GreyRanger
10-16-2008, 12:37 PM
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The wormhole closes behind me, the swirling inky blue blackness and white sparkles sucking the warmth from me. Man, I hate that feeling. But I’m feeling pretty crap anyhow. You see, I can’t go home. Ever. I can visit a place that’s like home, but it’ll be a touch different. And that’s just not the same then is it?
I take off my helmet and stare into the black void that is my visor, the kanji for king. Or so I’m told. The white gloves are clean for once, then again all I did was transport a friend, well someone who looks a lot like my friend, back to his rightful reality. It’s all part of my job; stop realities from being messed with up to the point of disaster. Time Force could do it, but well they’re not the special ops team designed for this sort of thing. I am however, being charged by the big floating head and all to do so. I miss his wisdom; sometimes his corny lines would help ease how I felt. Other times they’d make me laugh at how corny they were, even if the advice was sound.
I peer at the scanners, the giant crystal clear screens scanning for any problems that my team and myself may need to deal with. As I watch each flickering snippet of a reality, I peer around to see if I’m alone. I am. I know I shouldn’t, but I need something to numb myself for a bit.
I close my eyes, letting my fingers blur over the keys, hoping my muscle memory won’t fail me now. As I inhale and exhale in slow, long breaths, I feel my fingers touch hard plastic gingerly, before slamming down and the crystal screens freeze. I tap a button and the screens plays once again, without flickering between realities…
***
Earth 1-3-2-6-1-2…
“Let me get this straight,” Jason Scot Lee said, lifting his gaze to meet that of Captain Mitchell’s. “You want me to register myself as a former ranger and join this…Initiative, as an instructor to teach new rangers how to carry out their duties.”
Captain Mitchell could feel the tension soar into the room, and he understood from the tone of Mr Lee’s voice, that he was not happy with this. But Captain Mitchell steeled his expression and smiled; it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Yes. It would be a good move on your part. You would be responsible for making sure something like this ever happened again,” Captain Mitchell reiterated, his mind briefly flitting to the incident that hung in the air between the two men.
“A man much wiser than anyone in this room once made me swear an oath. It consisted of three commands, do you know what they were Captain?” Jason said testily, after a moment of silent contemplation.
“Why yes, they we-!”
“Never use your power for personal gain. Never escalate a battle unless your opponent forces you to. And never reveal your identity, no one must know that you are a Power Ranger,” Jason interrupted, rattling off the commands like he’d just been told them a few moments before. “I’ve lived by those commands for a long time, using them to make sure that you and yours could even see this day as free men. And that’s how I intend to continue!”
Captain Mitchell had already heard enough and had signalled his men to take up arms. Jason was ready, shooting a look of disappointment at the Captain before rushing towards the window, a silver object in his hands ready. As the rifles opened fire, Jason had already opened his mouth to trigger his transformation.
“Tyrannosaurus!”
The yell alone caught the attention of the people below the skyscraper, as they saw a flash of bright red light morph into the first Red ranger of Earth; the shattering of glass made them keep a weary distance from the skyscraper. Bullets tore through any remaining glass left in the pane, each missing the Red ranger as he plummeted to his doom. On his way down, Jason called forth his Power Sword, and slammed it into the panes of glass to his left. As each pane was sliced, his descent was slowed enough for him to use the glass to propel himself away from the building and from the rifle range of Captain Mitchell’s men.
Back in the conference room, Dr. Thomas Oliver sighed as he go up from his chair and put his phone back in his pocket. He knew Jason would never have accepted that. The Power Rangers needed to be above the law in order for them to do their jobs properly. Public safety had always been a key issue with them; but these new rangers…some of them were a bit rash. They needed guidance. Jason would have to understand that. He’d told Captain Mitchell he would have a word. Besides, he’d worked with the Captain on the Lightspeed project; it would be good working with Ranger technology again.
***
“It’s the only way we can keep them from hunting us down and throwing us in jail!” Tommy yelled angrily, his patience spent as he tried to make his friends understand. “You think the battles and the destruction they caused wouldn’t catch up with us?! Well, did you?!”
“Tommy, calm down.” Catharine Hillard said softly, trying to ease the tension.
