Well Hello everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm so sorry for everyone left waiting for this story to be continued. Whether you've jumped over from the original story or you stumbled across this some other way, welcome! To make things clear, this is a rewrite of a story I started in 2009 called The Second War. My goal is to rewrite that with new plots and story lines in line. I hope you enjoy!
"Well, Rangers." Dr. K began, an air of finality to her voice as she sealed the Morpher case, sharp clicks filling the otherwise silent garage. "Your work is done. I must say, I'm very proud of all of you. It's not something I say often so…" She let the thought hang.
"As of right now, your morphers are retired, and you cease being series operators. I'm afraid… this is where we part ways." She looked down, something that looked like distress flickering across her face for a fraction of a second before she composed herself.
"I do have one last thing for you, however." A different case, less important looking than the one she'd just sealed away. "These are communicators. In an emergency, it will allow you to access your specific bio fields once. Use it wisely. And if you should need anything… well, we are all just a button away." She handed them out quickly, watching quietly as her friends parted only moments later.
"Where are you off to, doc?" Scott couldn't help but ask. Her entire life had been dedicated to this technology. With it sealed away, what could she focus on? "Well..." She began, cracking a soft smile. "Ziggy and I have decided to open a school for children."
The green ranger popped up as if on cue, grinning widely. "Yeah. She's going to teach then the microbiology and sciency mumbo jumbo. You know, the fun stuff." She nodded, playing along. "And Ziggy will teach them shadow puppets and cooking. You know, the tough stuff." Summer raised an eyebrow, chuckling a bit. "Ziggy?" There was only the slightest hint of a flush to Dr. K's face. "Well, he's not a series operator anymore. I have to call him something."
The pair escorted the rest of the rangers out, watching as Gem and Gemma danced excitedly around Scott, rapidly discussing just how big of a boom they could get a military vehicle to make. Flynn took his own direction, out into the city where his Father's garage was. Summer was the last to leave, hesitating as Dillon helped his sister into his car.
"Dr. K…" She began, coming closer. "If plans change…. I hope we'll hear from you." The doctor just looked confused, mouth opening as if to say something, before glancing at Ziggy, her mouth falling shut immediately. "…Of course, Summer." She agreed, name still sounding foreign on her tongue. "Stay safe." The blonde smiled, nodding as she climbed into the passenger side.
Dr. K watched as they left, frowning again as a weight draped itself over her shoulder. Again, she wanted to protest, pick Ziggy's arm off of her like she normally would but… well, she needed to learn to pick and chose her battles. She decided instead to smile softly, holding her ground. Sure, they had a lot of planning to do, but they could pause a few moments to say a proper good bye to their friends.
It was late when Ziggy heard the incessant beeping of an alarm on the computer set up next to the bed. He groaned, hand flying blindly around, looking for a snooze button to hit. He finally found it, hitting the button a few times to no avail. He groaned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and rubbing sleep from his eyes.
He stumbled over to the computer, hitting a few buttons and pulling up a video message. " 'ello?" He muttered, resting his head on his hand and nearly falling back asleep as the awful noise stopped. "Ziggy? Ziggy, wake up." A familiar voice demanded. "Hmm… five more minutes, I think." The green ranger decided, soft snoring beginning a few seconds later.
"/Ziggy/." The voice demanded again, louder. Ziggy's head slipped off his hand, landing on the desk with a loud thud, effectively waking him up. "I'm awake, I'm awake. I... Dillon?" He asked, grinning sleepily at the sight of his friend. "How long's it been? Few years? How you-" The black ranger sighed, cutting him off. "We can catch up later. It's an emergency."
That made Ziggy more alert. "Oh, okay. Listening. You get to the talking, I'll get to the listening." He babbled. There were hushed voices in the background of the video call, before Dillon began speaking again. "Things have gotten…weird, recently. Everything's been quiet. But the other day, we were working in a settlement, and Tenaya just... collapsed. Summer figured it was just the heat or something, but it was /hours/ before she woke up. And once she did…" He shook his head.
"Long story short, I don't think the anti-virus worked at all, Zig. She was gone. We figured it was just a fluke or something, but it's been happening more and more recently, for longer periods of time." He looked over his shoulder for a second, clearly worried. "We're coming back." He announced when he turned back, voice strangely steady. "As soon as possible. And we need Doc to be ready to go with... something that can help her. You understand me?" Ziggy just nodded, mouth going a bit dry. "I… yeah. Okay, got it. Dillon, I-"
Ziggy feel silent at the sharp bang off screen. "What was-" But Dillon was gone, already after whatever the noise was. "Summer? You-" Another bang, and Ziggy could see the black ranger tossed easily across the room, image filled with static for a moment. It cleared as another figure came into view, tapping carelessly on the screen.
