase ‘I Know I’m a FREAK!’.

Tess sighed, rolled her eyes and said, “Weirdo.”

Trish giggled. “Yeah, I love you too, Sis.”

During the twins’ conversation, they hadn’t noticed that their mother had tuned them out long ago and was now chattering away on her Bluetooth as the suburban pulled up to the curbside drop-off of Oceanview High School.

“All right, Janice. I’ll talk to you later.” said Josephine, ending her phone call before directing her attention to her children. She looked at both of them in turn before speaking. “My little girls are growing up! It’s your first day of 11th grade! You two are juniors! Only one more year before you are outta my hair!” she said jokingly, ruffling Trish’s bangs as she spoke. “I want you guys to be good and to have a great day. Trish, you can stop by ZOOM on your way home. Mr. Williamson says he’s just got in some back issues of that Beetleborgs comic you love so much.” She paused for a second before looking behind at her other daughter. “And you, young lady! I expect you to go directly home after school. You are on punishment. That means no t.v., no internet, and most definitely no cell phone. Better believe if you disobey me, I’m gonna find out…and I won’t be happy.”

Tess looked brokenheartedly at her mother in hopes of weakening her defenses. It didn’t work. Her mother just stared blankly back at her. Finally, Tess sighed and looked away. “Yes, ma’am.”

The two girls gathered their backpacks and notebooks and unloaded from the vehicle. They said their parting goodbyes and ‘Love you’s to their mother as she drove away off to her job at The Oceanview Chronicle, the city newspaper.

Tess looked a little downhearted for a second before puffing out her chest and looking over at her twin sister. She glowered at her for a brief second before a devious smile spread over her face. “Well, hope you enjoyed my little before-school torture, sis, because, for me, the rest of this year is in the bag.” And with that she turned and began to walk quickly away.

Trish frowned slightly at this and then turned and rushed to catch up. “And what’s that supposed to mean?!”

Tess smirked and said, “You tell me, Miss Four-Point-Oh: What does it mean?”

Trish stopped short and let her sister proceed without her. “So…you’re what, abandoning me? You're going to ignore me, or something?”

Tess turned and looked over her shoulder for a second to speak. “Trish, I would have had to have been with you to abandon you... And you call yourself an honor student!” She turned and walked away into the amassing throng before the school.

Trish suddenly felt a welling in her eyes. Sure, she and Tess hadn’t always seen eye to eye, but at least she knew she could count on her when she needed her. Now, it seemed as if Tess had written her off in hopes of becoming Prom Queen or something equally petty as that.

Before she could take in this seeming betrayal from her sister further, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a familiar voice in her ear.

“Cha, like you actually hung out with her anyway!”

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Scene 6: Before School Reunion

Trish turned to greet her friend, wrapping her arms around him in a welcoming hug. The hug loosened and the girl stepped back to admire this new arrival.

“Marco! Gosh, you don’t know how glad I am to see you!”

Marco De Luca stood beaming down at her, his boyishly handsome features bronzed by the glorious California sun and his yellow, white, and orange stripped polo with its collar popped jauntily.

He draped his arm over her shoulders comfortingly and said, “Heh, don’t even sweat it, Trish. You and your doppelganger there might share DNA, but you got all the ‘Awesome’ genes!”

“Thanks, Marco…,“ Trish said, gratefully before asking, ‘How was visiting your grandparents in Angel Grove?”

A somewhat annoyed look came across Marco’s face as he spoke. “Same ol’, same ol’. I mean, don’t get me wrong, seeing Pop-Pop and Grammy is great and all, but being in Angel Grove you’d think I would have seen one monster!”

Trish giggled, tucked a strand of blazing red over her left ear and spoke. “Yeah…but there hasn’t been any monster activity there in ages. I mean, I was in Reefside visiting my uncle, and I didn’t see anything remotely resembling a monster... Yeah, ‘cept for Tess. I did get my hands on some pre-mo gameage, though.”

“Oh, really?”

Trish nodded. “I met the most awesome guy there and he asked me to beta test a game for him. I’m going to try to round up the guys and we can give it a spin at ZOOM this afternoon. Whattaya think?”

Marco grinned. “Sounds like a plan t‘me!”

School was about to start any minute, and Marco and Trish were cutting it close. If they didn’t hurry, they’d be late for First Period English with Mr. Barr, and they had heard from previous students that he didn’t tolerate tardiness very well. So, side by side, comparing schedules as they went, the two friends hurried through the scrambling throng towards the Humanities Wing of the school.

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Scene 7: Hallway Scuffle

Fourth period: lunchtime. Trish’s head was still reeling from Barr’s English AP, McCarthy’s History, and Drennan’s Spanish classes. She walked side by side with Marco (who suffered with her through English and Spanish), both of them slumped together like they had just ran a marathon. They were turning the corner that led to the entrance to the cafeteria when they heard a yelp coming from the opposite direction.

The two teens instinctively turned and saw a young man of African decent with a huge tuft of curly black hair atop his head being posted against the wall by two very unruly looking boys in black. The boy was pleading, whimpering something about being sorry. Trish and Marco were already halfway down the hall when one of the boys began to raise his hand to punch the poor kid.

“Listen, you little punk: you need to watch where you’re goin’.. Otherwise, you’re bound to get hurt!” said the guy angrily as his fist began to race towards the boy’s face.

From out of nowhere, another hand shot out and grabbed the fist that was a mere inch away from connecting with the boy’s nose. Trish and Marco’s run stuttered and stopped as they watched the bully’s fist be forcibly retracted by a young Asian guy.

“You really aren’t one to talk, Val,” the rescuer said, all but flinging the bullies away before moving in front of the other boy.

“Oh, look who it is, Lance: Captain Calculus!” said Val, mocking the protector with a snide sneer upon his face.

