Power Rangers RPM: Dust in the Wind
Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers or the season this story is set in, although I wish I did. I do however own Dawn and all her history and this is copyrighted to me.
Chapter 1: Darkness, Only Darkness.
A young girl lay on a hard mattress in a cold damp cell listening as the whirling, clicking and grinding of machinery that had kept her awake for as long as she could remember which was not very long. She did not know how long she had been kept in this place or even where this place was. She could not remember anything of her life before two weeks ago. The only thing she had to hold onto was a strange device she kept hidden under her mattress, and that somehow it was important that it needed to kept safe at all costs. The bright lights in the dungeon made her eyes burn and she found it almost impossible to see. The light along with the noises gave her headaches but noted that most of the machines shut off at night leaving only the basic systems in place and there were fewer patrols. This would make things much easier for her to make her escape.
She waited until it grew quietly then slipped off her bed and pulled a key she had stolen off a Grinder and the device from under the mattress. Feeling for the lock on her door and inserted the key turning it slowly then pushed open the door of her cell. She listened for a moment before heading down the hallway to a smaller hallway which led from the smell of the fumes would lead her to the surface. The fumes smelt bad and knowing they could be toxic she pulled a mask up over her nose and mouth then a scarf for extra cover and squeezed herself into the narrow hallway.
There was a commotion behind her and a blaring alarm began to ring making her headache worse. The Grinders and most likely Venjix knew a prisoner had escaped and it would not be long before they found where she had gone and follow her. The sound of the Grinders echoed in the hall right behind her, and they were gaining on her. She ran faster to stay ahead of them, and had no idea what would happen if they caught her nor did she want to wait and find out. She was running so fast and didn't realised until it was too late that there was a door in front of her and she slammed into it hard. 'Bang!' The force of the impact knocked her back a few paces with shaking hands felt along the door for the handle. She could hear the sounds of the Grinders getting louder they were almost on top of her when suddenly she felt something hard and cold, and turned to handle and stumbled out the door onto the hot sand. She kicked out at the door and was rewarded with it slamming shut. She heaved a sigh and picked herself up. The sun hurt her eyes and she pulled out scarf and found a sharp piece of metal cut two slits in the scarf before tying it over her eyes to try and block out some of the light.
Suddenly the door was thrown open and she heard the Grinders approach. She took a stance and when the first one got close she kicked it hard which knocked it back into the others. There was a loud clatter as the robots fell into each other and she could not help but chuckle. They might be robots but they weren't very clever. She could hear some crackling of electricity amongst the sound of the Grinders. One tried to sneak up behind her but she turned and grabbed it by the arm and threw it against something hard. The last two came at her together and she caught the first one and flipped it over the other then kicked out at the other one knocking it to the ground. She listened for anymore but it was silent, she sighed in relief and began walking. She had no idea which way she was going or where she was heading she just walked.
She walked like this for days stopping only when she needed rest sometimes she would hear sounds but they were too far away for her to tell what they were. She was tired and needed food and water, she knew she was weak and this made her vulnerable to attacks. She grew tired and just as she was feeling like she was going to pass out she heard a car approach and stop and felt someone grab her before everything went quiet.
When she woke up she felt a tight strap against her body and she started to panic and fight against it before someone touched her and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Whoa, calm down it is alright I am not going to hurt you."
She stopped struggling and felt the pressure release off her chest and she took a deep breath,
"Sorry...um...how long was I out for?"
"A couple of hours. Here."
She felt something warm and hard touch her skin and she heard the sound of liquid inside. She took it and drank slowly nearly draining the bottle.
"Thanks."
"No problem"
"Don't suppose you have any asprin, do you?"
"No sorry, but maybe these will help?"
The driver handed her a pair of dark sunglasses. She replaced the scarf with the glasses.
"Thanks again"
"So..." the driver trailed off clearly unsure what to say.
"Where you headed?"
"The city of Corinth, it is the only place left that is safe."