“I dunno Tommy, until this big thing, a bit of damage was okay as long as we stopped the bad guys from taking over Earth.” Zack said, but he said it with little conviction.
“Look, if we look like we co-operate, they’ll tell us everything. We’ll be able to sort this out so that we’re not given any nasty surprises. This way, we can control the outcome. You’d rather we were all hunted and made examples of?”
“I see your point Dr. O. We can spin it around so that we get as much freedom as possible but we’ve got Government approval so no one can question us. Is that it?” Ethan James summarised, looking at his mentor.
“Yeah, that’s it. It’s better all those ancient artefact and mythical objects still get a chance to choose who wields their power than some army grunt with a psychotic mind frame wielding it.” Tommy sighed.
“But surely they’d be going through the same training program that we’d all have to go through or that we’d be teaching the new rangers, right?” Kira Ford questioned, glancing from face to face to see their reactions.
“You think some army marine is gonna listen to teenagers with attitude, or a science teacher?” Aisha Campbell snorted. “A person trained for war will always use as much force needed, if not greater, to achieve their objective. That means taking lives if necessary.”
“This way, we get to choose who gets these new powers, and make sure they’re worthy of being a ranger.” Kimberly Hart said, finally understanding Tommy’s line of thought.
“I’m sorry, but like Ms. Campbell said, what makes you think they’ll listen to us? Who says they won’t do what they want to anyway? This is just another way to control us,” Trent Mercer stated flatly. “And with the USA having the largest number of rangers, who’s to say the government won’t try to use them for political issues? I’m sorry but I’m out of this.”
Trent turned to leave, but Tommy grabbed his sleeve, “Trent, if you leave here, then you’re the same as the others out there. I won’t be able to help you.”
“We’ll do just fine Tommy,” Aisha said, grabbing Trent from Tommy’s grasp and heading towards the door. “We always do. We have to stand up for our rights.”
“You know, this is something pretty similar, not even a hundred years old,” TJ said slowly, raising his gaze to level that of Tommy’s.
“TJ, what do you mean?”
“Back in the day, if you were black, you were a slave. If you were Jewish, you were sub-human. Now it seems if you’re a Ranger, you’re a puppet.”
“TJ, this is about restoring the faith in Power Rangers by the public. We’re not gonna be carted off into camps or executed. We’re a force that has to answer to the law, especially if we get people killed by our actions.”
“That’s just it Tommy; if we have all these protocols and command structure, who’s to say that it won’t be abused? How do we know we’re not just some lackey for some sinister political spin policy?”
TJ left it at that, following Aisha and Trent out of the door, muttering how he would never be anyone’s lackey.
Tommy watched them go. The others remained, but he could feel that they too wanted to leave, but were unsure about their feelings. He felt hours slip by, but they were seconds in reality.
“I think you’re right Tommy, and I think I have some ideas that may help keep this from getting too out of hand.” Billy Cranston spoke up for the first time in the hour that they’re been discussing their options.
***
The morning breeze faltered through the trees and into town; the sun slowly crept above the conifers and blessed al beneath it with golden warmth. The morning rush of customers came in to find Fran ready to tend to their every need. Business had bloomed, and Ocean Bluff had matured. It had been the same ever since the climatic battle in the ridges.
Must be the absence of evil, RJ Finn thought to himself, as he thought of what to put on top of the blank pizza base. Cheese is always good, but we already have four types of cheese pizzas, and that gets boring real quick…
“Table four ordered the RJ special,” Fran Thompson said to her employer and friend as she handed him the order slip. She wandered over to the oven, peeking inside the torrid baking oven. “Who’re these for?”
“Table seven and eight.” RJ replied, having been snapped out of his creative trance by the order.
“But there’s only table four here?” Fran said, her brow furrowing in a puzzled expression as she bit her nail whilst she contemplated the situation. “And both other tables left kinda…suddenly…”
“Really?” RJ said, his curious side piqued. He took off his hat and told Fran to sort out the pizzas whilst he went and checked on things on the restaurant floor. He approached table four cautiously.
The man sat on the table wore a large red waterproof jacket, with black panels along the insides of the sleeves. His blondish hair was medium in length, combed neatly around his head.