“Yeah, bet he’s gonna pull some of that crazy kung-fu on us now!” said Lance, half-laughing at the thought.

“Look, you two: Eddie’s done nothing to deserve this so why don’t you two move on and do something productive with your lives…like learn how to bathe!” said the Asian guy, who’s crisp blue button-down wasn’t even ruffled by the minor altercation.

“What’d you say, freak?!” asked Lance roughly as he yanked the boy in blue by the collar and proceeded to raise his fist.

“What’s going on here?!” asked an unmistakably adult voice from behind Trish and Marco’s back. The other four teens turned towards the voice (the boy in blue and the one against the wall behind him just taking notice to Trish and Marco‘s presence).

“Nuh-nuh-nothing at all, Coach Taylor. Nothing at all…” said Val, as he yanked Lance by the arm and hightailed it towards the cafeteria.

Coach Taylor, a younger black man with dreadlocks that stopped right under his ears looked from the boys on the wall to Marco and Trish. “Okay, you guys alright? Gracie, Wong? De Luca, O’Dea?” Coach Taylor asked, looking from one group of two to the other.

“We’re just fine, Coach. Thanks for the assist,” said the Asian boy in blue as he began to dust himself off and help his friend with his things.

“No problem. If you have any more trouble out of those two, you come to me. Okay?”

All four nodded as the coach proceeded to move in the opposite direction.

“J.T.! Dude, that was some wild Jet Li stuff you just pulled! Props, man!”

The young Asian guy shook his head and spoke. “Nah, it wasn’t about showing off. Eddie was in trouble and I wasn’t about to let those jerks mess with him.”

The black boy looked slightly ashamed and embarrassed…his cheeks seemed a bit redder. His green t-shirt was now all slackened at the collar and his face looked as if he were seconds from crying.

“Eddie, are you okay?” Trish said, moving to his side.

“I-I-I-I’m f-f-f-fine…” he stuttered. He yanked up his things and moved as quickly as he could toward the boy’s bathroom off to the side. Trish tried to catch up with him, but fell back as he zoomed through the door of the lavatory.

“Great!…Just great!” Trish said, slumping against the wall.

“We should go talk to him,” said Marco, tapping J.T. on the shoulder and nodding towards the bathroom door.

“It’s probably better if you don’t. The poor guy’s just been embarrassed and emasculated…Just leave him alone.” Trish whispered, moving between the two of the guys. She turned, moved back to the door, and cupped her hands against it.

She shouted into her hands, “Eddie? We’re going to the cafeteria now. Come find us when you’re ready, okay?”

She heard a muffled ‘Okay’ from within the confines of the bathroom. With that, she moved away from the door, snatched her two friends by the hand, and walked off towards the cafeteria.

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Scene 8: Lunchroom Reminiscence

Tess was sitting at the table at the front right of the cafeteria, in an area that was commonly known as “The Popular Pit”, engaged in ‘deep, meaningful’ conversation with a group of her friends. Very socially important topics such as preferred hairstyles and favorite boy band were being discussed when a group of four people, all in varying shades of pink, walked past, single file, heading towards an empty table that was covered with a pink and white polka-doted tablecloth. Tess pretended not to notice, but she couldn’t help but sneak a glimpse at the group.

A blonde girl with vibrent ice-blue eyes leading the procession was her main focus at that moment. Tess checked out of the conversation she had been engrossed in in order to watch the quartet more closely. The blonde was the first to sit down at the lavish table, followed by a curvaceous brunette with bone-straight bangs, a young man with feathery brown hair in a blindingly pink blazer over a white and pink stripped button-down, and a young Latina with a cute short hairstyle who wore a pink two-tiered ruffled skirt. As she sat, the girl looked over her shoulder in Tess’s direction and flashed a quick smile. Strangely enough, Tess knew it to be genuine and she offered up her own briefly before catching the piercing blue gaze of the blonde, at which point both sharply turned away in disgust.

Tess looked down at her barely-touched salad and began to reminisce…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two years ago, in freshmen year, Tess had been in a clique of popular girls. Their names were Regina Lake, Naomi Kirk, and Chrissie Dumas. At some point or another, one of them (“Regina swears it was her…,“ harked Tess within her thoughts) decided they would call themselves “Pink Positive” and that they must always wear pink from that moment on.

Somehow or another, Regina gained leadership of this little group. She dictated everything, from whose house the girls would hang out at to what the girls would eat as part of their diet regimens. Tess blindly followed along with this little ordeal until her best friend in the group, Naomi (a very pretty Black girl) nearly starved herself to death and was hospitalized for anorexia nervosa in their sophomore year. The ordeal really shook Tess, so bad that she started eating like her sister did (i.e. like an All-American boy) to compensate for the proper meals she missed. Regina really took offense to that and wrote it down as “Strike One”.

Regina had always been that way, though. Tess and she had competed for role of "Most Popular Girl" since they were in pre-school. Regina usually won because her parents were rich, so she could practically buy an entourage if she wanted (and, she kind of did)...

Chrissie was also there from the begining, but she was far more central when the group was younger. Once they hit middle school, however, she started gravitating more and more towards Regina for some odd reason. Tess always assumed it was because Regina had a way of manipulating Chrissie to feel as if she were smarter than she actually was.

Lisa Vega, the cute Hispanic girl, joined right when Naomi was taken out of public school by her parents. Lisa was new and a bit awkward, but everybody knew she came from a moneyed family because her aunt (and legal guardian) was head of the school board of their district. Regina wasted no time in recruiting her to Pink Positive.

