Chapter 1 – Rage Against The Machine (Part 1)
September 24 1996 – Angel Grove High
The school year was well under way for the seniors of Angel Grove High. In a few short months they would graduate from high school and take their first steps towards adulthood. Five students looking forward to this prospect were happily chatting away in the main corridor. They all shared a common secret, they were all former Power Rangers. Jason Lee Scott was hoping to open to his own martial arts dojo after graduation and was using his final year at high school to save as much money as possible. With the help of an online business course, he was hoping to get the dojo open soon after graduation.
Next to him were his two long-time friends, Billy Cranston and Trini Kwan. The couple had been together for over a year now and they were still going strong. Both of them had several of the country's top colleges actively wooing them, hoping to add two of America's brightest brains on their list of students.
Finally there was Rocky DeSantos and Adam Park. Since his stint as the red ninja ranger, he had taken a real interest in the ninja arts. He was hoping to gain further training from Sensei Watanabe of the Wind Ninja Academy, with the aim of becoming a teacher at the academy. As an added bonus he would get to spend more time with his girlfriend, Yuri Asagi. Adam was aiming to become a physical instructor and coach after high school. With his current grades, this almost looked like a certainty.
One thing they were all relieved about was that it had been extremely quiet since the defeat of Master Vile. No more running off to battle monsters and various footsoldiers, no more excuses to give to parents when they were late home and no more embarrassing spells to be placed under. Rocky and Adam had even ditched their signature colour of red and black, opting instead for a mixture of blue and green respectively.
"I can't believe that we're in our final year of school", Trini stated.
"I know, it only seems like yesterday we started kindergarten together", Jason replied as he placed his hands on Billy and Trini's shoulders.
"Ah I remember that day", Rocky added wistfully.
"So do I", Adam began, "you had possibly the worse mullet I've ever seen".
"Hey you're one to talk about hair", Rocky shot back as he flicked Adam's long fringe, "when was the last time you had that cut?"
"I'm trying something different", Adam replied as he brushed his hair back. He paused as he saw a familiar face approaching down the hall, "Talking of hair cuts".
Alexander 'Xander' McBride, former government agent with an IQ of 194, walked towards the group of teenagers. Since leaving the employment of the US government, he was using his tech skills in the IT department of Angel Grove High. It was a big step down for him but it was putting food on his table. As part of his new job, he decided to shave off his long hair. He thought that it would give him a more professional look, "Hey guys, Aimi's trying out a new flavour of shake at the Youth Center and she's looking for tasters".
"Will it be better than her PB and J shake?" Jason asked.
Xander laughed, "Hopefully, can't get any worse can it".
"Urgh you've just bought the memory of it back", Rocky joked, "go on then, I'll do anything for free food".
"We know", the others chorus before they shoved the former red ranger out of the door and towards the Youth Center.
The Moon
Earth's only natural satellite had been relatively quiet since Rita and Zedd had vacated the Moon Palace, however, today that peace would be shattered. Approaching the Moon was a fleet of fighter ships and several large carriers. One of the larger ships crashed directly into Rita's former palace, crushing it easily.
On the bridge, a female robot looked over the edge to survey the damage, "I really wish you would drive this ship with greater care dear", she stated.
"It was a symbolic gesture Machina my queen", a large rotund robot replied. He was largely blue in colour with a golden crown on top of his head. His name was King Mondo, the feared leader of the Machine Empire. Fresh from conquering the Gamma sector, his fleet had been directed to Earth at the order of the United Alliance of Evil. "That wretched palace was a symbol of Rita and Zedd's pathetic failure to take over this barren rock".
"I'm grateful that Dark Specter gave us the chance to rectify their mistakes", Queen Machina replied.
"And to think he nearly sent that human girl, Andromeda or whatever her name is, instead of us", Mondo blustered.
"As if a human would do something better than a robot could", Machine added with distain.