“I hope you don’t mind waiting, the pizza will take a little longer than usual,” RJ said cheerily.
“That’s okay Mr. Finn,” The man replied curtly. “My name is Carter Grayson, here is my card.”
RJ took the card from Carter, and looked at it; it showed a picture of Carter, his name, and ranger designation complete with picture and a stamp saying ‘registered’. RJ groaned inwardly. This was going to be a horrible day. And that was if things went well.
“What can I do for you Mr…Grayson?” RJ said, as he took one last look at the card before handing it back.
“Please, call me Carter. I’m sure you’re aware of the current resignation laws Mr Finn?”
“Er...yeah…I’m not sure what this has t-!”
“Mr Finn, I know that you are the Wolf Ranger and mentor of the Jungle Fury Rangers,” Carter cut off RJ curtly raising his hand to gesture that RJ didn’t need to make any excuses. “You are required by law to register yourself and your team or face the legal consequences.”
RJ looked taken back by this, but leant backwards a little and swished his hands through the air before replying, “Well, technically we’re not Power Rangers, we’re not even really connected to the Ranger stuff.”
“Yes, I know about how you hacked your way into the Morphing Grid. An impressive feat, or so I’m told.” Carter said almost bored, as if he knew RJ would try and squirm his way out of it. “You’re a Phi Zqui master but decided to use ranger technology to help divert great peril from once more being inflicted upon the Earth.”
“You say decided, it was more like I was told to.” RJ muttered under his breath as Carter continued.
“Therefore you and your team made a connection to the Morphing Grid and now must register yourselves under the Ranger Registration Act.” Carter finished, before looking at RJ squarely for a decision.
“W-what would happen if we registered?” RJ said uncertainly; he just wanted to figure out his latest pizza topping, not join the army.
“You and your team would be put into the Initiative for training, with a possibility for you to become an instructor.” Carter explained quickly. “I’m told your techniques would be of great use.”
“Hmm, already tried the instructing, didn’t work out as I kinda planned, know what I mean?” RJ said, chuckling a little as he thought of how he ‘taught’ the others to work together. “And why would we have to train when we’re already masters and no longer use our powers?”
“We have reports of some of your team using their powers for unknown reasons. However, if you do not use your powers, you would just need to register so that you may be called upon should the need ever arise. And it’s the law.” Carter finished, clearly annoyed that RJ was still trying to weasel his way out of it.
“Well, I probably speak for the, ah, ‘team’ when I say that we’re really not interested in doing anything ‘rangery’ in the foreseeable future,” RJ said steadily, trying to appear cheery with his hand gestures even though he could feel the nausea rising in his stomach. “Now I’ve got some pizzas that need delivering. If you’ll excuse me.”
RJ turned to leave Carter to find the exit when his wolf Spirit sensed other people nearby. People with ill intent.
“S.P.D’s go!”
Doorframes splintered; window frames shattered, and the quiet sound of ‘thwip’ could be heard echoing throughout the restaurant as tranquillisers tore into RJ’s soft flesh. He howled, more in fury than pain, as figures clad in grey and black combat suits entered the room, red laser dots dancing across RJ as they waited for him to bolt.
“It’s alright, pull back. He’s subdued.” Carter said, ushering his way through the troops. He looked at RJ, trying to lift his head, trying to reach his morpher, hoping it would help him throw off the drowsy feeling. “Ah, I think we’ll take that for safe keeping. Search the building, take everyone back to base.”
As the S.P.D’s began to cart off RJ, he howled in rage. Upstairs in the loft, the others heard, taking the vines to escape through the tunnels. Jarrod took a look back towards the howling; his eyes locked with Casey’s. Casey nodded, running towards the stairs.
He leapt through the broken kitchen door, roaring as he unleashed the spirit of the tiger onto the unprepared S.P.D’s, the tiger knocking them away towards the front door that hung off one of its hinges. The roar of the lion, followed by it’s gnashing fangs left the others on the ground. Only Carter Grayson was left standing.
“Lightspeed Rescue.”
“Jungle beast, spirit unleashed!”