Reese Hart, the well-coifed, very handsome young man in the burgundy silk-lined blazer, joined the group during a very tumultuous time. Regina and Tess happened to show up at a social function in the exact same outfit. This, as Regina so kindly put it was “a total FRICKIN’ social catastrophe!” Needless to say, that went down as “Strike Two”…

The thought of that made Tess seethe with rage (but not more so than “The Third Stike”)…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked back over at Reese. She knew the least about him. She had secretly befriended Lisa to the point that the two were carrying on a secret friendship right under Regina’s nose, but Reese was a mystery. Everybody assumed he was gay, given his flamboyant nature and the typical flippancy associated with your ’normal’ gay man…Reese never commented on the handsomeness of any guy (nor did he dispute it). He simply sat by during conversations about boys with a half-grin on his face. The most that Tess knew about Reese was that he was a gymnast and a swimmer (the thought of him in those tight little outfits made her giggle a little).

She shrugged off her memories and went back to chatting with her friends.

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Scene 9: The Threat Emerges

Josephine O’Dea was just settling in at her desk at The Oceanview Chronicle when a woman with curly blonde hair and a frazzled disposition rushed up to her.

“Jo! Jo! Did you listen to the radio on your way to work?” she asked, practically jittering as she looked down at Josephine who was just about to login to her computer.

“No, just the usual sibling bickering in stereo. Why? What is it?” Jo replied, faintly concerned.

The woman offered no answer, but instead pointed towards a corner of the room.

“Janice, what’s going--” Jo began, but as her eyes followed the invisible line leading from the tip of Janice’s finger to the corner where a group of their coworkers stood huddled around a single computer monitor.

The two women stood and made their way to the group, where Jo tapped a handsome man with a very rugged five o’clock shadow on his shoulder. “Grant? What’s all this about?”

Grant turned towards her at her touch and then moved to the side to let her through. “Wanda got an anonymous e-mail this morning… Something about “The End of Humankind”. She opened it and…well…”

Jo shook her head as she looked at the monitor. “Don’t tell me…” Jo whispered.

“Yup,” interceded Grant, “A virus.”

The monitor had gone completely black, but there was a message (in a font that made it look as if it were written with blood) scrolling across the screen. It read, “Prepare for the end of your pathetic human world. I am taking over--MB”

Jo looked to Grant at her right and then to Janice at her left. “Who’s MB?”

Janice shivered and spoke. “Megabyte. It’s some hacker calling himself Megabyte. It was on all the radio stations…seems like he‘s struck overnight. Everything in Oceanview that‘s even remotely controlled by an electronic is in danger of being exploited or sabotaged…”

Jo’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the screen… “No,” she said, “This isn’t just a hacker. This isn’t just a localized thing… Something bad is about to happen.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth did the monitor of the computer begin to crackle with electricity. Everyone quickly moved away from it before it burst into flame. Seconds later, every screen in the room went black with the same message.
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Scene 10: Best Friends Forever

Trish, J.T., and Marco entered the cafeteria at a very sedate gait. J.T., with his head hung low, clenched his fists and bit his lip before speaking.

“I just wanted to help him. I didn’t mean to embarrass him…” he said, remorsefully.

“J.T., had you not been there Val and Lance really could have hurt Eddie,” Trish said.

“Yeah, dude: you’re like, a total hero!” Marco exclaimed.

“I don’t feel like one…,” mumbled J.T..

Trish draped a comforting arm about J.T.’s shoulders as the three friends took a seat at their normal table, amidst their fellow geeks. On either side of the trio, there was a game of Magic: The Gathering being played and right behind her, Trish could hear the unmistakable sounds of a Beyblade tournament being executed on the tabletop. Trish leaned her head against J.T.’s shoulder, rubbing his other with her hand.

“Really, J.T., you are an awesome friend,” said Trish.

“Yeah…,” came a timid voice from behind the three. They turned to see Eddie standing behind them, a timorous smile now upon his face. “You saved my butt back there, J.T. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you wouldn’t have been there.”

Marco scooted over to let Eddie sit next to Trish. She leaned over and wrapped both her arms about him in a cheering hug. “You guys…! I’m so glad we’re friends!” J.T., Marco, and Eddie all smiled and nodded their agreement. Trish looked at her friends with bright eyes before exclaiming. “Dude! We need to get in line before the Snack Bar closes!”

The four friends bolted to the lunch line.

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Scene 11: Trouble at Oceanview First National

All that afternoon, while the kids were in school, chaos was beginning to randomly break out all over town. Stoplights blinked and switched colors sporadically, ATM machines began spewing change like busted fire hydrants, and all sorts of alarm systems were going off at once at several businesses throughout the city.

Oceanview as in turmoil, and it seemed that with the scheming hacker Megabyte on the loose, things would only get worse. News station vans were suddenly popping up in front of all of the scenes of mayhem, capturing them for the 6:00 news program. Jo and Grant showed up on the scene of Oceanview First National Bank (its system the latest to go haywire) trying to get the scoop on the scope of the damage being caused by the mysterious computer genius.

While Grant busied himself taking photos of the pandemonium outside, Jo (recorder and notepad in hand, pencil jutting out from behind one ear) dodged through a throng of people fleeing through the bank’s revolving doors in attempts to escape whatever was going on inside. Inside was where the story was, and Jo was determined to get at it. As another flood of screaming bank patrons spewed from the revolving doors, Jo measured the most opportune moment and lunged into the whirling entranceway.

Seconds later she was all but flung out onto the cold marble floor of the interior of the bank, sprawled somewhat spread-eagle in her landing. Extricating herself from the floor and relocating herself behind a short wall patrician, Jo barely had time to access the bedlam surrounding her. Cashiers were opening and closing with violent ferocity, spewing bills and change every which way. The vaults had decided to open and close of their own accord, and the few people still remaining in the bank weren’t there by their own discretion. Wires from computers had suddenly sprung to life and ensnared those poor patrons who had the misfortune of being near enough to be captured. People lay writhing on the floor, screaming as the lights chose to flicker on and off and the sprinkler system was playing “Red Light, Green Light”. Jo learned this the hard way as she was suddenly drenched by a sporadic downpour before she stood, still crouching, and took off running until she was able to dodge under the tellers’ countertops off to the side.