"Corinth..." she frowned the name was familiar but she could not place it.
The pair sat in silence for a long time and she felt herself start to fall asleep. Her dreams however were not pleasant, she could hear screaming and someone calling her name. Explosions rocked the room she was in and there was more screaming but she could not see or tell where it was coming from.
"DAWN! Dawn where are you?"
"Dawn run!"
"Hurry!"
She woke up screaming which startled Dillon.
"No!"
"Bad dream?"
She nodded but remained silent.
The only noise in the car was the static sound of the radio which played the same transmission over and over, the location of Corinth City. It was hard to hear because of all the static and suddenly the driver slammed on the brakes throwing she forward in the car and she almost hit the dashboard. She heard a door open and something beeped before she heard footsteps as he walked to the back of the car and open the truck. She heard he stop and wondered what he was doing when she heard Grinder approaching she opened the door only to have it slammed shut as he jumped over his car and she hear the sounds of a fight. It did not last long and soon he opened his car and started to car.
They continued to drive for a few more hours before they stopped again. He stepped out of the car and she climbed out as well. Her legs had started to cramp and she wanted to walk around for a bit. She hear him tap the back of the car and she headed back and got in the car. She heard him walk and heard the door click as he pulled on the handle but he stopped and she heard another voice.
"Hold it right there…eyes front. Hands up, hands up where I can see them. Okay...Okay my friend; we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I'm gonna count—"
"No"
"Wait, what no? How can you say no? I...I...I haven't even told you my demands yet. Now you made me lose my train of thought."
"You want to start over?"
"No—No we'll just...let's just keep going. Uh, I need to take your car. Well let's say borrow…I...I need to borrow your car, okay? That sounds better."
The driver of the car chuckled before he answered.
"And those are your demands, huh?"
"Yeah non-negotiable."
"Can I say something now?"
"Sure"
"NO!"
"Ok that's fine, you know, see, I wasn't going to bring this up because...uh...it's kinda rude, but I am the one holding the blaster here. Plus I am a desperate and dangerous…"
"You're not holding a blaster."
I think I am. What else would I be holding?"
"It feels like a 4½ inch outtake muffler. Kinda like the one you might have pulled off that rig over there."
"Maybe…I mean…that is an interesting theory, but a smart guy like me, he might uh...disguise his blaster."
"Hyah!"
She heard something metal hit the ground and the stranger spoke again but she could hear the fear in his voice.
"Wait, ok, not the face, not the face, all right?"
"Any food, water, gas?"
"Uh no...No. that's—that's some of the other stuff I was planning to borrow from you." She heard a noise before the stranger spoke again.
"Ok…whoa. Whoa! Where are you going? You can't leave me here."
The driver has opened the door by this time and the stranger heard the radio transmission.
"Corinth? You're looking for the Corinth city. Hmm? Am I right? Yeah sure...I mean the radiation...makes the compass go screwy, it messes with the radio frequencies too. Very hard to find your way. Fortunately for you I can take you there."
"If you knew where Corinth was, you'd be there."
"I was...I mean I just came from there. Look, I'm serious. See? Corinth citizen I.D."
"Ziggy? Your name is Ziggy?"
"Yep. That's me."
"What ya doin' out here Ziggy?"
"You know that is a long story...I'd be happy to tell you the whole thing along the way…"
She heard someone approach her door and open it. Then he noticed her presence and walked back around the car. She heard Dillon open his door and pull the seat forward.
"Or maybe I could just get in and keep my mouth shut," Ziggy finished.
"Yeah the second one." Said the driver.
The drove in silence for a while until Ziggy began to speak again. She sighed so much for keeping his mouth shut.
"So...you still haven't told me your name yet."
"I don't know."
"You don't know if you want to tell me your name?"
"I don't know my name."
"Well, where are you from? I mean who are you then?
"I don't know!"
"Oh... what about you?" she felt him pull himself forward using her seat.