Both red rangers materialised within a split second; Jarrod couldn’t risk calling upon his lion armour yet, but that suited him fine; he didn’t need it. Carter waited for Casey to attack, lunging in with a karate chop whilst Jarrod waited for Carter to make the first move. Carter countered, grabbing Casey’s wrist and slamming a backhand into his ribs. Jarrod waited, whilst Casey tried to twist his wrist from Carter’s grip, kicking the red Lightspeed ranger in his ribs. As Carter grabbed Casey’s leg, Jarrod rushed in, delivering a punch fuelled by his Ki that sent Carter flying, forcefully demorphing as he hit the wall with a loud thud. Casey demorphed and Jarrod told him to find Fran whilst he attended to RJ. He saw the prone Wolf master and picked him up, putting him over his shoulder as Fran gasped.
“We need to leave. Now.” Jarrod said in a hushed tone.
“But where? They know where we live!” Fran said, her concern for RJ apparent and still in shock from the attack.
“The only place we can,” Casey said, patching into his communicator.
***
“So, using the Lunar Palace as a place to hold other rangers until we can persuade them to register would be ideal as it keeps them from interfering on Earth and making things worse for the rest of us.” Tommy explained to the others that had stayed loyal to him. “Thanks to Billy and Ethan’s work, we can teleport them en mass. And we can track those rangers that…prefer not to keep in contact, shall we say.”
“Thanks to the input from Eric and Wes, we have access to the Silver Guardian recruits and of course, military assistance. We’ve made several squads called Special Power Disablers, or S.P.D for short, which will provide support to any licensed ranger to apprehend those on the wrong side of the law.”
“Once things are in order, I plan to distribute the wealth, spreading ranger teams all over the USA. It would show us trying to reach out to more than just space aliens or mythical problems. As part of the Ranger Initiative, we’d be responsible for aiding in any natural or man-made disasters.”
“But what about those of us without active powers?” Ethan questioned.
“We’ve found a way to rejuvenate them, so you’ll all be on active duty. You’ll only be called when you’re needed, or if you’re in the immediate area of your jurisdiction,” Captain Mitchell announced to the crowd of registered rangers, and those more inclined to become registered. “Also, any new threats should be able to be dealt with in a much smaller time scale with more active rangers than just a standard team of five or six.”
“Well then, I guess a press conference is in order.” Tommy sighed, feeling the pressure of the eyes in the room on him.
***
Two months.
Two very long months.
He couldn’t believe it at times. After his escape from the conference room, he’d become a symbol of freedom. And it was very pressurized at times; every ranger that felt the same way he did kept asking his opinion on things, what should they do, why shouldn’t they do this or that; it was frustrating to say the least.
“Jason, they taking another bunch to be teleported to the Lunar Palace.” TJ said, bringing Jason from his self-pity. “Okay for us to bust ‘em loose?”
“Who’re you busting out?”
“It’s Aisha and Adam. She tried to stay neutral but they grabbed her. Adam outright told Tommy and his goons that this wasn’t what Zordon wanted. There’s a few of the Overdrive rangers too.”
Jason stopped to think. Adam and Aisha were old friends. He had to help them. But the Overdrive rangers already had public identities, why would they be transported to the Dumpster? Something wasn’t right, so just to be sure, Jason should go.
“Okay, this is how we’ll do things.”
***
The pressure was intense; he could barely keep his teeth from chattering. It had been a while since he’d used his ranger powers, more to do with the fact that they’d been burnt out from his final battle than a choice, but it had been a good time. He’d become a well-rounded young man, but there were occasions when the old side of him came out.
He hadn’t peeked out of the curtain; he’d been in the presence of large crowds before, all their eyes bearing down on him, but he’d been lost in the dance. The dance of soccer.
A hand rested upon his shoulder and he looked upwards; Dr. O was there, nodding his head reassuringly.
“Don’t worry, you’ll doing the right thing.”
He kept his mouth shut, unsure as to why he was really doing this.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for coming on such notice,” Dr. O addressed the crowd. “As you may be aware, I have been a ranger for many years and of many colours. But here today, is a ranger who wishes to do the right thing. I’ll let him do the rest.”