As showers of sparks began to rain down upon her, Jo began to scribble feverishly, recounting the scene in shorthand on her little yellow notepad. She slumped against the bottom of the counter, eyes dotting from spot to spot, trying to figure out just how she was going to get herself out of the situation she’d entered.

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Scene 12: After School

“So, Trish…When we gonna see that beta in action?”

The school bell had just rang and Trish, Marco, Eddie, and J.T. were just stepping out into the warm sunshine on the front steps of the school. Marco had just posed the question to Trish, who had been lost in relative silence since lunch.
At the mention of “beta”, both J.T. and Eddie perked right up.

“Beta? As in ‘exclusive pre-game play’?!” Eddie asked eagerly.

“Beta as in ‘virgin material’ untouched and unseen by none other but the creator…” Marco said with an air of mystique in his voice.

“What kinda game are we talkin’ here?!” J.T. questioned excitedly.

All three began to chatter about Trish and carried on until she finally stopped and erupted into a fit of laughter.

“It’s a game based on the Power Rangers.” she said simply.

“Which Power Rangers? There’s been like nine thousand of them or something…” asked Eddie.

“All of them. Every team that has ever existed and, I think ,one that doesn’t. Yet.” Trish responded.

“Sick!” exclaimed Marco. “So, we’re heading to ZOOM! to check it out, right? Right?!”

All three boys were now in an absolute tizzy. The quartet had been walking steadily and were now nearly at the end of the drive leading away from the school. At this persistent urging to go and take the game for a test-spin, Trish stopped walking completely and then appeared to be lost in thought again.

“I don’t know,” she said aloud, in a seriously ponderous voice, “I’ve got a ton of homework I need to attend to…”

The three boys stopped yapping and looked at the petite redhead as if she’d just punched all three square in the jaw.

“Just messin’ wit’cha!” she giggled and took off running, the chains of her Tripp pants ching-chang clattering as she went. “Last one to ZOOM!’s the last to get the stick!” she yelled over her shoulder.

At this, her three comrades instantly began to give chase, all laughing and joking as they went.

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Scene 13: ZOOM!, Incorporated

The four rapturously rambunctious teens jumbled and tumbled into the colorful entranceway of ZOOM!, Inc., the local hangout for all geeks, freaks, and socially inept. It was a nerd’s paradise, a cross between a computer lounge, video game store, coffee shop, and a book store. Yeah, all of that and more. Glass globe lighting fixtures painted to look like celestial bodies in our solar system dangled from the ceiling which itself mirrored the starry night sky. The floors were a clean linoleum tile, checkered sky blue and white. If you followed the pattern with your eyes, you’d see that it eventually ended with a plush red carpet that was designated as the book reading area, where tables and chairs were arranged in comfortable, inviting arrangements. Between these two areas was a bar/ counter where food was served and people could purchase things. Behind said counter, there stood a middle-aged Black man who was busying himself by wiping down the counter which reflected the blue and white checkered pattern of the floor.

He lifted his gaze as the four approached, a smile of kind familiarity gracing his face. “Hey, kids!” he called to them as they took places at stools in front of the bar.

“Hi, Mr. Williamson!” they coursed. He grinned even wider at them before speaking.

“I told you guys to call me Roland!” he said with false exasperation.

“Aw, Mr. Williamson, you know we can’t do that! We respect you way too much to address you in such a flippant and facetious manner. You’re one of the rare adults who actually deserves a title of authority,” said Trish in an honest and openly cheeky way.

Mr. Williamson drew a deep breath through clenched teeth as if he had burnt himself and then exclaimed, “Ooh! Take it back! I don’t ever wanna be called an ‘adult’! Even if I am one of the cool ones!”

The five of them chuckled over this exchange for a while before Mr. Williamson finally stopped cleaning off the countertop and stood looking at the youths. “So, what are you guys up to today?”

“Well, Mr. Roland,” Marco began, “It seems that some exclusive gaming goodness has fallen into the hands of our young heroine here!” And with that, he nodded towards Trish, the only girl present at the moment.

“Oh, really?” Mr. Roland said, looking at Trish with an interestedly quizzical look upon his face.

Eddie nodded and spoke. “Yeah. She’s been assigned the title of Beta Tester for some new, up-and-coming game developer.”

“Say what?!” Mr. Roland said, his eyes growing large for a second. “Any body I‘ve heard of?”

Trish grinned and replied. “I dunno…Does the name ‘Ethan James’ ring any bells?”

Mr. Roland dropped the rag he’d been fiddling with and stared at Trish in awe, as did her three best friends.

“Ethan…?” stuttered Marco.

“J-J-James…?” sputtered Eddie.

Trish looked at the stunned faces of her friends, clearly oblivious to the apparent weight of this news. “Is there something I’m missing?” she questioned.

“Ethan James is a gaming god, Trish. The dude’s like, top five percent of all the professional gamers in the world.” J.T. answered.

“The world, Trish. THE. WORLD!!!” Marco exclaimed, practically breathless.

Trish was flabbergasted! She’d hung out, flittered, and all but made a serious connection with a guy who apparently was one of the Who’s Who in the entire gaming world. “What?!” she wondered aloud in an excited whisper.

“Honestly, Trish, and you call yourself a gamer!” reprimanded Eddie.

Trish tried to defend herself, saying, “I mean, I knew about Master Blasters, and Zero Hope…but top five percent in the world?!”

Mr. Roland remained stunned and silent through this exchange, but now joined the discussion.