King Mondo looked over his fleet out in space. He had studied the defences of Earth during the journey and his army was far superior to anything on the planet. He would use a tactic that neither Rita or Zedd had thought of using, attack the planet with the full fleet. The sheer number of fighters would easily overwhelm the humans. Quite why Rita and Zedd had persevered with their one monster at a time tactic was beyond him.
"Klank, Orbus", he called out, after a few moments a tall bulbous robot entered the chamber and he was carrying another much smaller robot.
"Yes my King", Klank replied with a thick Scottish accent.
"Prepare the Quadrafighters and the cogs, we will attack within the hour", Mondo ordered.
"Very good sire", Klank replied before leaving the room. King Mondo once again looked down on Earth, soon he thought, all of this will belong the Machine Empire.
Angel Grove
As Jason and the others walked towards the Youth Center from the school, their thoughts continued to revolve around their future plans and the Frankenstein milkshake that Aimi had created for them to taste. Unfortunately they were pulled from their thoughts by the sound of screaming from the distance. Instantly their ranger instincts kicked in and the group raced towards the sound.
Just on the edge of the park, they saw a group of people under attack from a group of creatures in shiny suits. Seeing people in danger, Jason immediately led the others to try and save them. He caught the nearest one in the back with a kick, but when he tried to punch one, his hand bounced straight off. As he rubbed his hand in pain, he barely dodged out the way of the creatures spear, "They're made of metal", he called out of the others.
"An accurate assessment of the situation", Billy replied as he ducked a kick from the robot.
"Erm little help", Rocky choked out as he struggled to get free from the cog, which held his arms in placed. Trini came to his rescue with a roundhouse kick to the cog's head and the force of the blow caused the robot to release it's grip. The former red ranger then followed up with a kick of his own, removing the robots head clean off its body. This though didn't deactivate the cog, instead it still kept coming towards the group.
"This isn't working", Adam began, "Billy can you still use your water ninja powers".
"I think so, I haven't tried in a while", Billy replied as he dodged another cog. Even though the ninja power coins had been destroyed, the teens found that they could still use their ninja form and their elemental power. They couldn't use them for long, as without the regulating power of the coin, it would drain their lifeforce too quickly.
Jason cleared a gap for Billy as the former blue ranger called on the power of water. He fired a water jet into the crowd of cogs, causing them all to short circuit. Billy immediately fell to his knees, exhausted from the effort. "I'm fine", he said to Trini, who had rushed to his aid, "just a little tired".
While all the cogs had been cleared from their vicinity, they could see that others cogs were still terrorising civilians in the park. Jason clenched his fists in anger, "There must be something we can do".
"But what", Rocky began, "without ranger powers we can't do anything".
"If only Zordon was still here", Trini sighed.
Adam snapped his fingers, "Could he have left something at the Command Center?" Adam asked the group, "I mean we didn't get that long to search".
Jason nodded, "It's worth a try", he flashed his communicator at Billy, "will these still work?"
"I think so", Billy replied, "I'm not sure on the range though. Without the Command Center's power they may not be able to get us all the way there".
"Anywhere's better than here", Jason responded and he hit the teleport button on his communicator. The others quickly followed suit and left to search the ruins of the Command Center.
Youth Center
Aimi Miyamoto watched in dismay as all her customers fled the Youth Center and the attacking cogs. Ever since Ernie had passed over the management duties to her, business had been booming. Some of her experimental shakes hadn't gone down so well but it was a learning experience. Her instincts told her to go outside and help everyone but she wasn't an agent anymore and anything that she did could be classed as vigilantism. Major Harmon had left her alone for the last six months, she didn't want to do anything to jeopardise that. Unfortunately her niece, Cassie had other ideas, "Cassie what have I told you about raiding that cupboard in the stock room", he cried.