Dr. O moved aside, and it was his cue to move. He got up shakily, his legs rubbery, it was so hard to make them move; time seemed to slow down as he walked form behind the crimson curtains and towards the stand; the microphone glinted in the sunlight and the flashing of camera. He felt his stomach knot itself over and over. He licked his lips as he prepared to speak, his voice sounding scratchy and dry.
“M-my name is Conner McKnight, and I’ve been the red Dino Thunder ranger since 2004.”
The press bombarded him with questions. He sighed. Was this really the right thing to do? Well it was the law, he told himself. Somehow, it didn’t exactly make the stomach knots loosen.
***
The four prisoners sat in the metal van silently. The guards slid back the viewing slot with a sharp click, safe in knowing that their cargo was harmless.
“So, what’re you in for?” Dax Lo, the blue Overdrive ranger said with a small smile. He was trying to break the silence.
“Freedom of speech.” Adam Park, the second Black ranger said with a small smile of his own. “Thought you were neutral in all of this Aisha?”
“Yeah I was,” Aisha said to her team mate and friend of old. “That was until Tommy’s goons showed up at my house, took me out so fast I couldn’t morph.”
“I think that was the idea, wouldn’t want any more destruction than necessary.” Ronny Robinson, the yellow Overdrive ranger said whilst rolling her eyes.
The van came to an abrupt stop, before angling backwards as if on a sharp slope, the ground shaking violently all around them. Dax yelled it was an Earthquake, whilst the others tried to stop their faces from meeting metal walls. The rumbling stopped, and the door burst open. A yellow gloved hand appeared, throwing in a metal box with its lock broken and gestured for them to follow.
Adam opened the box, tossed the morphers out to the others and morphed instantly in a flash of green light. Aisha whispered her morph call, a yellow bolt of lightning striking her to morph he instantly. Ronny and Dax scraped their morphers across the walls, sparks showering to reveal their ranger forms. They left the van to see the green and yellow Mystic rangers with the blue Space ranger heading a small team of rangers.
Jason watched from his hiding spot; he didn’t want to but TJ had advised him to keep an eye out whilst the rest of them went ahead with the rescue. At least that way, Jason would be free to retreat and keep the morale going if the others were captured. Jason really didn’t like this.
WHUMP!
Several streaks of light teleported in front of the upheaved asphalt and several shots were fired. Chip and Adam went down, holding their chest and shoulder respectively. The rangers got into formation as the opposition showed themselves.
“C’mon Jason, let’s talk about this.”
Tommy was calling him out, no doubt so that the snipers could take their shot. TJ had told him to retreat if things got like this; however, Jason was the leader and he couldn’t let his friends take the flank whilst he ran away. He stepped out and stood in front of his team, fully morphed. It was their way, whenever they went on raids, they would always be morphed. It sent their message of choice. Tommy and his rangers however, were demorphed, with the exception of the Lightspeed rangers. So, they must have been the snipers.
“Knew you’d be here somewhere, TJ couldn’t be running the show alone.” Tommy said with a smile on his ace, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“You’re locking up your friends now? Adam and Aisha? The people you fought evil with?” Jason said, ignoring Tommy’s expression. “And you guys, you Overdrive rangers, are you happy that your friends are going to prison?”
The black Overdrive ranger seemed to be conflicted by this statement, and Jason was about to continue had the Mercury ranger not spoken.
“All I ever wanted to do was help people; becoming a ranger gave me my life back,” the blonde haired man with silverfish eyes said, the passion in what he said expressed clearly. “And now the only way I can continue is to register. So I have.”
“Then that’s great for you, but why hunt your friends down? Why not just rescue people like you so badly want to?” Ronny countered through her helmet. “Why do this to us Tyzonne?”
Tyzonne stayed silent, but Tommy spoke up in his place. “If you give this up now, there’ll be no consequences. You’ll register and get back to your lives. You won’t have to be called up unless necessary. C’mon Jason, for the sake of our friendship?”
Jason thought for a moment, before grabbing Tommy’s outstretched hand; a jolt of electricity shot through Tommy’s body, throwing him to the ground. It was all the others needed; they morphed instantly and ran towards Jason’s rangers.
Out of the shadows, the Ninjastorm rangers leapt into the battle to even the odds; Dustin took a kick to the chest, his lung deflating and he landed on his back. Shane took his place, slamming his sword across Carter’s chest. The two red rangers fought their own battle, just as many other rangers did around them.