“So,” he began, “You guys are here to test out a game designed by a veritable celebrity before anybody else even knows it exists?”

It took them less than twenty seconds to be at a computer, logged in, and ready to play.

“Holy cow, Trish, you weren’t kiddin’!” Marco exclaimed, pointing at the computer screen some time later. There was displayed a bright, vivid opening featuring virtual adaptations of all of the Ranger teams that had ever been heard of, exhibiting their skills and valor.

“Every team…from the team from Angel Grove,” noted Eddie as a screen came up, labeled ‘Choose Your Heroes’, “to some futuristic looking team from the year 2025.”

“They say that the team from Silver Hills was from the year 3000. Wonder why they aren’t placed last?” questioned Trish.

“That’s never actually been confirmed, I don’t think. Also, who’s to say that they’re reckoning of time is the same as ours?” J.T. responded.

“Still, 3000...!” Marco breathed in awe.

“Looks like he’s given them all proper names, guys! The Angel Grove team are the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and it says that that other team is called Space Patrol Delta,” spoke Trish.

“Wonder what happened to Space Patrols Alpha, Beta, and Epsilon?” Marco questioned jokingly.

“Here’s the team that saved Mariner Bay all those years ago. Operation: Lightspeed Rescue. Remember that?” Eddie piped up.

“I refuse to believe that some subterranean sect of demons were trying to conquer the world…” J.T. stated simply.

“So, I guess all those 50 foot monsters were all figments of our collectively overactive imaginations, then?” gibed Marco playfully.

All four teens began giggling at this before Trish turned and looked at her friends in turn. “So…Which team should we try?”

“I vote the for the Angel Grove team,” said Eddie.

Marco and J.T. agreed. “All right, then,” Trish concluded, “looks like ‘Mighty Morphing’ it is!”

Trish double clicked the button to select the team.

No sooner had she done this did the screen suddenly began to flicker black and red with what appeared to be fractured, corrupted code. All four of the teens were shocked by this, and in a clamorous clatter called over Mr. Roland.

When Mr. Roland’s attempts to fix the computer went to no avail, he tried shutting off the modem manually. The only thing the modem did was open it’s CD drive and eject the game disc…or rather, shot it five feet into the air. Luckily, Marco reacted fast enough to catch it cleanly in it’s case, which he shut closed with a snap. The monitor began to crackle and billows of smoke began rising from the back of it. Mr. Roland instructed the kids to get away from the monitor as fast as they could, and it was lucky that he did, because in the next second the screen exploded in a flurry of glass shards, sparks, and smoke. Within moments, the two computers on either side of that one began to do the same thing, all exploding as if on cue.

After the initial shock of this all wore off, the kids stood around dumbstruck, unable to speak until Mr. Roland broke the silence.

“Well…That was different,” he said, staring at the five ruined computers. “I guess that Megabyte virus has really gotten around.”

The four oblivious teens looked at him questioningly before he answered their unasked question.

“Oh, that’s right, you’ve guys have been in school all day! Well, it seems that some jerk has let lose this really nasty virus on The Net and it’s been causing all kinds of chaos around town. I guess I must have forgotten to disconnect these from the internet,” he explained, gesturing at the ruined computers as he did.

“This blows Monkey Balls,” Marco huffed, looking brokenheartedly at the remains of their favorite computers.

At that moment, Trish piped up. “That’s all right, you guys! We can play it at my house. My laptop’s been charging all day, so I know it’s not been online,” she said.

The guys looked at each other, then at Trish. They quickly regained their smiles and were veritably jittering with anticipation as they bid Mr. Roland goodbye and good luck and headed off towards Trish’s house.

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Scene 14: Game On!...Finally!

Fifteen or so odd minutes later, the quartet of teens had arrived at the O’Dea residence. Trish led the procession up the concrete path that ran from the sidewalk up to the front door. The outside of the house had a very classic feel about it, a very comforting sort of hominess-- like the kind you see on calendar pictures. The outside was done in cobbled stone brick and half of the house was covered in a lovely, vividly green ivy that had grown beyond the tresses that framed the front porch.

Meanwhile, elsewhere…
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DivaNPink22: this is soooo boring!!!

RosaHermosa07: Lol, I’m srry! How long u got?

DivaNPink22: dunno. mom says until i’m ‘genuinely sorry’ for sneaking out

RosaHermosa07: did you at least meet some hot guys?

DivaNPink22: a few! lol!

RosaHermosa07: seriously, Tess, we need to just start hanging out again

DivaNPink22: wish we could, Lis. I really do…but Regina would have our heads!

RosaHermosa07: bump her, Tess! Who cares what she thinks?

DivaNPink22: hate to break it to you, girl, but regina kinda runs oceanview

DivaNPink22: she’s kinda the Queen B

RosaHermosa07: well I think it’s time somebody contested her throne!

DivaNPink22: Lisa. luv. you’re speaking ‘geek’ again! LOL!

RosaHermosa07: Srry! I just think it’s time someone took her down

DivaNPink22: yeah, well, me too…but who’s gonna do it? she’s got all the power. her dad owns half of downtown.

RosaHermosa07: we could do it, Tess. We could totally topple Regina’s regime.

DivaNPink22: Lisa. u r doin it again!

RosaHermosa07: lol! Hey, if u’re grounded, how come u’re online?

DivaNPink22: im on Trish’s laptop…uh oh, think someone’s home!

RosHermosa07: well, u better get off then! LOL!

DivaNPink22: ok, i’ll ttyl, Lis! Smooches!

RosaHermosa07: l8ah!
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Tess quickly signed off, closed all windows she had open and snapped the lid shut on her sister’s laptop. She figured she only had seconds to react, so she rolled backwards over her sister’s twin bed (so ironic!) spun around as her feet hit the plush carpeted floor, leapt and twirled gracefully onto her own bed, upon which she immediately picked up the nearest teen beauty magazine and pretended to be deeply immersed in it.