Cassie Chan held two sonic shotguns in her hand, freshly pulled out of the back room. Xander had built a hiding place into the Youth Center's stockroom to hide a lot of the equipment stolen from the Bunker six months ago, including a large cache of weapons. Cassie looked a little sheepish, "I think this can be classed as an emergency Aunt Aimi. Plus if you didn't want me going into that room you wouldn't have told me the passcode".
She threw one of the weapons to Aimi and opened up one of the windows to shoot out from, "I shouldn't have taught you how to fire one either".
"And you definitely shouldn't have told me about what you used to do for the government either", Cassie added as she scored a direct hit on a passing cog.
"If you mother ever comes back she is going to kill me", she muttered under her breath. She admired Cassie's fighting spirit though, even in the face of this large scale invasion. Her thoughts drifted to the former Power Rangers and she wondered how they would be coping. After a couple of moments, it dawned on her that they would probably be out there fighting somewhere. Activating her sonic weapon, she joined Cassie at the window and opened fire on the cogs.
Desert near the Command Center
The five former rangers landed in the barren wastelands near the former Command Center. After getting their bearings, they were relieved to see that they weren't too far away. "The ruins should be on the other side of this hill", Billy said to the group.
They walked around the base of the hill and caught sight of the large crater where Master Vile had fallen six months ago. As they looked at this new feature, Trini spoke up, "Guys you may want to take a look at this".
The four boys turned around and looked up to where Trini was pointing. They rubbed their eyes just to make sure they weren't seeing things and then looked again. They were astonished to find that the Command Center had been completely rebuilt. There wasn't even a mark from the explosion that had caused it's destruction.
"I don't believe it", Billy gasped.
"Come on let's take a look", Rocky added as he rushed up the side of the hill. Jason, Billy and Trini smiled as they remembered doing this journey when they had first gotten their powers three years ago. Except that time they were leaving the Command Center, not trying to get inside.
As the group approached the main door it opened automatically, revealing a dark blue corridor. "That's new", Adam said to the others. They followed the corridor until they reached a large blue steel door. Cautiously Jason pushed a button near the door and at first nothing happened. As the group prepared to find another entrance, the door shuddered open.
The teens stepped inside the room and were amazed to see an updated version of the Command Center. The walls were the same colour blue as the main door and there was much more floor space than before. The computer consoles were against the far wall, underneath a blue energy tube. Along the back wall were the seven former ranger suits, preserved for the future. Inside their individual cases were the power weapons and ninja swords for the five main rangers. The white rangers case contained a ninja sword and Saba, the green rangers case held the dragon dagger.
"Who did all this?" Trini asked.
Suddenly a familiar voice and exclamation got their attention, "Ay yi yi intruder alert, intruder alert".
"Alpha?" Jason called out, "Alpha is that you".
"Jason?" Alpha replied hesitantly, the robot then saw the other former rangers, "Trini, Billy, Rocky, Adam you're here".
The group rushed over to Alpha and they all hugged him tightly, "We thought you were gone", Trini cried.
"I was able to escape to a safe part of the Command Center, here to be precise", Alpha replied.
"What is this place", Billy asked.
"Welcome to the Power Chamber, it's a room that only appears in the event of an emergency", Alpha began. "A sort of back up if you will".
"Did you come here alone", Jason asked hesitantly.
"Not quite", Alpha gaze then turned to the tube at the far end of the room. It suddenly activated and relieved a face they thought they would never see again.
"Zordon, you're alive", Adam exclaimed.
"Indeed Adam", Zordon's voice boomed, "welcome rangers, I'm afraid that the world is in great danger, I need your help".
"Great", Rocky muttered, "and I thought this was going to be a quiet year".
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N – Welcome to story three of the Chronicles of Power series. The events of this series will be based on the Zeo series and it will focus on the teens final year at high school and all the dramas that go with it. I realise that this chapter may raise a number of questions but it is in three parts so hopefully and queries you may have will be answered by the end. What I will say is that just because five teens made it to the Power Chamber, doesn't mean they will be the five rangers...
Please let me know what you think and I hope you'll enjoy it.