"Well well well, if it isn't the green ranger." Tenaya cooed, voice carrying over the feed with a strong electronic undertone. "Long time no see. How are things over in Corinth? I must say, I miss it." She laughed, before pausing, eyes flickering momentarily before she was back on track.
"You know, it was /surprisingly/ easy for my master to hack into those silly little morphers, and rebuild his strength. I mean, you practically handed his power over to him. Thank the doctor for that." She chuckled, pausing again. "In fact, I believe he wants to pay a personal visit. When you see him, don't forget-" There was a loud thunk, and her eyes rolled back in her head, falling unconscious on the ground.
Summer was standing behind her, part of a broken pipe in hand. "…I improvised." She shrugged, sitting at the computer. "Ziggy? You still there?" She asked. "We need to get back to the city. I've been trying to contact Dr. K, but her communicator's turned off." Ziggy nodded slowly. "She uh… she switched it off. She needed sleep. I… "
Summer cut him off. "That doesn't matter right now. I've been doing some scans of Tenaya, but I can't make heads or tails of all these numbers." Dillon joined her back on screen, talking over her. "Do you have any idea what she was talking about? The morphers are all locked up, aren't they?" the green ranger nodded quickly. "Of course. It was all nonsense I-"
Ziggy paused, listening closely. He could hear a noise, soft and barely there, but he could hear it. "Shh." He hushed his friends, listening. Nothing for a minute, before the quiet creek of a floor board. He swore, practically leaping out of the chair and into the hallway."Ziggy!" Dillon protested, swearing loudly. "What the hell is going on?" He shut up, though, as another figure sat in front of the desk, face serious and focused. "Doc… nice pjs." He commented after a minute, not processing much more than that.
"Thank you, Dillon. Now, Summer, if you wouldn't mind forwarding me those figures." The blonde nodded, typing a few lines into the computer, before hitting send. "Dr. K, do you know what's going on?" The doctor looked up, face pale, bags under her eyes more pronounced. "If I did, you'd be the first to know. Be back here as soon as you can. And bring Tenaya." Without another word, she ended the transmission, fingers typing a mile a minute.
Ziggy swore loudly, fumbling with the communicator attached to his wrist. "Come on… come on." He swore, finally hitting the right button. "RPM, Get in Gear!" He said automatically, activating the emergency bio-field connected to his ranger powers. He didn't stop running for a second, pushing open a door near the end of the hall before faltering.
"..Scott?" He questioned, eyebrows knitting in confusion. "What are you…" He froze when he saw what the red ranger was doing, bent over the small wooden crib in the center of the room. "You're not Scott." He accused. "/Very good/." The figure answered, straightening up, arms filled with a bundle of blankets. "You know… accessing the red ranger's bio field was surprisingly easy." It droned, voice synthetic and electronic. "You thought you destroyed me, but all I had to do was download myself into one of your silly little morphers. And here I am now."
Ziggy shook his head, teeth grinding. "Venjix. Put her down." He demanded, hands balling into fists. He knew he couldn't do anything as long as the robot was holding the child. "Please. What do you want?" There was a pause, as the virus began pacing the room, drawing the whole process out. "You're going to let me walk out of here." He began, snapping his fingers as grinders assembled in the room. The green ranger spun around, trying to protect both sides while still keeping an eye on Venjix. "And, please. Send my greetings to my creator."
A grinder grabbed Ziggy, and as the ranger struggled to get free, the virus managed to slip away, taking the child with him. The grinders were easy enough to take care of, even if he was out of practice, but none of that mattered. He raced downstairs, and out the front door, but there was no flash of red, no sign to point him in the direction Venjix had taken. He was gone.
Dr. K stopped her typing, keeping her ears peeled for something, anything. "…Ziggy?" No response. She tried again, stomach sinking with each passing second. She tried again, before pushing up from the desk. She found him sitting in the frame of the front door, head in his hands. "…What happened?" She asked quietly, feeling sick. There was silence for a minute, before he lifted his head up. "He… he's gone." Ziggy managed, throat tightening. "He's gone and he took her. "I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything, and I'm…. I'm sorry. He had it all planned out, I wasn't thinking, I couldn't do anything. He got her and I couldn't- " He choked out, shaking his head.
The doctor came up from behind him, kneeling next to him and taking his hand. "It's not your fault. It's not your fault." Her stomach felt like it was carrying a huge weight, but she couldn't say that now. Logical. She was the calm, cool, logical one. And Ziggy needed her to be that now. "We'll fix it. We'll fix it." They had to. This was supposed to be over. It needed to be over.