Meanwhile, the other four teens had entered the abode, Trish calling out her mother’s name to see if she was home.

“Ma?! Ma?! Ma?! Mom?! Mom?! Mom?! Mommy?! Mommy?! Mommy?! Mother?! Mother?! Mother?! Mum?! Mum?! Mum?! Mummy?! Mummy?! Mummy?! Mama?! Mama?! Mama?! Ma?! Ma?! Ma?!”


J.T. nudged her, as the other three teens had become obviously annoyed by her shrill cries, Marco with his ears firmly plugged by his index fingers, and spoke, “Gah, Trish! I don’t think she’s home!”

The four of them giggled as Trish led the way through her living room and down the hall towards the room she shared with her sister.

“Good, then there should be no interruptions!” said Trish, grinning like a Cheshire Cat, rubbing her hands together mischievously just after she had pushed open the door to her room.

The three teens were greeted by the sight of Tess, leaning back into the mass of pillows and stuffed animals that populated her bed, apparently very engrossed in an article in Teen Scene Magazine. Trish rolled her eyes and made a beeline for her desk, which was littered with random junk, upon which her candy apple red laptop lay gleaming in a very beguiling manner.

Tess, out of the corner of her eye, had been watching the quartet with an almost expectant air. And sure enough, just as Trish’s hand was about an inch away from the laptop, she turned and glared at Tess, whose eyes quickly darted back across the page as if they hadn’t moved from the words written there.

“You’ve been on my laptop, haven’t you?” Trish said, her voice thick with the biting severity of accusation.

Tess sat up quickly to retort, attempting to sound affronted by the allegation of her sister. “No way! I’ve been reading magazines all afternoon! It’s all I can do, after all: I’m grounded, remember?”

“Oh, I remember, all right!” said Trish, her arms folding in a menacing manner. “But I don‘t think you do!”

Tess scoffed and pointed at her own cotton candy pink Mac sitting on her own neatly organized desk. “Hello?! I have my own computer?! If I were going to disobey mother (and why on Earth would I do that?), why would I even bother trying to get onto…that!” she said, pointing with apparent revulsion at Trish’s laptop, upon the front of which an alien’s face sat staring serenely upward at the ceiling. “Knowing you, you’ll have it locked up tighter than Fort Knox. How would I even get onto if I wanted to?”

Giggling mirthlessly, Trish responded, “Oh, I don’t know: the same way I broke into your blog? We’re twins, Tess. We kinda know each other a little too well.”

Tess’s pretty button nose twitched, the same way it always did when she was agitated. “You, dear doppelganger, know nothing about me!” she shouted.

Trish’s three male companions just hung silently in the background, apparently afraid that if they did anything too noticeable, they’d be drawn into this sibling row.

Trish glowered at her identical sister, who reciprocated the glare with what appeared to be double the irritation.

After a few more moments of awkward, tension-thick silence, J.T. spoke up.

“Uh…so…are we still playing the game?” he asked, tentatively.

Trish must have forgotten all about the game during her dispute with her sister, because at the mention of it, her entire face brightened up and she turned back towards her laptop, smacking her forehead with her palm before speaking. “Sorry, guys, I dunno what got into me!”

Settling down at the rolling chair in front of her desk, she looked around at her sister, now speaking as congenially as if they’d just exchanged a pleasant conversation. “Tess, do you mind if we borrow your computer chair?”
Tess rolled her eyes and gave a vauge wave of the hand, which Trish took as a ‘yes’. She nudged Marco in the thigh and pointed towards the chair, which he immediately went to fetch. Upon returning, he settled into a spot next to her by her at the laptop, which she had just opened and was preparing for the game.

“Marco, you still got the disk?” Trish asked, not looking away from the screen.

“Right here, ma’am!” he said, producing the disk in one swift and fluid movement.

As Trish moved to put the disk in the drive, she failed to notice the little America Online icon flashing at the bottom of the screen on the toolbar. Had she noticed, she may have thought to ask her sister if she had been online, and then would probably have connected that with the possibility that the lethal Megabyte Virus could have potentially infected her computer as it had apparently done with those at ZOOM!. But as she pushed the disk into the laptop, a black screen lifted and her desktop was hidden from view as the game began its opening montage of Rangers past.

“Finally!” breathed Trish excitedly as she leaned over further into the screen.

“Yeah!” exclaimed Eddie from behind her. “This should be a blast!”

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Scene 15: Eyeless Sea

A veritable sea of eyeless creatures was swarming about a huge central dome over which an electrical glaze was flickering powerfully. Each creature was identical, though varying in color, all with the exact same huge, gaping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. They were humanoid in build, but something about them suggested more brute strength than the average human body is capable of. They all seemed hungrily focused on the dome, many of them even scraping with their huge claw-like hands trying to pierce the electrical barrier that separated them from the inner dome. In fact, each time one advanced close enough, the protective shield would erupt in a shower of lightening parks, the crackling tongues of bluish-white light striking those nearest it and flinging them several yards away.

Somewhere, far in the back of this enormous and frightful crowd, two lone figures stood apart atop what appeared to be a podium erected at the back as what appeared to be conductor’s position. One tall and slightly slumping, and the other short and apparently bouncing up and down on the bottoms of their heals, what appeared to be a copious amount of hair bobbing up and down atop their head.

“You’re not going to get a better view doing that, you know?” came a high-pitched, somewhat muffled voice. The taller of the two, a man with red hair neatly parted down the middle with two heavy bangs on either side framing his two-toned metal-masked face, was apparently looking down at the multi-colored head of his companion.