The black Overdrive ranger slammed his Drive Slammer to the ground, hoping to throw Dax and Ronny to the floor without hurting them too much. The shockwaves were countered by Xander’s control of the Earth, so instead it was the black Overdrive ranger who fell to the floor.
“You can still join us Will,” Dax offered, his hand outstretched to pick up his friend.
“No, our public identities have never been a problem, why are you against us?” Will shot back, brushing the hand away as he flipped to his feet.
“Because it’s about principle!” Ronny yelled as she kicked into Will. “Not every ranger wants their identity to be public for fear of repercussions, especially after what happened!”
“All the more reason to register and restore their faith in us! This fighting isn’t helping any of us!” Tyzonne exclaimed as he unleashed a wave of Mercurion power to hold Xander and Chip at bay, but was blown back by the addition of Tori to the mix.
He landed hard into Rose, who inadvertently tackled Hunter and all three of them fell to the ground and landed hard on the shifting asphalt. All were out cold from the assault and impact.
CRAC-K-zzzzkkk!
The lightning struck ferociously and without warning; Chip tried to control it but he found he couldn’t; he yelled for everyone to take cover and his friends regrouped as the lightning slowed a little in it’s ferocity as a familiar tune carried its notes along the air. Tommy’s rangers also regrouped, parting as a new ranger entered the scene.
As the Dragon Dagger was lowered from the lips on his helmet, the Green ranger stopped past Tommy and faced Jason and his team.
“Registration is the law. Demorph and accept it.”
“Er, dude? We’re ninja’s, it kinda goes against out code.” Dustin explained.
“Surrender and I will be merciful.” The Green ranger stated, ignoring Dustin.
“Merciful? Hell, get ready for the shortest comeback in history!” TJ yelled as he ran with his Astro Axe drawn.
Lightning shot down. TJ fell down, the soft thump of his body hitting asphalt sickening. The wound had been cauterised from the impact. The Dragon Dagger was still glowing green with power.
“Fall back!” Jason yelled as he went to retrieve TJ’s body. “Fall back!”
Hand grabbed him as he tried to grab TJ’s prone body; they pulled him away as he cried mutely. Sadness was quickly repressed by rage. This wasn’t supposed to have happened. How could he? How dare he! He would no longer be protected by the power.
“I will kill you Tommy! I’ll kill you!”
Jason’s promise could be heard as they teleported away. Tommy’s side stood silently, stunned by what had happened. None of them had expected anyone to die, not like this. Tommy looked at the hole that went clean through TJ’s chest and grabbed the Green ranger and dragged him away from the others.
“Go back to base, I have to deal with this.” He said to the others, calling for S.P.D’s to collect the body and prepare for a funeral. “You…it was a mistake to involve you in this.”
As the two rangers teleported back to their base in the underwater facility, they landed in a room that was sealed from all but Tommy’s closest friends. Billy stood up when the two entered the room.
“How did it go?” he asked anxiously.
“Bad,” Tommy sighed, as reality of what had just happened began to sink in. “He killed TJ. Open him up and reprogram him. This cannot happen again.”
Billy nodded and got to work.
***
“This is so wrong! I won’t be a part of this anymore!” Kim yelled back at Tommy, tears in her eyes.
“I’m with Kim, What happened out there was avoidable,” Zack said, putting a supportive hand on Kim’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you’d be so desperate as to do that to yourself, to bring back that…monster, to win a fight!”
Tommy sighed, grabbing the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb, hoping to relieve the pressure that had been building up. His mind ignored the others, reliving the incident that had made this whole sorry mess come out to light…
***
He was young, it had been so long since he’d morphed and used his powers, but they’d been returned to him. And that must have been for a reason, after all, why return at all if they were not to be used? The Rinshi were far from their usual place of battle, but that didn’t mean they were any less dangerous. People we already running, having been used to this sort of thing a few years back; they’d been given a reprieve for a decade, but old habits died hard. As soon as the Rinshi were spotted, the panic swept through the town.