"Dawn... and before you ask I don't know any more than that."
"Well, you know, if we are going to be partners an all, I feel like we should work on own communications—Oh wait, wait ,wait"
The driver slammed on the brakes causing Dawn to hit her arm on the dashboard.
"Ow. Would you mind warning me when you plan to do that next time?"
"See, Ziggy promises, Ziggy delivers. Corinth City. Now we probably want to pull off the road here and just wait till dark."
"We can't stop."
"What?"
"We are running on fumes. If I kill the engine now, I may not be able to start it again."
"No, no, no, this is a joke, right? Y-you're not serious?" asked Ziggy nervously.
Dawn heard the driver rev the engine and she felt for her seatbelt and buckled up.
"Uh, Ziggy, you might want to strap yourself in." she said.
"Okay, stop. Time-out. Look, we need a reality check. All right let me spell this out for you. No-one has ever run the barricade into the city during daylight. Understand? No-one!" said Ziggy
"Well, I am about as close to no-one as you're ever gonna meet."
"Ok...uh...you know what? You can just drop me off anywhere along here or here, or here. There...aw that spot would have been really good."
Soon a group of Grinders on bikes were on their tail.
"It's the perimeter patrol," said Ziggy. "And they are right on top of us—Right on top of us."
"Hand me that," said the driver.
Dawn felt around and found the suckers the driver kept in his car, she had often smelled them in the car but did not understand why he wanted them now,
"Okay this isn't happening. I am running the Venjix barricade in broad daylight with uh... Willy Wonka at the wheel." Said Ziggy
The grinder behind them started firing lasers at them and Dawn hear something click then a buzzing sound before the car rocked from the explosion that followed.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Said Ziggy
"Trust me you're already there."
Okay uh close call. But I think we've got enough time to uh...turn around and back up before we hit the...Venjix Barricade," said Ziggy almost screaming the last part.
The driver continued on towards the barricade as Dawn knew he would. She had only been with him for a short time but she knew he was the type to take risks and not worry about what might happen as a result. The driver continued to throw the charges out of the window as she heard more explosions which made the car jerk and bounce around a lot.
"I never learned to play a musical instrument...always wanted to, you know? Who-who knows? I could have been the greatest clarinet player in the world."
"Hand me more thermix charges," said the driver and Ziggy grabbed one from the bag in front of him but he accidental pressed the switch and activated the charge.
"That's not good is it?" he asked.
The driver swerved suddenly and the charge came out if Ziggy's hand and landed on the other seat right by the door just out his reach.
"And that's got to be worse..."
"Call me 'Dillon'," said the driver.
"What?" asked Ziggy.
"My name, you can call me 'Dillon'," Dillon said
"It has been nice knowing you Dillon," said Ziggy
"Hang on!" said Dillon as he turned the wheel sharply causing the car to cruise until it was sideways and Dawn heard the humming sound fade then a huge explosion. Dillon then turned the car and drove for a while before stopping and turning off the engine.
"I'm alive, we made it!" said Ziggy.
Dawn heard something growl and the sound of grinders approaching and she was about to get out of the car to fight them but heard someone land in front of the car.
"RPM Get in gear!"
She heard three different voices make that call. She had heard that call before somewhere but where? She racked her brain trying to remember but could not place it. The sounds of the fight raged on and she heard another call made.
"Engine cell activate!"
Everything in her mind was a complete blur. The only reason she knew her name was because of the dream she had been having lately. Always the same dream. Ziggy's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"That's what I am talking about! Go rangers!"
"Wait what?" asked Dillon.
"Go rangers, you know as in the Power Rangers?
"Power rangers?" said Dawn
She sighed in frustration, all of this was so familiar but she could not remember anything and it was starting to annoy her. All of these calls and the name Power Ranger. An image flashed through her mind of a Pink ranger fighting off Grinders she was strong and fast but it did not make sense at all.
"What is a power ranger?" asked Dillon.