“Well, genius, do you have a better idea?” she responded in a voice very much like a little girl, singsong and not the least bit threatening, even through her condescension.

“As a matter of fact…,” he began, and he waved a gloved hand through the air in front of him, leaving behind in its wake a window. This wasn’t a window in the general since, but a window as a viewing screen usually seen on a computer. It made sense really. They were basically inside of a computer, after all.

The masked man poked a button on the window with a gloved hand and the screen immediately enlarged, setting before them like a movie screen. In the window, they could easily see the teeming mass of eerie eyeless beings, and the view even panned to give them a wider range of viewing.

“Slash, you are a genius!” giggled the shorter female with all manner of colorful sprigs of hair dangling about her spookily violet eyes.

“It’s what they pay me for, m’dear Hack, it’s what they pay me for.” responded Slash with a casual flick of his masked head.

“Who pays you?!” demanded Hack, hands suddenly upon her hips in indignant protest.

“It was a joke, Ha--Oh, never mind.” responded Slash, before suddenly pointing at the screen and continuing. “Look! I think they’re starting to make some progress!”

Indeed, the shield around the dome appeared to be flickering with less force.

“It’s only a matter of time now!” said Slash, suddenly very chipper.

“Yeah! Megabyte’s gonna be really pleased about this!” chimed in Hack, her demeanor bubbly.

And, from out in the distance, the dome gave another crackle and threw eight or more of the eyeless creatures back into the crowd.

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Scene 16: Inside The Dome

“Ayi, ayi, ayi, ayi, ayi!!!!”

Clinking and clanking about the high-tech interior of an astonishingly vast and circular command center, a small robot with an overlarge blue owl’s head was apparently in a state of panic, tinkering about at various consoles while repeatedly yipping “Ayi, ayi, ayi, ayi, ayi!” in its wake. Meanwhile, nearby, the figure of a woman with long cascading locks of intricately curled lavender hair was turned towards the vaulted ceiling above, upon which scenes from outside of the dome where magnified for clarity. After watching yet another mindless drone get repelled back from the electrified force field, the woman turned and revealed a beautiful silver-skinned face, iridescent and glowing in the affected light of the command center. Ethereal and goddess-like, the woman addressed the robot in dulcet tones of comfort.

“Calm down, Wiki. The shields are still holding strong, aren‘t they?” she asked, crystalline lavender eyes focused upon the movements of the small robotic unit.

“For now, Motherboard, but not for much longer! They reached maximum voltage hours ago and we’re verging on critical mass! Overload seems emanate at this point…” the tiny robot responded, pulling levers and flipping switches as he continued to move around the circular hall.

“What about power reserves?” Motherboard entreated, her calm demeanor faltering somewhat as she too began to move around the circle, checking various consoles as she went.

“At best, the reserves would give us another hour, but that’s it. Motherboard, DotHQ is a direct conduit to the Morphing Grid! We can’t let Megabyte’s minions get inside the dome!” responded the little android, obviously beginning to lose hope.

“That is an understatement. Megabyte having access to the Grid would be devastatingly calamitous…not to mention bad. It must not happen.” Motherboard answered back, pressing a button sequence out on a keypad in hopes of aiding the defenses. From outside, the sounds of lasers being blasted into the sea of mindless creatures could be heard. Up above, the scene was featured in hi-def.

“Unless something happens in the next fifteen minutes that will somehow tip the scales in our favor, we may very well go…offline.” Wiki finally concluded, plopping down in a slump on steps leading up to a higher circular landing.

“Offline…?” repeated Motherboard in a dire whisper as she watched as the crowd of creatures began to climb up the sides of the electrified force field.

Suddenly, a fierce look came upon her face and she spoke with a certain stony certainness that seemed to startle the little robotic unit.

“Very well,” she began, “looks like we have no other alternative. Suit up, Wiki. We’re going into Crisis Mode.”

“But--!”

“No buts, Wiki. We are the last line of defense for the Morphing Grid. We have to protect it with our lives.”

Suddenly her form began to glow white hot, her hair whipping about her in an invisible wind. She stretched her right arm to full length above her head and called out, “Crisis Mode, Engage!”

From out of nowhere, it appeared, all manner of silvered, purplish armor grafted itself to her body, and in moments she stood before the diminutive android in the guise of a female gladiator, her long beautiful hair plaited straight down to her thighs. Elaborate circuit designs raced up and down her form as she clenched her metal-encased fists tightly before looking towards the little blue robot.

“Your turn.” she said simply.

The android stood reluctantly, outstretched his arms in front of him and called out, “Crisis Mode, Engage!”

Suddenly, his body began to change. It gained musculature and definition, he grew an impressive foot and a half, and his adorable overlarge owl’s head suddenly became more slender and hawk-like. Blue and gold shoulder pads, knee pads, and leg braces appeared out of nowhere upon his body. Razor-sharp featherlike appendages appeared upon his forearms and calves. His robot hands grew into talons, and his boat-sized feet turned into claws. Finally, as the intense light around him faded away, he stood taller than the silvery woman and looked equally as dangerous.

Above, blazed across the huge floating ‘windows’, the scenes from outside of the protective dome were becoming increasingly more disturbing. The eyeless creatures had somehow managed to begin scaling the force field and appeared to be slowly draining it of its energy. Without warning, blaring sirens and flashing red lights began going off all around the command center, and a calm, robotic female voice stated serenely, “Condition Critical. Complete System Failure in 25 minutes.”

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Scene 17: Recruitment

Motherboard stood beside Wiki as he stood at the central console, her luminescent lavender eyes gazing intently into the huge floating window before them. The screen was a virtual swirling mass of data: a direct view into the Ethernet. Wiki was typing at an unbelievable speed, his hands actually blurred in a fury of motion. Through the intensity of his speed, her eyes only had time to catch key phrases like “Five Teenagers With Attitude”, “Power Rangers”, and “Recruitment”. Both of them were still in Crisis Mode, and the alarm system within the .HQ was still blaring full blast.