But not Justin. No, he kept his calm, controlled his breathing and rushed into battle, slamming fist into soft flesh, feet into heads. The Rinshi exploded in small purple puffs; Justin hadn’t even needed to use his powers. He looked around at the people beginning to come forward from their hiding places, and he knew he’d made the right decision. The press conference had been worthwhile; seeing the people he had saved cheer him filled him with a good feeling, boosting his mood. From the crowd, he spotted someone in green leaving the scene, so Justin politely excused himself form the crowd and went off in pursuit. Justin knew this place, he’d grown up here but he just couldn’t find Adam.
“Do you think this will last Justin?” his voice called out as Justin looked for his friend.
“It can only get better from here Adam.” Justin replied levelly as Adam confronted him, arms open in a gesture meaning no harm.
“Maybe Justin. Maybe,” Adam said slowly, assessing his young friend. “Or maybe you start thinking differently; maybe you see or hear something you don’t agree with. Do you think Tommy will listen to you or replace you with someone more…obedient?”
Justin could feel the doubts rise again upon hearing Adam’s voice; the good feelings were washed away in a matter of words.
“I can’t make you change your mind Justin, that’s something you’ll do on your own,” Adam said solemnly, looking back as he began to walk away as quietly as he had come. “Just know that when Tommy does come for you and those you hold dear, we’ll be waiting.”
***
It had been easy, almost too easy to get into the prison. There had been no alarms to kill, no S.P.D’s to sneak past, or any on patrol seemed. Maybe Tommy and his rangers had gotten sloppy with the pressure of scouring the Earth for new power sources that could be used to create registered rangers; one of the many brilliant ideas they had come up with the renew faith in Power Rangers.
Ronny signalled for Dax to follow, whilst keeping Dustin and Tori at bay in case things weren’t as they seemed. Ronny lit her lights on her helmet to scan the darkness for the keypad t gain access to their goal. She found it, but Dax stopped her.
“You sure the code is right?” he said quietly.
She nodded, tapping the eight-digit access code. The door hissed open with the sound of hydraulics working; Ronny was sent sprawling to the ground, damage lighting up the contours of her torso as she cried out in pain. Dax ran to her side, looking up at her attacker.
From out of the door, every registered Power Ranger walked out, quickly surrounding the small rescue group Jason had commissioned. Trent took the lead, his Drago Sabre pointed at the registered rangers, whilst his comrades guarded from every other angle.
“It still doesn’t have to be this way.”
“It does. For TJ. For the others!” Trent said through clenched teeth. He looked to his right and saw Katherine demorph as she moved to Tommy’s side. “Kat, wha-!”
“Sorry, but this has to end. “ Kat merely replied, standing beside Billy and the Green Ranger.
“It doesn’t look like you’re on the winning side kid, mwahahah-!” the Green Ranger menaced, his laughter cut short as the hissing of hydraulics echoed from all over the Lunar Palace. Footsteps rushed and soon the registered Power Rangers were no longer the larger side.
“How?” Ethan said, annoyed that his hard work had been breached. “That was impossible to work out!”
“Sorry Ethan my man,” Conner said as he joined Trent, his ranger suit morphing around him as he did so. “This wasn’t what I wanted.”
Jason and Tommy stepped to the front of their rangers, squaring off against each other, Tommy’s brown eyes trying to pierce Jason’s dark visor.
The Blue, Black and White Rangers, the Lightspeed team, the blue and yellow Dino Thunder rangers, the yellow, pink and blue Zeo rangers, the black, pink and Mercury Overdrive rangers, the blue Turbo ranger, the black and pink Space rangers, the Lost Galaxy rangers and the red and Quantum Time Force rangers all morphed instantly. The Green ranger took out his Dragon Dagger in anticipation of the destruction.
Meanwhile, behind Jason stood his morphed rangers; the red and white Dino Thunder rangers, the Ninjastorm rangers now complete with Cam, the Jungle Fury team along with Jarrod in his Black Lion armour, the pink and yellow Rangers, the green Zeo ranger, the yellow, blue and Red Overdrive rangers, all the Mystic Force rangers, the red, black and white Wild Force rangers.
“This is going to hurt,” Jason said grimly, getting into a fight stance, “May the Power protect you…”
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