From above, all of a sudden, came that same calm automated female voice. “Condition Critical. Complete System Failure in 20 minutes. Exterior defenses running at 18%.”

Moments after this dire announcement had been made, Wiki ceased typing. He looked towards Motherboard and nodded. “I’ve just sent an unprecedented mass E-mail to every person in North America who fit the criteria.”

Motherboard nodded and said. “Then we’ve nothing more to do but hope…and fend off this invasion the best we can.”

The two looked at each other once more, a moment passing before they both nodded firmly in agreement and began running from The Atrium towards the sizable vestibule of the .HQ.

Wiki hesitated as he approached the consol of controls that would open the protective gates of .HQ. Opening them would mean leaving the entryway unguarded, save for the ever weakening force field thinly veiling it.

“Are you ready, Motherboard?” the automated unit questioned, his mechanical voice actually tinged with trepidation.

“Not really, but we’ve really no other alternative, have we?” she replied, visually reading herself for battle.
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Scene 18: Teenagers With Attitude

Explosions from all sides, enemy foot soldiers as far as the eye could see, and one loan spandex-clad hero in the midst of it all.

Trish and her three best friends were all crowded around her laptop, watching her maneuver the character sprite of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger through a very hectic stage in which Putties were advancing at every turn. Firing lasers and sending kicks and punches flying with furious speed and accuracy, it seemed Trish was an instant expert at the game’s subtle control system.

“Yo, Trish, you’re tearin’ it up!” exclaimed Marco over her shoulder.

“Total pwnage, dude!” Eddie proclaimed over her other, right as it appeared Trish was nearing the end of the stage where she would face a boss character in a battle.

“You’re a natural, Trish!” chimed in J.T. as the avatar of the original Red Ranger was shown to have reached a set of stairs, at the top of which stood the notorious Goldar, brandishing his sword and howling ferociously.

“Whatever,” mumbled Tess, rolling over on her side away from her geeky sister and her equally geeky, gross guy friends. She wrapt her pillow about her head and sighed heavily, wondering what her ‘bestie’ Lisa was up to at the moment.

Trish’s face was set in determination as the boss battle began. Goldar’s strategy was one of hit-and-run: he’d attack in splurges, then back off to escape damage. Trish immediately found a flaw in his strategy and circumvented him every time he attempted to move away from her, delivering major damage when she could. Eventually, Goldar was down to one life bar…and he was flashing orange.

“Oh man, this is so sweet! Trish, when you’re finished pummeling that lame-o, it’s my turn!” Marco chirped, just as the sprite of the Mighty Morphin’ Red Ranger lept and did a flying roundhouse, knocking Goldar out. As the defeated foe fell to the ground, a nicely animated explosion sealed the deal on his defeat.

“Awesome!” cried out Eddie and the four commenced to nerd-out over Trish’s triumph over Goldar… It wasn’t until a few seconds later that J.T. noticed something odd.

“Hey, guys…What’s that?” he asked, pointing at the screen. The foursome studied the screen with curiosity and interest because a mysterious window had popped up, pausing gameplay, with a very intriguing proposal.

WE NEED FIVE TEENAGERS WITH ATTITUDE. WILL YOU TAKE UP THE CAUSE? WILL YOU BE POWER RANGERS?

The choices were a simple “Yes” and “No”. The teens all looked at each other and shrugged.

“Must be part of the game?” deduced Marco, albeit questioningly.

“It would have to be,” J.T. agreed, “Still…funny for it to pop up now after we’ve already been playing…”

“Well, what should we do you guys?” Trish asked.

“I say ‘Yes’.” Eddie said definitely.

“Sure, why not?” Marco added.

“I’m in.” said J.T.

“Well…,” Trish said, taking on a mock-serious demeanor, “it says we need five…”

The four all turned to look at the slumping, jaded form of Trish’s sister.

“What say you, Tess of the Mall-Crawlers?” Trish asked, her voice hearty and loud.

Trish was unprepared for the stuffed unicorn that Tess hurled at her, but she giggled at her sister’s aspiration.

“Whatever. Leave me out of your stupid little game, Geek-a-rella.” Tess spat bitterly before rolling back over onto her side.

“I’ll take that as a definite ‘maybe’,” said Tess, smiling, “So, by the rule of majority, I guess that means we’re all in!”

She turned back to her laptop, her friends hovering about her, all a bit anxious (as they seemed to be anytime they were around when Trish and Tess bickered), her finger poised over the “enter” key.

She looked around slowly once more, obviously trying to build suspense.

“Oh, press the button already!” nudged Marco. Trish giggled and complied, pressing down hard on the key.

Suddenly, the computer screen began to glow brighter…brighter…unnaturally bright. The four friends, stunned at first, began to quickly move away from it in fear of it blowing up or worse. Tess, hearing the commotion before noticing how bright the room had gotten, turned over to see what was going on. Her eyes widened as the blinding light from the screen began to actually engulf the room, as if it were tangible.

Her sister and her three friends were now all now moving towards the door, and Tess wasted no time in getting behind them.

“The door’s stuck!” shouted J.T., who was at the front of the line tugging with all of his might at the door knob.

It wouldn't budge.

They were now all backed against the wall…painted into a corner. The light slowly inched around them until suddenly it was upon them and the entire room was as white as freshly fallen snow. In a flash, the light had dimmed and faded away, receding back into the screen…leaving an empty room in it’s wake.


TO BE CONTINUED...

[Gold Ranger]

ooooooooohhhhh.....TSFR!! I wuuuuuuuuv it so far! lol XD *envies you even more now*